Mahathir - Keeping the Tradition

Dr. M's recent announcement that he has quit UMNO come as no surprise to me as it has been the tradition since Onn Jaafar days. Where the once President of UMNO will one day have to quit the party. Tunku and Tun Hussein Onn did not rejoin UMNO Baru after the old UMNO was made defunct by Dr. M and now he has quit the party he formed. How ironic. Nur Jazlan, the UMNO MP for Kulai summed it all up as a curse, when he said"I'm not surprised. It's like a curse. Almost all the Umno presidents eventually leave the party because they disagree with their successor, from Datuk Onn (Jaafar) to Mahathir. Tun Razak was spared because he died early."

My question however is, will his son Mukhriz quit too? My take is, he will trumpet that he will stay to challenge to establishment in UMNO and to remain the voice of Malays to earn some brownie points.

In all the turbulence, I find it hard to understand why Dr. M, in his last days are playing up the racial card once again. Has he forgotten that during the Reformasi days, he actually has to count on the non-Malay votes to keep him in power? Why is he now using the non-Malays again as punching bag in his effort to remain relevant to UMNO? Certainly UMNO can no longer claim to represent the voice of the people when a wide spectrum of the public across racial lines demand for greater transparency in every aspect of the government, yet there is this spec in UMNO that is unhappy that the PM of Malaysia is trying to do just that!

UMNO, your President who is also the Prime Minister of Malaysia will have to behave as a Prime Minister of ALL Malaysians and not just a President of UMNO. If UMNO really wanted their President to just be their President, then by all means let someone else be the PM of all Malaysians while you stand by the sidelines thumping your chest and raise whatever keris you want to raise.

Dr. M's last Hurrah

Dr. M showed his hand today when he announced his resignation from UMNO Baru, the party that he formed in the aftermath of 1988. It is ironic that he said this, "He said Umno now was no longer the same party that was formed 62 years ago on May 11, 1946. Then Umno fought for the Malay interests, rights and privileges."

Is he trying to tell us that the UMNO that he formed is the same UMNO of 1946? So is it desperation or genius at work? Is he being forced to play his last ace? Does he have any more aces up his sleeve? Although many will quit UMNO as a result and force Abdullah into calling for another General Election, this may play into BN's hand as they will harp on the insecurity should we "rock" the boat further... would it? Or would we now see fit for the tadpoles to turn to frogs QUICK.. PRONTO!

Dr. M for all he is worth would think that he is sacrificing his Queen for a pawn in order to force a cheqmate. Will Abdullah bite? How will he retaliate? To me, Dr. M has lost a lot of credibility, from Lingamgate right upto yesterday's racial card that he played, I would like to think of it as Dr. M is a sinking ship... but then again its a galleon with hundreds of cannons which will not go down quietly.

Mahathir - Genius or Desperado?

When the Lingam report came out, he came out with guns blazing challenging the government to take him to court.

According to him, "I want them to charge me in court. Only then will I have the opportunity to expose more conflicts faced by the judges, including those who have implicated me." He in fact welcomed the idea!

What I cant stand about this old man is, in 22 years he screwed the country proper, from the judiciary to the newspapers now he seems to have something more to say about things that ail the judiciary. Wasnt he involved in the cancer that is spreading?

On top of that, he began fanning the racial dischord. Why? Is he desperate? Is he trying to get back to the grassroot that was the bedrock of his powerbase for the last 30 years or so? Why now? Is he a genius in going back to his grassroots or is he merely desperate to deflect the glare of Lingam-gate? Will he live through to see his name drown in infamy? Will he succeed? Will the people fall for his talk again?

But, I think Mahathir has something going for him. Abdul Gani Patail! Trust a prick to do a man's job! Mahathir and the famous 5 of Lingam-gate will probably walk free.

Is Rashit still in Charge?

After spilling the beans HERE. I really wonder if he is still in charge?

While his deputy speaks about an impending snap polls?

So is Rashit still in charge? Or is it that after his sensational expose he is now being relieved off his position as the Chairman of the EC? I thought his term ends only next year after a one year extension? So if there is any snap polls to be called this year, he should still be in charge wouldnt it?

