Kupon Beras ST15

Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani, Dato' Seri Noh Omar mengumumkan seramai 200,000 keluarga miskin dan Orang Asli akan menerima kupon RM10 bagi melayakkan mereka membeli beras gred ST15 (15 peratus hancur) yang berharga RM24 pada kadar RM14.

Menurut beliau, sebanyak 43,500 keluarga miskin tegar berpendapatan RM450 sebulan di bandar dan RM420 di luar bandar akan diberi kupon bagi 30 kilogram beras percuma setiap bulan, manakala lebih 150,000 keluarga yang berpendapatan RM1,500 sebulan (bandar) dan RM1,000 (luar bandar) pula akan menerima tiga kupon subsidi masing-masing bernilai RM10 setiap enam bulan sekali.

Menurut beliau, pemberian kupon khas itu adalah menggantikan sistem pemberian subsidi beras kepada pengilang dan pemborong beras yang bernilai RM60 juta sebulan.

Kata Noh lagi, pemberian kupon akan disalurkan menerusi semua anggota Parlimen termasuk daripada parti pembangkang.

Dari segi prinsipnya, saya menyambut baik sebarang usaha membantu golongan miskin dan terpinggir. Bagaimanapun, saya fikir elok juga kerajaan memikirkan perkara-perkara berikut sebelum melaksanakannya:

1) Bantuan ini hanya sampai kepada 200,000 keluarga miskin dan Orang Asli.

Adakah seramai itu sahaja keluarga miskin di negara ini? Bagaimana pula dengan mereka yang tidak masuk dalam senarai tersebut? Walau bagaimana baik sekalipun senarai penerima bantuan, pasti akan ada keluarga yang layak, tetapi tercicir. Mereka terpaksa membeli beras ST15 tanpa subsidi seperti sekarang.

2) Kupon ini ialah bagi menggantikan subsidi beras bernilai RM60 juta sebulan.

Apabila subsidi ini ditarik, harga beras ST15 akan dijual pada harga pasaran (tanpa subsidi). Apakah kesannya kepada golongan miskin (sama ada yang tidak mendapat kupon atau kupon yang diberikan itu tak mencukupi untuk bekalan keluarga) dan terpaksa membeli beras ST15 di pasaran tanpa subsidi?

(3) Pemberian kupon akan disalurkan menerusi semua anggota Parlimen termasuk daripada parti pembangkang.

Dari satu sudut, baguslah pembangkang dilibatkan sama; tak timbul soal diskriminasi berasaskan parti politik. Persoalannya ialah mengapakah pemberian bantuan ini diberikan melalui saluran politik. Bukankah lebih baik ia disalurkan melalui agensi-agensi kerajaan yang ditubuhkan bagi tujuan itu?

Itulah soalan-soalan yang saya dengar di kedai-kedai kopi. Saya fikir elok kerajaan menjelaskan isu-isu yang disebutkan di atas. Ia adalah wajar agar niat yang baik membuahkan hasil yang baik.

Nobisha Omar

Pemuda UMNO Menjadi Rakan Komunis?

Dalam sibuk-sibuk UMNO menyerang Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim kerana bersetuju membenarkan Chin Peng pulang ke Malaysia dalam zaman tuanya, tiba2 kita dikejutkan oleh berita bahawa Pemuda UMNO telah mengadakan hubungan dua hala dengan Liga Pemuda Komunis China. (Communist Youth League of China – CYLC)

Razali Ibrahim dilaporkan berkata:

“Seharusnya mereka perlu lebih risau lagi apabila DAP dan PKR mahu membawa Chin Peng pulang ke Malaysia, membawa pulang orang yang pernah khianat ke atas tanah air, sendiri,” katanya.”

Razali Ibrahim sebenarnya yang wajib menjelaskan kepada rakyat Malaysia mengapa Pemuda UMNO sanggup menggadai prinsip mereka menjalin hubungan dengan oragnisasi berideologi komunis sedangkan Malaysia telah berperang dengan pengganas komunis selama lebih 40 tahun.

Adakah Pemuda UMNO mahu mengkhianati para perajurit yang telah terkorban di dalam memerangai kebangkitan bersenjata komunis selama lebih 40 tahun itu?
CYLC ini amat berpengaruh dalam Parti Komunis China. Presiden China sekarang ini, Hu Jintao, adalah produk dari CYLC ini serta ramai lagi ahli-ahli CYLC menduduki kepimpinan Parti Komunis China.

Sekurang-kurang nya membenarkan Chin Peng pulang ke Malaysia adalah langkah sebagai mengenang jasa beliau memerangi Jepun dan penjajah British dahulu. Sekurang-kurangnya Chin Peng ada jasa beliau kepada Tanah Melayu, Malaya dan Malaysia. Apa jasa Liga Pemuda Komunis China kepada Malaysia?

Tindakan Pemuda UMNO Melanggar Perlembagaan Malaysia

Perlembagaan Malaysia menjelaskan bahawa Islam adalah agama persekutuan. Sedangkan ideologi komunis membenci ketuhanan dan membenci agama. Menjalin hubungan dengan sebuah pertubuhan komunis bererti menghina Perlembagaan Persekutuan.
Benar kata-kata Ustaz Idris Ahmad bahawa Pemuda UMNO telah melakukan pengkhianatan kepada negara kerana menjalin hubungan dua hala dengan sebuah pertubuhan yang mempunyai ideologi yang berlawanan dengan Peruntukan Perlembagaan Negara.

Hubungan diplomatik antara negara bukan hubungan ideologi. Ianya adalah hubungan bersifat praktikal dan bertujuan untuk menjaga kebajikan dan keamanan di antara dua negara walaupun kedua2 negara mempunyai ideology yang berbeza.
Namun, Pemuda UMNO telah mengambil langkah pro aktif dan menjalin hubungan dua hala dengan sebuah pertubuhan yang mempunyai ideology yang berlawanan dengan Perlembagaan Negara dan juga Islam.

Jelas Pemuda UMNO tidak hormat pada Islam dan tidak hormat pada Perlembagaan Negara.

Apa jasa Liga Pemuda Komunis China kepada Malaysia?

Apa jasa CYLC kepada Malaysia? Itu soalan saya kepada Khairy Jamaluddin dan Razali Ibrahim. Apakah jasa CYLC ini cukup besar sehingga Pemuda UMNO sanggup menggadai prinsip dan menjalin hubungan dengan sebuah pertubuhan yang masih kuat berpegang kepada ideology komunis?

Lupakah Pemuda UMNO bagaimana ideology komunis telah menghancurkan kemanusiaan dan menjadikan separuh dari benua Eropah merempat dalam kemiskinan dan kelaparan? Lupakah Pemuda UMNO bahawa ideologi komunis adalah satu ideology yang keji dan mungkar serta menolak bukan sahaja agama tetapi ketuhanan itu sendiri?

Seburuk-buruk Chin Peng, beliau dan rakan-rakan beliau dalam Parti Komunis Malaya mempunyai jasa kepada tanah kita ini. MEreka telah berjuang memerangi pendudukan Jepun di Malaya dan mereka telah melancarkan perang ke atas penjajahan British dengan mengorbankan ribuan nyawa ahli mereka demi untuk memerdekakan bumi Malaya dari penjajahan British.

Untuk itu, Malaysia mempunyai tanggungjawab membalas jasa mereka dan membenarkan mereka kembali ke Malaysia bagi menjalani sisa-sisa hidup mereka. Apa salahnya, mereka dibenarkan pulang tetapi diletakkan di dalam sebuah kem yang tertutup dan mereka hanya dibenarkan berinteraksi dengan kawalan yang ketat dengan populasi umum.

Bahaya Chin Peng Adalah Amat Kecil Berbanding CYLC

Chin Peng orang tua yang sudah tidak berdaya. CYLC mempunyai kekuatan dan keupayaan untuk menyebarkan ideology membenci tuhan dan agama. Sekurang-kurangnya CYLC mampu menyebarkan semangat membenci agama dan ketuhanan kepada negara lain, kalaupun mereka tidak mampu mempengaruhi dunia dengan ideoloji komunis mereka.

UMNO memang pertubuhan yang “mengata dulang paku serpih, mengata orang dia yang lebih”. Talam dua muka bernama UMNO ini, dihadapan rakyat Malaysia yang Islam mengaku berjuang Islam tapi dibelakang mereka berselingkuh dengan orang-orang yang membenci Islam dan membenci ketuhanan.

Inilah dia perangai sebenar UMNO, yakni PENIPU SAMPAI KIAMAT

Tulang Besi

Sokongan semua kaum kini beralih ke BN?

PRK Bagan Pinang telah selamat dilangsungkan. Hasilnya, ISA dinobatkan oleh rakyat Bagan Pinang dan PAS pula menyedarkan PR dari tidur. Ketika berlansungnya PRK itu, MCA pula bergolak. 2 pemimpin teratas ONG dan CHUA `seoalah-olah` bersengketa. Hingga kini masih mencari solusi yang sesuai. Sementera menunggu MCA mencari solusi, UMNO pula bersidang selepas tertangguh lama kesan tsunami PRU-12 yang lalu. Jika diamati betul-betul, macam plot drama pulak. Tapi aku yakin, kelangsungan ketiga-tiga peristiwa di atas punya kaitan kepada PR. BN sedang menguji tahap kesetiaan dan sokongan kaum di negara ini ke atas parti komponen mereka bagi menghadapi PRU-13 yang akan datang ini.

Jika dihalusi, kebanyakan komentar PRK Bagan Pinang lebih menjurus kepada peralihan `mood` kaum India kepada BN. Malah, kebanyakan pimpinan PR turut memperakui hasil bedah siasat ini. Pergolakan MCA, seolah-olah sengaja ditimbulkan. Soal integriti pemimpin agar bersih imej dan bebas rasuah cuba ditonjolkan supaya tidak lari dari matlamat Najib. Pendekatan ini dilihat memberi kesan. Kaum Cina kini sudah pandai menari mengikut rentak dan siap siaga untuk menerima konsep 1Malaysia.

Dengan kaum Cina sudah mula bertukar arah, sokongan kaum Melayu kepada konsep 1Malaysia pula semakin bertambah. Kehadiran ahli dan orang ramai ke Perhimpunan Agong UMNO lalu dijadikan ukuran. Ucapan Najib diperdebat dan diperbahaskan. Semua menjurus kepada untuk memperkukuhkan sokongan kaum Melayu.

Kesimpulannya, BN yakin malah semakin yakin dengan sokongan pelbagai kaum yang kini sudah mula beralih arah kepada mereka hasil dari konsep 1Malaysia ilham Najib. Jika telahan ini betul, PR harus perlu lebih berhati-hati. Beberapa tindakan segera perlu diberi perhatian oleh pimpinan-pimpinan parti dalam PR. Pendaftaran PR sebagai wadah politik baru perlu disegerakan. Pimpinan atasan hingga bawahan perlu turun ke bawah mendekati penduduk. Perlu diingatkan, BN kini sedang meniru pendekatan yang digunakan oleh PR. Atau, kita tewas dalam PRU-13 nanti. Adios!!!

Martkoosh

Cara Jepun “Mengharamkan” Rokok

SIM Informasi tentang cara Pemerintah Jepun dalam “mengharamkan” rokok di negaranya. Tidak perlu pakai MUJ (Majlis Ulama Jepun).

Ini menunjukkan bentuk kepedulian Jepun akan kesihatan dan kenyamanan warganya.

* Tahun 2004, Pemerintah Jepun menaikan harga rokok. Dengan dinaikannya rokok, tidak menyebabkan kos pengangkutan, teksi, dll menjadi naik jugak.

