After two weeks of a dramatic much ado about nothing, the Mexican standoff between UMNO, Bersatu, PAS and GPS had finally settled. Perhaps it is a bit flattering for PAS and GPS to be mentioned in the silly game of brinksmanship within PN which merely ended in UMNO and Bersatu trading positions. After all, PAS was not in the standoff but merely standing on the sideline cheering for whoever holding the whip while GPS being a truly “government party” did not even make a stand for neither UMNO nor Bersatu. Whoever becomes the prime minister, even across the political divide could be guaranteed GPS’ support. It is like an unwritten manifesto of the party, and its raison d’etre follows the adage of “we will always be with you in good time” which manifests with such silent elegance. Mahathir benefited from their service, so did Muhyiddin and now Ismail Sabri of course. Talking about inclusive politics, no one could do it better, not even PAS. Not to mention, there were also MCA and MIC left unmentioned in the saga. Well, not that anyone noticed or bothered anyway.
Before delving into the nonsense of how Amin Ahmad put it, that was both depressing and hilarious, “the government of the SD, by the SD, for the SD”, all credit should go to our Royal Highness YDPA in His handling of the whole affair. The wisdom, patience, and prudence in His decision-making were exceptionally felicitous and very much revered. Adequate pressure was impartially asserted at the right time and in the most dignified manner to repel the stratagems and manipulations of unscrupulous politicians in the course of defusing the constitutional crisis. For those who advocated or even petitioned for a unity government, one has to understand that based on the constitution, it is beyond the jurisdiction of the YDPA to make the call if a prime minister candidate garnered enough support that breached the threshold of a simple majority. Any arrangement otherwise would have set undesirable and unconstitutional precedence which cuts both ways.
A suspicious reform proposal was offered to PH+ by Muhyiddin in his last-gasp maneuver to salvage his premiership right before the musical chair ended. The agendas of the reconciliatory offer were a major rip-off of PH’s manifesto which he was part of. The offer was declined flatly nonetheless. Tony Pua lamented that PH+ missed a golden opportunity of reformation and had contributed indirectly to the restoration of UMNO into power. The topic triggered a heated debate of “aye” and “nay” among armchair political scientists and herein is another contribution to the argument.
In an ideal world, PH+ would have forced the hands of PN 1.0. In reality, Malaysia is closer to a dystopian. No one should blame Anwar for not trusting. Did he not trust Mahathir magnanimously before and after the GE14? Did he not trust Zahid which led to his declaration of a “strong, formidable and convincing” majority to form a new government? Wasn’t he got blamed for being gullible on both occasions? If the clock is turned back and Anwar’s decisions were reversed, the familiar “what if” and lost opportunity postulations would arise all the same.
The 2021 Budget voting outcome should be a lesson well learned by PH+. Back in November last year which was not too long ago, PH+ agreed to show solidarity and supported the Budget at the policy stage which was crucial at that juncture in light of the pandemic. The plan was to use the committee stage as the proxy to a no-confidence vote as PH+ was led to believe that some fraction within UMNO would join forces to vote against Muhyiddin. No surprise, the trust was misplaced and the budget was passed in all three stages. What is the chance Bersatu would not do a UMNO to PH+ come to the latest proposal?
Let’s assume the second best-case scenario where Muhyiddin survived the motion of no-confidence and honored his words along with the whole Bersatu. PH+ would still need to get support from other parties like UMNO or PAS to amend the constitution. Understandably, it is not in the interest of the aforementioned parties to reform the old system. Bear in mind that Muhyiddin had only required a simple majority to survive whereas a 2/3 majority is needed to amend the constitution. The suggestion of voting for constitutional amendments first before voting on the fate of the prime minister in a session that was decreed specifically for the motion of no confidence is akin to putting the cart before the horse. Even if that could be done, Muhyiddin wouldn’t be so trusting would he?
Consider that the best-case scenario transpired where Muhyiddin survived and the parliament voted unanimously to amend the constitutions, there is still no guarantee that the touted reformations would see the light of day. Just take Undi-18 as an example. The whole episode of PN 1.0 transforming into PN 2.0 like the proverbial old wine in a new bottle was just a dramatized power play of UMNO, seizing power from Bersatu, by leveraging on PH+. It was entirely the doing of the 15 UMNO MPs who broke ranks with PN 1.0 and PH+ has kept a respectable distance from the shenanigan throughout. Thus, refusal of getting involved should not be tantamount to being culpable of UMNO’s coup of power. PH+ has been steadfast in opposing Muhyiddin who betrayed the mandate of the people. There is a huge gap between idealism and pragmatism. It is always easier to criticize in hindsight than to make decisions with uncertain outcomes ahead.
