by Tunku Aziz | The Malaysian Insider
APRIL 27 – It never ceases to amaze me how simple and trusting we Malaysians are.
We have heard all these promises before. Pak Lah, the Mr Clean and Mr Nice Guy of Malaysian politics proclaimed his great mission of fighting corruption after 22 years of unprincipled and largely unaccountable governance under Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
We lapped it all up, initially at any rate, and believed every word the spin doctors spewed out about Abdullah Badawi.
It was not too difficult a job for Abdullah Badawi, or anyone else for that matter, after Mahathir, to look ethically spotless, clean and pure as the driven snow.
Badawi, with his religious credentials, gave every appearance of being the reformer that this country had been praying for. Alas, his leadership proved a total let-down for Malaysia.
What began as a journey full of hope and promise turned very quickly into a national nightmare. Abdullah, who skippered the good ship MALAYSIA, was in truth an incompetent and inept rating playing at being Admiral of the Fleet.
We discovered soon enough that he could not tell north from south and a sexton from a pair of compasses. We had to put up with his erratic command, watching with increasing anxiety as he set the ship adrift aimlessly, with no prospect of ever making landfall.
Now let me move away from naval to boxing metaphors, and I hope I am not mixing them in the process.
Abdullah had come to lead us laden with his own strange stock-in-trade. It was a mix, in no particular order, of Islam Hadhari that he himself could not explain to save his life, the memorably inane “Work with me and not for me” catchphrase, and the almost absurdly messianic anti-corruption clarion call that he had used to fool the entire nation.
I am embarrassed to admit, on reflection, that he had me fooled from Day One.
Abdullah was persuaded by close family members and advisers that he was doing a brilliant job, and this was what he wanted to hear.
He believed that he had what was needed to punch above his weight. He did not realise until too late that the Islam Hadhari as he had postulated it was no match for the reality of Umno politics with its long-established culture of money politics (for which, read grand corruption), in-fighting and back-stabbing.
Soon enough, he found himself out-pointed at every turn by his own seconds, Najib and Muhyiddin, whose protestations of eternal love and loyalty made with a straight face before the disastrous March 2008 elections seemed the height of black humour.
They pushed all the responsibility for the electoral failure to him, and with indecent haste, distanced themselves from him. They turned collective responsibility on its head. This was their interpretation.
And now, they are now leading Malaysia.
I am recalling the Abdullah years as a way of reminding ourselves not to be tempted into swallowing the “right noises” that Najib is making, hook, line and sinker.
He is apparently good at developing popular policies on the trot, and all his reform promises seem to flow so effortlessly and glibly off his silvery tongue and that worries many people who are looking more for substance rather than form.
His 1 Malaysia is a case in point. How does Najib propose to give practical effect to his excellent concept given the reality of Malaysia’s race-biased policies of racial discrimination?
Does he not see a contradiction? Is he clear in his own mind what he is talking about? For now, it remains a slogan and, without a clear vision of what 1 Malaysia is intended to be, it could well turn out to be nothing more than a grand illusion.
Does he really believe that he has what it takes to reconcile Umno’s pathological obsession with bumiputra rights on the one hand with the principles of inalienable equality for ALL Malaysians on the other?
1 Malaysia without complete equality of opportunity is nothing if not a cruel and dishonest practical joke.
So, until Najib sets out his plan for 1 Malaysia that accords with the conditions for a truly “Malaysian Malaysia” (with apologies to Lee Kuan Yew), I suggest, in a manner of speaking, we do not put the champagne on ice as it could be premature.
#1 by k1980 on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 10:10 am
Actually it is not a joke. 1 = Whole, so 1Malaysia means that the whole of Malaysia is for him, just like the whole of Brunei belongs to its sultan
#2 by All For The Road on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 10:22 am
Former PM Abdullah went out with a whimper for his poor and weak leadership and obviously ousted by his own UMNO men!
Now with Najib’s ‘1Malaysia’ concept, we will wait and see what big and new hopes will dawn on all Malaysians irrespective of race, culture or religion! Or is it just a common catchphrase?
