This & that.

28.4.2009.

To-day, 28th. April, is No. 3 Son's birthday, but the wife, Dekna and I, with Acad in tow, went to Shah Alam yesterday evening and asked him to join us at the UiTM Hotel for a quiet celebration. He was supposed to come at 6 but turned up one whole hour late, as usual.

Azman the UMNO NS Liason Secretary last Friday finally confirmed he's resigning, after several days of rumours that Najib wants him out. That means one state less with two MBs. Azman gave the stale excuse of health reasons, ha ha ! 

Now it's Terengganu, Wilayah Persekutuan, Pulau Pinang, and Kedah where the top local UMNO guy doesn't get to be the Chairman of the State Liason Committee, officially the one who decides the candidacies of all elections. Of the four, only Terengganu is a sitting MB denied this honour. If he's got "face" he should have resigned as MB.

So, Najib is on the walkabout in KL again. I hope he doesn't think he's PM of KL only. Or, only KL has problems. Mat Hassan used to ride around on his big bike at nights, incognito. 

Mahathir is right to hate Nazri for being nasty to him. Just listen to him insulting the old man. I thought Najib wants UMNO to be more sensitive and respectful ? I mean to say Mahathir is old and irrelevent is uncouth and uneducated (kurang ajar) and reflects on his own upbringing, the worst insult a Malay can give to another Malay. Never mind that Najib help Nazri land the Minister's job in Mahathir's time and Nazri might just say thank you. Mahathir's blog and his activities in his retirement still attract support, probably more than Nazri can garner while, as he so vainly said, he's still a Minister. Who listens to Nazri internationally, and how many books has he written ? And being a Minister in the PM's Department is probably the closest he'll ever be to occupying the PM's office. Najib can do all of us a service if he can tell this little napoleon to watch it.

STP is kind to Dollah , a couple of times publishing pictures of him fondling some fruits and leaves, and looking resplendent in a scout uniform. I think he's found his true calling, I mean gardening and being a chief scout. Planting vegetables doesn't require too much stamina, and being the chief scout doesn't require too much energy, though I suppose you have to "Be Prepared". But Dollah can do without the snide remarks about "people should know their proper places" which are thinly disguised daggers aimed at Mahathir. Because people might want to continue to compare the two, and Dollah probabaly will look worse than he already is, being ousted from office and all that. Of course some people get screwed up and still grin stupidly. 

Thursday is decision day for UMNO on Penanti. We'll see what Muhyiddin is made up of. 

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Penanti.

20.4.2009.

It can be translated to "the wait", or "the waiting place". I hope the constituents would not have to wait for another time to have a choice of who their ADUN would be. UMNO is a political party, and elections are its business. Never mind the economic situation, the state seat has to be filled. One seat would make no difference ? Tell that to Perak. Tell that to Kelantan before the last GE. Tell that to the BN supporters who still live in Penanti. Tell them that BN is deserting them. Tell everyone UMNO and BN are scared to death of another licking at the polls. Or perhaps the leaders of UMNO and BN are the real cowards. A real competitor is never afraid of losing. That's part of life. A coward dies a thousand deaths.

It's hard to talk of principles to those who don't have them. The fact is this is a matter of principle, to offer a choice to the electorates who they want as their government representative. It's hard to talk of pride to those who don't have genuine pride. The fact is this is a matter of pride to a ruling party, albeit crumbling, that it should show belief in itself and whatever it says it's fighting for and offer itself to the voters in a legitimate election. Otherwise it's a betrayal to the Penanti folks, showing no respect for their right of choice, and less appreciation, in truth abondonment and total disregard, for their previous support in past elections, whatever the numbers were. 

It may be an exaggeration, but it's probably not unfair to say that if UMNO and BN decide to throw in the towel now, they might as well throw in the towel, full stop ( or as the Americans say, "period"). Desert now, and be forever condemned for hypocricy in unashamedly crying for "a government of the people,except for Penanti". You may not have to "nanti" long for the end of the "wayang". 

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How to handle an interview.

14.4.2009.

There are two kinds of interviews - recorded, and live . And there are two kinds of interviewers - the Malaysian kind, usually not very highly knowledgeable because of cultural/educational background, often not critical and far too soft, and mostly unlively and unimaginative; and the other kind hired by the Western media, always opposite of the Malaysian variety.

Many Malaysians are proud of their own kind, and rightly so. But we should accept our shortcomings, too. In spite of the often quick and misplaced pat on our own backs for a live interview perceived to have been well handled, the truth is mostly not so. 