Having installed Ismail Sabri as the prime minister, the influential “court cluster” within UMNO might have thrown the last dice. If they get what they have been scheming, the disappointment of the general would not get worse because the people have not been expecting anything less from day one when Bersatu turned coat and join hands with the kleptocrats. Cases like those of Musa Aman and Tengku Adnan did not come as a shock anymore. Contrarily, the court cluster might have dug themselves into a deeper hole, now that their political rivals within the party who see them as liabilities are in control of power. It is doubtful that many in UMNO would support another round of coup to remove a sitting prime minister who is also from UMNO if things do not pan out well for the court cluster. The power struggle within UMNO is likely to peak in the next party election and during the nomination of candidates for the coming general election, whichever comes first.
Moreover, the relationship between UMNO, Bersatu, and PAS which is akin to a ticking time bomb from the beginning, is expected to deteriorate drastically as the next general election approaches. This is due to the straightforward reason that they have been fighting for the same constituencies will continue to do so. Time is running out and the GE15 must be called within a year and a half approximately. In the more immediate term, Bersatu members who formerly joined from UMNO may realign themselves with their old party. Bersatu’s election machinery and grassroots support are simply too weak to go into a general election competing with the likes of UMNO, PAS, and also PH+, without the Mahathir “brand name” and the “Reformasi” battle cry of its former coalition. In the eyes of voters in the Malay-majority heartlands, Bersatu is merely a party of UMNO traitors. In eyes of voters in the mixed constituents, the perception of them as traitors is the same. On another note, MCA and MIC, after showing their treacherous side of turning their back on UMNO in their support for Bersatu in the recent power struggle, may face the consequence of having their winnable Malay majority constituencies revoked by UMNO if Zahid still helms the party up to the general election. As for GPS, well everyone knows they will still form the government with whichever coalition that comes into power unless people wise up and start rejecting lalang political parties and individuals.
https://m.malaysiakini.com/letters/558570
Prior to the GE14 which brought about a seismic shift in the Malaysian political landscape, many minor parties were already positioning themselves to be the kingmakers. A number of them were parties from Sabah, led by self-serving old-timers infamous for their unabashed political tergiversation. Unexpectedly but perhaps not surprisingly, even a not-exactly-minor party like PAS made a statement of intent to install themselves as the fixer for whatever outcome in the mammoth battle between PH and BN in GE14.
At last, it was Bersatu that tilted the balance in favor to PH and in the most unconventional gentlemen’s agreement, the kingmaker was made “the king”. There was doubt if there is any gentleman in politic when the deal was struck at the time of a looming high-stake general election where the utmost priority was to remove an increasingly tyrannical kleptocratic regime. PH had no other option but to cross that bridge when they get there. After 22 months in power, all doubt was removed but in the worst imaginable manner.
The visionary of the grandiose Vision 2020 (which was proven conclusively to be a failure when the clock ticked 2021), attempted a self-coup to nullify the power transition agreement which incidentally resulted in the collapse of the PH government. Hindsight is 2020, no pun intended. It is easy to blame Anwar Ibrahim for trusting Tun Mahathir, but then again, what was the option available in GE14?
All justifications imparted by Tun Mahathir post failed-coup are reckoned to be afterthoughts. The logic is simple. He probably did not anticipate the number of PKR defectors to be so low. Then, Azmin Ali’s influence in PKR was seen to be quite solid considering the results of the party’s election that heavily favored his camp. On the other hand, Tun Mahathir could have been also expecting another fraction to defect from UMNO as months running up to the D-Day of Sheraton Move, hearsay was rampant that some influential figure aligned to Azmin Ali was also pulling strings on the other side.
