Watching the UMNO Divisional Elections

I’m sure many of you are watching the divisional elections as closely as I am. It’s bleak for the person I would like to win. Namely, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. The one person who has stood for good sense, fair play, justice, democracy, and change is not making much headway in the first few days of these elections. I pray that this changes and soon.

If anyone has the credibility to lead this country it’s him. But as a second choice, my vote is Anwar Ibrahim. I don’t trust Najib and his cohorts. It’s more of the same and more of the money game. I’m certain that every dirty trick is being pulled out of the hat right now including cowing the voters into playing the game. I’ve heard rumours of voting done by show of hands rather than by secret ballot. Can you imagine? People will be too afraid to vote their conscience.

All I can say is pray.

And Ku Li is being interviewed on Awani at 9pm on Astro Monday night, 13 Oct. Watch it.

Mat Taib Defends Pak Lah Against Bad, Bad Tun Dr M

From Malaysiakini

Umno information chief Muhammad Muhd Taib today lashed out at former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad for launching scathing attacks on his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Sounds suspiciously like a temper tantrum. “Don’t be so bad to my fren!” *pout* Perhaps he’s seeing the considerable amounts he can bring to Australia evaporate before his eyes!)

Defending his party president during a press conference at his Rural And Regional Development Ministry in Putrajaya, Muhammad said people should stop pointing fingers at Abdullah.(Let’s blame the internet instead and try and divert attention away from the perceptions of corruption, arrogance, and greed)

“What Mahathir and people are doing now is very, very wrong. It is not fair to point fingers at one person when everybody knows there were many contributing factors.

“It is very unfair to dump the blame on the PM. This is unfair and done in bad faith,” he said. (It IS a temper tantrum. “SOOO BAAAD” *stamps feet and jumps about*)

Muhammad was referring to “unfair” comments from Mahathir made at a forum yesterday on how Abdullah was shameless in refusing to resign for Barisan Nasional’s biggest election setback last month.

‘Not a level playing field’

He pointed out that there were also other contributing factors to BN’s performance including the role played by bloggers, news portals and short messaging service (SMS).

“It wasn’t a level-playing field (between the BN and opposition). BN did not use the portals, SMS and ICT (information and communications technology) to the fullest,” he said.(“Waaaaahhhhhh. The bad people TOLD EVERYONE about EVERYTHING we did. SO NOT FAIR!!!! It’s NOT OUR FAULT! They told! They told! How caaaannnn!!!!” *lies on ground and kicks and screams* Just a question though…so the flip side of this is that, it’s been a “level playing field” all these years?)

Muhammad noted that the BN lost in the “virtual elections” while opposition had cashed in on using video CDs showing temple demolitions which caused the swing of Indian voters.(Hmmm, so the violent handling of the HINDRAF rally did not have anything to do with it lah…and the fact that the Indians felt that Samy Vellu aka MIC didn’t represent them anymore)

The former Selangor mentri besar also questioned why are the people picking on Abdullah when other leaders have also previously lost in the elections.

“We lost Terengganu in 1999. How come nobody asked Mahathir to step down then? When PAS lost Terengganu in 2004, how come nobody told (PAS spiritual leader) Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat to step down?” he quizzed.

Muhammad noted that Mahathir was a good leader but his comments are not helping the party at this particular time.

“We are trying to fight one person but our guru is hitting us at the same time. Nobody can call for Mahathir to be disciplined because he is kebal (untouchable). This is too much,” he told reporters.

Football analogy

Asked whether ‘yes-men’ in the party had made Abdullah’s administration different from his predecessor, Muhammad said ‘no’.

“The ‘yes-men’ did not make a difference to the administration. I was under Mahathir since 1982 for 11 years. I think the way they did business and dealt with things is almost the same,” he asserted.

“Leaders are saying things that are pedas (scathing), bebankan (burdensome) and they label Pak Lah with all kinds of labels. That’s unfair,” he added.

The Umno veteran also said that what some party leaders are trying to do in abolishing the nominations quota system is like changing the rules of a football game.(I like these rules. I know these rules. I can use them to my advantage.)

“It is like changing the rules […] and the goalpost itself while the game is going on. It should happen after the game,” he said.(Wait laaahhhh till I take some more moneeeyyy firsstt from the kampungs! Like this how caaann??)

With that, Muhammad stressed that the abolition of the nominations system should be done after the party’s elections in December this year.(So that we can intimidate people not to nominate anyone else lah)

Ku Li Fires Broadside

This commentary is written in reference to these articles.

It is now more than two weeks after our last general elections. Instead of the much ballyhooed implosion of the Barisan Rakyat, it would seem that our Barisan Nasional is the one imploding. Contrast the initial hiccough then settling into work that our previous “opposition” parties have demonstrated. Penang was a textbook case of how a transition was to have occured. Perak, after an initial speed bump, settled down to business, then Selangor has now settled on it’s executive council. Perlis, however was an embarassing backdown for the current administration and now we have Terengganu.

After the docile palaces that we had during the previous administration, we now have activist Sultans who hold the trust of their people and their devotion in their hands and are also politically savvy in their own right. I believe if push came to shove, the feudal mentality of the malay mind in these East Coast states would lean in favour of their Sultan.

Witness the harsh words our Kelantan Prince has for our current Prime Minister. “Stunning Ineptness.” “Perhaps we have forgotten what it is like to conduct ourselves with good manners and due respect for the constitution and the sovereignty of the ruler.” All I can say is Wow.

Ku Li in all his public statements has been the perfect Prince. Very polite, urbane, subtle. But it would seem that at this point, the gloves are off. Is he opportunistic? Is he too old? Our previous Prime Minister retired at 79.

Where opportunism is concerned, think about this…prior to this election, he was an elder statesman. Very well respected. But with no power base compared to the billions of RM that the government has at his disposal.

At his age – and it’s ALMOST 71 and not 74 as Joceline Tan of The Star claims (she obviously can’t count from his birthdate of 1937) – why would he want to take up the mantle of so odious a position as the President of a crumbling party? UMNO is facing the worst infighting of it’s life. It’s plagued with a value set which is not in keeping with what the electorate wants (this includes the Malays) and most of those in power still believe that they can continue with “business as usual.” Why would anyone in their right mind want to take on that mantle and have to rebuild from almost the bottom and change a mindset which is seen by most of the electorate as arrogant, and out of touch? Don’t forget; the popular vote was LOST in the Peninsula in large part due to UMNO Baru’s perceived arrogance.

To my mind, for what it’s worth, the man must believe that he has much to offer. And if we look at his track record, he does. The man who put together Petronas to wrest back our natural resources from the foreign powers, PERNAS, and Bank Bumiputra, could very easily rest on his laurels and be remembered as a great man. But instead he has chosen to do this seemingly madcap act of offering himself to lead the party he has defended all his life. Yes, even when he formed Semangat 46. Don’t forget, the UMNO that is in existence now is actually a DIFFERENT entity to the one that was formed in 1946. The “Baru” that was part of the present UMNO’s name was conveniently dropped after a few years of it’s registration after the last UMNO was declared illegal. And who joined Semangat 46 in the belief that Ku Li would defend the REAL UMNO? Tunku Abdul Rahman AND Tun Hussein Onn. Our Kelantan Prince had their trust. Is that worth something?

I believe that all Malaysians should be rooting for the man and remember that the alternative is our current Prime Minister OR worse. Think about it.