Last Call Pakatan Rakyat: Shape Up Or Ship Out!

Many of my friends including myself are working very hard behind the scene in spreading the message and calling for the March To Putrajaya by supporting Pakatan Rakyat.

Lately, many are getting very tired and feel illusion from the behavior of PR leaders, mainly from PKR. As usual, like any other leaders, they only wanted to listen to the people surrounding them which very often provided them with only news, false or otherwise that the leaders wanted to hear and not from the rakyat on the ground.

The voters trusted and believed in Anwar Ibrahim, a true and capable leader that can lead the change for a better Malaysia. His capability to cement and bond the three political parties, DAP, PAS and PKR together is well known everywhere.

Now, what happened to this great figure, who seems not able to resolve his own party problem? Is his party so much bigger than the three parties coalition that he cannot controlled nor managed? Is he being fed the wrong information from his close aids that everything is still fine, his support is gaining more ground and Putrajaya is now within reached or even closer? But let me tell him, the sentiment on the ground is totally different, many are questioning his integrity and ability to lead them to Putrajaya. How can he lead the whole country when he cannot even put out the small fire now raging inside his party?

DAP also has its own problems but kept under tab, how long can it hold before all the problems burst into the open? They really need to look into it and solved the problems and not to let it simmer.

PAS will most likely face with problems only when Umno challenged and instigated the Malays regarding religion and PAS working with DAP.

Contrary to many who believed that the 13th GE is a do or die mission for Umno-BN, I would say its just the opposite, its a do or die mission for PR if PR does not shape up it will be shipped out.

Paktan Rakyat leaders must start to look into minute details how they are going to campaign for the coming 13th GE and the selection of their candidates.

I am not sure any of the PR leaders would want to listen to this one stupid rakyat comment and opinion but anyway I will still write what is on my mind.

My general ideas for Pakatan Rakyat on their planning for the coming 13th General Election:

1) PR must start to talk and act like they are running the federal government.

2) Stop the bashing and challenging of Umno-BN failings to do this or that, price increases, mega projects, wastage of public fund etc.

3) Instead, chart out a program what PR will do to rectify all the wrongs being done by the previous government.

a) What would PR do for each of the state, from Perlis to Sabah.

b) Removed all unfriendly projects and reintroduce projects that are beneficial to the people as well as to the FDI.

c) How PR will distribute funds to all the states irrespective which political party is controlling.

d) A special fund set up to help all the poor Malaysians (set a level mark for earning figures to indicate what constitute as poor) from working families, agriculture to small traders.

e) A one time discount for first time buyers of housing costing 150k and below. Bumi discount will continue but will only be once per person for unit costing 350k and below. (These are just examples, PR needs to study further in details to avoid the soon to be opposition twisting and spinning the actual facts.)

There are many items that you can think off and how PR is going to implement them.

4) Removed all archaic laws and introduced laws that are more aligned to the 21st century.

5) Working with the police force on how to make Malaysia a safer place to live in.

6) How to control the influx of illegal immigrants.

7) How to fight inflation and keep consumer good prices affordable

8) Will toll be totally abolished or a total revamp of the rates calculation, reducing the financial burden for the rakyat.

9) Bang on transparency and how it can save the country billions of ringgit. Use chart and figures as proof available from PR ruled States.

All the above are just what I think the rakyat wanted to know and PR may need a few good economists to help out further.

PR must campaign on the same platform with the same ideas and topics throughout the country rather than telling different stories to different audience.

Lastly the candidates.

There are going to be big fights over the selection of candidates, trust me. PR should start screening all their potential candidates for their integrity, honesty, but most important are they willing to work for the rakyat and not for self glory and power. There are many existing Aduns, MPs that are good which could be retained while a few may have to go, whether they like it or not.

For this coming 13th GE, voters will definitely weigh the candidates as well in their decision whom to vote as they had seen too many frogs jumping after the 12th GE.

In conclusion, Pakatan Rakyat cannot continue their old method of 'opposition like' campaigning, not any tom, dick or harry is a suitable candidate, forget about the 308 tsunami and start creating a new wave, stop listening in total whatever your close aids are feeding you, start cleaning up your own backyard, stop boasting, praising yourself, just remember no leaders are indispensable.

MCA Is More Frightening And Dangerous Compared To PAS pt.2

You can read part 1 here.

