Lockdown

Wed 18 Mar 2020.

Today is the first day of "the Lockdown" - March 18 until the end of the month. Call it anything - Restriction of Movement, Lockdown, partial or whatever, it's just short of curfew, and if the people behave the way I saw them behave this morning, the Government might very well impose that sooner than people might expect.

After breakfast I went on the motorbike and went round  the Ampang market, the golf club and the Paroi Jaya shops. The market was doing a roaring business, with motor vehicles choking the parking space as if there is nothing going on. The food stalls were all open, with the usual number of customers. The Seremban-KP road was as busy as usual, with motorcyclists like me filling up the gaps in the traffic. Only the shops were closed. And the golf club.

I'd expected the club gates to be closed, but it was partially open. So I rode in, but at the corner of my eyes I saw the security coming fast on a buggy.

"Tutup, YB !" (They still call me that, 20 years after!)

"Gate tak tutup !" I just wanted to act difficult.

"Tepi sikit, saya nak ambil gambar" I continued.

I took a video of the empty club parking area, speaking into the recording.

Jane called at the same time, asking to play. I shouted into the phone " the whole club is closed until the end of the month !" I had to shout: she couldn't hear me - she's deaf in one ear !

A short while ago Dato' Sulaiman called. 

"You went to the club ah ?"

"Closed lah" I said.

"The IGP has withdrawn the interstate travel ban. People were crowding the Police stations for the published travel permits. Now the Police stations were becoming the virus-infecting points. You can travel interstate now, but you must have urgent business, and must come back the same day."

The Covid 19 pandemic is a real worldwide threat now. China and US are at each other's throats , accusing each other as the monster responsible. In fact every country must act on its own to stop the spread of this deadly virus. No one else is going to help when everyone is facing the same mortal enemy. The number of deaths is mounting daily. My fear is this number is under-reported.

Dato' Sulaiman is happy that Friday prayers have been cancelled.

Seriously, the protection of Life is one of the 5 Maqasid Syar'ie. The others being Faith, Reason, Lineage and Wealth. 

The preservation of life through safeguards and government infrastructure, concessions in emergencies, protection of freedom and the protection against inexcuseable killing all promote this.

Faith, the first Maqasid Syar'ie, is a must. Without faith human society cannot endure. 

Reason encourages intellect and learning. That's why its mpairment through use of drugs and alcohol is a major sin. 

Lineage encourages marriage, childcare and upbringing, and promotes moral conduct, chastity and honour. 

Wealth encourages endeavour and self-sufficiency. It urges fair transactions, protection of ownership, justice and mutual agreement in business dealings. It insists on fair, not equal distribution.

Members of society must play their part for order to succeed. Acts of irresponsibility will sabotague all efforts and in the end harm everyone, including the perpetrator.

Meantime, I suggested to Dato' Sulaiman that he practise his putting. Indoors.

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Malaysian politics 2020 - the aftermath.

Saturday 14 March 2020.

Just 18 days after the Mahathir bombshell of 24 February, we hear the increasing growls and barks of the dogs from the UMNO kennels. Zahid, Azlina, Annuar, Matasan, and Tajuddin and other lesser-known but equally loud and frustrated kennel-dwellers are asking to look at the Party numbers in the new Cabinet. With 39, UMNO says it has the biggest and must therefore get the biggest portion also. It thinks.

One day after the Cabinet appointment Anwuar suggests the dissolution of Parliament. Zahid is of course angry at being discarded. He forgets about his court case. But Matasan threatening the Party's break up ? He's just plain angry at being ignored after the cybertroopers had suggested that he be the DPM! He forgets that he's not an MP. He also forgets this is Muhyiddin, the ex Deputy President of UMNO he had publicly ridiculed and asked to resign in the Party's run up some years ago, a man who had been in politics when Matasan was still studying. I don't think Muhyiddin has forgotten.