#3 by k1980 on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 10:45 am
1Malaysia copied from Nazi Germany’s wartime slogan?
Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer (“One people, one country, one leader”)
#4 by DAP man on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 11:08 am
Najib is no different from the road side medicine peddler who promotes a mixture of olive oil and nutmeg oil as “minyak tahan lama”.
Use it and you find you are just as quick on the draw.
Najib is a washout, worse than Abdullah.
#5 by Loh on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 11:09 am
If Najib emulates his father, then Malaysians who hope for equality are in trouble. Razak under Tunku was responsible for developing FELDA scheme, long before may 13. The racial breakdown of FELDA settlers are 100% Malays. Were there no poor non-Malays who could qualify easily with any means test? The exclusively Malay settlers in government funded scheme were against the spirit of article 153 in terms of ‘reserving for Malays such proportion as the Agong may deem reasonable. Reserving 100% for Malays was not reasonable. That was why the non-Malays in 1969 election was dead against article 153, and the action by Razak regarding FELDA scheme had contributed to unhappiness of non-Malays.
The non-Malays in 1969 expressed their unhappiness against the Alliance government, and the succeeded in reducing the 2/3 majority of Alliance seats in parliament. What we saw in the change of hand in the Perak government was mild in comparison to the change of guards in Alliance government in 1969. The coup d’etat masterminded by Harun-Razak-mahathir group changed the true meaning of parliamentary democracy. The excuse of Malay-anger which resulted in the establishment of NEP started to destroy a nation which had the potential to rival the economic might of Taiwan or Japan has become a sick man of Asia. NEP had the 30% of share equity as an object to indicate Malay’s participation in commerce and industries. The 30% number was chosen as an excuse to whitewash the cause of May 13, but politicians since then have used it as an excuse to enrich themselves.
If the objective of NEP or article 153 was to prevent Malays thinking that they have no place under Malaysian sun, the action of politicians since May 13 used NEP to say that 30% is their birth right which they would demand or rob civilly without violence and having the right to rob; non-Malays are free to leave this land, as said by UMNO MP in the parliament. The UMNO government did not reprimand the MP. It proved that that MP was the spokesman of UMNO.
The 40 years since 1969 have made this land many feel sad to call home. NEP provided the opportunity and protective umbrella for politicians and civil servants to rob, and it has changed the character of the government service a supposedly neutral body to an UMNO institution. The near purity of a single race in the police and government agencies not only provided an environment to cover for each other for wrong doings, the public can no longer have confidence that the government employees are there to serve out their duties for the benefit, security and safety of the people. When one is stopped by a uniform policeman now, the doubts are whether the person in uniform is an imposter, or whether the bone fide uniformed personnel is attempting robbery.
There was no need for gated living in the 1970s. The gated housing areas prove that the police have lost their reputation as the government body that provides security to the citizens. It was once claimed by the former PM when he was the Home Affairs Minister that Malaysia had less police personnel per 100,000 population compared to other countries such as Singapore or Japan, but that statement was later retracted. The public were told that less than 10% of the police force was engaged in crime suppression, and the rest God knows what they do. My guess is more than 10% have been engaged for checking on drivers of private vehicles in the government’s attempt to reduce road accident. We can safely speculate that the number of lives saved from road accidents, resulting from traffic police services would be much less the number of death caused by serious crimes that could have been prevented had there been an increase to 20% of crime suppression personnel. But then traffic sector is the source of supplementary income. Of course there are also police personnel checking on legal or illegal foreign workers, and they coexist peacefully with give and take.
Najib does not need to use the race card to remain as president of UMNO. He is in a unique position to undo the NEP set up by his father, which was abused by TDM. In fact his father promised that the NEP was to be for 20 years. Even though NEP is like opium to UMNO politicians and other Malay rent-seekers, Najib cannot be said to sell out on the Malays if he removes NEP altogether. Moreover, he is not a Mamak.
#6 by k1980 on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 11:41 am
Will Jibby make it into this list? A couple more years will tell.
