Hantu Laut
So! Najib got his dream team after all, if not all, at least most of it.With the exception of the Youth and Wanita wings nearly all his men are in place at the top echelon of the party.
The casualties among ministers and menteri besar would see some changes in the cabinet line-up.At least there would be a new Home Minister, new Foreign Minister and new Minister of Tourism. Another vacancy that may be in the offing is the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs presently under Shahrir Abdul Samad.He lost his bid for a seat on the Supreme Council.
Najib has plenty of room to make major changes to the cabinet and those ministers who failed to secure victory have made life easier for Najib to overhaul the cabinet and infuse new blood into the lacklustre cabinet.
From the new crop of leaders, many are uninspiring, unimpressive and known quantities. Maybe, Najib should start looking for professional ministers and engage them on contract basis especially for crucial ministries like the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Trade and Industry.These two ministries are the crucial conveyors in spurring economic growth to overcome the economic and financial crisis.
Sabah got a big shot in the arm when Shafie Apdal won one of the vice-presidents and Chief Minister Musa Aman got one of the highest number of votes in the Supreme Council.The head of Puteri was also won by Sabahan Rosnah Abdul Rashid Sharlin. Sabah also secured 2 more seats in the Supreme Council, Lajim Ukin and the controversial bocor MP Bung Moktar Radin.
Well, you can't put a good guy down and Malaysia must have court jesters not only in Parliament but also in every political party supreme councils, otherwise, Malaysian politics would be such a pallid and boring affairs.
It must be the saddest day for Ali Rustam.Looking at the votes obtained by 'Double-Barrelled Muhammad' he could have put up a good fight against Muhyiddin.
It will not be easy ride for Najib with Muhyiddin as No.2 because if he can't perform satisfactorily instability in the party will not leave him in peace and Muhyiddin is not a man who is going to sit around and let the party slide further down into the abyss, likewise, don't expect Mahathir to be sitting quietly in the corner.
All eyes are on Najib now, how he chooses his cabinet, how he tackles the economic crisis and most crucial of all how he deals with the oppositions. Many in UMNO believe a return to autocracy would fortify UMNO. This simplistic and outmoded political philosophy if simply put...... is a political suicide.
A return to Mahathirism is not the answer, atonement would be more likely what Malaysians are looking forward to.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Return From The Dead
Hantu Laut
Just as I expected Najib will not get his dream team and the UMNO rank and file have shown they are not going to be cowed into electing candidates favoured by the top leadership.
The wind of change is brewing in UMNO and it is not coming from the top, it's coming from the bottom.They are also sending a clear message to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad to stop interfering in the party affairs. The results of the Youth and Women wings will have a bearing on the election of the deputy president and vice-presidents.
In November 2008 I wrote.......In my earlier article "Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned" I said I place my bet on Shahrizat winning the race against Rafidah.I still do and the ground swell is moving in favour of Shahrizat.
I believe majority of members of Wanita UMNO had already decided who they want as their leader.
Read the full text here.
My congratulations to Khairy Jamaluddin.Most have signed his death warrant. Only few can sense that the rank and file are fed up with being forced to choose leaders they have no liking for and will be sending the message across to the top. Of course, some will say he won by money politics.
Khairy should be given an important ministerial position to bring out the potentials in him.I am sure he will out perform many of the dead woods in the cabinet.A major overhaul of the cabinet should be Najib's priority.More young blood should be brought in.
I am sure many of my readers will not be happy with this suggestion but than I am a different kettle of fish, I don't have herd instinct, right or wrong, I make my own analysis and judgement. So far so good.
From what transpired the last few days, from Najib and Hishamuddin's speeches there were no specifics for changes other than asking the rank and file to give full support to the leadership and asking them to elect good and honest leaders. Najib wants leaders who are able and are themselves enablers, who dare to change and are receptive to change, and who dare to criticise and are willing to accept criticism.
This sounds like looking for a needle in a haystack. Where the head leads, the tail will follow and fish rots from the head first.If Najib can lead by example and rule honestly and fairly he should not worry who his men are.With the power in his hand he can weed out the corrupt and incapable ones. If the party want to survive the next elections it must show colour-blindness, the issue of race and religion should not be a constant reminder of who is the master.These words are better left unspoken.
Rabble rousing Hishamuddin, as usual, were in the mood for bashing and blaming others for the trouble in UMNO. This time it's not the Chinese or Indians, it's a fellow Malay whom he accused of being a traitor to the Malays.Anwar Ibrahim is a traitor to the Malays. Cliches that we have heard many times before and the Malays are not buying anymore.
There were more histrionics than a sincere desire for change. Hishmauddin is still as sardonic as before and have not learned how to be a punctilious leader.He certainly not an enabler that Najib was talking about.
