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Sakmongkol ak 47

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Sunday 24 July 2011

The Amanah Agenda- part 1

Last Friday, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah launched the setting up of another NGO. It is called Amanah. Its full name is Angkatan Amanah Merdeka. The name suggests that, independence and the wider meaning term, freedom, is a responsibility entrusted upon our shoulders.

It seems the main ingredients of an independent nation are being eroded and violated with irresponsible impunity. Our economy is slowly going to be run by powerful economic plutocracy. An elite group has taken over the planning and running of the country. We are simultaneously enthralled and goaded into believing that our economy can get better miraculously through stylish presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint authored by expensively paid consulting companies. Those people in Balakong, Sungai Besi and Jalan kelang Lama did not need power point presentations authored by McKinsey consultants. They didn't have to pay Idris Jala for leveraging on McKinsey people either!

The economic elite are working hand in hand with the political elite of this country so that from democracy, we are moving toward Plutarchy. Plutarchy is the combination of plutocracy- the rule of the wealthy and oligarchy- the rule of the few. These people are no longer talking about development costs of millions- they are now talking about billions- the billion Ringgit MRT, the billion Ringgit River of Life Project, no billion- no talk. How is our country's finances managed? Can we trust them?

Our founding fathers gave us a Westminster's type of democracy and we accepted it. We accept wholeheartedly that the way to form a government is through peaceful means and that is through fair and clean general elections. It must also mean that combatants and contestant are accorded the same facilities and treatment en route to forming a government. 
We accepted also a constitutional monarchy whereby the Malay rulers accept unreservedly that this country belongs to the people. By that, the rulers accept that they are also subjected to the powers of the constitution, whereby, rulers are also governed by the rule of law and do not have unbridled and absolute discretionary powers.
What has happened then? The tipping point came in the late 80s when one person hijacked the democratic heritage and enthralled the nation with the glitter of fast-tracked material advancements. Since then, this country has traveled only on one option- divisiveness. Our heralded and self-congratulatory development is generally paid by the erosion of the democratic ingredients that we spoke of above. We praised and patted ourselves by calling our leaders, fathers of this and that. These terms are alas, empty phrases aimed essentially at according ourselves the feel good feeling.

The aim of Bersih for example, was directed at one of these- which is, fundamental in a democracy is the way we choose our government. It must be done in a fair and clean manner. We have chosen a free market economy but nowadays, what is free, is the freedom by certain cliques in our country to plunder and gobble up the economy. Hence we no longer speak of millions and even 100 of millions but billions. The traffic congestion which is the bane of people in the Kelang valley can easily be solved cheaper by construction of elevated highways. But powerful economic oligarchs proposed to build an MRT whose final costs cannot be determined as yet.

I am not going to repeat its agenda, mission statement etc. these can be found in the concise booklets that were handed out on that day.

Let me cut to the chaff or cut to the chase what Amanah actually stands for. I attended the inaugural launch the other day. I had the chance to listen to the rather long welcoming speech by Kadir Sheikh Fadzir.

Now, Kadir has never struck me as a thoughtful and thinking person. He was the quintessential bon vivant with the bow tie. He would, I think be more at home dining at Lafite at Shangri-La rather than with the thrust and parry of raw politics. On that day however, he was talking sense. Perhaps the articulation was the product of a profound appreciation of the sorry state of affairs that has overtaken our country.

But that, my readers, will appear in the next installment.
.

24 comments:

flyer168 24 July 2011 at 09:42  

Dato,

"The Amanah Agenda Pt 1"

A good observation & writeup.

Just to share this...

http://www.uoc.edu/ojs/index.php/journal-of-conflictology/article/view/vol2iss1-jahanbegloo

Gandhian Inversion of Modern Political Perception
Ramin Jahanbegloo

The core of Gandhi's theory of politics is to show that the citizen is the true political subject and not the state.

In other words, in Gandhi's mind the citizen was always above the state.

