Saluting Malaysia’s Mandelas

December 15, 2013

by Dean Johns@http://www.malaysiakini.com

In the wake of the death of Nelson Mandela, the man who led South Africa to freedom from apartheid, many here have wondered whether there will ever be a Mandela-style leader to liberate Malaysia from the curse of Barisan Nasional.

Of course this robber-regime has already made a brazen bid to steal the spirit of Mandela for itself, with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak ludicrously claiming that his UMNO party’s ‘struggle’ is similar to that of South Africa’s ANC.

A claim that was neatly rebutted by US President Barack Obama in his speech in celebration of the life of Nelson Mandela, in which his statement that “there are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people” was clearly directed at the Najibs of the world.

In any event, there was never much of a struggle to free Malaysia from colonial rule, except by socialists, trade unionists and communists.

And the Alliance that finally achieved Merdeka under the benevolent and broad-minded leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman (left) all too soon degenerated into the UMNO-dominated Barisan Nasional that has ever since so disgracefully re-colonised the nation for its own and its cronies’ benefit.

So that just as Mandela’s dream of a resurgent South Africa has degenerated into the current reality of a sink-hole of gross inequality, rampant crime and corruption under the unlovely Jacob Zuma, so has Tunku Abdul Rahman’s idea and ideal of Malaysia descended into today’s Najib-style nightmare.

Vastly aided and accelerated in this descent by 22 years under the prime-ministership of Mahathir Mohamad, a cynical, self-serving autocrat who modelled himself not on South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, but on his old pal Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, in his efforts to turn Malaysia into some kind of personal Zimbabi.

And he claimed to be doing it all, as his successors have similarly pretended, in ‘defence’ of the Malays and Islam. When in fact as any intelligent person, Malay, Muslim or otherwise, very well knows, the BN regime would be an absolute disgrace to any race or religion.

BN has also by implication insulted Malays by falsely patronising them as backward, ignorant and ineffectual, and, considering they compose the majority of the nation’s citizens systematically robbed them even more unmercifully than Malaysians of other races.

Stealing so many countless billions of ringgit that should otherwise be spent on health, education, public infrastructure and social services that Malaysia has for years led the world in illicit capital outflow per capita.

And otherwise misappropriating such a fortune in public funds for such purposes as buying votes, funding regime-propagandist media and supporting regime ministers, members and cronies in their preposterously profligate lifestyles that the country can no longer afford even the pretence of properly caring for the people.

Attempts to keep up the pretence

Though of course the regime makes strenuous attempts to keep up the pretence, as with Prime Minister Najib’s laughable claim that removal of the subsidy on sugar sold by BN monopolists is an anti-diabetes initiative, and increases in electricity tariffs are necessary for the continuing profitability of filthy-rich crony power companies.

However, none of Najib’s endless flow of frauds or falsehoods are as low as his attempt during the recent UMNO general assembly to pass off BN’s 52 to 47 loss of the national vote as ‘proof’ that UMNO is the “bravest and most popular party in Malaysia”.

Everybody is patently aware that this alleged popularity was achieved through blatant voter bribery and every other conceivable kind of electoral corruption and fraud.

And as for the claim of bravery, just how brave does a party have to be to fight elections, in blatant breach of the democratic principle of the fundamental democratic principle of the separation of powers, with the entire might of the police, judiciary, civil services, election commission and mainstream media on its side?

With such overwhelmingly superior forces ranged against the rakyat, Malay and non-Malay alike, and with the whole corrupt and criminal system illegally funded with public money, it’s no wonder so many Malaysians have taken to hoping and praying for a Mandela-style saviour.

But what’s the point of waiting for the kind of charismatic leader who arises as rarely as a Nelson Mandela? In any case, as I’m sure the great man himself in his legendary humility would have been the first to concede he was just the foremost among many.

Hundreds if not thousands of black, coloured and even white South Africans suffered, and a great many died for the anti-apartheid cause. In fact one of the common ways in which the white regime’s jailers killed anti-apartheid activists in their custody was by what they called “defenestration”: throwing them out through high windows.

