Good Turnout at Guan Eng’s Open House
February 15, 2010
Good Turnout at Guan Eng’s Open House
by Terence Netto
A full turnout of the top brass of Pakatan Rakyat’s Penang contingent at Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s open house at Komtar Walk yesterday doused hopes that the insurgency of Zahrain Mohd Hashim was gaining ground.
The leading figures in the state PKR and PAS ranks, led by Deputy Chief Minister Mansor Othman and Mohd Sallehman respectively, backed by lesser lights from both parties, turned up early at the function which was graced by governor Abdul Rahman Abbas.
Attendance turned out to be a barometer of the popularity or the lack of open disgruntlement with Lim’s leadership felt by elements of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, recently given public airing by Bayan Baru MP, Zahrain.
The former PKR state chief announced late last week that he had left the party to become a non-BN supporting independent, a move he portrayed as the culmination of long simmering tensions with Lim and consequent dissatisfaction with PKR’s way of coping with it.
Zahrain’s departure came after a fortnight of broadsides hurled at Lim by a coterie of UMNO-inspired critics whose main complaint was that the Chief Minister had marginalised Malay economic interests and priorities.
The latest bullet in the fusillade was that the Chief Minister had canceled the Maulidur Rasul procession for this year which brought a prompt denial from both Lim and Abdul Malik Abul Kassim, the PKR executive council member in charge of religious affairs.
‘Nation’s centre of attention’
Lim was a fine fettle at the function he hosted yesterday, engaging in amiable banter with a reporter to whom he cracked: “You have come to the centre of attention in the country.”
“That’s a natural place for the press,” quipped the reporter. Lim, in the crisis generated by Zahrain’s race-baiting salvoes, followed-up by attacks from UMNO proxies such as the Penang Malay Chambers of Commerce, has eschewed his customary direct and combative refutation for low-key statistical and documentary rebuttals.
If action speaks louder than words, then calm resolve about one’s purpose and due diligence at the work required to achieve the aim, appeared to be Lim’s modus operandi.
The least that could be said of the strategy was that it does not add fuel to the fire, no matter how contrived the latter.
Asked about the effect that Zahrain’s darts at Lim have had on PKR, Sim Tze Tzin, the state assemblyperson for Pantai Jerejak, one of three PKR-held wards in Bayan Baru, was terse: “It’s having no impact.”
Sim surveyed the ease with which DAP, PKR and PAS officials mingled at the open house and added: “This is the evidence.”
If appearances are not deceptive, it was hard to gainsay the young PKR rep.
Din,
This article is an example of cheap flattery. This writer Terence Netto is trying hard to soften the blow following YB Dato Seri Zahrain’s attacks on Lim Guan Eng. Ask the people of Penang, especially the Malays, and they will tell you that the CM is increasingly arrogant and powerful. Even Anwar Ibrahim has to kow tow the man. Even Deputy CM Mansor Othman is not pulling his own weight.
DAP never realised without PKR support they would never have a chance to take the state during the last elections. Zahrain and his PKR team had a role to play in that historic defeat of Gerakan under Koh Tsu Koon. Since I am from Butterworth, I witnessed the campaign during March, 2008. Without Anwar and Zahrain and the PKR team, Guan Eng who is from Malacca stood no chance.
Ahmadi Hussein - February 15, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Ahmadi,
You must be reminded, PKR is a grouping hence help when necessary from a member of the group, it must be deemed to be provided.
The root of the problem is the money politics of BN. In this instance it is not within the party but between opposition parties especially when there are “leap frogs”. The BN has the monetary resource to effect the crossovers. This is aggravated when you have greedy politicians who’s only aim is to use their political position to get into the money, by devious means. That’s Malaysian politics.
Brian - February 15, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Pakatan (PR) in chaos? You decide.
Fatimah Zuhri - February 15, 2010 at 7:31 pm
I will support LGE if he makes Penang Asia’s gay capital.
Mr Bean - February 15, 2010 at 8:14 pm
The honor for the world’s gay capital has to remain with San Francisco.