Why whould the hopping of MPs be an issue today? Wasnt BN also hoping for MPs to hop way back in a few GEs ago when PBS won by slim majority? Why is it an issue today?

Darn! I got so many questions! I hope someone provide me with some answers or at least some conspiracy theories.

Rashit taking directives from Ghosts?

source http://www.malaysiakini.com/

EC chief: Cabinet disapproved of indelible ink
May 17, 08 12:48pm
Election Commission chairperson Rashid Abdul Rahman said the cabinet did not approve the use of indelible ink during the March 8 general election.

MCPX“I was told that I was to take the responsibility for agreeing to it. It's not easy being EC chairperson. I took the whole rap over the year,” Rashid told reporters after a function today. Rashid’s comments further fueled speculations that the decision to scrap the use of indelible ink was a executive decision in light of whimsy excuses for the last minute U-turn in using the ink. Last year, the EC had agreed to use the ink in the 12th General Election to put to rest claims of multiple voting. The plan was cancelled five days before the March 8 polling day.A princely sum of RM2.4 million for about 48,000 bottles of the ink was bought from India, but Rashid had to call off the move on claims, that were never substantiated, that elements of sabotage had been detected by the police.

Gosh... so is Rashit saying the EC is not independent and that he is the lapdog of BN all these while?

By the way how can the CABINET be involved? Was there a cabinet present after the dissolution of Parliament? How can Rashit take orders from something that did not exist anymore? Wreaks more smell of shit than anything else.

Update

Further news on Malaysiakini stated that the decision was made on the day the Parliament was dissolved, but, the decision was announced only 4 days before polling... err.. to a Joe like me, it makes no freaking difference right? The Cabinet was inexistent already.

While PM trying to deflect the bombshell that Rashid delivers, he said that the decision to drop the use of indellible ink by the cabinet was merely a suggestion! Wow... tell me during the last administration, when was there any suggestions coming out from the cabinet or UMNO for that matter? Come on Abdullah, you screwed up and while Rashid realized that he has to take shit so much that people changed his name to sound alike and now he wanted to somehow come clean to tell the nation and you come out with such feeble excuses?

On other matters, Abdullah please do something about the VK Lingam case.... putting Gani to investigate is like throwing salt into the ocean while the old man is challenging your balls... show him you still have it.

VK Lingam Got Korek-ed!

With the cabinet deciding to make the report public and whereby Zaid revealed that the Commission has recommended that former PM, Dr. Mahathir to be investigated comes not much of a shock, despite the fact that the PM said that the decision will be made on Friday although the report has been submitted to the king much earlier.

Not surprising perhaps because the people implicated in the shocking video revealed by Anwar Ibrahim did not implicate Abdullah. The damage was more on the former PM and what a pleasure it would have given Abdullah to have the report made public and take the heat off his back for a while, while the court of public opinion grill the former PM. Eh?

With the spotlight now shifted to the former PM, Abdullah can breathe a sigh of relief much more so when his deputy is embroiled in Mogolian murder trial as well as the National Service debacles, Abdullah can certainly now shift his focus on some pain in the neck that would not go away. Razaleigh for example or maybe Muhyiddin.

That takes care of troubles in UMNO while his faithful son in law takes care of the Parliament as he turns the Parliament into his playground. Making unwanted remarks as well as causing an uproar when he played puppet master to Amirsham.... The opposition should know better than to play into his hands.

Its perfect for Abdullah really. He can at last return to his favourite past time... zzzzzzZZZZZZ.

National Service - Sick of it.

With school going children, many of us are indeed troubled by the deaths occuring in National Service camps every year. While we have been bringing up the issue, our DPM seems more hell bent to justify the programme that it should continue. HERE.

What I find depressing is the DPM seems to echo the excuses of the camp administrators in pin pointing the root cause of the deaths as to negligence on health by the attendees while not addressing the issues of accidents arising from it.

"Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the number of deaths was a small percentage compared to the 339,186 trainees who had benefited from the programme up to now.

He also said that 11 of the trainees had died during training and five during their holiday break. Of the 11 deaths, seven were caused by ailments and four were due to accidents, he added."