A practice later allegedly adopted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in several cases, most notoriously that of the young DAP “witness”, Teoh Beng Hock, whose ‘fall’ from a 14th-floor window of the MACC building was subsequently deemed by the BN regime as “neither murder nor suicide”, and whose interrogators have never been charged with his killing.

But back to the point I’m ineptly endeavouring to make, which is that it takes more than one man or woman, even one as gifted and courageous as Nelson Mandela, to remove a corrupt, criminal, racist and repressive government.

And it’s clearly evident that Malaysia is blessed with countless such honest, upstanding, tolerant, truth-loving people. From many if not most of the leadership of opposition parties PAS, PKR and the DAP through unprecedented numbers of activists in opposition NGOs to countless individuals who blog, write, cartoon and otherwise fearlessly express the Malaysian Mandela spirit.

I mention no names for fear of missing some out, and in any case there’s not space here to list even a small fraction of them. But I will take a line or two to pay particular personal tribute to the Malaysian family in which I am proud to have married.

A family currently headed by my 90-year-old Chinese father-in-law and much younger Malay mother-in law, and so dedicated to the concept of racial equality as to welcome not just me, an Australian, but other members from afar afield as Botswana and Germany.

But of course Malaysians and their families don’t have to intermarry with other races to demonstrate their enlightened, egalitarian natures. All they and the individuals of which they are composed have to do is proselytise, protest and above all vote at every opportunity in the spirit of Mandela and out of love for an honest, clean, inclusive and thus, by definition, BN-free Malaysia.

As a majority did in GE13, and as I’m willing to bet almost anything you like overwhelming numbers will do come the increasingly eagerly-awaited GE14.

Mahathir’s alter ego takes center stage in Blogosphere

December 13, 2013

by Terence Netto (12-12-13)@http://www.malaysiakini.com

COMMENT: Those who recall the entertainment the ‘Khairy Chronicles’ provided Internet followers in the middle years of the last decade when the blogosphere began to draw Malaysians to it as an alternate source of news and comment will have sat up the past week to take notice that a reprise may be at hand.

The ‘Khairy Chronicles’ was a titillating amalgam of half-truths, gossip, rumour and conjecture that Raja Petra Kamarudin deployed in his blog Malaysia Today as soon as the new-broom sheen the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi administration sported on being installed in late 2003 began to pall by 2006.

Malaysians with access to foreign-owned regional periodicals have long suspected that the facts behind the published news on national politics are more riveting than the disinfected version the newspapers, all owned by the ruling class or affiliates, decided to print.

In the years before the inception of web news portals, readers eagerly waited for the periodicals to tell them what the mainstream newspapers found too risqué to disclose.

Thus when the blogosphere saw the emergence in the middle years of the last decade of a tattler like Raja Petra , he quickly gained a following for his irreverent musings, with followers of his stuff no longer reliant – for an inkling of what’s happening – on those foreign-owned periodicals which in any case were fast becoming defunct.

As quickly as he emerged, Raja Petra faded in 2011 as supplier of title tattle that kept droves on edge with his revelations. The reasons for his retreat were as mysterious as the sources that fed him grist for his mill when he hit out at targets which in his prime were the Abdullah family and, latter, the then Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his dear wife, Rosmah Mansor.

Since the time of Raja Petra’s evanescence as prime purveyor of editorial contraband in 2011, the void he left was somewhat filled by Rafizi Ramli, the strategic director of PKR, from under whose bonnet there steadily emerged news of shenanigans in high places.

The most sensational in this genre was the RM250 million national cattle breeding scandal in which the family of Wanita UMNO leader Shahrizat Abdul Jalil was embroiled. Juicy revelations were trotted out in the alternate media and remained as scuttlebutt for punch lines on opposition campaign circuits in the lead-up to the general election last May.

The source-field for that kind of stuff of which Rafizi became the go-to conduit appears to have been turned off, presumably by the recent passing of laws that impose deterrent fines and jail terms on those guilty of leaking any information that the authorities consider secret.