With Or Without MCA, Malaysian Chinese Can Still Survive. MCA To Many Malaysian Chinese Is Now A "Meaningless Chinese Association".

Anyone ever wonder why MCA is so fearful of Islamic Malaysia becoming an Islamic country. No, there is no writing mistake on Islamic Malaysia because according to Umno-BN with support from MCA, Malaysia is already an Islamic country.

I am not familiar about the Islamic religion but my questions to MCA are, "what is the difference between Umno-BN Islamic Malaysia and PAS Islamic country? Are there two or more types of Islamic religion in this country? Is MCA trying to confuse the non muslim into believing that Umno-BN Islamic Malaysia is better than PAS Islamic country?"

Is it not frightening to see MCA telling you that their apple is sweeter as compared to the one that you have when both apples were plucked from the same apple tree?

After sleeping with UMNO for 54 years, exactly what have MCA done other than telling the Chinese that MCA is relevant to fight and protect their needs and rights. As far as the Chinese can remember, they are self reliance, study and work hard to sustain their own living without any hand outs or help.

The MCA refused to acknowledge their failure to look after the Chinese welfare and hence got the thrashing at the 12th GE. What is happening today, the depriving of higher education, footing the additional cost of buying houses against the 10% bumi discount, facing racist remarks, being called all sorts of names, unfair distribution of development funds to Chinese schools, failure to regconised college and university degrees, difficulty in obtaining citizenship for eligible and qualified spouses and the list of unfair treatment goes on.

Is this the way of MCA, claiming to fight and protect the Chinese rights and welfare?

MCA will only make their presence felt when general elections are round the corner and at by elections. The 13th GE is just round the corner and you can now hear the rumbling voices from MCA and this time they are allowed to make more daring noises, with approval from UMNO, like calling for better equality, calling for actions to be taken against the racist principles, challenging UMNO for this and that. MCA is now bolder in voicing and tackling UMNO to show the Chinese that MCA has changed.

All these noises meant nothing but only talks that are amplified. Umno only allows MCA to raise their voices to attract the Chinese voters but any actions to be taken still lies in the hands of Umno.

There is no free lunch, as the saying goes, there are surely something that Umno will get from MCA by allowing MCA to be so bold in making so much noises.

MCA is frightening the Chinese that PAS, when taking over Putrajaya, will impose the Islamic laws, chopping of hands and stoning to death, i.e according to PAS Islamic country. Can MCA gives the assurance that Umno-BN Islamic Malaysia will not implement them in the future? Can MCA get a black and white guarantee from Umno that any Islamic laws implemented by Umno will not affect the non muslims?

Umno is already starting to implement the Islamic laws albeit slowly and don't tell me that MCA cannot see it. Umno has to show that they are more Islamic than PAS to retain the malay votes and whatever PAS can do, Umno can do better in matters relating to Islam. Non muslims are now banned from using certain words, entering of mosques and suraus are prohibited, cannot eat at school canteen during puasa, cannot bring halal food to school and I am sure many more of this cannot, that cannot, will be coming soon all because we have to respect the sensitivity of one religion and its a one way street for that matter. Are snatching of dead bodies and caning for drinking beer not Islamic laws that MCA is not afraid off but afraid of PAS Islamic laws?

MCA is dangerous because they always tell you that all matters are best discuss behind closed doors with Umno. They never reveal what were discussed and that is what happened behind closed doors where all these discriminatory policies and actions were born.

So, until we can really see actions being taken to change all the discriminatory policies or "Double Standard" (the crying call of MCA when their banners were rejected by local council) and respect for all Malaysians, MCA will remain a frightening and dangerous party when compared to PAS.

Malaysian Chinese must not fall into the trap of Umno-BN, MCA, again and again and again. If Umno-BN can declared Malaysia an Islamic country, why can't PAS? Why is Umno-BN so nice to you now a days when they have been treating you like shit for over 50 years, ALL because they wanted your votes and they know very well without you they will fall and MCA under the thumb of Umno will have to do the bidding call.

The only solution to take back our country and to punish Umno-BN and MCA is to

VOTE FOR CHANGE WHICH IS OUR ONLY OPTION

Anwar Ibrahim, You Are Dead Wrong!

I am not a PKR member but a strong supporter for Pakatan Rakyat which PKR is part of the coalition hence it gives me the right to make a comment about the inferno inside PKR.

