Muhyiddin's coup de grace

On the 9th, Pakatan held a ceramah "Kembalikan Mandat Rakyat".  Now that sounds strange to me.  How to give back?

The only way to do that is to have general elections.  Parliamentary action is a waste of time. Vote of  no confidence is just that.

If they find themselves  out of power blame it on Mahathir. He's so itchy-fied to resign. This is no game.

Mahathir thinks it's just a game.  This time he may have overplayed  his card. By choosing to resign he shows he doesn't respect  the mandate from the people. Hell, he doesn't even respect the mandate from heaven.

Dr Mahathir  may have the number in parliament  but that doesn't me he's right.  He's playing Russian  roulette with the people.  MPs are not our overlords.

So to me it's a misnomer to say kembalikan mandat rakyat.  Ask Mahathir  to kembali.

Nobody asked him to resign. Anwar is a non entity. Mahathir says he has no problem with Muhyiddin becoming PM.  So his motion is unconscionable.

Muhyiddin saw an opportunity  and took it.  That's hardly blameable.  Isn't it fair in love and war? Politics is just an extension  of war by another  means.

Can we expect any earth shaking policies from Mahathir  in the twilight of his years? Let's give Muhyiddin a chance. At least he can be better than bosku.

Mahathir  created a dysfunctional  cabinet.  He was  more interested to give member parties of PH their proportionate share.  It wasn't a government  of primus inter pares.  BERSATU seems incapable  of pushing its core policies.

As a result each member party wants to push its own agenda. Each week we are subject to petrol price change regime. Corporations are unable to do businesses under a suffocating regime.
That what is expected  from present day Mahathir.

Whether we like or not the people want core members of the cabinet to be Malays. Do we see Malays composing 15 percent of the Singapore  cabinet? The policies of the first among equals dominate.

Whether  you like it or dont like it-learn to love it.

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The no confidence vote is an exercise in futility.

I never knew Saloma sang this song.

I admire TDM.  I have described him as'the man who can walk on water.  He can do impossible  things.  I have called him the 'Don Corleone 'of Malaysian politics. His place in history is already assured.

He has submitted a motion of no confidence against Muhyiddin. The speaker has accepted  it.  Malaysia will be in for another round of political  Tsunami.

But I am afraid it will be a bridge too far for TDM this time. And I will tell you the reasons why. I don't  expect universal agreement  though.

Muhyiddin is still the president of BERSATU is he? Isn't it easier to purge him?.  Is Dr Mahathir  practising a form of political infanticide?

Is TDM the hippopotamus beach master killing  the baby hippo? He may have 1001 valid reasons but the majority  of Malaysia  will be against  TDM. This time.

I am aware that some people saw Muhyiddin did a power grab and rise to power was unconstitutional.  I beg to differ. Muhyiddin saw an opportunity  and seized  it.  He was an effective  leader. Its just that.

Pakatan may not be unified as one thinks. They may sleep on the same pillow but dream different  dreams.
DAP sees itself as lord of shanghai. Didn't Anwar  says he will not play second fiddle to Mahathir  any more? AMANAH will do what Mat Sabu says. They will bend with the wind.

Mahathir  does not know how to lose. One's personal ambitions knows no bounds.
In any case how long more can we endure Mahathir. Surely we cannot  have a PM who is 100? At that time some men play with their own urine and faeces.of course Mahathir is no mere mortal.

The reasonable  man will not want anything of it.  He is not the man on the Clapham omnibus.  The MPs are not the men on the Piccadilly commuter tube either.  Both do read in between the lines.
They read it as Mahathir  wanting to leave a legacy.

I know this issue will be played out in Parliament.  But the MPs have a duty to read correctly what the people  want.  Reading correctly  means they have to repudiate  the  no confidence  motion.

We have to also consider the political fatigue that has drowned the people.  Mahathir's move the other day threw the country in turmoil.  People are tired of political  intrigues.  One more is too much!

Muhyiddins administration  has 2 great things going for it.  The measures taken to combat COVID-19 show the people they are protected.

The slew of financial measures  show  people they are cared for.

The same cannot be said of the Pakatan government. They are more interested  to run the country as a business  unit.  They are manually  driven zombies.

The people  now want stability and certainty.  They didn't get that from the Pakatan  government. The MP's have a duty to give them to the people.

For these reasons I think the no confidence  motion ought to be rejected.  It's an abuse of Parliamentary privilege.

I will end this article with 2 things a friend said.

"Worry is a misuse of the brain"

"Sometimes there's  nothing we can do but wait for the rain to subside and the sun to shine again."

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The Economics of COVID-19 part 3/3

The ideas held by many, the government  must do more. We elect them do the minimum wage, tax the rich, because that benefits the poor. Legislate more through manipulation of the employment  act, employment  insurance  schemes-  are all myths.

Myths, I might add are like an air mattress. They are comfortable for many purposes until  they  get deflated. Then you get a jolt.

