Hormati Suara Rakyat Selangor Rally

Note: Hyperlinks in this posting represent news links that you can check out.

Heavy rain pour in today's event made it harder for people to participate in the HSRS rally. In the end, less than 500 people showed up, despite having various NGOs participating in that event including the NUBE, who were distributing flyers showing discimination on Maybank employees, Justice for Teoh Beng Hock, Bersih 2.0 and several assemblymen of the state. 

Heavy rain also caused some slight technical problems to the audio equipment and a delay of the start of show by about 1 hour. However, the good thing was, although planned to start early, it ended promptly before 7 pm.Various speakers today have also declared that the proposed amendment is more of returning the power back to the people since it was taken away following the 1993 amendment of removal of the rulers power and privileges. The whole event has been summarized in a Malaysiakini report.

There was a pre-recorded message by Raja Petra prior to the start of the event, which describes the necessity of the people to wake up and move forward, echoed by what former Perak MB Nizar said later on. The presence of constitution-expert Professor Aziz Bari was intended to summarize the proposed amendments to the state Constitution but it was emphasized  that it's not absolute monarchy.

Nizar at the end of his talk with his words "Hancur hancur"

There were digs at Khusrin by Khalid Samad and Nizar over how unqualified Khusrin is and how Putrajaya attempts to run over the procedure of the state's call on deciding the state secretary citing how Putrajaya let the Perak state secretary Abdul Rahman Hashim sabotaging everything.

More pics of the event at this link.

TEOHLOGY for Sarcasm and Laughs

Patrick invited me for the book launch today and I was there a bit early for some light lunch before I went to the launch venue. I actually had seen the cover when I was walking in a shopping mall a week before today's launch. I knew that the content is very similar to the Tapai book by Hishamuddin Rais. It is perhaps the anthology of the articles that Patrick wrote for Off The Edge Magazine in the span of 5 years from 2005-2010.

It's one of the few occasions where I managed to meet up with a famous friend of my mother's and basically, I knew his writing style, sometimes with wit, humor and sarcasm, Malaysia-style even when I read some of his writings of his Niamah blog.. Well, this was evident way before I started reading it and by request of the audience, he read the October 2008 article about the contrast of people of Malaysia and Singapore, in view of the recent whacking of the Singapore Malays by the "senile old man" that is Madey. (short form for Mahathir) 

There a few showbiz personalities making cameos on that launch since they are well connected to Patrick. I just thought getting the book, I got it at a very special price, that I can find some laughs especially if I am in the beat down time -(read - down in emotion). So far, I only covered the first 3 pieces, but I thought a while why not let this Chinese comedian man Douglas Lim do a skit or narrate one of his articles?

I got laughing over the cover, surely it gives the "huh?" impressionism thing.

Seriously, I simply couldn't plot and arrange out my critical view on voting in Tenang by-election, due to exhaustion and the need to thought out whatever logical things to be considered - not emotional and on sentiment - by the voters there, so I thought that putting this up would at least give some cheer up.

Well, it seems that with tomorrow's Respect People of Selangor rally coupled with some other activities, I guess I would wrap up Saturday with a picture gallery of the event this afternoon. You can see some in my Facebook page here.

On 23 January, It's R.E.S.P.E.C.T That Selangorians Wanted!

The rally this Sunday is obviously a clear message to be sent out to Putrajaya and the mob called UMNO in Selangor that Selangorians and people who stayed there are giving them a warning not to go overboard and behave like King Kong. There's only one thing that they want: R.E.S.P.E.C.T, as what the theme is all about.

Coming Sunday the event will be in the stadium, so which means, that there can't be any excuse to say that this is an illegal gathering or some sort. There have been a few events here organized lately, including the aftermath of Beng Hock's death, the protest against fuel hikes by Pak Lah's administration in 2008, and Anwar Ibrahim's claim of crossovers by 16 September 2008, that sadly didn't happen really of course. 

It is a message to Putrajaya to say that Selangor doesn't want Khusrin as state secretary and to tell them that you need to get Selangor's signature for that appointment, not just barging into the door. It is also pre-ample warning, a wise step as to avoid a repeat of what happened to Perak in February 2009. They do not want Khusrin to be like another Abdul Rahman Hashim (the Perak state secretary who Nizar accused him of sabotaging everything). 

Of course, people would be very angry if Putrajaya, UMNO and its associates decide to go King Kong mode on this! You wouldn't want that, don't you?

More By-Elections Ahead?

As mentioned yesterday, the Port Klang seat was declared vacant by the state Speaker as the representative who went out of PKR Badrul Hisham has failed to attend any sitting in the space of six months, as according to the official attendance records in the State Assembly. The failure to attend resulting in vacancy has been defined clearly in the state Constitution and of course we are likely to see more election fever in the space of one month.

And as reported by Malaysiakini, it seems that the Merlimau state assemblyman is in critical condition -  a weak heart condition to say. If things get to worse, it seems that there is going to be another one in February.

Because the 3 year post-election rule is not over yet, there is still more by-elections to be coming in the next 6 to 7 weeks. And man, in this by-election fever, we have seen people making good money from property rental, setting up temporary stalls and of course more public enforcement manpower crowding over one place.

And of course, there is "offering" thing that BN would want to go ahead days before the nomination period.

But the by-election fever until to this day could not stand as great as in Permatang Pauh or in Bukit Gantang.

Markom, Normala and Tenang

After Normala Sudirman was announced as the candidate for the Tenang by-election, the education department intended to move her headmaster husband down south to Johor Bahru (200 km away from Segamat). They were wondering why now when the by-election is around the corner. The first impression is obviously about the party they support. But the department's excuse is about failure to control Normala , for what really? When the couple told the education department that they would hold a news conference or report to the MACC, the Johor Education department backed down. -  Strike One

And the education department director was caught on video speaking to schools in Segamat to organize programs, and mustering support for government (BN of course) and of course categorizing which schools in Segamat under green or blue. Though he tried to deny it, it is already too late. For it is said that this is a misused of privilege to campaign for a political party. - Strike Two

School counsellors were asked to visit houses of parents as an insidious way to see which parent supports which party and so forth. In fact out of those series of events, Markom Giran has two strikes. This is Strike Three.

If this is not Malaysia, Giran would have been fired from the job. And this video is definitely going to make its rounds in Tenang by PR if those taboo words still remain in force. You know what taboo words that I am referring to, right?

This means BN got caught with the pants down on this moment.

New and Demented Ways To Cheat In Election!

Everybody strongly disagreed with the crazy idea by the Election Commission to have a proxy voting. The concept of it is to have someone to go on your behalf to vote. It simply is too risky and too dangerous. Giving of the current situation the idea can be exploited and can be misused. I tend to believe, base on the current political scenario where the incumbent government, the UMNO mob is trying keep in power, they may have to resort to various tactics to cheat in the election game. No doubt that many perceive the Election Commissionn as the unofficial Barisan Nasional component and agent asides from the police and the MACC.

