Post Bellum- After the War

3 WEEKS AFTER.

I am trying to picture the scene 3 weeks after 26^th of August. I read the blogger kickdefella mentioning of massive layoffs in September. He is referring of course to the ministry of domestic trade’s directive that all petrol stations must implement the self service practice. Station operators are liable to fines up to RM15,000 if caught violating the edict.

All will be affected. Service stations employ many workers Malaysians and non Malaysians. The Malaysians employed are mostly single mothers, wives working to help husbands raise their families and so on.

These people will of course swell the ranks of the proletariat waiting to overthrow the oligarchic rule of the UMNO despots. This will be another blunder by our government.

Fines up to RM15k can be used to employ at least 10 petrol pump attendants providing assistance to car owners. Not all like to self service. Some chose not to because many are allergic to the smell of fumes. Perhaps the ministry’s officers are not aware of these. They prefer servicing the clandestine service stations of storage yards for stolen diesel and petroleum. Hey- I worked for a decade for the Shell company and do have some knowledge on this.

Ok- that was a bit of digression.

3 weeks after the 26^th is 16^th of September. Should the UN-SANGKA-RABLE takes place, the scenario of big layoffs can POSSIBLY and equally apply to all political appointees in the present government.

Dato Najib will of course become the deputy whip. He will be the MP for Pekan and ketua bahagian.

All his political appointees will have their services terminated. The POLSEC at the DPMs department Dato Sahlan the brother to YB Saifudin Nasution, will get the boot as do all the special assistants. But perhaps the assistant pictured with Saiful the sodomised will find new employment provided he is jambu enough.

The POLSEC at MINDEF, the fish seller Dato Safie Abdullah will also be sacked. He will of course find a new vocation in business having made hay while the Najib sun shone.

In Pekan, maybe those on the Najib payroll will still be employed because Dato Najib is a man with Richelieu-nian resources.

His security guards, body guards and all those related to that industry will be redeployed elsewhere.

Indeed a massive layoff will take place. Ministers and deputy ministers and all political appointees will swell the job market and crowd out those who are still searching for jobs with their fake diplomas and degrees.

Certainly I would support Rox UNcut’s proposoal to:-

Put ALL dirty politicians (and their relatives and cronies who have benefited from their thievery and daylight robbery), regardless of colour, religion, gender and sexual orientation, and those guilty of treason, i.e., betraying us and shovelling the country into its present shitty state because of their greed, self-interest and thirst for power, to work cleaning pig farms.

But don’t worry, the pig farms are modernised employing the latest and best German technology.

Send Malaysians with bad habits (taking bribes, bullying, raping/sodomising?, etc) and negative attitudes (especially corrupt, insolent and inefficient civil servants who lack work ethics and discipline), and those (the worst!) who dare use the word "impossible" to Kamunting (which will be converted to boot camp under different severities of punishment categories) to rehabilitation.

And I certainly hope, those chosen to attend the rehabilitation classes would not find these boot camps demeaning and beneath them and later do an Ian Chin devil incarnate accusation or judgement or pronouncement? Eh? Eh?

And remember what I said about Pekan folks queuing on the Sultan Abu Bakar Bridge awaiting the signal to jump into the river?

And remember too what I said about the tandu or palanquin in Kampung Ubai Kuantan, which was used to carry the late Tun Razak ? Well that has already been hacked up and made into firewood for a kenduri. Can’t carry anyone from Pekan.

CITO FIT QUOD DII VOLUNT- what the gods want happens soon.

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Gus Dur? ngak apa apa sih, bisa tobat!

We shouldn’t lose sleep when pak Gus Dur comes a calling. Remember, the former MP from Jasin? Well he asked us to close one eye. With Gus Dur, we can close both eyes and nothing happens.

Gus Dur’s visit, whether he comes lending support to Anwar or just stopping over, does not change what’s written in the stars. Malaysians will remember the image of Gus Dur in shorts cradling a cewek on his lap. By the way, that shorts looked uncannily similar to the ones we can get at the Pasar Malam in Taman Tun. The joke then was- when Gus Dur was asked whether this is not frowned upon by Islam, he was said to remark- ngak apa, bisa tobat.

And so if this kind of character comes to pay a visit to Anwar and Anwar entertained and received him as a show of filial respect, I don’t think we should worry at all. If Gus Dur isn’t important and will not be a factor to Anwar’s defeat( which the author thinks is just wishful thinking), then why do we create a ruckus about who visits Anwar?.

And that same thinking applies to whether Anwar went to give a talk to Asgar Ali Engineer’s Islamic forum or he is a friend to JL Esposito. All these people do not factor into Anwar’s victory.