–http://matadorpulse.com/still-waiting-for-change-five-of-the-worlds-worst-leaders/
#7 by Cinapek on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 11:45 am
Pak Lah, for all his ineptness, at least still had some decent traits. Najib, I am not so sure. He may be combining the worst of Pak Lah’s ineptness with TDM’s ruthlessness plus his own underhanded manipulative style as evidenced in the Perak takeover.
#8 by aries66 on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 12:01 pm
To us at that time. Pak Lah was our hope and that he got the mandate from us but he has really upset all Malaysians that
he had failed to deliver his promises. Very disappointing ! and
now with our 6th PM with 1-Malaysia slogan ?? No comments
as it is still not mature yet.
#9 by taiking on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 12:15 pm
Hey wots soaking man? Dont beat about the bush with little twigs will you? Badawi did the same thing didnt he? And he was roundly and comprehensively rejected wasnt he?
And to tunku aziz I say this: champagne was already on ice long ago and drunk as well. You see success has already been pronounced. Remember our MACC? Didnt our umno government declare the success of MACC (verified by Daniel Li of HK ICAC) even before any real work has started. Remember our gift to the world when the multimedia thingy was launched? And many more equally successfully declared umno projects/efforts.
The meaning of success has to be re-written. Success really means \a successful declaration of success at the commencement of an undertaking\. The whole idea is this. If the undertaking should turn into a major disaster, one can still be proud of the fact that it was successfully declared a success at the beginning.
And umno supporters actually swallowed all those declarations for 50 yrs. OMG.
#10 by badak on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 12:43 pm
What a joke..1 Malaysia and he said i want a clean UMNO without Money politics and corruption. Ali Rustum was ban from contesting the UMNO election for using money to buy votes. Yet Najib saw it fit to appoint him in MT.
If this kind of people are still in UMNO is just go to shows that UMNO is a party of corrupt leaders. As a Malaysian i feel cheated.Its ok to be corrupted in UMNO as long as you are loyal to the party.
#11 by Jeffrey on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 12:58 pm
Loh, thanks for the thoughtful posting 11: 09.55. Re your last paragraph – “he is in a unique position to undo the NEP set up by his father, which was abused by TDM… Even though NEP is like opium to UMNO politicians and other Malay rent-seekers, Najib cannot be said to sell out on the Malays if he removes NEP altogether. Moreover, he is not a Mamak…”, are you also hinting or at least keeping an open mind that it is always just possible, contrary to all reasonable expectations, that Najib Tun Razak, with his pedigree, wider coterie of advisers from whom advives may be sought, and his usually heavy political baggage, which he lugs along to high office and has to do much and go out of the way to lighten and make people forget if he wants to keep the post he loves, may well have the potential to work hard and prove to be an effective leader/PM that everyone presumes, on the onset, he is the opposite of? :)
#12 by k1980 on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 1:00 pm
“Moreover, he is not a Mamak”
Well, if you mix with bums, you will end up as a bum. So if you mix with Mamaks,…
#13 by Jeffrey on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 1:22 pm
For some time Najib’s brother Nazir, CIMB’s CEO has been harping about need to review & restructure the NEP in light of existing realities of globalisation and global competition. What he said, as inner circle adviser, could carry weight with his PM brother.
Already Najib has, for a start, made public the liberalisation of ownership for selected sectors at certain risks of incurring alienation of support from groups whose existing vested interests may be adversely affected eg – certain bumi groups dependent on NEP at one end or liberal groups at the other end of political spectrum like the Bar Council worried about his move to allow foreign legal services firms to enter Malaysia to advise on Islamic finance.
Of course we don’t know at this moment if there is political will to see 1 Malaysia through; or whether bureaucrats and warlords, or even TDM may turn against him as they to Pak Lah if he were perceived serious in pushing reforms. Anyway if he does not try hard enough or fails to meet what increasingly the younger electorate want, he may well be the last BN PM in the next general election.
