Pak Lah and Malaysia

While switching on the TV awhile ago, I was shocked to find out that famous blogger, Raja Petra will appear live on RTM1 tomorrow night, Sunday 27th April. I just feel that he should just stick to his Malaysia-Today blog. To me it is just a waste of air time to watch him on tv.

Frankly speaking, if we look at the trend of what is happening now, Pak Lah's so-called reform agenda is actually paving the way for the opposition to win the next general election. The trend is already there. Sadly, this is a government with no clear sense of direction. More than a month have passed on since the disastrous election result for Barisan Nasional and yet I still don't know where Pak Lah is heading. It's as if business as usual for him. It has now come to the point that even when Pak Lah does something good, the people just don't have faith anymore in him. I hope that he won't be re-elected at this year's UMNO party election.

Pak Lah's so-called reform agenda reminds me to an article by Isham Rais in his 'Dari Jelebu' column in Malaysia-Today, 'Dolah dan Gorby – Perestroika dan Glasnot'.

..Seperti Gorby, Abdullah Badawi merasakan telah sampai masanya ruang demokrasi dibuka dan satu penstrukturan baru wajib dilakukan. Abdullah sedang melihat jalan buntu di hadapan Putrajaya. Apa yang sedang kita lihat hari ini adalah hasil empat tahun dasar perestroika dan glasnot Abdullah Badawi..

Hishamuddin Rais has made a good comparison of Pak Lah's so-called democratisation, openness and reform agenda with former Russian USSR President, Mikhail Gorbachev. As an overview to this issue, in the 1980s, Gorbachev has launched a series of reform in terms of governance, social freedom, media and economy (Glosnost and Perestroika). Some of the effects of this reform were that, the Communist government relaxed its censorship on the media and soon after, the media took the opportunity to expose social and economic problems by the Soviet government. Gorbachev's economic reform by introducing an 'open market' system too has not really gone down well with the public. It was dogged down with many problems. This has caused the public to lose faith in the Soviet government.

Gorbachev's original goal to reform the Soviet Union has finally proved to be a failure when later in 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved. If we look back at the Soviet's history in the 1980s, the collapse of the Soviet Union has actually began in 1985, the moment Gorbachev introduced the Glosnost and Perestroika policy.

So basically, my view is that if UMNO does not listen to the calls for Pak Lah to resign or clearly spell out the transition plan immediately, I believe this is what is going to happen in the next 4 or 5 years (or maybe by end of this year if what Anwar's claim is true). A clear reform is needed not only by UMNO but the BN as a whole. History has shown that many dominant political parties who ruled for decades had lost. A few examples would be the Kuomintang in Taiwan, Indian Congress Party and the latest being the Colorado Party in Paraguay which lost the election to the Patriotic Alliance for Change coalition after ruling Paraguay for 61 years.

Isham Rais concluded his article by saying;

Saya yakin rakyat akan mempertahankan glasnot dan perestroika untuk memunculkan Vladimir Putin dengan parti barunya. Pilihan rakyat ini akan membuka era pencerahan di Malaysia.

While he seems to acknowledge and suggest that Pak Lah's openness policy (which I see it as Pak Lah's weaknesses) will subseqently benefit the opposition parties, I just hope that the 8 March election results is not the end of a new beginning.

Related article
'The Age of the Sledgehammer' by Karim Raslan
Umno leaders should learn from Asia's other once dominant parties who lost office but were able to reinvent themselves and regain power..

Pak Lah oh Pak Lah?

Malaysiakini: Anwar says he's moving toward forming new government
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim today said he was moving towards forming a new government after landmark elections, with the help of defectors from the ruling coalition.

I just don't understand how Pak Lah can be so in denial about the election results. Barisan Nasional lost 5 states (According to sources, all these five states contributes to about 60% of the national GDP) And yet he can claimed that BN still have the support and 'close to winning two thirds majority in parliament'. Doesn't he know that this is the first time that there were a significant swing of votes not only from the Chinese and Indians but the Malays as well, which had never happened before. In 1999, when the Malay votes were split between BN and the opposition, the non-Malays stood behind BN. In the 1969 general election, even though the non Malays voted against the then Alliance party, the Malay vote is still strong and they only lost two states, Penang and Kelantan. Unless if there is nothing serious being done, the prospect of BN future under Pak Lah is, sadly going down.

For the next two three months, Anwar's steps will definitely be closely watched.
On another note, former Semangat 46 president, Ku Li is challenging Pak Lah for the UMNO presidency. Though I very much doubt Ku Li can still make an impact, I hope his challenge will at least show to Pak Lah that there are plenty of things that are not well in UMNO.

