politicians – Page 23 – SeaDemon Says

November 21, 2016November 21, 2016

The Pleb Versus The Noblemen

Whoever is familiar with the study of the Constitution would know Walter Bagehot, an editor, economist and political analyst who also wrote a book called ‘The English Constitution.’ There is one apposite quote of his that I thought befits the current situation and that is:

“Nothing is more unpleasant that a virtuous person with a mean mind.”

The above quote refers to that man who claims to be virtuous but really is the epitome of evil; so evil that Pharaohs would have sought help from God’s Prophets to free them from this person – Mahathir Mohammad.

We have had noblemen leading this country, shining a light upon the path in which this nation walks even through its darkest hour. Tunku Abdul Rahman was the son of the 25th Sultan of Kedah, Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid. Tun Abdul Razak was the son of the 9th Orang Kaya Indera Shahbandar of Pahang, Dato Hussein bin Mohd Taib. Tun Hussein Onn was the son of UMNO founder, Dato Onn Jaafar who was the Menteri Besar of Johor.

I was priveleged some time back to a chat with Professor Anthony Milner, a researcher from the Australian National University, an Emeritus Professor, School of Culture, History & Language of the ANU, on the topic of the Malays. We were discussing the origin of the Malays and the ‘Rajas Melayu.’ Interesting to note that our paths converged when we both agreed that the Malays refer to a collection of people of the Nusantara spanning from the borders of Polynesia and Melanesia to Sumatra, who pledged allegiance to the Rajas whose respective dominions were all that they could survey. It was only when political boundaries were defined in a clearer manner that the Malays were defined according to the nation that they lived in.

The antonym of a nobleman would be a commoner. The fourth Prime Minister was not born into the aristocracy like his predecessors, or a prominent religious family like his successor. In short, I would term him a pleb: a low-born, uncultured, coarse, rude, undistinguished – and a personal favourite: scum. His grandfather, Iskander Kutty hailed from the southern Indian state of Kerala. His father was from Pulau Pinang, a school principal.

Mahathir had nothing to show. He had nothing compared to his predecessors. This probably shaped the way he managed this country: through the rule of iron fist, autocratic, dictatorial, enriching cronies and nipotes to prepare him for the end of days. A man who has nothing has nothing to lose. Therefore, it was always his way, or the highway. He had this habit of making enemies everywhere, including the members of the royal households. And as James A Baldwin once said, “The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.”

One would have thought that this nonagenarian would spend the twilight moments of his miserable life repenting for the wrongs he had done, alas no! His perfervid hatred for the man who stands in between him and his undying ambition to ensure that his family would be remembered as an aristocratic bunch rather than the descendants of the evil-smelling Kutty whom had just gotten out of the stowage of a slave ship, has caused him to make a reciprocal turn on all his words, often filled with delusional tales to cloud the minds of those too young to remember anything bad about him. He has nothing to lose.

In 1867, Bagehot asserted in ‘The English Constitution‘ that the Constitution needed two parts: the dignified – to excite and preserve the reverence of the population’ and the other, the efficient – to ‘employ that homage in the work of government’. The monarch was the prime example of dignity in this sense and the Prime Minister and his cabinet of efficiency. Therefore, the monarch, while lacking executive power, had an important constitutional role.

But in 1993, Mahathir, being a pleb and an undignified one too, decided to encroach into the realm of the dignified. Mahathir amended the Federal Constitution with the aim of removing legal immunity of the royalty.The amendments were made at a time when the Malaysian monarchy witnessed a deteriorating relationship with the government (specifically Mahathir). Before the amendments were made, the Constitution granted rulers who have violated the law not to be prosecuted by the criminal court unless he voluntarily wishes to surrender his legal immunity.

This laid the royalty bare and are now subjected to public scrutiny, bringing the royalty and monarchy close to becoming irrelevant. As a result, members of the royalty have been seen to assiduously court public opinion after prolonged years of subservience to Mahathir’s rule (Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, Muhamad Takiyuddin Ismail (2013)).