Mr Bean - February 15, 2010 at 8:19 pm
If you believe Fatimah Zuhri, as she is also known at FB which many had deleted her, pigs can fly. A well trained cybertrooper trying her best to destroy PR including following the style of writing lies started by utusan. She is not from Penang and before I deleted her from my FB list, I challenged her to meet me in Komtar at the State Government office to clarify all that she said that are wrong doing by the Government but receive no response.
Richard Loh - February 15, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Ahmadi Hussein
Without DAP, there is NO way PKR or PAS can be part of the Govt under the Pakatan Rakyat banner.
Gerakan is now in a wasteland. MCA is as good as dead in Penang.
PKR and PAS has to play ball with DAP.
The other option is for PKR and PAS to be a rat, ie leave Pakatan Rakyat and join UMNO to form a Unity Govt in Penang.
Non Malay voters will be on the side of Guan Eng unless Guan Eng becomes another lap dog or being made into the like of Koh Tsu Koon who the Penang Chinese believes that he is an UMNO- Malay with a Chinese name.
As long as PKR and PAS stays with DAP and allow DAP to manage Penang without having to kowtow to former UMNO warlords now in PKR or succumbed to some religiously stupid dogmas of PAS, Pakatan Rakyat will be governing Penang for many more elections to come.
DAP has no qualms being in opposition. They had been there.
For PAS it is the first time they are able to exert their presence in a mostly non Muslim state in Penang and Selangor. If PAS continues to follow its PAS for All, it will be a party of choice among non Muslims.
As for PKR, it is seen as a very poor version of UMNO. If Anwar does not stamp out those disgruntled UMNO members and supporters in the PKR ranks, PKR will die like Semangat 46.
I had said some months back on this blog, at this rate of frogging and the instability of loyalty of the PKT Malay leaders, PKR will die the death of Semangat 46, which saw the return of those disgruntled UMNO members back to UMNO.
It is now happening and the pace is quickening for those former UMNO members and supporters to return back to UMNO because suddenly they find they find there is no gravy train in PKR and that that PAS and DAP are not going to fall backward to reward these former UMNO warlords and to former MCA lapdogs.
Zahrain and that PKR Chinese rat Tan Tee Beng are only a tip of an iceberg in PKR .
Frank - February 16, 2010 at 12:09 am
Richard Loh
People like Fatimah Zuhri doesn’t deserve one second of my time.
If she has the balls (oops sorry, she doesn’t have any), I meant to say the gall, to come forward to argue her case against PKR, I would give time to read what she wrote.
People like her are the beneficiaries of the spoils of the Ketuanan Melayu policy and whose family is enriched by the corrupt practices of UMNO and who is a strong supporter of the BTN crap.
I challenge her to prove me wrong about her,
Frank - February 16, 2010 at 12:17 am
Fatimah aka Ilham – birds of a feather flock together. Celoteh hang ni tak kena tempat lah. Ni bukan tempat untuk tali barut Utusan. The BTN indoctrination classes have done her in. Poor fella.
Tok Cik - February 16, 2010 at 12:37 am
Is Fatimah the umno puteri kind that wears tudung in public but suck dicks of their opposite counterparts behind close doors?? I’ve come across a few of them!!
Danildaud - February 16, 2010 at 1:02 am
Will someone please explain to me how the states currently under opposition control could survive financially with Putrajaya under the control of a political party determined to see these states stagnate economically? You have no means to raise revenue except for local property taxes, zakat etc. The states cannot collect their own state income taxes a substantial source of revenue otherwise. All essential services are financed from federal sources.
Over time these states will rot economically as they are starved of federal funding for projects authorized by state excos to benefit the constituents who voted them into power.
Over here, the states are independent financially – resorting to borrowing from the federal government only when forced to do so such as in a recession. At other times they are able to balance their budgets. Any deficit financing is by way of local borrowing.
All this is because the Federation of Malaysia is not a true federation. Neither is it a confederation. It is an anomaly. In terms of federal-state relations, it is inherently dysfunctional.
Mr Bean - February 16, 2010 at 1:10 am
Mr Bean
You are right. There is a Federation under the constitution.
But then, the Constitution had been made into a toilet paper by the UMNO-led Govt with the approval of the Malaysian voters since 1957. Not only that, Malaysians have been giving this UMNO-Govt two-third majority in Parliament so that they can treat Malaysians like garbage.