Shifting gears

With that cut-off, a void has developed into which has seemingly stepped a former top editor whose blog, when it was launched several years ago, was not known for more than its commentaries on public affairs. In the past week or so, the blogger has ventured on to turf once treaded by Raja Petra.

A Kadir Jasin, the NST group’s former editorial No 1, has shifted gears in his widely followed blog, perhaps opting to fill the vacuum left by Raja Petra. A staunch UMNO supporter, Kadir’s long smoldering distaste for PM Najib ratcheted up in intensity after the UMNO elections in October and broke out into the open at the conclusion of the party’s annual general assembly last week.

What appears to have got Kadir’s goat was Najib’s defence of wife Rosmah at the party meeting where the PM disclosed that Malaysian students stranded in Egypt during the Arab Spring were rescued from danger through Rosmah’s intercessory efforts with higher-ups she was acquainted with in the Arab world.

Dripping sarcasm, Kadir suggested in his blog The Scribe by Kadir Jasin that Rosmah ought to be made a minister because her talents have rendered redundant present holders of the portfolios of education, international trade and foreign affairs. He said there would be no problem about her lack of a seat in Parliament because there was the Senate to which she could be appointed, in readiness perhaps for her to contest for a seat in the lower house at the 14th general election.

Kadir’s sarcasm was too succulent for the other blogs and websites to ignore so that when one that had posted a piece had to take it down, reportedly on orders from the PM’s Department, the scribe’s gills overflowed, the sarcasm this time tinged with vitriol.

Kadir’s venomous squirts were reserved for Najib, but Shahrizat was also sprayed, his scorn for her description of Najib as the “grandmaster” of political moves – “chest master” Kadir punned – a term certain to acquire cocktail-party immortality.

That’s was not all. Kadir said he would soon have details of what the fawning Shahrizat actually thinks about Najib, something if indeed Kadir follows through with will surely turn a cockpit into a cauldron.

Najib may have won the general election last May and was triumphant at the UMNO internal polls in October, but he cannot be certain of turning the double win into a sweep of all he surveys in the party.

Western Education is not bereft of Ethical and Moral Values

December 11, 2013

By Terence Netto@http://www.malaysiakini.com

COMMENT: In a much-awaited speech on the reform of higher education in Muslim societies, Anwar Ibrahim disagreed with the popular notion among Muslims that Western education is devoid of an ethical and moral dimension.

Anwar said this notion, widely disseminated in Islamic intellectual circles, has been a hindrance to the development of Muslims, particularly in the scientific and technical spheres.

“… [T]here is a general perception among the discourse of many Muslim scholars that Western education and philosophy is secular and bereft of an ethical and moral dimension. To my mind, this is unfounded,” declared Anwar in a keynote address to a symposium organised by the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) in Washington DC on Monday.

Malaysia’s parliamentary opposition leader, highly regarded abroad than at home for his intellection, observed that the misperception of Western education as ethically vacant was also shared by intellectuals in the West.

He said seminal Western thinkers like John Locke and Adam Smith were concerned to base their philosophies on a moral core, but that Smith, in particular, “the icon of ‘capitalism’, has been seriously misread”. Anwar argued that the “moral sentiments” that were an integral part of Smith’s economic propositions were “not at loggerheads with Islamic percepts”.

He likened Smith’s concern for morality in economics with Islamic thinker Ismail Faruqi’s conception of a good economy as the expression of Islam’s spirituality.

To Faruqi, “the economy of the ummah and its good health are the essence of Islam, just as Islam’s spirituality is inexistent without just economic action.”

Anwar held that the Islamic percept ‘inna al din al mu’amalah’ (religion is indeed Man’s treatment of his fellows) made it imperative for Man to “order human life so as to make it actualise the pattern intended for it by its Creator”.