Mahathir had nothing to lose. These were the Rajas Melayu. He need not show any allegiance to anything Malay as he is not truly one. UMNO was just a vehicle for him to have power in order to make riches. When UMNO went against him he had UMNO declared illegal in 1988. Then he created a new UMNO where playing fields were no longer level and he had automatic nominations as the President of UMNO. What is UMNO to him but just another Malay institution where he, the soupçon Malay felt no allegiance to.

Finally, the Sultan of Johor told Mahathir to shut up. Not once, but twice.

And Mahathir is never concerned about the people of Malaysia. Politics, to him, is what serves only him. Therefore, his call for the people to overthrow the government is a total reciprocal from his way of dealing with demonstrations against him during his premiership. And how was it during his time?

During his time, when people demonstrated against him, he appealed to the participants to use the ballot box to bring about their desired reform. What is his stand now? He incites people to force change undemocratically!

You can watch a video to see how Mahathir had Anwar Ibrahim arrested and the way he had the police to handle those who demonstrated against him when he was the Prime Minister.

As Lord Acton wrote in his letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton on the 5th April 1887:

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”

And in the case of Mahathir he is not just a bad man, but a pleb and a scum.

November 20, 2016November 20, 2016

Much Ado About Nothing

I remember waking up on a Sunday, 9th March 2008 it was, thinking how different life would be thenceforth. The Barisan Alternatif, the precursor to the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat had managed to wrestle the state of Srlangor where I live from the clutches of the Barisan Nasional, which also lost three other states, Pulau Pinang, Perak and Kedah. It was a situation difficult to fathom but I though to myself the voters had spoken and that the Barisan Alternatif had won these states fair and square and that democracy works.

Just four months before that, the Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih dan Adil (BERSIH) organised a rally demanding the clean-up of the electoral roll, use of indelible ink, abolition of the postal voting for military and police personnel, and free and fair access to the mass media for all political parties. Between 10,000 to 50,000 protesters attended the rally. On that note, the victory of the Barisan Alternatif in the four states underscored the fact that the election system and principle of democracy work in Malaysia.

Since then, BERSIH has seen their numbers dwindling. BERSIH 2.0 saw between 10,000 to 20,000 people attending this rally. BERSIH 3.0 again saw about 20,000 people attending while BERSH 4.0 saw between 29,000 to a peak of 50,000 people attending. With over 13 million registered voters in Malaysia those who attended the BERSIH rallies made up on 0.38 percent of the total number of voters – hardly a significant number.

Prinumi founder, Mahathir Mohammad, attended BERSIH 4.0, and declared his support for the movement. This is funny considering that when he was that capricious potentate for 22 years, he banned all protests and assemblies and locked away those who opposed him without any chance of a trial.

In an effort to bring Najib Razak down, Mahathir undertook an effort to get the people to sign his Deklarasi Rakyat and in May of this year declared that the declaration had gotten the signature of 1.27 million individuals. This is a significant number since it represented 9.77 percent of the number of total voters in Malaysia.

It was funny that Mahathir had chosen to make a grand entrance to join the BERSIH 5.0 participants – using a private jet. For someone whose battle cry include the fight against GST and rising cost of living, blaming government austerity drive for all that, he surely knows how to show those whom he lead the meaning of prudent spending.

One would have thought that with Mahathir’s participation, at least a million people would flood the streets of Kuala Lumpur, but that never materialised. only 15,500 participants attended the rally. That was all that Mahathir could muster – a meagre 31 percent of the previous BERSIH attendees. This is because people could see how big a hypocrite Mahathir is, and many stayed away because of his support.

Mahathir should realise that people can see through his lies and know better than to join in the farcical struggle to fight corruption. After all, he is the Father of Corruption. I did not say that. Anwar Ibrahim did. And Mahathir fighting against corruption is as hypocritical as having Lim Guan Eng, who has been charged in court for corruption, join BERSIH to fight corruption.

Let us face it. The only way to change a government democratically is through the ballot box. The 2008 and 2013 General Elections have proven so. Why demonstrate when it is much ado about nothing?