Blame the sad state of affairs to Malaysians, especially the Malay voters who formed the majority of the MPs. They are still giving this UMNO-led Govt the votes to trample on the Constitution.
Malaysians want to be part of the First World community but their mental state on how they want the country to be govern, is like the Zimbabweans who prefer the corrupt leadership of Robert Mugabe.
Politically, Malaysians, especially the majority of the Malay constituency led by the UMNO-Malay elites are still African in terms of political maturity.
Frank - February 16, 2010 at 2:28 am
The present state of affair is caused by Maha Firaun’s manipulation of the Federal Constitution. His 22-year rule was dedicated to making the rakyat suffer.
The Malay grassroots are largely to be blamed for letting this ruthless idiot dictated the way we live today. He threw crumbs at them and made the sultans eat off his hands. Jibby and Co are the beneficiaries of his evil ways. Everything was handed to them on a sliver platter. Pinkie Lips is indebted to this Kerala devil.
Maha Firauan would have been lynched if he had lived in one of the southern states of USA back in the 1800s.
Tok Cik - February 16, 2010 at 9:14 am
Fatimah Zuhri? The name could be misleading. Is the person is a he, she or someone in between? The real identity is not known.This person’s blog does not tell us much. This person, however, seems to know a lot about my wife and I.
Typical of UMNO cybertroopers, this person is incapable of seeing issues from different angles and come up with his own or her position. This person has posted something I did not have time to delete. In view of the many comments which are now on the thread on the person’s posting, I cannot do so now.
I have to deal with all sorts of garbage, and I have done my best to delete those which are of not good taste. This is an everyday activity for me these days. I appeal to all to keep your comments fair and sensible. Our writings reflect who we are.
I am more fortunate than other blogs because my commentators are genuine and helpful. I attribute the hits I get to people like Frank, New Yorker Bean, Shrek, Danildaud, Menyalak-er, Ipoh’s Tok Cik, Tean, and others whose views are mature, balanced in a critical sort of way, and of good taste. –Din Merican
dinobeano - February 16, 2010 at 10:14 am
Terence Netto’s Response to Ahmadi Hussein as follows:
Dear Din,
It may be cheap flattery. But do tell Ahmadi Hussein I am prepared to go with him to talk to these Malays and find out their real feelings about Lim Guan Eng. In fact, I would dearly like him to oblige. I would like to know how the Malays feel. The problem about the Malays is that their preferred mode of discourse in these matters is indirection: it’s hard to find out what they truly feel!
As for Anwar kowtowing to LGE, I would like to know about that too. It’s strange that when the DAP swept all 19 seats they contested, Anwar panicked and chose a rank outsider, Fairus, for Deputy Chief Minister when he should have chosen Abdul Malik Kassim. Perhaps the latter’s Indian-Muslim background was a disqualifer in the circumstances.
Today, LGE is all out to make Penang a halal hub, with Malik the standard bearer in this thurst. Has anyone else thought of and acted on making Penang a halal hub for Islamic manufactures and trade? Who else but the Malays benefit from this initiative.
I remember Mansor Othman telling Malik Kassim in January 2009 that he should push the Malay agenda with LGE. This was before Mansor became Penanti by-election winner and DCM. By January 2009, Malik was already being sardonically referred to as Malik-Lim or Lim Ah Lek. Now, eight months after Mansor was appointed DCM, some are heard to jibe – Mansor Lim — about Mansor’s acquiescence in LGE’s ways.
True, Anwar played a critical role in helping DAP take Penang. He read the Hindraf demonstration of 25 November 2007 well and parlayed Indian Malaysian discontent into general discontent of Malays, Chinese and Indians with the powers that be. Only Dayaks and Kadazans did not come along. (And guess who is primarily responsible for making them feel so removed from Semenanjong?)
But after that, inadequacies in Malay leadership, to wit, the shambolic performance of Fairus, the betrayal of Osman Jailu (Changkat Jering) and Jamaluddin (Behrang), the greed of engineering dropout Saiful Bukhari, stoked latent Chinese contempt for Malay mettle.
Ahmadi Hussein ought to know that this is a deeply racist country. All bear responsibility for this dreadful condition, Umno more than most.