MP for Gua Musang Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has made public his intent to challenge Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the presidency. He has offered himself to lead Umno to “heal the party”, which he described to be "in a bad way.”
While acknowledging that his advancing age might be used against him, the 71-year-old former Finance Minister, who held the Gua Musang parliamentary seat since 1969, expressed willingness to take up the challenge if he was given the opportunity. [full report]

Malaysian Cabinet 2008

So Pak Lah has announced his list of cabinet members which are much smaller in size compared to the 2004 XXL size cabinet. Besides the fact that Rafidah Aziz is out for the first time in approx. 30 years and also for the first time Wanita Umno does not have a real Minister in cabinet (Shahrizat was appointed as the PM's Special Advisor), one of the first thing that I noticed in the list is that - Dafi AF6's father is in the list (??). Umno Bera MP, Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakub is the new Youth and Sports Minister. I think he is perhaps one of the lesser known Youth and Sports Minister in recent years. This ministry used to have big names previously, e.g. Azalina and Hishamuddin.

On another note, few days before the election I was expecting to see Datuk Dr Noraessah Mohamed, former Bank Rakyat Chairman, to be one of the Minister in Pak Lah's cabinet, but sadly she lost to an unknown PKR candidate in Balik Pulau with a small majority.

Looking at the list, one cannot miss the presence of many Sarawak and Sabah MPs being appointed as Minister or Deputies. All thanks to them for ensuring that the Barisan Nasional rules Malaysia.

Another significant change in the lineup is that, for the first time the Parliament Secretary post is scrapped, in order to make way for the Deputies to hold larger responsibilities in parliament.

Click to view list of Malaysian Cabinet 2008

Malaysian General Election II

Mengikuti perkembangan politik semasa tanah air, semakin geram dibuatnya melihatkan tingkah laku DAP yang terang-terang sudah menunjukkan belangnya walaupun majlis angkat sumpah di negeri Perak belum lagi bermula. PAS dan PKR adalah parti oportunis yang jelas. Kerana kuasa, mereka sanggup diperkudakan DAP di Perak. Kerana ingin menjadi kerajaan mereka sanggup bersekongkol dengan parti yang terang-terang menolak Islam. Tapi PAS tak peduli semua ini. Asalkan dapat kalahkan UMNO dan BN. Asalkan MB Perak orang PAS. Lim Kit Siang dengan angkuh sombong dan berlagaknya telah terang-terangan menghina pimpinan PAS dan Sultan Perak apabila tidak bersetuju dengan lantikan Menteri Besar calon PAS pilihan baginda tuanku. Setelah menerima desakan semua pihak barulah beliau memohon maaf kepada Tuanku Sultan Perak.

Dia ni tak tahu agaknya bahawa di Perak ramai penyokong PAS telah pangkah parti Roket ini? Tapi apa PAS buat? Tak buat apa. Sebab apa? Calon MB Perak orang dia. Tak kisah kerajaan sebenarnya dikuasai DAP. Dapat jadi MB boneka pun tak apalah. PAS dan PKR ni agaknya kalau bekerjasama dengan parti Yahudi pun mereka sanggup agaknya, asalkan UMNO kalah. DAP juga seolah tak faham sensitiviti masyarakat Melayu di Perak apabila pada awalnya menuntut 8 jawatan Exco negeri diberi kepada DAP. Gila! Saya tak mahu membangkitkan isu perkauman di sini, tetapi realitinya majoriti negeri Perak adalah Melayu, maka keseimbangan kaum dalam kerajaan negeri itu seharusnya mencerminkan keadaan sebenar! Di sini kita nampak keangkuhan DAP yang jelas dan nyata! Nasib baik Timbalan Pengerusi PKR, Dr. Syed Hussin Ali, berani bersuara mengugut keluar dari pakatan kerajaan Perak atas isu jawatan Exco ini. (Dalam masa saya menulis ini, isu pembahagian Exco antara DAP-PKR-PAS sudah diselesaikan)