As such, the political subject's decision on sovereignty becomes, for Gandhi, the true subject of political sovereignty.

As a result, the Gandhian moment of politics is an effort to de-theologise and de-secularise the concept of modern politics as presented by the omnipotent sovereign of Thomas Hobbes.

His ideas on ethics in politics lead Gandhi to criticise Hobbesian political authority and to disobey the state and its laws beyond the principle of fear.

Gandhi's political practice is based on the taming of this fear.

Rule of Law or Rule by law...

Former Lord President Tun Mohamed Suffian Hashim repeatedly insisted in his foundational written texts that in Malaysia,

“The constitution” and nothing but the constitution is “the supreme law of the land.”

“Malaysia cannot afford to see constitutional principles imperilled, and constitutional processes jeopardised”

— “not even out of an understandable impatience, or a conscientious determination, to see the urgent political and practical problems of the day speedily resolved.” unquote.

Finally too remind us all...

â€ÂªTunku Abdul Rahman 1988 - "Biarlah Saya Mati Dalam Perjuangan"‬‏ - YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkqLwtbGaQ0&feature=related

You be the judge.

Shalom.

A5 24 July 2011 at 10:07  

The dawn if a New Beginning
Let's together make it work
Alvin

A5 24 July 2011 at 10:08  

The dawn if a New Beginning
Let's together make it happen
Alvin

Anonymous,  24 July 2011 at 10:15  

the day when the man from Kerala emasculate last bastion that protect us from tyrants was the beginning of doom for malaysia.
yes, humpty dumpty judges rule the corridor now. they have the temerity to even poke their soiled butt into the sovereign of Parliament and state assemblies. but then, to only extend decisions for UMNO. what is left is IRRELEVANT IRRELEVANT IRRELEVANT, Humpty Dumpty. One left after expiry but replace as fast as service in a fast food joint.
The curse of the Kerala is upon us as his children continue to milk billions out of the system.

Anonymous,  24 July 2011 at 10:27  

Ku Li's Amanah should travel the lenght and breadth of the country side, convincing those simple minded kampong and village Umno members and supporters, that it is their religious, moral and national duty to support and elect only 'amanah' people to lead them and not like now; Umno leaders with piratical instincts who will hold on to power at whatever costs so that they could continue plundering the country's wealth.

These simple minded kampongs, felda and country side people will willingly listen to Umno people than the PR people that the current set of Umno people helming the nation is bad for everybody; what with PM najib being controlled by his bossy, ambitious and vindictive wife. The country is going to the dogs.

walla 24 July 2011 at 10:56  

You get the impression the recent CNN interview of Najib was staged. Issues were not probed but glossed over. There were neither meaty questions nor answers on electoral reforms, impacts of NEM on investments, societal issues requiring political transformations, even how non-Malay SMEs as backbone of the country's industries have been neglected. Positions were taken without debate when they are actually the underlying factors which had generated the issues in the first place. It was fluff without signposts on what will actually be done next. And in trying to portray himself as a seasoned statesman, Najib even took to waffling about the economic rift in the US caucus.

The reason i am mentioning that interview is because of something he said which stirs concern. He described the ETP as central to the present government's agenda. He clarified the process as based on precise objectives, targets and projects as if having these alone is sufficient justification to chalk up even more billions in spending in the coming years from an already very dry treasury while hoping to attract USD444 Billion in infrastructural investments without pinning down the real impact of multiplier effects, if any, to lift the rakyat into a high income economy in which they can actively participate when three-fourths of the workforce are not skilled for what such an economy will demand.

All you needed to do when listening to that part was to take one step back and ask yourself isn't what he was saying for the ETP like what had been said for all the other economic plans of past? Isn't the Iskandar corridor today like the MSC yesterday? Another free trade zone with commercial housing? And what are their cost-benefit effects today?