Hey, boys and girls ! PN was created to garner enough votes to oust the incumbent PH Government. Muhyiddin and Bersatu were the most vital parts of the scheme.  UMNO and PAS lost the GE ! They have nothing to go on. Muhyiddin ditching PH was the key. He's the PM now. He decides. If PN doesn't want him, or abondons him, PH comes back to power, and the UMNO dogs can growl and bark all they want outside the gates. As the Malay saying goes " a dog's bark doesn't bring down the hill"!

The Old Fox had recently remarked that Najib could have been the mastermind behind the whole thing. Elswhere he had also said all his supporters have joined the PM, and he can't fight it out in Patliament now. He has also softened his initial bitter criticism of Muhyiddin. In the mean time, Wan Azizah had blurted out that Anwar leads PH now and would be PM if they win Parliamentry voting in May. There goes the Mahathir support group, both in PH and  PN. What have they got now ? PKR 39, DAP 42, Amanah 11 - 92. That's 20 short of a simple majority. With Mahathir on their side, Azmin's 11, Warisan's 8 and the 6 Bersatu  still with him would have done the trick with 5 to spare !

So, I don't know whose Grand Scheme it was in February. I smell a rat. Appearance certainly is deceiving. It's Corvid 19 for Malaysian politics !  Put on your masks ! Not to avoid the germs. To hide your identity !

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Poilitical Treachery.

Mon 2 March 2020.

I call my post "Political Treachery" instead of plain deceit to  cushion  Muhyiddin. He claims to be the son of an ustaz. Hadi Awang is an ustaz. Both deserve better adjectives. But in the last one week, both committed the low, lying act of going against what they had professed to stand for, men of their word. This is all what we are, men of our own words. Without that we are worth nothing, no matter how high the postion  we hold in the world.

Let's not dwell on Hadi Awang here. We know where he stands. He was, in political terms, in cohorts with DAP for donkey years. During GE14 they were the  enemies. At the same time he called UMNO infidels. Now they are brothers-in-arm.

I want to talk about Muhyiddin.

I've been following him, in fact supporting him, in politics, right into last week. In UMNO circles we criticised him for being stingy with his smile, and he knows it, and even admitted it in some of his speeches. He said so in Kuala Pilah, once. He said it's just his nature. We took his word for it. May I add, this "sombong" nature  showed even when he held a "buka puasa" at his official DPM residence before he was sacked by Najib. Unlike Najib, then the PM, who also held a "buka puasa" at Sri Perdana that same Ramadan, Muhyiddin went straight to his seat for the breaking of the fast, without going around and at least shaking hands with his guests who were close to his table. After the solat Magrib and Terawih and Isyak, he did not go around and shake as many of the congregation's hands as was possible under the circumstances. Najib did. I went to both "buka puasa's".

When he was the MB of Johor, he went against Mahathir over some state matters, I forget the details now. Mahathir didn't make it an issue.

When Muhyiddin spoke out against Najib about 1 MDB, at first privately at the UMNO training centre in Janda Baik (an idiot leaked the video), and later publicly, I was impressed with his candour and bravery. Najib sacked him, along with Mukhriz and Shafiee Afdal. They should not forget that. Mahathir supported Muhyiddin, and resigned from UMNO in a show of support.

Now out of power, with the GE looming, Mahathir gathered forces with Muhyiddin in the Peninsula, while Shafiee did the same in Sabah. BERSATU and Warisan were born. Warisan was unscathed prior to the GE14, probably Najib didn't fear him that much in Sabah. But BERSATU got the brunt of Najib's vengeance.  Najib pulled all the tricks in the book. BERSATU's  legitimacy was scrapped by the obedient RoS, (who got her immediate comeuppance when Mahathir came to power). This was right on nomination day, when nothing could be done anymore. When Mahathir campaigned for what was PH at that time, Najib even banned his photos from the banners going up all over the country. In Seremban, they didn't have enough time to cut out Mahathir's photos, and so painted over them. Najib thought it was clever. Instead it made people more angry at these lowdown dirty tricks. Najib sabotaged Mahathir's plane in Subang, and missing nomination papers, Mahathir could have been declared the GE loser for non-appearance. Najib was so confident of retaining power, and the press in and out of the country quoted polls and analysis to support that idea, that he even forgot to prepare for a quick getaway in case the unexpected happen. Remember the crowd that converged on Subang airport when the Indonesian plane came to whisk Najib to Jakarta 24 hours after the GE was lost ?

