Apo kono eh, Jang ?

Friday, 21st. November 2008.

What's happening to NS ?

The Royal Household seems to be caught in a number of highly publicised cases - involving the father, the son and the grandson. The MB certainly is deeply embroiled in the current UMNO battle in the State.

It's not as if NS lacks class. The first Agong was from Negeri Royalty and an English law graduate.  Before a medical doctor became PM, an MB in NS was already one. The last MB stayed as long as Mahathir. 2 VCs in University of Malaya were from Negeri, plus many of the local IPTA / IPTS heads and faculty members. The civil service, the legal service, the uniformed services are full of them, occupying the top posts of the Chief Secretary, Chief of the Armed Forces, the first top female judge and so on. For bloggers, Bakri Musa for one is from Negeri. In politics we have many Negeri-born or Negeri-married top  personalities. There is the brave bridge-burning Rais Yatim, the Negeri-married Najib and Negeri-married Mukhriz, and others.

Maybe it's time to reexamine our our stock and predicament.

200 years ago when the Minangkabau-originated Malays couldn't keep their peace, they compromised by importing a Minangkabau royalty. Now if the present ruling household cannot keep itself out of court, it may be time to find another Minangkabau import.  Unlike other Malay sultanates, the Negeri ruler is chosen by the Undangs, who are in turn chosen by the clans. That's royal democracy for you.

The political predicament of the MB is his own making. Instead of courting friendship from all UMNO divisions, he chose to confront some heads. 

The comparison between the physical development of Seremban and neighbouring Bandar Melaka is easy to make. For one, just look at the Dataran Seremban and compare it with the Dataran Pahlawan in Air Keroh !

I've no regrets being Negeri-born. I only wish we were not so much in the news for the wrong reasons.

......................................................................................................

Of Najib, Mahathir & UMNO money politics.

Thursday, 20th. November,2008.

I've written about Najib many times in this blog before, and I stand to be corrected.

I've just read Mahathir's promise to give some names alleged to be involved in UMNO money politics. Maybe they'll finally sit up, the Supreme Councillors, that is.

I've already written about the UMNO candidate that lost the last GE for the state seat of Ampangan, Seremban, who's now under investigation for giving money to a delegate. That's a cut and dried affair, and if the Disciplinary Committee can't do anything with it, Tunku Rithauddin and the whole gang should just resign for incompetence.

I've said it in Kuala Terengganu and here in Taman Dato' Shahbandar, publicly, that up to this moment UMNO has done nothing about addressing the causes for its dismal showing in March. Now if Najib continues to parrot Dollah's  lines, he's a goner for sure. Why he's so keen to be seen as loyal to Dollah  to the detriment of his own future as PM bafffles me. He should realize that his uncontested candidature is by default, because of UMNO's inability to stand up for real democracy in its own politics. By the hands of kind history, the PMship has always been his, in good time. Only his own stupidity stands in his way, and parroting Dollah  at this juncture is a mark of stupidity of the highest category.

I'm eagerly waiting for Mahathir's publication of the names. I know in Jempol delegates were given as much as RM2,000 each. Amat Teleng in Kuala Pilah told me several contestants gave money to him (including an exco Pemuda Malaysia who cheated me of RM20,000 in a business deal).  So corrupt leaders could get elected, again. Should we all be surprised if corrupt practices continue ?

..................................................................................

Ipoh mali.

14.11.2008.

I was in Ipoh yesterday, Thursday 13th. November, for golf, and then dinner at a hotel with Najib as g.o.h. I returned to Seremban this afternoon, Friday, opting to jamak-kathar my zohor & asr solat instead of the Friday Jumaat, and paid the price here & now instead of the hereafter !

Before the dinner, I'd already told Dato' Ismail and Pak Ya that Dollah , the original g.o.h. won't come, for obvious reasons, and that Ali Rustam was sure to come, seeing as to how the fight for the Timbalan President UMNO  post is now three-cornered, and maybe he fancy his chances. I was right on both counts.