Our analyses have not gone beyond giving our often similar and unsolicited opinions on the contests within UMNO. Suppose there are two contestants for the post of ketua bahagian. One is a sure winner( we think) and the other must be the loser. And yet, we overstretch ourselves to giving advice on strategy, pointing out the would be loser’s weaknesses and so on. What purpose do they serve? He is going to lose, so leave him be.

“…Gus Dur tampaknya sadar bahwa kekuatan politik tak dapat dilepaskan dari uang, maka ia pun menempatkan orang-orang kepercayaannya di wilayah-wilayah yang banyak berurusan dengan uang…..Ia ingin mencintai demokrasi, tapi ia sendiri telah menempuh jalan yang sering tidak demokratis. Ia membenci KKN dalam ucapan-ucapannya, tapi ia melanggengkan KKN dalam pemerintahannya. Ia ingin menegakkan hukum, tapi ia sendiri juga sering melabrak hukum.” (Detak, 2-8 Mei 2000).

Gus dur is a practitioner of the usual politics associated with the powerful. Corruption, collusion and nepotism. And so if Anwar by associating with Gus Dur conceals the same preferences and inclinations like Gus Dur, then like the character Alfred in Mad Magazine says, WHAT ME WORRY?

The fact is, people love Gus Dur because he is such a comic providing us relief from the humdrum and pain we are suffering caused by politicians. Can the blind lead the unblind?

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Repent for the end is near!!!

From one of their songs in the album Hail to the Thief, by the British band Radiohead, I gleaned the following lyrics;

You just let the paper burn
Our voices were not heard
Watching democracy go up in smoke
Everytime that you spoke

The time has come the judgments now
Time to pay up somehow
It's not free, it's not up to me
It's time to face it you see
So you reap as you sow
Well, how low can you go
I don't know, I don't know
I just don't know

And on that fateful day
You stopped what we had to say
Did you plan it all along
Did you think we'd forget all the wrongs

This Tuesday, the people in Permatang Pauh will vote. They will choose either the enigmatic Anwar or the equally pugnacious Arif Shah Omar Shah. ASOS says he can win and he will also bury Anwar. KJ will be on hand to pass the spade. Maybe he will bury ASOS instead.

I have already written a number of posts on Permatang Pauh. The whole nation seems engrossed on PP. some stories or any story at all about PP seems to be a must on the menu item on the daily diet of Malaysians. So we must not disappoint our punters.

PP is the judgment on both Anwar and Dato Seri Najib. One has been the DPM and was just a step towards the PMship, the other must wait until June 2010. If that day comes at all.

From what we read and hear, the campaigns in PP were not about issues at all. It’s all about the sordid past of Anwar. Whereas before the by-elections, we were made to believe that it will not be about personalities. It will be about issues and the future on Malaysia.

Unfortunately, that promise, in an oft quoted Shakespearean term is more honoured in its breach than its observance. Sadly, the party that breaches it most is our BN party.

So, predating the much jaded phrase of I Told You So, I will just say it now, that PP is UMNO’s comeuppance.

The time has come the judgments now
Time to pay up somehow
It's not free, it's not up to me
It's time to face it you see
So you reap as you sow

By the way, the title of this post is a borrowed phrase from Jed Yoong's latest post. terror lah....

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Public Transport Blues

In the car I listened to the newsreader commenting on the PM’s harrowing experience on the public commuter service. He took a ride on the LRT from Serdang to Kl City centre.

He was not amused and of course not satisfied. We must fix it quickly said he. I remembered about the RM 4 billion saved being applied to improving the public transport system in KL. Or Klang Valley. I do not think much has improved. Anyway the lion’s share of the RM 4 billion in improving public transport system must have been gotten by SComi Group.

Next I hear the newsreader say that the transport ministry is awaiting delivery of 32 new train sets to augment the lack of infrastructure at present. Hence the pivotal role of possibly and who else, SYARIKAT PRASARANA belonging to khazanah Holdings.

Now will khazanah send its officers to evaluate the soundness of the train sets that are to be supplied?. Or will it say, because of its own lack of expertise, it will allow a private company to do that evaluation exercise?. And most probably it will be SCOMI. But of course a few officers from the transport ministry and treasury will accompany our private sector friends from the private sector.

Should they go to any of the Scandinavian countries to learn about how to improve our transport system and infrastructure please take heed of the blogger Rox Uncut admonitions;

There will be nil tolerance to frivolities like frequenting expensive restaurants and bars and fucking models/translators in first-class hotels at the rakyat's expense when they are overseas. As a social democratic and liberal leader, I will allow them to do all the above recreational activities in their own free time and at their own expense.

Ok? No sodomising either ya, at the rakyat’s expense.

In any case, the transport ministry must have known about Pak Lah’s decision to state we must fix the problem now. The speed by which the ministry’s response was made, beats all those ballyhooed KPIs expounded by all and sundry.

