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Tuesday 28 April 2015

The Politics of Saving the Country.



The previous article written in Malay was an augmented version of the original article written by the blogger Donplaypuks. I want readers to know, I have permission from Donplaypuks to adapt his articles at any point in time.  Some facts in a discipline of which I am not trained in, I refer to the master and use those facts freely as basis for my own analysis.

In a P Ramlee film, I first heard the expression – narn bohti narn, kui bohti kui. Orang bukan orang, hantu bukan hantu. It gave me a good laugh. Over the years, the expression has become surreal- fiction merges into factual.

We can only describe the umno leadership who have committed various wrongs to the country, as an indefinable being, orang kah, hantu kah?  But judging from the deeds they do, they are more suited to be called devils. Only the hantus do dastardly things. Like grand partying while people suffer. Buying another executive plane having others justifying it as a measure to increase safety and security.

 Well, fly commercial then. There is safety in numbers.

The indefinable beings now are occupying a new stage. It is stage where the big ghost fights the small ghost. The big ghost is Mahathir and the small ghost is Najib. The big ghost will eat the small ghost eventually.

Dr Mahathir is only in the early stages. He has asked Najib to resign. Najib, he says cannot manage the finances of the country. This was shown by his handling of the 1MDB issue, his profligate spending, his idea of BR1Ming his way through people’s hearts and minds.

Where to find money to settle the debts? The government will need RM2 billion a year to pay for the interests. The revenues from the IPPs it owns as a result of its buying spree cannot pay the interests. If you can’t pay from operational earnings, you are technically insolvent. 
Dr Mahathir is warning us all- the government will force GLCs such as Tabung Haji, Khazanah, Petronas, KWAP, KWSP and many others to help buy 1MDB energy IPO offers at premium prices. 

Dr Mahathir said in his trademark sarcasm- YTL makes RM800 million profits a year and part of the profits are used to pay Dr Mahathir. Ah so, we now know DR Mahathir gave a good deal to YTL.

According to Dr Mahathir, the value of the assets of 1MDB cannot support the debt and liabilities.

 Dr Mahathir claims that the assets are overpriced when paying out and under-priced when buying in. Najib overpays when buying IPPs like Genting Sanyen, Ananda’s Tanjung energy and Jimmah Power. These vendors made money even though their IPPs are nearing end of contract life.

So why pay at exorbitant price? The answer is because some people made money on the deals. Unlike what Dr Mahathir said in his speech, we must apa2.....we cant treat as  tidak apa.

People want to know whether the overpriced amount went to some people. If so who?

But when it comes to buying assets belonging to the government, Najib buys at very low price. The land at Tun Razak exchange which costs RM5000-7000 psf was bought as RM60psf. That’s 83 to over 100 times the price. The land at Sungai Besi airport valued at current market price of RM2000-2500 psf was bought at RM90 psf.

You can see a pattern here. Overpay when buying from cronies and fleecing the people when buying from itself. We can’t trust a government that deals like a shyster here.

Even though this point was not mentioned, many of us know how the game is played. Generous overpricing means some people are sharing the inflated price. Gross under-pricing means some people deciding on the matter made a lot of money.

It has become a universally accepted notion that business projects have their costs UMNOnised. Which means always inflate price by at least 30% and distribute among thieves.

Najib is also a profligate spender. Najib abuses power. Najib is interested in concentration of power and how power can serve his interests and not the people’s interest.

And it was reported, all is cool on the PM’s front. Meanwhile Najib makes don’t know without a problem in the world. He doesn’t care about GST. The effects on GST in raising the overall price level is ignored. Everywhere people are complaining and yet the government goes on insisting that GST is good.

It may eventually be good in the sense that it is a more effective tax collection mechanism. But people will ask, whether a government with a bad track record at managing our financial affairs will exercise discipline over or finances. Or with more money, will they fund more projects for cronies and create a thousand other 1MDBs?

I have seen a video of the PM and his wife dancing with other guests. Possibly they were dancing at the wedding reception of the century, rumoured to cost the people an obscene USD200 million.  The PM of course loves dancing at private functions. That is his private business. He wants to dance howsoever he likes, it’s no skin off our nose. From the video, we can see the PM can still do hot moves. He can still gedik2.

But what can we deduce from the conduct of the PM on the dance floor? This is a conduct of a person who doesn’t care what others think. If they want to ferry 200 people on a private jet or two private jets, including bringing cultural dancers, what can the people do? Rosmah Mansor could well play the Marie Antoinette fiction of saying, let Mahathir and other eat cake. We can do what we like because we are the big bosses of the country?

They just want to see what the people can do to stop them.

So it’s a challenge we must take up. We shall show to Najib that he can also be punished for the deceit and low class leadership he has displayed thus far.

The dancing and prancing PM showed that we must not be delusional into thinking- just because Dr Mahathir whom I have said, being a person who can walk on political waters say so. Najib will not retire. He will not go voluntarily. His conduct on the floor is the conduct of a person saying, the world be dammed.