Take the latest that had the BBC pit that Badawi woman against our Rais Yatim. Let's not take that comment about her IQ being low too seriously, because if it's true BBC wouldn't have hired her, and you better believe it. Rais was obviously affected by the barrage of hard questions, something that would never have happened if it was RTM. Instead of remaining completely calm, like Mahathir did in a similiar situation before, Rais tried to also interrupt Badawi. Worse, Rais tried to up the ante by saying, for instance, PM Brown has worse problems, when answering the question of Najib's big problems.

Badawi was quick to shoot down that impropriate comparison on that particular question. Brown's problems make resounding point on the bigger question of nation-building. Similiarly, in Mahathir's interview, he may have remained calm, but his cynicism was always over-dosed and not "debate- friendly". The key here is engagement. This is where the multi-lingual African leaders we like to say are politically behind us are in fact in live interviews ahead of us. Just watch them in similiar situations. They don't let their accent bother them, so you can say piss-off with your cultivated Oxford diction. But they make their points, so convincingly that often the hardest of the Hard Talk interviewers are taken aback and momentarily silenced. 

And many times I've seen that they are surprisingly soft-spoken, too. You can't even make intellectual comparisons between interviewers and interviewees. The interviewers would be the first to acknowledge that they don't know how to run a country the way many of the interviewees are often involved in. It's not their job to do that. They are journalists, and running the interview is their job.

Rais and Mahathir would fare better if they just briefly say ,without embellishments, and embarassment , what they were trying to do, each time such question was posed. That's the whole idea of the interview. If, as is wont to happen, one gets interrupted, shut up. That, eventually, would force the questioner to hold back so that an answer would be given. Never try to outtalk or outshout the questioner, because his/her main strategy is to give you discomfort. Keep in your zone, and let him/her come out of his/her comfort zone. As Tiger Woods says, you can control what you do, not what the others do. 

The background of all the questions is always fully understood by the interviewee, never the interviewer. Show up that lack of first-hand knowledge straight away. There'll be no applause, but you will always know you've scored from the look in the eyes. If you can imply their bias on top of their ignorance , the score might even cause their face to change. 

 " Anwar was not found guilty by Mahathir. He was found guilty by the Courts. The same courts that were first established by our British Advisors. Many of these Judges are English trained. Can't you differentiate between fact and fiction ?" 

Engage, not evade. Rafidah had an interview that was reported in a major newspaper recently. It wasn't live but it oozed vanity and venom a live interview would have ridiculously exposed. It said a lot about her because of the pontifications and self-endearing commentaries. It also explains her massive loss at the UMNO GA. I wonder if the reporter was smiling to herself a little bit, because I found the whole thing a bit comical. Apparently Rafidah will go to her grave believing she's a saint, poor girl. Well, Rafidah, modesty is obviously not your forte. Fair enough. But give some credit to the victor. Clearly she couldn't have tampered with all of the ballot papers, or bought over all of the delegates, because the margin was just too large. What's so bad with accepting defeat with grace ? Can't you pretend just a little bit that you have a bit of it ? I know you did the same thing to Dr. Zaharah, but I thought you might have improved with age. What's the role-model here, how to be a sore loser ? I suppose it needs class.

I see that you always put the Quran on a rehal in front of you whenever you have a p.c. I don't suppose you actually read it. 114 Surahs say much about humility, forgiveness, good-neighbourliness, jihad, repentence, and doing good and discarding bad. You should try practicing some of them. If you believe in the Hereafter, you should realise that the time to make some credits is running out. 

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Najib's Cabinet.

9.4.2009.

7 a.m., Thursday 9 April. I got up at 5, which is early, but I always get up at 5 - so that by 7.15 I'm already at the tee-box. To-day I got up at 5 to wake Dekna up because she came back last night to visit me, her sick father, and she has classes this morning in Shah Alam. Also, I wanted to check up on the Augusta Masters' goings-on. So at 11 a.m. Najib meets the Agong, and at 3 p.m. we'll know the new line-up.

The new Cabinet has been the talk of the town. As many have said, this is a favourite Malaysian past time. A lot has been said. A lot of unwanted suggestions have been made. Directly to Najib, indirectly to Najib, and generally directed to anyone willing to listen, all giving their 10 sen's worth, including yours truly. 

A lot of suggestions have been attributed to a lot of people. Dependending on your inclinations, these have been welcomed, villified or rubbished. My one advice to Najib is don't include Rosmah. Just let her look after the house cabinets. 

The new line up will not make or break the PM. It never has. The moment someone is put in, he's not going to publicly pursue his own course of action that's different from the PM's. In fact even if he's had a different direction before, he's bound to change course and align himself accordingly. That's what has unfailingly happened before.