#14 by ctc537 on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 1:35 pm
TDM initiated the Look-East Policy, infrastructure and industrial development and other countless policies but have not succeeded in realising the NEP objectives within set period. By now he seems still do not want to accept his mistakes. In retrospect, we can see that he could have made Malaysia joining the league of newly-industrialised countries that includes South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore had he adopted a non-racial policy at the outset of his administration. Instead, under his reign, race-based policy became more intensified. The result is the divided society. By now, we realise that NEP, or any policy for that matter, can never be realised if Malaysians are divided along racial lines by the government.
#15 by Godfather on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 1:36 pm
UMNO is being led by hypocrites of the highest order. Look at Mamakthir. He complains about corrupt people being elected (targetting the Kera Jantan) but then keeps quiet after Mukhriz was given a deputy minister’s post. Mamakthir also complains about corrupt people being appointed to the cabinet – targetting Nazri and Johari. Then seriously corrupt UMNOputras were admitted to the Supreme Council – and this time Mamakthir kept quiet.
Would Mamakthir write about the appointments of the Fat Lady and Ali Rustam to the Supreme Council ?
Even the Malays are seriously fed up of the sloganeering, of the empty promises, and the election of tainted individuals as policy makers of this country.
#16 by Onlooker Politics on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 1:47 pm
“Even though NEP is like opium to UMNO politicians and other Malay rent-seekers, Najib cannot be said to sell out on the Malays if he removes NEP altogether.” (Loh)
Comparing NEP dependency to opium addiction is a very good analogy contributed by Loh. However, what kind of hope do the Malaysians still have if the Malays already got addicted to opium-like NEP? How often do we see an opium addict get complete healing from the drug addiction?
It seems that a mental revolution is urgently needed to inspire the Malays to work hard in addition to the habit of liking to work smart, and learn to be independent from the government financially and not to rely too much on the government subsidy too often!
#17 by monsterball on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 2:41 pm
How on earth can a clear racialist political party can ever talk of “1 Malaysia” when his own race in UMNO are also clearly divided.
He is not even fair to his own race…yet talk of “1 Malaysia”.
Put UMNO clearly a Malaysian political party… then talk.
Everything else needed to be said…have been said by Tunku Aziz.
It is up to all Malaysians let go their selfishness and vote out racialist parties …to be trully one.
#18 by zoropzor on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 2:47 pm
kit siang, it’s hard. it’s very hard.
nay. not in your lifetime.
perhaps your son’s son.
meantime be contented.
it’s still better than some.
#19 by ALLAN THAM on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 2:48 pm
Dear Tunku, I was not that optimist as you would, as I believe the champagne not even available yet, not to say put it on ice.
#20 by ekompute on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 3:27 pm
Abdullah is Mr. Peramah, he just want to please everyone and ended up pleasing no one. He doesn’t seem to have a vision, a goal, or an objective…. Maybe he has, but he doesn’t have the skills to do what he envisaged. So what he had was a dream that turned into a nightmare… It is surprising how he managed to survive all these years in the various ministries, drawing salaries doing nothing. It is obvious that he doesn’t know any job, so it doesn’t really matter which ministry he is in. Citing from http://malaysian-politics.aseanpedia.com/Abdullah_Ahmad_Badawi , I agree with Publius Cornelius Tacitus: “No one would have doubted his ability to reign, had he never been emperor.”
#21 by rubini on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 4:45 pm
Dear Tunku Aziz,
I keenly follow your artcles as it clearly shows it will take more than slogans and half hearted cosmetic policies to make Malaysia great again.
Until and unless the NEP is basically overhauled, the Bumiputeras will be in no better position that they are now. NEP was a big failure due to manipulation of the policy makers over the last 25 years.
Felda/Felcra was established to give poor farmers a chance to improve their livelyhood, but it also made most of them dependent on the goverment. The same can be said of farmers and fishermen. ALL NEEDED to be dependent on government aid.
Respectively, the needs of the poor of other community was completely disregarded.
NEP become catastropic failure for the NATION
#22 by OrangRojak on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 4:54 pm
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/24683-pakatan-to-form-shadow-cabinet-committees-
Is this “Opposition Hadhari”?
