Month: June 2021

IF THEY WOULD ONLY LISTEN…

I wonder if our ministers or our politicians read what people say about them on social media?

I wish they would. Perhaps then, they might be less inclined to say things that just mystifies the hell out of the average person.

On Thursday, the Minister of Federal Territories Annuar Musa, for example, said what can only be described as bizarre. He said that the public’s seeming indifference, their lack of fear in their flouting of restrictions, indicated that the government had been successful in its handling of the pandemic.

It usually takes a woman to make fools of men, but Mr Annuar seems like a do-it-yourself type.

But perhaps mindful of the fact that it took an election in Sabah to destroy the good the first movement control order (MCO) did for Covid numbers, he may just have been thinking of Homer Simpson: “Stupidity got us into this mess, and stupidity will get us out.”

It was the writer Henry David Thoreau who said, “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” In an ideal world, it is a phrase that’s frequently used to justify following one’s passion and achieving a life that avoids the mediocrity of playing it small but safe.

But this is not an ideal world. Far from it. It’s a pandemic and things are falling apart because, going by the minister, the centre isn’t making sense. What Mr Annuar does not grasp is that the mass of Malaysians are truly leading lives of forlorn desperation and that is why some flout the rules.

They are desperate for jobs, desperate to meet friends and family, desperate for company, desperate for hope. The last thing they need is a glibly asinine statement by a minister who ought to know better.

Then there is lockdown fatigue. A Malaysian recently estimated on Twitter that from Match 18 last year to June 28 this year Malaysians would have spent 464 days at home under various government control orders. That would depress anyone into flouting some rules.

One gets the impression that many people are sick and tired of their leaders. When Tajudin Abdul Rahman’s woeful attempt at humour in describing a train wreck earned him a well-deserved sack from a lucrative chairmanship, it’s instructive to note that a petition calling for his sack garnered 150,000 signatures.

Clearly, it wasn’t the petition that swayed the Prime Minister. If it did, then Azmin Ali, the Minister of International Trade, should worry: a petition calling for his ouster garnered over 300,000 signatures and, like a rash, continues to grow.

And to think the Prime Minister promised, when he took over, that his would be a government of “competence.”

It’s more like a government of controversy, recently attracting unnecessary criticism by contemplating the sale – sans competitive bidding – of Subang Airport to a billionaire, for a period of almost 70 years. And this despite protests from every government agency linked to the site including Khazanah Nasional, the federal government’s sovereign wealth fund.

The Klang Valley does not need new malls, skyscrapers or condominiums. What it does need are more green lungs, more parks and more open spaces. If they had their way, these billionaires might actually fulfill Joni Mitchel’s prediction: they’d pave Paradise and put up a parking lot.

ENDS

IF THEY WOULD ONLY LISTEN…

I wonder if our ministers or our politicians read what people say about them on social media?

I wish they would. Perhaps then, they might be less inclined to say things that just mystifies the hell out of the average person.

On Thursday, the Minister of Federal Territories Annuar Musa, for example, said what can only be described as bizarre. He said that the public’s seeming indifference, their lack of fear in their flouting of restrictions, indicated that the government had been successful in its handling of the pandemic.

It usually takes a woman to make fools of men, but Mr Annuar seems like a do-it-yourself type.

But perhaps mindful of the fact that it took an election in Sabah to destroy the good the first movement control order (MCO) did for Covid numbers, he may just have been thinking of Homer Simpson: “Stupidity got us into this mess, and stupidity will get us out.”

It was the writer Henry David Thoreau who said, “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” In an ideal world, it is a phrase that’s frequently used to justify following one’s passion and achieving a life that avoids the mediocrity of playing it small but safe.

But this is not an ideal world. Far from it. It’s a pandemic and things are falling apart because, going by the minister, the centre isn’t making sense. What Mr Annuar does not grasp is that the mass of Malaysians are truly leading lives of forlorn desperation and that is why some flout the rules.

They are desperate for jobs, desperate to meet friends and family, desperate for company, desperate for hope. The last thing they need is a glibly asinine statement by a minister who ought to know better.

Then there is lockdown fatigue. A Malaysian recently estimated on Twitter that from Match 18 last year to June 28 this year Malaysians would have spent 464 days at home under various government control orders. That would depress anyone into flouting some rules.

One gets the impression that many people are sick and tired of their leaders. When Tajudin Abdul Rahman’s woeful attempt at humour in describing a train wreck earned him a well-deserved sack from a lucrative chairmanship, it’s instructive to note that a petition calling for his sack garnered 150,000 signatures.