I hope he takes me up on talking to the Malays who feel strongly about LGE.
Regards,
Terence.
dinobeano - February 16, 2010 at 10:39 am
Mr Netto,
I glad that you are man enough to admit that your piece on Lim Guan Eng “may be cheap flattery” (and I quote you). Read UitM Perlis Academic Nadzir Awang Ahmad’s article “Krisis Pembangkang Serius” in today’s Utusan Malaysia (February 16). It is worthwhile to reflect on PKR and why more and more Malays are having second thoughts about Anwar’s politics.
It is obvious to people like me that Anwar is not interested in pursuing his so-called liberal agenda. He is using it as the means to be Prime Minister, this being his only mission. After that, he will revert to being an UMNO type since he was schooled in that tradition. Anwar is such a smooth talker,someone who can sell ice to an Eskimo. He cannot be a good leader if he cannot choose reliable colleagues for positions of responsibility. His choice of first Fairuz and now Mansor is a disaster. No wonder Mansor is increasingly an adopted Lim.
It is a matter to time before PAS wakes to the reality that the coalition of DAP, PKR and PAS is not sustainable, even over the near term. DAP is as racist as UMNO. It is you, the idealist who does not notice this, although it is like a beam in your eyes. Our leaders have not been able to look beyond race and religion. I hope you re-examine your worldview.
Nothing much is happening in Penang under DAP rule, and except for YB Malik and YB Sim Tze Sin, PKR Penang is a non-performer. Yusmadi, MP for Balik Pulau too is one big talker with an inferiority complex. Even Pak Mus who is now a Senator has changed his tag, happy to be in Dewan Negara and also hopes to be a Dato, come next Governor’s Birthday.
I live in Butterworth and am in touch on daily basis with what people at Permatang Pauh, Penanti and Kepala Batas-Seberang Jaya think of Pakatan Rakyat, in particular PKR. Since I am a retired Penang Port Commission executive who worked under Zahrain when he was Chairman of PPC, I understand him and the local scene better than you. So I do not need to accompany you. Maybe you should spend time in the remote corners on Penang and interact with the folks to find things out for yourself. I would love to see how an erudite intellectual can communicate with them.
I am sad that PKR is not performing in Penang. Failure to deal with the Penang Malay problem and poverty will be its downfall in the next elections.
Ahmadi Hussein - February 16, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Ahmadi
Its your lack of competency in English, I think is the reason that you failed to answer Netto’s two questions.
Brian - February 16, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Frank, this exchange between Ahmadi and Terence Netto is interesting because they see the Penang imbrogilo from contrasting perspectives. Your thoughts are welcome here. New Yorker Bean’s too. –Din Merican
dinobeano - February 16, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Nice post! I really like your posting.
i will come back to read more of your posts.
Cheers
Bonnie - February 16, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Brian,
You are right I am from the Ulus. Please answer Mr Netto’s two questions since you are very competent in English. I love to read what you say on Penang. If you are not from my area, you will not contribute much to this discourse. But then I may be wrong about you.
Ahmadi Hussein - February 16, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Brian,
I am waiting for your response to Ahmadi’s challenge to you to answer Netto’s two questions. He has humbly admitted that you are more competent in the English language. How about it? Don’t back off now. Otherwise, you cannot make statements without having the guts and ability to defend them.
Proarte - February 16, 2010 at 7:18 pm
New Yorker Bean, Frank and Menyalak-er,
Maybe you all can help Brian in this regard.–Din Merican
dinobeano - February 16, 2010 at 7:20 pm
“It is obvious to people like me that Anwar is not interested in pursuing his so-called liberal agenda. He is using it as the means to be Prime Minister, this being his only mission. After that, he will revert to being an UMNO type since he was schooled in that tradition. Anwar is such a smooth talker,someone who can sell ice to an Eskimo.” Ahmadi Hussein
In view of global warming, selling ice to an eskimo could one day be a lucrative venture. I would say Anwar Ibrahim has foresight, a visionary leader who though schooled in the old tradition is never a slave to it.
I would give him the benefit of the doubt. What have we got to lose that we have not already lost – our place in the international community just to name one.
Mr Bean - February 16, 2010 at 9:20 pm
What two questions?? Selling ice cream to an Eskimo? That has been tried before.