It's a good thing that everyone from the entire political divide say no to that idea. But in that situation, only the MIC and UMNO are keeping very quiet on this.

There have been cases of phantom voters that sharp-eye people would detect coming from other places to come in to vote on a polling day. The numbers never stopped from there. It keeps going and going, and doesn't stop at all. To have that system is to make things worse than the current wreck we are in.

Simply put, with the current system still deemed not clean enough by the civil society and various NGOs, we are definitely not ready for the proxy voting system. Though I clearly admit that it is being used in other countries, we are simply not mature enough yet to use this system. Gerakan is against it, many opposition parties are against it and other civil societies are against it. It would be better to stick back to having an automated registration system so that people just go in and vote. It actually saves a lot of time of people going to the EC office. To abstain from voting is also a form of democracy.

As everyday goes, there have been new and demented ways BN to cheat and win the election game because they are facing the writing on the wall that they might not last long like a victim of terminal cancer.

If that thing is not enough, then there is this tactic by Johor Education department man to have the husband of a candidate transferred over because of the by-election, or marking the areas as green and blue...I mean this reminded me of how government servants in Putrajaya were "diugut" by Tengku Adnan to support BN or face the sack from the job. That is a real cheat game out there, and scum like that man above know no shame just to keep themselves in power.

How long do people need to be in sleep mode before we get up to realize Malaysia has gone upside down?

How long do we need to be keep being told of a lie before we realize it is too late?

How long do we need to follow something blindly even though we realize what we do could be wrong?

Appendix: Bersih 2.0's statement on proxy voting

Chill Out: Magic Show

Victor Voitko's magic show that won the Grand Prize. It's wrapping up this weekend's chill out.

Indirectly Squabbling Among Themselves?

Someone naive asked today, of a group with a traffic light colour flag at the azan case in Pantai Dalam. That flag is obviously belonging to the PEKIDA group, a definite cell under UMNO. It's just in the similar capacity like PERKASA, except in the past few months, PERKASA is more active than them - well, if you can count how many times Ibrahim Ali's party is mentioned in the news, paper or online.

It's just like Sinn Fein and IRA. If UMNO is Sinn Fein, then the IRA, the military wing is as PEKIDA.

PEKIDA also made some headlines in two cases, for example the Ijok by-election in 2007, the Muslim conversion discussion forum at the Bar Council office in December 2007 and the sort of things. But as the original objective mentioned is to form the first line of defence if another May 13 riots happen again. They are obviously trying to provoke another Ops Lalang again. But people are gradually wisen up to this and are wary of a repeat, so at least there's some sort of watching up happening now.

Anyway, the next day after that this MCA VP broke silence about regulating volumes for the azan. Miss Gan should have done it way....back earlier before those bunch of jokers started to scream at Teresa Kok over the same matter. If you can see the phrase "Breaking MCA’s silence on the issue" it clearly stated that MCA should have way back in the beginning have the guts to tell the big boss, UMNO about this problem. Well, discounting the "religion factor" out of it, what would old citizens or the sick people in particular would feel if the prayers blare out loud in the morning in particular? There is nothing great to show about by blaring it out, so long as if Muslim people perform their daily duty of prayer. This is not the problem.

When MCA starts talking about, it, people from PMO, e.g Jamil said "please don't politicize this issue". It gives an impression of "hey, shut up, turn away" at all costs to its party partner. Taking this as an example, how come MCA and MIC, have the guts to stand up and check up with UMNO in some matters? Sometimes, an argument is necessary to drill the point into the big boss' mind. I don't really think that MCA has improved much from way back and they are still stuck at one square with OTK voted out last time. 

From what Miss Gan's questioning above, even Barisan Nasional has their own squabbling. But the problem solving approach that BN takes above is more the follow big boss thing, even if the boss is wrong. 

It's A Matter of When We Wake Up - Now or After Regrets!

Tunisia's president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has fled his country after weeks of mass protests culminated in a victory for people power over one of the Arab world's most repressive regimes.

Ben Ali had taken refuge in Saudi Arabia, at the end of an extraordinary day which had seen the declaration of a state of emergency, the evacuation of tourists of British and other nationalities, and an earthquake for the authoritarian politics of the Middle East and north Africa.

After hours of conflicting reports had him criss-crossing southern Europe by air, the Saudi state news agency confirmed he had arrived in the kingdom together with his family. Earlier, French media reported that Nicolas Sarkozy had refused Ben Ali refuge, although France denied that any request had been received.

In Tunisia, prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi announced that he had taken over as interim president, vowing to respect the constitution and restore stability for Tunisia's 10.5 million citizens. "I call on the sons and daughters of Tunisia, of all political and intellectual persuasions, to unite to allow our beloved country to overcome this difficult period and to return to stability," he said in a broadcast.

But there was confusion among protesters about what will happen next, and concern that Ben Ali might be able to return before elections could be held. "We must remain vigilant," warned an email from the Free Tunis group, monitoring developments to circumvent an official news blackout.

Ben Ali, 74, had been in power since 1987. On Thursday he announced he would not stand for another presidential term in 2014, but the move came after Tunisia had been radicalised by weeks of street clashes and the killings of scores of demonstrators. Today in the capital police fired teargas to disperse crowds unmoved by the president's concession and demanding his immediate resignation. A state of emergency and a 12-hour curfew did little to restore calm. Analysts said that the army would be crucial.

Last night, soldiers guarded ministries, public buildings and the state TV building. Public meetings were banned, and the security forces were authorised to fire live rounds.

Tunis's main avenues were deserted except for scores of soldiers. Protesters, some of whom had earlier been beaten and clubbed by police in the streets, still sheltered in apartment buildings. Army vehicles were stationed outside the interior ministry. Opposition leader Najib Chebbi, one of Ben Ali's fiercest critics, captured the sense of historic change. "This is a crucial moment. There is a change of regime under way. Now it's the succession," he said. He added: "It must lead to profound reforms, to reform the law and let the people choose."

Al-Jazeera television reported that a unnamed member of Ben Ali's wife's family had been detained by security forces at the airport in the capital, Tunis. Le Monde reported later that a plane carrying Ben Ali's daughter and grandaughter had landed near Paris. Hatred of the president's relatives, symbols of corruption and cronyism, has galvanised the opposition in recent weeks.

Tunisians had been riveted by revelations of US views of the Ben Ali regime in leaked WikiLeaks cables last month.

The US led international calls for calm and for the Tunisian people to be given a free choice of leaders.

"I condemn and deplore the use of violence against citizens peacefully voicing their opinion in Tunisia, and I applaud the courage and dignity of the Tunisian people," said Barack Obama.

- The Guardian

*************

Arab continent today was rocked by two moments of day of rage: In Tunisia, mass demos and pressure have eventually forced the Tunisian president to flee the country, subsequently marking the end to the 23-year as president for that man himself. People get angry because of various problems such as mass corruption, cronyism and then they could not stand anymore of police coming in and clamping down on gatherings to show displeasure at the government.