Clearly, it wasn’t the petition that swayed the Prime Minister. If it did, then Azmin Ali, the Minister of International Trade, should worry: a petition calling for his ouster garnered over 300,000 signatures and, like a rash, continues to grow.

And to think the Prime Minister promised, when he took over, that his would be a government of “competence.”

It’s more like a government of controversy, recently attracting unnecessary criticism by contemplating the sale – sans competitive bidding – of Subang Airport to a billionaire, for a period of almost 70 years. And this despite protests from every government agency linked to the site including Khazanah Nasional, the federal government’s sovereign wealth fund.

The Klang Valley does not need new malls, skyscrapers or condominiums. What it does need are more green lungs, more parks and more open spaces. If they had their way, these billionaires might actually fulfill Joni Mitchel’s prediction: they’d pave Paradise and put up a parking lot.

ENDS

IN NORTH KOREA, STUPIDITY ISN’T A HANDICAP

The South Koreans knew what Donald Trump’s supporters stood for. They were a money grabbing, Bible-thumping, greenhouse gassing, missile firing, seal clubbing, oil drilling club whose idea of a good time was to practise firing on gay parades.

On the other hand, North Koreans even approved of some of these practices especially missile firing. As a result, they made up for having no money to grab and no gay parades to fire upon by religiously threatening their neighbours, except China and Russia, with imminent extermination.

You could say it was consistent. North Korea consistently threatened, bullied and hectored its neighbours, most of whom simply ignored the republic and went on making their nations better places for their citizens

North Korea today is the most repressive, the most authoritarian and one of the most consistently famine-stricken nations in the world. South Korea, the nation the North invaded in 1950 because it thought it would win, is currently 54 times richer than its northern neighbour and is ranked among the world’s affluent.

The North’s current leader is the grandson of the rocket scientist who thought nothing of invading his southern neighbour all those years ago. Clearly, the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree.

That’s because said grandson, Kim Jong-Un, who dubbed himself Supreme Leader, thought nothing of sending hit men to Malaysia, a friendly country, to assassinate his enemies.

When a Malaysian court extradited said hit man to the US, an enraged SL broke off diplomatic relations with Malaysia, an act that enraged all North Korean diplomats in Kuala Lumpur because they knew, with foreboding, that while it was certainly a farewell to nasi lemak, it was likely to be even worse.

Supreme Leader loved US basketball, bourbon and burgers which was why he was overweight and suffered perpetual bad hair days. But he was also a plump predator who thought he deserved everything he stole and knew that Larry Hagman was right: the only rules to live by was never to be caught in bed with a live man or a dead woman.

He also thought he should Lead by Ruthlessness and once reduced a defence chief to a smear by ordering him executed by anti-aircraft fire. The reason, according to South Korean TV, was a lamentable error by the chief: he dozed off during a particularly tedious SL speech.

Something new this way comes and it’s called K-pop, a cultural phenomenon out of South Korea that’s become hugely influential globally and threatens to change the way North Koreans think.

Standout example: Korean boy band BTS is the most popular group in the world and the first since the Beatles to have three number 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

Fat Boy was horrified and has labelled K-pop a “vicious cancer” that’s corrupting his country’s youth. Meanwhile, his people were consuming South Korean movies, K-dramas and K-pop videos with an abandon that terrified the tubby terminator.

Kim knew that his people had to be weaned off the stuff as it portrayed the South as an attractive alternative. Worse, K-pop content encourages thinking, self-expression and individuality, all themes that were inimical to SL’s obey-or-else tendencies.

The stout slaughterer’s response has been typical: he imposed harsh punishments like 15 years in a labour camp for listening to K-pop and death for those smuggling the videos in from the south.

It isn’t clear if he will prevail. History has always bet on the former when the popular will comes up against the dictatorial won’t.

ENDS

GIVE IT A REST, DOC

The website Lexico defines “power crazed” as a person having an “extremely strong desire for power, or irrational on account of having had power.”

Sound familiar?

When it comes to opinions on how Malaysia might presently be governed, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, 95, has more opinions than a Rudy Giuliani on steroids.

Malaysians found out yesterday that the physician tried his luck yet again, suggesting to the King that the best way forward for the country was a 1969-style National Operations Council (NOC) to run the show.

The NOC was a small council led by Abdul Razak Hussein, then a deputy premier, that led the country in autocratic fashion in the wake of racial riots after a general election in 1969. Essentially, it worked as a dictatorship, albeit in “benevolent” fashion.

And why does the good doctor feel compelled to float such a drastic proposal in the first place? Well, apparently, his team in Pejuang – a breakaway party with 5 MPs – have “some ideas” about the economy and controlling the current pandemic but cannot get them implemented as they aren’t in government.

