Our Pious wishes

Our pious and virtuous wish is for PKR to wrest power democratically. Meaning, if you want to topple the present government, do it the dignified way. Through general elections.

Our pious and virtuous way to carry out leadership change in UMNO is through the ubiquitous way of direct negotiation.

One, we insist on general elections. In the other, we say it is alright. It’s the tradition. We support tradition.

The PKR people and the would be renegades and turncoats will say, they answer to a higher cause.

If our answer is to encourage our people to desert us, when the going gets tough, it is also possible for the leaders to abandon us, right?

I am with those, who stand up and fight.

Pious and virtuous wish? Just a comforting thought.

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The 3rd Way- No Thank you!

let's blow up this democracy!

I have been uneasy these few days. A few ex servicemen whom I met and some UMNO grassroots leaders appear despondent. Being so used to tried and tested government the last 50 over years render them timid souls to face the unknown. The future under PKR with Herr Anwar as the new Fuhrer, is a great unknown.

The solution which they offer as panacea for their pessimism is what bothers me. The ex servicemen volunteered that perhaps its best if the army takes over. The UMNO chaps concurred- saying that would be better than losing power. Then, some comments in my blog suggesting the same, gives me the impression, this idea of rule by military is gaining ground?.

What? Government by the army? Military dictatorship?

I sincerely hope we shall never have to go that way. Malaysia is a democracy and must remain that forever. We compete in the realm of ideas and convictions and not in terms of clashing of brute force.

Even more worrying is what these casual talks represent. To me, it can lead to a conclusion that, really, after 51 years of independence, we have not imbued a democratic culture.

We have on the other hand, instilled an idea of a false democracy made possible, sustainable and succoured only by the rule of an elite group. This idea of an elite democracy reaches its high point, sad to say, under the vacillating rule of Pak Lah and Dato Najib.

That is, thus far, the concept of democracy as understood by the masses, is that variety parlayed and drummed in by the elite in this country. Then, UNLESS the rule over this country is forever vested in the hands of the current elite, people are doomed.

Therefore the comfortable alternative, if power cannot be retained by the elite, is military rule. This kind of talk, even casual one, must be, as they say in military parlance, be terminated with extreme prejudice!

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URP- UMNO Recovery Plan-2

We Shall Return!

We need our champions. It will not be the effort of a single person. We need a team driven by the same goals. And we cannot confine our recovery efforts at the top alone. It needs a comprehensive overhaul of the entire UMNO organization.

Once again, this is where we differ from the thinking of Tengku Razaleigh. He is thinking it as sufficient only to effect changes in the top leadership. As they usually say in economics, that is necessary but not sufficient.

In the case of either Japan and Western Europe, they had leaders who championed the recoveries in both countries. Marshall for Europe and McArthur for Japan. But they also had massive investments, an effective, disciplined and determined political and civil administrations, the application of law and order and the most important ingredient, an entire people’s resolve.

Clearly, an organization on the brink of destruction, one that is savaged by cancerous spread throughout its whole body politic, requires a comprehensive treatment.

As such, superficial changes at the top can never be sufficient.

If UMNO is to resurge, the battles against cancerous growth must be won over and over again. To remove cancerous tumors require invasive surgery. They must be nipped in the bud. The Malay adage of ‘when one wants to shape the bamboo, one begins while it is still a shoot. That translates into the parallel of to prevent fire, you snuff it out while small. This calls for decisive leadership borne of resolute character. We need a Tun Mahathir-like leadership.

The champion leadership must summon the determination and dedication of all the UMNO division heads. The branches must liberate themselves from old and tired leadership. The divisions must carry out their own restructuring. The highest leadership structure of UMNO must carry out its own changes. All must be united to the goal of rebuilding UMNO to recapture peoples’ trust. The trust of which needs to be fortified, defended and expanded.

Call it the UMNO Rebuilding Plan or UMNO Recovery Plan. Europe had its ERP( European Recovery Plan) and UMNO needs to have its own URP- UMNO Recovery Plan.

The URP must set itself out to be:-

1. A response to the denial of reality leadership
2. Must see its goals being acted upon. We don’t want people mouthing yes, its necessary but not move from mental inertia
3. Brace itself for a hobbled passage towards implementation because changes will be challenged by vested interest groups.
4. Must feed on the greater resolve of the 3.5 million UMNO members

This recovery plan should not be viewed as a romantic journey back to the halcyon days. It’s a plan, willfully thought of, determined to be carried out in its intensity.

It is a plan based on self-interest, i.e. interest to see UMNO gets back on its feet. It must be able to restore confidence among the UMNO members inducing them to take risks.

The UMNO leadership must not delude itself that such a recovery plan has a long period of gestation. It is one providing a long term view of the future. It is not a short tem solution.

Finally, of course a disproportionate amount of time and efforts must first of all be applied to the top leadership, starting with the top posts in the party.

Why? Because its willingness to dissect itself can represent the symbol for UMNO as a whole to secure restoration. Renewal at the top will provide hope for UMNO as a whole.

