Najib vs Mahathir - the ongoing debate.

12.4.2015.

The ongoing debate isn't between Najib and Mahathir in person. It's between each other's "camp", and I use that word loosely because apparently the anti-UMNO group is also in Mahathir's corner, for their own obvious motives.

Let's start with Najib's recorded televised response to the mounting Mahathir's questions.  In the latest posting, Mahathir didn't accuse Najib of any crime, the least of it about  murdering Altantuya. Dollah came out of his "elegent silence" (Musa Hitam's words, defending Dollah against Mahathir) to say that Najib didn't kill the Mongolian. One would think that Dollah, if ever he publicly comes out to say something, would utter pearls of wisdom that compensate long silences, not giving light, unsolicited opinions on questions that are not even asked of him, but that's Dollah, I suppose. Mahathir was asking a months old question about a very specific subject : 1MDB. 

In an examination, marks are given for the answers: full marks for the fully correct answers, and  sliding down with the quality of the answers. No marks are given for answers where no questions are asked. And there is a time frame for giving the answers, not forever.

And unlike questions and answers in front of attending press, a staged event without impromtu questions carries less weight. 

True, Najib touched on 1MDB, but he didn't specify on  the many related transactions, figures and personalities that have been bandied around at least from December last year. And then he spoke about BRIM, the Crooked Bridge, and his relgious oath about Altantuya. So on the quality of the answers, what marks should I give Najib ? I'm not  Malik Daim and give "0". But I can hardly give too much more than that.

If there's nothing to hide, why can't Najib follow Muhyiddin and KJ's advice and explain everything right now ?

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An ACCA in the house.

10.4.2015.

Today, Friday 10th. April, three and a half years after completing his examinations, having now completed the 36-month working experience stipulation, I received a written confirmation of No. 3 Son's accredition to the Glasgow ACCA. He's now a full member of The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants,  reference 1203184, and is entitled to add "ACCA" after his name. 

The booklet says he is now part of ACCA's community of 170,000 found in 180 countries. This membership increases his employability and earning potential, and adds international mobility to his career. Not long ago an architect acquintance talked to me about the demand for ACCA's in this country.

I called him, and sms'd the message to the Group whatsapp. Everybody got excited, including No.3 Son himself. Since his birthday is coming at the end of the month in tandem with Ajim's and Wafa's, I suggested he sponsors a joint celebration in a nice restaurant in PJ or KL.

He can charge the expense under "customer relationship".

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The Old Man and the Malays.

6.4.2015.

The kris is drawn.

Mahathir has made it clear. He wants Najib out.

On advising Najib through more diplomatic channels, he says he has been doing it "quietly" and through "intermediaries" for four years. That mode is now declared over.

Will Najib draw his own kris ?

Other Malays have drawn theirs. 

The Hon. Secretary of Veteran UMNO Malaysia had quickly posted his anti-Mahathir comments, calling him "hysterical", on the internet, with or without the Chairman's consent, I don't know. Certainly I don't support his comments.

Other bloggers have quickly thrown their weights behind  Najib. This afternoon before the start of the Taman Dato' Shahbandar Branch Annual General Meeting, Kudus the Ketua Cawangan made some nasty comments about Mahathir to me. I retorted what Mahathir has said contains nothing new to the public. I said I agree to the points raised. I said the audience is not just the 3.5 UMNO members, it's also the rest of the 29 million Malaysians. I said Najib is free to answer the questions raised by Mahathir. Kudus was also free to answer back my defence of Mahathir.  He didn't. 

The old man is concerned with the political fate of the Malays. That was what he said, and I buy that. In his estimation Najib is not doing a good job of it. He says Najib has "too many scandals" right now to remain an effective leader. The public outcry about 1MDB, the Altantuya case, and the purchase of the aircraft in particular demand answers. The government's, and by the same token Najib's, answers haven't been forthright. Mahathir thinks this spells trouble for UMNO in GE 14. This spells trouble for the Malays.

Mahathir wasn't a spring chicken when he became PM on 16th. July 1981. He was 56. But the 21 years 11 months and 6 days he was PM is the longest ever of the 6 PM's. 

Mahathir went through 9 General Elections, from no. 2 to no. 10. He won his first election as MP for Kota Star Selatan, Kedah, but lost his second try on 10th. May 1969 because the Chinese voters deserted him for his strident pro-Malay stance. When the Kuala Lumpur race riots broke out three days after DAP made big gains in Selangor (and some other states like Penang), copies of Mahathir's open letter criticising  the Tunku  were widely circulated in KL.  It earned Mahathir a wide following, especially from the young Malays. But it also earned him the wrath of the Tunku and got him sacked from UMNO. 