When the numbers of defectors turned out to be unsatisfactory, Tun Mahathir rescinded from executing the plot. He foresaw what would befall the fate of Bersatu as it is transpiring now in PN. Instead, he risked it all in his “show hands” to form a unity government, hoping that PH would support him again, or at least enough MPs from PH would break rank to join his band of merry men. Had that happened, MPs from the other side of the political divide would not need much convincing to jump into the bandwagon to reap the personal benefits for being part of the power that be. Perhaps the resoluteness of PH’s MPs to stick together and showed Tun Mahathir the finger was the only consolation in the whole sorry episode.
Unsympathetically, Muhyiddin was made the fall guy. He was the one who declared the revoking of Bersatu’s support for PH that triggered the collapse of the house of cards. A devoted strongman of Mahathir but perpetually overlooked to be the next in line for premiership, he had to decide on whether to be consigned to the footnote of history unflatteringly or to write his own history by pulling off a double coup and become the prime minister himself. The choice was obvious. As for Azmin Ali, he had crossed the Rubicon.
The current turmoil faced by PN is not coincidental. That is the peril of throning the kingmakers. Cannibalism is the exigency for survival. Back to the days when PH was in power, the fraction aligned to the rebel camp in PKR was perniciously empowered via the distribution of ministerships. History, albeit a short one is repeating within UMNO. Bersatu is now in borrowed time as the coalition has become untenable. PAS is buying time to grip on the rare opportunity of federal power for as long as possible. UMNO is running out of time as many court cases associated to the more influential Zahid-Najib camp are concluding soon. If this camp falls, there will be a power vacuum within UMNO which Bersatu could take advantage of. The political quagmire of kingmakers is a cumulation of decades of tolerance by the voters towards unprincipled politicians where the august house is treated like an auction house. The conundrum of why these scoundrels are repeatedly voted back to office is beyond bewilderment. Statesmen should stand for their idealism for a better nation, not of affiliation depending on situation. The pitfall of working with toxic kingmakers is a lesson that political parties should take note. It is time to declass the kingmakers to court jesters. The next time voters see a snake and a court jester, they should know what to do.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/345897
Done and dusted, the twin by-elections which were supposed to be the referendum to the leadership of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had only shown his grip on power has not loosened a bit despite of the beleaguering 1MDB scandal.
A number of analysts had offered their two sen on the outcomes. One which stands out is the hypothesis that the Chinese votes have returned to BN. The conjecture cannot be further from the truth. The Chinese are more principled and loyal than many would like to give credit to.
The colloquium of the ethnic on the country’s politics particularly in recent years is mostly centred on good governance instead of what benefit they would derive if they vote ‘strategically’. The Bersih 4 rally of last year bore testament to it.
If there is one thing the pair of by-elections indicated, it is the consolidation of voters. Lower voter turnouts were recorded in all recent by-elections and elections post-GE13 i.e. the Teluk Intan by-election (from 80.4 percent to 67.4 percent), Sarawak state election (reported to be 52 percent before closing but matched the 2011 election at 70 percent after vote count), the Sungai Besar by-election (from 88 percent to 74 percent) and the Kuala Kangsar by-election (from 84.1 percent to 72 percent).
There was only one constant in all cases – lower turnout equals to lower votes for the opposition. The impact was especially more significant in Chinese majority areas for most cases when outstation voters failed to return for voting. This showed the Chinese support did not return to BN. They just did not turn up.
The causality between lower turnout and lower votes for the oppositions is not surprising. In general, it is widely accepted that BN is largely supported by the older generation of voters compared to the oppositions.
The continued slide of votes for BN in the past two general elections was mainly attributed to two factors; the relentless effort by the younger generation who were rooted to the opposition in converting their elders in the GE12 and the massive turnout of these youngsters who took much trouble to return to their hometowns to exercise their rights in the GE13.
The heterogeneity of party alliance within a family is very common nowadays. Therefore, any drop in voter turnout due to the non-returning of working-age-voters would significantly impact the opposition as the older generation are mostly permanent dwellers in their respective hometowns. All in all, there is a very high possibility that both sides of the political divide have maxed out in their recruiting for fence-sitters.
Given the magnitude of the major scandals that plagued the country in recent years, namely the PKFZ and the 1MDB debacles, and also the switching of alliance by the ex-premier, Mahathir Mohamad, voters whose opinion could be swayed would have definitely been swayed. The only variables for changes now are the choices of newly registered voters and the gradual decline of older voters due to natural causes.