November 17, 2016

The Swedish Kroni

BERSIH seems to have changed their tactic to get the support of the masses from having sexy girls wearing their t-shirt to having an old man donning the latest t-shirt.

For all the hype that Mahathir’s done in support of his friends at BERSIH, the fossil will not be attending the rally on Saturday. Instead, he will be flying off to Sweden. And it won’t be the first time that he leaves the country after causing something bad.

19th November will also be the 31st anniversary of the Memali tragedy. Mahathir left the country a few days after that while his then-deputy Musa Hitam took all the flak for the mishandling of the event.

But why Sweden?

I found this. Perhaps he’s gone to get outside help again to run this country down.

November 16, 2016November 16, 2016

When God Is Not Lord

Oh! Here goes a Muslim trying to teach Christians about Christianity. I don’t see the wrong in doing so when I see Christians in the form of DAP politicians quoting the Quran teaching Muslims what ‘true Islam’ is. They even do so within mosques and suraus.
I was reading the Malaysia Outlook’s article on a Catholic activist telling Catholics to stay away from the BERSIH gathering on the 19th November 2016. The activist, Joseph Sta Maria has irked fellow Catholics by asking them to refrain from participating in Saturday’s gathering. Among the condemnations against Joseph include the following:

I find it amusing that some people think that Catholicism was borne out of politics. It wasn’t. Catholicism is the earliest form of Christianity that predates the First Council of Nicaea by 325 years! Followers of Jesus of Nazareth believes that Jesus is the son of God which is part if the Trinity concept. After Jesus was crucified and rose from the date, he appointed Peter as the leader, hence the very first Pope.

Joseph Sta Maria is the head of the Melaka Portuguese Community and was appointed as a representative of minority ethnic communities under the state Barisan Nasional’s social service unit (Pembela), an effort by Malacca Chief Minister Idris Haron to address the needs, and include the views, of minority communities.

Mixing religion with politics started when Anthony Bernard Paul, the Bishop for Melaka and Johor, openly made a statement in support of BERSIH.

The call by Bernard Paul for Christians to participate in the BERSIH rally invited the criticism by Parti Cinta Malaysia’s Vice President Huan Cheng Guan.

As a Bishop, said Huan, Bernard should focus more on church matters rather than meddling into political matters that were irrelevant to religion.

“Don’t bring religion into politics. It’s unwarranted. I think this is a half past six Bishop. Why urge the people to participate in Bersih rally?”
“A religious figure like him should not encourage the public to go for demonstration or rally. A highly respected religious figure, but he talks like an idiot,” blasted Huan.
I personally find Bernard Paul’s calling as an invitation to anarchy. He gave his reasons for his support of BERSIH which goes along the thinking of Christian supporters if gun rights in the US and Christians might wrongly twist these into excuses for disrespect and disobedience to authorities which is forbidden by God as given in the Bible.

“Every person is to be in the subjection of the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those in exist are eatablished by God.” (Romans 13:1)

The commandment is addressed to all mankind, without exception. Every person is included in this instruction—both believers and unbelievers. Every person is required to be in subjection to the governing authorities. Subjection certainly includes obedience, but it implies even more. Subjection focuses on the spirit or attitude of the individual, which leads to obedience. It recognizes an authority over us to which we are obliged to give not only our obedience but our respect. Whether democratic or autocratic, heathen or God-fearing, every government which has the power to rule over its people has been granted that power and authority by God.

Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

Of course there would still be thise Christians who would believe in Bernard Paul’s calling to the BERSIH rally more than God’s Bible. Given that Christians like Tony Pua, Hannah Yeoh and a few others who continue to lie despite calling themselves Christians, how many Christians actually believe in the Bible?

And how many would remember 2Corinthians 11:14?

“And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”

November 14, 2016

The Malay Barua

PKR’s habitual liar Rafizi Ramli has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for being in possession and publicly disclosing documents that have been classified under the Official Secrets Act, 1972. Rafizi, who is known for repeatedly dishing out lies for the public’s consumption, had been warned on several occassions that he would be committing an offence under the said Act if he chose to disclose the contents of the 1MDB audit report.