He was an "outsider" from 1969 to 1974.

In 1972 Razak, through Harun Idris, brought Mahathir back into UMNO. He was 48. Three months later he was voted into the party's Supreme Council with the highest votes, but lost the VP contest to Sardon, Hussein Onn and Ghaffar Baba. He was made a Senator.

In GE 4 on 24th. August 1974 Mahathir won the Kubang Pasu Parliamentry seat unopposed and made the Education Minister, considered a senior portfolio and a stepping stone to premiership.

At age 50 in 1975 Mahathir was elected UMNO's VP together with Tengku Razaleigh and Ghaffar Baba. 

On 14th. January 1976 Razak died in London. Hussein became PM, and after a 10-day deliberation, appointed Mahathir DPM. Ghaffar, who was once Acting PM when Razak went abroad for an extended period, resigned.

In 1978 Mahathir was elected Deputy President of UMNO.

In January 1981 Mahathir was made Acting PM when Hussein went to London for heart surgery. In July the same year Hussein resigned as PM because of ill health. Mahathir became PM 12 years after he was sacked from the party.

You can list all that he has done as PM for  22 years, both the monumental and the mundane.  Admittedly they're not all good. Nothing is ever "all good". Remember the Memali case in Kedah, the deregisteration of UMNO in 1987, and the financial crisis that pitted Malaysia against IMF and the World Bank, and the Anwar case ? But the Malay agenda had followed "the Malay Dilemma". The old man and the Malays are in the same boat. He can't be dismissed just like that. He deserves being listened to. He has earned that.

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Careless Malaysians ?

4.4.2015.

I put a question mark because I'm not sure I can make it vividly clear while quoting the recent tragic news about the loss of a very young life because of the escalator accident, and not be callously disrespectful to his family. I feel the pain because I have a family of my own, and I don't want any harm to come to them, just as the boy's family surely didn't want him to be hurt.

This isn't the first accident on an escalator in this country. I rack my brains to figure out how anyone could fall off an escalator. The warning signs, the basic safety features, the slow speed of the moving steps - all appear to make the contraption safe, short of stopping it entirely. It takes some effort to slide out of the protective handrails and fall.

Malaysian cleaners on  buildings, too, take extra effort to court danger. They climb on high ledges, stand tip toes on window sills, wear no safety wires and hook no nettings. 

When we park our cars the only consideration is to put them  as close as possible to the shops we intend to go to without actually driving our cars inside the the shops. Other considerations like not blocking the road, and inconveniencing other motorists, are  never considered. 

Road workers, even on the PLUS highway, nonchalantly do whatever they're supposed to do, without warning cones and safety reflective  jackets, and blissfully ignore the 120 k.p.h. vehicles that can crush them to a bloody mess in an instant hurtle inches from them.

Of course all of us chat, whatsapp and everything else that we all do on our moblie devices (they're no longer called 'phones, you know that! ) while driving, and that includes on motorcycles. 

Not long ago, some of the Club's workers were cutting down a large tree just after the 18th. hole. (Why the Club wanted to cut it escapes me. It seems the Club is in the business of slowly removing all the trees they never even planted, and end up as a treeless golf club. That'll be an achievement for a golf club anywhere in the world.) Another staff, one of  the tractor drivers, came by on his bike, to go for a break. Seeing his friends just about to bring the tree down, he took the chainsaw from Man's hands and proceeded to finish the final cut on the tree trunk. He didn't take note of the branches, although he must have made his plans to jump away from the falling trunk. Tragically one of the branches whipped his neck as the tree came down, and took his life right then and  there.

I can go on and on and make my case. It's happening all the time. Life and limb are surely as valuable here as in other countries. Why are  Malaysians more careless ?

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Najib's daughter's wedding.

29.3.2015.

I've just returned from Najib's daughter's wedding at PWTC to-day. It was befitting a PM's khenduri, the set-up, decor and presentations. I was told the PM had catered for 20,000 guests !

The TWO, yes, two invitation cards I received told me I'd better attend. But because I was determined to go by bus, Idah backed out. I said people are trying to avoid traffic. The bus takes you to the Central Market LRT, where the LRT Kelana Jaya Line  takes you to the Mesjid Jame' interchange and you take the LRT Sentul Line that stops at PWTC right on the doorstep of the wedding reception.

