The current crisis in Selangor has, as expected revealed the true colours of the Pakatan Rakyat state government.
It has also revealed how inefficient the state government has become despite promising otherwise to the electorate. Let’s put aside Barisan’s supposedly attempts to sabotage the Selangor State government by appointing their own men. There is no need to go deeply into legal terms and laws as this issue needs to viewed practically and use of common sense, something that is no longer common.
While I support the fact that PSC should have consulted MB before recommending any candidate, the response, reaction and statements by Pakatan leaders on this issue says one thing clearly, that this is certainly not a ‘New Hope For Malaysia’state government.
Pakatan Rakyat's Promise after 2008 Elections
One of the key promises made by Pakatan Rakyat after wresting the state government is to review all the laws enacted by the state in the past to ensure justice for all. That is what at least PKR stood for, no matter that many of the ex-leaders claims otherwise.
Why did they not review the state constitution and attempt (since they do not have the 2/3rd majority) remove all the vague clauses and terms which may not be in state’s favour.
Why did they not seek to review the constitution and restore Sultan’s power which they claim has been usurped by BN when the constitution was amended in 1993. Why only now the Pakatan Rakyat government suddenly want to champion to restore Sultan’s power.
Let’s say the Chief Secretary to the government did propose another candidate to MB Khalid, deemed to be favorable, neutral and finally accepted by the Pakatan Rakyat State government, would MB Khalid even bother to look at the constitution and more so table proposal for amendment of the state constitution, purportedly to restore Sultan’s power. I doubt so.
So all these talk of restoring Sultan and State government powers are political charade by Pakatan Rakyat. Go ask Anwar Ibrahim who removed the powers of Sultan in 1993.
And from now till end of January, they will politicise what was originally a standard appointment of a civil servant, and take it to Tenang by-elections, no matter that Tenang is not in Selangor.
Rule of Law, Violation Of Founding Principals, Time Honoured Norms and by Convention
Just google these words by adding Selangor to it and then read my comments below.
Since many so called legal experts and even MB Khalid has conceded that Dayuk Khusrin’s appointment is valid, so there should not be any questions asked then.
But since we have some of the most brilliant spin doctors in the form of lawyers, lecturers and former judges who call themselves constitution experts, they now talk about violation of founding principles, by convention and even vague time honored norms that MB must be consulted since they cannot find fault with the constitution and laws.
The Sultan now has responded in similar fashion although his statement is even clearer, that the appointment is in line with the constitution and by convention. Let’s see how the Pakatan leaning experts and spin doctors respond.
If similar scenario happens when Pakatan is in power at Federal Government, I have no doubt that these Pakatan spin masters, which includes a former judge will say rule of law and constitution must be respected and upheld as they will definitely use whatever terms that appears to be favoring them.
Inefficient MB and Pakatan Rakyat
The Pakatan Rakyat State government would have known that the previous State Secretary , Datuk Ramli Mahmud retires on 31st December 2010. Well, the MB Khalid even attended his farewell party on 17th December.
Khalid would have known well before, that State Secretary is appointed by the Public Service Commission, a unit of Federal government. Ramli Mahmud’s appointment was through this commission.
If Khalid and his team would have been adept and efficient enough, they should have side stepped PSC and proposed their own candidate well in advance, well before PSC presented their candidate of choice to the Sultan on Dec 10th. At least they cannot claim ignorance and sabotage. The state government only formed a selection panel on Nov 27th, just weeks before existing State Secretary retires.
Khalid should know better since he was a CEO of a corporate giant before that usually appointments are made well in advance and replacement candidates should be reporting to work well before existing ones resigns or retires so that a handover process can take place.
There have been reports that the appointment of State Secretary was not taken seriously and was left to the hands of Khalid’s political secretary Faekah Husin. This shows the state government was super inefficient that they only thought about a selection panel for an important position in the state government just 3 weeks before the existing State Secretary retires!
Job Scope, Responsibilities & Diciplinary Actions
Various parties has claimed that Perak’s Pakatan Rakyat state government’s downfall was mainly due to the State Secretary and some predict that the same will happen to Selangor.
I cannot agree to this notion as the main reason for Perak Pakatan Rakyat’s state government downfall was PKR traitors and nothing else, even if the state assemblymen were bought by BN. There were no reported problems with the State Secretary.
Even if MB Khalid and his gang fails to overturn the appointment of Datuk Mohd Khusrin Munawi, there are various other means to manage him and state civil service.
I believe a clear job description and functions of state secretary has been established, therefore Datuk Khusrin should be functioning within the scope provided in his appointment letters. If he is inept and inefficient, like any other organization, actions should be taken.
The Selangor state government can then trumpet to the whole world that PSC appointed the wrong person by clearly spelling out his inefficiencies or flaws should PSC fails to remove Datuk Khusrin, say after 6 months into the job.
Datuk Khusrin will function under oath, therefore if there are any transgression, action can be taken against him. They can charge him in court if he violates oath of secrecy. So what is there for Pakatan Rakyat state government to worry unless they have a lot to hide? What can the state secretary do to sabotage the state government? As if there are not enough people within the Pakatan Rakyat themselves to sabotage their own parties and state government, as what we have been seeing all this while.
Amendment to Constitution
Attempts to amend the constitution are likely to fail as the Pakatan Rakyat government does not have the required 2/3rd majority in the house. The independent and BN assemblymen are highly unlikely to support any form of amendments, full stop. Then why should the state government even bother to hold one, if not for another political charade to amplify supposedly unfair BN Federal Government.
This would be an exercise in futility and sheer stupidity.
Sultan’s Statement
Sultan’s statement released yesterday clearly shows that MB Khalid and various other Pakatan leaders have no regards for the Sultan and his words. MB Khalid has clearly attempted to mislead the press and people in general on what actually had transpired during his audience with the Sultan. MB Khalid was unable to answer to a question on why is he rejecting the candidate proposed by PSC.
The Sultan also confirmed that he has accepted the candidate proposed by PSC and that MB Khalid should have discussed it with PSC BEFORE the appointment was made and not now.