What happened in Tunisia became a domino effect. In Jordan, people protest because of the mass inflation that is happening to the country. They scream via banners that "united government has sucked your blood". It is no doubt that people in Jordan may have started to realize that they could have been cheated by the government of the day over various promises

The case in Tunisia was far worse than in Jordan. But why does this happen is of the matter of when people start to realize that bad things are happening to the country and do the change to stop the rot. The people of Tunisia have already what we called as "wake up" and started to go for a drastic reform. So happens in Jordan.

Here, when I saw Guardian's timeline on the events leading to Ben Ali's departure, I noticed it's similarity to some of its years here. For instance:

2004 Ben Ali is re-elected once more, again receiving an unlikely 94.5% of the votes. Opposition party the Democratic Progressives withdraws two days before the vote, branding Tunisia's political system "a masquerade of democracy"

This raises a question mark. Malaysia is technically guided democracy, from the current workings. But look around at the events that is happening in Malaysia and see of that in Tunisia. Sound familiar?

The question of wake up is when? Now or when the worst happened only people would wake up? If the latter, it would be too late. What about now? Seems like Malaysia is very similar in the lines of the two nations....so what's the action like?

Surely This is The Answer!

Surely this is the answer to Beng Hock's murder! What does this alternate view picture tell you?

They said that Beng Hock was still sleeping around at 6 am. The said that he died around 7.15 am - 11.15 am.

But look at the tear in the pants. What does it tell you?

Let me tell my perspective here.

It seems that some MACC people were still unhappy with Beng Hock's answers over to their questions.  They were thinking of resuming the session after his nap on the couch. There were some bad apples involved in the investigation wanted him to simply finger any PR Selangor assemblyman. They were thinking with the kind of "I don't know look" facial expression, Beng Hock is lying in the teeth. So some yahoo man suggested a drastic way to make him talk. They intimidated him in the way of having 2-3 men dragging him off and threaten to drop his ass of the building unless Beng Hock gives a name. And this is at the 14th floor.

Beng Hock absolutely has no idea at all. They were trying to drop him to see if they can get an answer from him. 

But the stunt pulled by those officers went wrong. The pants started to tear. They could not have a proper grip to pull Beng Hock back. They were too late, and Beng Hock fell to his death. Horrified at the stunt going wrong, they had to cover up many things - fingerprints, mess, footprints, etc.. to avoid being implicated in future.

You don't need to be a genius to say that. You just have to use your brain very hard. So that mystery letter that surfaced in August 2009 plays a part of this. This should solve the Beng Hock mystery. Why go for the RI when simple thinking and analysis could answer everything that has been paid for the coroner inquest or the royal commission. Third degree interrogation tactics used by MACC to interrogate people? Yes, it happened!

Makes Everyone Angry, Ain't So?

I am not going to add further to what I say, apart from what Najib is saying in the morning above, but surely this would violate the MSC agreement signed in 1998 between the MNCs and Dr. M's admistration at that time. But with a lot of skeletons in Najib and his ministers closets, they need to cover things up. But in other countries, that doesn't happen. MPs and even Presidents get sent to jail for crimes and corruption committed. But in Bolehland, just because of their King Kong style behavior, it is the other way round. Up is down, black is white....

A.N: Cakap-cakap Mat Mongol

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak today warned of the effects of unregulated Internet use, and said unfettered access to Western culture would decimate Asian values and heritage.

His comments are expected to renew fears that the government may still renege on its pledge to not censor the Internet as part of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), after it was reported that the Information Ministry had previously evaluated the possibility of a blocking out “undesirable websites”.

Political foes had then attacked the proposal as an attempt by the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government to quash online political dissent.

Following public outcry, the Cabinet later abandoned the proposal, which was subsequently described as only a feasibility study.

Today, the prime minister stressed that cyberspace must be managed to protect Asian society from exposure to the “negative influences” of Western culture.

He said that governments must formulate a code of ethics for Internet use to ensure that is remains “governable”.

“Indecency and anarchy can seep in into any environment that is not anchored on any cultural roots and our values.

“Our culture and our heritage are what make us unique and it is important that we educate our peoples never to abandon what makes them uniquely Asian,” he said during his keynote address at the tenth Asean Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministers Meeting.

He said that that Asian values must not be compromised in the name of development.

“Our children and future generations of Asean should retain their Asian cultural values and they must be protected from the threats on the Internet,” he said.

He added that the public must be educated on how to use the Internet in a responsible manner.

Aside from the controversial Net filter — said to be in the vein of the “Great Firewall of China” — the ruling administration has also called for a registry of bloggers, many of whom are said to be anti-establishment.

This Is Where Old Men Get Bash Up

A lot of beans involving sex of BN politicians got spilled recently. For example, the alleged "maid rape" finger-pointing at Rais Yatim, Jamalluddin Jarjis' groped a waitress at Le Meridien, Pornstar Chua's sex in the hotel room and so on - those are a few instances that caught BN by the pants down largely due some "own surveillance" work by normal citizens and the online community.

In fact, the citizens own brand of surveillance over Barisan Nasional's mismanagement has contributed to their uncustomary losses in the 2008 GE. And then, the tons of exposure on Taib Mahmud's mismanagement and abuse of wealth is driving most of these old men bonkers.

And of course it is no strange that these old men, e.g Rais Yatim, Hishamuddin, and Nazri are about to announce a series of guidelines pertaining to the definition of "online sedition".  Only at the feudal age. Until we get to hear what defines as "online sedition", we can first of all say that it is tantamount to online censorship.

There have been several attempts to introduce online censorship, e.g Green Filter, bloggers registration and classification, online monitoring of Wikileaks by Foreign ministry and other silly stupid things that Barisan Nasional would do, but whenever they open the mouth on that, people would bashed the old men who would suggest such a thing. For instance, last year, the old man by the name of Rais Yatim gets bashed left and right over Facebook, Twitter control. Many believed even in the capacity as the Minister of Communications, he doesn't even know how to use e-mail at all.

Yes, the government is very nervous over the Wikileaks and many of the alleged exposures of malpractices by the online community. They said that it is a lie., but if you study the pattern, the obvious trend is "if they say that is a lie, then it is actually true.". Translate that into a scenario: if politician A says that he has not heard nor received a military report on case X, that means, he actually heard and received it. Many exposures, including the soon to be released 1000 plus documents by Wikileaks on Malaysia is going to embarass Barisan Nasional, and they need to stop the damage via a few measures, online sedition is being one of the sinister things to see soon. If you think exposures like in Malaysia Today is as hallucinogen, think Wikileaks as hallucinogenic 5 times stronger

Don't forget that Britain, who once introduced the Sedition act previously, had abolished it themselves, in place of Freedom of Information Act, where any exposure is treated as something that needs to be investigated by the police and Scotland Yard in particular. Sedition Act is 63 years old. Time to go...but we're still seeing elements of neo-Feudalism here. 