Rafizi likes to portray himself as a hero and whistleblower when all his employed methods have been going against the various respective laws. He probably felt invincible when in two previous cases involving the Prime Minister and wife, as well as the Deputy Prime Minister, he got away after the plaintiffs let him off provided he removed slanderous postings from his social media. Two weeks ago he was told to pay RM200,000 to the Chairman of the National Feedlot Company and to the Company for defamation. This time around, he has been found guilty in a criminal court and is therefore a convicted criminal.

Firdaus Azil of BERNAMA pointed out on Twitter that there are five Opposition lawmakers who have the same report in their possession – two from the DAP, two from PKR and one from PAS, yet none of them have disclosed anything. The five Opposition lawmakers include DAP’s hot-air balloon, Tony Pua, whom, as a member of the Public Accounts Commitee, has been very vocal on the 1MDB issue. Yet Tony has revealed nothing from the audit report. Firdaus asked his followers why hasn’t Tony Pua revealed any of the information he is privy to? The answer he gave is that Tony, as air-head as he may be, is not stupid.

Therefore my conclusion is simple: Tony creates all the hullabaloo and lets someone as drama queen and dumb as Rafizi to do his dirty job for him.

What then is Rafizi if not a Malay barua?

November 8, 2016

Minyak Habis Sambal Tak Enak

Dua bulan yang lepas saya telah menghadiri perjumpaan bekas Pegawai Kadet Tentera Udara DiRaja Malaysia yang dilatih di Sekolah Pegawai Kadet TUDM di TUDM Kinrara dan TUDM Subang. Antara perkataan yang terbit dalam ucapan-ucapan pada malam tersebut adalah perkataan MANTAN.’ Salah satu teori yang diketengahkan mengenai perkataan tersebut ialah ianya berasal dari Indonesia dan membawa maksud ‘Mundar mANdir tanpa jawaTAN.’ Teori kedua mencadangkan maksud ‘Manusia Tanpa Nafsu.’ Apa jua maksud yang tersirat nukilan saya pada malam ini adalah mengenai rengekan mantan Ketua Puteri UMNO Bahagian Sepang dan mungkin kini ahli Pergerakan Wanita UMNO Cawangan Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi, Rina Mohd Harun di dalam laman Facebooknya.

Begitulah rengekan Saudari Rina mengenai kepayahan hidup yang dialami oleh orang ramai. Saya yakin sebagai mantan ketua sebuah pergerakan di peringkat UMNO Bahagian, beliau pernah menghadiri kursus-kursus jatidiri di pusat-pusat latihan UMNO terutamanya di Janda Baik dan Kemensah. Beliau juga telah diberi ilmu dan cara-cara untuk menjawab pertanyaan serta menangkis tohmahan yang dibawa pihak pembangkang. Berlatarbelakangkan sebuah sekolah berasrama penuh yang berprestasi tinggi serta latihan-latihan yang telah diterima dari UMNO saya lebih mengharapkan Saudari Rina mempunyai kemantapan daya juang yang tinggi, matang pemikiran dan lebih bijaksana.

Malangnya, setelah habis beribu nampaknya hasilnya tiada. Bagai minyak habis sambal tak enak.

Seperti penulisan saya tempoh hari, saya telah menjelaskan (biarpun dalam bahasa yang mungkin sukar Saudari Rina fahami) bahawa pihak Kerajaan telah memberi subsidi kepada 23 pengeluar minyak masak utama untuk mengeluarkan 85,000 tan minyak masak untuk kegunaan rakyat setiap bulan. Kajian mendapati rakyat Malaysia hanya menggunakan sebanyak 45,000 tan minyak masak sebulan manakala 40,000 tan lagi hilang atau tidak dapat dikesan dan dipercayai diseludup oleh pengedar ke negara-negara jiran.