It is probable that the opposition had already reached their peak in GE13 as recent statistics have shown the trend of a slow but steady exodus of the qualified middle class who might have decided that flight is the better option instead of staying on to fight. Political fatigue factor is also weighing in and that could result in much lower turnout of voters in the next general election as evident in the recent ones.
Having said that, if everything remains constant, the regime would probably stay in power for a long time to come.
Politics in all over the world has the knack of eliciting the daftest quotes. Malaysian politics is of no exception. If one were to compile and rank the world’s most baffling quotes in the past one decade, I would bet my house that Malaysia would come out with at least 5 gems in the top 10. Remember how our ex-ex-Home Minister, Syed Hamid Albar justified the used of ISA against an innocent journalist as part of an elaborated protection program for the safety of the said journalist? How about our ex-Home Minister and current Defense Minister, Hishamuddin Hussien who assured the public that a group of foreign intruders in full military regalia and armed to the teeth were not militants or terrorists?
Not so long ago, our current Home Minister, Ahmad Zahid was quoted to have requested Malaysians who were not satisfied with the results of the GE13 (which was allegedly marred by massive frauds) to migrate. Assuming that only 47% of those who voted for the parties that formed the government of the day were satisfied (and that percentage includes many purportedly dubious voters), at least 53% of Malaysians mostly from the middle class who voted against them would have to find new homes in foreign lands. What an ingenious solution to the chronic traffic congestions in big cities like KL by the way. Perhaps the foot in the mouth disease is heredity in the Home Ministry.
Whilst the Home Ministry might possess the uncanny ability to produce classic bloopers, the ministry could never beat the Election Commission in the game of passing the buck. Way back to the GE12, the decision to use of inedilible ink in the election was reversed in the eleventh hour and the blame was pointed to the constitutional complication and also to the story of sabotage by unscrupulous parties who planned to dupe the village folks by inking their fingers prior to election and ultimately preventing them from voting. Up to today, no one knows which story was the “official truth”.
Fast forward to GE13, the constitution complication miraculously was no longer an issue and the unscrupulous people who plotted to cheat the village folks had probably repented and became good citizens. Thus the use of inedilible ink was no longer a no-go. The Election Commission even brazenly declared to the public on how committed they were in ensuring a clean and fair election. It was a rare honorable gesture by the EC which earned them a frenzy photo snapping session by the pressmen and some headline line news in the mainstream media.
That set the prelude to the passing the buck game. Eventually and unsurprisingly, the inedilible ink was proven to be edible after all. The first official response from the EC was to blame their lower ranked staffs for not shaking the bottles rigorously enough. Then, blame was pushed to the voters for applying lotion onto their fingers to wash off the stain easily. When that reasoning did not work too, the buck was then escalated to the Health Ministry for allegedly issuing a health warning on the high concentration of carcinogen content in the ink. Therefore, the caring EC took the benevolence initiative to dilute the ink. The public must buy this time. After all, wasn’t their overzealous health awareness on the potential side effects caused by the Lynas plant motivated them to come out in drove to vote?
Too bad, the Health Minister who must have forgotten the noble contribution of the EC in ensuring a “free and fair election” which subsequently put him into office, rebutted EC’s claim of such health warning and the buck was bounced back to the EC. Just when you think the buck could not be passed higher, you were underestimating the EC. Divine intervention happens. Apparently that was what was in the mind of the president of EC, Abdul Aziz when he quoted “On the much-awaited day, the power of Allah is greater when the ink could disappear after being washed several times. Where is the mistake?” Finally, he was successful in shutting up everyone because the people were speechless with their jaw gapping wide upon hearing his pearl of wisdom – a standing ovation for this god-fearing man.
Just when we thought the saga was finally put to rest when the buck has reached heaven, the EC decided that passing the buck back to its detractors with some conspiracy theory was still the best way to end a story in Malaysian politics and thus a special team was set up to investigate if the ink being easily washed off was due to sabotage. Borrowing from Fred Allen, Malaysia as usual has this culture of getting together a group of people who individually can do nothing, but together they can decide nothing can be done. Just look at the MACC, EAIC and whatever other commissions that were set up over the years. If the EC could be infiltrated so easily, I am sure it would make more sense to temper with the ballot boxes rather than the ink. Ballot boxes tempering was a proven to be the more effective and efficient ways to help win election (oops… did I say proven?).