* Tahun 2007 akhir, Pemerintah Jepun memasang larangan merokok di semua teksi di Jepun, tidak terkecuali untuk pengemudinya. Kalau di KL kan, penumpang mengalah kepada pemandu teksi yang merokok.

* Tahun 2008, Pemerintah Jepun mengeluarkan kad “Taspo”, yaitu semacam SIK (Surat Izin Merokok), dengan tujuan remaja di bawah umur 20 tahun tidak boleh merokok. Masing-masing perokok wajib terdaftar sebagai perokok dan wajib memiliki kad tersebut. Kad Taspo ini sangat sakti. Mesin penjual rokok atau toko tidak akan menjual rokoknya kepada yang tidak memiliki kad ini.

* Kad ini juga akan mengesan prestasi penggunaan rokok per bulan dalam hitungan grafik, yang berhubungan dengan kesehatan dunia dan sebagainya.

* Rokok di Jepun dibuatkan semacam klasifikasi dari 10 s/d 1. Tujuannya adalah memberikan penyuluhan kepada perokok untuk berhenti secara alami. Klasifikasi tingkat 10 adalah yang paling berat, tinggi kadar tar, nikotin, dll. Setelah itu akan biasakan dengan rokok klasifikasi 9, 8, 7, dst., akhirnya klasifikasi tingkat-1, yaitu rokok yang paling ringan. Kalau sudah terbiasa menghisap rokok klasifikasi-1, tidak merokok sama sekali pun boleh.

* Tempat-tempat merokok disediakan bagi perokok hampir di pusat-pusat kota

* Merokok sambil berjalan boleh didenda 5000 yen/ RM200 di tempat!

* Awal 2009, dikabarkan harga rokok akan naik berlipat-kali ganda, dari 300 yen menjadi 900 yen. Dijamin, gaji akan habis kalau nekad beli rokok tiap hari. Semua karena pemerintah peduli kepada warganya. Tanpa perlu fatwa-fatwa.

Zamri Kecik

Not good enough

The new CPF by the Pakatan alliance might be the onset to something new (and concrete) where a set of joint policies are embraced as the ideology behind the Opposition’s validation as a legitimate alternative to BN.

No doubt that this has never happened before and promises much for the people. However, it must be stated that this is merely a set of guiding principles with no legal standing at all. It might augur much but there are no avenues for redress if some rogue members decide not to adhere to it or be selective when following these guidelines. Neither are there any remedies if the leaders choose to go on a different tack later.

Why did Pakatan Rakyat go to such lengths to produce such a document in the first place? If indeed the three parties are joining together, and Pakatan Rakyat as a political faction is to be registered, why then the requirement for it? A party constitution can, and will be more effective, right?

I for one do not agree to the release of such a document unless it is the precursor to something more permanent. It can be agreed that the voters might not be as politically suave as the politicians themselves but this is not true for all voters, and the release of such a document can only but backfire on Pakatan. Even without such a document, it is already difficult enough to attempt containing people like Hasan Ali, Mat Isa and Hadi Awang. With this document in place, all Hell’s gonna break loose. How bad will the setback be if even a minority of the members from any of the three parties, decide to leave because they do not agree to the CPF?

Will this single document be able to unite the three parties? The pertinent question should be “to what purpose will this release be”? A set of common policies is not enforceable. Look at what Zaid stressed. It merely touches on the doctrine of separation of powers, checks-and-balances, public accountability, transparency and to weed out the abuse of power and exercises in absolute power. Well said, but isn’t that what we expect of Pakatan anyway? Additionally, isn’t that what all political parties (and the federal constitution) promises?

As for the CPF being a manifesto for Pakatan, how about legally forming Pakatan Rakyat first before releasing it, not as a framework but to be included into the constitution? Wouldn’t that be more significant to the real cause? Isn’t that what it is all about (instead of this rigmarole)?

Oh yes, Pakatan has to begin somewhere and this might be the start of something good. However, can’t Pakatan make it better by first forming a legal entity and then getting the respective member coalition parties to form a (combined) committee to look into the setting up of a valid constitution?

To be able to attract the people of Malaysia, Pakatan Rakyat needs something more concrete than this, something that can be enforced. A Common Policy Framework is just not good enough.

Hakim Joe

Pengajaran dari Bagan Pinang: Kumpulan UG Perosak Sebenar PAS

Pilihan raya kecil Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Bagan Pinang yang berlangsung, 11 Oktober lalu, sudah pun diketahui keputusannya. Kemenangan calon Barisan Nasional, Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad memang dijangkakan meskipun kegagalan calon Pas yang mewakili Pakatan Rakyat, Zulkefly Mohamad Omar, untuk mengurangkan undi majoriti Barisan Nasional (BN) agak memeranjatkan.

Pelbagai analisis dibuat dan saya tidak mahu menambah apa-apa. Saya sekadar hendak mengungkap beberapa perkara yang penting daripada sudut perlembagaan khususnya dan sistem politik umumnya. Hal-hal ini penting kerana selain menjadi tema dan mauduk utama ruangan ini, itu semua penting dalam membina sebuah Malaysia yang adil, telus dan sistematik walau siapa dan apa pun warna politik kita. Saya ada menyebut betapa kewujudan sebuah sistem dua parti yang mantap penting bagi memperkasa ideal perlembagaan kita. Dalam konteks sekarang Pakatan perlu dibenarkan membentuk kerajaan di peringkat Persekutuan supaya kita dapat membezakan kelainan mereka melaksanakan Perlembagaan.

Berbalik kepada Bagan Pinang apa yang kita lihat ialah betapa wakil rakyat – yakni Ahli Parlimen dan Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUN) – pada hakikatnya dianggap sebagai ‘pegawai kebajikan’. Walaupun ini tidak salah tanggapan dan imej memberi kesan yang besar kepada kedudukan dan peranan wakil rakyat berkenaan dan kualiti dewan perundangan kita. Dan seterusnya ini memberi kesan langsung kepada kualiti undang-undang yang dibuat oleh Parlimen atau Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) kita. Begitu juga dengan fungsi dewan memantau kerajaan. Dalam sistem demokrasi berparlimen yang kita amalkan kerajaan pada hakikatnya dimiliki Dewan.

Ada kemungkinan pengundi dalam DUN Bagan Pinang, kerana ia adalah pilihan raya kecil dan tidak memberi kesan kepada kedudukan Kerajaan Negeri, mahu mengingatkan Pakatan supaya lebih berhati-hati dan memberi perhatian kepada masalah dan kebajikan rakyat. Ada pihak yang mengatakan bahawa Ahli Parlimen Teluk Kemang yang merangkum DUN berkenaan gagal memainkan peranan. Ini mungkin benar. Tetapi apakah ini cukup kuat untuk mereka memenangkan calon Barisan yang diketahui korup, yang hanya dikatakan ‘teknikal’ oleh pemimpin utamanya Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak. Bekas Presiden UMNO, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad sendiri pun tidak suka calon itu meskipun selepas keputusan diumumkan Mahathir berubah dan turut bergembira dengan keputusan di Bagan Pinang itu.

Keputusan pilihan raya kecil itu menyebabkan sesetengah pihak kesal dan sedih kerana kemenangan besar itu menandakan sikap pengundi yang semacam tidak kisah dengan soal integriti dan kebersihan calon. Apatah lagi mengingat bahawa calon Pas adalah seorang yang begitu aktif dalam isu-isu umum, termasuk alam sekitar dan kes pelupusan sampah Broga. Dalam pada itu sebagaimana di tempat-tempat lain khidmat Barisan bukanlah sempurna, di sana sini banyak juga kegagalan dan kelemahan pentadbiran Mohd Isa sewaktu beliau menjadi Menteri Besar dahulu. Begitu juga dengan pentadbiran sekarang di bawah Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan.

Hal ini memberi gambaran bahawa kemenangan besar Barisan itu adalah kerana kawasan itu memang kubu UMNO. Sebab itulah ada pihak yang berkata bahawa parti itu tidak harus terlalu seronok kerana apa yang terjadi di Bagan Pinang itu tidak semestinya aliran umum yang akan mendominasi politik negara.

Walau apa pun imej Pakatan yang dipaparkan dalam media yang dikuasai Barisan juga tidak membantu. Imej yang dipaparkan membayangkan betapa gabungan ini rapuh dan tidak berupaya mengambil tempat Barisan. Secara kebetulan itulah kesimpulan yang dibuat oleh Merdeka Center dalam tinjauan lapangan yang diselesaikannya pada awal bulan ini: sekitar 43 peratus dari pengundi berdaftar yang diselidikinya tidak yakin kepada kemampuan Pakatan untuk memerintah di peringkat persekutuan.

Dengan itu mungkin sudah sampai masanya Pas membuat langkah drastik, sama ada mendisiplinkan Exco Selangor, Datuk Dr Hasan Mohamed Ali atau menyingkirkannya terus. Dalam beberapa portal berita Hasan dilihat sebagai liabiliti kepada Pakatan umumnya dan Pas khususnya. Bagaimanapun, ini tidak mudah untuk berlaku kerana Hasan dilihat mewakili golongan yang pro-UMNO dalam Pas seperti Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang dan Nasharuddin Mat Isa dan penyokong mereka.

Dalam kekecohan di Selangor Abdul Hadi membisu sehingga di dalam parti sudah ada yang berkata bahawa Abdul Hadi adalah watak bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi dalam Pas. Sementara itu Nasharuddin membela tindakan salah Hasan itu secara terbuka. Tindakan dan perangai Hasan itu memang pelik kerana adalah mustahil seorang pegawai tadbir beliau tidak faham konsep tanggung jawab bersama dan bezanya dengan kedudukan penyokong kerajaan.

Saya fikir ada beberapa tokoh tertentu dalam Pas yang boleh merubah keadaan. Beberapa bulan kebelakangan ini imej dan kemampuan Menteri Besar Kedah, Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak agak menonjol dan kelihatannya beliau mempunyai kemampuan untuk memimpin parti. Secara perlahan-lahan lulusan syariah Universiti Al-Azhar dan sarjana undang-undang perbandingan Universiti Kent itu mula dilihat sebagai mampu mengisi kekosongan yang ditinggalkan oleh Datuk Mohd Fadzil Noor yang meninggal dunia pada 2002.

Saya tertarik dengan kelicikan Azizan menyiku Azman Shapawi, Naib Ketua Pemuda Pas dalam isu penjualan arak beberapa bulan lalu. Dalam pada itu organisasi Pas di Kedah dikatakan lebih baik daripada apa yang ada di Terengganu. Ini menyedihkan kerana selain pernah memerintah dari 1999-2004 Pas juga mentadbir negeri itu dari 1959-1961.

Perubahan kepemimpinan penting bukan saja untuk Pas, tetapi juga dalam konteks mereformasikan sistem kita. Perubahan mendasar hanya akan berlaku sekiranya ada kerajaan baru di peringkat persekutuan. Kita semua maklum Barisan tidak akan berbuat apa-apa kepada SPR dan undi pos umpamanya. Begitu juga dengan kedudukan perkhidmatan awam umumnya dan pasukan polis khususnya. Perubahan-perubahan ini amat penting jika kita mahu Malaysia membuat perubahan sebagaimana yang mula kelihatan di Indonesia selepas dua penggal Susilo Bambang Yudiyono memimpin negara. Jika tidak kita akan terus ketinggalan dan menggigit jari.