Whatever these old men are doing is not going to go well with the online community. If misused by them, it is equivalent to privacy invasion. If there is solid proof of misconduct by politician exposed, they would shut you up a.l.a gangster style. If that happens, but politicians committing sex, isn't that banning what is legit while allowing what is wrong?

According to Hishammuddin, six existing laws will be incorporated into the guidelines - the Penal Code, Sedition Act 1948, Film Censorship Act 2001, Printing and Printing Publishes Act 1984, Multimedia and Communications Act 1998 and the Internal Security Act 1960. He said, “Offences will be charged under these six laws”.   - Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle

Say 5000 people do the same thing. That same thing falls under the those 6 laws. Are you going to send 5000 people who carry commit non-passion crimes like those to prison? Doesn't that sound like sending people into prison for just owning a copy of a book the government doesn't like? Well, this is coming very ugly in terms of people's privacy. Gomen is starting to get busy body, gawking at every single one of us....so get ready...

And that is where there is no country for old men like those. That is where old men get bashed up by the world.

What's 19 vs 51 Billion Worth To You?

Anwar Ibrahim said that if Pakatan were to take over the federal government by the next general election, the amount of expenditure to do the reforms mentioned in the 100 Day orange book will cost only RM 19 billion, which is only just more than 1/3rd of the amount that Najib's government claimed to do, which is at 51 billion.

This whole thing of Najib saying is crooning like what he did 3 years ago. He once said back in 2008 that if Pakatan were to reduce fuel prices (this was in reply to Anwar saying that he will reduce the fuel price by 50 sens per liter) Malaysia could go Greece, that is BANKRUPT. But here, there is a vast difference of 19 billion vs 51 billion over the same matter. Why pay 2.5 times more for things whereas you get the same quality for just 19 billion?

67 billion ringgit for ETP2, isn't that more of a waste of money with the current attitude of the government running things? And there is the putting the more Melayu over the others thing that UMNO is very obsessed about. But in the process, it alienates the rest of Malaysians and increases the rate of the brain drain going out of Malaysia. But why in the earth Najib's reformation plan costs 51 billion? Isn't the Najib method going to risk higher chance of bankruptcy, from what it seems to describe of?

Simple, there are consultant fees included in it. And there's the kickback money calculated. What kickbacks mean is that the return of investment money covered altogether from the start, instead of waiting for the monies to come in once the projects have been completed or so. These kickbacks are ultimately borne by the citizens themselves. Remember there was a saying that a child upon birth owes the nation RM14 K based on the current national debt. When Najib said that children and grandchildren's future will be in jeopardy if PR rules, it is also a double-edge sword. It also implies that BN, with this state is not able to handle and manage the country well. 

And to this day, there are still bulk of people still yet to awake from the dreamland. There is the need to give them the wake up kick as to realize. Sarawak is in trouble because of a similar Project M type as in Sabah. And if we all don't wake up, you can forget about better Malaysia in 20 years time. All because we were too stupid to follow.

Hardly Mentioned, But It Implies of 2Malaysia

The story of Nik Aziz's meeting with the Agong on Christmas eve turned out to be true, although that it absolutely never showed up in government-controlled dailies. Nik Aziz was not told of the clear picture initially, as the invitation was relayed by the middleman of the show, Abdullah Badawi.

As story goes, it seems that Agong was indeed used as the mediator between PAS and UMNO on that night itself. There were a few men there, and of course in BN's end has Najib, Muhyiddin and Abdullah. After the dinner with the Agong, the 3 BN men started to talk about forming unity government with PAS with the excuse that the Malay rights are eroding, blah blah blah.

To my understanding, these old men were thinking of such myth that the Malay powers are eroding and so forth is simply because of the pre-Merdeka perception. Of course, for those who in particular who were born before Merdeka, Malaysia was used to be called Tanah Melayu, meaning Malay land. Translate directly from that above, it simply means that there is the phobia of other races, which were given rights to become citizens later on could soon overtake the natives of the land, a.k.a "Sons of the Earth" / Bumiputra. Perhaps this was the biggest fear of all - in the mind of some old men.

Of course, Nik Aziz, who had seen several occassions of invites to form a unity government turned them down outright, gave a very long lecture that three BN men could not even able to retort or rebutt Nik Aziz's statements. And of course, the Agong, caught in the mess, could not stand the crooning and decided to excuse himself, with Nik Aziz following suit saying he's not well and wants an early rest.

I happened to check and compare the story as what RPK said over his podcast recording here and Hishamuddin Rais' pseudo-satirical story of the event here and it turns out that both matches what really happened in the event. Unfortunately, Hisham's story is a little obfuscating because of the character names, meaning it is a little hard to figure who those characters are in real life. 

At the end of Hisham's version, it said:

Tetiba Lelaki Botak mencelah, ‘… jaga jaga hal perjumpaan kita ini jangan di ketahui oleh Mat Sabu.. Mahfuz.. Husam … dan jaga sikit Khalid Samad.. press pun jangan diberitahu…kalau Harakah.. Malaysikini tahu bahaya kita semua..Kalau I ditanya press I akan nafikan perjumpaan ini..

If you look at the last line, this is evident in Najib's keeping mum of that event (reported on MI, last Friday). But at least the leaked story of what transpired on Christmas eve clearly implies that 1Malaysia is more or less a rhetoric because since these men are talking about Malay unity government, which is in contrast of the 1Malaysia campaigning that is going all around, it clearly implies of wasting money for public relations exercise. There's still the residue of Ketuanan Melayu going around and at this time, it's doubt that it would die down yet.

Perhaps WB Yeat's phrase of "No Country for Old Men" is appropriate for these old men running Malaysia.

Snub By Their Fellow Partymen

Note: This is also considered as part 4 of the UMNO general assembly commentary.

Last week, Khairy has decided that if there is a snap election coming soon, he decided not to defend his current Rembau seat. Everyone knows that his influence waned after his father-in-law Abdullah Badawi got kicked out office. Even if he happens to be the UMNO Youth Chief, he was not given a ministerial post at all, in favor of Mukhriz. Many feared of his influence again, especially, those who are in the Mahathir camp knew how influential can he be with the 4th-floor boys and some other known associates of his including Kalimullah Hassan.

Lately, there has been some suspicion that Khairy was involved or shall we say that he had a hand in the Alcatel case kickbacks, which mentions of two consultants (one is said to be him) receiving a significant amount of RM 700K in total from Alcatel. Note: this was noted in the Department of Justice trial vs Alcatel recently.  This is one suspiscion. Another one is being of someone also recently said that Khairy, and a few other people were involved in monies amounting to RM152 billion of offshore money stashed outside in Indonesia that is to bring back in about dozens of boxes, and it includes monies belonging to Daim Zainuddin (the RM 1000 and RM 500 notes) . To sum thing short, it might be to avoid risking going to jail over that, Khairy was advised to take time off from everything, as it theorized by some other bloggers as well.