This clearly shows that MB Khalid is either lying or attempting to mislead the people. He should by now rebut the statement made by Sultan’s private secretary if his version of what has transpired is true. If you care to note, the statement from Sultan’s office came late yesterday and was well thought out and covered all angles of the discussion while MB Khalid did not bother to think carefully, draft a carefully worded statement before he spoke to the press, since this involves the palace. Unfortunately, another example of an inept MB is for all to see. Backing him up with various unnecessary statements are his equally inferior and stupid Pakatan leaders.
Showing posts with label Pakatan Rakyat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pakatan Rakyat. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
DAP and PKR – Why Not merge?
DAP elections in Perak ended in similar fashion as did in PKR albeit not as bad. By opening enough branches and voters on your side means you control the state, no matter whether the candidate or team is good and capable. It is quite baffling how these elections systems work. It's not that this does not happen in BN. ut Pakatan is supposedly superior and practises far superior demecracy, as they say.
At the end, no matter which party, only those with influence and resources win, not the candidate who is not corrupt, wise, smart and honest. The available post are rotated amongst select few and losers are given less powerful post just to pacify them, hence the fate of Kulasegaran.
Just before the Hulu Selangor by elections, I was invited by a PKR supporter, who is a local ethnic based organization leader, to join his proposed new branch. His main motivation appears to be a branch chairman and get any allocations funds that are made available. He says that his family, friends and relatives should make up the minimum number of members required to open a branch and urged me to join him or at least on a joint venture basis open one near my place.
He says that he will take care of day to day running and that I just need to show up when only necessary. He says not only PKR pays well, he can even get BN to pay him, especially during elections where he says he can get the money and there is no need to account for it at all, since no one knows who the members will vote. Now you know why there has been massive attempt to manipulate PKR elections, even at local branch level.
Back to DAP, even at national level, DAP is controlled by the same group. Losers in national level party elections are appointed to certain high level positions. Important post such as Chairman, General Secretary and Party advisers are usually rotated among a select few. Such unique brand of democracy in DAP.
What I don’t quite understand is what is the differences between DAP and PKR. Both claims to be multi racial and both espouses objectives which is not in many way dissimilar. Then why not merge these 2 entities. The same can be said on Gerakan and PPP in BN, why not merge?
As we all know, personality and not party ideology has been a mainstay in BN for a long time, so that’s an old story but what about DAP and PKR, who has been promising a ‘New Hope for Malaysia’, why can’t they merge and propose a more formidable opposition front to Malaysian.
I wonder why DAP has so far maintained ‘elegant silence’ on various blunders and foolish actions by Anwar and PKR but not quite with PAS. A certain race related pact between PKR and DAP, as alleged by Kulim MP makes a lot of sense. This may be part of ‘New Hope For Malaysia’, DAP maybe counting on PKR to deliver Malay votes while DAP can surely deliver non-malay votes. Hence, there is no specific reason to rely on PAS.
Could race and personality be the reason? I am sure it is. Party ideology and principles are not important, continued prominence and existence of certain race and personalities appear to be more important in both PKR and DAP.
Certain political leaders aspirations to be come Prime Minister and Deputy Prime minister could be the main motivation too.
If both PKR and DAP are merged, it is highly likely that some Deputy Prime Minister, Minister materials from DAP could be drowned out by even more power obsessed candidates from PKR, if they ever find their way to Putrajaya. So policies, social justice, democracy, reforms and constitution are secondary and simply tools to gain power
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Selangor's Hindu Temples & Warisan Merdeka Tower
The Selangor State government has decided to go ahead with building a temple in Section 23, Shah Alam. This is an addition to another temple to built to replace the infamous Kampung jawa temple. Read here.
This might bring about another round a chaos within the residents there. As I have written before, both Pakatan Rakyat and BN are just pandering to the newly found political power of Indians without thinking about whether there is such a need for another temple in this country.
It was reported before that there are about 18,000 Hindu temples in various sizes and locations around the country to cater for about 1.5 million.
Out of that, I believe, based on my estimates roughly only 10% visit temples on weekly basis consistently, the rest only go to temples whenever there are some religious and non-religious events and celebrations or when somebody decides to give free food or slaughter some cows in the name of sacrifice.
A decently sized temple cost roughly RM 2 Million. The more elaborate ones cost 2 or 3 times more.
I would rather be happier if the Selangor State government spent the money on children education. If they chose cheaply to focus on getting Indian votes, might as well provide financial assistance for Indian students or at least buy some books for Tamil School library around the state.
That would be a reasonable good investment that would certainly go a long way improving the social economical situation of the community.
While Hindu temple can be a sensitive issue. I don’t see a reason why any more Hindu temple to be built in this country.
What is a Hindu temple contribution to the Indian Community as a whole? Apart from providing a place for them to worship various deities of their choice, basically none.
It does not pay well to the priest, it is costly to maintain, it is usually headed manned by people with political interest, it has been proven to split local community into various factions.
Worst, power struggle in the past has resulted in frictions within groups resulting in violence and even deaths. Few thousand goats has lost it’s life at temples, sacrificed in the name of god, even though there is no such requirements in the first place.
Every year, annual temple celebrations are held costing a bomb, an event that last for a day. Multiply that by 18,000 and imagine how much of money are spent down the drain in one day.
If it could be proven that these celebrations and prayers do contribute to the well being of the community and enhancement of their life standards as well as wealth, I have no complains or disputes.
However, this cannot be proven if you look at the high crime rate, poverty and overall condition of sections of the community.
What is definitely proven is that, Indians and families who provide strong emphasis and invest in their children’s education has seen an overall improvement to their lives in the long term.
Spend more on vocational training, scholarship and entrepreneur development. This will ensure visible and positive returns and not some prayers and celebrations that are not proven to improve the Indian community.
Instead of building the temple in Shah Alam, why not go on a registration drive in Shah Alam to register all Indian school drop outs and enroll them onto some skill training.