Buat masa ini, hanya 32 peratus pengundi yang yakin dengan kemampuan Pakatan. Jika Pas kekal dengan kapten yang ada ini mungkin akan berkurang. Sejumlah 21 peratus pengundi yang masih berada di atas pagar kemungkinan besar akan berpihak kepada BN dan untuk memperkasa demokrasi di Malaysia akan gagal lagi.

Prof Ab Aziz Bari

PAS ditikam dari belakang?

Apabila saya menyatakan bahawa PAS dalam bahaya kerana ada sesuatu yang tidak kena, ramai yang menyatakan saya tidak tahu perkembangan terkini PAS. Saya boleh menerima apa sahaja apa yang orang hendak kata.

Tetapi sekarang sudah ada blog tertentu yang membuat poll tentang Tuan Guru Haji Hadi yang dikatakan tidur dan sentias keluar negara dengan satu lagi saranan agar beliau dijadikan sahaja sebagai duta diatas kekerapan beliau keluar negara.

Apa yang saya boleh katakan jika tiada angin, takkan pokok bergoyang melainkan ada yang mengoncang dari bawah. Mungkin ada yang mengata saya tidak faham apa yang belaku di dalam PAS, mungkin kata-kata mereka itu benar, mungkin juga tidak.

Keangkuhan sudah mula berputik di hati pemimpin yang sudah bergelar 'Yang Berhormat' yang sudah lama diimpi-impikan. Apa tidaknya kerana selama ini sentiasa kalah jika bertanding diatas tiket PAS.

Maka lahirlah pemimpin-pemimpin yang mula menunjukkan taringnya yang selama ini disimpan. Mereka mula merasakan yang mereka sudah mempunyai pengaruh besar dikalangan penyokong PAS.

Jika beginilah sikapnya, tidak mustahil PAS akan kembali ke tahun 1978. Kesederhanaan hidup para pemimpin PAS yang ditunjukkan oleh pemimpin tertinggi PAS terdahulu, tidak lagi menjadi contoh.

Maka lahirlah pemimpin-pemimpin ala Umno selepas mempunyai title Y.B atau MP. Mereka mula memainkan bermacam-macam isu kemudian menyembunyikan diri.

Apakah ini kerana kita merasakan yang kita sudah hebat, sedangkan apa yang belaku adalah ujian dari Allah s.w.t. agar kita bermuhasabah diri kita, apakah kita masih lagi bersifat PAS atau sudah bersalin kulit menjadi pemimpin ala Umno.

Adakala kerana telalu ingin menjaga hubungan dalam Pakatan Rakyat, maka kita boleh ditolak ketepi atau ketengah. Adakah kita sanggup menjual prinsip kita semata-mata mengejar kuasa secara jalan belakang ?

Terdapat beberapa MP dan YB yang saya tahu mula mengatur langkah dalam usaha mengambil alih pimpinan tertinggi di dalam PAS tetapi tidak dapat dilakukan lagi kerana ada halangan yang besar iaitu Tuan Guru Nik Aziz.

Apa yang saya nampak gerakan ini menyerupai apa yang berlaku pada PAS pada pertengahan tahun 80an. Dan saya akui bahawa gerakan mereka cukup teratur.

Mereka cuba melaga-lagakan antara Tuan Guru Nik Aziz dengan Tuan Guru Haji Hadi. Sedangkan Al-Quran dan As-Sunnah adalah perlembagaan tertinggi PAS, apakah kerana ingin melompat lebih jauh maka perlembagaan tertinggi PAS diketepikan.

Mereka membiarkan PAS berada di dalam ketidak selesa semata-mata untuk menjaga hati Pakatan Rakyat. Mereka lebih suka menyokong parti dalam PR dalam sesuatu isu daripada mempertahankannya parti PAS itu sendiri.

Mungkin juga mereka merasakan inilah masa dan waktunya untuk mereka mendapat laba diatas segala pengorbanan mereka terdapat PAS.

Kerana orang-orang seperti inilah Terengganu tidak dapat dipertahankan pada PRU 11 kerana saya melihat sendiri bagaimana pemimpin peringkat bahagian cuba memperkayakan diri. Dan saya telah mengatakan sekiranya inilah perangai peringkat bawahan, PAS pasti tidak mempertahankan Terengganu pada PRU 11.

Tidak dinafikan bahawa Terengganu adalah kubu kuat Umno dan salah satu penyebab PAS dapat memerintah pada 1999, kerana adanya sokongan daripada penyokong Umno sendiri.

Patutkah kita memperlekehkan pucuk pimpinan dalam usaha menjaga hati Pakatan Rakyat? Konon-kononnya atas dasar semangat setiakawan, sedangkan PAS tidak pernah menikam kawan jika kita mengikuti sejarah perjuangan PAS.

Apa yang belaku ialah PAS sentiasa ditikam dari belakang, ibarat madu diberi tetapi dibalasnya dengan racun. Sebagaimana yang berlaku di Kedah tentang isu perobohan tempat sembelihan babi. Kedah dihimpit dari dalam dan belakang.

Percayalah ! Sekiranya ini belaku, PAS dan Pakatan Rakyat pasti akan gigit jari. Untuk kebaikkan PAS, maka singkirlah orang-orang seperti ini pada Muktamar Pemilihan yang akan datang sebelum matlamat PAS akan menjadi lebih sukar.

Bagi saya, mereka-mereka ini cukup faham apa yang saya maksudkan kerana penglibatan mereka yang boleh diibaratkan, siapa makan cili, dialah yang akan merasa pedasnya. Sayangilah PAS, sebagai wadah perjuangan Islam.

Musafirlalu

Mengapa Pakatan Rakyat Perak dijatuhkan?

Kita semua tahu apa yang berlaku di Perak. Tetapi ramai yang tidak tahu, mengapa ia berlaku.

Sekiranya anda masih ingat, ianya mengambil masa seminggu untuk kerajaan baru di Perak dan Selangor mengangkat sumpah selepas pilihanraya umum Mach 2008. Kedua-dua Sultan dinegeri ini mahu ‘membincangkan’ terlebih dahulu denganADUN-ADUN Pakatan Rakyat.Sultan kemudiannya meletakkan beberapa syarat sebelum bersetuju untuk melantik Pakatan Rakyat sebagai kerajaan negeri yang baru.

Jurang masa selama seminggu itu telah memberika masa kepada kerajaan negeri yang lama iaitu Barisan Nasional untuk memindah dan memusnahkan banyak bukti-bukti penyelewengan yang dilakukan sebelum ini.

Kelewatan selama seminggu ini juga membolehkan Barisan Nasional menawarkan kemungkinan untuk Umno bergabung dengan Pas untuk membentuk kerajaan baru di Selangor dan Perak. Malah, Umno bersetuju memberikan kerusi Menteri besar kepada Pas dikedua-dua negeri ini. dan kemuncaknya, Umno malah bersetuju untuk membenarkan Pas melaksanakan undang-undang Islam dikedua-dua negeri ini.

Tetapi, Pas terus bersama dengan dua rakan mereka, PKR dan DAP didalam Pakatan Rakyat dan menolak tawaran Umno. Akhirnya, kedua-dua Sultan tidak mempunyai pilihan melainkan menerima Pakatan Rakyat sebagai kerajaan baru di Perak dan Selangor. Tetapi ini tidak menghentikan mereka dari terus merancang dibelakang tabir tentang bagaimana untuk menjatuhkan kedua-dua kerajaan ini.

Sultan Selangor agak bersedia untuk menerima keadaan yang berlaku. Tambahan pula, Pakatan Rakyat selangor mempunyai majoriti yang cukup banyak dan agak susah untuk membeli ramai Ahli Dewan Undangn Negeri. Tetapi, Perak agak berlainan sama sekali. Majoriti yang diperolehi oleh Pakatan Rakyat Perak amat sedikit berbanding Selangor.

Sebaik saja kerajaan baru dibentuk di Perak, Sultan Perak mula meminta macm-macam. Kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat Perak bersedia bertolak ansur, demi menjaga hubungan baik dengan istana. Tetapi apa yang diminta oleh Sultan dan kerabat diraja agah berlebihan dan kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat Perak tidak mempunyai pilihan melainkan menolak permintaan Sultan.

Dan ini menyebabkan Sultan murka. Dan apabila Pakatan Rakyat Perak kehilangan majoriti di Dewan Undangan Negeri, Barisan Nasional mempunyai jalan yang amat mudah untuk mendapatkan perkenan untuk Barisan Nasional membentuk kerajaan baru.

Pada mulanya, Sultan Perak tidak begitu pasti sama ada hendak menyingkir kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat dan memilih Barisan Nasional. apabila Menteri Besar, Nizar Jamaludin berjumpa dengan Sultan dan memohon Dewan Undangan Negeri dibubarkan untuk membolahkan pilihanraya baru diadakan, Sultan meminta masa untuk membuat pertimbangan. Tetapi sebaik saja selepas itu, Najib Tun Razak berjumpa Sultan dan mempengaruhi Sultan untuk menolak permohonan Pakatan Rakyat untuk membubarkan Dewan Undangan Negeri, sebaliknya melantik Barisan Nasional untuk membentuk kerajaan yang baru.

Taktik Najib amat mudah. Nazrin, anak kepada Sultan Azlan Shah, tidak sepatutnya menjadi Raja Muda. dan ini bermakna, dia tidak sepatutnya menjadi Sultan kelak. Sekiranya Sultan Azlan mangkat, kerajaan Pusat tidak akan menyokong Nazrin sebagai Sultan Perak seterusnya. Lihatlah apa yang berlaku di Negeri Sembilan. walaupun Yamtuan melantik anaknya sebagai Raja Muda, tidak bererti dia akan menjadi Yamtuan.

Oleh itu, sama ada Nazrin boleh menjadi Sultan atau tidak bergantung kepada hubungan baik dengan kerajaan Pusat. Tetapi hubungan baik itu hanya boleh diperolehi sekiranya Barisan Nasional menjadi kerajaan negeri. Kalau Pakatan Rakyat masih lagi menjadi kerajaan negeri, maka Nazrin terpaksa membayar harganya apabila tiba masa untuk menggantikan bapanya.

Tambahan pula, Sultan dan keluarganya telah meminta banyak perkara dari kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat, semuanya telah ditolak. Umno akan memastikan bahawa semua permintaan Sultan dan keluarganya akan dipenuhi sekiranya barisan nasional dipilih sebagai kerajaan negeri.

Dan dengan itu, Pakatan Rakyat menemui ajalnya di Perak. Sultan memilih Barisan Nasional sebagai kerajaan negeri yang baru dan Pakatan Rakyat menjadi pembangkang.

Apakah permintaan Sultan dan keluarganya yang ditolak oleh Pakatan Rakyat dan sebaliknya diterima oleh Barisan Nasional? Mari kita tengok, dalam masa beberapa bulan saja, Sultan dan keluarganya tiba-tiba menjadi salah satu keluarga diraja yang terkaya di Malaysia, sebaik saja Pakatan Rakyat tumbang.

1. Umno menghadiahkan kepada Sultan sekeping tanah yang dikenali sebagai lot 183578. Tanah seluas kira-kira 600 ekar ini terletak di Tanjung Tualang, dalam daerah Kinta. Tanah ini telah di berikan kepada salah seorang proksi Sultan yang bernama Mohamed Khaair Johari Hj. Osman.