Mr Bean - February 16, 2010 at 10:04 pm
“Since I am a retired Penang Port Commission executive who worked under Zahrain when he was Chairman of PPC, I understand him and the local scene better than you. So I do not need to accompany you.”- Ahmadi Hussein
Ahmadi Hussein, I say this to you:
That is a cop-out coming from you. For all your seemingly intelligent discourse of the politics of Penang, you became a coward to a fair call from Terence Netto to take a walk with him and talk to the Malays.
The worst insult to a Malay like you is being called a “Penakut”
You are a big disappointment for a Malay. For awhile, I thought you had something which I, in particular, or we on this blog, could learn about the Malay psyche in Penang. I was willing to suspend my own pre-conception and views after Terence Netto wrote in to ask you to join him so all of us can be enlightened and be wiser on this issue.
NO, instead you exposed yourself as another CHEAP critic of our political landscape. You have presented yourself as just another cyber-critic hiding behind the computer screen but when challenged to stand by what you wrote, you decide to go hide under the computer table.
As one UMNO politician say: Come forth, “Ahmadi Hussein, jadi seorang Jantan”.
I say in simple English, “ Put your money where your big mouth is.”
What a disgrace for a man of your age and maturity to chicken out when challenged fairly by a fellow political analyst, who is willing to put to a test what you said and what he said.
You have lost all the respect I had for you. I would not even want to bother to waste my precious time reading what you wrote from now on, classified in my book as just another Pro-UMNO garbage coming from you.
Sheeesh!!!
Frank - February 16, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Frank,
Penang has been my playground in the 80s. I would like to think I have come to understand a little about the psyche of both Penang Malays and Penang Chinese. They are not run of the mill Malays and neither are Hokkien Chinese. Their minds have been shaped by the socio-economic realities prevailing on that island and its hinterland for generations.
I feel Ahmadi Hussein has something to say or not say worth listening. Yes, sometimes what is left unsaid is more deafening. To dismiss him as another UMNO bigot is the wrong way to go about it.
Mr Bean - February 16, 2010 at 11:58 pm
“It is a matter to time before PAS wakes to the reality that the coalition of DAP, PKR and PAS is not sustainable, even over the near term. DAP is as racist as UMNO. It is you, the idealist who does not notice this, although it is like a beam in your eyes. Our leaders have not been able to look beyond race and religion. I hope you re-examine your worldview.” Ahmadi Hussein
Far from being an UMNO lackey, I feel the writer is looking for a moral highground having witnessed the infractions among individuals who were supposed to be working together for the common good. He has expressed skepticism about the ability of individual components of the coalition to work together like many others have – including me. And in doing so he has tried to draw our attention to the fact that the Malays in this part of the country are different.
Success could be measured in terms of how successful our efforts would be to bring local politics of this part of the country into mainstream politics. It has not been easy. Nothing has happened thus far to suggest that it is easier this time around.
I think ‘change’
Mr Bean - February 17, 2010 at 12:14 am
ooops where did that come from??
Mr Bean - February 17, 2010 at 12:15 am
“To dismiss him as another UMNO bigot is the wrong way to go about it.”- Mr. Bean
You got me wrong… again. I think you only read part of my postings to form your conclusion of what I said.That is intellectually dangerous.
My beef with Ahmadi Hussein is that he chickened out from the challenge from Terence Netto, not that he is an UMNO bigot per se.
I am willing to accept that he is positioning his views from an UMNO standpoint and that is fair.
The fact he is willing to disagree with Terence Netto and behaves like a coward by not willing take the challenge, which is a fair challenge, makes me think he is just another UMNO-lackey. That is the issue.
Frank - February 17, 2010 at 12:42 am
Frank, that particular statement was not addressed to you but to all who are predisposed to do just that i.e. just about anybody who expresses a view point that is different is an UMNO lackey.
The writer apparently doesn’t see himself as anything close to it i.e. an UMNO lackey or mouth piece. I think he’s reaching out to the middle ground.
He is skeptical and he is entitled to his opinion. I don’t read his statement as being in support of any particular individual. Maybe I’m wrong.
Mr Bean - February 17, 2010 at 1:05 am
Who the fuck is this Zahrain guy anyway??
