Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Hulu Selangor revisited.

27.4.2010.


Uncannily, Hulu Selangor is Malaysia Compendium. The demographic and geographic map, the economic development, the ballot vote, the political play, everything. The Malay-Chinese-Indian mix is about as Malaysian average as you get. Located north-east of Selangor, the rural-urban subdivision is typical. There is the odd Felda scheme thrown in. Urban and rural employment is also typical.

The split of the ballot boxes is also typical - a slightly heavier Malay vote, about half of the Indian vote , and 20% of the Chinese vote for BN. The heavy use of the Federal machinery, with all the heavy guns thrown in, in the short but fierce campaign, with lots of dough and dirt all over, bring back the nostalgia of the good old UMNO-led political workout of days gone by. 

The political parties involved will always have their die-hard support, that won't change. The loss of the Malay vote in the 2008 GE was because of Dollah . The 2 years gone by with Dollah and s.i.l. removed have lured back the disgruntled, little by little, into UMNO's support.

Let's face it, the BN candidate was Indian, but the delivering vote was Malay. The winning margin, small as it was, was the sign of the return of the Malay guy who was upset with the weakness of his annointed leader and his annointed s.i.l. They shouldn't get carried away in the jubilation of the BN slim victory, though any victory was a cause for jubilation.

A lesson should be learned here that the consistency of a down to earth policy in governance should win the day, not simply rethorics and show-boating. A fraud will eventually be disrobed for the phoney he is, in good time. Najib's acceptance, as the new torch bearer, despite all the predictable premature praises by the sycophants, will take time. 


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Thursday, April 22, 2010

New campaign, old campaign.

22.4.2010.

I'm going to lose RM 10 this weekend to Hang Tam because that was the bet made where I picked PKR in Hulu Selangor. Looking at the news media and the internet, I see the Kamal chap making the rounds while the other side is busy defending the credibility (whatever there is in this case) of the UMNO turncoat, Zahid. That's why, if you want to seek public office, don't have too many skeletons in your cabinet. That's the new campaign. 

Zahid Hamidi, the other one, is at his old campaign still, trying to make himself a real national figure. Then again, you can't have too many skeletons in your cabinet, too. He made a mess of himself during Mahathir's time, rescued by Najib twice, both times from eventual possible legal prosecution. 

More recently, as I said before, he let the cat out of the bag in Perak when trying to stage what he thought was clever in the coup of the 3 Independents, and we all saw the mess there. 

Today I spotted something in the NST about him being prosecuted for the alleged crime of assaulting a contractor at a petrol station. The Court rejected his application to dismiss the case. He was billed RM 3,000 as costs, and instructed to put his defence within one month. If convicted, Zahid might yet see the inside of a jail, something he managed to avoid before.

I saw that clip of him during a recent Parliamentary session, shrieking about anti-Zahid elements pitting him against Najib. Well, he has not shied away from that suspicion since he often opens his big mouth about what he'd do to KJ if he had the power. His association with Anwar goes back to the Yayasan Anda days at Jalan Pantai with Ruslan Kassim, another apparently ambitious guy who has made too many miscalculations.

Not everyone can be fooled, when it comes to campaigning, now or before.

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Monday, April 19, 2010

Hank.

19.4.2010.


No, Hank's no Mat Salleh - it's just a handle put on him in RMC days, for reasons now lost. Hank crops up just now because Usop Pokak called Saturday night that he had a fall and had been hospitalised in KP, but that he was improving. Since I was at a Surau function, and since Usop said Hank's out of danger, I decided to visit him the next day. 

I called his mobile a few times that night, but failed to get an answer.I was thinking about coming during the noon visiting hours, knowing how sticky the security can be. Unfortunately, the missus came back well past 12 pm, so we actually left for the hospital after Asr. And found bed no. 3, ward no. 4, already vacated. The nurse on duty said Hank was discharged at 2.

No serious affliction - only some sort of viral thing. I called from the ward, and at first Shidah answered, but later passed the phone to Hank. So I told him things look okay, especially since his name had not been erased from the board ("belum padam").

We go back 50 years.  We were at PD, and Sungai Besi. Later during university we stayed off-campus in the same house for some of the three years we were undergraduates. Halim "Rock Foundation" (that was A.K. Bear's work) used to stay with us. This was also when I visited his parents quarters in Cheras. I also went to his house at Pulau Pandan (no, no sea here) in Pelangai. That was when I learned that Sulaiman, Azizah's father and therefore Usop Pokak's father-in-law,was Hank's uncle. 