But the alleged conduct above is not what I want to say, but it could be discussed in sometime later or so.

When Khairy decided to take a break as was reported last week, one of the things that I felt that could be attributed to his decision is of course of the saying "snubbed by their own kind". And this clearly puts be back to the story at the UMNO general assembly at the end of October. It was said that even though Khairy gave a speech worth of his two cents to be considered by other UMNO youth members. Reaction was not that very exciting. But when Reezal Merican's speech was delivered, the UMNO youth crowd there roared with approval. This goes the same as in Najib's. When Najib tries to speak about 1Malaysia, ETP, as what Dr. Mahathir said before, not many get the idea or fully understand his short form concepts. In fact, there are too many alphabets to be juggled, e.g...NKRA, ETP, NEM, all this kind of things that makes people confused as well. The audience there are not warm to liberalising the national economy, particularly if you have members who are also PERKASA members as well. But when Najib sings the tune of defending Putrajaya, even at the cost of lives lost, bones crushed, etc.. UMNO roared in excitement. The members there agreed...

(Note: compare what Khairy said and Reezal said. Quite contrasting isn't it)

So what does that mean to both Khairy and Najib there? It means that if they are trying to sing their tune to the others to follow suite, they get snubbed. On the other hand, the hard-line hawkish approached tune is what the grassroot members would accept. And of course the tune would contain the Ketuanan Melayu chords woven into it. We can say that no one wanted to listen to one person's tune only, right?

As RPK said recently in "Suck your way up to the ladder", an UMNO man has to be 30:70, being 30 percent loyal to party, 70 percent loyal to the leader in order climb up the party hierarchy ladder. If they try to be 100 percent loyal to party, chances of promotion are low. Shahrir Samad was one of those, RPK cited, who fall under that category of living and dying in UMNO. Ku Li is also another prominent figure. In the context above, Ku Li thought by becoming the party leader after Abdullah was kicked out, he could reform the party from within. But in terms of nomination, he got snubbed everywhere by the division leaders in favor of Najib. People at times asked him, why not go to other parties because of that. But surely, Ku Li would not do that because of the "living and dying in UMNO" thing. There are other few people from UMNO too whom I have met that share the same thing. 100% loyalty to the party. 

Aspan (another of the 100% man, whom matches the description above), recently wrote two things..one - expect lot of teh tarik sessions among those who snub the other members and got kicked out in the end (e.g, I snubbed Mr. A because his views, though best, is not in party trend, etc). I grinned, when Aspan wrote this at the end:

Kepada pemimpin yang akan turun jika kalah dalam PRU nanti silalah, saudara saudara boleh berkawan dengan saya. Kita jumpa dikedai-kedai kopi mamak dimana-mana yang dekat dengan rumah saya. Saya tunggu. 

Yes, these machos will have to be ready for drinking in sorrows thing. Snubbing thing is somewhat shows how blind can some people be. Maybe if silence can mean of letting these people fall into the problem mire and you sarcastically say to them, "I told you so." 

Part 1:  Echoes of 13 May and Operasi Lalang

Part 2:  Their Version of History or The Real Version

Part 3:  Kita Tidak Perlu Undi Cina dan India

Buddy Greene at Carnegie Hall

Hey, it's just a weekend chill out that's all. This guy one great harmonica cookie.

Did That Inquest Miss This Smoking Gun?

Another open verdict - just the same as the Gunasegaran case, but the high-profile Teoh Beng Hock case thing. But the level of comedy of the inquest didn't go to more comedic proportions of course, since suicide was definitely ruled out. But I was unhappy when the coroner declared that there was insufficient evidence to say that Teoh's death was due to homicide. 

This of course has triggered agony from the victim's family and the need to establish a royal commission. But it came at a very snail pace - close to 18 months after Beng Hock's death or so. In fact, the is actually no need for double duty. All can be solved if they are fast enough. And as the Bar council said: the inquest ended up being meaningless!

While going through the news items related to the outcome of the inquiry, I remembered that there was a document or a letter that was apparently written by some MACC officers. This thing appeared in Malaysia Today in August 2009, a month after Beng Hock's death. If this piece of evidence is added into factoring the inquest, then I surmised that Teoh's death is clearly a homicide by nature, third-degree interrogation tactics involved and an accident happened that those involved could not save Beng Hock in time from an intimidation stunt gone wrong.

Note: This excerpt page appeared in Malaysia Today, 20 August 2009,

One of the questions posed is: who is Hishamuddin Hashim mentioned in that letter? According to Utusan Borneo, he is currently the state MACC chief of Negeri Sembilan. Reported for appointment as on  18 May 2010 here. Personally, I do not think that this is a doctored letter. Why would this letter be written with a MACC letterhead above? I can think that there are at least independent-thinking MACC officers who think that the wrongs must be righted to restore the organisation's credibility. The photo above was also from that Utusan Borneo piece (actually a Foto Bernama).

I know. I know that Nazri has been asking people to "stay calm" not to speculate further in the aftermath of the inquest thing, but I was convinced that the smoking gun above actually would solve the entire puzzle and mystery to Beng Hock's death. The dead can speak to us you know. If we have seen dreams, meeting with dead ones in dreams and ask whatever question you wish to know, there is no answer, for they are forbidden to do so.

The UMNO Boogeyman Games in Tenang Has Begun!

According to Harakah, there are leaflets, indirectly pointing to UMNO that has been circulating around the town of Tenang, ahead of the nomination on 22 January that obviously contains the cliche elements of fear at the voters. The leaflets, obviously said that DAP is anti-Islam will ban azans, PAS politics are bad and so forth. The circulation of these leaflets obviously would start at first at FELDA areas in that district because FELDA forms part of the 42 percentage of total voters in Tenang.

Unfortunately, I could not find an English version of this piece, so I would provide you an excerpt here, the rest is from the Harakah Malay version link.

Risalah tidak bertuan yang mula tersebar di Dewan Undangan Negeri (Dun) Tenang bertujuan mempengaruhi pengundi Melayu, dakwa Ketua Pemuda PAS Johor, Khairul Faizi Ahmad Kamil.


Beliau berkata, pihaknya ada melihat risalah berbentuk buku kecil bertajuk DAP anti-Islam dan 'Khawarij dan Politik PAS' itu namun belum terserempak dengan individu yang melakukan penyebaran itu.

"Sekarang ini dah mula banyak risalah tidak bertuan mula disebarkan di Felda dan nampaknya risalah tu lebih kepada nak mempengaruhi pengundi Melayu.

"Banyak risalah yang kita jumpa telah diedarkan yang ditinggalkan di kedai-kedai makan, bukan sedang diedarkan. Jadi kita tidak boleh tuduh sesiapa sebab tak ada nama," katanya ketika dihubungi Harakahdaily hari ini.