2. Umno menghadiahkan kepada Sultan konsesi balak seluas 1,000 ekar yang terletak di Ulu Kenderong, Gerik, Hulu Perak, disepanjang lebuhraya Gerik-Kupang. Konsesi ini pada mulanya diberikan kepada Universiti Utara Malaysia. Walaubagaimanapun, pemberian ini ditarik balik dan diberikan kepada Pusat Kreatif Kanak-Kanak dimana Pengerusinya ialah Raja Datuk Seri Ashman Shah Ibni Sultan Azlan Shah.

3. Umno menghadiahkan kepada Sultan tujuh konsesi balak di kompartmen 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 dan 49 di Hutan Simpan Kenderong di Hulu Perak. Ketujuh-tujuh lot ini, yang berjumlah kira-kira 600 ekar, diberikan kepada dua syarikat proksi Sultan - Syarikat Zotonjaya Sdn Bhd dan Kibaran Wang Sdn. Bhd.

4. Umno akan meluluskan satu cadangan penghutanan semula (reforestation) yang melibatkan 10,781 hektar. 5,781 hektar terletak di Hutan Simpan Gunung Besout, di selatan Perak wementara 5,000 hektar lagi di Pondok Tanjung dalam daerah Larut Matang. Syarikat yang akan mendapat projek ini ialah Permatang Utama Sdn. Bhd (nombor syarikat 513583-D) dimana Pengerusi Eksekutifnya ialah Datuk Seri Ismail Farouk Abdullah, menantu kepada Sultan Azlan Shah).

5. Berikutan dengan itu, Datuk Seri ismail Farouk Abdullah dibenarkan untuk mengambil alih Hotel Casuarina milik kerajaan negeri dengan harga yang paling murah iaitu RM43 juta dimana harga sebenar jauh lebih tinggi dipasaran terbuka. Hotel tersebut terletak dikawasan paling strategik di Ipoh malah harga tanah lapang saja mempunyai nilai yang amat tinggi.

Keluarga Diraja Perak bukan orang susah. Tetapi nampaknya mereka tamak. Raja datuk seri Eleena Azlan Shah merupakan Pengarah kepada Gamuda Berhad dan juga merupakan orang ke 25 kaya di Malaysia dengan harta bernilai RM773 juta. Ini menjadikan beliau wanita kedua terkaya di malaysia selepas Puan Sri Chong Chook Yew, yang menduduki tangga ke 18 dengan harta bernilai RM1 billion.

Gamuda Berhad juga telah diberikan kontrak bernilai lebih RM10 billion. Ia juga mengurus dan menyelenggara lebuhraya sepanjang 230 kilometer dan juga merupakan pemaju hartanah di empat projek bandar baru yang melibatkan lebih dari 30,000 rumah.

Itulah kisahnya. Rakyat Perak, khususnya orang Melayu, merasakan bahawa pembangkang tidak menunjukkan hormat kepada Sultan. Apa yang tidak diketahui oleh mereka ialah Sultan tidak seharusnya diberikan penghormatan. Dan ramai juga yang tidak tahu mengapa Sultan mahukan Pakatan Rakyat disingkir di Perak.

Sekarang, kita berharap, rakyat Perak tahu apa yang berlaku.

Mat Samankati (Terjemahan artikel RPK)

Why the Pakatan Rakyat government was brought down in Perak

...Nazrin’s succession to the Perak throne depends on the goodwill of the federal government. But only if the state government is a Barisan Nasional government will there be this goodwill. If Pakatan Rakyat remains the state government, then expect Nazrin to pay the price when his time comes to succeed his father.
----------------------------------------

We all know what happened in Perak. What many do not know is why it happened.

If you can remember, it took one week for the Perak and Selangor state governments to get sworn in after the March 2008 general election. The Sultans of these two states wanted to first ‘discuss the matter’ with the Pakatan Rakyat State Assemblypersons. The Sultans then set certain terms and conditions before agreeing to swear in the new Pakatan Rakyat state governments.

This gap of one week allowed the old Barisan Nasional state governments time to remove and destroy quite a lot of very damaging evidence of the wrongdoings of the previous governments.

The one-week delay also allowed Barisan Nasional to negotiate the possibility of PAS teaming up with Umno to form the state governments in Perak and Selangor. Umno even agreed that PAS would become the Menteris Besar of these two states. And, to add icing to the cake, Umno even agreed to allow PAS to implement Islamic laws in these two states.

But PAS stayed loyal to their two other partners in Pakatan Rakyat, PKR and DAP, and they declined Umno’s offer. Finally, the two Sultans had no choice but to swear in the Pakatan Rakyat state governments in Perak and Selangor. But this did not stop them from plotting behind the scenes on how to bring down the governments.

The Sultan of Selangor was quite prepared to consider the whole matter a fait accompli. After all, Pakatan Rakyat in Selangor had a clear majority and it would be quite difficult to buy off so many State Assemblypersons. But Perak was another matter altogether. Pakatan Rakyat’s majority in Perak was thinner than in Selangor.

As soon as the new state government had been put in place, the Sultan of Perak began asking for this, that and the other. The Pakatan Rakyat Perak state government would have been quite prepared to tolerate some of the demands of the Perak Palace for the sake of maintaining a good relationship with the Palace. But what the Sultan and his family wanted was just too excessive and the Pakatan Rakyat Perak state government had no choice but to say no to the Sultan’s demands.

And this, of course, upset the Sultan. So, when Pakatan Rakyat lost its majority in the Perak State Assembly, it did not take too much persuading for the Sultan to agree to swear in a new Barisan Nasional state government.

At first, the Sultan was not too sure whether he should kick out the Pakatan Rakyat state government in favour of a Barisan Nasional government. When the Pakatan Rakyat Menteri Besar, Nizar Jamaluddin, went before the Sultan to request that the State Assembly be dissolved to make way for fresh state elections, the Sultan said he would think about it first. But immediately after that the Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, went to meet the Sultan and the Sultan was persuaded to reject the Pakatan Rakyat request to dissolve the State Assembly and instead he swore in Barisan Nasional as the new state government.

Najib’s ‘persuasion’ was simple. Nazrin, his son, should not be the Raja Muda of Perak. And this means he should also not be the next Sultan. And in the event that the Sultan dies, as surely he will one day, the federal government will not support Nazrin as the next Sultan of Perak. See what happened to Negeri Sembilan. Although the Yamtuan appointed his son as the regent, this does not mean he becomes the next Yamtuan.

So, Nazrin’s succession to the Perak throne depends on the goodwill of the federal government. But only if the state government is a Barisan Nasional government will there be this goodwill. If Pakatan Rakyat remains the state government, then expect Nazrin to pay the price when his time comes to succeed his father.

Furthermore, the Sultan and his family has asked for a lot of things from the Pakatan Rakyat state government, all of which they rejected. Umno will ensure that the Sultan and his family get whatever they want if Barisan Nasional takes over as the Perak state government.

And with that Pakatan Rakyat’s fate was sealed. The Sultan swore in Barisan Nasional as the new Perak state government and Pakatan Rakyat was sent into the opposition aisle.

What was it that the Sultan and his family wanted which Pakatan Rakyat said no to and which Barisan Nasional has now said yes? Yes, let us see how in just a few months the Sultan and his family has suddenly become one of the richest royal families in Malaysia, of course, at the expense of Pakatan Rakyat.

1. Umno gave the Sultan a piece of state land known as lot 183578. The land is approximately 600 acres in size and is at Tanjong Tualang in the district of Kinta. This land has been parked under the name of the Sultan’s proxy, Mohamed Khaair Johari Hj Osman.

2. Umno gave the Sultan a 1,000-acre timber concession along the 11km Gerik-Kupang highway in Ulu Kenderong, Gerik, Hulu Perak. This concession was originally given to Universiti Utara Malaysia. However, it was later revoked and given to Pusat Kreatif Kanak-Kanak whose Chairman is Raja Datuk Seri Ashman Shah Ibni Sultan Azlan Shah.

3. Umno gave the Sultan seven timber concessions at compartments 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 and 49 in the Kenderong Forest Reserve in Hulu Perak. The seven lots, which come to approximately 600 acres, were parked under two proxy companies of the Sultan -- Syarikat Zotonjaya Sdn Bhd and Kibaran Wang Sdn Bhd.

4. Umno is about to approve a proposal for reforestation involving 10,781 hectares. 5,781 hectares is at the Gunung Besout Forest Reserve in Southern Perak while 5,000 hectares is at Pondok Tanjung in the Larut Matang district. The company that will get this huge project is Permatang Utama Sdn Bhd (company registration number 513583-D) whose Executive Chairman is Datuk Seri Ismail Farouk Abdullah, the Sultan’s son-in-law.

5. Further to that, Datuk Seri Ismail Farouk Abdullah was allowed to take over the state-owned Casuarina Hotel in Ipoh for a negotiated cut throat price of only RM43 million whereas it can fetch a far higher price on the open market. The hotel is located in one of the most prime land in Ipoh and just the empty land alone is worth a huge amount of money.

It is not that the Perak Royal Family is destitute. It is more like they are greedy. Raja Datuk Seri Eleena Azlan Shah is a Director of GAMUDA BERHAD and is Malaysia's 25th richest person with assets worth over RM 773 million. This makes her the second richest woman in Malaysia after Puan Sri Chong Chook Yew, who occupies the number 18 slot with more than RM 1 billion in assets.

Gamuda Berhad has been awarded more than RM10 billion worth of contracts. It also operates and maintains 230 kilometres of highways plus is a major township and property developer with four township projects involving more than 30,000 houses.

So there you have it. Perakians, in particular the Malays, think that the opposition is not showing the Sultan of Perak the respect he deserves. What they do not know is the Sultan does not deserve any respect. And many are also not aware why the Sultan wanted Pakatan Rakyat kicked out of Perak.

Now, we hope, they do.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Komen Pilihan

TERLALU banyak tumpuan dan ulasan yang diberi bila UMNO cuba membuat sesuatu perubahan.Apa sahaja idea bagi memperkasakan UMNO dimatahati pengundi akan diulas dan dicari kekurangannya untuk memperlihatkan bahawa UMNO hanya pandai berteori dan reotorik semata mata.

Hasilnya UMNO yang mula belajar dari kesilapan semakin berjaya menambat semula hati pengundi pengundi walaupun setengahnya dilakukan secara magic yang penuh dengan penipuan.

Malangnya kita yang asyik terpukau mengulas bagi menunjukkan bahawa UMNO sebenarnya tdak mampu berubah tidak menyedari bahawa kita sendiri yang perlu berubah.Kita sendiri gagal untuk mengesan dimana kekurangan kita yang memungkinkan kita ditolak sebagai pilihan kedua kepada UMNO.

Politik sebenar kita yang punya dua wajah masih belum disatukan.Bercakap dan berkuliah dengan nada yang berlainan tadkirah disurau dan berceramah dipentas politik olih orang yang sama menjadikan setengah pengundi bingong memikirkannya.

Sewaktu UMNO dihentam habis habisan kerana gagal memahami Islam,kita berdakap dan berpelok dengan PKR yang punya ideologi yang seakan sama dengan UMNO.

Untuk memimpikan kekuasaan politik nasional sebenarnya kita wajar melakukan lampau apa yang telah kita lakukan sebelum ini.Hujah hujah memperlekehkan keIslaman orang lain sudah lapok untuk diterima olih manusia Islam dizaman ini.

Kejujuran persahabatan juga sering meragukan.Kita tanpa segan silu bertempik untuk menunjukkan akulah jagohan partiku dengan menghentam sesama kawan dalam media terbuka jika apa yang dilakukan tidak menepati keinginan dan harapan kita.