In the latest update, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim responded in parliament that not only the indelible ink was delible, it was indeed edible. The ink was actually made of food colouring! This time, we just have to kow tow to the EC’s unwavering spirit of keeping up to the Malaysia boleh slogan. Malaysia, truly amazing.
On another note, the dignified MCA president, Chua Soi Lek who refused all official positions for MCA members in keeping up to the party’s pre-election resolution suddenly declared a couple of days ago that MCA vice-president, Ng Yen Yen’s acceptance of her appointment as Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB) chairperson was not in defiance of the party’s stand. Didn’t MCA went as far as suspending their own state assemblyman, Tee Siew Keong for accepting an exco position in the Johor state government which was recommended by the Sultan of Johor?
Let’s try to decipher the statement by Soi Lek: “If one was to read the ‘no government posts’ resolution passed in the party’s annual general meeting in totality, (it states) nobody should accept government posts normally recommended by the party.” It appears that Yen Yen’s appointment was justified because she reportedly appointed herself to the position and not through the recommendation of MCA. So for those MCA big shots who are now lamenting the party’s decision for not accepting any ministerial position, this could be a hint from your president to appoint yourself to whatever position that you fancy. The party could not appoint you. The state menteri besars could not appoint you. The prime minister could not appoint you. Even the sultans could not appoint you. You are the master of your own destiny. Go appoint yourself. Then again, Yen Yen had clarified that it was the Minister of Tourism, Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz who appointed her. So correction here. According to MCA resolution, you could not be appointed by anyone to any position even by yourself. The position application process has to go through the Ministry of Tourism.
In the same press statement by Soi Lek, he also publicly rebuked Liow Tiong Lai for publicly rebuking him for publicly rebuking Donald Lim for publicly rebuking him earlier. In case you are confused, reread the sentence a few more times. The censuring by Tiong Lai who was once closely aligned to Ong Tee Keat must be an eye opener for Soi Lek whose influence within MCA is waning by days. It took Soi Lek up the twilight of his political career learned a bitter lesson that Tee Keat learned a few years ago; in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies only permanent interests – and in MCA, you won’t find a better teacher of such lesson than Tiong Lai.
Umno’s party election is around the corner and rumour is swirling that Najib Razak presidency might be challenged this time by the prominent Tengku Razaleigh who once almost defeated Mahathir Mohamad – a turn of event which would have definitely rewritten the history of Malaysia. Prior to the emergence of the Tengku Razaleigh’s rumour, there were already rumours that there might be a symbolic challenge for presidency among lesser known candidates and that Muhyiddin Yassin might also mount a challenge against his boss when he refused to deny his ambition for the Umno’s leadership.
Unsurprisingly, it was Mahathir who started the ball rolling by casting doubt on the leadership of Najib immediately after the GE13 by suggesting that Umno would have to make a stand to decide the fate of Najib. Subsequently he opined that Najib’s leadership might not be challenged because there was lack of alternative within Umno. The “lack of alternative” insinuation by Mahathir highlighted the massive gap of influence between Najib and the rest of the probable candidates in Umno which in turn shed some light on how Najib strengthen his own influence in the past couple of years.
One of the most interesting points on the GE13 was how Najib Razak ran the BN campaign in the manner of the US presidential election. The whole BN campaign was almost entirely on him. His popularity had consistently exceeded that of BN by almost 20% throughout the period polled up to the election. The more interesting question is – was the style of general election campaign ingeniously planned to strengthen Najib’s own position in Umno too?
It is noteworthy in the GE11, Abdullah Badawi’s election performance was one of the best in BN’s history, having won 198 out of 220 seats in parliament but came GE12, he made history again by leading BN to the worst election results. It is plausible that the huge swing of vote within just two elections was due to the devastation of hope of the people for real reform post Mahathir era. Bear in mind that Mahathir’s skin was saved by the Chinese in the GE10 election when the Malays revolted against BN because of the Anwar Ibrahim saga. Consequently, Mahathir was forced to step down owing to the immense pressure from within Umno after losing the Malay base. He also lost the trust of the Chinese immediately after the GE10 when he betrayed his promise on Suqiu and attacked the Chinese as communists.