Menurut beliau, yang merupakan Pengarah Keselamatan Pemuda PAS negeri, pihaknya tidak akan teragak-agak membawa perkara itu kepada pihak polis sekiranya menjumpai individu yang melakukan perbuatan itu.

"Kita minta unit keselamatan pemuda, sekiranya menjumpai risalah yang disebarkan, kita ambil dan buang.

"Kalau kita jumpa mana-mana pihak yang menyebar risalah ini kita tidak akan teragak-agak untuk bawa mereka kepada pihak polis kerana risalah ini lebih kepada menyampaikan fitnah kepada masyarakat," katanya.

Ujarnya, kemunculan risalah-risalah fitnah ini lebih wajar diberi perhatian berbanding menuduh PAS mula turun berkempen.

"Dalam media Umno BN tuduh PAS mula berkempen. Memang kita turun tapi atas nama parti ataupun organisasi seperti melancarkan jentera pilihan raya dan sebagainya. Itu perkara biasa.

"Tapi ada pihak yang turun tanpa menamakan diri mereka siapa dan mengedarkan risalah. Ini satu kempen yang tidak sihat," katanya.

Sebelum ini, sebuah portal berita melaporkan Pengerusi Majlis Pimpinan Negeri PKR Johor, Datuk Chua Jui Meng mendedahkan penyebaran risalah fitnah ini di sekitar Dun Tenang.

Risalah DAP anti Islam mengandungi nota yang bertulis DAP akan mengharamkan azan, majlis maulidur rasul dan sebagainya jika Pakatan Rakyat memerintah.

The police has no doubt, unknowingly and indirectly has played their part of the boogeyman game by stopping various public speeches by Anwar and PR. Sure, whenever Anwar starts to talk, the police would come in. Of course, these people had to obey orders from the superiors otherwise, they would find themselves in disciplinary investigations and punishments for insubordination. My gut feeling is that whoever the superior that handles this matter is surely taking orders from a big man who is carrying the party membership card - hand me down order that is and the saying that Anwar is too hot to handle in Tenang. FELDA communities there are very interested to hear what Anwar and PR would say because of ANAK, standing for the FELDA community rights. According to Malaysiakini, FELDA Cempelak drew about 3000 people but many got blocked by the police.

UMNO screams at Malay politicians from opposition parties for not propagating the Ketuanan Melayu concept. They call those people traitors to the Malay race, traitors to the Nation, etc. All those calling names are always the second step that they would use to scare the normal Malay citizens of the danger of losing Malay rights and so forth. But the term Malay rights never existed in Article 153! They are hoping that many, who do not have the knowledge of the Federal constitution would panic over such fear-mongering. If a politician says that, then:

a)  either the man doesn't bother to read the Federal Constitution - a LAZY thinker. OR

b)  if the man knows but says that, then he / she is trying to lie to everyone. Menipu Melayu that is.

In fact you can go out and buy a book, English or Malay version and read it for yourselves to see what they claim is true or not. Sure, every bookstore from MPH sells that at an affordable price. No way it can be too expensive for one...And of course those who would say that are those deservedly called by Singapore (in the Wikileaks thing) as incompetent politicians and people who are bankrupt of ideas.

No need for me to repeat this and I must compliment RPK for releasing a new style of presenting the audience in his No Holds Barred column: podcast. Interestingly, the podcast is in Malay and it would be nice if people get their hands on the recording and listen in plain Malay for the sake of the majority of the audience and for those who have problems in understanding English of course.

I for one for once a while would encourage people to do a little searching around the net, since broadband penetration in Malaysia has hit more than 50 percent. What people can do is to look for not politician videos, but civil society videos, e.g Hishamuddin Rais videos that do speak similar subjects in that but in Malay as to get the idea.

Awakening For The Young Generation

The following is a manifest written by a young generation person from GAZA. 

It is high time for the young generation to see the awakening and take it over from the older generation. 

DEMOCRACIES IN 2011

Layla Anwar

An Arab Woman Blues , January 1, 2011 

Seriously, what does Democracy mean ?

What does it REALLY mean ? Freedom of Speech and Majority Rule ?

Someone define that fucking word to me. Because after 7 years of liberation, I still don't get it.

What does democracy mean ?

The grocer next door is selling toilet paper called Freedom and Democracy. Bought a roll in hard currency....he said to me - only dollars will do.

I found the paper too hard on my ass...

Went back to him, complaining, said to him - this paper is too hard on my soft skin. He told me the price was worth paying...

He had memorized the Madeleine Albright democrat cunt a few years prior...who stated when over half a million soft skins of Iraqi babes went blank with death, that American democratic cunt said - she said - the price was worth it

What does your fucking word - your fucking democracy - mean ? apart from some sore ass caught in some freedom dungeon...apart from a mass grave for children.

"Fuck Hamas. Fuck Israel. Fuck Fatah. Fuck UN. Fuck UNWRA. Fuck USA! We, the youth in Gaza, are so fed up with Israel, Hamas, the occupation, the violations of human rights and the indifference of the international community!

"We want to scream and break this wall of silence, injustice and indifference like the Israeli F16s breaking the wall of sound; scream with all the power in our souls in order to release this immense frustration that consumes us because of this fucking situation we live in...

"We are sick of being caught in this political struggle; sick of coal-dark nights with airplanes circling above our homes; sick of innocent farmers getting shot in the buffer zone because they are taking care of their lands; sick of bearded guys walking around with their guns abusing their power, beating up or incarcerating young people demonstrating for what they believe in; sick of the wall of shame that separates us from the rest of our country and keeps us imprisoned in a stamp-sized piece of land; sick of being portrayed as terrorists, home-made fanatics with explosives in our pockets and evil in our eyes; sick of the indifference we meet from the international community, the so-called experts in expressing concerns and drafting resolutions but cowards in enforcing anything they agree on; we are sick and tired of living a shitty life, being kept in jail by Israel, beaten up by Hamas and completely ignored by the rest of the world.

"There is a revolution growing inside of us, an immense dissatisfaction and frustration that will destroy us unless we find a way of canalising this energy into something that can challenge the status quo and give us some kind of hope.

"We barely survived the Operation Cast Lead, where Israel very effectively bombed the shit out of us, destroying thousands of homes and even more lives and dreams. During the war we got the unmistakable feeling that Israel wanted to erase us from the face of the Earth. During the last years, Hamas has been doing all they can to control our thoughts, behaviour and aspirations. Here in Gaza we are scared of being incarcerated, interrogated, hit, tortured, bombed, killed. We cannot move as we want, say what we want, do what we want.

"ENOUGH! Enough pain, enough tears, enough suffering, enough control, limitations, unjust justifications, terror, torture, excuses, bombings, sleepless nights, dead civilians, black memories, bleak future, heart-aching present, disturbed politics, fanatic politicians, religious bullshit, enough incarceration! WE SAY STOP! This is not the future we want! We want to be free. We want to be able to live a normal life. We want peace. Is that too much to ask?"