He said Muslim societies would not be productive if it they do not “emerge from the exercise of finding fault” with Western systems. Quoting from a host of Islamic philosophers ranging from the 11th century’s Al Ghazali to the 20th century’s Naguib Al-Attas, Anwar made the point that education in Muslim societies must “proceed on the basis of rationality”.

He defined rationalism the way Faruqi conceived it as not “the priority of reason over revelation but the rejection of any ultimate contradiction between them”.

Anwar acknowledged that the rationalist strain in the interpretive process (ijtihad) left its exponents vulnerable to the charge of espousing secular thinking.

The pursuit of Knowledge

From the time of Muhammad Abduh, the 19th century Egyptian thinker famed for pushing for the modernisation of Islamic education, Anwar said that Islamic modernists had to combat the suspicion of attempting to “introduce secularism through the back door of ijtihad” but that this allegation was misconceived.

“On the contrary, what Abduh did was to subject the moral and epistemological premises of secular modernity to scrutiny and he came to the conclusion that Islam’s modernity was both non-Western and non-secular,” said Anwar.

In his oration, Anwar did not explain how Islam’s modernity could be both non-Western and non-secular. Neither did he expatiate on “Islamisation of knowledge” which he said would immunise Muslims from the excesses of the liberalist mindset that would lead to the placing of reason above revelation.

He seemed surer, though, of his thesis that current approaches to the Islamisation of knowledge in Muslim societies tended to place a preponderance of focus on the social sciences, whereas he said it was in the technological and scientific disciplines that Muslims were lagging behind non-Muslim communities and where the quest for knowledge, therefore, needed greater emphasis.

Anwar reminded that the ‘Bayt-a-Hikmahof’ (Golden Age of Islam) gave birth to not only philosophers but also to eminent scientists. He attributed this to the holistic pursuit of knowledge that he credited to the Quranic injunction on the use of the intellectual faculty.

He said the “Quran enjoins the use of reason as provided by the senses, and the truth grounded on revelation”. He concurred with Faruqi that Islam was ‘the religion of world-affirmation par excellence’.”

Malays are better off without UMNO Baru

December 9, 2013

by Mariam Mokhtar@http://www.malaysiakini.com

Only an UMNO Baru leader would defend his wife’s extravagance and boast of her ability, but ignore the suffering of the rakyat. –Mariam Mokhtar

The 4Rs – race, royalty, religion and the rural people – have been used by UMNO Baru to divide and rule Malaysia.

When Najib asked the rhetorical question, “Where would the Malays be without UMNO Baru?”, it was a cry of desperation and an admission of defeat.

UMNO Baru’s hold on the Malays is slipping. Najib and UMNO Baru are scared. Without the Malays, where would UMNO Baru be? Domination of the Malays is not about protecting their rights. It is all about power and status.

The line that UMNO Baru has used for over five decades to divide the nation is no longer relevant. Malay graduates who return to Malaysia do so because they have to fulfill the terms of their scholarship or loan. Try asking them what they really feel about Malaysia, about UMNO Baru and its leaders. Their stories will fill you with hope.

The current clampdown on dissent and the hunt for Malays who speak their minds is because the government is afraid. A thinking Malay is a threat to UMNO Baru. A thinking Malay who is prepared to question the leaders and make them accountable for their actions will erode the power of UMNO Baru.  UMNO Baru knows that one thinking Malay will embolden other Malays and very soon, UMNO Baru will become irrelevant.

If anecdotal evidence is to be believed, the brain drain is no longer confined to non-Malays seeking better shores. What frightens UMNO Baru is the fact that many Malays have become disillusioned with UMNO Baru and are not just abandoning the party. They are prepared to forsake their country.

In the past, Malays used to deride the non-Malays for leaving Malaysia. Many did not know the degree of unfairness with which the government treated the non-Malays, in the areas of employment, business opportunities, education, jobs in the civil service and defence.

Today, young graduate Malays, who have been educated overseas, are telling their parents that enough is enough. They are astute enough to know that the government will make the lives of their families miserable so they leave quietly and without fuss. If the government cannot prosecute the Malay graduate who has absconded, their modus operandi is to go after their families.