Rasional penghapusan subsidi bagi semua jenis minyak masak kecuali minyak masak 1kg yang dijual di dalam polybag adalah supaya kegiatan penyuludupan minyak dapat dikurangkan dan dihapuskan kerana ianya lebih sukar untuk menyeludup keluar minyak masak di dalam polybag. Subsidi boleh ditukarkan ke bentuk lain yang lebih tepat disaluran kepada golongan sasaran. Golongan berpendapatan rendah dan juga peniaga restoran dan gerai kecil-kecilan lebih gemar menggunakan minyak masak dalam polybag 1kg maka ini bermakna bahawa kos sara hidup golongan-golongan tersebut tidak berubah, dan makanan yang mereka jual juga tidak patut dinaikkan harga. Bukankah ini lebih baik dari wang subsidi hasil cukai rakyat dimanafaatkan oleh rakyat Malaysia sendiri dan bukan oleh warga asing?

Mengenai kesukaran mendapatkan bekalan minyak masak, sesiapa yang mempunyai akal dan logik yang baik pasti tahu adalah mustahil untuk negara alami kekurangan bekalan minyak masak sedangkan penggunaan bulanan hanyalah 45,000 tan sedangkan minyak masak yang dihasilkan adalah sebanyak 80,000 tan. Sekiranya Saudari Rina dan para pengomen statusnya itu mempunyai akal yang baik maka sudah tentu mereka boleh mengagak bahawa kekurangan bekalan minyak masak adalah disebabkan oleh perbuatan sorok oleh para peniaga agar 1) para pelanggan membeli minyak 5kg sahaja, atau, 2) stok yang sedia ada boleh dijual apabila harga siling minyak selain minyak polybag 1kg naik pada bulan Januari 2017.

Sekiranya Saudari Rina dan para pengomen mendapati sukar untuk tiba ke logik tersebut maka saya cadangkan supaya mereka lakukan carian Google untuk berita yang berkenaan perkara tersebut. Yang itu paling mudah. Cuma saya ingin menbuat suatu perbandingan di sini: saya mempunyai 10 mulut di dalam rumah saya yang perlu diberi makanan setiap hari. Minyak masak 5kg yang berharga RM15.25 boleh bertahan selama tiga minggu di rumah saya. Ini bermakna saya hanya berbelanja sebanyak 71 Sen sehari untuk minyak masak. Adakah Saudari Rina serta para pengomen menggunakan minyak masak lebih dari saya setiap hari?

Harga sayur naik, petik di belakang rumah.

Saya amat tertarik dengan kenyataan ini, Sebagai seorang politikus yang terpelajar pasti Saudari Rina peka dengan masalah bekalan makanan di Malaysia. Malaysia mempunyai 30 juta penduduk yang memerlukan 2.9 billion tan metrik beras setiap tahun, dan permintaan untuk beras dan lain-lain bahan makanan bertambah setiap tahun dengan bertambahnya bilangan penduduk negara ini iaitu pada kadar 3.9 peratus di antara 2012 dan 2013. Walaupun kita mengimport makanan terutamanya beras, kita masih belum dapat mencapai 100 peratus Self-Sufficiency Level (SSL) terutamanya untuk beras.

Memetik sayur di belakang rumah sendiri bukanlah suatu perkara yang baru. Saya sendiri mempunyai tanaman keperluan harian di laman rumah saya seperti cili, limau kasturi, limau purut, belimbing buluh, pandan, serai, pisang, daun sup dan lain-lain. Pada tahun 1974, untuk mengurangkan kesan inflasi Perdana Menteri Kedua, Tun Haji Abdul Razak telah melancarkan Kempen Buku Hijau dengan menambahkan hasil pengeluaran makanan dengan memaksimumkan penggunaan tanah. Melalui rancangan ini rakyat dikehendaki bergiat cergas dalam memajukan bidang ekonomi terutamanya dalam sektor pertanian. Antara rancangan yang telah diberi penekanan ialah galakan tanaman jangka pendek dan penternakan ayam itik dan juga pemeliharaan ikan air tawar serta sistem pemasaran yang lebih licin melalui agensi-agensi seperti FAMA, LPP, RISDA dan Jabatan Pertanian.