When the MC mentioned Najib's name, the loud applause was to be expected. When Ali's name was mentioned before Muhyiddin's ( who also came, which I did not expect it ) because he's a Chief Minister and a YAB, he smiled broadly when he got the applause. The smile lost some dazzle when Muhyiddin received a  louder applause, and it was Muhyiddin's turn to smile broadly. I think that's was a fair indication. I don't see Ali beating Muhyiddin for 3 good reasons: he's an ADUN and unless he goes for a bye-election, cannot assume the DPMship; he's not a good speaker, and is worse in English; he's digging deep into an apparently deep pocket for the long haul, and this time he may be caught.

In comparison, the Wanita Rafidah-Sharizat duel is interesting for 2 good reasons. One is the committment and egocentricity of Rafidah, against the hopes of the next-generation Wanita.  The other is the ambivalence of Sharizat who is wary of her chances, made more nervous by her loss to upstart Nurul Izzah in the last GE. This is compounded by the adamant Kamalia running for Deputy no matter what. Kamalia is the old veteran ( but of Sharizat's generation ) who can count on Rafidah,  and that would be formidable. Also Sharizat is viewed as Dollah's supporter and that could be a liability, although Rafidah's popularity among UMNO members have never been high. Sharizat is now caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. If she goes for Ketua, she may lose. If she goes for Deputy, she may also lose.

My penalty for "tuanging" Jumaat today came this way.

I stopped at the Sg. Buluh Jejantas R&R for refreshments. As I stepped away from my car, the occupants from a car behind mine motioned to me,  shouting out something I could not  make out.  I thought why should I bother, but maybe they need some info I can easily give, no bother.

When I approached the driver's side, the guy on the passenger's side said in clearly heavy "Arabic" accent something about the availability of halal food and money-changing, showing his fat wallet with clearly foreign currencies. Then he came out of the car to my side and asked to see what a Malaysian note look like. At that moment it didn't strike me as odd, since obviously he's already in Malaysia, and in fact is already driving around the country. But at that time this didn't come to mind.  I  took out my wallet and was about to show him a 10 RM note, when he pointed to my 50  notes, and actually pulled them out of my wallet ! Now I suddenly remembered Madrid 1989 ! This is "de je vu", I thought. At Madrid airport two well-dressed men approached me, knowing from my appearance, of course, that I was a tourist, asking to change 1 US100 bill. I said I didn't have change, and they said if I could kindly check. So I took out my wallet and showed them my own US100 bills. Similiarly, the money was taken right off my hand and the guy began to count them. By then I was already taken aback and grabbed his wrist, but he said don't worry, don't worry, and I was looking intensely at the money in his hands. I didn't see him actually taking anything, and he returned them and walked away. I became suspicious and sat and carefully counted my money. It's my habit to write down how many pieces of the different denominations of the currencies that I take with me when travelling. So I discovered 3 US100 bills missing !

Now this  incident today I said to myself, my God, is the same thing happening to me again? So I counted my money. Now, I distinctly remember taking RM1,000 with me to Ipoh. I also remember that the only cash expenditure I had made to that point was RM150 for the golf, and less that RM30 for other small purchases. So what do you think? I had lost RM200, in 4 RM50 bills.

So whoever reads this blog, the one thing I advise is to watch out for  this con.  I was told later that this has happened here  before.

The other thing is, don't "tuang" your solat Jumaat.

.............................................................................................

The 2008 UMNO elections.

9.11.2008.

To-day, Sunday 9th. November, may be the last day of the divisional elections, but in fact is only the beginning of REAL elections posptponed to March, 2009. Looking at the whole thing from the ground up, I believe we're about to see the Party going through an internal war worse than the last GE. At least during the GE12  everyone knew who the enemy was. This is dog-eat-dog.

It's now more than 7 long months since the GE12. In spite of the wallopping that it got, as far as I can see, UMNO has done nothing at the grassroots level to address the malice shown up during that GE. Instead, everyone is intensely involved in the internal acrimony that has always featured in the Party's elections, only this time it's 10 times worse. And the potential disaster that awaits the Party for ignoring the soul-searching demanded of it in March is becoming almost inevitable. And the voters are watching.

I urge UMNO members to choose wisely in March. I don't put too much hope in that.

I urge UMNO members not to be swayed by money-politics. I put even less hope in that.

I urge Party leaders to meet all branches within 6 months to really find out what went wrong in the last GE. I can only hope in this.

.................................................................................................