Hantu Laut
Sometimes, intellectuality can go awry, incoherence and illogical. The law of improbability can end up as law of unintended consequences.
Anwar Ibrahim, a well-educated, intellectual and charismatic politician, adored by many young urban Malaysians for his oratorical skills and fiery delivery is beginning to drown in his own intelligence and unwittingly devour his own political future by self-inflicted injury.
I read with dismay and disappointment the promises he made on his campaign trail in Wangsa Maju, Bandar Tun Razak and Lembah Pantai.
The making of such audacious statements and impossible to implement promises is not reflective of an highly esteemed politician . The thin crowd from the Malay community is a telling sign of his declining popularity and skepticism that people have about his ability to mount a strong and united apposition, let alone form the next government.
I am sure many Malaysians would share my feeling of being insulted by such ludicrous promises. Some of the promises he made have actually done more harm than good. Those with enough intelligence would not be easily bought by such stupendous promises.
He said when he was finance minister for eight years he never raised the price of petrol. That's true, but what was the price of crude oil then ? The average price of crude for the 10-year period of the nineties was US$17.9 per barrel. Today the price of crude has reached US$102 per barrel, about six times more than when he was finance minister. What benchmark is he using to compare during his time and now ? Was it an intelligent comparison or just casting a lure to fish for votes, hoping gullible Malaysians would take the bait.
Another equally empty as an empty vessel was his promise of "I will abolish toll charges, fix minimum wages at RM1,500 and provide free education until university level," to the crowd at Wangsa Maju.
To implement all the promises he would need to use all the foreign reserves and also use Petronas as a cash cow.The country would be bankrupted before he finishes his term.
For an ex- finance minister to make such ridiculous promises it's obvious he has little respect for the intelligence of the people of this country.He was so besotted with the accolades he gets from the Western world on his academic achievements he has forgotten that Malaysians are not all that stupid either, to believe in his useless promises.
It is obvious that this empty vessel that makes the most noise is not likely to change the political landscape in this country. Lies and promises are not going to buy votes unless majority of Malaysians are thick in the head, which is what Anwar assumed us all to be. He is completely immersed in self-glorification and thinks Malaysia is one big bodohland.
With all the stupefyingly dull and empty promises he is making and at the rate he is going, PKR would have run out of support come this 8th March.
10 comments:
Desperate man with desperate means. He's one hopeless desperado.
Unless you didn't understand what he said, it is not how you would like to present it to us. We were there and also read PKR's manifesto. Moreover, many people have already decided. So whether we engage in jokes here or not, many people will vote PKR, PAS and DAP for now. Toll charges will not be waived, he never said it. He said they will not be raised and should be made open so that people can see. Toll charges have become UMNO putras and Barisan putras cash cows, so we need to know and contain the situation. Oil prices will not be raised, he said and reminded that no country has ever run bunkrupt by giving subsidies and lowering prices but countries and governments become bunkrupt because of corruption. And definately we are failing. If you say Anwar is misleading us all taking for us granted, I will say you are misleading me too taking for granted as you make noise in your little blog turf trying to explain it in your own way for me. Fair?
My very rough sums show me that the amount of money this country is wasting to feed crony capitalism far exceeds the cost of the oil subsidy, even at the current world market price.
Can we afford the oil subsidy ? Yes we can ! but the country needs a serious change in the way it is run.
Tak Nak BN,
Government provide subsidies from time to time.Malaysia is one of very few countries that provide sunsidies in various forms.It provides subsidies from the price of petrol to certain foodstuffs such as flour, sugar,cooking oil, etc.
The price of petrol would be double what we are paying today if not for the subsidy.
Anwar was part of that corrupt government before and he knows what he promised the people can't be delivered.The government will go broke in no time.
With the current prices of crude Petronas only make RM120 billion a year.Presently the government spend RM40 billion on various form of sudsidies. How much more do you think government can subsidise?
Malaysians should also get away from the subsidy mentality.We should move toward higher income per capita and higher standard of living instead of looking for subsidies.
Like you and many Malaysians I am against corruption and despise those who partake in it.I am not a great fan of the BN government either but I do know things are not going to get better even if we change the government.