Yes, We Forget That Easily

"Malays forget easily", as what Dr. Mahathir lamented in the 2001 UMNO General Assembly when he noticed that despite all the help and advantages given to the Malay community, they still failed to stand up the respectable level and that should be of par with the other community. Perhaps it is the complacency from given tons of leverages and advantages and unwillingness to show the zeal and example of the Chinese who managed to get past the disadvantages on their own way that makes them a race that fell behind the others. The Confuciunism concept of fishing by yourself after being taught to fish to feed oneself could not be applied to them. 

I suppose this is why they still remain behind after more than 50 years of independence. Perhaps a few adjectives of what Hishamuddin Rais would describe apply to this context: lazy, complacent, fearful, etc... If the adjectives doesn't make sense, just watch all his videos on Youtube as to get the picture of what I'm talking about.

UMNO is dragging the royalty into politics for their own purposes. Look at what happened to Perak. I was always certain that Sultan Azlan was dragged into the politics cesspool, held at leverage point by UMNO and had to do contradict his own principles for the sake of keeping the royal family safe. Likewise, this is similar to the Selangor situation. They are hoping to bank on Khusrin to screw up the administration as what Abdul Rahman Hashim did in Perak and in the process, drag the Sultan into the mess. I was certain that I have an answer to why these politkus from the mob group are relying nowadays with the royalty, whereas their UMNO themselves removed the royalty immunity in the 1993 crisis.

Note: The 18 January 1993 Hansard featuring Dr. M's speech on immunity removal is available on archive here.

The crisis started because of the conduct of the royals themselves. The 1992 assault on the late Douglas Gomez by the late Sultan of Johor was the last straw of all. Crimes that the royals are immune too at that time is somewhat unfair to those who have been victimized. Which was the reason of the removal. And with that removal, it can be seen from one point of view, that a layman / or a common person can go and sue against the royalty if there is a valid reason for misconduct on their side.

Sounds like more hypocrisy that if BN acts like that manner, but if Pakatan decides to act (given that law is after the 1993 amendment) against a royal on that misconduct, BN would scream and rant like a wild dog or something and they started ranting about bringing back royal immunity. It is not a crazy thing to do. This is because, most BN men, who enjoy economics and gains from patronage style starts to lose a lot of money from that means when if a Pakatan government rules the state. Selangor is the cash cow for the national reserves. The royalty is seen by some as the barrier to protect their own economic interests.

Today, Nizar warned of waning Malay support to the Selangor state govenment by disputing the appointment of Khusrin, the present Pakatan Selangor is risked being branded as a traitor and undermining the royalty. However, this is what UMNO and the Malay presses want. They are hoping to hoodwinked the Malay community by saying bullshit: that anyone who challenges United Malays National Organisation (who claims to monopolize Malay) is a traitor to the religion, royalty. Disputing and challenging royalty is nothing new. 

But haven't they forgotten themselves that they did that before, way long back but forgotten? Melayu mudah lupa, right?

Malaysia's What's Want To See in 2011

1. Snap election fever, second quarter 2011
2. United Malays National Organisation getting humble pies...
3. Our Malay friends waking up from the cheats and being lied upon.
4. Likely economic disasters to be happening despite all that assurance.
5. The awareness of right of inverse surveillance by citizens on government instituitions for balance checking.
6. Robin Hood mania in Sarawak is over where Taib Mahmud goes down... (state elections, mah!)
7. A new social awareness change, where some change is needed already. Period.

As for me, I only wrote 9 months out of 1 year of postings and this time, I need to catch back already. Starting today. Twittering? Not yet, but could be jumping in the next time round.

Happy New Year 2011!

 

Wishing readers out there a happy new year 2011!

Got Nothing To Do Meh? Complain Teo Did This, Teo Did That..

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 – A Masjid Taman Cheras Jaya official said today it had no problem with how Teo Nie Ching was dressed during an aerobics exercise programme recently in the mosque’s car park, even as Umno stepped up criticisms against the DAP MP for her “tight-fitting” clothes.

The Serdang MP (picture) was photographed recently in a T-shirt and track pants while taking part in the aerobics session, and this was seized on by the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia to accuse her of violating the sanctity of the mosque for wearing allegedly tight-fitting clothes and not covering her aurat.

“We do not have any problem at all with YB Teo’s attire,” Masjid Taman Cheras Jaya committee chairman Azman Idris told The Malaysian Insider today.

“Covering the aurat is applicable only to Muslims. So, the issue of covering the aurat is not applicable to YB Teo,” he added.

The Malay daily published a front-page story yesterday with the headline “Teo Nie Ching makes trouble again” along with a picture of her exercising with men and women at Masjid Taman Cheras Jaya during a recent Maal Hijrah carnival.

Today, an Utusan Malaysia column said females were required to wear clothes which covered their aurat, and not “shorts or sexy clothes”.

Azman, however, claimed that the issue of covering the aurat in a mosque was not explicitly defined in Islamic teachings.

“When it comes to the mosque, it is called an in-house regulation,” said Azman.

“We also did this (exercise) activity in the car park area, not in the mosque. I don’t see any issue,” he added.

**********

It's very simple to summarize: Utusan has totally nothing to do apart from whining about things that is none-government friendly. In this case, what they are whining about is not following the government-style / methodology of Islam. Hold on, if I say government-approved / style, does this means also turning one blind eye on corruption despite others saw with their own eyes and proof? Does that also mean that because Najib is visiting a church as his duty as a Prime Minister of all Malaysians that you can't do hymns, prayers of their own?

Has Utusan really forgotten what's it like to be in the morning Monday school assembly, where there is Doa recital, that other non-Malay students respect off? Does that mean that you are telling every other MPs doing their duty that they cannot do this whatsoever, despite that they have been clearly being invited?

I remembered that the chief-editor provides his weekly opinion on paper on Sundays in most papers in person. Take, W.C.W from The Star, Rocky from Malay Mail, and  a few others. But Awang Selamat? I tried to Google in images to see if there is any picture of the guy, and everyone says that he's a pseduonym of many editors. Wouldn't dare to show his face, I suppose? 

The only one summary statement here is that these people are those who do not have the actual social mentality. And Najib's aides, who were involved in the arrangement with the Church over the Christmas visit there is also another example of people with no respect for other religions. I saw that as bulldozing a religion over another religion and maybe somewhat being taught of the things that they claim to be wrong, but in actual fact correct. 

That's problem with people who are lazy to think and to read, instead relying on hearsays to make decisions. Try doing that on a society that has a higher social mentality and you get your ass laughed off.

Ini semua betul betul malaon....

Another Enron Thing?

People discovered fraud in Enron, and so should the people here. Do you see the whole thing looks familiar to the Enron situation before? Check it out here.

