Anwar: Spooking The Spook

Hantu Laut


Call a spade a spade. Now, Anwar talks sense.

My "Sugar And GST:Anwar:Scholar, Politician, or a Clown" posting derides him for casting aspersion on an universally accepted tax structure used by over 160 countries.

In Asean, only Malaysia and Myanmar were left behind, the rest have introduced GST into their tax system.

Malaysian oppositions must learn when to oppose and when to give credit, where credit is due. They don't want to, a sign of political immaturity.

Obviously, they are dead set in muck-racking, no matter what, for good or bad, they have come to a conclusion Malaysians are gullible.

Anwar made an about turn and admitted that GST is good and efficient way to collect tax. Some weeks ago he was contemplating organising a massive rally against implementation of GST.

Good on you, Anwar. 

Read Here:Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has made an about-turn when he admitted the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was a good and efficient taxation system.

Unfortunately, for Anwar his little green pasture in Sabah is withering. Some of his assemblymen are leaving the party, because they found, a little too late, that the leadership is as 'broad as it's long'. Read here.

A friend in PKR told me recently that they are no different from the devil they try to spook.

Anwar should have known better East Malaysians are different kettle of fish.

We are not easily spooked!

Berita Hangat Olimpik-Pingat EMAS Untuk Malaysia

Hantu Laut


Berita terkini diterima dari Olimpik London akhirnya Malaysia dapat mengaut EMAS dalam acara "Lompat Katak" olih athlit pemegang emas yang terkenal dari daerah Beaufort, Sabah.





Olih kerana itu Perdana Menteri akan lupuskan kehalian beliau dari parti dan juga timbalan menteri untuk memberi beliau lebih masa berlatih sekuat-kuatnya bagi mempertahankan pingat EMAS beliau masa depan yang akan datang. Baca disini.





Uchapan "anak katak emas Beaufort", nama rakyat Sabah dijual untuk kepentingan diri sendiri.


Kan dalam pepatah English "a leopard never changes its spots" dan cara-cara maruah politik manusia ini sama dengan hidupan liar itu





Baca "Beyond The Rethoric:Lajim And Bamburing Are Not Gamechangers"


Jika anda pandai berbahasa English baca seterusnya nasihat seorang wartawan.


There should be no place for political frogs. Malaysians must tell our politicians they cannot accept such unprincipled politicians. It does not matter whether they are from BN, PKR, DAP or PAS but there should be laws to stop such unethical politicians. There has to be consistency, however, when we push for such legislation. There cannot be a right to a wrong. If a BN elected representative joins Pakatan Rakyat, it is still wrong. It cannot be right. We cannot justify it simply because of our political emotions. Read more.

Takuron Bangad - Sabah Froggy Politics

Hantu Laut


Tukaron bangkad, in Dusunic language means "changing shirts".


In Sabah, when a politician do the froggy thing, hopped to another political party to continue fleecing the state to feed his insatiable greed for position, money and power, the polite kampong folks would say he is only "changing shirt"  as the old shirt has become soiled, old and tattered. Kampong people are simple folks and knew no better.They get cheated by sweet talking politicians.


This kind of politician would plead to his constituents that what he did are in the interest of his people and that the present government has failed to take care of the interests of his constituents, so he needs to "takuron bangad" to care for his constituents. 


Jefery Kitingan is one man who cares about Sabah and its people, long suppressed by those colonialist West Malaysians he said.He blamed the West Malaysians for everything wrong with Sabah. He and other Kadazan leaders raised the issues of illegal immigrants and NCR lands when it was those Kadazan leaders in PBS the biggest culprits in selling NCR lands to plantation giants from Peninsula Malaysia during PBS rule. Today most of these big plantations are owned by West Malaysian companies, a legacy left by PBS leaders. Most have joined BN for obvious reason, to continue the legacy of not Sabah for Sabahans but Sabah for themselves.


More often than not, poor Sabahans bought the story and found themselves getting poorer and poorer and these corrupt politicians getting richer and richer. They squandered millions of ill-gotten gains they acquired during their tenure and turned to becoming frogs when they have no more money and position.