The Cabinet also cannot enhance the PM's agenda. The PM will have to pull himself by his shoe strings. That's also what has always happened before. That's the UMNO dominated Cabinet for you.

Najib, however, can make his job look more palatable to the interested rakyat if he makes daring choices to send strong signals of his intentions to have a paradigm shift in how UMNO will lead the government through these troubled times. 

The UMNO GA is over, and that's party's business. Now it's time to govern, and that's the rakyat's business. Of course the UMNO GA must be considered by Najib, but in selecting his Cabinet he shouldn't constrain himself. He can pick the best from the nation, not the best from a much maligned political party. And Dollah can keep his mouth shut because he also did not let  Rafidah's election win interfere with his Cabinet selection. 

All this talk about being lean and losing weight - this is not a weight-watchers session ! If you reduce the Ministers, does it mean there'll be more load ? It could  mean more assisstants to add to the ladders of murky decision-makings, and they're not going to face the music every Wednesday. Let there be many Ministers who will lighten the PM's load but answer to him week in week out. This will also allow more party office-bearers to become responsible government officials and learn the trade by dirtying their hands - in the long run good for the party leadership pool.  Forget Singapore - theirs is a one-party state that can be run by Lee Kuan Yew all by himself (if not already so). Just look at NS, both during Isa and Mat Hassan's time. A lot of posts are either not filled or filled by family members. The loss is, and they obviously don't see this, two-way. Divisional Heads who carry votes are not given the opportunity to develop by occupying these already existing posts, such as Political Secretary, Press Secretary and so forth. Secondly, party support from the divisions is not cultivated, a loss to the State Leader. Isa became gun-shy when the late political secretary went against him. Mat Hassan has his own reasons for denying another Ketua Bahagian who can help him win votes when he made his own brother as the secretary of the State Liason Committee. And you wonder why so many MB's lost at the last UMNO GA ? 

To pick a clean slate, pick clean Ministers. Clean is subjective. So is life. Pick the cleanest among the unclean, then.

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The April bye-elections

8.4.2009.

Well, the results are out, and the pundits ( Sanskrit "pendita"), soothsayers and the numerous know-alls (after the fact) will come out now and give the unending analysis and eternal rationale. Perhaps the explanation is quite mundane. The people in Perak know that this election has no impact on the government of the day. So what the hell, just give the BN a slap on the face ! They are unhappy with the goings-on in Perak anyway, and when people are unhappy it's the symbol of authority that becomes the target.

The fact that the Malay votes have increased is worth noting. The fact that the Chinese have not come back to BN is also worth noting. Internal politics among UMNO factions in Kedah cost BN the election. The fact that there were about 100 candidates should have caught the attention of the BN machinery, and appropriate strategy taken. Batang Ai is the reflection of the ripple effect - the BN largesse is still much felt for now. One or two more elections could see the voters growing more unpredictable with their choices. Najib must take note and do something fast to win back UMNO / BN support. 

A walk in Petaling Street may not mean much if something more substantive is not done right away. Get real feedback from the ground, not meaningless self-serving reports from surbodinates out to polish apples. Then do something about it. Too often in the past information had been painstakingly gathered but subsequent action had been wastefully squandered. 

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April 3, 2009. 10.30 a.m.

3.4.2009.

Let's remember the date. It's the day the son of the 2nd.PM became the 6th. PM. It's the day the wife of a PM became the mother of a PM. It's the day the 5th. PM finally left. Don't worry. It's not an April Fool gag. 

Let's face it. This wasn't what Dollah wanted, and he said so himself when last meeting the press. It's remarkable that he chose to mention his lack of punctuality as his main weakness. Well, to quote him when saying Mahathir was all about the bridge and the rest an elaboration, this notoriety about unpunctuality is all about Dollah and the rest is an elaboration.

There was even a naughty suggestion from the press that Dollah might write, now that he's retired. This would indeed be a much awaited event. Only don't hold your breath, folks. His maiden piece of prose might take a little while, since he'll have to gather his thoughts, and right now his thoughts-closet seems empty and bare.

The entire five painful years of Dollah has been one gigantic missed opportunity. Here was a guy who had the job thrust upon him through no effort of his, along with a long period of economic and political build up, again with no obvious contribution from him, and what did he do ? He made a complete mess of it. Don't believe the empty, gratuitous platitudes his party members will now pour on him. Just look at the weak attempts at weak speeches, incoherent decision-making, and the incredible flip-flops available on public records since becoming PM. Believe those. The most up-beat thing right now for the new chap ? There is nowhere to go but up ! 

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