Monday, April 21, 2008

Is It Wrong To Say "I Am Sorry" ?

Hantu Laut

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahamd Badawi was a guest of honour at the Bar Council Dinner on Thursday.Special guests were Tun Salleh Abas, Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin and Datuk George Seah.

The late Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdolcadeer and Tan Sri Wan Suleiman (Pawanteh) represented by their respective families: representing Tan Sri Wan Suleiman are Puan Sri Siti Nurhayati and his son Wan Noor Azli; representing Tan Sri Eusoffe are his granddaughter Brenda Lim and her husband.Tan Sri Wan Hamzah (Mohamed Salleh) was unable to attend.

Abdullah fairly lenghty speech among other things offer to compensate the judges for the pain and loss they have endured for wrongs done to them two decades ago and he said "In recognition of the contributions of the six outstanding judges, the government has decided to make goodwill ex gratia payments to them. Gentlemen, I do not presume to equate your contributions, pain and loss with mere currency, but I hope that you can accept this as a heartfelt and sincere gesture to mend what has been".

It was reported earlier that the government will not apologise to the judges for what happened to them 20 years ago. The man who was deemed responsible for the judicial sacrilege refused to apologise stating that he wasn't the one who sacked them. The fact that he orchestrated the whole thing didn't bother him one least bit. The former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad is always in a state of denial whenever it suits him.

The sacking of the Lord President and the three judges was consequential of the court declaration of UMNO being an illegal association.The fast and furious Mahathir quickly used his authoritarian power to punish the Lord President. He was furious when the then Lord President wrote to the Agong about interference in the judiciary by the executive. The Agong agreed to appoint a tribunal to look into alleged misconduct of the Lord President.

The tribunals that removed Tun Salleh Abas and the judges that defended him were constituted of fellow judges chosen for their allegiance and compliant to Mahathir. From that day onwards the judiciary with a very compliant new Lord President had been whipped into total obedience and had to look upon the executive as its masters. It's the dawn of a new era for the judiciary .A shameful period of conspiracy, corruptions and unconscionable judgements. The 'Hall Of Justice' became the 'Hall Of Fear'. Those with money can buy justice.

Then there were shameless legal scoundrel like Mr Correct, Correct, Correct who befriended filthy rich merchants to finance and influence the appointment of judges.

The crisis of confidence in the judiciary had gone so bad some foreign companies doing business in Malaysia insisted on their legal disputes to be settled outside Malaysia.

Isn't paying ex-gratia payment or compensation a form of apology ?The Prime Minister and his deputy don't think so.So is the Oxford Dictionary.

The Oxford Dictionary defines 'ex-gratia' as "given or done as a gift or favour, not because there is a legal duty to do it"

"The ex-gratia payment does not tantamount to revisiting whatever that has been decided. It is not to be construed as any form of apology but this is our way of addressing some of the personal considerations and experiences and hardship they have gone through.It should be seen in that light and should not be construed as anything beyond that," said Deputy Prime Minister NajibRazak.

It may not be appropriate to ask Mahathir to apologise now because he believes he was right in what he had done.

Since the present government had taken the bold step to resuscitate the case and pay ex-gratia to the victims, it may be more appropriate for the government to apologise. Would an apology hurt the government more than the harm and shame it had placed on the former Lord President and the three judges ?

The government refused to apologise because of possible legal implications, I am not sure whether they can be sued if there was an official apology, which could be even more costly to the government in term of compensation.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi was given a standing ovation for his speech by the very same people who a few months back admonished him for failure to conduct investigation into corruptions and fixing of appointment of judges in the judiciary.

Was it a show of support for him from the legal fraternity or they were only applauding his speech. Let's hope Abdullah don't misconstrue it as a support of his leadership and would jettison his succession plan.

Paying ex-gratia and paying penitence would be more appropriate to vindicate all the victims of the injustice.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Samy: Shut Up And Go To Hell

Hantu Laut

Kascha Khan
If you see a cobra and Samy Vellu which one would you put in the cage first ? I think I would rather take my chance with the cobra and deal with Samy Vellu first. If you are bitten by the cobra at least there are serums available that can save your life. Unfortunately, there is no antidote for Samy's bite.