Despite what Rafizi and the other PKR tink-tankers said,  GE14  was won with the "Mahathir factor".  Let me assure you that it was the Mahathir factor that turned the Malay voters from BN to BERSATU, and through it the PH. I know that in Negeri Sembilan. I'm sure that happened in all states except Perlis, Kelantan Terengganu and Pahang. PKR and DAP have been around for decades.  With around 30 seats in the GE's at the most, neither PKR nor DAP looked like they were ever  going to conquer the 222-seat Parliament any time soon.. In 2018 Mahathir pulled PH to victory, and for the first time DAP and PKR were in Government ! As to BERSATU's  13 seats, remember, they couldn't even register the party for the GE14. They had to get PH to use the PKR banner so that the voters could distinguish it from the BN "scales" (the Dacing). This was important, because the Malays could never vote for the DAP's "Rocket".  DAP was wise enough to know this, and realistic enough to agree to it. The Malay 60 % of total votes were crucial, and they came for Mahathir,  not for Muhyiddin, who in fact disappeared in the crowd.

The main manifesto was to defeat corrupt UMNO and BN. It was a very tall order for BERSATU, with all the logistical problems of BERSATU (PKR and DAP were veterans in comparison). And the enemy had been in power for the entire history of the country. BN's funds and machinery were huge and well-oiled. PKR somehow seems to have unlimited funds, too. The Chinese businesses of course have always been there for DAP, even if they also helped BN in the previous GE's. The single biggest battle cry was "CRUSH UMNO !". 

This was the voice of the voters in 2018 - to topple UMNO and with it, BN. 

"A man of his words", 

"Is there honour among thieves ?" 

Bandy these sayings around , get the taste of them in the mouth !

In less than 2 years  Muhyiddin has gone against his words, the son of the ustaz. He has reneged against the man who came out of retirement to help him when he was down and out. He has abondoned his political friends who helped him win back the 2 seats that he won in Johor.. Worse, he has now gone against the rakyat's voice, that they want UMNO and BN out of Government !

In the recent melee, wise-cracking Mat Hasan said to "listen to the rakyat's voice'. Well, Mat, the rakyat spoke in GE14 to oust UMNO and BN. These last 2 weeks you MP's were listening to each other, and it was all about saving your own necks. When I say that Mat Hasan should know it well, because when I called him, urging him to take on Anwar for the PD Parliamentry bye-election, him being the 2-term MB, he said "why should I put my neck on the chopping block?" 

There was a video showing Muhyiddin "sujud syukur" and waving his open palms as if to stress to God the urgency of his supplication. God is Merciful. But good deeds and truthful words are also important to mere mortals while here on earth. The Final Reward is in the Hereafter.  God may test one's faith by offering more worldly riches and more temptations. He may also Show examples for those who are observant.

Anwar called it "coup d'etat". I understand his frustration. He's nothing, if not a political animal. He's a convicted felon, notwithstanding the so-called "Pardon", ostensibly given without a shred of proof.  Remember what he did to Ghaffar Baba when going for the UMNO Vice-presidency decades ago ?

But for the 73-year son of an ustaz,  a  voice must have called, asking him to mingle with the corrupt again, justifying any means to a glorious end, discarding the promise in GE14, rejecting the hands of the old man who came back to help him  put right over wrong.

God have Mercy on us.

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