Dari Mohd Sayuti Omar Blog

Menguji IQ Politik

MASIH ingatkah tuan-tuan dan puan-puan dengan orang bernama Mohd Radzi Salleh? Dia ialah Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (Adun) Lunas, Kedah. Radzi menang kerusi berkenaan dalam pilihan raya umum lalu atas tikit PKR. Dia juga dikira beruntung kerana dilantik menjadi Exco Kedah walaupun pengalaman beliau dalam politik dan pentadbiran tidak banyak.

Kedudukan itu adalah tertinggi bagi seseorang Adun selepas Menteri Besar.

Tetapi kedudukan Radzi itu tidak kekal lama. Sebulan atau dua bulan selepas beliau dilucutkan jawatan Exco. Tempat beliau diganti dengan Adun Kulim, Lim Soo Nee dari PKR berbangsa Cina. Sudah tentu perlantikan Adun ini dari segi kepentingan kaum ia memberi ruang dan untung kepada masyarakat Cina di Kedah. Orang Cina boleh mempergunakan Adun berkenaan untuk menuntut apa-apa keperluan mereka di negeri itu.

Adapun kenapa Radzi dilucutkan sebagai anggota Exco kerana beliau telah mengistyharkan diri keluar dari PKR dan menjadi Adun bebas di DUN Kedah. Menjelang pilihan raya Permatang Pasir, Pulau Pinang beliau telah istyharkan diri menyertai Umno semula, parti lamanya. Alasannya 'semesek' perjuangan PKR di bawah nasihat eksklusif Anwar Ibrahim sudah menyimpang jauh.

Itu hanya alasan saja. Sebenarnya Radzi ada menghadapi masalah lain yang menekan jiwa dan perasaannya. Beliau dikaitan dengan rasuah. Aduan rasuah ke atasnya dibuat oleh pihak tertentu kononya beliau telah membuat tuntutan palsu dan tidak munasabah dengan kedudukannya sebagai Exco. Berikutan Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah (SPRM) telah menjalanakan siasatan ke atasnya. Sejak itu hidup dan tumpuan politiknya berbalau-balau.

Semasa siasatan ini berjalanlah beliau telah meralat semula perjuangannya. Merasa perjuangan PKR dan Pakatan Rakyat merugikan rakyat. Maka beliau kembali semula berjuang dalam Umno. Sehubungan itu beliau hilang kedudukan sebagai Exco yang berprestej itu.

Orang akan menghormat dan menyanjungi Radzi kalau beliau mengambil keputusan kembali kepada Umno itu atas prinsip perjuangan. Sesiapa pun tidak akan harus bersekongkol dengan perjuangan batil. Adalah wajar dan bijak jika kita mufarakah dari kejahatan dan kebatilan. Kerana berada dalam kebatilan samalah mendiangkan diri pada bahan neraka.

Tetapi apa yang berkudis dalam kepada umum sejauh manakah tindakan Radzi itu berdasarkan prinsip perjuangan? Ada yang meragui tindakan beliau itu. Bahawa beliau bertindak bukan kerana prinsip perjuangan tetapi kerana 'prinsip' ugutan dan tekanan oleh pihak tertentu. SPRM telah digunakan dalam hal ini untuk menekan perasaan Radzi sehingga beliau meninggalkan perjuangan PKR?

Mungkin disebabkan tekanan, ugutan itulah menjadikan beliau selalu berpeluh di dahi, tidak nyenyak tidur dan akhirnya membuat ralat atas atas perbuatan beliau yang tidak salah itu. Bagaimana pun cerita sudah tamat, pihak yang mahu melihat Radzi memberi imej buruk kepada PKR dan kerajaan Kedah sudah pun berlalu. Radzi telah keluar parti dan menentang kerajaan Kedah.

Inilah yang dihajati oleh pihak tertentu dan ia berjaya. Hasilnya Radzi kehilangan jawatan, kehilangan rakan dan dituduh sebagai pengkhianat. Maruahnya sebagai ahli politik juga sudah tercemar.

Dan selepas segala-gala itu khalas, semalam SPRM telah mengumumkan penutupan siasatan ke atasnya berhubungan aduah rasuah kerana membuat tuntutan palsu. Beliau didapati tidak mempunyai kesalahan seperti mana yang diadukan itu. "DPP memutuskan tiada kesalahan dilakukan oleh bekas Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Pelancongan, Pembangunan Masyarakat, dan sumber tenaga negeri itu (Kedah). DPP dapati tuntutan Radzi itu adalah berasas dan tiada maklumat mengaitkannya," begitulah jelas Pesuruhjaya SPRM kedah, Idrus Jaafar.

Di sini apa yang boleh disimpulkan atas apa yang berlaku itu; pertama, bahawa Radzi tidak melakukan rasuah seperti mana yang dituduh itu, kedua, SPRM jelas diperalatkan oleh pihak tertentu untuk menekan dan menganggu Radzi dengan tujuan memburukkan PKR dan kerajaan Kedah, dan ketiga kerajaan Kedah bersih dan terhindar dari rasuah.

Iktibar yang boleh diambil disini ialah, mana-mana wakil rakyat Pakatan Rakyat jangan sesekali melakukan rasuah kecil atau besar, atau cuba berkawan dengan 'rasuah' kerana kedudukan mereka sangat rapuh untuk diratah oleh SPRM. Jangan juga berfikir apabila anda melakukan rasuah tetapi ianya tidak terkesan oleh pihak berkuasa anda beranggapan anda bijak dan tidak khianat.

Dalam hubungan ini wakil rakyat Pakatan juga harus mempunyai semangat yang kuat, keberanian dan tidak mudah goncang bila menerima ugutan dan desakan. Mereka harus yakin kerana kebenaran dan harus berani kerana kebenaran. Dan jika ada penyiasatan dan pendakwaan kilat ke atas mereka hendaklah hadapi dengan tenang dan jangan takut. Rujukan kepada parti. Percayalah dan yakinlah kepada diri sendiri dan yakinlah kebenaran tetap akan menang.

Kesemua senario yang berlaku seperti di atas itu, baik di pihak SPRM, pihak yang kena siasat dan pihak yang memperalatkan SPRM untuk tujuan politik, sebenarnya sangat mudah dicami kerana permainan dan senario itu sudah wujud sejak berzaman. Hanya mereka yang jahil, penakut serta tidak yakin kepada diri sendiri saja akan tewas dan mudah mengangkat bendera putih!

Dari Mohd Sayuti Omar Blog

Kapitan Cyber Troopers Snipe All Opposition At Will

It’s so easy to undermine the credibility of laymen, politicians, villagers, journalists or media organisations. Ask DAP cyber troopers. They have the skills, organisation and knowledge on how to do it.

Currently these cyber troopers operate from Levels 28 and 52 of Komtar, which houses the Chief Minister Kapitan Lim Guan Eng and his side-kick Indian chief mandore DCM 2 P Ramasamy.

What they do? They monitor the mainstream media and cyber space daily without fail on any stories deemed critical against the pro-capitalist Kapitan Lim’s government. Once they spot one, hell will break loose in the cyber space. Like a tiger leaping over its prey, they will pounce immediately on such article, story, comment or whatever.

Their family motto is ‘defend Kapitan’s government at all costs.’

When they sense that they cannot defend Kapitan’s iron fist rule with correct facts, they will spin the issue raised with lies, misinformation, misrepresenting facts, smearing campaigns, character assassination and underhand tactics.

Their easy targets in their blog spots and comments would be the interviewer and interviewee.

For instance, if Hindraf were to criticise Kapitan for misreading, mishandling and mismanaging the High Chaparral fiasco, the cyber troopers would first attempt to defend their boss with facts. When they realised that they were bankrupt of ideas leaving Kapitan open helplessly for substantiated attacks, they resorted to dirty tactics to snipe at Hindraf and its leaders. They carried out smearing campaigns to undermine Hindraf with lies, misrepresentation of facts and misinformation. They raised irrelevant issues to attack Hindraf. They also hit journalists hard by undermining the interviewer's credibility by raising unscrupulous and unsubstantiated allegations of biasness, irresponsibility and having hidden agendas.

But if the journalist produced a story favouring Kapitan Lim, he or she would not be attacked at all. How could such a journalist escape any criticisms from DAP cyber troopers this time? One automatically retains his or her credibility if one were to write something favourable to the Kapitan.

Kapitan Lim and Co also use their cyber troopers to lodge malicious unsubstantiated complaints to editors on journalists perceived as hostile to his government. The complaints would be lodged by his cyber troopers either using their official capacity or fake names. But the strangest part is, certain editors are influenced by these poison pen complainants and put truthful and hardworking journalists under unnecessary pressure to avert these ‘flying’ complaints.

If the cyber troopers have the balls, they should expose their true identity, such as their real name, IC no, corresponding address and contact numbers.

Media bosses, who entertain such complaints, should first demand this transparency from the complainants, who cowardly hide behind a false identity. Only then can the affected journalists defend themselves legally. Otherwise, journalists have every right to decline clarifications on issues raised in the poison pen letters posted by certain anonymous characters.

Who are these Kapitan troopers anyway? Don’t be shocked if these troopers include even elected representatives. Prior to the last general election, DAP party leaders, including Kapitan Lim himself, comprised these troopers. But now since DAP has the financial capacity and political clout, Kapitan’s government can easily hire full time cyber troopers, under the guise of personal aides, to do the dirty job for him.

These cyber troopers may well include elected representatives, special assistants and political secretaries to state executive councilors. So be cautious when talking to these aides next time. They may well be checking on you to snipe in cyberspace.

Kapitan Lim had also adopted another tactic of divide and rule. He tells something to the Chinese press to maintain the Chinese support to his government, while telling something else on the same subject to other media channels. He does not care about other communities’ support so long as the Chinese's blind support is with him. He spins, lies and spreads false stories to portray himself as the champion of the poor, the marginalised, needy and for all communities. But truth is, although he represents a party advocating socialism, Kapitan Lim heavily champions the capitalists cause.

If a professional journalist were to highlight this, he or she would be crucified in cyberspace by the Kapitan troopers.

Kapitan Lim also imposes unofficial bans on certain journalists and media groups from his functions and press conferences by not releasing any statements or invitations to them. This understandably prevents the journalists or media groups from writing his side of the stories on any subject. Through this underhanded tactic, he prepares ammunition for the Kapitan troopers to fire at certain journalists and media groups of being biased and having hidden agendas.

This tactic is also extended and expanded to other people, such as individual activists, human rights organisations, politicians, political parties and businessmen. One has go down memory lane to recall and review how the former DCM 1 Fairus Khairuddin was ousted from his office.

Of late, Kapitan has stopped having press conferences to avoid media scrutiny over his mismanagement and misrule when he finally realised that his honeymoon with journalists was over, especially after the Kampung Buah Pala debacle. Even the once Kapitan-friendly Chinese journalists have begun to question his acts and deeds. Prior to this, he was holding at least three press conferences daily to highlight even petty issues.

His press conferences were so regular that he earned the nickname ‘PC King’ within months of assuming the top executive position of Penang government. Even a DAP legislator once lamented that the Kapitan was living in a myth that he could run his state government through press conferences. Compared with his three predecessors, Kapitan Lim holds the world record for having the highest number of press conferences within a short period of time.

Kapitan’s version of press freedom is freedom for his troopers to blast at full force against anyone perceived critical against his autocratic style of governance. But little does he realise that what goes around comes around as well. If the people can vote him in, they will also vote him out one day. Either Kapitan is arrogantly stupid or stupidly arrogant for not realising this reality. Remember, no Penang Chief Minister has ever left office undefeated. Even the once mighty Lim Chong Eu bit the dust finally, ironically, in the hands of Guan Eng's father – Lim Kit Siang. One has serious doubts as to whether Kapitan Lim would be an exception to this rule especially when realising that he has made more enemies among journalists and media groups than any of his predecessors in such a short period of time.