When I moved to KL from Melaka in 1969, I sold my Austin Mini 850 (NC 8157) to him. My Felda job required a car with better ground clearance, and so I bought the first(BU 5771) of my three Fiats. I think Hank was with M.U. then - Malayan University, not Manchester United. Later he moved to Jengka, and came back to KL, joining the old Perwira Habib Bank. 

When our two older children, my No.1 Son and his daughter Aida, were attending their tuition classes after school, I used to drive them both, since I was in DU and Hank was in TTDI, neighbouring housing estates. 

Hank and I also picked up golf at the same time, and got our official handicaps also at the same time - mine at SIGC, his at KGNS. This was 1986, I think. Before that we used to play tennis together. I remember one time he came to the Felda courts where the Dewan Perdana now stands, and he was upset because one Chinese Felda officer remarked that the facility is for Felda staff only. Well, that chap had a fatal accident a few years later, along the Pahang road somewhere near the present Gombak highway. I can't remember his name, but he was known as a fast and fierce driver who used to show his fist at oncoming drivers. But we shouldn't be talking bad about the deceased. 

Anyway, after 23 years, Hank is still claiming to play at handicap 20. But I wonder if he still plays at all. Me, I play 9 holes everyday, unless it rains too heavily. You don't keep in constant touch with really old friends because of circumstance. Too bad. But fond memories remain, and the friendship, at least on my side, remains,  too.  Hank's one such. 


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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Isa & Bibi.

14.4.2010.


Finally, after years of gossip, after perhaps a decent period of mourning for Azizah, after the inevitable Bibi's divorce last year, Isa & Bibi laid to rest all the rumours and got married.

Talk had been going around Seremban long enough that when I mentioned it to the Cawangan's Wanita chief yesterday, after Unuih phoned me about it taking place to-day, saying "Isa is getting married to-morrow", she promptly said "to Bibi Sharliza ?" 

The ceremony took place at the late Yusof Lalkhan's grand old house on the hill behind the Pekan Lama, Kuala Pilah. When I was small, that old mansion was occupied by the Mat Salleh estate manager, whom I used to see looking out through his binoculars on the varendah toward the padang below. The purchase of the house-on-the-hill by Yusof Lalkhan was the culmination of his signal of "having arrived" as a now very rich enterpreneur in Kuala Pilah. Too bad he's not around to see his grand-daughter also "having arrived".

As the names imply - "Khan" and "Bibi" - Yusof's ancestry is Pakistani. Born in Kuala Pilah and later married to a local Malay in Kampong Parit, he also from the beginning "Malaynised" his name to Lalkhan, not Lal Khan. But Unuih pronounced it "Lalakan".

As testimony to his worldly acumen, my late mother, who went to the same Malay school with him ,said that he never learned to read & write, and yet thanks to the late Dato' Mansor, the forest compartments that were awarded to him were cleverly managed (he bought the saw mill in Kota, Rembau, and processed the timber himself) and eventually put him on track to becoming the multi-millionaire that he later was.

I knew Yusof Lalkhan from small because of UMNO and my dad. I remember the days when an Austin (all cars were British then) with a loudspeaker on top would drive slowly around nearby kampongs, and the announcer would invite the folks to attend a "fun-fair" in a slow rythmic drawl

              "malam ini, tuan-tuan, puan-puan dijemput datang....."

The annoucer was Yusof Lalkhan.

He used to sell chillies at the Malay Bazaar area. Without permit. When the police came, he and many like him would roll up their goods spread on newspapers and "cabut !"

Yusof stayed most of his life in Kg. Parit, just outside town. He planted sugarcanes around the house. Of course the kids would steal the sugarcanes. "Ateh bia yo!" he lamented. He addressed himself "Ateh". He came a long way to the  house on the hill.

The one interesting note in the "Berita Harian" to-day was the gist about Bibi having a UiTM degree, but no such mention on Isa's side, as if that educational qualification was necessary for the marriage. The fact is, coming from the same place and having known her and her uncles Kamil and Zain, including her late grandfather, I've never heard about her degree before. I know she got married to Khalid, the first husband ,when still young, and can't figure how the UiTM sojourn could have fitted in. 

When Isa was MB, Zahar Ujang was the UMNO Division Head in Kuala Pilah, and Kuala Pilah was the one division that didn't support Isa throughout Zahar's tenure. The present leader Ismail Lasim defeated Zahar after Zahar lost his State seat, while Isa was still MB. With  Ismail  Kuala Pilah  turned around and supported Isa. Now it looks like Isa is returning the favour to Kuala Pilah. 


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