Dalam satu senario lain pula, saya menyokong penuh isi kandungan surat tulisan Mukhriz Mahathir (surat Mukhriz) yang mendesak Pak Lah agar berundur. Dalam pada masa pemimpin parti-parti komponen BN, seperti MCA dan Gerakan masing-masing sudah mengaku bertanggungjawab sepenuhnya di atas kekalahan teruk BN dan mengambil langkah proaktif untuk merintis perubahan dalaman parti, di pihak UMNO pula, apa yang kedengaran hanyalah suara-suara bodek membodek oleh pemimpin-pemimpin di sekeliling Pak Lah. Dalam pada masa pemangku Presiden Parti Gerakan, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon dan Presiden MCA, Ong Ka Ting, sudah menerima tanggungjawab penuh di atas kekalahan teruk parti mereka, tak ada langsung, diulang semula, tak ada langsung kenyataan Pak Lah yang mengatakan dia bertanggungjawab di atas kekalahan teruk Barisan Nasional, di mana Pak Lah adalah Presidennya. Pak Lah pernah kata dulu, katalah yang benar walaupun kenyataan itu pahit. Tapi apa Pak Lah buat sekarang? Pak Lah cuma mahu dengar apa yang dia nak dengar saja - bodek-bodek oleh para pemimpin yang berkepentingan.

Memetik kata-kata pensyarah saya. "BN perlu lakukan perubahan! Selagi Pak Lah ada, keadaan akan tetap sama. Pak Lah perlu letak jawatan dan bertanggungjawab penuh dan Khairy tidak harus diberikan jawatan kabinet!"

Malaysia di zaman Pak Lah membuatkan saya tertanya-tanya banyak kali, ke mana hala tuju Pak Lah nak bawa Malaysia ni? Sayangnya apabila Tun Dr. Mahathir telah menyediakan tapak dan landasan yang jelas buat Pak Lah sambung, tetapi malangnya semuanya hancur..

Kenyataan Tun Dr. Mahathir adalah sangat tepat apabila beliau mengatakan bahawa kerajaan yang lemah (majoriti BN di parlimen hanya 63%. BN menang pun hanyalah dengan ihsan kerusi-kerusi tetap Sabah Sarawak) adalah tidak sihat untuk masyarakat berbilang kaum seperti Malaysia. Sebab apa? Sebabnya apabila kerajaan lemah, apabila kerajaan sentiasa merasa terancam oleh pihak pembangkang, mereka sentiasa memikirkan cara untuk kekal berkuasa, atau dalam kata lain, tumpuan akan lebih tertumpu kepada hal-hal politiking, hal-hal mengumpul pengaruh maka dengan ini perancangan dan pelaksanaan pembangunan negara tertolak ke tepi dan tak dapat dilaksanakan dengan efisien.

Gosip politik sekarang ialah Anwar kini sedang dalam proses melakukan coup de tat, dengan cubaan memujuk (baca: membeli) wakil-wakil rakyat BN berpindah ke pembangkang di mana mereka hanya memerlukan 35 kerusi untuk membentuk majoriti mudah di parlimen? Sumber: http://beritakmu.net Kesahihah diragui. Wallahua'lam.

Ke mana, Malaysia?

Malaysian General Election

Barely two days left to go for the big day. Frankly speaking, to me voting in an election in Malaysia is like choosing between the lesser of two evils. There is no clear and obvious right or wrong side. But I'm no fence sitter. I've already made my decision long time ago. Come this Saturday, I'll cast my vote for the parliament seat of Kelana Jaya and the state seat of Subang Jaya. The Kelana Jaya parliament seat will see a three-cornered fight between Barisan Nasional (BN); Mr. Lee Hwa Beng,former Subang Jaya assemblyman, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR); the famous Lingam photographer, Loh Gwo Burne and independent candidate, Billi Lim.

If you ask me, I'll tell you straight away, who is this Gwo Burne fellow before the Lingam trial? Where? What was he doing? Admittedly, I admire his courage for stepping up to become one of the witness in the Lingam trial. But what has that got to do with him standing up as an opposition candidate? PKR is just capitalising on his popularity of the Lingam saga. Nothing else. I'd rather cross my vote for the independent candidate, Billi Lim than this fellow. Billi Lim might get some sympathy votes from the fence sitters, perhaps. Lee Hwa Beng has a long proven track record here, so I feel this should be an easy win for BN and Lee Hwa Beng.

As an experienced three term assemblyman, he should have it easy this time around. Maybe there would be some swing votes among the disgruntled voters here, but to me I just don't have faith in the PKR candidate for Kelana Jaya. And same goes for the PKR and Anwar Ibrahim! It is not that I'm a big supporter of Pak Lah. No. It's just that I have no love lost for Anwar or Hadi Awang. Period. Anwar? He has already missed the golden opportunity to be Prime Minister. Thank goodness he didn't become one. I'll post some more soon, maybe.

Later.