If the Chinese's blind support to him comes to an abrupt end, Kapitan Lim could just be a one term wonder.

Megat Jittendran

Lokman, let’s set the record straight.

...I still maintained contacts with Lokman Noor Adam long after he had left the opposition and joined Umno. I even met up with him for dinner a few times. Today, he has raised a five-year old issue and has accused me of being unjust to him. Maybe I need to remind him about what I wrote more than five years ago on 26 February 2004 to set the record straight.

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Raja Petra afraid to face trial, says Lokman

Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin does not dare return to Malaysia and face his sedition trial, a former PKR supreme council member claimed.

Lokman Noor Adam, who is currently an Umno Youth exco member, alleged that Raja Petra tended to post articles on his news portal without verifying facts and now that he is facing several civil suits, he had to flee the country.

“He is the kind of person who often criticises without considering if it is true or not. That is why his news portal churns out such allegations,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Lokman Noor, who has known Raja Petra for more than 10 years, cited an example in 2004, when he was lambasted by Raja Petra in the news portal.

“Raja Petra reprimanded me in his news portal when I exposed the alleged wrongdoings of senior PKR leaders back then. Later, when former PKR Youth chief Ezam Mohd Nor joined Umno, he (Raja Petra) changed his stance and praised me for my earlier criticism.

“This shows that he is not consistent,” he said.

In 2004, PKR expelled Lokman for allegedly bringing disrepute to the party by making wild claims against leaders through the media, wanting to rejoin Umno and getting party members to follow him.

On another matter, Lokman Noor said Barisan Nasional’s recent big victory in the Bagan Pinang by-election showed that the Prime Minister’s hard work had paid off.

“The Opposition will give all kinds of negative comments to divert attention from the fact that the people’s support is back with Barisan,” he said.

The Star, 14 October 2009

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“Justice must not only be served; it must also be seen to be served”

The developments in Parti Keadilan Nasional (keADILan) over the last couple of weeks have certainly been an eye opener, if not a wakeup call. Two very significant happenings are the crossover of the 12 grassroots leaders (mostly from the Youth Movement or Pemuda keADILan), and the sacking of its Executive Secretary, Lokman Noor Adam.

Let me first touch on the Lokman episode. To be absolutely honest, I both support and do not support the sacking, and I will explain why in due course.

I believe in the age-old adage that “justice must not only be served, it must also be seen to be served.” In the Lokman sacking, the nagging question would be then: was justice seen to have been served?

Now, this is crucial to the whole episode. No one would even want to talk about whether he did or did not get a fair trial if in the first place there was no appearance of a trial. In politics, appearances are everything and the only thing. Therefore, keADILan, of all parties, should be most sensitive about this point seeing that the very name of the party means ‘justice’ in English.

I am not saying that there was no inquiry or that the impartiality of the panel set up by the party to conduct the inquiry is suspect. The inquiry members are, after all, leaders of some standing in the party -- the Deputy President Abdul Rahman Othman, Vice President Tian Chua and Treasurer Datuk Kamarul Baharin Abbas. But the very fact that they ARE party leaders, whether of integrity or otherwise, would start tongues wagging. And this is most unfortunate as I feel these leaders should have been insulated and isolated from this whole episode and not put in a situation where they would get dragged into the whole affair.

Anyway, what is done is done and it is too late to lock the stable door once the horse has bolted. What keADILan now needs to do is to ensure that such an episode can be avoided in future. Maybe keADILan should establish a permanent disciplinary committee that can act as judge and jury for future incidences of this nature. Maybe this committee can comprise of a retired judge and some practicing lawyers (say like Zainur Zakaria) who hold no party positions and have no political ambitions whatsoever -- people who can interpret the party constitution and the legal ramifications of any action or decision.

All complaints of indiscipline or breach of the party constitution should be brought directly to the attention of the disciplinary committee, which would then decide whether the complaint is legitimate and serious enough to warrant some form of action. Some indiscretions may only require a warning, others a show-cause, while only the more serious and blatant ones would warrant sacking.

This disciplinary committee would of course be set up with the endorsement of the Supreme Council (Majlis Pimpinan Tertinggi or MPT). However, once it is set up, the MPT should no longer interfere in its work or try to influence its decision. After all, is this not what keADILan is fighting for, an independent judiciary? The members of the disciplinary committee can be appointed for two-year terms after which their tenure can be extended if the MPT is satisfied with their work and if those due for reappointment are prepared to continue serving on the committee.

The independence of the disciplinary committee would be to the extent that all cases should not be ‘filtered’ by the MPT before they are sent to them. This will avoid ‘selective prosecution’, like what the opposition has accused the government of practicing. Further to that, the disciplinary committee should be above the MPT in that it can take action against any MPT member, the President included. Technically, therefore, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail can be sacked from the party if a legitimate and serious complaint against her is brought to the committee’s attention and if it finds her guilty of breaching party discipline or violating the party constitution.

The setting up of such a committee, and a totally independent one at that, would probably make keADILan the first political party in Malaysia to practice what it preaches. And dare the party leaders put their fate in such a committee that will maintain party discipline and decorum without fear or favour? This is the true test of the pudding. And, as they say, charity starts at home. So keADILan should reform this shortcoming before it shouts at others to reform.

Actually, Lokman brought the problem upon himself when he chose to boycott the hearing, citing the three-men panel set up to hear his case as biased. Lokman may be entirely out of line here but he managed to raise enough doubts, though still only an allegation and which he was not able to prove at that. But then he managed to recruit many sympathisers who share his view that he was unfairly sacked. People no longer talk about what he did and whether what he did was detrimental to the party. They focus on the manner he was sacked and, unfortunately, this has now become the issue instead of what the real issue should be, and that is the damage he has done the party.

Now, on the positive aspects of this whole episode, it is good that the party took this stern action. In the past, the main complaint about the party is that it is indecisive and appears reluctant to act lest the members merajuk (sulk) and leave the party. This was interpreted as a weak leadership. For some time now, the members have been saying, if these people want to merajuk, let them merajuk. And if they choose to leave the party, then good riddance. Whatever the consequences, the party should never kowtow to any particular individual and no individual should be allowed to hold the party to ransom.

Take the case of the one-time state chief of Melaka, Omar Jaafar. In late 2002, he raised hell at the party’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Sungai Petani, Kedah. In a huff, he led a group of about 100 to stage a walkout in protest against the proposed keADILan-PRM (Parti Rakyat Malaysia) merger. Outside the hall he shouted at all and sundry and accused the party leaders of being munafik (hypocrites). That same afternoon he called a press conference and slammed the party.

What Omar and his gang of merry men and women did was worse than what Lokman did. The AGM was ‘open’ and witnessed by the entire media, the mainstream media included, which without a doubt is anti-opposition. As if it is not enough the government-controlled media twists everything the opposition says and does, did we need to give it even more ammunition?

Some people tell me Omar then conducted a campaign to oppose the merger. Many who in the beginning supported the merger now oppose it, all because of the success of this anti-merger campaign conducted by the party’s own leaders. Yet no action was taken against Omar and his anti-merger campaigners.

The growing anti-merger sentiment resulted in some Pemuda keADILan leaders resisting the plan to merge keADILan’s and PRM’s Youth Movements into a new entity called Angkatan Muda. And the reason cited was that PRM’s Youth Movement is not all male but has females as well. Is this a valid and genuine reason to oppose the merging of the two Youth Movements or it is just an excuse concocted to justify opposing the merger?

Anyway, the fallout from all this was most damaging indeed. Some who felt that the party was bulldozing the merger and was not allowing the members to voice their opinions quietly left the party and went into retirement. Luckily they did not join Umno. Others went into confrontation with the keADILan Youth Leader, Ezam Mohd Nor, and the bad blood soon turned ugly. Finally, they too left the party, and this included some of those in the group of 12 who recently joined Umno.

Maybe they were paid to join Umno. I seriously do not know. But even if they were, my deep suspicion tells me that the money was a by-the-way thing. It was not the main inducement. What prompted them to take that leap was the irreconcilable differences with Ezam, and this was brought about by the strong anti-merger sentiments.

Can we now say that Omar did not commit a major crime, maybe worse than that committed by Lokman?

And this is my bone of contention. The party should have acted much earlier, and acted tough, but it did not. And that resulted in chaos. Now, in the Lokman case, the party did just that, it acted tough. So, I suppose, I, who have criticised the party for non-action in the past, will have no choice but to support the tough action against Lokman. And, my only complaint now would have to be; too little too late.

If Omar had earlier been made an example of and the anti-merger campaign nipped in the bud, we might not have seen the exodus of those 12. Even if we did, it would not have been 12 but probably less than half a dozen.

It is not that we are forbidding freedom of speech. Of course one may speak out. But there is a proper forum for this and once the party has made its decision we all need to abide by it. You are also free to oppose any party decision if your views are opposite to that decision. But you must never conduct a sabotage exercise to undermine the party. At worst, if you feel the party no longer adheres to the principle it was set up for, you leave the party. Plain and simple!

Raja Petra Kamarudin

PAS sedar, UMNO sedar, PKR masih dibuai mimpi..?

Atas kesedaran mengenai pengaruh internet dalam masyarakat, Pe [blogger] muda Umno menggariskan “kemenangan perang saraf dalam dunia siber” sebagai penanda aras pencapaian bagi sayap parti Umno itu.Langkah itu dilihat sejajar dengan senario politik semasa yang mana platform siber digunakan untuk melancarkan “perang saraf” melalui blog atau web portal online.

Ia juga senjata ampuh membentuk persepsi masyarakat terhadap sesuatu isu.

“Ini satu kemajuan jika Pemuda Umno mengiktiraf pengaruh dan peranan media baru,” kata pensyarah pengajian media Universiti Malaya (UM) Prof Madya Dr Abu Hassan Hasbullah kepada Bernama ketika mengulas usaha Pemuda itu.

Langkah itu merupakan satu daripada lima penanda aras digariskan kepimpinan Pemuda Umno semasa perhimpunan agung Pemuda Umno hari ini bagi menarik sokongan pengundi selain menambah keanggotaan, mendaftarkan anggotanya sebagai pengundi, menjalin hubungan strategik dan menambah sokongan pengundi kepada BN.

Generasi muda dikatakan cenderung kepada media baru untuk sumber maklumat.

“Ini cabaran kita, menerangkan kepada generasi muda untuk membezakan antara fitnah dan fakta yang ditaburkan di alam siber ini,” kata Ketua Biro Aduan Komuniti Awam Pemuda Umno, Datuk Khairun Aseh.

Khairun berkata pengiktirafan terhadap peranan media baru dalam senario politik negara itu menunjukkan Umno mahu melakukan perubahan ke arah politik “engagement”.

“Apa yang penting bukan serang tapi terang (penjelasan),” katanya.

Pada pilihan raya umum (PRU) ke-12 lepas, pengundi muda dikatakan terpengaruh dengan maklumat yang tersebar luas dalam dunia siber yang menyaksikan buat pertama kalinya Barisan Nasional (BN) kehilangan majoriti dua pertiganya di 222 kerusi Parlimen.

Dalam penggunaan media baru sebagai alat komunikasi efektif, seorang sarjana komunikasi berkata parti kerajaan agak terkebelakang berbanding parti pembangkang.