In a change from the past, Malay families are now supportive of their children working and living abroad. In the age of the Internet, communication is easy and relatively cheap. Ironically, the Malays are now emulating their non-Malay peers, by turning their backs on Malaysia.

Many Malays who have found employment in the countries in which they studied are happy and glad they made the move.  One Malay doctor said, “My work experience in the (Malaysian) hospital was a bitter experience. I wasn’t just overworked but when I asked the consultant for advice, I was shouted at in front of the patients and other staff. It was humiliating and degrading. In the teaching hospital in Sydney, the consultants were pleasant and eager to train me. I felt appreciated.”

When you hear stories like these you know that young Malays are not prepared to believe the lies of UMNO Baru any longer. The young Malays of today have an appetite for hard work, which is not matched by the UMNO Baru Malays or mat rempit types whom Najib is fond of praising.

Answering Najib

A Malay farmer in his sixties said, “What is Najib doing about the farmers? The youth have no interest in agriculture They are leaving the kampong in search of jobs. Many farmers are now in their 60s and 70s. Who will take over my farm when I die?

“I know that many young men who migrated to the cities, are still unemployed. Many have turned to drugs or petty theft. What has the government done to make farming attractive?”

Many civil servants claim that they are demoralised at work. They find that their time and departmental operating budgets are increasingly being used for UMNO Baru political activities. The ones who voice their opinions are warned that they risk destroying their career prospects.

Even UMNO Baru supporters are slowly realising they are being conned. One senior party worker said that, with UMNO Baru’s help, many rich Malays drive imported sports cars and live in rumah mewah (mansions). When asked how UMNO Baru had helped uplift his life, he was dumb-struck. The penny had dropped!

If Najib Abdul Razak had asked the rhetorical question “Where would the Malays be without UMNO Baru?”, in front of ordinary members of the rakyat, he would have been drowned out with hisses and pelted with rotten eggs, or shoes.

The answer to Najib’s question is simple. Without UMNO Baru, the Malays would be better off economically, financially, morally, spiritually and intellectually. Without UMNO Baru, the Malays can restore their lost dignity. A Malay who has the courage to reject UMNO Baru will be mentally liberated and feel a weight lifted from his shoulders.

UMNO Baru has brainwashed Malays and gave them a false sense of entitlement. They were told they were owed success without the need for hard work. Only UMNO Baru would think of placing a copyright on the word ‘Allah’. UMNO Baru gave Malays and Islam a bad reputation.

Under UMNO Baru, Malays have become arrogant, insincere, work-shy, complacent, uncompetitive, demanding and insensitive. UMNO Baru conditioned the Malays to stop thinking and let UMNO Baru think for them.

UMNO Baru taught some Malays to steal the taxpayers’ money and learn the fine art of corruption. It conditioned the Malay mind to think that any wrongdoing by its leaders is acceptable, because this is preferable to a non-Malay leading the country. How pathetic can anyone get than someone with this frame of mind.

UMNO Baru injected fear into the Malay psyche and told him that he should be afraid of change and new ideas. Only UMNO Baru will say that liberal Malays, Christians, Singapore and progressive NGOs are a threat to Malays and Islam.

UMNO Baru is Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s creation and mistrust, disunity, treachery, sedition and intolerance are his true legacy.

Only an UMNO Baru leader would defend his wife’s extravagance and boast of her ability, but ignore the suffering of the rakyat. The average Malaysian family is barely surviving. Where is the breadwinner going to find an additional 15 percent more income to pay for the increase caused by the GST?

Mahathir, Najib, Muhyiddin Yassin, Hishammuddin Hussein, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi,  Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Khairy Jamaluddin and other senior UMNO Baru politicians are poor role models for Malays.

UMNO Baru is not concerned about Malays or Malay rights. Its only concern is status and power; both economic and political power. Najib realises that without the Malays, UMNO Baru could be as dead as a dodo. Najib knows that UMNO Baru is living on borrowed time.