Therefore, governments and Indian leaders should make full use of their brains rather than their heart when assessing Indian issues. It is the mindset that needs to be changed and the solution is certainly not building another temple or spending to maintain existing ones.
As for Pakatan Rakyat, they may succeed in becoming the ultimate Indian Champions but will certainly will be losers in the long term if they do not asses the issues appropriately and take proactive and pragmatic measures to assist the community.
Repeating the same tricks of charming Indians by building temples will not last long, have they not seen enough of BN using the same tricks for more than half a century? Don’t Pakatan Indian leaders have the guts and brains to do something more positive to change the mindsets of Indians.
At the moment, none dare to be the visionary and do something different for the community and assist them where it is needed most. At the moment, looks like they just want votes and support to stay in power.
When Pakatan Rakyat criticized BN government’s 100 Storey Warisan Merdeka tower, they don’t realise that they are also just doing the same here in Selangor by building 2 Hindu Temples that does not bring about any benefits to the Indian or local community. On top of this, millions of Ringgit of tax payers money are also being donated carelessly to temples in Selangor, just to boost the popularity of state government and certain Exco Leader.
At least, the Warisan Merdeka tower will certainly result in numerous economic spin off and benefits various sections of businesses and people as a whole. What does the hindu temple bring about if not more problems in the future!.
This might bring about another round a chaos within the residents there. As I have written before, both Pakatan Rakyat and BN are just pandering to the newly found political power of Indians without thinking about whether there is such a need for another temple in this country.
It was reported before that there are about 18,000 Hindu temples in various sizes and locations around the country to cater for about 1.5 million.
Out of that, I believe, based on my estimates roughly only 10% visit temples on weekly basis consistently, the rest only go to temples whenever there are some religious and non-religious events and celebrations or when somebody decides to give free food or slaughter some cows in the name of sacrifice.
A decently sized temple cost roughly RM 2 Million. The more elaborate ones cost 2 or 3 times more.
I would rather be happier if the Selangor State government spent the money on children education. If they chose cheaply to focus on getting Indian votes, might as well provide financial assistance for Indian students or at least buy some books for Tamil School library around the state.
That would be a reasonable good investment that would certainly go a long way improving the social economical situation of the community.
While Hindu temple can be a sensitive issue. I don’t see a reason why any more Hindu temple to be built in this country.
What is a Hindu temple contribution to the Indian Community as a whole? Apart from providing a place for them to worship various deities of their choice, basically none.
It does not pay well to the priest, it is costly to maintain, it is usually headed manned by people with political interest, it has been proven to split local community into various factions.
Worst, power struggle in the past has resulted in frictions within groups resulting in violence and even deaths. Few thousand goats has lost it’s life at temples, sacrificed in the name of god, even though there is no such requirements in the first place.
Every year, annual temple celebrations are held costing a bomb, an event that last for a day. Multiply that by 18,000 and imagine how much of money are spent down the drain in one day.
If it could be proven that these celebrations and prayers do contribute to the well being of the community and enhancement of their life standards as well as wealth, I have no complains or disputes.
However, this cannot be proven if you look at the high crime rate, poverty and overall condition of sections of the community.
What is definitely proven is that, Indians and families who provide strong emphasis and invest in their children’s education has seen an overall improvement to their lives in the long term.
Spend more on vocational training, scholarship and entrepreneur development. This will ensure visible and positive returns and not some prayers and celebrations that are not proven to improve the Indian community.
Instead of building the temple in Shah Alam, why not go on a registration drive in Shah Alam to register all Indian school drop outs and enroll them onto some skill training.
Therefore, governments and Indian leaders should make full use of their brains rather than their heart when assessing Indian issues. It is the mindset that needs to be changed and the solution is certainly not building another temple or spending to maintain existing ones.
As for Pakatan Rakyat, they may succeed in becoming the ultimate Indian Champions but will certainly will be losers in the long term if they do not asses the issues appropriately and take proactive and pragmatic measures to assist the community.
Repeating the same tricks of charming Indians by building temples will not last long, have they not seen enough of BN using the same tricks for more than half a century? Don’t Pakatan Indian leaders have the guts and brains to do something more positive to change the mindsets of Indians.
At the moment, none dare to be the visionary and do something different for the community and assist them where it is needed most. At the moment, looks like they just want votes and support to stay in power.
When Pakatan Rakyat criticized BN government’s 100 Storey Warisan Merdeka tower, they don’t realise that they are also just doing the same here in Selangor by building 2 Hindu Temples that does not bring about any benefits to the Indian or local community. On top of this, millions of Ringgit of tax payers money are also being donated carelessly to temples in Selangor, just to boost the popularity of state government and certain Exco Leader.
At least, the Warisan Merdeka tower will certainly result in numerous economic spin off and benefits various sections of businesses and people as a whole. What does the hindu temple bring about if not more problems in the future!.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Stop Building Hindu Temples
I read recently that Selangor State Government is planning to rebuilt the controversial Kampung Jawa Hindu Temple which was demolished in 2007. It must be acknowledged that the demolition has lead to the Hindraf demonstration and is also one of the main emotional reason why Indian Malaysians chose to vote for Pakatan Rakyat in the 2008 General Elections.
Recent sentiments suggest that Indians have been slowly returning their support to Najib, rather than MIC and the fact that Pakatan Rakyat have not done much for the Indians has prompted some Indian leaders to take some race centric actions to shore up the support for Pakatan Rakyat as well as promote themselves as champions of the Malaysian Indians.
One of the easiest way to fool Malaysian Indians and get their support is to do any good for their Hindu Temples. Even if you are a well known crook or gangster, temple committees will welcome you with open arms as long as you donate to new temple building or maintaining temples.
Selangor Executive Councillor, Xavier Jayakumar knows this well and has taken full advantage. The generous Selangor state government reportedly allocated RM 4million grants to be distributed specifically to Hindu Temples in Selangor.
With cash in hand, there is no other easier way to shore up support and also promote oneself. Xavier, armed with a cheque book has been to every nook and corner of the state, visiting every other temple he could find and donate specific amount depending on the size of population and temple in a specific area. He has reportedly even provided grants to illegal temples in certain locations just to please the Indians.