At one point in time, Mahathir will have no choice but to deliver the eventual coup de grace. Dr Mahathir will eventually do so.

It is also futile to think that Najib detractors can pull off a no confidence vote on the PM. The motion would have to be submitted to the speaker and the speaker will give time to the Najib forces to mount a counter attack. Now we all know the UMNO MPs have skeletons n the cupboards, debts to pay, income tax owed, and cases here and there. These will be brought up most conveniently, forcing the detractors to toe the line.

Now suppose there is person who in the thinking of the majority of MPs will uphold the values of democracy, rule of law, good governance, committed to place the country on the foundations of fiscal decency, put things generally right, carry out just social policies, reform the judiciary, weed out corruption and the corrupted, help out the poor, MPs must decide on their conscience and cultivate and support such a person. .

A certain number of MPs now on the BN side need only cross over and seek out such a leader. The BN government is simply defeated if they don’t have the number of MPs on their side. Just do it for the sake of the nation.

That means while we hear and heed  Dr Mahathir but we need not agree to his solution. As I have said in the earlier article, we need not replace Najib with the best from the league of the worse. Extraordinary times require extraordinary conduct and resolve. Think outside the box. Reject the conventional way.

The UMNO people if they wish to save their party must adopt a revolutionary way to find this new leader. They need to know they can’t govern the country in the way and manner it has been done in the past. It can no longer hold power by constructing a barrier of isolationist and exclusivist concepts of race, religion and Monarchy.

14 comments:

Anonymous,  28 April 2015 at 13:42  

Tengku Razaleigh knows what we have in mind, he must now seize the opportunity to put himself forward as the next leader.
So, Ku Li for a long time you have hovered in recognizing there is a crisis in this country, you have tried to "run" away from this, but you cannot escape the irresistible call of God, the nation and its suffering people.
You have been tasked with this challenge by God, do your duty before God and the rakyat, and you will be honoured not only in this life but in your afterlife.

Anonymous,  28 April 2015 at 13:53  

Najib to be replaced as PM, this is fated:
The last 2 times Permatang Pauh had a by-election, Malaysia's prime minister stepped down.
Will it happen again?
After the by-election held in 1999 then not too long Tun M stepped down, and in 2008 it was Abdullah Badawi's turn to step down.

It seriously looks like Najib cannot escape his destiny.

Anonymous,  28 April 2015 at 14:04  

Dato, I always liked reading the blogger Donplaypuks. He writes eloquently or inloquently, whichever you look at the glass, but with facts in hand.

The consensus is we can team up with Tun M to change the current PM, and agree to Tengku R as the next PM to clean up the mess, and Muhydeen as the DPM and he can be uplifted to PM when TR has done his duty. By that time Muhydeen will have redeemed himself from his dark past.

Anonymous,  28 April 2015 at 14:06  

In the case of PAS leaders and members, they will only wake up when in the next general election they could only win a handful of seats. As for UMNO and the rest of the country who still give support to UMNO-BN, they shall only wake up when the country go to bankruptcy. The so called subsidy rationalization exercises in the past few years, the GST and soon the TPPA are signs among many that Malaysia is going down the slippery slop of misery. But the bankruptcy is where Malaysia has reached bottom. We have not yet reached bottom... PAS, UMNO-BN and Malaysia as a whole need to get worse before it gets better. Don't be sad - instead, get ready for the worse is coming our way.

Donplaypuks® 28 April 2015 at 16:26  

It was reported in the mainstream newspapers that shortly before GE2013, a certain casino plc from which 1GDB bought over-priced power assets, "donated" RM190 million to BUMNO/SCUMNO/Barang Naik.

Similarly, another plc belonging to Anak Keling is rumoured to have "donated" RM50-100 million to BUMNO/SCUMNO/Barang Naik. Both these instances are unheard of in Malaysian corporate history.

As far as anyone is aware, no shareholder approval was ever sought for these humongous "donations". It is very easy to be "generous" with the Rakyat's money if you inflate contract and procurement prices.

There is a prima facie case here for investigation by the SC, KLSE and MACC to uncover possible fraud and corruption.

Who has been sleeping on the job? It is inaction by our oversight bodies like the AG, PAC etc. which is undermining our financial stablity and economy.

We are all of 1 Race, the Human Race

Donplaypuks® 28 April 2015 at 16:37  

Yes, this is the time for BN MP's to ask what they can do for the country.

They must think beyond party loyalty to save the nation - surely a worthy cause to stop thinking like programmed, conscienceless robots.

Anonymous,  28 April 2015 at 17:01  

All This talk of Ku Li, why not DSAI, really why not DSAI. Surely the courts can review the judgement,
This is an open letter to all keepers of the law in the country, if you believe that you are here to make money, you would surprised to learn what goes around comes around. Mahathir is seeing that, smack in the face, the pillars of democracy has been chained and the keys are held by the PM. All those file on BN parliamentarians still exists and are in the hands of the PM, no BN/UMNO MP is going to go against the PM openly, everyone has skeletons in the cupboard.