“Ini kerana media baru adalah medium utama bagi pembangkang sejak 1999 berbanding BN yang mempunyai media arus perdana,” kata pensyarah komunikasi Universiti Putra Malaysia, Ishak Abdul Hamid.

Yang pasti, penjelasan isu-isu semasa dalam dunia siber amat penting.

Ini berdasarkan hakikat terdapat lebih 16 juta pengguna Internet di negara ini berbanding 10.9 juta pengundi (pada pilihan raya umum ke-12 lepas) yang mempunyai kuasa menentukan masa depan negara.

Kira-kira 1.8 juta pengundi baru dijangka mengambil bahagian pada PRU-13 akan datang.

BERNAMA

The Truth About The 8 March, 2008 General Elections.

…THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA TURNED LEFT TO GIVE SEATS TO PAKATAN FOR THEM TO MARCH BACKWARDS.
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‘Musuh dalam selimut!’ (Enemies in the mosquito net!) This is what the mainstream media had become.

The editors of the mainstream media were made to feel sorry and guilty for having their own political agenda by the opposition and other not-so-well-meaning NGO officials, who charged them for not supporting the freedom of the press, and who fell into their trap to allow the opposition to reap benefits in the elections. The last general elections seemed too surreal to be true. Many age-old political theories crumbled with them with the new ones seem to sit on shaky grounds.

So you and the other political analysts know what happened in the last 12th General Elections. No, you don’t. Your guesses are all wrong – dead wrong. They are purely based on what they want to happen, which did not happen and will never happen.

Many have given their comments; but most, if not all were wrong in their assessment of things. One of them said he cried upon hearing the fall of some of the Barisan states to Pakatan. He cried for the wrong reasons. He will soon cry even louder if he reads this.

The only good part is how the old goats in Barisan had been trounced by the voters who simply had had enough of them. Yet, they do not seem unfazed by it, and insist that their party still wants them.But the old goats in Pakatan seem to be there still trying to graze the same old political grounds which they had already cleaned.

The party members are not the ones who vote. The non-party members who are not Indians and Chinese, too, vote. And they have shown their displeasure at some of them by not voting for them. Now they have become political has-beens.

Some cynics charge that it spelt the end of the Malay Right and Might; they are too self-serving and too manipulative. Most likely, their judgment of the matter is wrong. While the others say, it was a test of the non-Malay Mettle, an assessment which is truer to reality.

Actually, it’s how the Malays want to find out if ‘we can trust them or not?’ Now many of the Malays believe that ‘they simply cannot trust them anymore’ after looking at what they had done with the majority win in some states.

The signs were not right with them when the first things they did was to place road signs in Mandarin at some strategic places, which did not go down well with the majority Malays who thought they were giving the wrong signals.

Some of them were arrested under the ISA and similar actions ceased. So the putting up of the additional road signs was not correct, otherwise, they would have gone on to do the same elsewhere. It had to take the ISA to teach them some lessons in politics.

And the Malays who had given them their votes blindly are now made more aware of what they had done, by voting anyone who is not in Barisan, so as to teach the Barisan higher-ups a lesson. Now the Malay voters are the ones who have learnt something from the unfortunate debacle.

Fortunately, one of the Pakatan states is back in the fold while the others they control do not seem to be in their hands, but at the tip of their fingers. What the temporary DAP state government of Perak had done was downright rude. They only had a slim majority in the state; yet, they started to behave abnormally like they were bent on change the very face of the state.

This reflects what their true intentions were which many Malays who had voted for them by mistake started to feel angry with them.

What if DAP takes over the federal government in consort with their Pakatan allies? Can we expect to see similar or worse things from them? Selangor may have gone to Pakatan, but in all respects, the state is very much under Barisan dominance. Barisan is everywhere while Pakatan simply controls the state administration office and state assembly.

The photos of the ‘menteri besar’ and some other senior Pakatan officials that they have managed to hang everywhere, do not make it look like they are indeed controlling Selangor.

Whatever it is, there is no reason for anyone to cry so soon because the real change to the political scenario in the country is still ongoing. The 8 March general election results are not the final ones; they are just a reflection of what’s to come in the 13th General Elections.

This is the worse of what could have happened. And it did happen in such a dramatic way. Unless, if the mainstream media still insist on behaving like Leftists and allow the March to the past be allowed to continue.

But the truth is, the mainstream media have been left in the cold with some of their prominent personalities having been replaced by a new group which are basically a reconditioned one. The truth of the matter is that Barisan lost because the mainstream media turned Left. They crumbled when being tricked by the Leftists and other opposition opportunists, who charged them for not observing the freedom of the press.

And under such intense pressure, the mainstream crumbled and they immediately made a detour and turned Left.And no wonder, the few months prior and especially during the campaign period, the mainstream media including the television stations became too supportive of the opposition without realizing that they had fallen for their tricks.

One by one, the small and unknown Pakatan leaders became important figures with national prominence. And no wonder many of them who had no prior experience in national politics became the unlikely members of parliament and the state assemblies, where they exhibit their amateurism by not saying much.

One of them happens to be a part-time and amateurish video cameraman working only with his cellphone. And he can’t even speak in Malay properly. And now he is supposed to be looking after a large constituency which has a Malay majority.

I would be offended if such a person is a Member of Parliament or state assemblyman for my area.

Unfortunately, in my area, two of them were relatively unknown persons. They had not bothered to visit this area to campaign so we do not know how stupid they are. And they have also not been known to be the champion of any social or political issue before. And till now they have not said anything intelligent.

But their photos are now at more places than ever before. This is their way of saying they are here. But unfortunately, only their images are but not their own selves.

The mainstream media had become crazy because they felt they had not been fair. And they covered all the events of Pakatan and highlighted their leaders and candidates.

Whereas the Pakatan media had not bothered to embrace the freedom of the press and continued to publish materials which are only on them, without feeling unabashed about it.

Pakatan will lose big in the next general elections. It is contrary to what many of their officials have said, about the last general elections as being the one that showed how they have been accepted by the masses. They haven’t because they have not shown that they deserved to be so.

What had happened in Pulau Pinang is another case for not trusting Pakatan and its component party, the DAP. The reason being they did not trust the local people from the state to become its new chief minister, and chose instead someone who has been described as an ‘exile from Melaka’, with his senior staff comprising of those from Selangor. DAP also made a blunder in this regard.

Why should the people of Pulau Pinang trust this party which has not bothered to appoint one of their own kind to be their new chief minister? Having someone from Melaka tells a lot about how much they care for the sentiments of the people of Pulau Pinang.

There is no other state in the country where their ‘menteri besar’ or ‘ketua menteri’ is from another state. Barisan is always mindful of this fact and has appointed those from the states to be the ‘menteri besar’ and ‘ketua menteri’ of the states they control. But not the DAP and Pakatan who seem to be oblivious to this fact.

The people of Pulau Pinang have taken this note, and will share their feelings in the next general elections and send the DAP ‘chief minister’ back to Melaka where he belongs and where he can never win any seat for himself.

He has so far moved his official residence away from the official residence to a rented bungalow, because the ‘fung shui’ expert he had consulted told him the official residence which was once occupied by his predecessor had bad ‘fung shui’.

But what the chief minister of Pulau Pinang is not aware of is that ‘fung shui’ is what’s driving him not just to the rented bungalow, but to Melaka later where he had been shooed away from.

By Mansor Puteh

SELANGOR – Still Very Much Barisan Territory

…PAKATAN NOWHERE TO BE SEEN EXCEPT FOR THE BANNERS TO SHOW THE PHOTOS OF THEIR ELECTED OFFICIALS THAT ARE HUNG EVEYWHERE.

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By all accounts, Selangor is still very much Barisan Nasional territory. This is despite the fact that in the last general elections, Pakatan Rakyat had won the state and they are supposed to be in full control of it and their presence can be seen and felt everywhere.

But the truth of the matter is that they had only so far managed to control the state administration building and the state assembly in Shahalam and their ‘menteri besar’ getting to have an audience with the Sultan of Selangor every week, and leaving the rest of the state to Barisan to be the de facto government of the state.

Can Khalid Ibrahim think he is the ‘menteri besar’ of Selangor in such a circumstance? He does not behave or even look like one, to start with.There is no Pakatan influence in the daily lives of the people of Selangor. I am writing and living in this state, so I know and I cannot feel it. In fact, I can even say there is no government in this state that we know of!

The only way they know on how to show their faces and influence in the state is to hang banners and posters with their faces everywhere, especially during festive seasons. Theirs are unfamiliar faces. And they do not look like they are politicians. They are ordinary faces with no extraordinary capabilities.

It is ironic how they are copying what many other Barisan leaders of the old generation had done in the past, which they are not doing now. So one cannot see banners with photos of Prime Minister, Najib Razak anywhere in the country. The few that were put up were immediately put down and replaced with other images of the country and its people.

Yet, they are nowhere to be seen. They have not visited their constituencies. They can’t do that because the people do not recognize them for who they are. They had not done anything to their constituency. In fact, during the campaigning period of the last general elections, they were also nowhere to be seen. So the voters did not actually vote for them; they only voted for anyone who is not from Barisan.

In fact, many of the Pakatan candidates were new faces who did not mind losing even their deposit because they were not known, so they did not have any reputation at all, so if they had lost, they would not be angry with themselves, as they were put up as candidates only to lose.

It is sad for the people to have such elected leaders as their members of parliament of ADUN or state assembly persons, most of whom are not so well-educated and whose command of the Malay and English languages are not very good. Not many of them had been known to be the champion of causes that we know of.

Take a good look at the Member of Parliament for Kelana Jaya. He is such a novice, that he had to read his question in Malay in parliament and asking the then foreign minister, Syed Hamid a question which sounded very stupid.

The people of Kelana Jaya should be ashamed of themselves for having such a person to represent them. He could not even represent himself, if he has a case in court. Yet, none of the novice parliamentarians and state assembly persons has become important personalities or ‘leaders’ who can lead the pack. They have not become the ‘right honorable’ because they do not deserve to be so regarded.
Don’t they feel ashamed for putting up their banners with their photos on street lamps by showing their faces which look blank and uneducated?

I see the end of these people if they dare to contest again in the next general elections which are expected to happen in 2012. They are a disgrace to Pakatan. They were non-existence before the last general elections, yet, they are still no-one now, even after being turned into office. What have they done? What have they written or said that we can remember and admire them for?

Even the ‘menteri besar’ of Selangor is not impressive. He has not dared to make the rounds even in his own state. The reason is simply that he does not feel like he is the ‘menteri besar’ of the state of Selangor, but someone who is in control of only the state administration office in Shahalam and the state assembly, and nowhere else.He and his state exco members are very much like the Portuguese who ruled in Melaka. But what they could do was only to be trapped inside the Fort of Melaka they had constructed, which was to ensure that they were not harmed or attacked by the people of Melaka.

So now we have the Fort of Selangor in Shah Alam where the ‘menteri besar’ and his exco members are trapped in.

Most of the garbage that are stuck in drains and the petty problems left by Barisan before they were elected out of the state by its voters are still there. And it still takes many weeks before the local authorities can fix problems with fused bulbs in the streets.

Where is Pakatan in Selangor? And what are the Pakatanians doing here, where I live? It’s Barisan everywhere. The elected representatives and leaders of Pakatan do not seem to know that their duty is to ensure that their presence is felt, or else, the voters in Selangor will think that they are not around.

Their leaders seem to be locked in their offices in Shah Alam. And they also control the state assembly, but they do not seem to know what to do with the state. If the Pakatan leaders are smart, they will take this opportunity to rule Selangor so that their presence is felt, and so that the voters can think that they are agents of change.