This curse on Sabah and its people reverberated everytime the general elections comes around and greedy politicians that have exhausted the largesse in their party would look for excuse to jump ship. 


In the 2008 General Election I wrote this article for Asia Sentinel on Sabah. The elections' result came close to what I wrote, that the BN in Sabah would not lose its majority.


In recent days, two Sabah politicians have announced leaving the BN and courting the opposition without naming any party of choice. Leaving their option open, I suppose........for Najib to persuade them to stay, of course hoping for sweeteners from the Prime Minister. 


Lajim Ukin of UMNO and Wilfred Bamburing of UPKO have tendered their resignations from all party positions but have not resigned from the party for obvious reason.

The two, have in recent months, been critical of the government and party leadership and have upped the ante to rattle Prime Minister Najib, whom they deemed in a precarious position hoping that Najib would persuade them to stay thus giving them the bargaining chip.They are using their kampong cunningness of not resigning from the party first but threatened the party leadership. Lajim is still keeping his minister's position in BN, waiting to be sacked he said. Pigeon-hearted threat that will eventually force them to quit.


Their threats have not moved the seemingly weak Najib who refused to submit to political blackmail, particularly, from political lightweight the likes of Lajim and Bamburing whose grassroots, if any, are confined to the kampong they came from.


Rumours have been circulating that Anwar Ibrahim has offered Lajim the Sabah chief ministership if he joins PKR and if Pakatan win the elections.What he promised Bamburing we don't know yet.He will be attending Bamburing's function this Saturday. 


Anwar would also be breaking fast with Lajim on the same day. This is his last chance, his final fling to be "Malaysia's Next Prime Minister", so anything goes. The man have absolutely no principle. As the Malay idiom "Cakap tak serupa bikin" that's the real Anwar Ibrahim.


Does he care of his payola of corrupt UMNO politicians that he constantly attack, accusing them of massive corruptions.Isn't Lajim an UMNO man that come from the corrupt regime?


Lajim, was also rumored to be Shafie Apdal's man to destabilise Musa Aman. Shafie, aspiring to be Sabah next Chief Minister, reputedly, had given Lajim RM90 million project from his Ministry of Rural Development allocation.


Here, Lajim says his meeting with Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz was in his official capacity as Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister and not as a "frogger". How comes he never visited Nik Aziz before this.


It makes one wonder how Malaysians, particularly, Sabahans give their time of day to listen to the cock and bull stories of these good-for-nothing politicians who should have been sent to the rubbish bin of history long time ago. 

I Am Desperado.........for the sake of Sabahans!

People of Sabah who have lost so much under half century rule of Barisan Nasional (BN).

Star Sabah Chairman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said he is desperate only for the people of Sabah.

Responding to Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Radin Malleh who described 





Jeffrey as a "desperado", Jeffrey said Sabah's situation is very serious and if things continue the way it is the people will continue to lose their rights and place as true citizens and natives of the State.

Read more.

Next:  


"Tukaron Bangkad" - Two Sabah Frogs 

Frogs Without Ponds: Anwar Ibrahim Smarter

Hantu Laut

Malaysian politics never failed to fascinate.The buying and selling of politicians from both sides of the fence is now becoming a matter of life and death.Recent development shows Anwar Ibrahim is the better card player.

I wrote in my previous post 'We Are The Champions' about how past Sabah state governments stopped their assemblymen from defecting by asking them to sign undated letters of resignation which was later deemed illegal.

The speaker of the Perak state assembly has received letter of resignation from the two PKR assemblymen. Behrang assemblyman Jamaluddin Mat Radzi denys he has resigned and said he was made to sign the letter last March.The speaker has accepted the resignation of both assemblymen. By-elections would have to be called after notification to the Election Commission.Is the letter legitimate and legally binding ? The question now rest with the speaker and eventually the court if the two assemblymen decide to challenge the legality of the letter.

In the meantime, the two assemblymen have two options, leave as it is and lose their seats or rush to the court and try get an injunction to stop the by-election until the case is heard and decided by the court.Injunction may or may not be granted.The decision rests with the judge.