Wherever he goes, he never fails to invite all 3 major Tamil newspapers with him. His face can be seen in all major Tamil dailies on a daily basis (this is no exaggeration). His face is even more popular and recognizable as compared to other BN or Pakatan leaders.
There are questions though over his conduct. If he is sincere enough in assisting the temples, he could have just allocated the RM 4million accordingly and distribute it at one go in his office or perhaps a function attended by MB Khalid and other Exco members. Why the need to go to every other temples and ensure that the whole press entourage is there with him if not for the reason of regular publicity.
Coming back to the proposed rebuilding of Kampung Jawa temple, there are many questions to be answered before the state government embark on building yet another Hindu temple in Selangor.
Personally, I do not agree with using tax payers money ( I am a rate payer in Selangor) to provide grants to temples for building of new temples or even for the purpose of maintenance.
As we all are well aware, the number of Hindu Temples in Malaysia far outnumber the mosques and churches or Chinese temples, though the population percentage of Hindus are less than 1.5 million.
It must be noted that unlike other religions, it is not a must for Hindus to go temples to pray. It is more of a objective of community bonding, therefore there is no need for temples to be built everywhere.
In Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, the number of temples is far more than sufficient and majority are hardly patronized unless there are some so-called religious events or festivals. You don’t have to go far, just drive along Jalan Ipoh where there are at least 5 temples or go to Batu Caves where there are at least 15 other temples of various sizes apart from the humungous Batu Caves temple.
Questions For The State Government
The first question a responsible government should ask is, aren’t there far too many temples in the state.
Why there are new temples continue to be built or rebuilt when there are sufficient temples readily available to the so-called pious Indians to pray.
Why should government allow new temples to be built if the temple committee have no funds or rather no clues on how the finance the building.
Why taxpayers money is being spent annually to upkeep the temples? Why built the temples in the first place if the temple committee or local residents has no clue on how to finance the upkeep of the temple.
Why aren’t the so-called devotees of the temples contributing to the upkeep of the temples. This is the usual case everywhere where, Indians want temples within the vicinity but refuses to even contribute RM 10 every month.
Don’t we know that contributing funds to temples will only result in temple committee and local residents becoming complacent and end up begging the government every year?
Why is there a need to rebuilt Kampung Jawa temple. Has the residents in the vicinity been deprived of opportunity to fulfill their religious obligations due to unavailability of temples?? Obviously the answer is no.
Is Xavier Jayakumar trying to stir up Indian or rather Hindu emotions and be their ultimate champion by rebuilding the kampong Jawa temple?
Has Selangor state government reviewed the existence of both legal and illegal temples in the state?
Has the state government acted against illegal temples in the state and taken some action to remove those temples?
Or are the State government and Jayakumar waiting for landowner of the illegal temples to raise eviction notices before they jump in to defend the temples, find altenative site and eventually turn themselves into the heroes of the Hindu community is the affected areas?
Where would the grants for the temples end up? It would be usually used completely for the temple annual celebrations, with no other benefits for the community. In another words, it will end as a sheer waste of money finished for a one day event. If they can conduct the annual celebrations without state government’s assistance before, why would they need it now?
Despite calls to utilize temples as community centres with activities for youth and children, very few temples do so. If this is the case, why should tax payers money is spent for the benefit of few temple committee members to spend and finish the funds for the annual celebrations?
Use the funds for Long Term Productive Purposes
The state government could well focus on uplifting the economic condition of the Indian community.
The RM 4 million could be well spent on assisting the community by providing loans for small businesses, single mothers and more importantly on youth whether in the form of scholarship or even technical training for secondary school drop outs.
Imagine how many students or youth could benefit from the RM 4 million annually? Imagine how many families could benefit in the long term if one of their family members are accorded scholarship or more importantly technical training.
Why can’t the state government and a learned Exco think wisely and act prudently with tax payers funds and use it for productive purposes which would provide long terms positive returns to the community.
Pakatan Rakyat and it’s Indian representatives continue to play the same BN tune and use the same strategies, which is to fool the community by playing religious sentiments without any long term benefits to the upliftment of the community.
Hindus and Indians needs leaders to inspire them to do the right thing, which is to focus on improving their educations levels of their children , attain necessary skills suitable at current times and viable businesses.
Indian leaders should scold, cajole and inspire Indians to invest in education and not on temples and unnecessary religious and non-religious events and celebrations that does not bring about any benefits to the Hindus.
It is a well known fact that Indians spends thousands on weddings, cultural events and celebrations but don’t even subscribe to any newspaper or books at home.
Has the hundred of years of building temples and worshipping them resulted in Hindus living above poverty line with reasonable living standards and known to be a respectable community?
The answer is obviously no? Hindraf blames BN, Pakatan also blames BN for the poverty and marginalisation of Indians. Why not blame the Hindu gods for not bringing about any improvement to the socio-economic well being of the community despite building thousands of temples and worshipping them for more than hundred years??
My anwer is simple, God do not help anyone who does not help themselves. Therefore Mr Jayakumar, do Selangor need more temples?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Hulu Selangor : No Winners
Now that the battle is over, various armchair analyst and critics from both ends have provided their take on the Hulu Selangor by-elections. Let me provide my view now.
Having been to some of the campaigns as well as talking to mostly Pakatan Supporters throughout the campaign period, the results came as a shock. I was constantly told by Pakatan Supporters that Zaid is very likely to win although from the events that unfolded during the campaign period, I reminded them that it was still 50:50.
Pakatan Supporters, some of whom are local PKR leaders in Serendah with contacts in other small towns like Batang Kali, Kuala Kubu Baru, Sg Choh etc , were confident that PKR will definitely win over Chinese and Indian votes. This is despite Millions that were thrown around by Najib and the BN battalion. They were also confident that Indians will still vote for PKR despite the candidate being another Indian.