As for the jobs that would be created, how many locals would be employed against the total number of jobs created to build the ETP projects, the majority of which requiring low-grade foreign skills to lay pipes, rails and cables, erect pillars and plaster concrete? To wit, the envisaged high-income economy will be made of a few plutarchic elites at the top of the food chain, a skills-poor, another one of those rent-collecting, political layers beneath, and a very large, inflation-loaded, disgruntled and marginalized mass below which will also have to extricate itself out of the mess from implementing the GST when the current service tax collection regime is already cheezy.

walla 24 July 2011 at 10:56  

2/2

With such a structure, how can the economy really grow meaningfully enough for the real concerns of the rakyat to be solved with any amount of finality? It'll be just passing the buck to future generations and that will denude future brain pools and investments needed to yank this country out of the present morass.

But since it is inconceivable that the present government doesn't know these dilemmas, it therefore follows they are just pushing ahead for want of better solutions.

On that score, bodies like Amanah and Kita can counteract extremists like Perkasa and Utusan but the resulting nucleus will still move to the center which is where the majority of the rakyat stand today with the voice and aspirations of the Bersih rally walkers as well of the opposition forces.

Umno today is like Darth Vader's imperial stormtroopers of the galactic empire meet Transformer's decepticons.

Who in it at present can reform and rebuild the state of this nation?

Najib? He must be deluded to still think the rakyat will resonate with his cancellation of his roman holiday when over 200,000 had twittered for his resignation.

Muhyiddin? He doesn't know what the rakyat know of his background when he was MB of Johor.

Many have been remined of the ABCD mode. Asinine, bullshitting, corrupt and dangerous. In short, just another destructive, empty-headed, political animal with a racial bent pretending to pay lip-service to multiracial communities while championing Perkasa's agenda to return Malay supremacy despite its divisive myth of invincibility erased by the rally.

With the present situation as it is, anyone carrying Mahathir's tactics will finish off this nation. The rakyat have had enough of them. Muhyiddin and his gang should be the first to know that. The rakyat must never let this one be the next PM.

Anonymous,  24 July 2011 at 10:57  

"He would, I think be more at home dining at Lafite at Shangri-La .."

That is because now he is "an has- been".
Assume he is still a Minister today do you think he will be singing the same tune and standing with Kuli and you?
Or will be be talking cock like Rais Yatim, Nazri Aziz and Muhyiddin?

Honestly, I wholeheartedly accept Amanaah's ideals. But how can we achieve those lofty ideals.

I repeat. HOW?
Tell me your strategies and I will stand with Amanah, being insignificant person, in a small way.
How would you engage Pakatan, 'good men' in BN, in Sabah, Sarawak and our public institutions.

FreeYellowMan 24 July 2011 at 10:59  

MalaysiaToday, written by flyer168, July 24, 2011 08:42:53

Former Lord President Tun Mohamed Suffian Hashim repeatedly insisted in his foundational written texts that in Malaysia,

“The constitution” and nothing but the constitution is “the supreme law of the land.”

“Malaysia cannot afford to see constitutional principles imperilled, and constitutional processes jeopardised”

— “not even out of an understandable impatience, or a conscientious determination, to see the urgent political and practical problems of the day speedily resolved.”

............
this statement is the core issue and has hit the nail on the head. The impatience of the 80's & 90's, by you know whom.

Malaysia has the physical and material progress. And now we see what was the real cost of that.

We have given our children nice shopping malls, but we have taken away honesty and justice from their future. We should all be ashamed.

Anonymous,  24 July 2011 at 11:08  

My generation and I (those born after May 1969)are yearning for a government which is not corrupt and has accountability. Can Amanah offer that?

Can Amanah be a fair movement whereby it would stamp out racism (as what it espouses)? If Amanah is truly for perpaduan and anti-racism, then it would first advocate to penalise blatant racists like Ibrahim Ali-the-pemecah-perpaduan. We shall see.

Otherwise it'll be just another paper tiger, shiok sendiri and wasting time only.