When things go bad there's always a shift from reliance  of individual  responsibility to collective responsibility. From  self-reliance  to depending  on big brother  and ward keeper.

I doubt  very much taxing the rich will benefit  the poor. What we feel is different  from reality. Let me illustrate.

Take for example politics.who dominate the sphere? Hardly the poor. The very rich may have a few reps but the bulk is from  the middle income group.

The poor are on  the side lines. They are  there in the first place because the have lesser talent, lesser entrepreneurial skills  are unfortunate  to be born handicap or are in groups discriminated against.

From the very rich I could get money, so it's worthwhile to sacrifice  a few seats from the middle income group.  What can I get from the lower income group?
I may feel empathy for them, but the reality is what it is.  The middle income looks after their  own.

So if they look after their interests can we rely on  big brother? I submit, no.

The very  poor may get crumbs  but the middle income get the meat.

There is no good relying on big brother. It only gives them an excuse to impose their bureaucracy  and cause havoc through  their ubiquitous  corruption.

I used to think why Malays remain poor despite Malays dominating  government  instrument  from ketua kampungs to kings? Big brother doesn't help. But that's part of the answer.
The other part is to give big brother an excuse  to become little Napoleons  and impose corruption!

If Everyman were allowed  to pursue their  own interest the good of society is furthered. Adam Smith said that. A long time ago.

But we cannot trust the free market. The free marketeers are profit driven. They are rapacious  people.  So trust the government.
I have  shown what trusting big brother entails to.

So what to do? First of course  existing  facilities  must be managed better. Health facilities rubbish disposal  clean water supply electricity  etc.

Development policies must be skewed towards rural areas. Don't focus on workers only.  The café latte socialists  and Gucci  communists  talked about them. They are hardly the poor. The poor are in the kampungs.

Bank Negara must tell commercial banks to provide cheap loans to kampung people.  Lower interest  loans must be provided to kampung people.  Commercial banks should establish coffee shop bank branches in kampungs.

Housing loans should  be provided at zero interests. Applicants  consisting of  women should be encouraged.

Facilities at pasar malam should be upgraded. Build permanent premises with rubbish collection facilities  and cold room facilities.

Direct income transfers should  be made to the very poor. These are the miskin tegar who are worse off than the organised workers who are defended by well-intentioned do-gooders.

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The Economics of COVID-19 Part 2

I was reading an article  asking the government  to do more to help workers.
Surprisingly there is no mention at all of "unions". This tells me unions do not protect  the workers.

We intend to help the workers but very often the outcome is the opposite  of our intention. So who protect  our workers?

There are 951 unions covering 800000 workers in Malaysia.  Are we, able to say the other 800 thousand  are not protected? The pasar malam vendors  have no unions. How are they protected?

Before the trade union  act 1959-we have no unions. Can we say our workers are not protected?

Unions protect  2 classes of people -members and the union officials. The protection given is not equal.

The strongest unions are probably  the teachers union, banking, medical, airline workers, municipal unions. We can hardly call the workers here as poor!

The unions are therefore not relevant in our discussion.  I submit they are not important.

That is not to say unions are not useful-they are.  But their leadership structure  must be re-engineered  and democratised.

That leaves the government  to do its duty:-by manipulating the employment  act through  the EPF or some employment insurance schemes  through  SOCSO etc. Or it monetises its debts. Even this proposal is misleading.

Before independence, we had no government to protect workers but workers got by. So not wholly true the government makes the difference.

Before I discuss some ways to overcome  the economic  downturn  there  are several issues  I want  to  talk about. These are the minimum  wage issue and taxing the rich  more.


Ramon Navaratnam is undoubtedly  a do-gooder who intends  to help  the poor.  Unfortunately  almost always good intentions produced the opposite  effects-producing increased unemployment  and increased poverty.  A do-gooder like Navaratnam becomes inadvertently a tool for special interest groups and the monopolists.

That's what the minimum wage rate does. Strange,  is it?

Think this way. In order  to pay the minimum wage rate the employers look for workers commensurate with the skills and qualifications  demanded  by the minimum wage rate.

What is the effect? The wage rate discriminate  against  those who don't have the required  skills and qualifications. The very people Navaratnam wants to help.
The poor are kept out the job market. They remained unemployed  and poor still.

Well intentions  but the effects  are not.  Have the government  published  results  of the minimum wage rate?

The special interest  groups  like the trade unions will like the idea.  It entrenches them and keeps off competition.
Do the do-gooders still like the idea? Unemployment  and  poverty will be on you!

Tax the very rich and help the poor says 'Robin Navatnam Hood'. Perhaps  he has not heard about Director's law(after Aaron Director). The law says almost  invariably  government  programs like this benefit the middle income group at the expense of the very  rich and the poor.

I can only say to the poor 'be still and wait without hope, for hope is to hope for the wrong  thing'. TS Eliot.

