My old friend Capt. Subhash 'Fred' Kelkar in San Francisco calls it cajones which simply means balls or bebola, and these are what I find severely lacking amongst UMNO die hards. A pathetic state of the denial syndrome, refusing to admit to their faults and a penchant for blaming everybody else but themselves.
I was invited to the UMNO pasca or whatever organised by MyKmu.net at the Singgahsana Hotel in Petaling Jaya yesterday, where after all the hype about transparency, openness and daring to speak up bla bla, a young grassroots leader was unceremoniously manhandled and dragged out of the hall after he had the audacity to ask why not consider inviting Anwar Ibrahim back into the UMNO fold. Sheeesh. I rather felt sorry for the whole bunch of them, many looking like paranoid Class F bumiputra contractors still harping on ketuanan Melayu*, etc. and all the while I was asking myself WTF was I doing there.
While UMNO in particular and BN in general are breaking at the seams with their leaders at each others' throats, the PKR-PAS-DAP coalition seems to be growing from strength to strength with the formation of Pakatan Rakyat or People’s Alliance. Is a merger of opposition parties on the cards? If this is so, then we are without a doubt moving towards a much coveted two-party system and we can also look forward to kissing goodbye to communal or race politics once and for all. (Read yesterday's Malaysiakini report, here)
* Malay suzerainty.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
12 comments:
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while umno implode, barisan rakyat (or pakatan) is moving forward. hey, the gravy train is coming to a stop and they are fighting among themselves for the reduced spoils. imagine whats the fight goona be like.
ReplyDeleteCapt: I hope the competition between PA and BN will lead to, over the medium and long term, an independent judiciary, a free media and transparency of governance, all of which are keys to a functioning democracy. These were things the BN was unable to deliver despite rapid economic gains in the last 20 years. So just as in business, let's have more competition in politics and that will result in more democracy. When democracy wins, so does Malaysia.
ReplyDeleteYou want it or not, race politic is here to stay. Just to get support, and for the sake of power, people will talk about malaysian malaysia, liberalisation, etc. etc. At the end of the day, human nature will prevail, there will be racial politic all over again, like it or not. Just look at Singapore, do u really think they practice meritocracy, if so well, think again.
ReplyDeleteCaptain
ReplyDeleteCan't agree with you more.
I was flabbergasted when they had to drag the poor guy by the neck and drag him out.
Really pathetic bunch. I can only think of two reasons for the mob-mentality taking place:
a) The crowd is trying to show favour to Dr M, who everybody knows is Anwar's nemesis. Thus the crowd thought that the chap mentioning Anwar's name was disrespect for Dr. M who was speaking at the platform.
2) Mentioning Anwar's name is an embarrassment to UMNO for sending their own leader into prison and also the fact that it was Anwar who through the Opposition humiliated UMNO.
I have one advice for the chap who got hauled out: JOIN PKR. For all we know, he could be a closeted PKR member !!!
Captain,
ReplyDeleteIt was great meeting u for lunch after that forum.. I agree with your views in this post.
When the UMNO members themselves couldn't respect a person's right to ask a question, are they really serious about wanting more democracy in UMNO? They all wanted "to be heard" by the leadership, yet when an UMNO member with a position asks a question, they simply "took him away" like in those ancient stories!
Of course racist sentiments may never go away completely in most parts of the world, but at least we know there are people working towards the goal of non-race-based politics. Whether or not they can deliver such non-race-based ideals is a different matter, because politicians are politicians. However, with enough pressure, politicians will still need to succumb to the people's wishes, especially when they aren't too comfortable in their seats.
capt, i suppose it will take a while for all Malaysians to think and to act without the racial mind-set; but PR is a start. Asking the 'lesser informed' group to think and to act Malaysians would take some time; but should the better informed and those 'educated' middle class can change first, i believe the rest would slowly follow suit. Anyway Rome was built in a day!My only hope is for PR to do what they have to do : to build the small time hawkers better places for them to earn their daily meals!!
ReplyDeleteEspecially in the west coast states, I don't the populations are asking for the sky. The states are rich enough for the state gomens to progress as long as honesty and truth prevail!! In the past, projects are many times above the market rates,hence so few projects were available in the market! It is so obvious that members of BN are acusing each other for causing this tsunami!!
Hi Capt Yusof,
ReplyDeleteMr Gan Chong Kiat (former finance director LPK) now residing in Melbourne, Australia would like to send his warmest regards to you.
On behalf Gan Chong Kiat
Regards
Ben
(benchootb@yahoo.com)
capt., i hope the former Finance Director has got something to add to the 'happenings' at Port Klang; after all he has nothing to fear!!
ReplyDeleteunless he is still fearful of getting involved! Any way good health and luck to him at Melbourne.
Ouch...is this the way that UMNO encourages their people to solve problems? Is this an example of how they work? To push the thinker aside in favor of the demagogue?
ReplyDeleteAs it stands, I guess it is.
UMNO truly is flying apart at the seems, and it must be said that they deserve it.
Even at this juncture, where they are at their weakest, they still do not wish to break out of the mold that has lead them down the path to where they are now.
P.S. It was a pleasure meeting you last Friday, Mariner. Didn't say much (as I am always wont to do), but it truly was a pleasure to shake your hand.
as an aside, the new broom in Ministry of Transport said he is gonna reveal all the ills in PKFA. and he has admitted that the response to this scandalous project has been at best lukewarm, contrary to what was indicated by the pro-MCA paper. i have great respect for this Minister but sadly he is in the wrong camp. NO, I dont dirty linen will be allowed to be washed in public. what we gonna get is probably linen being sanitised before public disclosure, at best. there's too much dirt in PKFA and the actors in this scandal are too well connected to be sacrificed.
ReplyDeleteProve me wrong, YB Ong
capt., hope the details of pkfz is made public, at least your effort is not in vain! Then we all can figure out the' share holders' of the project. You wanna make a guess? We have to believe in HIM. now slowly, the truth will be made known to the whole world. Well AAB, do take the challenges thrown at you, show it to me that my vote in 2004 for you wasn't in vain!! Truth does hurt at times, but to maintain manhood, it cannot be allowed to vanish into darkness just like that. Truth like the light shall prevail over lies and darkness.
ReplyDeleteThis March 8 election was proposed by man but disposed by God. Malaysia is a God fearing nation no matter what beliefs its people have. The prayers of the suffering down troddened, the wretched hurt and the desperate poor reached high heaven. Only good will come out of these turmoil when God is with us.
ReplyDelete