I am not going to say, between the two rivals, who is right or who is wrong because that is not for me to judge as I have nothing to do with PKR. Anwar Ibrahim should know better how to handle the situation.

But, what I see is that Anwar Ibrahim is dead wrong the way he handled it. When a leader allows such a situation to grow to such an extend, there is really something very wrong.

A leader cannot and must not take sides when dealing with infighting nor join in the tit for tat mud slugging. At the onset of the problem Anwar Ibrahim was already seen to be leaning to one side. You can support anyone you like but when there are problems emerging, as a leader you must order a full investigation into it and not challenged against it and let the fireworks rage on.

A leader must put an immediate stop to such an ugly situation but not Anwar Ibrahim. He seems happy to allow it to ferment adding more fuel to the raging fire. Even if there is no evidence of any wrong doing, a leader after consulting and gathering the correct information will call in the rival teams to resolve it internally. Although one rival may claimed there are discrepancies and persistence in making everything in public, a good and capable leader will know how to control the situation and not join in the fray by rebutting openly.

Anwar Ibrahim may want to think that he still has great support, may be he has, but if he continues to do nothing and allow the party to burn here and there, the fire will eventually burn down the whole house. I am not a bit concerned about that but my worry is that the fire will spread to Pakatan Rakyat as well.

So, my advise to Anwar Ibrahim, look into the problem and solved it, be a fireman for once and put out the fire. If you can't, then its about time you give up the leadership. Sorry for what I had said but PKR must really put the house in order or you can wave goodbye to Putrajaya not only at the 13th GE but forever.

Neo-Colonisation Or Neo-Liberation?

by Zairil Khir Johari

Did you just say what I thought you did?

It is back to the grind as the Penang State Assembly gets underway, as does the UMNO-BN’s theatrical onslaught on the State Government.

Last week, they managed to round up a motley group of protesters ostensibly comprising angry Malay residents from Balik Pulau and a member or three from the BN-friendly Parti Cinta Malaysia, a party made up of disgruntled former members of the DAP and the once-relevant ‘political NGO’ called Gerakan (I posit that a political party with unelected nominees in government more closely resembles an NGO than a political party proper).

Their grouse this time? Over an area of land in Balik Pulau that has been allocated for the development of an educational hub. Of course, it was invariably portrayed as yet another case of the sacrilegious ‘Chinese government’ cruelly robbing the ‘poor Malay peasant’ of his land and rights.

As always, facts play no part in their campaign of blind vilification. It makes no matter that only 21% of the land acquired was Malay land (corresponding to a whopping 2 Malay families), the rest belonging to non-Malays. In any case, as the Chief Minister explained, the racial aspect of land ownership was never even a consideration! But there you go, just another round of racialised rhetoric from an opposition bankrupt of ideas.

During yesterday’s State Assembly session however, UMNO had the temerity to deny involvement in last week’s protest, conveniently ignoring the fact that Penang UMNO Youth Leader Norman Dahlan had been fussing about at the scene, proudly proclaiming that he was there to return ‘a portion’ of the money that they had recently stolen from the poor in their constituencies.

True heroes and nationalists, this lot. They are indeed the saviours of their race, as evident by a recent statement by the Minister Zahid Hamidi, Chief Hero of UMNO Penang:

“I am confident that together we can free the people of Penang from the clutches of the neo-colonisation spearheaded by the DAP under (chief minister) Lim Guan Eng,” he said.

Neo-colonisation? Really? That’s a very bold statement by the Hon. Minister. Surely he wouldn’t have made such an accusation unless it was factually based. Let us assume it is, and let us examine these facts for ourselves to see how the unfortunate people of Penang have been oppressed by their ‘colonial master’ over the last two years:

*The Penang state Budgets for 2008 and 2009 were turned from deficits to surplus budgets.

*Not good enough? Even the local council, Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai, was able to achieve an average surplus of RM23 million a year since 2008. Compare this to an average deficit of RM28 million a year over the last 8 years prior to 2008.

*What about rising state coffers? For two years running, Penang has declared record collections of RM1 billion in 2008 and RM1.1 billion in 2009. Penang had never crossed the RM1 billion mark prior to 2008.

*Senior Penangites above the age of 60 now receive RM100 a year, while families of senior Penangites who pass away receive RM1,000 in compassionate bequest. All this made possible from administrative savings (gasp, did I mention the S word?).

