A Case of The Nose not Pointed, The Cheeks are Pushed Outwards.

We can view this thing about Khalid Ibrahim and PAS’s conduct as being one of the nose not pointed, the cheeks being pushed forward. ( hidung tak mancung, pipi tersorong sorng).

Let me begin by saying that PAS is a valued partner within the PR fraternity. Its leadership, by and large consist of leaders with keen integrity and truthful people. We value PAS for its commitment to principles, the discipline of its members, the integrity and sincerity of its leaders. The conduct of its leaders and most of its members is exemplary. We can count on PAS a loyal comrade. If we leave them behind to guard our fort and city, we can be sure they don’t turn around, seize the city and drive us out. 
Having said that, I am not going overboard to confer upon PAS members superhuman qualities more that they deserved. They eat, sleep, go to the toilets just as we do;  we dont know what is in their hearts.  THey may have thick faces and blackened hearts. Its only through action and conduct do we judge them.  For example, PAS's DR Zuhdi may appear as pious as other PAS leader, but lately his action has revealed a darker side.  The typical PAS member can also lie, not tell the truth, conspire like any other.

They can also go back on their words.  Dont believe me? 
When Semangat 46 helped PAS  win Kelantan, PAS promised the post of Deputy MB to Semangat. After elections, PAS went on to appoint a deputy MB from their side thus reneging on a promise. When Semangat 46 complained, almost like an afterthought and damage control action, PAS created a Deputy MB 2 post. Well, deputy MB and Deputy MB2 is not the same thing, is it?  
So please keep this holier than thou image to yourselves.

And know this too. Members and leaders of religious based movements also display these finer characteristics.  For that matter, members and leaders of religious fraternity not Islamic can also be described in the manner I just did. Within the circle of Islamic movements, their leaders and members too have the same characteristics.  What separates PAS from dakwah groups or Islamic fraternity and collegiate groups, is that PAS is a political party. The means, it aspires to capture power.

This means one must have some political skill-sets. So, all these qualities must be leavened with political acumen and political wisdom. Unless PAS no longer wants to be a member of the PR Family, it must not think it is a party of Islamic missionaries. It must choose to be part of a bigger entity that can replace the corrupt BN government or it can opt to become a regional party controlling a single state such as Kelantan. You want to be a village champion or you want national presence where you can cultivate wider allegiance to your cause? 
Among political comrade-in-arms, there must be tacit and implicit trust.  We accept any decisions made by PAS regarding its members. When Husam was dropped from PAS's political mainstream, the other members of PR did not fret. because they trusted in PAS's judgement. Also because it is PAS's business. 
Trust requires reciprocity. If we trust in PAS's decision and judgment, PAS must also do likewise toward its friends.

So if the conservatives in PAS continue to bully its partners with their misplaced and conceited over-estimation of their importance PAS will suffer these things:-

PAS will be reduced to a regional based party, shouting and wailing from the fringes. Eventually they will be viewed as religious fanatics on the fringe of political mainstream.

It will lose the support of middle thinking Malays, the less pious than PAS people who would otherwise look at PAS as a means of political and moral salvation. Lose that and PAS becomes just a minor political player.

It will alienate the Chinese whose support and acceptance and tolerance of PAS thus far, has contributed to PAS gaining national presence.

The horror of horrors will occur if PAS decides to go to bed with UMNO and that would signal that PAS is really a party without principles. It will be seen as a hypocritical party that uses religion to bully others. 
It will create tension and discord among friends and partners in Pakatan Rakyat. 

Now this issue with Khalid Ibrahim.

Why is Khalid Ibrahim hawking around like a political prostitute soliciting for support from indirect sources to continue as MB of Selangor?  If we were to believe what Pakatan is saying, the issue was resolved as early as March 2014. The position of MB isn’t for Khalid to keep. Like all other government posts, it is not directly elected by voters. Its tenure depends on the confidence of the political party from which he comes from. In this case PKR. If the confidence is no longer there, and the existence proven by winning a party position, the honourable step to take is to tender resignation.

Unless Khalid Ibrahim suddenly thinks he is a direct member of an organisation known as Pakatan Rakyat, then he has the option of going around soliciting for support.

So what is it for PAS? - The conservatives in the party ought not to overestimate their importance. Let us remind them, unless they exist as part of a bigger entity that includes the less pious than them, they are an isolated bunch. This assessment can of course be cavalierly dismissed by brinkmanship talk by the conservatives, but such arrogance will only result in PAS as whole being confined to a village party. Pas people can always say- so what?, but such haughty talk displays a sorry lack of political acumen and detachment from political reality. If PAS is in business not to get political power, then it should declare itself as a missionary group.