Samy Vellu hasn't stopped talking since his party suffered massive losses at the polls.He has everyone to blame except himself. He is now pointing fingers at the very same people he has had intercourse with for the past thirty years.The very same people he was comfortable with in bed for over three decades and everything was hunky dory for the Indian community.

He denied being subservient to UMNO but accused them of not treating him as equal. Short of calling them by names he is now accusing UMNO and the Malay civil servants of discrimination against the Indian community.

He says the Malay civil servants are racists and do not consider non-Malays as Malaysians. Everyone knows the Malay civil servants are a bunch of racist katak dibawah tempurong and are there merely because of the ketuanan Melayu policy.You know this but yet you love and worship them before. You ever said it was UMNO that gives you your jiwa, not MIC. Why suddenly you see wrongs in them and none in yourself.

Since you feel the Indian community was so badly treated why didn't you leave the BN then and fight them as an opposition fighting for the rights of the Indians in this country. You and your MIC would have been the champions today and not Hindraf if you had taken the bold steps to save the Indians from their miseries.

When Hindu temples were demolished, where were you, did you do anything to help them to rehabilitate the temples ?

You didn't, because you were more concerned with saving your own skin and the wealth you have amassed under that regime. You didn't, because you wouldn't want to upset your Malay masters.

You say you saw it coming six months before the election, the Indians will abandon MIC due to poor treatment they get from the government. Why you stood as a candidate if you knew you are going to lose ? Didn't you assure the PM that the Indians are doing well, happy and fully support the BN government ?

Now that the BN government has cancelled the licence of the Tamil daily, Makkal Osai, what are you going to do to show proof that you really love the Indian community and the action taken by the government was wrong ?
Weeeee!!!!!!!

Samy, you are disgusting, are you going to do the right thing ? Shut up, resign or self-immolate.



Related article:
Najib wants Samy to explain outburst

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Will Najib Be The 'Braveheart' ?

Hantu Laut



His former mentor turned arch-enemy, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed was exalted when Abdullah finally made the announcement to step down.Mahathir thought he has succeeded in destabilising his bete noire and would see UMNO come under a new and stable leadership. He was wrong.

Last week he assured the nation he would step down and hand over the mantle to his solemn-faced deputy, Najib Tun Razak who has, albeit superficially, stood steadfastly behind him and refused to indulge in any conversation regarding succession and his ascent to the premiership.

One have to read Najib's body language to understand how frustrated and annoyed he is with his fickle-minded boss who is becoming even more unpredictable lately. Flip-flopping seems inherent in Abdullah's character.He has made a series of inexplicable blunders which would have caused great embarrassment and concern to most leaders but does not appear to have caused any anxiety to Abdullah.

When rumours were flying around about his intention to marry Jeanne Danker he catergorically denied it. He married her a few weeks later.The biggest shocker was when he assured the nation that he was not ready to dissolve parliament and call for elections and pronto!.......the very next day and in less than 24 hours, he did exactly the opposite, dissolved parliament and called for election. His astounding ability for contradiction and inconsistency is exasperating.

With the latest bout of Abdullah's vacillation, Mahathir may have to re-scramble his demolition team. As Lord Acton famous quote says "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely", and Abdullah finds it hard to let go even after numerous calls from his own party stalwarts and from some of his ministers to step down.

Abdullah had made an about turn and said he would continue until the party general assembly in December and he would also contest the president post and thereafter hand over the helm to Najib.

It would not be too difficult to predict where Abdullah is heading for.If he won the elections in December why should he hands over the helm to Najib.Abdullah is betting on chances that he may be able to garner enough votes to retain the presidency of the party and proved to all and sundry that he still has the support of the majority and, therefore, will not step down as prime minister.

If Abdullah is challenged, likely to be Muhyiddin, than Najib wouldn't be prime minister in waiting anymore, unless Najib openly declared his candidacy before the party elections to keep away other predators from joining the fray.

If Najib or Muhyiddin takes on Abdullah at the party elections than Tengku Razaleigh is likely to stay away from the tussle. If Abdullah changed his mind and refrain from contesting the post, giving way to Najib, there are strong likelihood of others joining the fray.

On the other hand Abdullah may not last until December, a coup in Parliament could remove him from office.

