Thank you, Mr. Padedoh

A welcome respite from the usual grim stuff.

This blogger, padedoh has written an article about Sakmongkol AK47. As the person named, naturally, I am very flattered. Indeed, I am pleasantly surprised.

Let me get a few things straight.

1. First I don’t know this person. From the writings, he seems to be a young man. He sounds like a professional, judging from his very informed and knowledgeable views on matters finance. He can be a sparring partner to that other equally adroit blogger who goes by the name satD.

2. He writes very well although most of the time given to youthful exuberance. I know of him through his various blog battles with that turbaned blogger, the Darth Vader of Blogdom, Mr Piggy Singh.

3. He has audacity. Just read his battlefield analogies of his analyses of the Kuala Terengganu election to which he got a deserved mention by the indomitable masked avenger, Zorro. A few times in fact.

4. He is of course a staunch supporter of KJ but must have raised KJ’s eyebrows when he wasn’t that enthusiastic over the choice of Wang Parid as the UMNO candidate. He and a few other bloggers (probably numbering anything between 10-15) are KJ’s blog warriors. Young, professionals, impulsive and tenacious. If KJ moulds them properly, these people can be his shock troopers and can launch the blitzkriegs that padedoh so liked.

So I thank him for a very short but complimentary article concerning Sakmongkol AK47 which you can read here.

Except I want to comment on one point. His enthusiastic comment about taking the opposition alone. No, I can’t do it alone. It goes against a principle that I fight against. Building a cult figure and making the organisation dependent on the frivolities and nuances of ONE fellow. Except you can be sure of only this- if you plan to take me on, in a clash of ideas and reasoning, you would better expect me to put on my knuckle-dusters.

Fighting the opposition is a team effort. Except the team must be a quality one. Consisting of determined, mentally able, serious and who apply themselves to a unity of purpose. Otherwise you will be mincemeat to the bloggers of Barisan Rakyat. The people’s war they conducted, continuous and incessant guerrilla strikes worked better in the theatre at KT.

I am a believer of the 10-20% rule. The fact is, in any organisation, the spine or that venerable number that actually fights for the organisation, consist probably of 10-20% of the total number.

Take the case of the UMNO soldiers who fought their Dunkirk in KT. On the day of nomination you have 5 thousand people- rent- a- crowd boys and girls, shouts- for rent guys and gals, butt-flashers for hire and those coming for a joy ride. By mid afternoon when nominations were over, 3000 were already gone. On the buses singing some dangdut tunes. On their way back.

You have 2000 on the battle ground. Out of the 2000, one thousand probably were there to provide material for entourages of the DPM, MBs, Chief minsters and other important ministers. You are left with 1000 in the battle fields. Out of that 1000, maybe 500 were there just out of curiosity and maybe to hang around Pasar Payang, eat turtle eggs, keropok lekor or the nasi dagang which people like me are familiar with. The Terengganu Nasi Dagang is white coloured long-grained rice mixed with a touch of pulut while the Klantanese version, when I first ate a long time ago, is colourful. It’s a matter of taste and familiarity. I prefer my Terengganu version.

So what do you have? You have 500 in the trenches out of the original 5000. That’s’ about 10%. These are the battle hardened troopers, who know what to do, who conduct house to house searches and so on. You have probably 10-20% of the, who do actual work.

So you can’t do it alone. No one can. But like Soekarno says, give me 20 youthful warriors, I can shake the world. Give me a Mr. padedoh, a piggy Singh, a mat cendana, a zawi, a smalltalk, a deminegara, a renovatio, satD, Captain Calico Jack, Mek Yam, Mamasita, de Minimis, a Walla, a Lawyer Kampong, a Malaysian Tigress, a Voice, Hajjah kata-kama - come, we will do battle.

Thank you Mr.Padedoh.

update @4.11pm. I knew i missed out one name. The man who encouraged me to get onto mainstream blogging way back in July 2008. Mr JMD. A thousand sincere apologies my friend. This man deserves special mention.