By GE14, the only people supporting Najib and UMNO Baru will be the mat rempits and the ‘new Malays’ from Bangladesh.

Ah Jib Gor: You are just another Abdullah Badawi

December 3, 2013

Ah Jib Gor: Just Resign

by Dr. M.Bakri Musa
Morgan-Hill, California

Habis lah ‘Jib! (You are finished, Najib!) You are just another Pak Lah! Malaysia cannot afford two consecutive incompetent leaders as it enters the 21st Century. The precious and critical first decade is already lost.

Najib’s latest “Pak Lah moment” came when his Police Chief, Khalid Abu Bakar, threatened to arrest Mariam Mokhtar for sedition over her article, “One Ideology, Two Reactions,” posted on Freemalaysiatoday.com on November 29, 2013. Mariam dared to highlight the highly favorable treatment Aishah Wahab, the woman allegedly held as a slave by her Marxist master in London, received from the Najib Administration versus the visceral contempt it heaped upon Chin Peng, leader of the defunct Malayan Communist Party.

Mariam (right) suggested that the Najib Administration’s generous gesture to Aishah was more on exploiting the favorable publicity surrounding that London slavery case.

“She had better watch out,” the Police Chief warned, “or we will go after her!” The “her” is of course Mariam.  Jantan kampung betul! (a real village bull!), as we say in the village when referring to such petty bullies.

The  Police  Chief should display his manhood where it would really count, as with confronting the Singaporeans spying on Malaysia, those intruders at Lahad Datu, or the alleged treachery with the loss of Pulau Batu Puteh. Those are the real and menacing threats to the nation’s security and stability, not the eloquent writing of a young woman!

IGP Khalid Ashburn

Clearly Najib and his officials are threatened by Mariam’s ideas. Najib is stuck in the time warp of the old feudal ways, unable to grasp the new reality of a porous digital age. He and Khalid should be complimenting Mariam for her ability to write well, and in English, as well as her courage to express her views.

If Najib and Khalid have a better grasp of English, they would have discovered that Mariam’s earlier essay in Malaysiakini.com, “Three Slaves and the Rakyat,” on the same case had more punch. In that piece she noted that while the three London women were imprisoned for three decades, Malaysians have been “metaphorically imprisoned for the most part of 56 years,” adding that the three women were shackled by “invisible handcuffs,” just like Malaysians.

“It is doubtful,” Mariam continues, “if many Malaysians realize the similarities between themselves and those three women.” Now that’s powerful stuff, but Najib and Khalid missed Mariam’s well-chosen metaphor and imagery!

Congratulations Mariam! Your voice is being heard at the highest level, and widely too as judged by the outpouring of comments both articles elicited. Keep writing! I hope the Police Chief and Najib’s other top officials would continue widening their reading repertoire beyond the UMNO newsletters, The New Straits Times and Utusan Melayu.

Mariam is not the first writer to be intimidated by the authorities. She does not need to be reminded of the horrible experiences of Kassim Ahmad, Syed Hussein, Haris Ibrahim, Hishamuddin Rais, and Raja Petra, among others.

I have nothing to offer Mariam except my best wishes, and I wish her that, and much more, as with her continued success in writing. I can, however, pass on the advice from that great Indonesian writer, the late Ananta Prameodya Toer, a man who had endured much from his government.

“Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit,” Pramoedya wrote in Rumah Kaca (The Glasshouse), “tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and history).”

Rest assured that when the collective “invisible handcuff” gets unshackled, as ultimately it will, Malaysians owe a huge debt of gratitude to brave individuals like Mariam Mokhtar.

As for that Police Chief, only his family would remember him, or if remembered by others, he would prefer not to be. Look at his many ‘illustrious’ predecessors; one jailed for punching Anwar Ibrahim, another a defendant in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, and a third rewarded by being Chairman of a casino. That character apparently gambled right!

Najib’s Ultimate Pak Lah Moment

Najib warned the country is on the brink of bankruptcy!