The exit of Khalid Ibrahim should be simple case of conducting oneself with honour and dignity. Khalid has shown he does not have both.

Khalid Ibrahim has lost in the PKR elections. He has lost the confidence of his party. He ought to conduct himself in a dignified manner and withdraw from the position of MB. Instead he goes wailing and barking to all and sundry narrating how he has been aggrieved. Khalid may have the corporate smarts which are really debatable,  but politically he has shown artlessness. He has got no class. Having fought and lost in his party elections, it is now not open for Khalid to bring his case before the people. His party should not be forced to wash dirty linen in public. Khalid should not overestimate himself excessively.

This isn’t a case that ought to be brought before the voters at all. We can’t expect the pasar malam supporters, the hawkers to understand the reasoning behind Khalid’s recall. Khalid should be sensible enough to spare PKR from ridicule and should desist providing an opportunity for it to be attacked by opponents. Consider what Khalid has done as providing ammunition to UMNO, Perkasa and other UMNO friendly groups. In other words, once he cannot get his way, Khalid is willing to embrace the enemy and the same time destroy his benefactor. 

The position of MB is not directly elected by the voters. His party has nominated Khalid for the post of MB and the other parties in PR at that time agreed to this nomination. As a result he became the MB. Now that the mandate from his party has been withdrawn, he does not enjoy the confidence. That confidence has been recalled- Khalid has no business to escalate and widen the issue by appealing to the voters. This is not right. Having lost the confidence, the correct thing to do, is to honourably discharge himself.

Did Mat Said, the pugilistic former MB of Terengganu made out a dare to his party colleagues to move a motion of no-confidence? In this case, the politically amateurish Khalid Ibrahim appears to challenge his party colleagues to move a motion of no confidence. What does this suggest? This suggests Khalid has no respect and inkling about political protocols. This means he does not care about what happens to his political benefactor as long as his personal interests are preserved. Why should we keep this type of person in the party?

PKR should expel Khalid in this case and see what he does. He can join UMNO for that matter.

So why does he go hawking around for support from other parties? Why should pas even support Khalid Ibrahim when this is a decision taken by Khalids’ party? This is not a difficult thing to understand.

No one from PKR needs to answer what sins and fault has Khalid committed. It is sufficient for anyone, from Haji Hadi and Tuan Guru Nik Aziz to have trust in the judgment taken by PKR people. That is the basis for a working relationship. In this respect, UMNO has proven to be better; when Mat Said was dropped as MB, did he go around hawking for support from the other BN parties? Because the other parties understand the unspoken rule of coalition politics- that if you no longer enjoy support from your own party, it is not open to the other parties to question the reasoning behind Khalid’s recall. Coalition partners place implicit trust in the judgement of the party concern.

This isn’t about PAS. This is about PKR. It is not open for any PAS leader to question the judgment of PKR on Khalid. It is also not open for Khalid to conduct himself like a political prostitute to solicit support from the other partners in PR. PAS should not entertain him in the first place and ought to have explained to him that since he no longer enjoys the confidence of his own party, PAS cannot interfere with that decision, even though it may have its reservations and sympathies. 

That ought to be basis of trust among partners.

A Short take on Selangor MB and Leaked Whatsapp scenario analysis that isnt analytical

Just a short take. Lets not spoil our Hari Raya.Mahu Raya pun tak sinang.

The 2 hot issues now I think are (1) the leaked conversation between PAS members in their whatsapp group. In particular the scenario analysis of Dr Zuhdi Marzuki about the position of PAS and (2) the ignorance of Khalid Ibrahim about the unspoken rules of politics.

Much as I respect and revere Tok Guru Nik Aziz, he has been proven wrong on several occasions when judging personalities. He may be a pious man but it’s not possible for any human to have complete qashaf or knowledge beyond the physical.

I remember a long time ago, he was supportive of Abu Hassan Omar a onetime MB of Selangor. He gave such a resounding endorsement to Abu Hassan that the later expressed syukur to Nik Aziz. Abu Hassan turned out to be a dud despite Nik Aziz’s endorsement. So if I were Khalid Ibrahim, I would not be counting my chickens too soon.

I have not written about this- because the official stand of DAP is to allow these parties directly involved in these issues to sort them out. In the case of the scenario analysis, PAS should make its stand clear on this. In the case of the Selangor MB- PKR and Khalid Ibrahim.So readers please take note: this is a personal opinion of mine.

