Wednesday, March 18, 2009

An Ill Wind That Blows Nobody Any Good

Hantu Laut - (An UMNO watcher)

Obviously, Najib will be landed with a weaker and a more divided party and a possible revolt. The selective prosecution will have far-reaching implications on the party's chance of salvaging its tarnished image. In fact, the decision of the UMNO Disciplinary Board is seen to be even worse than the corruptions and money politics that they are trying to stamp-out. It's a shameless bid to protect one man who feared he may lose the contest against his opponent.

With only one big fish in the net it can't be seen as a purge or a clean-up drive against corruptions and money politics. The Supreme Council may have to step in to save possible revolt and discontent that can throw the party in disarray and it losing its chances of winning any of the three by-elections.

The top leadership should not underestimate the power of the rank and file. It happened in March 2008. Anger and frustration will prevail among those who are not happy with the partial decision of the Board.

UMNO must make it clear whether the party principles are based on democracy or fascism.Democracy and its principles are based on what the majority want and decide not what a handful of unhappy warlords wanted.It's a contest of popularity and the most popular would naturally win. You don't need binoculars to see what they are doing has anything to do with cleaning up corruptions and money politics.

Some of the reasons given for not preferring Ali Rustam apparently were his poor command of English and lack of experience.Since when and under which theory that says intelligence can only be expressed in the English language. Certainly, knowing the language is an asset as it is the lingua franca of the world and the most common and most convenient form of communication. It's certainly not a yardstick for measuring a person's intelligence quotient.

Many world leaders spoke in their mother tongue when they deliver speeches at international conferences with interpreters translating into English or other major language. The irony is most of them can speak English but prefer to speak in their mother-tongue.Malaysian leaders can do the same if they wish to and nobody will call them stupid.

This kind of shallow thinking is even more dangerous to the party than money politics.Quoting inexperience and lack of good English as being unsuitable candidate for deputy president and deputy prime minister is convoluted argument. He is not applying for a job. He is running for political office and no where in the world you need prerequisite to be a politician or to run for political office. In a democracy the people decide whom they want.Academic qualifications are useful assets but not compulsory.

There are many highly qualified people who are lousy politicians. Robert Mugabe is probably the most highly qualified politician on the face of this earth.He has seven degrees including a Master of Laws and has nicely screwed up his country. Zimbabwe, once the pride of Africa and was the 'bread basket' of the continent is now among the poorest nation of the world.Its farms lay in ruins, its economy shattered and Mugabe doesn't care.

The Board decision only to disallow Ali from contesting the elections but did not suspend him like they did to those in the lower rank is telling of the kind of people who sit on the Board. What kind of discipline do you wish to instill in the members when members of the Board themselves have no discipline, self-contradictory and incompetent in making sound judgement.

More puzzling is the case of Khairy Jamaluddin who was charged under the same offence but was let off with just a warning. Even more puzzling was the case of Khir Toyo, rumoured to be the one using the most money but was found not guilty by the Board. Maybe, Chairman Rithauddin could enlighten Malaysians how the Board arrived at a decision for two people that have committed the same offence but were given different judgement, one was punished and the other let off.

Doesn't matter whether it is Ali Rustam, Mohammad Taib or any other candidate, the decision of the Disciplinary Board is highly questionable.Frankly speaking, the Disciplinary Board should be replaced with new members that can do their work impartially and without malice.

When are the leaders in UMNO going to behave like gentlemen and allow fair competition in the party.

19 comments:

Monsterball said...

I'm really bored with the maneuverings in the UMNO elections.

Sounds a lot like the power struggles in the Sicilian Mafia.

In Sicily, they used to "own" the Government Servants, Police, The Judiciary, everybody and everything.

By the way, that's how the Italian Prosecutors finally broke the back of the Cosa Nostra. Some disgruntled losers from the great power struggle decide to break their code of silence, and sing to the authorities.

The Cosa Nostra are still around, to this day, but their power has been largely broken.

Donplaypuks® said...

If there is 1 reason, and 1 only, why this Rusatm deserves it, it is for his ungracious racist speech at the PPP meeting in 2007, which was even worse than Kerismudin waving the Kris about and claiming it was part of UMNO culture!