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URP-UMNO Recovery Plan

The battle of Waterloo.


What can we learn from postwar German construction? Can we also learn some wisdom from post war Japan? Can we apply the lessons to UMNO?.

Germany as many of us remember from our history, was almost completely devastated. Germany was able to move from basket case to an economic colossus.

In the Far East, Japan was almost obliterated. But rather than breaking the Japanese spirit, defeat emboldened them. It too became an economic superpower.

UMNO is not a nation like Germany or Japan. But for many Malays, it was the embodiment of a nation. It still is and can still be so in the future.

It went to war in 2008 and by its own standards, was almost devastated. We shall not enumerate its election losses. Had it reached turning point and decisive battle in Permatang Pauh? Have we encountered our Stalingrad, Normandy and Hiroshima/Nagasaki? Or Waterloo?

From destruction to distinction.

The war (WW2) destroyed both Germany and Japan. But rather than being driven into the quicksand of self pity and massive self denials, the war produced the opposite. It emboldened and fortified the spirit of an almost defeated peoples. Both Caucasian( Germany) and Asian( Japan) are subject to the same universal principles that underlined the rise and fall of nations.

That inspired leadership is needed.

With a renewed sense of purpose, they moved from devastation to progress. What is it that allowed both countries to rise from the brink of destruction? How did they do it?

One lesson that is clear- destruction represents a golden opportunity for re-building.

What is happening to UMNO now? Judging from the election results and the erosion of Malay support, weak and vacillating leadership, diminishing credibility, I would say, UMNO is on the precipice of destruction. The Abdullah-Najib leadership has led UMNO to an almost total ruin.

What do we need to raise UMNO from destruction to distinction?

Post war Germany had its Marshall. Post war Japan had its McArthur. It seems that these two countries were able to recover because they had help from champion leaders.

Can UMNO learn something here?

Our recovery effort requires an inspired political leadership. We need our own George Marshall and Douglas McArthur. We are still waiting. Pak Lah is no Marshall and Najib, the coward, is no McArthur. We are still waiting for our champions.

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Saving UMNO

In many of my previous articles in my blog, I have written on the significance of the Permatang Pauh by elections. Among the things that I said;

1. Permatang Pauh will be Dato Najib’s waterloo.
2. Dato Najib goes into the tiger’s lair.- the ex DPM waits for the current DPM to come into his lair.
3. Permatang Pauh, is the last nail in UMNO’s coffin.

In his recent blog, the great Tun Mahathir said it regretfully, Permatang Pauh is UMNO’s death knell.

I have said it before, that whatever the Tun said must be taken very seriously. He has the knack of being prescient. So when he says, its UMNO’s death knell, we would be well advised to take heed.

I said Permatang Pauh wasn’t just a court to try Anwar. God knows UMNO/BN didn’t hold anything back to vanquish Anwar. But at the same time, PP was also a people’s court prosecuting the Abdullah-Najib Leadership.

Because he was the field commander, Dato Najib had to face the brunt of attacks by the PKR attack dogs. It didn’t help matters when Najib has his own skeletons in the cupboard too willing to be exploited severely by PKR. Everywhere he goes, the reception was poor. Other than his entourage, support for UMNO/BN was clearly absent.

UMNO’s defeat in PP clearly shows that the people reject UMNO/BN. In particular they reject Pak Lah and Dato Najib and the entire UMNO leadership.

The first thing to do is to re-structure the leadership. Clearly, Pak Lah and Dato Najib’s positions are untenable. They should leave it to the UMNO members to decide. And the delegates must make their decisions in consonance with the wishes of the UMNO members who speak for the Malays.

Now, the future of UMNO is no longer about preserving Pak Lah and Dato Najib. Bring back democracy in UMNO so that the 2000 over delegates can decide who they want. The signals from the grassroots are that, they do not want to confine their choices among the tired old faces.

The tired old faces are the people responsible for projecting an image of arrogance and insensitivity. They are also responsible for creating the image that UMNO is all about scrambling for power to feather leaders’ nest. Meanwhile ordinary UMNO members and the rakyat stand as silent witnesses to bright promises but utterly dismal performances by the UMNO/BN government.

Therefore the UMNO ketua bahagians must now show substance in their resolve to effect leadership changes. And they must not do it superficially.

When Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said there is no need for UMNO to re-invent itself, that statement may not be totally true. Even when leadership changes take place, the process of renewing resolve and determination as preconditions to secure a whole range of objectives, must also take place, down through the rank and file. The battle for victory must be won over and over again. This same principle is adopted religiously among practitioners of communism. It is called the theory of permanent revolution.

If not, superficial leadership changes can never pull UMNO out of its despondency. The sheer weight of age old enervating culture will pull the leadership down.

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The arithmetic of laziness

Just ponder this. It’s a mental teaser to prevent the mind dozing off in this fasting month.

Malaysia has 1.4 million civil servants. The highest in the ASEAN region. There we find all sort of characters. The slothful, lazy and those who think the government is their rich uncle. When you have no money, uncle is here.