Khalid Ibrahim must stop believing that his position as MB is the same as being the CEO of Guthrie. He is MB because his party together with the endorsement of the other PR parties agreed on his position. We do not have direct elections in choosing the MB. Khalid as an economics teacher (he taught is Sekolah Menengah Abdul Rahman Talib in Kuantan) cannot comprehend this? Instead he makes a big fuss about PAS supporting his position as MB. Where is his honour in this instance?

You don’t have support from your own party; you have to depend on the support of another? Then he should quit PKR and join PAS. Or PAS can insist on wanting their man to become MB. They can, as suggested by Dr Zuhdi team up with UMNO and retain Khalid Ibrahim, whom the future of Selangor depeded.

They must do so, because Khalid Ibrahim is the only man that can develop Selangor. PAS has only kampung ustazs and lay preachers who are more interested in other worldly pursuits and using Islam and a control tool. That will satisfy the power crazy and position starved PAS members who want to have positions in government.

Burying our Dead- working With or Againts Putin?

Maybe it is too much of watching Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang. I am constantly looking for some alternative explanations to what seems so obvious. In the downing and brutal shooting down of MH17, the world is quick to point its finger to Putin, the Russians and the separatist rebels. But on many occasions things are not what they appear to be.

The Netherlands who lost most of the passengers on MH17 seems to be more circumspect and is refraining from rushing in to accuse Putin and Russia. The Dutch PM is heavily criticised for his slowness and circumspection in condemning Putin and Russia.  Why is this so?

The popular story line is this. It appears that the Russians are behind all this. It appears that the separatist rebels who are fighting to keep Ukraine as an integral part of USSR are the people responsible for shooting down MH17. The American controlled world media wasted no time cultivating the what  appears to be version. And the world appears to believe it.

But what if, the real culprits were the Ukrainians themselves who actually shot down the plane but worked with America in blaming the Russians and Putin?  They did that on purpose . That will provide them the justification to continue attacking and causing mischief to Putin and Russia. And serve American interests in Europe.

Initially I thought this is the correct line of approach. Let us therefore demand the presence of the Russian ambassador and tell him firmly of our indignation and protest against Putin and Russia.

But probably the better approach is to call in the Russian ambassador and work with him on how best we can work with Moscow and Putin in bringing the bodies of the Malaysian who perished home. Bring them home through Russian controlled territory.

Najib may make a big deal about wanting to bring the bodies of Malaysia back home and have them given a proper burial and rites in Malaysia. Under normal situation that would be comforting and the right thing to do. Bring them before Hari Raya? Why make it impossible for yourself.We dont want our dear PM lose more sleep. He did not sleep for two days- our dear PM.

We have to clear many things such as negotiating with the warring factions and walking on a political and diplomatic tightrope and all that. Then we probably have to get doctors do the forensic DNA testing so that we can identify our dead. Can that be done within a week?

Circumstances are not normal- the area where the plane went down is in a disputed and war zone. Malaysia and Najib can continue making un-impactful noises of what they want to do. But we must come to terms with real politik in the geopolitical game.

It’s better for Najib to work cultivating Putin’s goodwill in trying to bring back the remains.  Otherwise together with the other nations, we have to make an international closure, bury our dead where they perished. And this requires working with Putin and Moscow to let the so called rebels bury the dead. Then get our religious people over there and conduct the proper burial rites. We can bring Christian and other priests and Muslim ustazs over there.

I understand in Islam, the dead are often buried where they died. Our prophet and many of his companions were buried at places where they died.Saad ibn Waqas was buried in China.

The term separatist rebels is given by the west under directive from America of course. America wants the present regime that is ruling Ukraine to remain as its proxy state. The so called separatists are fighting to evict the mafia government funded and supported by America. Putin can’t have an Ukrainian state serving as a dagger pointing to its heart or to use a more current comparison have a BUK SA-11 pointing towards its vital parts. 

The journalist from The Daily Telegraph could almost be heard triumphantly saying..Yet there is no difficulty in identifying those responsible for this outrage. People on the payroll of the Russian Intelligence. You can almost feel the writer was talking like a CIA operative.

He puts it squarely on the Russians. … The Russians he said know everything about the attack, down to the serial number of the missile and the names and breakfast rations of the people who ordered the attack. The Russians also know exactly what links there are (if any) between the people who fired the missile and their own GRU command structures.

To sound fair, the writer quickly balances his skewness by saying that the…….Americans will know a lot of this, too. Washington is doubtless poring through myriad satellite images and thousands of conversations in Russian military slang to establish in minute detail what happened when the missile was fired and who ordered it.