Mr Bean - February 17, 2010 at 1:07 am
I think we’d do well to remind ourselves from time to time that the middle ground does not belong to Pakatan and is not monopolized by Pakatan. Certainly not its components.
Mr Bean - February 17, 2010 at 1:09 am
“PKR and PAS has to play ball with DAP.” Frank
I agree. I’m sure you know the difference between playing ball and playing somebody’s balls.
Mr Bean - February 17, 2010 at 1:14 am
No one does it better than Hank Quock in his rendition of ‘Endless Love’ when it comes to playing one’s own balls.
Mr Bean - February 17, 2010 at 1:23 am
Oh I see, it is this Zahrain guy. Well, Pakatan should have acted more swiftly against him. Cockroaches must be exterminated or else they’ll breed.
Mr Bean - February 17, 2010 at 5:15 am
Netto Responds to Ahmadi Hussein:
Dear Din,
Ahmadi Hussein commends me for provisionally conceding his point about my “flattery” of Lim Guan Eng, but declines to demonstrate the truth of a point he is so certain of: mainland Penang Malays are deeply disappointed with PKR.
He alludes to an article in Utusan Malaysia (of all arbiters of national tastes and moods, this UMNO-owned rag is one of the more disreputable) purporting to demonstrate the truth of his point. Couldn’t Ahmadi have found a less jaundiced reference?
Ahmadi claims that as a mainland Penangite, he knows better the feelings of Malays there, but disdains to establish the proof thereof. Also, he says he worked in the Penang Port Commission, under Zahrain Mohd Hashim’s chairmanship, and that both he and Zahrain know Malay problems. Presumably, Zahrain and Ahmadi are wired in to the mainland Penang Malay psyche in ways outsiders cannot quite access.
It seems like a special connectivity. Well, I, too, know some people who worked in PPC under Zahrain’s chairmanship and they tell me what I have come to know from other sources — that he was ‘unreformed UMNO within PKR.’ Unlike Ahmadi vis-a -vis the ‘true feelings’ of mainland Malay Penangites, I, however, am willing to take him to see the very people who will verify my claim about Zahrain’s past in the PPC.
While declining to take me to see the people with whom he is in daily contact and who presumably will confirm his take on politics, Ahmadi wonders how an erudite intellectual would communicate with Malay rustics in remote corners of mainland Penang.
Well, I’ll tell you what I have discovered about these Malay rustics — you’ll be surprised about their clarity of thought on basic issues. It’s Anwar Ibrahim splendid gift that he can make their basic clarity resonate with the eternal verities.
Anwar is an intellectual, one with a matchless capacity to convey high flown speculation in the accents of street vernacular. That was why he was able to take the eminently sensible stance that Malay Muslims should not be perturbed by Christians’ use of the term ‘Allah’. Umno, with its typical condescension, was loath to take a position on an issue that would threaten their hold on the Malay mind. It wants that mind subject to its stultifying control.
Ahmadi says Anwar is not a good leader because he cannot be counted on to select reliable leaders for responsible positions. Well, he did appoint Zahrain as PKR Penang chief and see what happened? By June 2009, nine out of the state’s 13 PKR divisions petitioned for Zahrain’s removal. Since many PKR leaders are from UMNO, isn’t it reasonable to deduce that UMNO’s long and stultifying control of the Malay mind has left a debilitating residue even in its ex-types who now reject the party, enough to render them lastingly mediocre.
Ahmadi contends I can’t see what is clearly a beam in front of me due to my rosy idealism. The problem is that Ahmadi, the presumable realist, can see that UMNO is racist, that DAP is no better, and that Pas will soon tire of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. In other words, Ahmadi is a know-better who can see no reason on the political horizon for wanting better. If I’m idealistic, Ahmadi may be nihilistic.
Perhaps, Ahmadi is declaiming from a prepared script that does not want any other party to succeed except a clearly failed and expiring UMNO. He wants the Malays to accept that even a failed UMNO is better than a ‘mediocre’ PKR, a ‘deviously dissembling’ DAP and a ‘deceived’ Pas. He also wants the non-Malays to accept that there is no other alternative than an UMNO-led BN, preferable even in its advanced state of decay.