#23 by kerishamuddinitis on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 7:52 pm
1IDIOT – Slime Ball
1SENTIMENT – soak this keris…
1BIG [deleted] LIE – ketuanan Melayu reigns supreme, always
1REVENUE STREAM – keep the poor (more than 60% are Malays) ignorant and they won’t question…
1RACIST SUPREMICIST PARTY – Uttely Moronic Nincompoop Org
1LAPDOG PARTY – Money Can Accomodate
1IRRELEVANT[deleted] PARTY – decaying, repetitive redundancy Semi Value’s kingdom
1BIG [deleted] JOKE – the PRETENDER to Malaysian Malaysia
#24 by chengho on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 8:11 pm
Don’t tell me because of DAP nominated YBM Tunku Aziz as Senator DAP cease to be racist…?
#25 by monsterball on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 8:18 pm
Chengho….So many Indians are in DAP..since it’s formation.
Are Karpal and Gobind same race as Lim Kit Siang?
Now look at UMNO….show me one member that is not a Malay or a Muslim.
You need to have better general knowledge to stop making silly childish comments.
#26 by monsterball on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 8:21 pm
Congratulations to Tunku Aziz!!
May his voice in parliament is as loud as his messages here.
#27 by limkamput on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 9:32 pm
Don’t tell me because of DAP nominated YBM Tunku Aziz as Senator DAP cease to be racist…? Eunuch chengho
You wirte stupid English and you are a racist.
#28 by limkamput on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 9:39 pm
Wannabe (jeffrey), you are wrong again. Liberalising certain service industries is nothing because Bumi participation in these industries is very minimal in the first place. NO need to look far and wide, just ask Najib to liberalise the taxi, bus and lorry permits, APs, government procurement policies are enough. Yes the more you talk, the more ignorance you show.
#29 by lopez on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 10:25 pm
stop fooling yourself,
just equal opportunity is what everyone else is asking
nobody is asking for handouts except some quarters who deserves the wrath of favour taking and then turning the tables in his or her end.
“nothing is free” still applies regardless in business or spiritual world…we are human beings we are creators of wants and needs.
get real….and then cry out loud when the coffin comes….
and whatever school of thought ever teaches that an industry can exist by itself in an economy and alienates itself….it is just too unreal…who ever coin such an idea….must be a damn stupid and …whoever is impressed is even more stupid than stupid.
it is like a sign board of a pub that quotes “free beer tomorrow” and that board stays everyday.
dream on…….bolihland dont get suck into thinking nonsense and arguing nonsense
#30 by ktteokt on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 11:39 pm
1 MALAYSIA? It is the biggest joke of the century! Najis can’t even have 1 UMNO, 1 BN, how to have one MALAYSIA?
#31 by alhafar on Monday, 27 April 2009 - 11:52 pm
As Orwell wrote with much wisdom in Animal Farm, “all animals are equal, but some animals are MORE equal than other”. Which very much sums up UMNO’s vision of 1 Malaysia.
#32 by frankyapp on Tuesday, 28 April 2009 - 12:46 am
Chengho,please look before you leap. Umno Sabah membership has Kadazan/Dusun/Murut who are mostly christian in faith but Umno does not cease to be racist too. What’s your point ?.
#33 by frankyapp on Tuesday, 28 April 2009 - 1:08 am
Malaysia is wierd or the party in power is wierd. Most if not all countries have laws to protect it’s minority race for example in UK,USA Australia ,china except our country where the majority race is specifically protected under the NEP. To add salt to injury the NEP also marginalised the minority. Hey guys it looks like we are living in an upside down world,isn’t it ?.
#34 by sA1nT_Jam3s on Tuesday, 28 April 2009 - 1:50 am
its just a ploy..see through his poker face.
By removing the 30% and so called liberalisation
1) He will be stoking the anger of his own kind-they will gang up together and if they win big in the next GE-more will be taken away from what you have today.
This is just the 1st step towards jolting his own kind to be united to the ballot box-I do not believe the institutional changes will take place because this whole exercise is just too superficial.
If he was leading the ship and sincere in implementing wholesale changes, where are the rest of his MT, cronies etc to come out to voice support? Dont even go so far of even thinking Agriculture, Information, Entreprenueship et al to start heading the same direction towards liberalisation.