Memetik sayur yang ditanam sendiri di belakang rumah bukanlah bererti kemunduran. Negara-negara Barat seperti Amerika Syarikat, Kanada, Kesatuan Eropah telah lama sedari betapa pentingnya keselamatan makanan (food security) dalam mengurangkan kos sara hidup dan kos makanan yang dijual.

Jika kita tidak mempraktikkan penanaman sayur-sayuran di rumah atau kebun maka kita akan rasa tertekan. Malaysia mengimport sebanyak RM45 billion makanan dari luar negara dan jenis makanan yang diimport adalah tembikai, pisang, rambutan, bawang, bawng putih, ubi keledek, tomato dan cili! Ini semua merupakan makanan yang boleh kita petik di belakang rumah. Dan harga makanan ini semua tertakluk kepada harga matawang asing! Kalau tak mampu, maka ubahlah cara hidup dan tanam tanaman-tanaman yang dinyatakan di atas. Jangan kita jadi pemalas. Malah saya sendiri menunggu siapnya rangkaian LRT dan MRT sepenuhnya supaya boleh saya beli sebuah basikal untuk saya gunakan dari rumah atau pejabat ke stesen LRT/MRT yang berhampiran.

Begitulah kisahnya ya Saudari Rina. Saya yang tiada latihan UMNO pun rasanya boleh memberi penjelasan yang agak baik berbanding dengan Saudari Rina yang cepat putus asa dan jumud minda. Saya tidak boleh bayangkan bagaimana Saudari Rina menjadi seorang ketua/pemegang jawatan sedangkan Saudari Rina hanya menunggu untuk disuap jawapan dan tiada langsung inisiatif untuk menghuraikan persoalan dan tangani segala kegusaran yang ada. Sebaliknya, Saudari Rina merendahkan marabat Saudari Rina sendiri dari kedudukan seorang ketua kepada seorang pengikut. Ada sebab Saudari Rina memegang jawatan – ianya menunjukkan ada yang percaya Saudari Rina boleh berfikir dan fikirkan cara-cara untuk membantu yang tidak boleh naik ke atas. Bukannya sama-sama membuntu dengan yang sepatutnya dipimpin.

Kesian UMNO dan kesiankan mereka yang memilih anda untuk memimpin mereka kerana sikap anda telah menggagalkan impian mereka buat anda.

November 7, 2016

Shut Up, Sotong!

Shut up, says the person who has lost court cases for not stating facts and lie to the people

“Shut up if you don’t have the facts,” said PKR’s Rafizi Ramli to Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki on the latter’s claim that Tabung Haji (TH) has initiated a suit against him (Rafizi). In his Facebook Dr Asyraf has refused to debate with Rafizi on an issue involving TH saying that it isnow a legal issue between TH and Rafizi.

Rafizi, however, is most famous for getting sued for making false allegations and getting his ‘facts’ wrong, and lose in court.

In 2012, he made allegations that funds from a government defence contractor was used to purchase 80 percent stake in Astacanggih Sdn Bhd. The then Defence Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, promptly filed a suit against Rafizi. Rafizi told portal The Malaysian Insider in the 26th January 2013 that he would stand by his allegations and fight Zahid in court.

“Yes, I will face the suit. I will go through this issue with my lawyer. If he (Zahid) sues me, good. We will subpoena all the documents,” he said to The Malaysian Insider.

However, on the 9th April 2013, Rafizi applied for the High Court to reject the writ of summons filed by Zahid! In his statement of defence Rafizi on the 5th April 2013 Rafizi denied defaming Zahid and in the end removed all the allegations against Zahid from his blog post.

The above is a fact.

On the 24th November 2014, Rafizi defamed Rosmah Mansor, wife of Najib Razak, at a forum in Bandar Tun Razak claiming that the rising fuel prices was to allow Rosmah to buy diamond rings. In his defence when sued by both Najib and Rosmah, Rafizi said that he was only joking!

The above is also a fact.

Just a week ago Rafizi was ordered by the High Court to pay RM200,000 (approximately USD47,733) to National Feedlot Company’s Chairman Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail and also to the Company for defaming them.

