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Sakmongkol ak 47

ariff.sabri@gmail.com

Saturday 29 November 2008

Just some ramblings on the Pemuda Race

Sometime is 1959, Lee Kuan Yew said something like this. The pace of the social revolution in Malaya is as fast or as slow as the Malays in the Kampungs want it, not as the Chinese in towns want it.

Except imagine this now. The Malays of 1959 are the majority of the ketua pemuda delegates. With a typical mindset of a kampong regular. The contenders are the Chinese of 1959, urbane, moneyed and modern in outlook. The pace of changes that any ketua pemuda wants is as fast or slow as the ordinary delegates want it, not as the contenders want it. I think, the contenders should recognise this.

So what is the pace of the revolution that the ordinary common delegate wants?

Take your typical breakdown. A typical ketua pemdua bahagian, is likely to be a class F contractor. His vision is to be the next class A contractor, getting direct negotiated tenders. His second in command, is a junior executive maybe in some private firm. He is looking for his next break. The 3rd and 4th delegate, are likely self employed- looking for greener pastures.

So the contenders can be catalysts for change, but it is the delegates who decide. Hence those hundred of delegates pouring into KL sometime in March 2009, are looking for some breaks, a quick buck, a good time and pocket money- lots of it. The contender who wants to win is the person who recognise these foibles and who capitalise on them.

Calls for change, prayers for camaraderie or esprit de corps, are all good only in your estimation. The ordinary folks want nothing of that airy fairy sloganeering. It is they who decide what pace Pemuda will travel with. It is a pace determined by the mass and velocity of money.

I think there’s a concept in Physics known as drag force. Substitute object for battle cry, slogan and what not. Just like an object, any of the contender’s slogan is moving through a gas or liquid medium. I am more inclined to think the candidates sloganeering are just gas. In any case, an object moving through such medium, experiences a force in direction opposite to its motion. Substitute the force moving in opposite direction for the mindset of the average Joe of Pemdua delegate. Terminal velocity is achieved when the drag force is equal in magnitude but opposite in direction to the force propelling the object. The one who wins is the one with the farthest terminal velocity, achievable only, by lubricating the drag force.

10 comments:

Pak Zawi 29 November 2008 at 13:32  

Sak,
That is the scenario we are facing.
The Tomoi people are willing to stage a championship fight in Pahang if there is an invitation from somebody from there. BoxxTomoi said that to me. If there is an Association there, I think they could send an invitation to the organizers.

Anonymous,  29 November 2008 at 14:31  

Why is it that out of three million five hundred thousand members, only one voice hits bullseye each and every time, one asks?

He wrote about the drag force. Nowadays, the lingo is different. "He's a drag", you hear, or "he's a howl", or even, "she's a scream". But drag force? "He was dragged howling and screaming away..." So the drag force must be something to do with friction between the soles of his nike and the tarmac. So when the umbrella appears to ketok the head, one remembers what it really could have been so many forgettable years ago (oh, where is she now?, the heart pines).

The drag force is the resistance on something as it flows through something else. Like finger through a pie, for instance. As with most simple things in the head, by the time it comes out to be articulated, it automatically becomes complicated. Never trust scientists, it has been whispered. They will tell you the drag force is a frictional force going against you when you move and its strength depends on a number of things, the likes of which never even existed until one starts to think about drag forces. These things are the drag coefficient (but of course), the relative velocity of the moving object versus the medium through which it flows, its cross-sectional area erected at right angles to the direction of its flow, and the density of the medium through which it courses to its destiny. To be precise, one "understands" (this is parliament so one must have escape hatch in case it goes into the hansard)that if you multiply the drag coefficient with that area with that density with the square of that velocity and then divide the resulting headache by two, you get the drag force.

So what are the values of drag coefficients, an intelligent voice at the back asks? Don't leave yet, sir, you try to appear brave. The drag coefficient has different typical values. For instance, for my dream car (a BMW M3 2008 hardtop in midnight blue and nappa leather seats), it's about 0.2. But for sak's dream car (a BMW X5 or X6), it's about 0.6. Of course, when i wake up and start the motorcycle cub 1972, it's 1.8 or 1.9. Drag coefficients are a drag on the reality of living in this country. In fact, one can argue that if countries can have drag coefficients, ours could be 99. On a scale of 100. Nothing moves unless you hit it with the force of a thermonuclear blast.

So, it remains to admit that even from here, one can already see sak's eyes gleaming with an idea. How to use the drag force equation to describe the political situation in this country, his fertile mind has already asked even before this sentence is completed..