Remember-back in the 90s-the drive towards liberalising the economy meant further enriching the few CHOSEN ones, more often than not, of the same colour.
2) His next slogan will be to his own kind to tell them that they have to put him back into his place with 2/3 majority so that he can overturn these policies that were ‘forced unto him” as the others have been too vocal with their rights.
3) The only people looking forward and complimenting the liberalisation policies have not been from his own but ethnic based chambers of commerce..beware the backlash soon! He is too shrewd
The supremacy and divisive policies were initiated by his father-will you sell out your own type and even your father?
Yes ! I will but if only the loss is temporary and to GAIN EVEN MORE in the future
He was De fence for years but were there any attempts to jiggle the composition to reflect Malaysia?
What about National Service? How many camps are run by people not his own type?
Why now? when your chips are low, you will want to win as many alliances as possible OUTWARDLY, but quietly..at the back , there are 3million to be mobilised to achieve his longer term agenda.
Its all PR!
You dont need to learn Sun Tzu, Napoleon, Ishqandar, Kublai Khan..
#35 by sotong on Tuesday, 28 April 2009 - 8:18 am
No one could help the ordinary Malays to be competitive and independent except themselves.
NEP gave them a false sense of security….to correct its massive failures, it would take another 50 years.
Our country continues to be left behind….difficult to understand how our ” leaders ” could be seen as ” heroes ” or had contributed significantly to the country!
#36 by taiking on Tuesday, 28 April 2009 - 8:31 am
The recent moves by the hey-wot’s-soaking man are mere political ploys that he employed to divert the people’s attention in the hope that those ploys could somehow cloud the rumours about that disintegrated mongolian woman and her unborn child beyond visibility.
Those measures, if they are for the good of the nation, could and in fact should have been implemented one or even two years ago. In his announcement he did not mention anything about doing away with NEP or umnoputras’ special rights. These quite obviously are not his reasons for he specifically mentioned the country’s obligations to open up under the free trade agreements malaysia had with other countries.
He used this time when he is pm to make the announcement. Isnt it obvious. He wanted to create the impression of magnanimity towards non-umnoputras? Hey you the wot’s-soaking-man we not stupid.
Show us that you are different. Abolish your father’s pet policy – the NEP and all the non-economic strands that have grown out of that stupid thing – once and for all.
#37 by Tonberry on Tuesday, 28 April 2009 - 11:08 am
chengho,
i wanna join Umno, why they dont accept me?? ..btw i’m a chinese. 1Malaysia, eh?
#38 by One4All4One on Tuesday, 28 April 2009 - 11:34 am
That Thing Called EQUALITY.
It has always supposed to be a joke : EQUALITY FOR ALL MALAYSIANS.
It has been debated and deliberated, analysed (or rather ‘anal’-lysed) inside-out and outside-in, upside-down and downside-up; interpreted rightly or wrongly; given a religious flavour; politically, socially and economically considered; talked about until the cows come home, ad nauseum!
The whole issue is stale and sometimes objectionable. Not because people are not interested in equality and fairness, accountability and integrity, transparency and good governance, etc., etc.
It is stale because the sentiments, conclusions, opinions, ideas, preferences, direction, flavours and colours are always one-sided and abhorrently prejudiced and jaundiced.
How could one begin to talk sense when conditions are always set and fixed by interest parties and individuals and being dominated and monopolised?
How could a sensible debate and discussion could be effected when one party’s voice drowned the others’, even before the debate begun?
How could salient points be raised when one party thinks that his views are the gospel truths and unassailable and not to be challenged nor doubted?
You can go on and on…
What can others do when everything else is drowned and decimated by “ketuanan”, ” special privileges”, “special quotas”, “selective prejudice and discrimination”, “religious supremacy” ( read holier than thou attitude), “UMNO-centrism”, “cronyism”, “corruption”, etc., etc.
It makes no sense to even think about the issues. Let alone talk and discuss about them.
The stench of death (of the issues) gets stronger by the years, so much so that it is causing the people to feel nauseated, crazy, repulsed, even to the point of hatred.