And then, he went on… likewise, the Ukrainians know plenty – they do not have the GRU’s resources, but they are highly motivated to follow what the “rebels” and “separatists” are doing.

But the Russians he finally came around… is that the Russians – who know the most about it – are refusing to hand over to the world everything they know. Nor are they throwing their weight behind a rapid international effort to help the victims’ families by sealing and investigating the crash area in a normal way. Instead of a principled, helpful and sensitive response from Moscow, we see a macabre spectacle of diplomatic bluster and evasion while the crash site is despoiled and manipulated. Murky alterations to the Wikipedia MH17 site are traced to Russian official buildings. Bodies are piled in unguarded railway refrigerator wagons. International officials are threatened at gunpoint by belligerent fanatics loyal to Moscow. Russia stands accused for not using all its influence to push the rebels out of the way so that normal international procedures can take place.

That is the story he and the western world wants us to believe. But like I said, what if, the Ukranians were the ones who did it? And put the blame on Russia and Putin?

The Coming Emergency Parliamentary Session.

When PM Najib announced on TV that he is calling for an emergency session of parliament, I wanted to say bravo. He has acted decisively as he should. Otherwise, like I said previously, we have an insouciant PM.

Then I began to see a bigger picture. This time around, how come Najib isn’t shy to call up parliament? In the MH370 case, the opposition had to press strenuously for a special parliamentary briefing without success. Hishamudin promised to hold one for opposition MPs which he never did. And we can’t expect much more from the ow..ow minister since he has been replaced by Liow the must be minister MCA leader.

So how come in this instance, Najib is quick off the springboards? By questioning his decisive response we are in no way trivialising the intensity of emotions that sprung around the downing of MH17. The whole nation is in mourning; we lost 44 Malaysians on board including 2 infants I believed. Our thoughts and sympathies are with the victims’ surviving families. We feel the anguish and the sense of unspeakable loss.

But why the different treatment between MH17 and MH370? Because this time, the blameable cause of the heinous crime is known. The plane was shot down. It must be done by anyone of the parties in the war zone- the Russians, the Ukraine government and the separatist rebels supported and financed by Russia. The blameable party is not the Malaysian government. So Najib is quick off the starting blocks compared to MH370.

Two, Najib wants to leverage on the world spotlight. The world’s major leaders are all united in the condemnation of this unconscionable act. Najib must be seen to be doing something which can be read as befitting of a leader claiming world stature. What better way that to present to the world, Malaysia’s parliament is solidly behind the otherwise invertebrate PM.

Malaysians are kinder to their PM. Elsewhere in western democracies, the people deal with the matter as a matter of factly. If you are incompetent or reckless, expect the criticisms to be direct and less circumspect. You lembik means you are lembik, you are dullard, you will be called one directly.

The most powerful man in the world today, Barack Obama devoted less than a minute referring to the downing of MH17. He was widely rebuked via twitter. President Barack Obama provoked fury in the U.S. on Thursday by casually devoting less than a minute to the deaths of 298 people aboard a Malaysian airliner, a casual mention by the US president describing the catastrophe as 'it looks like it may be a terrible tragedy.

In our country, how? We are actually fed up of the business as usual approach of the PM and his cabinet members. It’s pointless to debate whether the plane took precautions- that is academic already. The plane was shot down by criminals and terrorists using a BUK Missile SA- 11 . Most probably by separatist rebels patronized by Russia. The immediate step would have been for the Foreign Misniter to haul the Russian Ambassador in and tell him firmly that we hold Russia to be responsible for this heinous crime in which 298 lives perished.

Apparently all the PM and the bewildered transport minister( we should have told him to stay on in China, don’t come back let Hishamudin handle this matter) could come up with are the usual blasé clichés,  we will leave no stones unturned and asking for swift justice to be taken. Asking who la tuan?

If so then despatch Anifah Aman or a person more capable to the UN assembly and call for an emergency session to denounce this heinous crime and to demand international bodies to capture the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

America with all its sophisticated spying equipment know who were the perpetrators. We must strongly request USA to share information with us. The Ukrainian government must also share responsibility over this crime. It must be asked to provide all necessary facilities and assistance to us. It is still not exonerated from this crime.

There is growing conviction among many, that the culprits and perpetrators are separatist rebels who are backed by Russia. If Putin remains isolated and detached, this will hurt Russian image abroad. That is why we are surprised Anifah Aman has not called in the Russian ambassador. Or call him to the emergency parliament session so that he can witness directly the anguish of the whole nation.