They were largely correct. Indians and Chinese took whatever BN gave and still voted for PKR’s Zaid although there is a marginal shift in Indian votes towards BN. Character assassination on Zaid did not really work amongst the non-malay voters. Chinese and Indians still remember Zaid as a man of principles.
So what actually went wrong for Pakatan.
1. As for the candidate, for once Pakatan looked quite arrogant as compared to BN. Kamalanathan did his walkabout in simple attire and running shoes while Zaid went about in his luxury car, says a friend of mine. Perception matters, have we heard enough on this about UMNO leaders before. It appears that PKR is also muda lupa..
2. As for the campaigns, there were largely not interesting. While Chinese can appreciate national issues, the malays and Indians did not. Who cares about APCO when the state government can even resurface the road next to my house, says a Pakatan Supporter. Stolen jet engines, Submarine, Teoh Beng Hock , Kugan etc did not resonate well with the Malays. This is where they lost.
3. Anwar’s association with Jewish leaders were already well known, therefore Malays did not buy his APCO argument.
4. Who will buy your argument when you have people like ‘lori sampah’ Gopalakrishan of Padang Serai talking nonsence half the time. Issues were not carefully chosen to suit the audience.
5. Campaigns were ad-hoc, not well coordinated and at times, the speakers were either not on time or never turned up.
6. PAS campaigns were more focusing on defending Zaid. ‘Allah menyanyangi orang yang bertaubat’ goes one of the sentence. PAS talking about lack of development in Hulu Selangor since independence till Pakatan took over in the last elections does not hold water. Hulu Selangor is far more developed than Kelantan.
7. Local PKR leaders were too demanding, especially Indians. These leaders were holding their sponsors (upper PKR leaders) to ransom. First they were given RM 10,000 to run their operations centre (Bilik Gerakan) and also persuade voters in that particular area, then when Zaid’s drinking issue came about, they went on to demand another RM 10,000 claiming that it would be difficult to persuade voters.
8. Some local PKR leaders were also involved in negotiating with MIC and even Makkal Sakhti party, seeking cash in return of support, even after claiming their dues from PKR sponsors.
9. Some PKR Indians supporters claimed money from both Pakatan and BN for putting up posters around their towns. Talk about party loyalty.
10. PKR and Pakatan Rakyat state government did not do much in Hulu Selangor since the last general elections, despite promise of change for better during the campaign. Being a regular visitor there, even the basic infrastructure was not maintained.
11. Giving out land titles and funds to schools and temples, while were accepted by the residents in Hulu Selangor, they were thought to be no different from BN in terms of vote buying since they are only seen during the elections.
11. Pakatan Rakyat state government did not bother to do anything about the land issue in Felda Sungai Buaya, despite promising to do something in the last general elections. Here they lost about 700 votes to BN.
12. MB Khalid hardly visited this area since taking over the state government. He came to Felda Sungai Buaya for the first time ever on Saturday Morning, asking residents to be cautious and not sign any documents. The same afternoon, Najib came and gave out compensation to some residents and more importantly a plan to develop the land, something viable now since a new highway exit will be constructed by PLUS nearby.
13. PKR Indian leaders were more involved in the Ceramahs rather than site and house visits while MIC leaders were more hands on and were more on the ground, despite facing hostile and sometimes abusive crowd.
14. Pakatan Rakyat and it’s economic advisor did not have any plans on improving the living standards, investments and more job opportunities in Hulu Selangor. They were mostly interested in politicizing everything in their campaigns.
BN on the other hand, in my opinion, did not win anything. Votes for them that really made the difference were from Felda Sungai Buaya (700 votes) and also postal votes, another 700. Other than this, there was no significant shift in votes.
BN is still the champions in the Felda area, however they have failed to win over the Chinese and Indians in the townships. Throwing around millions should have resulted in at least 7-8,000 majority. It didn’t, therefore BN should learn that money can’t buy votes any longer. The Chinese community, despite benefiting millions, did not favour BN at all. Their anger towards UMNO and their leaders are still present.
Najib’s various initiatives such as Government Transformation Plan, New Economic Model, walk about may have brought about a feel good factor but the Chinese appear to want concrete results, more than mere rhetoric. They are also clearly offended with various slip of the tongue and racial slurs by UMNO leaders.
As for the Indians, they are generally still anti-MIC, although they are warming up to Najib. Most of them in Hulu Selangor are blind Pakatan Supporters who are now complaining about Pakatan Rakyat state governments failure to live up to their promises.
Only the PKR ‘Mandore’ Xavier Jeyakumar is popular for giving out funds to various temples and schools. But there were general discontent that that is not what they actually want. They want a better living standard and more job opportunities, something that is not very evident in Hulu Selangor since Pakatan Rakyat took over. One disappointed hardcore Pakatan Rakyat supporter from Felda Sungai Buaya lamented that the comments from one UMNO leader on ‘Indian being beggars’ was proven during the elections when many Indians took money from BN and voted blindly for them (BN).
In the end, this is no vote of confidence for Najib and certainly not for his deputy not this is a victory for Pakatan Rakyat in many areas as claimed by their supporters. Both parties have to remember that during the general elections, they will not be able to have such resources to go around with in the first place. They will also not have all their heavyweight leaders around for all ceramahs around the country within the traditionally short campaign period.
Therefore what they do between now and the next elections matters. If anything, the clear winners were Kamalanathan, who can hold his head high for a very decent debut while Hulu Selangor residents were the main beneficiary from the goodies thrown at them by opposing sides.
Having been to some of the campaigns as well as talking to mostly Pakatan Supporters throughout the campaign period, the results came as a shock. I was constantly told by Pakatan Supporters that Zaid is very likely to win although from the events that unfolded during the campaign period, I reminded them that it was still 50:50.
Pakatan Supporters, some of whom are local PKR leaders in Serendah with contacts in other small towns like Batang Kali, Kuala Kubu Baru, Sg Choh etc , were confident that PKR will definitely win over Chinese and Indian votes. This is despite Millions that were thrown around by Najib and the BN battalion. They were also confident that Indians will still vote for PKR despite the candidate being another Indian.