Normally death would evince compassion and sympathy, sorrow and remorse, etc. etc.
What and how would one feel when the death is of freedom, righteousness, fundamental rights and liberties, spirit of the constitution, electoral rights, etc. etc.?
Wouldn’t all these make 1Malaysia and whatever that resembles it to be a cruel joke?
Let not our intelligence be mocked and insulted.
Certainly we Malaysians deserve better. Certainly we Malaysians know better. Certainly we Malaysians can discern and appreciate the finer things in life. Certainly we Malaysians have come far enough to know what to expect of the government.
#39 by yokielaw on Tuesday, 28 April 2009 - 1:02 pm
My opinion is that ISA per se is not wrong if it is truly and purely enforced in the true sense to protect the national security in the interest of the nation and the people eg to paralyse or twart or extinguish communism, terrorism,, extremism which are real threat to national security BUT today ISA has been taken out of context and is frequently being ABUSED by those in POWER for self interest and to protect certain group of interest politically. Today ISA is misused as an excuse to protect the people’s interest but it is actually shamelessly abused by the powerful for political agenda purposes. ISA should not be applied to an individual as every country has police authority and every law to act & enforce on an individual’s mischief but should be strictly & crystal-clear confined to terrorism,communism, extremism and war mongers.Most of our terrorists are not ISA-ed but instead BLOGGERS are ISA-ED!Are bloggers threat to national security and more dangerous than the hard-core terrorists??ISA should not be abused and should be explicitly defined and should be water-tight and not loosely vulnerable to abuse.Redefine ISA.
#40 by Toyol on Tuesday, 28 April 2009 - 1:39 pm
1 Malaysia cannot succeed as long as NEP and Ketuanan Melayu concept exists. For us to be one nation, one people, truly, all forms of favoritism and preference must be removed and removed sincerely. For this to happen, education is the key. In other words we have to start from scratch. No one can initiate this except the government of the day and we all know what that means…SIGH!
#41 by taiking on Tuesday, 28 April 2009 - 2:16 pm
1malaysia will not succeed as long it’s implementation is in the hands of Tuan Rempit McBully. The rest of us will remain as Hamba deBully. Najib knows this. That is why he has no problem in announcing the slogan. He knows full well that the McBullys would never implement the thingy. Just like the election commission’s magnaminous decision to fix penanti by-election on a week-end knowing full well that najib has decided to chicken out. Time for jokes and tricks are over. Somehow umno does not seem to realise this.
#42 by zak_hammaad on Tuesday, 28 April 2009 - 9:53 pm
By denying what “1Malaysia” is not, Najib has appropriately provided a broad spectrum of ideas. It is not for the sour mouthed opposition to define and re-evaluate what Najib did and did not mean. The proof is in the pudding as the saying goes and in time, I’m sure Pakatan will continue to nit-pick and have something else to shout about.
Time will tell, and since Pakatan have shown how mediocre they are running the states under their control, they have little moral authority to lecture or judge others. Give Najib a year and you may be surprised how much better M’sia has faired compared to the wasteful and cringeworthy years of Badawi.
#43 by Tonberry on Tuesday, 28 April 2009 - 11:48 pm
we must not forget to thank Umno for sabotaging too.. Bt Selambau, Changkat Jering, Jelapang, Bota, Behrang, Bt Lanjan, and now..Penanti
#44 by kerishamuddinitis on Wednesday, 29 April 2009 - 6:14 am
zak…1NOW, 1NESCAFE? Can drink at 1Utama and pay with the 1CARD. 1Malaysia…no brainer that even a 1+ GUM drinker can blurt out if taught to parrot it. And there are enough parrots in UMNO without independent thought to any significant extent. All it takes is the old man with the old hand to whisper and everyone now says, ‘build the crooked bridge, must contest Penanti…’ But then again, bird-brain parrots are still better than idiotic lapdogs in MCA – they are too stupid to accept that Only Talk Kok should not be their leader because he is a liar without any honour and they do whatever big brother says, even repeating racist threats. 1 NOW, 1NESCAFE?