Perhaps Ahmadi’s political consciousness is in the state Tun Dr Ismail, a Malaysian great, once reputedly found in the MCA — that it was neither dead nor alive, in a state that is subsisting but was brain dead, in the condition of a dead man walking.
A party like UMNO with a 53-year incumbency gets to enjoy a post-finish momentum by dint of its past reputation than by reason of its present mastery. It is self-delusion for Ahmadi Hussein and his ilk not to distinguish between the two phases and take their bearings accordingly.
Sincerely,
Terence Netto.
dinobeano - February 17, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Thank you for responding to my comments, Mr Netto and our host Pak Din for making our exchange possible.
Anwar Ibrahim may be exceptional man., He is someone who can speak to his audience easily and convincingly. But at the end of the day, his success will be measured by his actions rather than words. So far, he has not shown to me at least that he is a good manager. Maybe this is because he is pre-occupied with his sodomy 2 case.
Obviously, people see Zahrain differently. To me, he was a good Chairman and an excellent motivator. I judge him purely from the perspective of an executive and it makes no difference to me whether he is an “unreformed UMNO type” or not. He understood the business and led ably. I learned a lot from his management style. He bonded well with all his staff.
With regard to what the grassroots feel about PKR, it is best to engage a firm like Merdeka Center to undertake a proper survey. If the findings do not match mine, I am prepared to accept them because they are independent. Therefore, there is no point for you and I to go around talking to people. There is possibility that both of us can be biased in our selection of people to talk to or be interviewed.
I compliment you for writing skills, but I beg to defer with you on the problems of the Penang Malays. Both UMNO and now PKR-PR have yet to find solutions to them. The sooner their plight is dealt with, the better it will be for Penang.
Ahmadi Hussein - February 17, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Obviously, people see Zahrain differently. To me, he was a good Chairman and an excellent motivator. I judge him purely from the perspective of an executive and it makes no difference to me whether he is an “unreformed UMNO type” or not. He understood the business and led ably. I learned a lot from his management style. He bonded well with all his staff. – Ahmadi Hussein
I do hope you really understand human beings have different facades in life. Just life a good manager does not necessarily mean he is a good husband and a good husband does not necessarily mean he is a good father.
It does not matter if a person is a good father but if his caught khalwat or adultery, then he is an unworthy husband. The same is said of Tiger Wood, if you are familiar with the world of golf.
We judge Zahrain him as a public figure, a politician that he is and how he had presented himself. It is unforgivable for a man you know as a GOOD MANAGER and attempting to engage in political blackmail on a State Govt to give a multi million dollar contract to a RM2 company.
It does not matter whether Zahrain is a good manager, bonds well with his staff or his a generous person, the fact that is an opportunist and unreliable political figure who betrayed his friend Anwar because of his financial dealings, make him an unsavoury character.
That is why your defence of Zahrain on a basis of your personal friendship with him is irrelevant to the Zahrain the opportunist and a untrustworthy PKR leader.
That said, your refusal to uptake Terence Netto’s challenge to meet the Penang Malays is a cop-out after all your well-meaning criticisms of PKR and Anwar Ibrahim.
I am as familiar with the psyche of Penang Malays and especially the Mamaks or Melayu celup, and Penang Chinese/Indians as you are.
I think it is a bit rich for someone like you or any body to claim monopoly of knowledge of the psyche of Penang Malays ( bearing that Malay in Penang can being anything from Malays from Kerala state in India to Yemeni Arabs and to Acehnese Malays).
Frank - February 17, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Ahmadi Hussein
In my view, Terence Netto’s response has virtually nailed you to the cross, so to speak.
I find it patronising on your part to congratulate Terence for his writing skills, (after all, he is a political analyst and a respected columnist and a blogger in his own right) without your rebuttals to his statements, similar to your chickening out to his challenge to jointly meet the Penang Malays you talk about.
The lesson you can learn from this, which I wonder how come you have not learnt it prior to your retirement, is that – you must always do your homework first.
Crudely said, you have to engage brain before putting mouth into gear.
If I am in your shoes, I would be ashamed of myself for trying to outsmart others but fell short.
Frank - February 19, 2010 at 12:41 am