JinChrist 24 July 2011 at 11:28  

Amanah or Aminah, We do not care because it came too late.
Bersuh 2.0 is the Magic Word. And Bersih 3.0 is the ultimatum.

bruno,  24 July 2011 at 11:37  

Dato,Najib is in serious touuble near term.His abrupt cancelletion of his long planned vacation with his family to Italy and scurrying back in a haste to be with the people is a big joke.

Maybe the factions opposing him has smelt blood and are moving in like sharks.If Najib missed the people so much he shouldn't have left in the first place.His excuse doesn't make sense.Something big is about to happen.Lets keep our fingers crossed.

bruno,  24 July 2011 at 12:24  

Dato,as long as Umno is in power,we can scream as loud as we can till the cows come home.These scumbags of Umnoputras won't give a damn bit and will act deaf and dumb.They are so used to robbing the people blind that their thick skin is immuned from shame.

They can go home and face their family and act as innocent as a virgin.They have sunk so low that they do not understand the meaning of shame anymore.The only good thing is that the recent Bersih protest and the rowdy action of Umno and police brutality will help make up the minds of the fence sitters.

The only time Umno is scared of the people is when they know that their day of reckoning is near.They kept abusing their power and taunting the people and soon they will feel the people's wrath.The people's buying power is getting smaller and smaller.The small increase in salaries is not keeping pace with inflation.

The people are having problems living day to day.And the wealth difference is getting further and further.The corrupted politicians and the well connected are getting super richer and richer.The working class are getting super poorer and poorer.

One day the people will wake up and say enough is enough.Then they will really show the Umnoputras the stick.Just look at what is happening in Europe and the Middle East.If the Umno GOM did not get voted out in the next GE,sooner or later they will get thrown out by the people,just like what happened in Indonesia and the Phillipines.

Anonymous,  24 July 2011 at 12:52  

You are absolutely correct. Greed, extreme greed, has taken over the senses. Instead of sound businesses or projects that are sustainable, we are seeing a rash of unsustainable projects in the billions. All these 'berbillion billion dollar' projects spewed by NAJIB are mind boggling and defy feasibility. I have seen some of these amazing billion ringgit projects. They are beautifully presented and crafted. But at the end of the day, they are just not feasible or sustainable. Its just another creative effort to con the banks and financial institutions of massive loans, which will surely go into defualt sometime in the near future. For example. What kind of volume will be needed on a daily basis to ensure the financial survival of the extended Klanf Valley MRT project with its massive billion ringgit construction costs? Just operational survival, not even considering loand payback yet.

What we are going to see is massive failure of our banking and financial institutions bringing down our economy. The handful of project owner cronies will have laundered the funds out of Malaysia probably to London, HK, Singapore, Switzerland or BVI and live happily ever after. Our next economic collapse definitely cannot be salvage simply because the treasury is empty; looted. Why? Because all these billion dollar projects are guaranteed by the govt as sovereign debts. Petronas attempted to limit its exposure to the govt's never-ending use of its cash, all in the name of 'national service'. We have just witnessed one of Malaysia's pride and joy, AIRASIA, leaving Malaysia to set up shop in, of all places, Indonesia. This is a slap in the face to NAJIB and its regime. Tony Fernandez has done 2 things simultaneously. He has signalled to all (and the world) of his lack of confidence in continuing doing business in Malaysia. He has also just told the whole world of his confidence in Indonesia. Now bear in mind that this is a very strong signal to the global business community because Indonesia has a very bad reputation of its airline industry in the world due to its bad safety record. AIRASIA just gave Indonesia a shot of confidence by relocating its Corporaate Head Office there. NAJIB just lost millions in tax revenues from this one move. I also know that many other major corporate players in Malaysia are also quietly liquidating their assets in Malaysia to cash and are moving out. If the titans of businesses in Malaysia are cashing out, foreign investors are listening. It is imperative that the people do something about this regime, or as we all fear, Malaysia will be relegated to a banana republic in the very near future, when the billion dollar project's loans cant be serviced any longer.

Anonymous,  24 July 2011 at 12:54  

Another NGO and with different charter. Not much different like BERSIH, PERKASA, PEKIDA etc.