When Abdullah took over, it was akin to a new dawn for Malaysia after Mahathir outstayed his welcome. At last, new dawn was proven to be a false dawn when no real reform was enforced. The rest for Abdullah was history. When Najib took over the helm from Abdullah, he was inherited with the weakest BN coalition in the history. There was no guarantee that he would perform better in the GE13. Keeping that in mind and the tendency of the hawkish disposition of the Umno warlords who would not bat an eyelid in doing a Brutus when they scent blood, Najib, a good salesman of perception himself might have decided to fortify his position by creating an icon of himself, camouflaged with a general election campaign ala the US presidency campaign style.
During the Mahathir era, all the 3 presidents of BN largest component parties namely Umno, MCA and MIC had owed their longevity in grip on the presidency by evolving everything around themselves and systematically obliterating the influence of their second-in-commands. The rise in influence of Anwar proved to be the catalyst to Mahathir’s downfall and Abdullah had probably failed to consider a contingency plan for his own survival as Umno president before GE12.
The preposition of Najib’s campaign style is merely hypothetical but one fact that is casted in stone after the GE13 is the demise of Mahathir’s influence in the eyes of the voters. His influence perhaps is only prevalent within Umno now. Most observers conveniently forgot the chronicle of events that led the longest serving prime minister of Malaysia to voluntarily relinquish his position a decade ago – a very uncharacteristic decision considering his love for power.
Mahathir on the other hand had skillfully played along with the general misreading. When BN lost unprecedentedly under Abdullah in GE12, Mahathir took all the credit as the kingmaker for his public disapproval of Abdullah during the election campaign. Curiously, no one considered how the stepping down of Mahathir had actually contributed to Abdullah’s landslide win in the prior election. Now that the GE13 in which Mahathir campaigned rigorously had yielded the worst results for BN, it is much clearer that he was a liability to BN all along more than he wished to admit.
“Cybertroopers” is a term I suppose originated from Malaysia. I would rank it as the next best Malaysian invention after err… belacan (did belacan originate from Malaysia?). A short search of “cybertroopers” on Google would yield hundreds of results, all related to Malaysian politics. However, there is no one exact definition of the term from any dictionary or on Wikipedia. Back to the main topic, one might not notice that there is a very inconspicuous but interesting relationship between the term “cybertroopers” and “perception” in Malaysia, both of which have been aggressively propagated by the mainstream media of late.
In Malaysia, everything is due to the problem of perception. The crime rate of the country is low. If you think it is high, then it is the problem of your perception. The police are doing great — so well in fact that our ex-IGP’s KPI score in 2009 was 113.8 per cent, as announced by Koh Tsu Koon in Parliament. A lot of us were wondering how it was possible statistically. Did that mean that the police had solved more cases involving crime than actually existed? Or that they had caught more people compared to the number of times when the law was actually violated like cases of candle vigils (ahem…)? Then again, if you are still scratching your head over how the numbers add up, then it has to be the problem of your perception.
Here, we have the powers-that-be telling us that Malaysia is one of the best governed countries in the world with the best education system that even exceeds the high standards of the US and Germany; the best democratic system; and the cleanest electoral system! The government claimed that corruption in the country is a mere perception and the MACC claimed that their tarnished reputation of being inefficient and inaction against the big shots was also perception. Now, even the EC has jumped onto the perception bandwagon in the midst of the post-election furore. If you still don’t agree with them, heck, you know what again? It is your bloody perception!
Humans are naturally inquisitive. Just like in the classic chicken-or-egg conundrum, humans tend to look a bit further and dig a bit deeper to trace the origin of everything. Thus, when everything good is the government and everything bad is perception, the next natural question that comes to mind would be how all these perceptions came to exist in the first place? That is when the cybertroopers come into picture — it is bogeymen time!
We used to have many bogeymen in the past, i.e. the Jews, the colonists, the imperialists, the Christians, Singapore, the US and the Chinese and of course, Anwar Ibrahim who is supposed to be the super-agent working for all the aforementioned influences. As the country advanced into the information age, the Cold War-style rhetoric no longer found an audience, thus cybertroopers have now assumed the role of the new super-villains. Nevertheless, we were made aware that not all cybertroopers are bad. Officially, we have the 1 Malaysia Cyber Movement and some bloggers like Papagoma who are supposed to be noble. One of our current deputy ministers even attended a workshop to teach these noble cybertroopers how to avoid lawsuits in cyberspace by “ending your sentences with a question mark”. By taking his cue, do Malaysians get prosecuted for telling the truth?