I think they should be denied the 2/3 majority so they wouldn't be so big-headed.
It is our right to choose leaders of our choice and it is also our right to criticise and condemn those who don't measure up or those who makes empty promises.
We can rock the boat but just make sure it doesn't sink because the rescue boat may be leaking too.
Kittykat46,
The government has already provided subsidy for petrol and on some essential items.
My suggestion is those who drive big-engined cars and can ill-effort it should sell their cars and buy kanchils.If they still can't make ends meet than don't buy a car, use public transport.
I think it is absurd for those who drive BMWs or Mercs and expect the government to subsidise their fuel.
HL,
First off, I think you may be reading abit too much into what DSAI said & is saying. However, I agree that the "tendency" to "go over" with the promises must be "curbed". He should not take a leaf out of BN's book! The BN is now promising everthing again!
AAB promised us lots of things in 2004. He has hardly done anything since then.
If I am not mistaken, Najib has recently said that the Govt. will not increase Petrol Prices after the 12th GE (!). So we get more promises again.
What is the answer. I don't really know.
Whatever money Petronas makes goes for our Petrol subsidy, bailing out Govt-linked-companies, & other ill-gotten entreprises. Our output is 600,000 BPD. That's a fairly good volume (especially taking into account that the Price we get is higher than the current prices, due to the "low Sulfur" content.
I very much doubt that the Opposition will win the 12th GE (the BN will use every means it has i.e. fair or unfair to win). However, if the Opposition can deny them the 2/3rds Majority (I believe that is a very achieveable objective), then that would be a good start!
As for DSAI, yes, some may say he is desperate but with the way the BN treated him in the past (!), he should be given a chance now that he is in the Opposition.
SM,
We all want a good government and we deserve the government we chose.
A corrupt government will eventually destroy a country, which usually happen over a period of time.Sometimes, new government takes over and carry on the legacy, like many African countries, each successive government plunder the country until nothing is left to take except anarchy. Somalia is a good example of a failed state.
I am ready for change, but I am not ready to change the whole government as I can foresee the problem we may face if there going to be a hung parliament.
The oppositions are not cohesive enough to form a stable government as none of them can be a senior partner in a coalition, if any one of them don't get a simple majority, which I foresee unlikely to happen. We will have a very fragmented groups in parliament, which is not good for the nation.
PAS,DAP and PKR all have different philosophies and wouldn't certainly make strange bedfellows.
Of course we are free to choose who we want to be our leaders.That's our democratic rights.
Politicians who want to lead this country to a higher level must not jokes or make promises they can't fulfill, the very mistake Pak Lah made when he promised to stamp out corruption and didn't.That's why there are so much unhappiness among the people in this country.Failed promises.
If he had been good with his word, he wouldn't have this problem today.
I still think denying the BN 2/3 majority is the best solution at the moment.
This is my opinion, you don't have to agree with it.
SM.
Correction, para 5 should read "would certainly make strange bedfellows"
Please dont look what the BN show you on the surface.
There are plenty of money for everyone. But not everyone got their share.
It is a simple rule of political equation. 50+50 never add up to 100.
Hantu Laut, I'm glad you didn't delete your post dated March 2nd. At least we can return to it and see how far off the mark events proved you to be. Speaking about oil subsidies: in the first place we in Malaysia ought to have invested in alternative energy decades ago. For instance, if we had begun looking seriously into solar back in the 1980s by now the whole country would have self-powering homes with solar panels atop their roofs. Not too late... but coming back to oil prices... somebody whispered in my ear recently that our Great Erstwhile Leader Mahathir Mohamad signed a deal with the Japanese many years promising to supply them with Malaysian crude @ RM30 a barrel till the year 2012. Can anybody in Petronas confirm this? If it's true, well, how smart is the man? How clear his vision? If this is true, then we will be subsidising Japan for the next four years at an outrageous loss. This is how BN has mismanaged their sacred cow, the goddamn NEP. And this is why clearheaded and fairminded Malaysians will cheer when the NEP dies along with Umno, MCA, and MIC.
Being responsive to change is the mark of true intelligence.
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