Back to Najib’s other Pak Lah moments, the supposedly pious and humble Pak Lah squandered millions of taxpayers’ funds to renovate Sri Perdana before he deemed it livable. This from a man who only a decade earlier did not even own a house!

Najib however, bested Pak Lah on this front. Najib burned over two million ringgit a year just on electricity. When citizens complained, he haughtily defended his wasteful ways by suggesting that his official guests should not have to dine by candle light! He must have the whole United Nations delegates as his guests, and everyday too!

More likely Najib must have really turned down the thermostat and then had the fireplace roaring to simulate the English ambience of his student days so he could cuddle up to Rosmah.

Najib should remember the advice he received from his Prime Minister father, Tun Abdul Razak when he (Najib) and his brothers were clamoring for a swimming pool at the old Sri Perdana. “What will people say,” Najib quoted his old man as saying in turning down their request.

Malaysia’s Executive Jet

Then there is the ultra-luxury, custom-fitted Airbus jet. Even Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Cameron do not have one. Pak Lah was severely criticized for his excessive use of that expensive toy. At least his wife (the first or second) did not get to use it in her personal capacity.

Today we have Mrs. Najib (the second)–Rosmah– jaunting off in it, oblivious of the cost to taxpayers. I do not know which is more reprehensible; Najib requesting the approval from his cabinet for his wife’s use of the jet or the cabinet approving it. This at a time when he warned the country is on the brink of bankruptcy!

Abdullah Badawi burdened Malaysia for over five years; the nation is still paying for his many follies and general incompetence. Many claim that Najib is worse than Pak Lah; that is being petty. When you score is already a miserable F, it does not really matter whether it is also F-minus.

Expect at this week’s UMNO General Assembly for Najib to execute yet another Pak Lah moment – reading his “own” pompous self-congratulatory pantun (poem). Do not expect however, for the delegates to even mention let alone review this critical issue of his glaring incompetence and profligate ways.

Thus it behooves Malaysians to ensure that this burden of Najib’s inept leadership comes to an end soon. Malaysians must force Najib to perform his ultimate Pak Lah moment – resign!

READ :

Three Slaves and the Rakyat by MM: http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/247523

You better watch out, Santa IGP is coming to town

December 2, 2013

by Mariam Mokhtar@http://www.malaysiakini.com

I am on the waiting-list for membership of the exclusive ‘Sedition Club Uniting Malaysians’, (SCUM) which has several distinguished members like Adam Adli, Haris Ibrahim, Tian Chua, Tamrin Ghafar, Safwan Anang and Zunar. I don’t think many people know the criteria which makes one eligible for membership.

Who would have realised that a well-meaning article ‘One Idealogy, Two Reactions’ about the need to be compassionate to Malaysians, regardless of their political leanings or social background, would have upset the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar?

Does Khalid suffer from an inferiority complex or was he under extreme pressure to explain his involvement in the Lahad Datu debacle?

More importantly, he wanted to divert attention from the terrible handling of the Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab story, by the Malaysian government and himself. They probably thought they would capitalise on the story of Aishah’s enslavement.

Initially, the Metropolitan Police in England refused to divulge the identity of the Malaysian woman who had been “freed”, but Khalid jumped the gun and blurted out her name before the English Police were ready to make this public.

Even before Kamar Mahtum and Hishamuddin Rais arrived in London, the IGP was already boasting about the welcome they would give Aishah on her return home. Khalid said she would not be arrested as her “crime” was in the past. Meanwhile, the Women’s Minister talked about providing counselling.

It was like a couple expecting their first child, preparing the nursery to receive the baby, except the ‘baby’ – Aishah – refused to come home.

IGP Khalid Ashburn

As information trickled back to KL, the IGP was probably told that Aishah had not deviated from her ideology. She had not been enslaved, as was previously reported. She had no intention of returning to Malaysia. She was not remorseful, nor did she want to resume ties with the land of her birth. Sources also allege that the reunion between Kamar and Aishah was far from cordial.