Let us say, that out of the 1.4 million, 30% are really the worse of the lot. They spend on average, 2 hours in a day having their coffees/teas/nasi lemak, roti canai and what not. Going to the mamak stall, warung takes half an hour return trip. Half an hour of makan time, cigarette time and sembang kosong and talk cock. That’s 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour after lunch, makes 2 hours a day.

30% of them makes 420,000. So we have 420,000 taking 2 hours off in a day, for 5 days in a week, for 52 weeks in a year result in 218.4 million hours lost in productive work. Ok so far?.

Our GDP.

What is our typical GDP in recent years? Lets take as an average, 450 billion a year or 450 billion is earned over the number of working days, which is 260 days. We assume, the number of working days to be 5 days/week x 52 weeks.

Suppose the civil servants’ contribution to this 450 billion a year is 30%. This makes it as RM 135 billion a year.

In order to produce this 135 billion a year, all the 1.4 million civil servants will need to work 8 hours a day, for 5 days a week for 52 weeks. That’s 2.912 billion hours.

From here, we can work out the hour’s value for their work. Divide the 135 billion with the 2.912 billion hours. It works out to be RM46 per hour. In other words, in order to produce the RM 135 billion a year, all the 1.4 million civil servants need to work 8 hours a day for 5 days in 52 weeks.

Lost productive hours.

How many hours of productive hours are lost by the 420,000 lazy bums a year? 218.4 million hours.

What is the value of the lost productive hours? Multiply this 218.4 million hours by RM46. Its RM 10.125 billion a year.

Hence each year, 30% or 420,000 of the 1.4 million civil servants honoured and feared by the common folks because of their office, even though they are peons and thambys, head of departments, 3^rd rate graduates, swindle us, the taxpayers, of RM 10.125 billion a year.

Waduuh!

So when we meet a civil servant taking time off to talk cock , we can say to him/her, that you are wasting RM 46 per hour of our money. Then we shall tell him/her, that you and 419,000 others of your species are costing us RM 10.125 billion worth of productive hours. And you are giving a bad name to the other 1 million of hardworking civil servants.

Ada patut kah? And you want to treat us like sampah?

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UMNO! Renew thyself or Die.

It is now common knowledge that Pak Lah has nominated Dato Najib as his heir apparent. In 2010, Dato Najib will take over as UMNO president.

What kind of party condones such an arrangement? More prominent people than I have said that there is no provision in the UMNO constitution that allows such kind of picking leaders. UMNO has 3.5 million registered members and each year over 2000 delegates attend the annual general assembly. In their hands alone, rests the right to decide on UMNO and its future. And they carry in their bosoms, the voice of the common Malay man.

Ah…a right. In my humble opinion, a right is earned, fought for, defended and expanded. It is never and must never be thought of as something given to you. If something is given, it of course can be taken. This is the fate that has fallen onto the right to elect the UMNO leadership.

The acceptance of this power transfer arrangement tells a great deal about what UMNO has become. It is becoming an intolerant party, cowed by its own members. UMNO is afraid of its own shadow. Hence, the secrecy and urgency to strike a deal between the top leadership of UMNO to stave off, challenges from the road masses.

And it has also shown to us what UMNO or its leadership has become. An organisation that has been corrupted by the baneful influences of power and easy living. Years of docile acceptance and unquestioning deference has turned UMNO into an un-robust and un-rugged generation.

Can this kind of party with an effeminate leadership lead our country into the future? The hastiness by which the power transfer plan was carried out, suggests strongly, that the leadership is only interested in saving Pak Lah and Dato Najib. The survival of UMNO, the party, is of secondary concern. It must also be based on the premise, that the survival of UMNO depends on Pak Lah and Najib.

It is just not in the nature of things in an open competitive society, to nominate one’s successors. The essential feature of an open competitive society is to allow for the maximum choices be made available to UMNO members. What has happened is just another example of an Henry Ford job- you can have any colours you want, as long as its black. That translates into- you can have any leaders you want as long as it’s Najib.

Such a proposition is beset with its own internal fallacies. Many things have been said about Najib, in particular his character, that I do not wish to repeat. To me the greatest fallacy is to assume that the future of UMNO depends on the character of one person. This is wrong.

Whereas UMNO’s main interest was to make available to us, long before the exit of the present leaders either voluntary or forced, a whole bunch of leaders with the steely resolve, determination and capabilities that are needed for political leadership.

What do we see in the proposition that the top two posts in UMNO must not be contested? Why only the top two? Why not the whole 25 member strong supreme council? You see, this kind of arrangement, self serving to many, goes fast and well down the lines. Hence at division and branch levels, the same modus operandi operates. No competition for top posts. If there are challenges, then reprisals such as that exemplified by Othman Jais’s Palong Timur branch will happen.

Just stop for a moment and ponder what is really happening. This kind of shamefaced political manoeuvrings have become a habit in UMNO. When it becomes a habit what happens? The creative and imaginative parts of the human being are stifled. What happens afterward?

UMNO induces its own rigor mortis!.

And so my fellow UMNO brethren, ask yourselves. Do you want to save UMNO?

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