Hidup KPI.

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UMNO's Revolusi Mental

FROM 3^RD WORLD TO FIRST WORLD MENTALITY.

The problem with UMNO is, its leadership has never expanded the raison detre for UMNO’s existence. To where are they marching? All they can say, they fought for Ketuanan Melayu. What is that? The same as the Hitler’s Aryan race?

UMNO has not gone beyond perpetrating the myth that racial eminence is obtained through might. Hence the unleashing of the keris is essentially symbolic of an assertion of the belief that one’s race is superior through might or physical aggression.

In the past, might was of course represented by military superiority which in turn was reflected through numerous battles. The western powers of old, Greece and Rome fought the eastern powers represented by Persia and the Turks for example. The battles were mostly won by the western powers of antiquity. Later on the march of western power was taken over by powers such as Holland, England, Spain and Portugal and France. These are the old world. These marched onwards to the east where they confronted and eventually demolished all the eastern powers.

It is easy to explain the continuous victories of western powers as being due to superior military technology. That is of course true. But what is even truer, is that the military technology and superiority are the product of ideals and values represented by the military technology. The march outwards by the western powers represented the march of ideas about freedom and eventually what became known as democracy. They confronted the ideas represented by eastern powers which were generally of despotism and autocracy.

History gives us the example of the Greek Battles against the Persian armies. Some lessons from the many battles can be drawn from a book Anabasis written by one Xenophon. The Greeks fought for and because of a sense of personal freedom, superior discipline, matchless weapons, egalitarian camaraderie, individual initiative. The way the Greeks fought reflected the values produced by consensual government, equality among the middling classes, politics that were free from being religion-ised freedom, or religion being politicised, individualism and rationalism.

What lessons can we learn from all these? Why is western military prowess so vastly superior than the eastern powers? Substitute successful for western and less successful for eastern. Why do the west win over the east? Or simply, winners and losers. Why do winners end up winning and losers keep on losing?

A western military power dreads going to war with another western power. Why? Because the share the same cultural heritage, they can guess each other’s strength correctly. They are motivated by the same cultural impulses. Throughout history, wars between western powers have caused more deaths than wars between western and eastern power. Alexander the Great killed more Europeans that the Persians killed Europeans. So why is it that the European ability to fight more superior that its eastern counterpart?

It seems that their ability to FIGHT and WIN, reflects larger social, economic, political and cultural practices that have little to do with war.

Conversely losers fought for the continuation of despotism, autocratic rule, anti self responsibility, indiscipline, in-egalitarian ideals.

That’s what the UMNO leadership represents. The concentration of power justified in the name of recently fabricated traditionalism. But what it actually means is acceptance of unchallenged right to control UMNO by those already in authority. Self discipline and personal initiative? UMNO represents a huge welfare organisation. Egalitarian camaraderie? UMNO leaders are there because of who they are and least likely of because what they can do.

So one can imagine the outcome of a clash between a party that represents despotic cultural ideals(repressive, mental bondage, dependence) with that which represents more democratic ideals.( egalitarian, freedom and self responsibility)

So one has to ask what has the struggle to preserve a despotic and oligarchic rule done for the Malays or for the world for that matter.?

Competition for leadership in UMNO is reduced to a struggle to gain control and monopoly over economic largesse. After that, it is followed by every attempt to create self perpetuity and concentration of power among the ruling oligarchy. To that, we ask, what kind of cultural ethos will that produce? The elite leadership will devise every possible way to keep outsiders away from their monopoly. Outsiders here mean, the UMNO leaders who have a different political outlook offering UMNO members a choice for more egalitarianism, democracy, personal responsibility, freedom of thought etc.

So what does this culture of political exclusion produce? Our leaders transferring power among themselves represents the cultural ethos of despotism, autocracy and closed door politics. To my mind such political in-breeding and incestuous politics can only lead to an emasculated political party. In the British monarchy for instance, prolonged in breeding has produced dim witted royals.

The solution? UMNO needs a new leadership that extols the cultural values that winners represent. More openness, egalitarianism, self responsibility, democracy and so forth.

A leadership that makes ITS BUSINESS to exhort the Malays to excel in every endeavours. The quest to affirm your KETUANAN translates into continuing efforts to work, do our best and make ourselves relevant to this world. How do we do that?

By being more capable, through education, through competitiveness, acquiring skills, by nurturing the cultural ethos that to work and to be clever are the answers to making oneself relevant to this world. Otherwise you are reduced to a mere cog in the wheel depending on your survival on the charitable instincts of others.

To insist on ketuanan Melayu should be a quest to acquire self mastery over one’s surroundings. This means one’s tireless and unending quest to free oneself from any vestiges of unfreedom.