We may say the drag coefficient is a measure of the politician's character. Inside the coefficient, there are elements like roughness of the moving body's surface, the shape and velocity of the body, even the viscosity of the medium. Does that mean that if the face is rough, the coefficient is higher? Wait a minute, all their faces are smooth. They've not had a day's worry in their entire lives so far. Some even paste their faces with tempe, though i personally use Dempo Snow from Sg Petani to keep my complexion jelat and luxuriant. What about the shape of their bodies? Some should be carried in wheelbarrows into IJN but then anorexia is just as bad. Their velocities - how fast they talk and move? Maybe it's panic? It seems correlating drag coefficient to character is superficial. But do accept that so that we can move on if only with the nagging conclusion that, indeed,they.are.superficial in the first place.

Now, velocity is a vector; it has direction. Relative velocity means if i go north and you go east with equal force, we'll collide at north-east. The relative velocity of the politician to the voters measures how fast he goes to them as they move sideways to test him. How they test him we already know.

The right-angled area of the politician is of course the face he hides from the voters. The face he shows is not at right-angles. It is head-on. The right-angled face is what he wants to hide for the simple reason he knows if it is large, the area is big, and the drag force will ultimately be equally big. He will therefore find them impenetrable. So, next time he comes and shake your hands, put the motorcycle mirror at the side and peer into it. If there's no ear, beware. What one cannot hear, one may not act on.

The density of the medium is of course made from multiplying the distrust by the voters in what the politician is saying with their need for vitamin M and putting the result under a roof, namely a square root. A sort of an adjustment factor to take care of the impairment quadratic of the economy.

So now that all the terms of the drag force have been properly correlated, someone has to ask 'why divide by two?'

The answer is simple beyond reproach. It's because when you have half-past six leaders speaking half-truths to half-asleep delegates on matters that are not even half-way to what is important let alone half-changing the party, you must divide by two.

If not, the full power of the drag force will engulf all.

the end.

mamasita 29 November 2008 at 17:45  

Hai Walla, I have been meaning to ask you this question for so long.You dulu dapat first class masa finished your uni degree ke?Sebab your brain macam Einstein lah!Betul,am not joking!

Anonymous,  29 November 2008 at 18:35  

You're too generous, mamasita. Sebenarnya saya bodoh sampai tak terhingga. Only the women there simply raise standard. Bila prof datang, saya selalu hide dalam almari lab. When i gave answer, the whole dewan kuliah erupted into riotous laughter. kekeke. That's why, after the last paper, i went out and yelled 'merdeka' then pergi umhospital to derma darah - either to atone for my sins or to give thanks to society for allowing me to finish - sudah lupa which one.

miss both sak and your company!

;P

mamasita 29 November 2008 at 18:47  

Same here my friend,miss chatting with you.sak lah..budget shopping tak cukup dia tak mahu pergi KL!Aisayman!hehehe

Ariff Sabri 29 November 2008 at 19:14  

pak zawi,
i will get the president of persatuan tomoi phg to contcat boxxtomoi. contender asia yg you sedang tengok tu is a rerun. yg menang yodsaengklai dari Thailand lwn john wayne parr. budak2 kelantan ramai yang terror dan legend jugak--husin appolo(dah tua) ada dtg Kuantan. kat sini kalau ada tomoi, its like entering little kelantan- semua kecek kelate..ambo pun

Ariff Sabri 29 November 2008 at 19:17  

walla,
as usual you surpassed yrself. only a scientist like you can expand on a passing mention of drag force, which to layman like me, is used as a symbolism only. thank you brother, see you monday/tuesday and bring along our chief economist, de minimis and others whom you know.

Anonymous,  30 November 2008 at 00:04  

You're too generous, sakmongkol. If He agrees, we will meet early next week.

http://tinyurl.com/562wpy

satD 30 November 2008 at 01:44  

Hi Everybody.....

Walla are u in any way related to Apocryphalis :)

The problem is the double dot phenomena in lubrication usage which we see during the Badawi Regime.....which reduces everyone to just simple dollars n cents......worse still everybody knows..it became too obvious......

One thing i don't understand is why the need to use "muscles"..... it's a political party...u talk n reason to get things sorted out......This type of behavior is simply unacceptable............

Ti Lian Ker 30 November 2008 at 01:44  

Very Well said Bruther. You have a great mind but UMNO has no place for people like you at the moment. MCA has no space for people like me too...hahaha.
Blogosphere is our political intellectual paradize...
We shall breed a new BN culture...hopefully!!!

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