Pakatan's Handicap Match vs BN And How They Blew It

1. No need for me to elaborate further than to say that Pakatan officially has 3 parties compared to Barisan Nasional that has 14 component parties together. This means that they have bigger resources for campaigning and they don't even give a shit on the election budget of campaigning, as stipulated by law -  a maximum of RM 100K / 200K per candidate, depending on whether it's state or parliament level. And in the aspect of manpower, it has become clear that PR is outnumbered 5 to 1. 

2. Recently, several quarters including MCLM and Human Rights Party Malaysia have come forward to offer themselves qualified candidates that could help to booster the young coalition. The Waythamoorthy brothers-led HRP have offered 15 candidates to stand in Indian-populated Parliamentary seats - which is better if they are to go head to head vs MIC. MCLM is going to offer at most 30 candidates to contest in the general elections. The Socialist party too have done that already, and they have got representatives in Kota Damansara and Sungai Siput.

3. The one thing that is sure from this is that these people can contest under the PR ticket. The only catch is that they have the right to say yes or no to whatever the party's decision on some policies and so forth. It is a give and take thing that PR has yet to come to terms. Batu Sapi would not have become a three-corner fight if Anwar gives Teck Lee all the clear run to contest in that area itself.

4. Many people still misinterpret these groups as the "third force" despite clear debunking of the claims by several people including Haris. These parties in are not trying to spoil the vote or to make the contest a three-corner fight. Instead the main objective is to supplement the pool of candidates available instead of having one politician being in two places, e.g: Teresa Kok, Khalid Ibrahim, Azmin Ali etc..Basic fighting strategy tells us that you are in a severe disadvantage at start of the fight if you do not have enough numbers to face multiple opponents in a fight. Though I clearly see a misinterpreting sign by the

5. Sometime ago, Barisan Nasional has major infighting in several component parties that is hardly reported on the main mass media. Unfortunately, Pakatan was still unable to seize the advantage and instead got themselves into infighting, particularly during the PKR elections itself. Fallouts and rages still keep going on and on, with the latest being Gobalakrishnan whacking Anwar Ibrahim left and right. What makes it more worse is that PR is unable to discern its enemies and its allies properly.  There are backstabbers out there where they can be hinted by saying all those sweet words that can make someone  getting too complacent. This is illustrating by saying that those who are willing to help PR out is sabotaging their efforts compared to UMNO. But remember, many supported PR not because of their love for the group by it's simply out of the hate of Barisan Nasional.

6. The frog-leaping cases of politicians jumping to the mob group is a consequence of the problem.

7. If I am called out for a cup of coffee to give an honest opinion on this subject, I would say "Screw You. You Blew It". They are not able to understand even the basics of fighting your opponent. By making the wuss out of the MCLM and other parties who wish to help but instead giving a tell tale sign of snubbing, they are making things worse for themselves. "Taking over Putrajaya" plan that they crave of will just end up as a pipe dream.There are some, if such thing happens that PR should deserved it, would end up saying sarcastically to them, "I told you so."

8. This is a very interesting take or leave offer. The first situation of PR is that being in a handicap situation, outnumbered and insufficient resources to fight in the long run. Last I heard, the door remains open for PR to come in a sit down on a table with MCLM by the third week of January. As of now, I see no reply to HRP's offer of the 15 seats and securing of Indian votes. The Indian mindset is primarily deciding on the present situation, not future or the past. Currently it's messy with the killing each other necks right now. Imagine if the fight becomes 14 vs 8 or 9, then I can say the chances of winning gets a little better. 

9. If I am in the shoes of a big man of the coalition, I would start talking with HRP first then others and then churn out a win-win power sharing agreement. The power-sharing offer must already be in hand before starting the talks.

10. Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia's decision on not participating, though they could  have add to the numbers of evening the playing field, is something that is not right. If they go and speak in ceramahs, they are facing the same AUKU thing. But are they ready to take the risks under the AUKU act? It is clearly that they too perceived the idea of MCLM as a Third Force, whereas it is actually not.

If RPK calls PR Niamah, then I say Screw U.

Tenang Could Be Like Bagan Pinang Again!

The next by-election at Tenang is somewhat feels like back in Bagan Pinang simply because of a few reasons I can think of. No, it is not totally a carbon copy of what really happened in there in October last year, but you can see the similarities: nightly campaign talks, both campaigning parties are offering whatever they would promise if they are elected and so forth. But of course, from my 2 trips to Port Dickson, witnessing big BN tents in 8th mile of Port Dickson, I can say it's a same feeling as there.

Below, I would be putting some initial notes and comments that are likely to happen in Tenang:

1. It all comes to picking the right candidate for Pakatan Rakyat. It doesn't matter who's the BN candidate, but it all matters into picking the candidate from which party. If a PAS candidate is picked, a repeat of the previous attempt, chances are PAS will not win again, and the winning margin that BN could win is a little higher than the previous round. The mistake that Pakatan made in Bagan Pinang was sending in a PAS man in an area with a mix spread of population. Tenang is 47/38/15 spread of Malay/Chinese/Others, so putting a PAS is similar of a buffalo facing against a Sherman tank - virtually a suicide move there. On the other hand, a PKR candidate there can likely reduce the win majority for BN or pulling a surprise win as in Sibu. 

2. The reason BN won Bagan Pinang is not because of how much they offered, but it was the popularity factor, the Isa Samad factor, just as the Anwar Ibrahim popularity factor in Permatang Pauh. But in Tenang, that popularity factor is not there, so there's some bit of level playing field in this aspect. 

3.  Tenang surely has some FELDA estates there, so we can anticipate debates between FELDA and ANAK. Now that Isa Samad is taking over as Felda chairman next year onwards, we can see a battle of "who wins this round" game that can sway votes to PR or to BN. As what Hishamuddin Rais said, Mak Cik and Pak Cik Felda mostly has no clue and most of them will hear about BN and no idea of what PR would do. Penentration in there? Maybe for PR, if they can play smart and tactically. Isa would definitely try to explain the Felda issue on the ground. However, Isa's appointment is more or less to pacify him - since Isa has the first hand knowledge of Najib's affair with a singer in Port Dickson in 2006.

4. It is high likely Boogeyman tactics employed by UMNO and MCA in particular, since Johor is mainly the first UMNO and a BN stronghold. What I mean by Boogeyman tactics is for instance, UMNO will tell the Malay voters that if they vote for PR, they risk losing their own racial rights and dignity to the ghosts - the Chinese in particular. That is one of the cases. A friend of mine, originally from Batu Pahat  once related to me of something similar that above: the Chinese community, though thinking and mentality may differ and wantechange, but they are constantly told of these adjective words : "unfaithful", "unappreciative", etc... To cut the elaboration short, social mentality and awareness is not as high as in other states.

5. What Anthony Loke said about the aim of reducing majority is much more important than winning the seat. Going for a win is a bonus but to start the campaign for a win is chewing more than what you can take.

Additional material: Hishamuddin Rais - Kekalahan Jadi Kemenangan