The speaker of the assembly wasn't wrong in accepting the resignation as long as he is convinced the letter is genuine.

I believe the letter is valid and legally binding because it was a precondition and it wasn't signed under duress.This is my personal opinion, the law may have different interpretation.

Between being arrogance, cock-sure and being pragmatic Anwar Ibrahim has the edge over the politicians in UMNO. A smart politician that doesn't take things for granted, never trust anyone and cleverly bolted the doors to the stables so the horses can't flee and flee, if they have to, at their own perils.

Anwar, the big fish in a small pond is smarter, maybe, a little less democratic, but than can you blame him ?

On the other side ,UMNO with it cock-of-the-walk attitude, pathetically naive and wanting to be seen democratic did not take preventive measures against the political frogs, degenerates and mercenaries.

Umno may have caught the frogs without the ponds at the moment. Going by precedents on similar cases in Sabah before, Pakatan's hold on power is precariously hanging in the balance.

We Were The Champions

Hantu Laut

Come to 'Land Below The Wind' where the wind of change is still blowing far off the horizon. The wind of change didn't blow strong enough in the March 2008 General Elections. There were no nimbus clouds threatening a deluge that poured torrents of rain of protests to debunk and bring down the government.The gathering storms were far across the South China Sea, on the other side of the ocean.

Sabah politicians have always been wild and wily.This is where frog culture and money politics originated from, much to the consternation of the so-called sophisticated politicians from the West, appalled by what they see as immoral and shameful act of betrayal.Sabah was once the biggest thorn in the flesh of Federal leaders. Now, politics in the state are more tampered and less volatile.The frogs,toads and biawaks have migrated to the 'Land Of The Kings'.

Sabahans were very progressive, innovative and definitely very inventive when it comes to politics.In the past, we invented a foolproof system of keeping our assemblymen in line and from defecting, we made them sign undated letters of resignation before they can be nominated to stand for election.If any one of them try to be funny or contemplates defection after being elected, we affix a date to the undated letter and submit it to the Speaker of the Assembly.Presto! A by-election.Than some idiotic leaders from Kuala Lumpur interfered and said it was undemocratic and unconstitutional and forced us to stop the practice and brought the court of law to stop it.

Not exactly happy with that interference we decided we must teach these smart donkeys a lesson, we invented the frog culture, out of spite, to show the sophisticated Peninsula politicians how democratic we were. Next thing we knew the politics in Sabah is like a 'Yo Yo', you don't know whether you are coming or going.The democratic frog culture was not helping to keep political stability and those crooked assemblymen started making all sorts of demands and if you don't meet their demands they threatened to transform into a frog and before you knew it they have hopped over to the other side.

Many years later we became wiser and very careful, this time we must invent something lawful, something that our brothers in the West wouldn't object.

We went to the State Assembly and managed to secure majority approval of the members to pass an 'Anti-Hop' law that prohibits any elected representative from defecting or crossing over to another political party.They can only leave by resignation of their positions or failing which the positions fall vacant by virtue of the law and by-election must be held thereafter.We thought this it time would be fine, no one can defect, no one can argue or say it's wrong, because the law says so. Than, again, some smart-asses from Kuala Lumpur came and told us that this one was also wrong, it's against freedom of association and, therefore, against the Federal Constitution.They went to court and the court ruled in their favour and the law was repelled. Before we knew it, they have stolen a number of our assemblymen, made them cross over to their side and obviously we lost the government.

Well, to cut the story short and to whittle away the pain of being played out many times we decided if 'You can't fight them, join them' which we did and now we found ourselves in better shape than they are.In fact, we and our brothers in Sarawak saved the day for them, saved them from annihilation.They have never been in a more precarious position before than now.Even with our help they are still walking the tightrope and hopelessly have no idea whether they are going or coming and when they are going to lose the government that they have held for more than five decades. Now, how they wish they have the 'Anti-Hop' law to protect them.One frog has already crossed over to to the other side and some donkeys in the party were already calling for such law to be implemented.