Keeping Abdullah as Prime Minister is good for the oppositions. Anwar Ibrahim had indicated that the oppositions will not pass a vote of no confidence against Abdullah in the August house.
His survival as prime minister depended on the undivided support of the BN lawmakers. The longer Abdullah stays as PM the better it would be for the oppositions and precarious for the BN. More and more disgruntled BN lawmakers who are fed up with Abdullah may want to join the opposition giving Anwar the added strenght of a bigger majority for a new federal government. Anwar knew where Abdullah's weakest link is. At the moment it is with the BN elected members in Parliament.

The support of the ordinary members of UMNO to keep Abdullah as prime minister is not crucial and is irrelevant at the moment.

After the poor showing at the polls, UMNO was in the doldrums, a ship with a captain but no rudder to guide its direction. It has lost the esprit de corps among its members.The elections results sent shock waves throughout the party with most members still in a state of daze and are shocked that the invincibility that they thought they always have had been smashed.The arrogance and complacency of the UMNO leadership had been their own biggest enemy.UMNO leaders think Malaysians owe them a living and would vote for them at every general elections.

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time" is the famous quote by Abraham Lincoln the 16th President of the United States. After fifty years of political incarceration by UMNO overlords the people had spoken albeit not as strong as it should have.

Abdullah wouldn't have this crisis of confidence if not for the bickerings and back stabbings from UMNO members.The campaign to discredit him by certain members of the party has brought him immensely damaging public contempt.

The thorn in the flesh for Abdullah is Mahathir.His incessant attack on Abdullah has shredded Abdullah's credibility to pieces and created divisions in the party. Some members are still loyal to Mahathir.The party is divided between the devil ( Mahathir) and the deep blue sea(Abdullah). His tenure as PM has become untenable and extremely precarious to BN's survival as a central government. BN is walking the tightrope between life and death. If it does not take remedial action now it may not be the government when Parliament convenes.

The race to Parliament has just begun. It would not be a marathon, it would be a 100 meter dash and the fastest runner will take the government.

It would be a race between Anwar and Najib.

If Najib can't convince Abdullah to step down or make a move against him, the probability of Anwar taking over the federal government could become a reality.

Anwar is holding out the carrot to entice Sabahan MPs, especially those from the KDM group who are famous for selling out their souls to the devil, to cross over to Pakatan Rakyat with a promise to give Sabah 20% royalty on oil, gas and timber. Timber ? Timber has always been state resources and Sabah collects 100% royalty from timber.As an ex-finance minister Anwar should have known this and should check his facts before making promises that look stupid and unreal.

Giving 20% on gross revenue ? I wouldn't bet my bottom dollar on it becoming a reality.Giving 20% on gross before deducting production costs and profit sharing with foreign oil companies would be an economic nightmare for Petronas. Most Sabah politicians are just too dumb-headed and would believe the earth is flat.

Living by tradition is no more an option for UMNO.

It is now survival of the fittest.

'Braveheart': Is based on a 1995 Academy Award film directed and acted by Mel Gibson that portrays the legendary Scot, William Wallace who led a revolt against the oppressive rule of Edward I of England.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Pak Lah Fooled The Malaysian People

Hantu Laut

On 12th April I wrote an article "UMNO Supreme Council To Decide Who Should Be Prime Minister" whereby I mentioned not to take Pah Lah's promise to step down and hand over the helm to Najib seriously.

Now Pak Lah had made a 360-degree turn and said he will contest for the UMNO President post in December.

Is he misquoted? Read below....
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia at a press conference, after a meeting with elected representatives of the ruling party in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday. (Lai Seng Sin/The Associated Press)

Malaysian prime minister plans to run again for top party post



KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Monday he would seek re-election as the governing party's leader this year, defying critics and dissidents who want him to resign immediately in the wake of massive election losses.

Abdullah repeated that he would hand over power to his deputy, Najib Razak, but not before party elections in December, in order to ensure a smooth transition. The party president normally becomes prime minister.

"Of course I want the transfer to be smooth. That's very important," Abdullah said. "I do not want to leave the party in a state of chaos. I would not say 'Najib, good luck. That's your problem, not mine.' That's not the way."

His comments were made to reporters after a party meeting to discuss plans in the wake of the March 8 general elections in which the governing National Front coalition suffered its worst losses ever. Carry on........