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The Economics of COVID-19 Part 1

COVID-19 has affected our economy adversely. It has become a pandemic which bring dire economic consequences.

In response the government has introduced MCO-movement control order. Really, the duration is indefinite.

The government is asking people to stay at home do social distancing wash their clothes  use hand sanitizers wear masks cook more and make love more too. How else to entertain?

We are  also provided  with some comic relief. We have a higher education  minister asking  us to play  tick- tock on the phone.

We have the women affairs minister asking the wives to do the voice of Doraemon when romancing their husbands. Wow! This lady is unsangka-rable!

And we have the Health Minister asking us to drink more warm water. He has consulted 500 countries whereas there are only  195 countries in the world.  Clever fellow-not only is he a medical  doctor but has two ba's to his  name!

Our economy  has undoubtedly  shrunk. Our GDP is down. Many industries have gone south.

The hospitality industry  is down. Hotel occupancy is down. The aviation  industry is laying off workers. 2 to 3 million people will be retrenched.
Poor Makcik Kiah will not be able to sell her goreng  pisang.

The government  has  introduced  a slew of economic incentives.  I hope this policy will not be an excuse to implement  more collectivist programmes.

The normal and typical response  is to ask the government  to do more.  It is precisely more government  intrusion  that makes matters worse.  Sad to say it's not a call for a mini dictatorship  of the proletariat.

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The Misuse of Religion.

One of the brothers in Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov said "If god is dead then everything  is permissible".

That means conduct  like killing, rape, plunder, perjury etc can be done.

There are  no  more religious  injunctions  to restrain  you and society at large is mute and dumb.

These 2 things  explained  why Najib  plundered the country.

To Najib at that particular  time god  is dead.  there is no celestial being to restrain him.  Now of course he beseeches  god to let him of the hook! God is back.

If God can be switched off and  on it means God's existence  depends  on how Najib thinks at a particular time.
Surely on this point alone the religious zealots  must censure him.

At that particular  time, i.e. when Najib  stole billions through  the agency of 1MDB, God is either dead or non-existent.  Najib is both ungodly  and blasphemous. He should  be crucified  for this.

For being murtad and shirik shouldn't  death be the punishment?

If the religious fakers are silent on this-not only are they complicit  they undermine our beliefs in religious  morality.  It exposes them as hypocrites!

Aren't  they the ones clamoring  for the implementation  of hudud and shariah laws?

Excuse me-Najib  is not only stealing but behaves that God is dead or non-existent. Isn't that a mortal sin?

We must  not be lenient  towards a person teaching us that God is dead and non-existent. Actually  God has nothing  to do when we commit wrongs.

We are the architect of our conduct  and must answer  for it or be called to account. Doing  a Mad's Alfred-what me know or a Baldric-deny everything  is only sophistry.

Don't  make a sumpah laknat saying you don't  know about 1MDB or you have nothing  to do with a lady's murder, do a repentance because you behaved that God is dead or  does not exist.

Don't use  God when it's convenient  to. Like mullah Nasruddin says to the barber who cuts him as he shaves exclaiming  Allahuakbar and Astaghfirullahal azim -lets leave God aside!

Society is mute and dumb.  That's an insult to us. That's  saying  we don't have an innate sense of what's wrong  or right.
We don't need a terrestrial  big brother like the religious fakers to tell us what is right and what is wrong. No sir!

Like judge Thomas  says-its irrelevant! The concept of vicarious redemption is irrelevant.
Ask some of the humanoids to say they are guilty  on your behalf.  Then you are forgiven.

Is that how it works?

Must find a village  idiot!

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Part 2. Pas and Islamic politics

Another problem with PAS is that it claims legitimacy from God.
That is a troubling thought.

God's omnipotence is translated politically into absolute  rule.

There  are many ways to persuade  gullible  people. The clerics are the inheritors of the holy Prophet (pbuh)
There is a very thin  line that separates personal interests from  the common good.

Once this kind of rule is accepted, PAS can justify honour killings, violence and other forms of tyranny.

Our objections are grounded on:
(1) where are  the control mechanisms to reign in unbridled lust for power?
(2) if such mechanisms exist they are weak.

PAS will keep changing the goal posts when we want to score.

PAS derives its legitimacy from interpreting Gods message and since they are derivatives  they ought to be questioned.  But will PAS tolerate criticisms or perpetuate  its emotional manacles?

We don't need a dictatorship  to tell what is right or wrong. We have access to literature and our own reasoning  and abilities.
That makes PAS which eventually leads to dictatorship  irrelevant.

Can the wrongs of a particular person be forgiven  by punishing others? What kind of morality does PAS condone?

It's disturbing to see pas not condemning  the thousands of duds supporting Najib. It appears that PAS condones passing the blame morality.

Therefore, for PAS, its right for Najib to lie and its right  for others to shoulder blame.
Najib's guilt will be written off if others volunteer  to accept  punishment on his behalf.

Can we support a PAS like that?

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