The PM-in-waiting may be in for a bigger shock ?
Just as I expected Najib will not get his dream team and the UMNO rank and file have shown they are not going to be cowed into electing candidates favoured by the top leadership.
The wind of change is brewing in UMNO and it is not coming from the top, it's coming from the bottom.They are also sending a clear message to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad to stop interfering in the party affairs. The results of the Youth and Women wings will have a bearing on the election of the deputy president and vice-presidents.
In November 2008 I wrote.......In my earlier article "Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned" I said I place my bet on Shahrizat winning the race against Rafidah.I still do and the ground swell is moving in favour of Shahrizat.
I believe majority of members of Wanita UMNO had already decided who they want as their leader.
Read the full text here.
My congratulations to Khairy Jamaluddin.Most have signed his death warrant. Only few can sense that the rank and file are fed up with being forced to choose leaders they have no liking for and will be sending the message across to the top. Of course, some will say he won by money politics.
Khairy should be given an important ministerial position to bring out the potentials in him.I am sure he will out perform many of the dead woods in the cabinet.A major overhaul of the cabinet should be Najib's priority.More young blood should be brought in.
I am sure many of my readers will not be happy with this suggestion but than I am a different kettle of fish, I don't have herd instinct, right or wrong, I make my own analysis and judgement. So far so good.
From what transpired the last few days, from Najib and Hishamuddin's speeches there were no specifics for changes other than asking the rank and file to give full support to the leadership and asking them to elect good and honest leaders. Najib wants leaders who are able and are themselves enablers, who dare to change and are receptive to change, and who dare to criticise and are willing to accept criticism.
This sounds like looking for a needle in a haystack. Where the head leads, the tail will follow and fish rots from the head first.If Najib can lead by example and rule honestly and fairly he should not worry who his men are.With the power in his hand he can weed out the corrupt and incapable ones. If the party want to survive the next elections it must show colour-blindness, the issue of race and religion should not be a constant reminder of who is the master.These words are better left unspoken.
Rabble rousing Hishamuddin, as usual, were in the mood for bashing and blaming others for the trouble in UMNO. This time it's not the Chinese or Indians, it's a fellow Malay whom he accused of being a traitor to the Malays.Anwar Ibrahim is a traitor to the Malays. Cliches that we have heard many times before and the Malays are not buying anymore.
There were more histrionics than a sincere desire for change. Hishmauddin is still as sardonic as before and have not learned how to be a punctilious leader.He certainly not an enabler that Najib was talking about.
The PM-in-waiting may be in for a bigger shock ?
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Can The Most Hated Man In This County Win Today ?
Hantu Laut
A politician friend once told me that Khairy Jamaluddin is the most hated man in Malaysia.How he arrived at this conclusion I have no clue.Going by news report and numerous blog postings he may be right.
It is well known in the political circle, fact or fiction, depending whose tongue is wagging, of his arrogance and a penchant for using his father-in-law's name to open doors to anything and everything.Seriously, such condemnation must have come from fellow party members who were not happy and envious with his meteoric rise and his ambition to be the youngest prime minister of this nation.
Is it wrong to have such ambition? John F.Kennedy became President of the US at age 44 and was on his way to becoming a great president but fate took a wrong turn, his term was cut short by his assassination. He served less than 3 years. Today, Kennedy rank highly in public opinion rating of former presidents.
Why are people worried if Khiary become prime minister at age 40.Shouldn't life be allowed to take its own course instead of trying to block the path. Those who live in fear and envy must not forget if he is born for greatness nothing can stop him from being so, no matter what obstacles placed in his way, he will be there, only time may be a factor.If he is not than no matter how many times he says he wanted to be the prime minister, it wouldn't happen.
Khairy Jamaluddin, the bad boy of UMNO politics is not run of the mill politician. He is intelligent, deft and ambitious but born a wrong son with the wrong father.A friend jokingly told me the other day when we were talking politics that Khairy should have been Mahathir's son not Mukhriz.Is that why Mahathir wants him out because he sees himself in the young man?
Mahathir himself has gone through the same process. He differed in style and couldn't see eye to eye with the late Tungku.He was young, intelligent, arrogance, ambitious and aggressive. He was sacked from UMNO because of his stance that the Malays were sidelined and economically neglected by the government and wrote his dilemma in his book 'The Malay Dilemma' which was banned by Tungku Abdul Rahman's government of that time.
Fate has it that Mahathir went on to be one of the prime ministers of this nation and one that had served the longest and the most controversial.Mahathir should learn from his own experience that fate and destiny are God's designs.
Mukriz is a good nice young man but he is not cut from the same cloth as his father.He hasn't the deftness, shrewdness and intelligence of the old man. He is not cut out to be a powerful politician.Like Hishammuddin he is just a beneficiary of his father's name.