Of course, the not-so-noble cybertroopers have to come from Pakatan Rakyat. They are the ones who shaped the opinions of the gullible urban dwellers who are intoxicated by education. The rural folks (with no disrespect) know better because what they think is the truth as disseminated by the mainstream media, not the false perceptions from the Internet. The most notorious cybertroopers of all is the Red Bean Army, allegedly a local imitation of “Mao’s Red Guard’ which is allegedly linked to DAP. But then again, the only “shred of evidence” of their existence, not surprisingly, originated from some disgruntled ex-DAP supporter apparently vying for 15 seconds of fame. Nevertheless, it has to be the truth if it was repeated many times in the mainstream media.
A quick Google brought me to this website called the Pakatan Cybertroopers (http://www.pakatancybertroopers.com). It is a very simple website with suspiciously cheesy declarations like “…to bring down any establishment like in Arab Spring.” and “…to bring the Government down by promoting the negative buzz online.” The site even has a recruitment page that states “…we can afford to pay you for your effort. Please do not worry, we know where to find the money for you.”
For all the shortcomings of Malaysians, you have to give credit to our brutal honesty to ourselves. If we are bad or promoting something negative, we’ll label ourselves just that. Remember KMM, a supposedly organised terrorist group in Malaysia whose members were detained under the ISA about a decade ago? Initially, KMM stoode for Kumpulan Muhajidin Malaysia but because they were promoting terrorism, they changed their name to Kumpulan Militant Malaysia in matter of weeks after they were exposed. Just like those old James Bond movies, super-villains were ironically super-honest with themselves and prone to having very distasteful names like Auric Goldfinger, Gustav Graves, Dr. No, Elektra King etc.
Thus, now we have the Red Bean Army and the Pakatan Cybertroopers. Therefore, I am looking forward to the day when all Malaysians espouse such noble values of honesty. For burglars out there, instead of giving yourselves a fancy gang name, you should consider naming your gang as the “Petaling Jaya Kapchai Snatch Handbags Gang” or the “Puchong Robbing and Thieving Gang”. For those who intend to make a quick buck from bogus businesses, kindly consider names such as “Ah Chong Unhygienic Contaminated Food Sdn. Bhd.” or “Muthu Ponzi Gold Investment Scheme Sdn. Bhd.” It will make my day when some local carmaker finally rebrands itself as the “Faulty Window Rip-off Automobile”. Lastly, I would welcome any payment for my cybertrooping effort here that might have successfully shaped your perception.
You will never read from anywhere that brand Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King as racists. Abraham Lincoln pawned his life to fight against the enslavement of the African Americans, Nelson Mandela traded decades of his freedom to free South Africa from the shackles of the Apartheid policy and Martin Luther King paid with his life for the equal rights of Americans. Their detractors could call them any vile names they wished but never as a racist.
Only in Malaysia, the very people who do not condone racism and voted against it are labeled as racists. Over the decades, UMNO, led by Dr. Mahathir and his armada of mass media had been accusing DAP with its vision of “Malaysian Malaysia” as a bigoted political party, hell-bent to destroy the Malay. The rakyat particularly the IT savvy urban-dwellers who ironically voted for the multiracial parties from Pakatan Rakyat in GE13 were branded as racists because they rejected the race-based political system where every race fights endlessly to defend their respective rights. To put things into perspective, could anyone imagine any American being branded as racist if they do not endorse Klu Klax Klan, a white supremacist organization?
For a record, DAP has a total of 2 Malay lawmakers representing the party, 1 state assemblyman in Pahang and 1 parliamentarian from Penang (Malay from MCA = 0, Malay from MIC = 0). The number of Indian and Sikh representatives from DAP amounts to 14 at state level and 6 at parliament level (MIC state assemblymen = 6, members of parliament = 4). Talk about DAP being a Chinese chauvinist party, their Indian and Sikh representation is 2 times of MIC!