We saw these problems about four decades ago and took action to make sure politicians do not use politics to serve themselves.Unfortunately, the more powerful force destroyed all our inventions to suit their purpose, now, how they wish they hadn't done that.

We were the champions.We are the champions.

Anwar's Cheap Offering To The Froggies

Hantu Laut

Anwar Ibrahim is all out to lure lawmakers from Sabah and Sarawak with cheap offerings of sentiment and psychology.

Who would have thought he can come up with such an idea of making 16th Sept a holiday in Pakatan-held states to show Sabahans and Sarawakians that he truly cares about the two states, which have in the past asked the Federal government to make Sept 16 as Merdeka day and a national holiday.Sabah used Sept 16 as the birthday of the Yang Di Pertuan Negeri to make it a public holiday.

The Merdeka day on 31st August is fallacious.Sabah,Sarawak,Singapore and the then
Federation of Malaya got together and formed a new nation called Malaysia on 16th Sept 1963.Singapore was kicked out in 1965 because of Lee Kuan Yew 's insistence of Malaysian Malaysia, a demand the Malays could not accept.

In all probability he may have problem getting those MPs from MCA,Gerakan and UMNO in Peninsula to join him and are putting all his bets on Sabah and Sarawak, an established and well-known 'katak' states.

His procurer Jefferey Kitingan ( the king of frogs)

has promised him 13 kataks from the 'land below the wind' where the paddy fields are awash with these tailless leaping amphibians.In the deep jungle they have many other species that perched on lower branches of trees and ready to leapfrog at the slightest disturbance.

The real danger to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi are not the frogs in the paddy fields or those on the trees, they are in Parliament, where only honourable men should sit---the 'yang berhormat'.

Anwar Ibrahim is a specialist in demolition of government, an art he acquired during his heyday in UMNO.The making of UMNO government in Sabah was partly his handiwork.


In 1994 he and his conspirators in PBS demolished democratically elected PBS government and established UMNO in Sabah in coalition with the conspirators' new parties and formed BN in Sabah with a new formula, the rotation of the chief minister among the major races, a perfect formula of divide and rule mooted by the then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad.

As in 1994, the first renegade was the equally charismatic and charming Yong Tat Lee, who, through his 2 MPs would be joining Anwar to remove the Prime Minister through a vote of no confidence.

Will Anwar succeed in getting the frogs to jump over for him to take over the government and wreck vengeance on those who did him harm before ?

Let's wait for D-Day - 16th Sept.

Another Frog In The Making

Hantu Laut

Another MP from Sarawak is contemplating leaving the BN and may want to join the opposition.

BN-SPDP Mas Gading MP Dr Tiki Lafe has not confirmed or denied leaving the party. He said he is on holiday with his family and is not saying anything.

It was also rumored that 10 MPs from Sabah and Sarawak are on holidays in Australia.After the hard work they need to rest and congregate in the same place !

In a new development, Richard Riot the MP for Serian has denied he is leaving the party. The new twist to the tale is, it was not Richard who made the statement, it was the SUPP publicity chief Alfred Yap.He said he spoke to Richard and he was unhappy about newspaper report that he is leaving the party and that he fully support the party and is loyal to BN.

Where is Richard and why can't he make the statement himself ?

Party hopping or frogging can be a liability or an asset to political party.
Sabah has a long history of party hopping that started as far back as the USNO government.

Sabah is the birthplace of frogging or kataking ( a Sabah term), where greedy politicians can be bought or sold at a price.

The first incident of induced frogging was in 1967 when UPKO assemblyman Payar Juman was abducted from his home in the middle of the night and enticed to join Mustapha's USNO(United Sabah National Organisation) to give it a single seat lead majority in a coalition with SCA(Sabah Chinese Association). With the crossover USNO managed to grab the government from Stephen's UPKO. Payar Juman was given a ministerial post and his abductor Halik Zaman was made his political secretary.

The biggest mass defections of politicians was in 1976 when the federal sponsored Berjaya party was formed to topple the then Chief Minister Dato Mustapha Harun. The exodus was led by Harris Salleh and discreetly supported by Donald Stephens who had converted to Islam and changed his name to Fuad Stephens and was the TYT (Governor) at that time. Berjaya won the 1976 elections and formed the state government with Fuad as chief minister. Later Fuad and some of his cabinet colleagues died in an air crash.His deputy, Harris Salleh was installed as chief minister.