Can it possibly have enough clout to change the system of Government currently?

Will it be converted to another political party just before GE13 or stand as independents?

Or is it another helping hand by Ku Li to UMNO BARU to keep it alive. Remember the by-election, what was achieved?

to be cont'd


Unsure Katak

Anonymous,  24 July 2011 at 14:09  

EPPs are pure madness and/or fairy tales.
But the reality is salaries n wages still remains at a low of 30% of GNI.
Based on Pemandu 2020 own numbers, 2.3 mil will earn less than RM 1k n 43% less than 2k.Thus ETP is focussed on enriching those with assets n capital with 70% share of GNI.To ensure that these guys will invest govt are giving incentives n enablers to provide extremely good returns.ROIs of 25-30 % are the norm.For instance the RM 1.7 trillion capex will yield RM 1.3 mil ebitda in 2020.
Check out wat are "enablers"?There's little info but an example is the 50 sens per email.
IF unchecked Pemandu will keep us in debt n under contract for generations.
AND the focus on KL is to drive property values to stratospheric levels and drive the poor away frm city areas except when needed to provide cheap labor.
We must stop this madness.

Anonymous,  24 July 2011 at 14:36  

Dato',

I honestly cannot see how AMANAH and UMNO can co-exist. The former is the ideal while the latter is the corrupt reality. And we all know what happens to ideals. That certain person in the early 80s' made sure of the fact that his UMNO Baru then would crush all ideals and install the UMNO of today to lord over, rape and pillage all and sundry in this country.

Anonymous,  24 July 2011 at 14:50  

Anything except Najib and the Pemandu madness.

Anonymous,  24 July 2011 at 15:11  

Nothing gonna change as the deperado already spell it out LOUD & CLEAR - Take Over my crushed body ! Well ,Leave it to your wild imagination.

Far-sighted investor already in the rush to move out one by one knowing well should Pak Jeeb fell the next Successor is none other than the guy from UM-NO again itself- sounds like those DIN dong bell..

All the Stones ,Katak ,buaya , monyek and stray dogs will be out to revel in the streets. Dont worry ,no shower and no canister as Permit is not required for the union of haiwan and those steely beasts.

All the goons supporters in ecstasy will bow down and worship him and praying for rewards or windfalls in the near future or now.To them a New King is born while I thought I heard some people praying in the temple of the king - Oh ! Heaven help us all....

Anonymous,  24 July 2011 at 15:26  

We have Bersih and Amanah. Someone should start Cekap so that we have Bersih, Cekap, Amanah. I am sure UMNO will support as it use to be their slogan during mamak's time.

Anonymous,  24 July 2011 at 16:29  

Kuli has been making very good speeches over the last few years but its all talk and talk.
How much can he do with Kadir, Zaid, and political drop outs?
He must get some BIG names with credibility to stand with him.
Of course not Mat Tyson, Rahim Thamby and the other Datuk Trio.
As of now he is still shooting blanks.

Anonymous,  24 July 2011 at 18:19  

Dear Dr Sak

Walla is right, when the PM goes (no ifs about this), the DPM, the HM, the DM, and the one with the pretty long acronym and their gang must go also. The citizens know this, even UmNO realise it cannot posture to lead with these around, that's why these failures give false courage to one another, hang together, sink or swim, birds of a feather flock .....very apt saying.
Bring KuLi in their place, there should be sufficient Umno stalwarts (not warlocks!) who can do this.
Right is might!!

tom,  24 July 2011 at 20:13  

What do we do now? another rally to make ourselves heard and after a few days its back to square one! or march to every nook and corner of this tanahair and tell the folks we want change?

Kok Wai 25 July 2011 at 16:37  

My Aussie pal recently commented on how lucky we Malaysian are. "Your govt invest so much on the nation, every projects seems to cost in the billions. No govt in other nation even come close in comparison".

Problem is, he made that remark with a mischievous wink.

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