As for PAS, the party even has a Chinese Muslim state assemblyman in Kelantan and fielded a Chinese Christian in Ayer Hitam. Not to mention PKR is very evenly represented by all ethnics including the Kadazan-Dusun ethnic from Sabah. So the question is, exactly how many non-Malays represented UMNO and Malays represented MCA and MIC? Your calculation is as good as mine – NONE.
Now, where is the racism element in Pakatan Rakyat, specifically DAP? What about BN endorsement of the far right groups such as Perkasa and Hindraf, both which were rejected by the rakyat? What about the racist remarks from an ex-judge and a pro-chancellor of a university? What about the call by various far right NGOs to boycott Chinese products? Najib do you have the courage to make a stand these nonsense?
Come post election, our very Prime Minister set the racial persecution ball rolling by coining the term of “Chinese Tsunami”. The accusation of Chinese voted along the racial line become more raucous by days with attacks spearheaded by none other than Utusan. Excuse me, didn’t the Chinese voted overwhelmingly for Rafizi Ramli in Pandan against a MCA candidate? I am sure had Khalid Samad from PAS contested in the Chinese majority Seputeh constituent which was won by Teresa Kok with super majority in the last general election, he would have won handsomely too, even if he was up against the president of MCA!
The highlight of the Malaysian political black comedy must go to the recent fiasco resulted by remark from Azran Osman Rani, the CEO of AirAsiaX who stated that “I am Malaysian. I am anti-racism. I am disgusted by Utusan’s editorial stance” – a statement apparently defending the Chinese community from the continued racism attack in the media. Now he is branded by his detractors from being arrogant, ungrateful, someone who has forgotten his root to a racist by some blogspot! Only in Malaysia, you are racist if you are not racist.
5 May 2038
Dear Papa,
How is Mama? Has she recovered fully? I know it must be difficult for her to endure her illness in such way since we could not afford to provide her with the best medical access. I have borrowed some money from my best friend who is doing very well in Indonesia to pay for Mama’s medical bills this month. I read that Indonesia is a very advance country now and I hope I can afford a trip to see for myself one day. Anyway, I’ll bank in the money to you soon along with the housing installment. Papa, do you remember how many years more that I have to pay for the house? I remember when I took over the loan from you a few years ago, you had already paid for more than 30 years. It’s like we are paying for it till eternity and my personal debt is ballooning.
I remember you told me when I was old enough to understand that on the day I was born, I am already shouldering the a debt of about RM18,000. During that time, many of our relatives had left for oversea to seek greener pasture. As I step into the working world a few years ago, the “debt” that I never took has tripled. The country now is heavily indebted now and no fund is willing to lend to the country for development purpose anymore. Last election, we voted in the same government again and they promised to do something about it. I am sure they are looking into it now.
Papa, I am currently applying for a job as a hotel janitor in Singapore. Papa, do you know that I get to be paid more after conversion working as a janitor in Singapore than your previous profession as an engineer here nowadays? I remember those days when you told me the exchange rate was about SD$1.00 to RM2.50. Now the rate is much better, at about SD$1.00 to RM10.00. I am looking forward to work there and have reunions with my childhood friends who are mostly working as maids and construction labours.
Papa, I am sorry to disappoint you for not living up to your expectation. I used to be very ambitious after scoring straight As in all my national exams. However, my achievements were not recognized anywhere. As you understood, no local university allowed me to enroll because there was never enough quota and no oversea university are willing to offer me scholarship because I was told straight As students in Malaysia are a dime a dozen.
Then again, all my friends who did almost as good as me didn’t get pursue their dreams either, so cheer up Papa. Remember I explained to you a few years back that we did thought of doing a degree in some local college? When we did a survey, we found that a common 3-year degree program is about RM1 million. We would never be able to save that type of money for our whole live working in Malaysia!
Papa, please take care of Mama when I am away. I understand it must be difficult for you as you are ageing too. I remember you told me how those days were when Malaysians could still afford to hire maids. How I wish I could afford one to serve you and Mama. Instead, many Malaysians now are maids serving some other families in Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines. I hate it when these countries look down on us. Probably they do not realise that the top 20 richest multi-billionaires in the Southeast Asian region are all Malaysians, the children of grandchildren of our ministers and former ministers. I am proud that we did not lose to our arrogant neighbours in this aspect.
Lots of Love,
Your Filial Son / Daughter
conspiracytheor1st 