How could he just brush aside the number of death as small? We have spent almost 20 years to bring our kids up to that age. Imagine the amount of money and time spent nurturing them! Only to die in vain due to some incompetent camp administrator! I guess its easy for him to say so as his own kids are not subjected to such slack attention at the camps.

On top of that, he is trying even harder to "ADD VALUE" to his cronies when he suggested that medical check-ups to be made mandatory! So what now? We have to pay to ensure our kids health before we sent them for NS? More money to be made? How in the world can he equate deaths in our NS camps to Singapore's? Can he ensure that all the camp's personnel's credentials to be put up for scrutiny? Can he allow parents to visit their kids every now and then? Can he ensure that the kids will be sent to the nearest camp where their home is? After all its NS we are talking about not a concentration camp for convicts!

I will now dedicate my blog to fighting for the abolition of NS and will join the desired groups elsewhere to seek justice for the deaths in NS. I can imagine the agony of a parent to see their kids die in vain like drowning in toilet, die of stomach upset etc. When they cannot even ensure basic safety and health standards, I wonder what right have they got to make it mandatory for our kids to go to NS!

The frogs have mated?

With the intensity growing, I believe the frogging season is nigh. From mainstream media to the blogosphere and Malaysiakini, many are indicating that the time is ripe for the frogmen to don their frogsuit and start hopping.

Though in much earlier days, there were optimistic news of hopping from BN to PR, now there are news surfacing that in Perak, they just intend to do otherwise! HERE and HERE and HERE.

But, should the negative flow negate the positive flow, would it not?


Nevertheless, I wait with baited breath. In my opinion, the current government is still arrogant regardless of the "reforms" that they have started, many seem to have fizzled out and no concrete results arising from it. Judical Commission for example will only come under a Parliament committee according to former de-facto Law Minister. While the investigation into BALKIS and Bunga Tanjung have since fallen off the radar and if Abdullah sincerely believes in Freedom of information, he would have made the Lingam Report public without any hesitation. Death after death in NS has not deterred the government from calling for a full review of the entire program at all, while many Malaysians would perceive their desire to continue with NS is only to enrich their cronies who will have much to lose should the program be scrapped. So with all this in mind, MalaysianJoe thinks, its best to have a new government and let the old one sort themselves out... if ever they can sort themselves out without imploding.

Let us write a new chapter in our history and may it be a start of something new and good for the people and nation.

A Hoard of Issues

Came back from what was indeed a good break and many shocks too.

Arrived at Langkawi only to find out that Nargisa has hit Myanmar and to a certain extent the weather in Langkawi was affected. Sigh... but I guess that was not all. The issue of rice shortage is definitely high on the list of what went wrong in Malaysia of late.

There were certainly many plots of paddy fields in Langkawi and why was I not surprised that we are short of rice? The fields there are all overgrown with lallang. A sign that it has not been attended to for some time. But also on it you see construction that is on-going. Ahh... the farmers must have hit jackpot and are building their own lavish abode on their land. Much as I would like to believe our PM that we are 70% self sufficient, I really wonder if that is the case. Or was what I heard from Bernas not too long ago about the malady affecting our farmers who are more keen to sell their fertilizers and seedlings for easy money has caused the country to suffer the consequence of rapidly rising prices? Or are the millers hoarding the rice for better price?

Besides that, there is the nagging issue of National Service which claimed another innocent life. That is indeed sad and what makes it worse is that the authority are washing their hands clean off the issue. The bottom line is, IF they cannot ensure safety and well being of the participants, they should just scrape the whole thing altogether. I am sure many parents as I are as concerned to entrust the life of our precious young into hands of the irresponsible.

A Break!

At last am going for a short break of a week. Wont be writing anytime soon but will be keeping abreast with all the goings on around me.

But I cant help feeling the way they write the obituary of the Chief of Naza that passed away recently. My condolences to his family but arent they overdoing it? Citing him as a towering example of NEP? Started business with RM80k... buying 20APs... and he earned his first million in one year? Go figure... If I am allowed to trade APs.. I think I will also make my millions very fast.