*Let’s not forget the Malays, who have now been ‘colonised’. They have been further oppressed by a monumental increase in the budget allocated to Islamic welfare, from RM12.5 million in 2008 to RM20.5 million in 2009 and RM24.3 million in 2010.

*And then, there’s also the obscure fact that Penang has managed to eradicate hardcore poverty.

*Last but not least, the neo-colonial government of Penang has also punished its people (or maybe just a few previously well-connected cronies?) by being the first state in Malaysia to implement a public open tender system.

So, all in all, the Pakatan Rakyat Government of Penang has indeed been disastrous! Open tenders, greater transparency, less wastage of public funds, administrative savings (surely it can’t be true), money actually being returned to the rakyat (shameful) and the end of hardcore poor families. Achieved, I must add, in spite of an uncooperative Federal Government and a pack of opposition troublemakers hell-bent on besmirching the State Government with no fidelity whatsoever to the truth.

A tyrannical regime indeed. I ask the Minister: is this what you mean by neo-colonialism? It appears to me that the people of Penang have in fact been liberated by the change in government.

Neo-colonisation? More like Neo-liberation. Our country has had enough of the former. Let’s liberate the rest of Malaysia.

MCA Is More Frightening And Dangerous Compared To PAS pt.1

With Or Without MCA, Malaysian Chinese Can Still Survive. MCA To Many Malaysian Chinese Is Now A "Meaningless Chinese Association".

MCA continues to use the outdated Islamophobia as their political tool in trying to win back the Chinese voters. They keep on harping on the Islamic laws that PAS will impose on the rakyat and turn the country into an Islamic State upon PAS taking over the Federal Government.

MCA, besides being a political party is now also a fortune teller or rather a 'future teller'. Even though MCA knew very well that PAS can never win over two thirds of the Parliamentary seats in order for PAS to amend the constitution and change secular Malaysia into an Islamic country, they are still persistence that PAS can do it. Even on paper and theoretical calculation it had proven that PAS will not be able to do so, yet MCA, a 'future teller' said it can.

MCA had forgotten or pretend to forget that they had supported UMNO in declaring that secular Malaysia is already an Islamic country through self declaration by two Prime Ministers. MCA has yet to explain why UMNO-BN can turned secular Malaysia into an Islamic country without amending the constitution in Parliament.

Let us assumed that MCA 'future telling' came true and PAS miraculously without a two thirds majority (maybe with MCA's help) managed to turn secular Malaysia into an Islamic State and started implementing the Islamic laws. Here, MCA failed to tell the non-muslims that PAS Islamic laws only apply to the muslims.

MCA playing with this Islamophobia political game gave the credence that Pakatan Rakyat is really strong and capable of capturing Putrajaya. It also indicates that MCA is a dying breed and they have to fight back with every means,logical or not, true or not does not matter, to win back the Chinese voters.

What is wrong for PAS to turn Malaysia into an Islamic country and implement the Islamic laws if, as predicted by MCA that PAS is going to take over control of Putrajaya. Firstly, Malaysia already is an Islamic country supported by MCA, secondly, the hands chopping of convicted thieves or stoning to death of convicted criminals may be good for the country. You may want to claim that these are inhumane acts, yes, its true, but let us take a look at our present laws supported by MCA.

The Internal Security Act (ISA) allows only 'one person' to dictate the fate of an individual. You can simply be detained under the ISA for 2 years without any charges being brought against you and it can be extended again and again. A journalist, reporting what was being said can be detained under the ISA, MPs and Aduns can be detained under the ISA base on false news report or an ordinary rakyat can be detained under the ISA if that 'one person' feels that you are a threat to national security. Thousands had been detained under the ISA not because they were criminals but simply against the government policies.

The sedition act, the Press Printing & Publication act and many other acts that allows only a handful of people to decide and interpret whether what you said, wrote or published were seditious and you could be jailed if they decided to charge you. For God sake, a cartoonist can also be arrested, just imagine that.

A law that prohibit a gathering of more than 4 person. If you go against this law, you will be met with tear gas, sprayed with chemically laced water canon and arrested as well.

Ain't all these archaic laws inhuman and MCA is still supporting them. Just compare these kind of inhumanity with the Islamic laws which apply only to convicted criminals and muslims only.

Since MCA can be a 'future teller' I can also tell the future of MCA being more frightening and dangerous as compared to PAS. Stay tune for pt.2