I left Seremban early, giving myself two hours for the journey and a walkabout at KL Sentral. I had breakfast at the "Swiss Oven" with some chaps with the Formula 1 Teams from Sepang, and I walked about, and was still 15 minutes early. It was just as well, because I was able to enter the "Dewan Merdeka", and not "Dewan Tun Razak 1,2 &3" where it was buffet style. At "Dewan Merdeka" we were set 8 to a table. Those who came later had to be diverted to the other venues.

The musical interlude was pleasant, especially the young choir and dance troupe. They were tastefully dressed in Malay costume, and being children, all looked cute, made highly visible on the multiple huge screens strategically placed throughout the PWTC.  The crowd was typically Malaysian, of course, stingy with the  applause. In fact I was the only one clapping at my table.

The couple looked resplendent in their Malay costumes. The groom seemed serious, though, while the bride was chatty, now and then turning and saying something to her new husband.

Although we were set at the table, with the dome and all that, all around the hall there were also stalls offering all kinds of mee and laksa, teh tarik and cendul, and cakes. In fact when the ceremonies were finally started at half-past one, after the reciting of do'a and the newly-wed had joined the others on the bridal table, I noticed those close to the stalls had started to pick up their laksas etc, so I joined them. So I had Penang laksa before I dug into my nasi beriani.

I didn't wait for the official ending - it was almost three. Before I left, together with others with the same idea, I bumped into Kassim Tadin.

"What am I going to tell Najib afterwards, you're leaving early ?" Kassim joked.

"Tell him I've to do my solat zuhur lah" I said.

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Pa' Ijoi

26.3.2015.

Pa' Ijoi a.k.a. Ahmad Zulkifli died Saturday 21st March (30th Jamadilawal), not quiet 60.

I think it was a fortnight ago that he came to the house on his way home from Bangi. After some refreshments he took a nap on the carpet in the sitting room. I gave him a cushion as a pillow. He woke up around Asr.

Exactly a year ago he had a minor heart attack and was hospitalised at the Kuala Pilah Hospital, but for only a few days. The hospital staff had said "yours is a serious case, uncle."

In fact a few years ago Pa' Ijoi, who would kiss Dekna whenever they meet, something even I don't always do to this only daughter of mine, went for some tests at IJN, and was later scheduled for angioplasty. He never went.

Pa' Ijoi was a strapping guy with a matching love for good cuisine, who didn't give too much concern for his high bp and blood sugar. Because I have the same problems, I often advised him to watch out his food intake and not to forget his medication. God Decides when it's time; we should also take care of ourselves.

We were on our way to lunch when Idah got the call from Balkis in the car - Pa' Ijoi was "unconscious". The long lunch planned was cut short; several calls were made - to Ari, Bangdek, Kak Long Izan, Dekna and some others I can't remember now. I also called Balkis again, and this time her reply was ominous. Pa' Ijoi was foaming in the mouth and wasn't responding at all. Balkis was alone. She spooned some sugared warm water but it just spilled out from Pa' Ijoi still lips. She said several people she had called were at the house already, and the ambulance from Juasseh had been called. I tried to calm her. Then I called my brother Dr. Din at his clinic in Bahau, and asked him to have a look immediately. I found out later that he came quickly, before the arrival of the ambulance and with another doctor. But it was already too late. When I pieced the sequence of events, I put the time of death at 2 p.m. In the official Police report I believe they put it at 3. We arrived at at the house at about 3.45 p.m.

I felt specially close to him. Ai and I always teased him with "Chi oledi". It was that song by Tom Jones, and Pa' Ijoi was staying with Bangdek in Ampang Jaya, and Ai was also staying there, attending school there, I think, and the song went "She's a lady..... !", but Pa' Ijoi, not knowing English and learning the song by ear was giving it his own pronounciation ! When Bangdek moved to the Jalan Tun Razak government quarters, Pa' Ijoi followed him. They gave him the servant's room behind the kitchen that came with the quarters. Because Kak Zawiah would lock the kitchen doors quite early at night, Pa' Ijoi would go to the shops nearby for late-night snacks. To this day I don't think Bangdek knows about this. I used to bring my .22 rifle whenever we went back to the house in Lonek, and Pa' Ijoi loved to shoot and suggested I leave the gun with him. He had a firearms licence and his own double-barreled shotgun and was a good shot. Hari Rayas he'd wrestled me to get the "ang pows" I'd carry with me to distribute to his three kids. I would tease him about PAS and PKR of which he was sympathetic, and me with my UMNO ties. In fact if he was UMNO he would have been "Ketua Kampong" long ago. Ketua Kampong is Government, and paid.