They were largely correct. Indians and Chinese took whatever BN gave and still voted for PKR’s Zaid although there is a marginal shift in Indian votes towards BN. Character assassination on Zaid did not really work amongst the non-malay voters. Chinese and Indians still remember Zaid as a man of principles.
So what actually went wrong for Pakatan.
1. As for the candidate, for once Pakatan looked quite arrogant as compared to BN. Kamalanathan did his walkabout in simple attire and running shoes while Zaid went about in his luxury car, says a friend of mine. Perception matters, have we heard enough on this about UMNO leaders before. It appears that PKR is also muda lupa..
2. As for the campaigns, there were largely not interesting. While Chinese can appreciate national issues, the malays and Indians did not. Who cares about APCO when the state government can even resurface the road next to my house, says a Pakatan Supporter. Stolen jet engines, Submarine, Teoh Beng Hock , Kugan etc did not resonate well with the Malays. This is where they lost.
3. Anwar’s association with Jewish leaders were already well known, therefore Malays did not buy his APCO argument.
4. Who will buy your argument when you have people like ‘lori sampah’ Gopalakrishan of Padang Serai talking nonsence half the time. Issues were not carefully chosen to suit the audience.
5. Campaigns were ad-hoc, not well coordinated and at times, the speakers were either not on time or never turned up.
6. PAS campaigns were more focusing on defending Zaid. ‘Allah menyanyangi orang yang bertaubat’ goes one of the sentence. PAS talking about lack of development in Hulu Selangor since independence till Pakatan took over in the last elections does not hold water. Hulu Selangor is far more developed than Kelantan.
7. Local PKR leaders were too demanding, especially Indians. These leaders were holding their sponsors (upper PKR leaders) to ransom. First they were given RM 10,000 to run their operations centre (Bilik Gerakan) and also persuade voters in that particular area, then when Zaid’s drinking issue came about, they went on to demand another RM 10,000 claiming that it would be difficult to persuade voters.
8. Some local PKR leaders were also involved in negotiating with MIC and even Makkal Sakhti party, seeking cash in return of support, even after claiming their dues from PKR sponsors.
9. Some PKR Indians supporters claimed money from both Pakatan and BN for putting up posters around their towns. Talk about party loyalty.
10. PKR and Pakatan Rakyat state government did not do much in Hulu Selangor since the last general elections, despite promise of change for better during the campaign. Being a regular visitor there, even the basic infrastructure was not maintained.
11. Giving out land titles and funds to schools and temples, while were accepted by the residents in Hulu Selangor, they were thought to be no different from BN in terms of vote buying since they are only seen during the elections.
11. Pakatan Rakyat state government did not bother to do anything about the land issue in Felda Sungai Buaya, despite promising to do something in the last general elections. Here they lost about 700 votes to BN.
12. MB Khalid hardly visited this area since taking over the state government. He came to Felda Sungai Buaya for the first time ever on Saturday Morning, asking residents to be cautious and not sign any documents. The same afternoon, Najib came and gave out compensation to some residents and more importantly a plan to develop the land, something viable now since a new highway exit will be constructed by PLUS nearby.
13. PKR Indian leaders were more involved in the Ceramahs rather than site and house visits while MIC leaders were more hands on and were more on the ground, despite facing hostile and sometimes abusive crowd.
14. Pakatan Rakyat and it’s economic advisor did not have any plans on improving the living standards, investments and more job opportunities in Hulu Selangor. They were mostly interested in politicizing everything in their campaigns.
BN on the other hand, in my opinion, did not win anything. Votes for them that really made the difference were from Felda Sungai Buaya (700 votes) and also postal votes, another 700. Other than this, there was no significant shift in votes.
BN is still the champions in the Felda area, however they have failed to win over the Chinese and Indians in the townships. Throwing around millions should have resulted in at least 7-8,000 majority. It didn’t, therefore BN should learn that money can’t buy votes any longer. The Chinese community, despite benefiting millions, did not favour BN at all. Their anger towards UMNO and their leaders are still present.
Najib’s various initiatives such as Government Transformation Plan, New Economic Model, walk about may have brought about a feel good factor but the Chinese appear to want concrete results, more than mere rhetoric. They are also clearly offended with various slip of the tongue and racial slurs by UMNO leaders.
As for the Indians, they are generally still anti-MIC, although they are warming up to Najib. Most of them in Hulu Selangor are blind Pakatan Supporters who are now complaining about Pakatan Rakyat state governments failure to live up to their promises.
Only the PKR ‘Mandore’ Xavier Jeyakumar is popular for giving out funds to various temples and schools. But there were general discontent that that is not what they actually want. They want a better living standard and more job opportunities, something that is not very evident in Hulu Selangor since Pakatan Rakyat took over. One disappointed hardcore Pakatan Rakyat supporter from Felda Sungai Buaya lamented that the comments from one UMNO leader on ‘Indian being beggars’ was proven during the elections when many Indians took money from BN and voted blindly for them (BN).
In the end, this is no vote of confidence for Najib and certainly not for his deputy not this is a victory for Pakatan Rakyat in many areas as claimed by their supporters. Both parties have to remember that during the general elections, they will not be able to have such resources to go around with in the first place. They will also not have all their heavyweight leaders around for all ceramahs around the country within the traditionally short campaign period.
Therefore what they do between now and the next elections matters. If anything, the clear winners were Kamalanathan, who can hold his head high for a very decent debut while Hulu Selangor residents were the main beneficiary from the goodies thrown at them by opposing sides.
Friday, March 26, 2010
PR 'Selamatkan Malaysia' Roadshow 22nd March - A Review
I had the opportunity to attend Pakatan Rakyat roadshow with the theme ‘Selamatkan Malaysia’ at Selayang Stadium on 22nd March.
Pakatan Rakyat were confidently expecting 10,000 people, but there were actually only about 3,000 people gathered there, perhaps they would have attracted more if it was held on weekend. When I arrived at the entrance of the stadium, a 4 page leaflet was handed to me. The contents were an opening statement by PKR Secretary claiming conspiracy on Anwar’s sodomy case.