God moves in mysterious ways and everyone has his day of reckoning. Heh, heh, heh!
http://donplaypuks.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

HL

Why the qualification as 'Umno Watcher'? are you getting hate mails from Umno morons now? you can't win, can't you? you thrashed PR, kena. You thrashed Umno pun kena but I guess Umno group is the lesser of the two evils? what if Mahathirism make a come back, do you still believe Umno/BN is the only way? and the only way to change Umno is by shouting from the inside?

Anonymous said...

UMNO is beyond repair nor salvage. They will say 'Saya makan garam lebih dari kamu makan nasi"

KKN is part and parcel of UMNO and it's in the DNA.

Is there redemption in UMNO?

Pengamat politik dari Jakarta

gram.kong said...

CheMat,

No hatemails.I am not a member of UMNO, there is nothing wrong to declare my status since I am writing numerous articles on the party.

I believe UMNO members and supporters have more finesse when come to making comments on the internet.

Unlike many PKR supporters who become abusive for no rhyme nor reason.

Anonymous said...

Hantu


What took you this long to come out and say your are with UMNO. Yes you have rebranded yourself as an UMNO watcher which is a more civilised word then saying the dirty 4 letter word "UMNO" member.

Cheers to you and let's celebrate your coming out of the closet

Anonymous said...

Add on coming out of the closet and also time to come out also of the closet and celebtrate if you are a hidden homosexual.

Anonymous said...

Hantu Gila

You still peeking thru that dark rear hole call UMNO. I guess you are only seeing shit and nothing else as your comments are looks and sounds shitty

Anonymous said...

Answering your final question first: "When are the leaders in UMNO going to behave like gentlemen and allow fair competition in the party?" The answer to this is simple: NEVER!!

UMNO today is no longer a party of gentlemen. It is a party of crooks trying to outwit each other, with the most powerful, and not the most morally or legally upright, trying to outfox those who are less powerful and who do not belong to their clique. The most powerful selectively prosecute those who are not with them. The prosecution however is not only meaningless, but outrageous, considering that those who are not prosecuted are often even more guilty than those who are.

The gentleman’s party founded by Tengku Abdul Rahman (well, at least in its ideals), was destroyed in May 1969, and reached its nadir during the reins of Mahathir. The party has not managed to recover its moorings since. Abdullah said he would try to improve the image of his party; Malaysians believed him, and gave him the best performance for UMNO ever in 2004. But then Abdullah wasn’t energetic or strong enough and wasn’t able to do the magic, and Malaysians, disillusioned, gave him the worst ever performance for UMNO in 2008. His failure is symptomatic of some inherent problems that UMNO cannot recover from, and which will eventually lead to its terminal death. UMNO, or at least the UMNO that we know today, will die its natural death sooner rather than later.

Anonymous said...

waaaah bau busok tahi

Anonymous said...

you said this in one of your replies,

"Unlike many PKR supporters who become abusive for no rhyme nor reason."

Do you believe in karma ? what do you expect when you have been systematically abusing PKR for such a long time ?

Anonymous said...

It is almost unanimously agreed that the UMNO Disciplinary Committee, like most other government departments and institutions is just another tool for those who walk the corridors of power in UMNO, to be used and abused for their own end. Doesn't this latest episode prove so? After all such nonsense from UNMO, and other than those with very personal and selfish reasons,is it any wonder why UMNO is losing support from more and more Malays.It is time Malays stop abusing themselves and be rid of UMNO. It can only be good for their own future.

Anonymous said...

We have supported UMNO because we have lived in fear with the UMNO brand of reminding MAY13 constantly. Their recent brand of street protest show very little support but showing more of their never ever growing up to mature adult Malaysians.
Their youth are more akin to pampered spoilt brat. KJ make a good example of this, a true reflection.
Others have grown fed up with UMNO. Their public cleaning of dirty linen is more grotesque than cleaning their image. All done to their detriment.
UMNO has lost his direction as the Godfather is an overgrown spoiled pampered Brat who got his place at the expense of Pak Lah, and not thru a fair election...
If Ali is that guilty, bring in the MACC!