When I helped bathe his remains on the house varendah on Sunday morning, his body was firm and sturdy, and he looked as if in deep sleep. We laid him to rest next to his mother's grave. Kamil, his only son, led the funeral prayers. When I arrived on Saturday, after reciting the Yasin sitting close to his head, I called Kamil and said he should lead the funeral prayers as his last service to his late father, and I showed him how to do it. Ari and Idah gave their agreement. I didn't ask Balkis, but I believe everybody was happy that Kamil led the prayers in the mosque. The practice is encouraged by the shari'ah, but is uncommon. It was 11 a.m. and for a kampong congregation, the 100 plus people attending was surprisingly large. It showed the great relationship Pa' Ijoi had built in the kampong, having opted for early retirement and returning home several years ago.

Though only a brother-in-law, Pa' Ijoi was close to me, visiting each other more often than my own siblings. Durian and rambutan seasons always meant the fruits would reach my house, one way or another. We have delicious "durian kampong" and great "budak sekolah" rambutans, and also mangosteens behind the Lonek house. Sometimes so much rambutans were sent to us, and there are just the two of us, there would be left-over fruits that would turn black in the plastic bags they came in.

Without him I don't know if I'll go back to Lonek, or if I do it would not be with the same feeling. I wish the three children well. I encouraged Kak Long to sit for her STP instead of finding employment after her SPM. She followed the advice, went to  SITC in Tanjung Malim,  and is now a graduate teacher in Sarawak. I encouraged Kak Ngah to open her own tailoring business and she has. I have told her husband, now that they have moved to Palong, to get a van and farm out tailoring jobs to seamstresses around the complex, and open business to the big-spending and large settlers' community. Very early in his young life, I tried to encourage Kamil to play golf: my own sons didn't take to the game. But Kamil picked tennis, like his father, but the game remains a past time. I'd wanted him to be like what Mizi, his cousin, is now - a pro golfer. Incidently I feel some responsibility in Mizi's case, too. I was the first person to bring him to see the PGA teaching pro Tony Maloney who was in Cheras at that time.

Now there are only two brothers left - Bangdek and Ari.

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Azahari at KLCentral.

18.3.2015.

I was walking briskly towards "the Swiss Oven" at KLCentral when I spotted Azahari walking slowly towards the escalator. I walked up to him and grabbed his shoulders, surprising him. He looked smaller than he already is, and thinner.

"What're you doin' here ?"

"I'm waiting for someone."

"Come let's go for a drink."

I'd planned the late breakfast, anyway, all the way from Seremban that morning. I'd arranged for a meeting with Awe and his friend from Damansara at 1 o'clock, so there was plenty of time. I thought I'd have my "set no. 7", and then browse at the bookshop on the second floor, and before you know it, it'd 1 o'clock. So instead it's a late breakfast with Azahari Md. Alif, formerly from Kampong Morten, Melaka Town.

We were together at Tanjong Malim. Our fathers were teaching at the S.I.T.C. Back then it was a teachers' college. I was there from 1951 to 1956, when they replaced all the college-trained teachers with graduates.

When I went to U.M. in 1965, I met Azahari again, and renewed our friendship. We used to ride to Dong, Raub, and to my future in-laws' house in Lonek (I didn't know I'd marry my wife then - 6 years later!), and to his house in Kampong Morten. I had my Honda 90; Azahari rode a Lamberetta that looked too big for him.

My second job in 1969 saw me in Felda, and who did I meet in Kuantan on an official trip ? Azahari again ! He was the R.S. there, set up in an abondoned warehouse ! Felda was poor those days.

Then in 1974 I went for a course at Birmingham University, England. Who did I meet at the University ? It was Azahari, again ! He was also attending a course there. In fact I went to his rented house at Sally Oak and had dinner with him and his wife and his eldest daughter. I remember it was still very cold that early April, and they had the much needed electric heater on  all the time!

We talked about old mutual friends from the Tanjong Malim days.

I updated him on Zain Rais, that he's the same bully. We talked about Shukur and Kompot, about Kamal Gemok and Rahim, Cikgu Alang's sons. We remembered Tajudin Arif from Slim River, now deceased. And we discovered we're both 70 !

Then his friend came. He was from Tanjong Malim,too, but I don't remember him. So we parted company. I went to the bookshop and bought "Use your memory" by Tony Buzan.

Awe came right on time. For once.

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