The 2nd and 3rd page is all about Pusrawi Hospital medical report indicating the accuser, Saiful was not sodomised, no matter that no one has verified if the reports were in fact authentic and true . I think that is for the Doctor concerned to testify, if he is called for the trial and also the judge to determine if indeed the medical report was true. For PKR to distribute these leaflets, some say it is contempt of court, I see it as a desperate attempt to win public opinion. More so when there’s hardly anyone bothered to show support during the recents court hearings.
Segambut MP, Lim Lip Eng was on the rostrum when I arrived. He spoke about lost jet engines, which he claims to be worth millions, together with the allegation that it should be been more people involved citing that it would have been impossible for two people to carry the 2 engines, weighing probably a tone each, out of the warehouse.
As far as I know, the trial of the 2 individuals charged for the theft has yet to start, but the Segambut MP, despite being one of the more hardworking Pakatan MPs, chose to politicise and speculate on the incident. Can Pakatan Rakyat guarantee that there will be no theft of such assets when they are in power one day. I don’t think so. These allegations and speculations will one day definitely backfire on them when it happens under their watch.
He also spoke about the non diving Submarine, which he claims he saw in Sabah on his recent visit. He says that the government did not test the submarine before purchasing it, citing analogy of routine test drive that we undertake before we purchase a car. The MP has conveniently omitted the fact that the submarine actually dived all the way without a hitch from France before developing problems in Malaysia. He also failed to enlighten the crowd that the same submarine is already used by Spain, Brazil, France and Chile. Good example of how to manipulate issues to your advantage.
Dr Hatta Ramli came next, harping on the One Malaysia, One Israel issue which needs no further elaboration. He was bent on claiming that APCO was headed by Jewish stakeholders, therefore it was unIslamic and demanded that the government terminate their contract. No one spoke about One India campaign, which started was back in 1997. Why only one Israel, what else if not for scoring some political points. His speech was however, rather inaudible, but I do not think he spoke anything significant apart from the One Malaysia, One Israel issue. It’s not that we expected him to speak about some national or international policies!.
Ronnie Liu came next, with the MC introducing him that someone who was alleged to be corrupt but there are no case against him by police or MACC. Hmm.. how come MACC is made to sound credible here… Ronnie went on saying that in the cabinet line up, none of the Ministers are clean, at least none of the Ministers have declared that they were clean, he says. No evidence or even a hint was provided to back his claims.
This reminded me on the ‘Asset Declaration’ circus by the Pakatan Rakyat Selangor where an ‘income declaration’ rather than asset declaration was published. The ‘Income Declaration’ is now not available at the state government website, or at least I can’t find it despite a through search of the website. As far as I can remember, the MB did not declare his shares in Guthrie on that statement. Other Pakatan State governments have chosen to ignore this promise as per their standard of ‘Competency, Accountability and Transparency”.
Can Mr Ronnie Liu declare that all Pakatan Rakyat MPs are clean? He can’t and he never will, as Pakatan Opposition leader himself appears to have wealth beyond his means. Mr Ronnie should have harped on other issues. He also spoke about Middle Malaysia, Pas For all and One Malaysia. His idea of One Malaysia is equality for all appeared not well received by the Malay majority crowd.
Ronnie also made a false statement. He claimed that the country petroleum reserves will be depleted in 3-4 or 5 years time. Recent report says that our reserves will be depleted in 2017 if no new reserves are found. This is probably a genuine mistake on his part but when he kept on quoting the same figure over and over again, I had the impression that he is deliberately trying to mislead the crowd. His main argument was that the government is bankrupt of ideas on how to survive without the petroleum money.
Teresa Kok came next, introduced as Senior State Government Exco with muted response from the audience. She spoke about all state government’s programs which amplified ‘Merakyatkan Ekonomi’ theme. She also spoke that he water bill is so low due to the ‘free water’ policy by the state government.
What she failed to highlight that the free water is not actually reaching the poor and other target groups residing in flats and apartments. I myself have not paid water bills for months as the bill is still in the negative due to the policy. I do not need the subsidy while a friend of mine in an apartment nearby continues to pay in full as the apartment does not have individual water meters. The state government shown no interest to solve this while continuing to trumpet that the free water benefits the poor when it is actually not.
She also spoke about various freebies and handout initiated by the State Government, some which are no different than what BN has done in the past. She also spoke about the 50 Million Micro-Credit fund, apparently created by the recovery of dues from Talam Corporation. There are various disputes and issues of transparency on the Talam debt and recovery. The state government has yet to respond to it, but yet they chose to publicise the Micro Credit fund more than explaining how the fund will come about. No other details or mechanism of the fund was revealed.
She also spoke about Investments brought in by the State Government. The figures are also currently being challenged by the state opposition. Teresa spoke glowingly on their achievement, ignoring the fact that they did not achieve their own target.
The were round of applause though when she mentioned that the State government is close to resolving issues faced by Bukit Botak residents, not without blaming the previous BN state government for the source of the problems.
I left when Teresa was mumbling about BN was corrupt of ideas etc. I wonder how the crowd lasted that long, the speeches were boring and unenthusiastic. It was unlike the ones held early last year at the same venue with MB Khalid present where the crowd were bigger, more responsive and enthusiastic.
I can summarise by saying that actually the Selangor State Government, while maybe more efficient and transparent selectively, they are equally bankrupt of ideas. TheMP who took the stage manipulated issues to their advantage and deliberately chose not to explain issues and disputes challenged by BN and others. I must say that the ‘matured’ and gullible crowd may yet believe them. Overall, the quality of the arguments, explanation and information were poor and pathetic, so was the crowd response.
This campaign should be now renamed as ‘Selamatkan Pakatan Rakyat’ instead, looking at serious allegations against their past conduct, being revealed in installments by their ex-members and not really BN.