Mahathir has a tough challenge, and don't be surprised that Najib may have files on Mahathir stashed somewhere too, otherwise he will not be dancing happily.

The game is going to get spicier, and I truly hope there is an implosion and the dinosaur species are wiped out, new breeds that better hold democracy will emerge.

We need to reform everything, starting from election commission (which should report to Parliament not the PM).

We need to reform the AG.

We need to reform the Police force,

We need to reform the education Ministry
we need to reform the law Ministry
We need to reform the legal system
We need to reforms the laws governing EPF
...........

The list goes on and on.

Only hope is to get DSAI.

Anonymous,  28 April 2015 at 19:22  

What is the difference between Najib and Muhyiddin. One is a donkey and other an ass.
To pick another UMNO MP is to court disaster - from the frying pan into the fire.
We need a coalition of MPs with dignity from all parties. Get the majority and boot out Najib and UMNO.
Appoint Anwar as senator and make him PM. Then there is hope for Malaysia.
Najib has to be the last of UMNO PMs.

Anonymous,  28 April 2015 at 20:17  

If it is true that Zahid and Sharizat made sexual innuendos and such jokes during the Permatang Pauh campaign, then what they did is totally unacceptable, totally disgusting, not fit even for their spouses, children, and grandchildren's ears.
But this shows then the type of grey matter they have between their ears and call into question if they are qualified to hold such important posts in the gomen.

Borrowing some comments published
"No wonder that Malaysia is sinking rapidly down the economic drain, and into a spiral of destructive violence, when you are made to understand that this is how the nation's leaders think and behave? "
"Joke or not, it is in bad taste, especially coming from two top BN leaders, one a home minister and the other, Umno Wanita chief."


bruno 28 April 2015 at 20:27  

To date,Najib had spend hundreds if not billions of ringgit on consultants and spin doctors.With all these millionaire dunggus around him and they cannot quell the critics of 1 MDB?Comon,Mr PM,please screw these dunggus upside down till kingdom come.

bruno 29 April 2015 at 01:36  

Now Najib is mad,very very mad.He has screamed that he will never surrender the PM'ship.He also said that his gomen is working hard for the rakyat and not 'shiok sendiri' as claimed.

It is good for once,that Najib has rolled up his sleeves and is ready to rumble.Najib for once has shown that when it comes down to his political career,do not f*ck with him.It can never be good if Najib can be easily chase out.

I think that it will be more fruitful for Mahathir and the opposition if they combine their efforts to kicking out the IGP,who has difficulties in picking between a donkey and a mule.

Anak Selangor,  29 April 2015 at 06:42  

That was controlled defiance on Ajib's part on telly...scripted to thinly veil repercussions that his cohorts will resort to to ensure continuity of their way of life.

It's puzzling that opposition leaders are trying to flog Ku Li instead of Moooo-din... Apa lagi desperate Anwaristas.

Change the landscape peoples - DSAI and family are out of this race...The Tun will never join forces with him..but... he just might with a new opposition leader, long enough for a common objective....rid us of Ajib and hanger-ons.

The man/woman who gets Tun to grudgingly shake hands will be the person to look out for....

My money is on a dark horse who has waited patiently in the wings. It is time to test Azmin Ali in the arena.


flyer168 30 April 2015 at 10:20  

"The Politics of Saving the Country."

Dato',

A very well written article on the subject.

Presently the citizens of Bolehland wants PEEM removed with all his (Idris Jala...?) 1Malaysia, 1Kedai Malaysia, 1MDB, ETP, KPI, etc, etc, etc, the family & Mama’s scandals...

I for once agree with Madey on this matter. He is the only one as the ex PM that still has the support & clout to do the needful...

There is the saying...

“Black cat or white cat: If it can catch mice, it’s a good cat.” – Chinese Proverbs quotes

"Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor." - Sholom Aleichem

“Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent...

It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.” - Albert Einstein

At our present "Self Destruct" trajectory...

October 16, 2012 National debt soars to RM456.12 bil - http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/10/16/national-debt-soars-to-rm456-12-bil/

March 11, 2015 - Najib: Malaysia's external debt tripled to RM740bil due to 'new loan definitions' - http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/03/11/Najib-Msian-debt-triple-definitions/

Does this sound familiar in Bolehland...?

Sep 24, 2009 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvg55YveGfI

What happens when this nation is bankrupt & bone dry...?

This is already happening in Bolehland with GST, etc...

Oct 1, 2011 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI5fcAhUQVo

Jul 22, 2012 - The man who changed Iceland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH0_JQW--gc

Jul 29, 2012 - Ministers, Bankers Arrested - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmOZ3jtGtCc

Jan 26, 2013 - Let Banks Go Bankrupt - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDexDNn6vSM

You be the judge.

Anonymous,  30 April 2015 at 13:55  

Anon 28 April 2015 at 19:22 says
'What is the difference between Najib and Muhyiddin. One is a donkey and other an ass.'

Or two cheeks of the same arse as George Galloway would say.

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