To be poor is unfreedom. To be less competitive on account of language deficiency for example, is an unfreedom. To be tied up in mental bondage is unfreedom. To allow oneself to be dumb mutes by our leadership is also unfreedom.

A leadership that delivers us from all these unfreedoms- This is the kind of leadership, the majority of us UMNO members are waiting for.

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This whole Mubahalah thing

‘Unker’ Lim Kit Siang, who is not a Muslim asked this question. If Anwar were to swear by the Quran will the charges preferred against him be dropped?

The government has not answered. It cannot. Because the real intention is to catch out Anwar. We are actually not interested in seeing Anwar performing the mubahalah. Indeed it serves our interest to see to it he does not. For then we can go on and on accusing him of being guilty.

If he has done it, he would still swear on the Quran that he did not do it. Then what? His detractors will say, let the courts decide his innocence or otherwise. We will still accuse him of being guilty.

So, if that is the case, a catch 22 situation, why ask Anwar to swear if you have already formed your judgment?

The ulamaks themselves are at variance with each other as to the probity of swearing by the Quran.

First as I have said, it is highly irregular for a person who is the victim to swear by the Quran saying that he did not protest being raped. Isn’t swearing has as its intention to disavow something you did not do? Or to deny something you are accused of. What was the something that Saiful did not do? What was he accused of?

The fact is, he has not be accused of anything. In my mind, if he says he was raped, then the mubahalah should be directed against a theoretical accusation that he did not resist . to that he must swear that he resisted. The point of doing mubahalah is to negate something.

If both Anwar and Saiful were to be accused of engaging in sodomy, then both will have the opportunity to perform mubahalah together. Now that is more appropriate. Then instead of holding the Quran, Anwar and Saiful can hold each others’ hands.

Want to know the real feelings of UMNO people about the whole thing? UMNO rank and file members are fed up and see the efforts by UMNO leaders to besmirch our opponent as being so absolutely abhorrent. It reflects the basest of values UMNO holds. The debauchery and the impiety of it all. As I have said, exploiting the sodomy thing will be the guillotine that decapitates UMNO’s already gasping credibility.

And then we are treated to the spectacle of pretty boy Saiful going to the JAWI to give answers to their inquiries. This twerp’s activities are given such prominence that can only point towards unseen hands encouraging the boy. And it would be foolhardy for UMNO to deny it if they are accused.

Then, UMNO can carry out mubahalah.

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The Paper Chase- 1970ish Film

People go all out to gain some semblance of respectability. Such as buying fake degrees. Getting a master’s degree of PhD seems so easy. It’s a walk in the park.

It has been reported that the BN candidate for Permatang Pauh, is pursuing a PhD degree in something. Some aspersions and doubts were made on that. It seems to suggest that the degree being pursued by our BN candidate is itself of dubious repute. That brings back my encounters with such fellows. Allow me to share with you.

I brought a business friend to see a politician friend. My first friend is a graduate from a university in Australia. A Bona Fide one. He is young. He is a successful planter who is seeking to expand his plantation business in Pahang.

On the wall of the politician friend’s office hangs a certificate. It says an MBA degree from some university in the UK. It reads CMBA(UK) and CDBA(EAU). Then even stranger, his name card states Master of Oxcel in Corporate leadership UK.

Wah- your friend has an MBA maa? Of course I said, politicians are clever you know. I nodded smiling.

After we left, I asked my friend. What degree do you want? A PhD Degree? I can confer on you one. Let’s go to this print shop and I will hand you a PhD certificate in a jiffy. I can just print whatever is written like on the name card of my politician friend.

Can’t you see that it’s a fake diploma? A person’s education is reflected through his ways, mannerisms, thought process etc. Can’t you detect that this person is a buffoon? Never mind that he has a high political post. He can’t hide that from us.

Heck- he can’t even pronounce photo-stat, yet he has a qualification from UK? Haha- its common to hear the UMNOniks pronounce it as photo-state. Hmmm… sounds more like prostate.

My friend---- I have been in the UK for some time. My son is there at the moment. I have never heard of this university or college.

It’s just one of those mills minting any certificate you desire based on your work experience and so forth. I must remember to ask the visiting gardener whether he wants a PhD in Horticulture or not.

Degrees, any one for that matter, it seems are a dime a dozen nowadays. Framing one and hanging it on the wall, or maybe hanging 3 or 4, gives oneself respectability.

If these jokers have any respect for those people who actually slogged to earn one, they will not prostitute themselves as some jackass intellectual.

It is common to have politicians buying degrees from somewhere to camouflage their intellectual paucity and emptiness. They at last know, that our society values men of learning. But please remember, a donkey carrying loads of books, will remain as it is- a donkey, forever!

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