Anonymous said...

HL,

UMNO behaving like a gentleman? Maybe when cows grow wings!
The rope is thightneing slowly around UMNO's neck & Najib is the Hangman!
Just a matter of time...goodbye UMNO!

Anonymous said...

I suppose we can at least say that Ever Onward is not an UMNO member. UMNO was not founded by the late Tunku.....
Then again, probably half of UMNO members also do not know UMNO's history...

Anyway, I believe that UMNO can be saved. NEVER is NOT the answer. UMNO can be saved when BN lose the next General Elections. There will be mass defection and will leave UMNO the opportunity to sincerely rebuild and clean the house (and BN as well).
This is also good for Malaysia because we do not want to simply trade one uni-party system to another uni-party system (BN to PR). We want to finally have a proper bi-party system which would have a better check & balance. Who ever we choose, we would stand better chances for leaders who serve the rakyat...


The problem for Hantu is that he doesn't want this. Base on his article, he just want UMNO to change without losing power. This will 'NEVER' happen....Everybody needs their humble pie, even UMNO...just a fact of life


Jimbo

Anonymous said...

I would like to thank the anonymous poster for correcting my mistake. Yes, UMNO was not founded by the Tengku. When it was founded in the forties, it was more a cultural organisation interested in the native rights of the Malays and their cultural and economic uplift. What I should have said was that it was the Tengku who turned it into a formidable political force in the fifties, and who perhaps represented its (now dead) gentlemanly ideals best of all.

Yes, I do completely agree that the best way for UMNO to survive is for it to be defeated in a General Election. But the party, of course, will be significantly different from what it is today, even if the UMNO label continues to be used.

gram.kong said...

Anonymous 11.51 and Ever Onwards,

I still think the BN concept is still the most ideal for this country if they can stop the corruptions and abuses of power.They are competible marriages and have a track record of achievements.

I am not saying Anwar can't do it.He can if he has the right coaltion, his party is the prime mover and he is the man with the whip.

The problem is his coalition is made of very diverse groups with different ideology and agenda.It is convenience rather than consensus that brought them together.

For a government to succeed,there can be differences in opinion, but there must be general consensus on major policies and I don't see that happening in PR if they take over the Federal government.

Anonymous said...

Dear Hantu,

I do not disagree with you over the doubts on PR. Look at their senior leaders, many do not have the pedigree, either they are clean or not.

However, in my frank opinion, UMNO cannot be saved while keeping the power. Not only they now have the same crappy standards of leaders, they have crossed the point of no return.

(we are facing a real and imminent possibility that our DPM, after a by-election in a safe parlimentary maybe, a 'me-no-speaking-england-because-me-don't-want-to-explain-money-me-bring-over-here' person...And if the other won, he would forever be remembered as undemocratic in perception anyway...Now,that is very, very sad)

Look at it objectively hantu, the only way UMNO will change is if they lose. All other major political forces in the world have gone through this process. It's just a natural evolution.
They have been in power for so long, they have forgotten the very reason why they are there, namely to serve the rakyat and to move the country to greater heights.

So, if PR and BN both do not have competent people, where are all these competent and potential individuals?
They are outside Hantu...in the public and private sector, being non partisans.

But once more I have to ask you to be objective. If the situation remained as 'status quo', which side would these competent potential finally join? You know the answer....

So in order to see back the old BN, last seen under Tun M, BN will have to eat their humble pie. And if we want good changes to happen, we must embrace this possibility and not resist it by all means...


Best regards, wassalam...

Jimbo

Anonymous said...

Why not a lingua franca for the whole world!

I notice that Barack Obama wants everyone to learn another language, but which one should it be? The British learn French, the Australians study Japanese, and the Americans prefer Spanish. Yet this leaves both Mandarin Chinese and Arabic out of the equation.

Why not decide on a neutral non-national language, taught worldwide, in all nations?

I would personally prefer Esperanto

An interesting video can be seen at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670. A glimpse of this language can be seen at http://www.lernu.net