Yes, the chinese can at max get 25% of the votes but how about the Indians, the other minority races, those disillusioned with the present government, the PAS, PKR and others. A coalition of all these groups is still very intimidating and stands mighty against the incumbent, BN. I find it so tiresome to measure everything in racial terms. What we really need is a good Malaysian Government where those in charge are there to serve the people and country and not themselves which unfortunately has become the case now after so many years of nuturing under the racist dictatorship of Mahathir. It is important to have a reflection of the racial composition amongst those in the corridor of power but the number one priority got to be ABILITY.

I think our present Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi is a sincere person but he unfortunately inherited the entire mess and all its baggage from the dictator. What’s worse is, he is surrounded by some of the most egoistic, self-serving racists around one of which is his SIL. I think he will need a very long time to the clean up the mess and get the country going. First he got to slowly get rid of the dead wood and the parasites in the government. This is not an easy task because these fouled creatures have been there for eons and firmly entrenched in the corrupted system. They are at all levels of the government and in great numbers. He got to replace them with able, fair and learned men and women who can be in short supply if he only looks towards one race for them. He should have taken the opportunity with the landslide victory and mandate from the people to do just that but looks like he is not coming along.

Therefore I think deep in his heart he knows that the fastest and the only way the country can be saved is to have a complete change of government at one go. This will serve to wipe out completely the inapt,defiled and corrupted in his present team. However, he will need to loose the election with that and how can he see the Alliance loose after 50 years during his watch. He indeed is in a dilemma.

In any case I think the BN will be in a very precarious position this coming election. Anwar will be out in full force (whether or not he is eligible to stand), the MCA is going to be trounced by the DAP because of its perceived malaise and the Chinese community getting tired of its servant-master relationship with UMNO, the PAS is as strong as ever with resurgence of conservative Islam. The electorate are better educated, holds a wider world view and have better choices. Complete blacking out of the media to prevent the oppositions message from reaching the people is also not as effective as during the time of the Mahathir dictatorship because of the internet. In any case I do not think Prime Minister Badawi is one given to dirty tactics such as this to tip the balance to his favour in the election contest. He is still very principled and for that I respect him.

Indeed, Badawi’s action or rather lack of it do reflect poorly on him as a person holding the leadership position in the country. He scores low on leadership and decisiviness. In all probability he is not be as competent as his predecessor and probably also his successor but still these inadequacies do not by themselves disqualify him from being sincere and wanting to do something useful for the country. To resign and enjoy life is the simplest thing in the world to do. In fact I have a hunch such idea may have crossed his mind after reading some of the things said about him here are everywhere lol.

Sometimes calculated inaction is better than action. For instance he has so far not taken any adversaries to court yet for sodomy charges, has not gone against the wishes of the rulers on the choice of judges, has not bankrupted any opposition candidates. Namewee is still happily creating more videos in Taiwan. He has not accused Jews for stealing money from the nation, has not culled a single pig yet and has not close down blogs and websites which by and large are very critical of him (although he has threatened to). As Jeffrey pointed out, whether by design or otherwise, this has allowed civil society to flourish and critics to become more vociferous which of course is important for a Parlimentary democracy to function. What he did in fact succeed in doing is to become George Bush good buddy to the extent that George Bush thinks the opposition in Malaysia is just a frustrated bunch of people and that Malaysia is a shining example of a successful and properous state notwithstanding its islamic or non-islamic status. The Mahathir dictator couldn’t even get into the oval office to shake hands with Bush.

Could he be so stupid as to engineer Anwar premature release so that Anwar can come after his chair as what is happening now. This is of course still my opinion but if Badawi does call election after Anwar becomes eligible I think we should at least give him some points for being a good sport. As I have stated earlier, there is every chance the Alliance may fall this coming election. I just feel that his standard ‘I don’t know answer’ has more than meet the eyes or ears. I think it might be safer to overestimate rather then underestimate him for he may indeed be a tiger feigning a pig. Really for one, he keeps you in the dark so much with his plea of ignorance sometimes you don’t know whether he is your friend or foe. Being a shadow in the dark, nobody really knows who pulled the trigger and in any case much easier to find scapegoats for any undesirable outcomes.

So far all the failed megaprojects including PKFZ was conceptualised and initiated from the time of the megamaniac Mahathir dictator. Perhaps he has not being given enough time for big screw ups (totally attributable to him) to emerge yet, but as far as I know the only one he has his finger on is the IDR and we may not know the verdict of that for sometime yet. Again I think the IDR has already been quite well thought out, modeling after the Suzhou project in China allowing Singapore to play a large if not instrumental role in its development. It takes a fool really not to know that the NEP is killing the country. I am still inclined to believe that he hasn’t the power yet to be at liberty to dismantle the NEP and the IDR may well give him an opportunity to initiate it and doing it piecemeal. If the IDR is a great success, he has greater moral authority to push the envelope a bit further.

What I really think he should have done of all things is to kick all the religious bigots, racist, supremacist and corrupted parasites out of UMNO and the government and replace them with the best of the best in the country irrespective of race and creed. But that of course is a tall order for a person of his build. .