In the 1994 state elections PBS won with a slim majority of 2 seats.Within a month majority of PBS assemblymen had switched side. They were offered hard cash, cabinet positions and other inducements.The then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad denied the allegations and said the crossover was due to PBS slim majority with which they will not be able to govern effectively and may cause political instability.

Party hopping is not illegal but is considered an evil act from moral point of view. It also set a bad example and sending wrong message to the younger generations who aspire to be politicians.Those who are for sale are usually of questionable character, selfish, greedy and are there purely for status and money.They don't give two hoots about serving the people and country, their priority is to serve themselves.

The federal government have used this shameful method to grab power on several occassions from the oppositions in Sabah .Should they complain if Anwar goes round trying to entice potential frogs from the BN camp ?

Another BN MP ready to jump ship?

Anwar Looking For Kataks

Hantu Laut

In my previous article I mentioned that Anwar is going around shopping for BN MPs to join him.He has now admitted he has spoken to some of them but would not pay or reward them if they join his party. You can read it here.

Without any form of reward it would be most unlikely that anyone would want to join him.The opposition coalition has 82 seats and needed at least 30 more seats to form a simple majority. It would be foolish move for any of BN MP to switch camp as they have a strong simple majority of 140 seats, short of 8 more to get two-thirds majority.

Unless Anwar can get an en bloc of 30 or more, which is most unlikely, his dream of taking over the government before the next elections would remain a dream.

Sarawak is the only en bloc source of supply. It has 30 MP seats and under the control of the Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, a BN loyalist.

It is more feasible and makes more sense for BN to woo opposition MPs to their side as they hold the key to the treasury.

Read more here......

LAND OF THE FROGS

Hantu Laut

When Agnes Keith wrote the book "Land Below The Wind" in 1939, she won $5000 award for winning the Atlantic Non-Fiction Prize Book.

Agnes Rothery of the New York Herald Tribune, in her book review said " For every one who reads "Land Below The Wind" (Borneo) will never again be a mere name in a nursery rhyme --
whose climate where 'the warm humid air seems to promote longevity in germs'......

It was Sabah (British North Borneo then) that she referred to in her book, where she and her husband worked and stayed for almost twenty years.

Now Sabah would be better known as the 'Land Of The Frogs'. The 'Politicians For Sale' campaign has started.The three days cooling off period will surely see some candidates dropping out and giving undivided support to the BN and money in their pockets.

PKR suffered a hiccup yesterday when the political secretary to PKR Vice President Datuk Dr Jeffery Kitingan resigned from the party with immediate effect.He said he has lost trust in the party's Federal and State leadership adding that more leaders and members would follow suit.He accused the leadership as untrustworthy. He further said the BN is the best choice and the only one that can bring development to the state.

Frogs abound every time there is general election in Sabah.Some will join as independents hoping to be bought by the ruling party. The price ranges from as low as RM20,000. for the 'kucing kurap' to a few hundred thousands for potential 'giant killer'. Those sure of winning will wait until after the election and offer themselves for sale if the ruling party gets less than two-third majority.

It does make economic sense for the ruling party to buy off opponents.It would worked out to be much cheaper than having to fight them and spend millions on the campaign trail.

During the Mustapha's era it was not money that stopped opposition candidates from contesting in an election, it was gangsterism. A gang of people would waylaid the candidate on his way to the nomination centre, beat him up and detained him until the nomination centre closed. It was even cheaper and most of the candidates would be unchallenged.That's why during USNO time almost all seats were uncontested.

The state seat of Pensiangan that go uncontested has now created a furor. PKR claimed there was a conspiracy involving the EC and the Returning Officer of the Nomination Centre.A police report was lodged and PKR has filed an election petition to declare the result null and void.

The Election Commission's cooling off period is the most viable project for the buying and selling of politicians. It was probably put in place for that purpose.