In the suit filed on 3rd June, 2013, Mohamad Salleh and NFCorp, claimed that on 7th March, 2012, Rafizi had made a defamatory statement at a media conference at the PKR Office on the purchase of KL Eco City properties and was published by Malaysiakini on the same day.

He said the suit was filed because of losses incurred due to the lies, misleading information, disclosure of confidential banking information and slander made by the defendant.

The above is another fact.

Therefore, it is Rafizi in my opinion who should just shut up as it is an established fact that he is nothing more than a habitual liar.

Let us hope Strike Four will bury him deep.

November 6, 2016

Pascal Najadi – Shut The Fuck Up

As usual, Pascal Najadi is on the freight train on the Trans-Siberia railway line while others have arrived at Vladivostok from Moscow, he is still being a bloody buttock of a cow.

He still laments the ‘absence’ of investigation into the assassination of his father when the truth is that even the trial is already over.

Perhaps if he was to cut down his time in Geneva at the Pâquis and spend more time in the real world then he would know that the man who murdered his father actually meant to murder someone else, and his father just happened to be in the right place but at the wrong time .

Get a life Pascal. Go spend your father’s money – the one you have denied your stepmother to, stay being a Swiss and stop meddling in the affairs of Malaysia.

November 5, 2016

The Black Plague

For those who claim that they are Malaysian yet cannot speak the language, let me translate to you what His Royal Highness The Sultan of Johor said above:

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me remind you of a sickness that has come to Johor, that is caused by a deadly virus.

This virus is worse than the Zika virus because it has no known cure. If a heart attack could cause immediate death, this virus could cause a lifetime of suffering.

This virus that I am talking about is called disunity.

This virus is carried by a new political party and is spread by its members. This virus is deadly because there it is difficult to cure. When society is infected, it destroys the people’s lives and also the nation’s prosperity.

Therefore I hope that my rakyat will stay away from this virus. Use your wisdom and don’t regret later.

The carrier of this virus will bash the government and incite the people to hate the leaders on a daily basis, and then turn a blind eye on the benefits that the government has brought them. When their agenda is not achieved they will just leave society to suffer.

I speak as an elder or as a father who loves unity and wish to see my rakyat live in peace and tranquility. I do not want to see my rakyat in disunity and I loathe certain individuals. They have personal agenda and incite the people to quarrel among themselves.

When there is discord the rakyat will live in misery and when that happens don’t turn to me (for help).”

There is one party that was recently formed that has come to Johor and fit that description. The illness that is bring could only be called the ‘Black Plague‘. It seems to be the term closest to the description of the carriers mentioned by HRH The Sultan of Johor.

Which party do you think is being referred to? Would you care to hazard a guess?

October 28, 2016

Selangor Water Crisis: Politicising Water

Today is DAY SIX that taps have run dry for about 360,000 account holders or 1.6 million residents in the most developed state of Selangor. DAP supporters have gone quiet in residents’ WhatsApp groups while those who will be celebrating Deepavali are screaming for vengeance. Some are already asking “Mana Hannah Yeoh?” while Azmin Ali who, under his tutelage Selangor has seen the most of water disruptions, has reneged on the usual promise of announcing the biggest exposé on those he blamed this current water crisis on.

The MP for Kelana Jaya, Wong Chen, has since appeared on WhatsApp groups trying to appease voters. The following is his message:

Message from MP Wong Chen this morning 27 Oct.

Good morning from Parliament. We have been sitting the last few days up to 9.30 pm every night. The budget session is the most important session of the year but this year the government slashed some 8 days of sitting and as such we are forced to go beyond our 5.30 pm sitting by four extra hours a day to 9.30 pm every day.

This morning I want to talk about the water crisis affecting 1 million residents in Selangor. I have been following closely the water crisis in Selangor, affecting a large part of my constituents in Subang Jaya. YB Hannah Yeoh has been updating regularly, she is on the ground distributing water and engaging residents. Residents are going into their 5th day without water. And we had a water crisis barely a month before.

