The PH Government

In the name of God, most Gracious and most Merciful,

Alla tanq’lu alayya

Wa’tuuni muslimin.

My name is Mohd Ariff Sabri. I was born in Kg Parit, Pekan, Pahang -- unlike the billion-ringgit whale who was actually born in Kuala Lipis but believed by many to be born in Pekan. He only came back to Pekan when the great Tun Razak died.        
                            

I was not born in Raub as believed by many; Raub is the home of my ancestors. They lived in Temau before moving to Budu in Kuala Lipis. My great-great-grandfather, Khatib Amin was the younger brother of Imam Rasu, or better known as Tok Gajah.
 

Najib led UMNO to its defeat in the PRU14. It's now in a confused state. We must deal them a death blow. Najib has shown us what mismanagement and corruption can do to our country. We must never be condemned to do it; the Quran tells us the story of the nation Saba which was prosperous but because the people were ingrates -- lazy and indolent, silent on corruption, lacked discipline -- the once prosperous country became a hopeless wasteland. The poet T.S. Elliot said it nicely: "I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for to hope is to hope for the wrong thing."

Siapa bilang bapak dari blitar                                       

Bapak dari brambangan

Siapa bilang Pakatan Harapan tersasar

UMNO yang kebingungan

Siapa bilang bapak dari Raub

Bapak datang dari Pekan

Siapa bilang pakatan melalut

UMNO yang nak sawan

A popular poet wrote:

Berikan aku lidah

Aku mahu berkata kata

Bagaikan ombak

Yang menghempas pantai yang merdeka

Elsewhere he wrote:

Aku akan pergi dengan seribu jebat si anak tani

Sekian lama kita hidup dalam setia

Kali ini kita hidup dalam durhaka

-Comrade Kassim Ahmad

The PM is like the mighty tiger. We in the Pakatan are like a fox. One day the fox stumbles on the tiger. The tiger gave chase and the fox is cornered; but surprisingly showed no fear.

"Are you not afraid of me?" asked the tiger.

"Why should ?" said the fox. "If you don’t believe in me let us go to the village yonder."

On the way they saw some UMNO losers with their sycophants. When they saw the fox walking with the tiger UMNO, the losers and their coward sycophants ran away.

UMNO is really a paper tiger. It reminds me of what Cao Cao said: "When a loser combines with a coward what can they achieve?"

The PH is the government now. Those in power must quickly learn to understand and know how to use power. Managing a government is not like doing embroidery or attending a dinner party or eating mee abu in Alor Setar or eating pasembur in Penang. There must be a little bit of Machiavelli.
I think Machiavelli’s The Prince and The Discourses on Livy must be required reading so they know how to reconcile being a nice person and a good politician. What the people require most is effective leadership.

We must apply a little bit of terror, a little bit of judicious tyranny. We must not give the opposition any air time. Remember that the objective of war, as Clausewitz said, is the destruction of its armed forces and one of those is the ability to spread their ideology. The faster the rakyat forget them the better.

There is no need for us to celebrate difference of opinion. That can be done during our tête-à-tête. Or during a coffee klatch. We do not have to prove anything to the Bukit Tunku Bolshevik,  the gauge caviar or the Gucci communists, or the Country Heights latte socialists. Apply some judicious tyranny on them.

The opposition will talk negatively of us; that is their raison d'être. Let them talk until the cows come home. It will not stop us from our main objective: to prosper the people.

The Quran asks us to fight in the cause of Go,d to protect and defend the weak who frequently prayed for deliverance. We must never forget that.

We should be guided by the principle of not concealing truth with lies and reveal everything if we have knowledge. The people know what the previous government did. Najib has been going around the country telling good stories about the world, hypnotising the people yet behind their backs, he was plotting nefarious deeds, such as stealing money from the country. He has destroyed the plants and cattle; look at FELDA and NFC. He has stolen money through 1MDB. He may have taken monies from Felda, Risda, LTH and the various organisations he created. The government must investigate these institutions.

I see dark clouds over Pekan. We only need to prove one of the charges and Najib will be a special guest at Bamboo River Resort and Rosmah will go on a long holiday at Kajang Hilton where we can serenade her with the quatrain:

One two three four

Satu dua tiga empat

Rosmah Mansor cincin besar                

Rakyat jelata apa dapat?

In Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith said a country is not prosperous if there is a large majority who are poor. We are grappling with this issue at the moment where the rural populations are largely poor.

What are we to do?

First we need to understand the psychology of the Malays; they need some disciplining. This trait i learned from personal observations. While recuperating, I have had Malay, Bangladeshi and Pakistani nurses. The Malay will take frequent long breaks and changed duties among their friends, ignoring the fact that i have to teach the new replacement all over. A few years ago the late Sanusi Junid summed up the secret of Malay success in the acronym ABDRS: Amanah, Berani, Disiplin, Rajin and Setia. All can be achieved but discipline is the most difficult.

In applying to Malay economics there must be a mixture of command economics and free market economics. We must tell them what to do, but the how will be done by them. I am a firm believer in supply-side economics. Employment and success will increase when the prices of goods and services are decreased. People will succeed if we give them the tools and opportunities to do so.

We can learn something from China; in 1968, people in the country were starving -- eating tree barks and braces, etc etc. But within a generation, China has become one of the biggest economies in world.

What did they do? One of the things they did was to mix command economy and free market economy. Another thing they did was to create free-trade zones; Shanghai, Guangdong, Henan etc. Perhaps we can do similar things to agriculture, for instance, zones where people can buy agricultural capital goods. Those not involved in agriculture would not be interested with these zones and would therefore seek other zones. That's how we can lower costs for farmers and fishermen.

We need to introduce products diversification. If the farmers can grow more expensive durians, they can also grow saffron and pomegranate. Rearing donkeys, water buffaloes, porcupines, deer and other animals. We can grow more coffee and cocoa. And very importantly, we should make use of greenhouse technology, which can help us to grow Yubari melons and strawberries. Fishermen can  rear scallops, mussels, oyster, hybrid grouper and lobsters.

China has recently come out with a 60-page document, in which they declare their goal to create a high-tech army. Perhaps our own Defense Minister can read this and apply to our army.

On the other hand, while we admire china on certain things, we are seemingly silent on its treatment on the Uighur community. More than 1 million  people have been sent to re-education camps and imprisoned. Uighur children are sent to special kindergartens to be indoctrinated. Why is our foreign minister mum on this?

The pollution in Pasir Gudang seems to be dragging too long. I am sorry to say the Johore government is inept on this issue. Their lagging can bring down the Pakatan government. Close down the polluting factories temporarily; jail the bosses and clean up the rivers. Simple enough, isn't it? Are the officers in the Johore government protecting these factories? SPRM should investigate this. It is well-established that polluted rivers are linked to deaths and/or sickness. Don’t foot-drag on this issue.

For the moment that is all.

Sakmongkol.