Pakatan Rakyat were confidently expecting 10,000 people, but there were actually only about 3,000 people gathered there, perhaps they would have attracted more if it was held on weekend. When I arrived at the entrance of the stadium, a 4 page leaflet was handed to me. The contents were an opening statement by PKR Secretary claiming conspiracy on Anwar’s sodomy case.
The 2nd and 3rd page is all about Pusrawi Hospital medical report indicating the accuser, Saiful was not sodomised, no matter that no one has verified if the reports were in fact authentic and true . I think that is for the Doctor concerned to testify, if he is called for the trial and also the judge to determine if indeed the medical report was true. For PKR to distribute these leaflets, some say it is contempt of court, I see it as a desperate attempt to win public opinion. More so when there’s hardly anyone bothered to show support during the recents court hearings.
Segambut MP, Lim Lip Eng was on the rostrum when I arrived. He spoke about lost jet engines, which he claims to be worth millions, together with the allegation that it should be been more people involved citing that it would have been impossible for two people to carry the 2 engines, weighing probably a tone each, out of the warehouse.
As far as I know, the trial of the 2 individuals charged for the theft has yet to start, but the Segambut MP, despite being one of the more hardworking Pakatan MPs, chose to politicise and speculate on the incident. Can Pakatan Rakyat guarantee that there will be no theft of such assets when they are in power one day. I don’t think so. These allegations and speculations will one day definitely backfire on them when it happens under their watch.
He also spoke about the non diving Submarine, which he claims he saw in Sabah on his recent visit. He says that the government did not test the submarine before purchasing it, citing analogy of routine test drive that we undertake before we purchase a car. The MP has conveniently omitted the fact that the submarine actually dived all the way without a hitch from France before developing problems in Malaysia. He also failed to enlighten the crowd that the same submarine is already used by Spain, Brazil, France and Chile. Good example of how to manipulate issues to your advantage.
Dr Hatta Ramli came next, harping on the One Malaysia, One Israel issue which needs no further elaboration. He was bent on claiming that APCO was headed by Jewish stakeholders, therefore it was unIslamic and demanded that the government terminate their contract. No one spoke about One India campaign, which started was back in 1997. Why only one Israel, what else if not for scoring some political points. His speech was however, rather inaudible, but I do not think he spoke anything significant apart from the One Malaysia, One Israel issue. It’s not that we expected him to speak about some national or international policies!.
Ronnie Liu came next, with the MC introducing him that someone who was alleged to be corrupt but there are no case against him by police or MACC. Hmm.. how come MACC is made to sound credible here… Ronnie went on saying that in the cabinet line up, none of the Ministers are clean, at least none of the Ministers have declared that they were clean, he says. No evidence or even a hint was provided to back his claims.
This reminded me on the ‘Asset Declaration’ circus by the Pakatan Rakyat Selangor where an ‘income declaration’ rather than asset declaration was published. The ‘Income Declaration’ is now not available at the state government website, or at least I can’t find it despite a through search of the website. As far as I can remember, the MB did not declare his shares in Guthrie on that statement. Other Pakatan State governments have chosen to ignore this promise as per their standard of ‘Competency, Accountability and Transparency”.
Can Mr Ronnie Liu declare that all Pakatan Rakyat MPs are clean? He can’t and he never will, as Pakatan Opposition leader himself appears to have wealth beyond his means. Mr Ronnie should have harped on other issues. He also spoke about Middle Malaysia, Pas For all and One Malaysia. His idea of One Malaysia is equality for all appeared not well received by the Malay majority crowd.
Ronnie also made a false statement. He claimed that the country petroleum reserves will be depleted in 3-4 or 5 years time. Recent report says that our reserves will be depleted in 2017 if no new reserves are found. This is probably a genuine mistake on his part but when he kept on quoting the same figure over and over again, I had the impression that he is deliberately trying to mislead the crowd. His main argument was that the government is bankrupt of ideas on how to survive without the petroleum money.
Teresa Kok came next, introduced as Senior State Government Exco with muted response from the audience. She spoke about all state government’s programs which amplified ‘Merakyatkan Ekonomi’ theme. She also spoke that he water bill is so low due to the ‘free water’ policy by the state government.
What she failed to highlight that the free water is not actually reaching the poor and other target groups residing in flats and apartments. I myself have not paid water bills for months as the bill is still in the negative due to the policy. I do not need the subsidy while a friend of mine in an apartment nearby continues to pay in full as the apartment does not have individual water meters. The state government shown no interest to solve this while continuing to trumpet that the free water benefits the poor when it is actually not.
She also spoke about various freebies and handout initiated by the State Government, some which are no different than what BN has done in the past. She also spoke about the 50 Million Micro-Credit fund, apparently created by the recovery of dues from Talam Corporation. There are various disputes and issues of transparency on the Talam debt and recovery. The state government has yet to respond to it, but yet they chose to publicise the Micro Credit fund more than explaining how the fund will come about. No other details or mechanism of the fund was revealed.
She also spoke about Investments brought in by the State Government. The figures are also currently being challenged by the state opposition. Teresa spoke glowingly on their achievement, ignoring the fact that they did not achieve their own target.
The were round of applause though when she mentioned that the State government is close to resolving issues faced by Bukit Botak residents, not without blaming the previous BN state government for the source of the problems.
I left when Teresa was mumbling about BN was corrupt of ideas etc. I wonder how the crowd lasted that long, the speeches were boring and unenthusiastic. It was unlike the ones held early last year at the same venue with MB Khalid present where the crowd were bigger, more responsive and enthusiastic.
I can summarise by saying that actually the Selangor State Government, while maybe more efficient and transparent selectively, they are equally bankrupt of ideas. TheMP who took the stage manipulated issues to their advantage and deliberately chose not to explain issues and disputes challenged by BN and others. I must say that the ‘matured’ and gullible crowd may yet believe them. Overall, the quality of the arguments, explanation and information were poor and pathetic, so was the crowd response.
This campaign should be now renamed as ‘Selamatkan Pakatan Rakyat’ instead, looking at serious allegations against their past conduct, being revealed in installments by their ex-members and not really BN.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)