But this has not happened despite Pakatan being turned in by the voters in the 8 March, 2008 general elections which is one and a half years now. And they are almost midway in their control of the state.

They should realize fast how their win over Selangor was nothing but a fluke; that the voters were too anxious to get rid of the former Barisan state government and its ‘menteri besar’ Khir Toyo, without realizing how they had indirectly given the state to Pakatan instead.

Many of the voters in Selangor, especially the Malay ones felt a remorse for having done that, so they are now eagerly and anxiously waiting for the next general elections which are expect to happen sometime in 2012, when they can trounce Pakatan out of the state for good.

This is the only chance for Pakatan to take control of Selangor and so far they have done a useless job at it.

That the Pakatan leaders who were voted into the state assembly and with some becoming executive committee (exco) members have not shown the mettle. They also lack the persona to be leaders. They only like to fuss over petty issues. They have not really done anything to claim the whole state and entrench their position in it, so that their presence can be felt by the people in Selangor, so that they can be returned in the next general elections.

Worst of all is that Pakatan has not shown that they are worthy successors to Barisan in Selangor. That they had won the state because the voters were displeased with the former Barisan state government, and not because they thought that Pakatan was better. They are not. In fact, Pakatan’s track record so far has been dismal. They have failed to make the state theirs. They have not claimed it.

I don’t want to propose to them what they should do in order to achieve this, since I do not want to be seen to be doing them too much favor, other than to tell them what I am writing in this essay.They should know what else they can do to claim the state and to trounce Barisan from it, so that they can continue to rule Selangor in the next general elections.

PAS is able to rule Kelantan for many terms despite not being able to do much to develop the state with so many younger Kelantanese leaving the state to work in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. PAS is seen as a Kelantan-based political party and its spiritual leader, Nik Aziz has managed to show his image of a pious person who likes to live simply. And they know how to keep the state but not know how to develop it.

But the people of Kelantan do not want to live simply; they want progress and development so they had to venture outside of the state to get some whiff of that.

So if Barisan wants to take over the state from PAS in the next general elections, they must convince the Kelantan voters that they, too, are Kelantanese and can keep the state, and develop it at the same time.
They can tell the young Kelantan voters who live outside of the state to work that the PAS government is the reason why they are not in Kelantan but elsewhere because they cannot find work in the state.

It looks to me like those in Pakatan who have become state assembly persons and exco are just happy to be elected and they do not know what else is there for them to do besides, which is sad, since there is a lot that they can do to win the support of the voters in Selangor. But they are not doing it, because they do not know how to do it.

Mansor Puteh

We Blame the Chinese for Everything that is Wrong with Us

That’s right. The Chinese is the best excuse for average Malay to hide their failures and shortcomings. In fact, we do not have to think about success because should we fail in anything we can blame the Chinese.

For instance, we always see potential Malay businesses going belly up. We see soya sauce factory, shoe factory, linen factory, chili sauce factory owned by Malays having to be shut down. When asked the reason that is floated is that they are being sabotaged by Chinese suppliers who refuse to supply them the materials they need to continue production.

I recalled in the early days of Harakah, UMNO did everything to stop all printers in Kuala Lumpur not to print Harakah. UMNO’s hope is that when there is no printer willing to do so, then HArakah will have to shut down completely.
So, what the Harakah people did was they carried with them a stack of cash and went looking for printers who are willing to do it. And they found a printing company owned by a Chinaman somewhere in Kepong. His business was not doing that well apparently.

So, the Harakah people went to his office and put the stack of cash on his desk. And told the Chinese printer that if he prints copies of Harakah, and willing to face all obstacles, they will ensure that the Chinaman be paid in cash before the printing of every issue of Harakah.

The Chinaman who owned the printing shop immediately agreed and the rest is history. According to my Harakah sources, the Chinaman is now a millionaire and has sold the printing company to a Malay consortium. Apparently, Harakah rescued him from the brink of bankruptcy and in turn made him a millionaire.

So, my point being, even in the most dire and dangerous circumstance, there will be a Chinese supplier willing to supply anything we want. The case of Harakah proves that there is no such thing as a Chinese Supplier conspiracy to sabotage Malay businesses.

The Real Story Behind The Close Down of Malay Businesses

These Malay businesses are always behind on the payment despite getting their line of credit extended all the time. So, since Chinese suppliers are not Santa Clauses, they have a limit to how much credit they can give.

And MOST MALAY business do not understand the value of operating business with cash as opposed to credit. It’s different with Chinese businesses where they will make sure that they repay their debts fast before thinking of expanding or doing anything else.

So, when the Chinese suppliers refuse to supply the Malay until they make some payments on their outstanding debt, the Malay businesses collapsed like a stack of cards. Bear in mind that Malays who venture into small and medium businesses are mostly UMNO supporters or members because they get easy access to government loans and financial support.

With their UMNO tradition of blaming the Chinese for everything that is wrong with this country, they started spreading false rumors about Chinese suppliers sabotaging their businesses because they are Malays.

I know of a Malay lady somewhere in Teluk Intan who runs a clothing store and the store has been operating for the last 20 years. Every month she will come down to KL near Jalan Hang Tuah to get her supply of clothes and every time the suppliers there do not mind extending her a line of credit. Why? Because she is always prompt on her payments. That lady proves there is no malice in the hearts of Chinese suppliers.

Why would Chinese Suppliers Sabotage Their Clients?

Most Malays are simple minded. They believe this crap the moment they hear it. They forgot that is more Malays owns business, more Malays would need supplies from the Chinese suppliers. The more Malays going into business, the more business the Chinese suppliers will be.

In fact, if there is a lot of Malay businessmen, the Chinese supplier might even convert into Islam so that people will continue getting their supplies especially those who are supplying food products.

It doesn’t make sense. The Chinese in this country will not go anywhere. They are interested to make money, not because they want to be rich so much, but to sent their children to get quality educations overseas and some retirement funds. I always wonder why many Chinese family that I know had gotten a lot of wealth during their working days, but they retire into a very average life. Now I know, that most of their wealth had gone to sending their children to Australia, Britain, America for quality tertiary education.

UMNO is Using The Same Excuse Too

See, when UMNO fails, the first thing they do is to blame the Chinese. They say that the Chinese will take over the country. They say that the Chinese will destroy the DEB and the Malays. They say that PAS has been used by the Chinese.

Hasan Ali said that his support for SELCAT is part of his quest to defend the rights of the Malays because Teng Chang Kim is Chinese. He forgets that for the last 2 elections, the Malays in Kapar voted Teng Chang Kim overwhelmingly. Teng has one of the highest majority in the Selangor DUN because he gets votes not just from Chinese and Indians, but also Malays.

UMNO’s actions is tantamount to the long list of failed Malay businessmen who do not know how to control their business’s finances. So, in order to hide their failures, they blame the Chinese for everything.
In fact, they’re the biggest losers of them all and they will fail in whatever the do. We talk about Dr Mahathir bin Muhammad Iskandar Kutty, being the most successful UMNO Prime Minister. Maybe, it’s because Dr Mahathir is not a Malay?

Tulang Besi

PKR Is No More A Party Of UMNO And BN Rejects And Misfits!

Parti KeAdilan Rakyat (PKR) basically is a group of UMNO and Barisan Nasional rejects. It is a fact. And it is becoming more and more obvious the more we see one by one those former leaders of the Barisan component parties leaving their original parties to join PKR or any of the other parties in their loose coalition known as Pakatan Rakyat.

Someone significant person from the MCA to prove it is so. Who else from this and the other Barisan parties will be next to prove this?

They were never meant to have been created in the first place. It came about at the heights of dissent in Umno which was taken outside of the party, by some individuals who later managed to get like-minded persons like them to form a loose organization which later on still managed to morph into a real political party, which seems to have policies which are the direct opposite of those which Umno and Barisan had for which they were their ardent supporters.

Did they bring out the worse of Umno and Barisan and bring them to their new party?

Or, did they think they had benefited tremendously during their time in Umno and Barisan so much so that they believe that they can use whatever experience to make their new party even better than their own one, which they had rejected, because these party and it coalition had rejected them first?

It is therefore, too bad and sad that everything with Umno and Barisan seem to be bad and wrong with them now like they know what is right and is good for the whole country and perhaps the rest of the world, too.

Have those Umno and Barisan rejects and misfits brought into PKR or Pakatan the best of Umno and Barisan or their worst?

Theirs is nothing more than an act of defiance, a last act, before the curtain falls on their inglorious political life.

They can never bring to their newly adopted party fresh ideas and energy having spent them in their old parties.

How on earth can they think that they are fit to reject the Merdeka Barisan government led by Umno?

Their only ‘good quality’ that qualifies them as new PKR leaders and officials is that they hate Umno and Barisan, for no other reason other than that these party and the coalition had not done much to offer them the statuses that they had demanded.

Don’t these people know real democrats believe in fight their causes in spaces that are valid and available, while the ingrates and grumbling ones who would form another political entity so they can exert their influence, and living off what they had managed to get while on the other side, living off pension and other perks?

Believe me, they will soon show their true colors once they discovered, too late, how they are still not able to achieve or get what they had wanted to get from their old parties, from the new ones.

So it’s mostly about how much they can get from their new parties, and not so much how much they can bring into them.

But for the moment, their jumping ship, and entering into the new realm in opposition politics is indeed welcome, because PKR and Pakatan are nothing but people who preferred to show acts of defiance.

These rejects knew they did not have anything to lose. By jumping ship, they are able to at least grab the limelight for a while still, before they disappear into the dark lights of opposition politics which are harsh to their tender skin, as they would soon discover.

Only Anwar Ibrahim seems to be able to form a new political party, while the others who do not have that many followers have to use this new and convenient platform to continue their personal political struggle by taking it up to another plane, when they know it was already retirement time.

No, they think it is their new era, the era of change that they had badly wanted to infuse into their original parties which they could not. So they decided to jump ship to get into one which is either badly broken and might be sinking, or one that has not yet been completely built, so we do not get to see how it will look like, except for Anwar who may have the original designs which no one has seen yet.

There is no other party in the world like PKR, so the political theories that are applied universally are not useful in dealing with this new party; and we have to take what they do as a guide to tell us what it was formed to do, which may just be to give Umno and Barisan a black eye.

And the mainstream media are the ones who had supported and encouraged the creation of such parties by giving them ample coverage. Unfortunately, none of their editors, who are said to be very qualified and well-experienced were not aware how they were made fools of, when they thought the emergence of the third force or spent force, could still light up Malaysian politics and Malaysian journalism could be counted on when that happens, like it did.

If the mainstream media had chosen to be aloof to the development of the new third or spent force in Malaysian politics, I doubt it if PKR or any other new political party would have been created the way they did.

Because it is very expensive to form a new political party and to create an impact and encourage people to become its members, knowing how they are supposed to be from amongst those who have not yet joined any party, because those who had have been stuck into their respective parties, unless if they had personal scores to settle which may happen as a direct and indirect result of the failed New Economic Policy (NEP) which had caused a lot of consternation to many who may not have benefited from it.

And what’s so ironic is how the PKR leaders who were eager to welcome and embrace anyone from Umno and Barisan into their fold, that they are immediately paraded before the media, and who are offered a new coat to wear, one which has the logo of their new party.

Doesn’t this give greater credence to the expression, TURNCOATS? And this proves that many of those who form PKR and the other splinter groups are nothing but Umno and Barisan ‘turncoats’.


Mansor Puteh