In Parliament, I bumped into Minister Wan Junaidi and also separately the Deputy Minister Hamim on several occassions. I keep asking for their quicker action. They keep saying that Selangor must also do their bit. I have also relayed some of my ideas to YB Zuraida to pass on to the MB.

Wan Junaidi do not believe the current pollution crisis to be an act of deliberate political sabotage. Deputy Minister Hamim, who is an engineer and someone I enjoyed working with on the TPPA (when he was Deputy Minister of MITI), will not speculate but says that the problem is not new. The federal government has resources but water is a state matter.

I am of the view that with the economy slowing, more and more companies will try to cut costs by dumping pollution straight into the river.

Enforcement in Malaysia has always been a challenge. A widely held view is the enforcement officers are either stretched thin, overworked or at the other end of the spectrum, just plain corrupt being paid by polluters to turn a blind eye.

If enforcement officers are not effective then we have to bring in the accountants.

The obvious solution is to track historical records of industrial waste output of each factory and counter check with their disposal costs. If a factory is found to have slashed spending substantially on disposal of industrial waste in the last year, then we can assume that they are engaging in illegal dumping. A major discrepency in the accounts should be a basis for a full investigation and raid by enforcement officers.

The state should also set up a benchmark of waste output for each industry to red flag any unusual data volatility. Setting up patrol units along the rivers is not going to help as much as sending in the accountants.

Bottomline is this. If the economy deteriorates, we can expect more and more water cuts stemming from increased pollution activity.

Irate residents will not listen to excuses or causes. Understandably, they just want water and they want this crisis to not repeat. As such Selangor must dramatically improve its emergency water delivery system. We need more water tanks and we need delivery to be on schedule and to be regular.

We need to also beef up security monitoring at our rivers. We need night time road blocks to monitor all suspicious trucking activities. More importantly is we need new people to lead such enforcement. A fresh start with new officers.

We need to bring in the accountants. We need all factories in Selangor to disclose their waste inventory. And we need to catch the culprits, severely punish them to end this cycle of water cuts.

Lastly, I beg the residents to also empathise with the authorities. You will not find a harder working ADUN in Malaysia than YB Hannah Yeoh. If you see her on your streets at midnight distributing water, give her a pat on the back.

Wong Chen may be the sanest of the PKR lot probably due to being an idealist more than a politician. But he is saying nothing new, not a lot, and has nothing much to offer.

Firstly, it is obvious that as an MP he is not aware that all matters pertaining to land and water belongs to the respective states. Had he known this he would not have approached Wan Junaidi or his deputy Hamim.

As advised by industry players as early as 2011, the Selangor State government should gazette water catchment areas and implement the Langat2 Water Treatment Plant project. The State government did not do the first and delayed the second suggestion until it was too late.

Secondly, the economy is not slowing. Slowing down means that there will be negative growth. Wong Chen is probably not aware that even the World Bank says that the Malaysian economy is growing at a slower rate in 2016 but will pick up in 2017 and 2018.

Even in the 1990s when the economy was vibrant and our growth rate exceeded eight percent, business owners were dumping industrial scheduled wastes into rivers. It has nothing to do with our economy. It has all to do with our mentality and screw-all attitude.

Enforcement is lacking, no doubt, but stretched thin is the more than likely case. They can’t all be corrupted just as not all bungalows without swimming pools are cheap. So we just do not have the numbers needed to police based on a personnel to area ratio. And it doesn’t help when motormouth Tony Pua wants to trim down the civil service if he comes into power!

Even tracking of industrial waste output needs the manpower to do it. You can’t just sit in the office, tap on some keys and expect the numbers on the screen to tally with what is being produced in the real world.

Security monitoring of our rivers would go back to two things: manpower and gazetting water catchment areas! Why is there a need to repeat this over and over again? Everything points back to those two!

Hannah Yeoh the hardest working ADUN in Malaysia? I have seen better-working ones even from the DAP back in the 1970s. Distributing bottled water can be sub-contracted out to Bangladeshi workers. A hardworking ADUN would be screaming in the Dewan for more manpower to enforce gazetted water catchment areas. Not seek political mileage and benefitting from the misery of others!