If Aishah really wanted to flee from her captors, she would have. Khalid and the government realised, too late, that Aishah had outsmarted them. Aishah did not follow the UMNO Baru script.

The IGP and Najib Abdul Razak probably wanted to give Aishah a heroine’s welcome at KLIA. Then, after a six month religious rehabilitation at one of the indoctrination centres, arrange a photo-shoot of Aishah kissing Najib’s hand, renouncing her previous ideology, giving up her Marxist beliefs, and praising Najib’s government as the saviour of her body and soul.

The penny must have dropped as Kamar and Hisham passed through passport control at Heathrow, on Saturday morning to return home. So, Khalid had to divert attention from the government’s terrible handling of the Aishah story. A distraction had to be found. Me! The rest is history.

A means to intimidate the public?
 
Did Khalid, in a moment of madness, lose his judgment and decide to abuse his position and utilise the publicity machinery of the state, and use me as a means to intimidate the public?

He was foolish to think I would be intimidated. Perhaps, he wanted me to be cowed and cower under the bed, as a certain politician, who was caught in flagrante delicto in Port Dickson, was alleged to have done.

Khalid believes that writers for the alternative media write, merely to get hits. They don’t! One would like to ask the IGP if his men have been given orders to use their weapons, just to score hits, on their victims?

Will Khalid understand that one of the reasons the mainstream media is failing the public is because they are economical with the truth. They manipulate facts and tell lies to mislead and also incite hatred.

If Khalid were to talk to former Utusan journalists, he would learn many painful truths. Those who joined the exodus, in 2007, have alleged that their wages have not been paid. Another journalist alleges that the paper is losing money, because UMNO Baru takes out full page advertisements in Utusan, and then fails to pay the paper.

Utusan loses revenue, and Najib, the President of UMNO Baru knows that the party is bankrupt. So, he urges the government-linked companies (GLCs) to place advertisements in Utusan Malaysia.

My calling is to continue informing the public and stimulate them to ask questions of their parliamentarians and people in positions of responsibility, like the IGP. What are Khalid’s good points?  People have lost faith in the police because of leaders like Khalid.

One would have thought that Khalid would have understood the nuances of my article.  Surely, someone could have explained them to him, before he was allowed to shoot his mouth off.

It was Khalid who incorrectly mentioned race as the reason for the different treatments meted out to Chin Peng and Aishah. Perhaps, he would like to tell us why the dead Malaysian terrorists like Dr Azahari Hussein and Noordin Mat Top, the masterminds of the Jakarta and Bali bombings, were allegedly given the VIP treatment? Not many dead Malaysians would be returned to Malaysia at the taxpayer’s expense, in an RMAF transport.

Khalid warned me via a Bernama report that, “She (Mariam Mokhtar) had better watch out…” Despite his failings, we should praise Khalid for his ‘1Malaysia’ spirit. During his visit to multicultural and predominantly Christian Sabah, he has kicked off the Christmas season with the classic song ‘You’d better watch out’. Most readers may know it by its original title, ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’.

A Malaysian makeover

With apologies to the original songwriters, J Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, whose song made its debut in 1934, I have given the song a Malaysian makeover, and substituted the words ‘Santa Claus’ with ‘The IGP’.

The older generation may recall Fred Astaire, Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra singing this song. Khalid and younger Malaysians may prefer Miley Cyrus’ catchy rendition on YouTube.

Oh! You better watch out,
You better not cry,
You better not pout,
I’m telling you why:
The IGP  is coming to town!

He’s making a list,
He’s checking it twice,
Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.
The IGP is coming to town!

He sees you when you’re sleeping,
He knows when you’re awake.
He knows when you’ve been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake!

So…You better watch out, You better not cry
You better not pout, I’m telling you why.
The IGP is coming to town.

Who knows? The Khalid inspired song, ‘You Better Watch Out’, may prove to be this year’s Christmas hit.

Khalid was wrong to attack and intimidate the rakyat. This harassment should be our catalyst for real, meaningful change. It is Khalid and UMNO Baru who had better watch out! Change is coming to town.