Asked if he had suggested to the King a possible candidate that might lead the NOC, Dr Mahathir said that there was no specific person named but he did “offer his services”.

It was not unlike the old saying about cattle horns: “A point here, a point there and a lot of bull in between.”

Here’s my translation of the physician’s message: he has some ideas, no one’s listening so it’s a good time for him to return as Paramount Leader who will Brook No Dissent.

For that is what an NOC essentially implies.

This is the same politician who was against any extension of the Emergency. Now he proposes a new, and stronger, Emergency with fizz, bang and wallop.

This was the same politician who wanted Parliament to reconvene and allow the citizenry its voice. Not any more, not if he can come back as a new-look Tun Razak!

And, finally, this is the same fellow who resignedly told Bernama only two months ago that he “was too old to become Prime Minister again.”

“If I were younger, I could become Prime Minister again, but I am 95 now and I can still function and hope to advise people on what they should do … I feel I shouldn’t be the prime minister for the third time,” he said.

Our hearts bleed but you won’t hear us disagree.

Dr Mahathir talks about “giving advice” but even that harmlessly-benign-Mr. Rogers-stuff has its sinister downside: Abdullah Badawi was hounded out of office because he “did not take” the doctor’s advice and chose his own way instead.

That is the problem with Dr Mahathir right there. He thinks he has all the answers but we, Malaysians, over 24 years and a bit, know that he does not.

Good leaders leave the stage when the applause is loudest. For Dr Mahathir that moment came a long time ago, in 2003.

It’s all but gone now: you can’t reheat a souffle.

ENDS

GOD IS GOOD BUT DON’T DANCE IN A SMALL BOAT

“A fanatic is a man that does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts of the case.” Finlay Donne, 19th century American writer

Finally, a leader from the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) who makes sense.

No, it isn’t an oxymoron. You heard right. Nur Jazlan Mohamad, the party’s deputy head in Johor, has called for Umno to reconsider its ties with Islamist party Pas, in a pact first proposed in 2019. The pact was proposed after the then ruling BN coalition lost the 2018 general election to the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition. An Umno-Pas coalition was then proposed as a sure-fire winning formula.

Now the cracks are showing. “Umno has always been suspicious of PAS leaders as they now seem to be more interested in power and position and, in some cases, money, too. And in the current episode involving the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB), there are some serious allegations,” said Mr Nur.

The latest episode involves the planned sale of prime property belonging to cash-rich MRB, currently under the jurisdiction of PAS minister Khairuddin Aman Razali. The board’s former chairman Umno MP Ahmad Nazlan Idris alleged recently that Mr Khairuddin was attempting to influence the sale’s outcome.

Pointing at the episode., Mr Nur said PAS was likely to be a liability in the next general election if the parties cooperated.

Be that as it may, the matter is now under investigation. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has reportedly called up Mr Nazlan for a statement in connection with the MRB allegations.

That is as it should be.

But back to Pas. All those who think they’re squarely to the right of Attila, raise your hands. Just ask yourself: what have they done for this country in terms of direction: in terms of sound policy, in terms of adding to the gross national good?

The party has ruled Kelantan for over three decades and what have they got to show for it? It’s a state with a lower life expectancy than other states, except Terengganu (ruled by Pas, unsurprisingly). It also reports the highest number of AIDS cases in the country and has the dubious distinction of being the most dirty.

Moreover, they assert claims that are downright stupid. Last year, Mr Khairuddin – the same MRB chap – led a three day mission to Turkey to drum up foreign investment. In his words it was very “successful.”

How successful? In the words of another bona fide rocket scientist, Abdul Azzez, the MP from Baling, it was so successful, it brought in RM82 billion in FDI!

What’s wrong with these people? They can’t even lie convincingly. Turkey isn’t doing very well at all. Its lira is half the value of the ringgit and the total amount of FDI Turkey got for the whole of 2019 was a paltry RM32 odd billion. Meanwhile, Mr Azeez is awaiting trial on corruption charges himself. #Justsaying.

From my observations of Pas over 30 years of journalism, a few consistent themes have emerged.

One is an obsessive preoccupation with the attire of Mas stewardesses. Indeed, it appears behavioural, frequently manifesting in distasteful parliamentary questions that demean women and insult the intelligence of male listeners.

Others include frowning upon anything that might, in moderation, improve the quality of the human spirit, to wit, wine, beer or tuak.

Finally, there is Pas’ long- standing desire to impose sharia law over the country, the better that we rapidly harken back to a medieval future.

But, why, oh why, don’t they denounce corruption? Better still, issue a fatwa against it.

ENDS