On the other hand, the most hated man in the country Khairy Jamaluddin is a different kettle of fish.Coming from a non-political family, born outside the country in Kuwait, educated in Oxford with politically related degrees he is arrogant,shrewd, aggressive and overly ambitious.He is also controversial and have been accused by Mahathir of having undue influence over government policies.He denied the allegations.He is also married to the daughter of the most unpopular prime minister for which he was accused to be part of the problem facing Pak Lah.
The voting for the Youth head is on today and the race is on to see who will take the chequered flag. If I were UMNO delegate,unfortunately, I am not, I would vote for Khairy Jamaludin.
For yonks we have see the same political dynasties in the top leadership of the party. If UMNO seriously wanted change than it must balance its leadership and must have a potpourri of leaders coming from different background not just from the same political dynasties.
Read the most prolific writer, Sakmongkol46 take on this here.
A politician friend once told me that Khairy Jamaluddin is the most hated man in Malaysia.How he arrived at this conclusion I have no clue.Going by news report and numerous blog postings he may be right.
It is well known in the political circle, fact or fiction, depending whose tongue is wagging, of his arrogance and a penchant for using his father-in-law's name to open doors to anything and everything.Seriously, such condemnation must have come from fellow party members who were not happy and envious with his meteoric rise and his ambition to be the youngest prime minister of this nation.
Is it wrong to have such ambition? John F.Kennedy became President of the US at age 44 and was on his way to becoming a great president but fate took a wrong turn, his term was cut short by his assassination. He served less than 3 years. Today, Kennedy rank highly in public opinion rating of former presidents.
Why are people worried if Khiary become prime minister at age 40.Shouldn't life be allowed to take its own course instead of trying to block the path. Those who live in fear and envy must not forget if he is born for greatness nothing can stop him from being so, no matter what obstacles placed in his way, he will be there, only time may be a factor.If he is not than no matter how many times he says he wanted to be the prime minister, it wouldn't happen.
Khairy Jamaluddin, the bad boy of UMNO politics is not run of the mill politician. He is intelligent, deft and ambitious but born a wrong son with the wrong father.A friend jokingly told me the other day when we were talking politics that Khairy should have been Mahathir's son not Mukhriz.Is that why Mahathir wants him out because he sees himself in the young man?
Mahathir himself has gone through the same process. He differed in style and couldn't see eye to eye with the late Tungku.He was young, intelligent, arrogance, ambitious and aggressive. He was sacked from UMNO because of his stance that the Malays were sidelined and economically neglected by the government and wrote his dilemma in his book 'The Malay Dilemma' which was banned by Tungku Abdul Rahman's government of that time.
Fate has it that Mahathir went on to be one of the prime ministers of this nation and one that had served the longest and the most controversial.Mahathir should learn from his own experience that fate and destiny are God's designs.
Mukriz is a good nice young man but he is not cut from the same cloth as his father.He hasn't the deftness, shrewdness and intelligence of the old man. He is not cut out to be a powerful politician.Like Hishammuddin he is just a beneficiary of his father's name.
On the other hand, the most hated man in the country Khairy Jamaluddin is a different kettle of fish.Coming from a non-political family, born outside the country in Kuwait, educated in Oxford with politically related degrees he is arrogant,shrewd, aggressive and overly ambitious.He is also controversial and have been accused by Mahathir of having undue influence over government policies.He denied the allegations.He is also married to the daughter of the most unpopular prime minister for which he was accused to be part of the problem facing Pak Lah.
The voting for the Youth head is on today and the race is on to see who will take the chequered flag. If I were UMNO delegate,unfortunately, I am not, I would vote for Khairy Jamaludin.
For yonks we have see the same political dynasties in the top leadership of the party. If UMNO seriously wanted change than it must balance its leadership and must have a potpourri of leaders coming from different background not just from the same political dynasties.
Read the most prolific writer, Sakmongkol46 take on this here.
Will It Be Chop And Change ?
Hantu Laut
I wasn't wrong when I said there were subtle signs that the new PM is going to turn the clock back, to the good old days when evils stayed in the Pandora's box and Murphy was not allowed to go to war. The days of Abdullah's openess and freedom of expression may be over.Now it's not subtle anymore, it obvious we are in for a change.
First, suspend the opposition party publications without giving valid reasons, than ban internet based media from covering the party assembly because they are the most dangerous and never reported the truth and next ban all bloggers and makes it a crime to criticise the government or any of its leader.
So now we know what kind of change he was talking about.
Mahathir spent 22 years transforming this nation from a tropical backwater into one of the fastest growing economy in this region. He built first class infrastructures and brought peace and prosperity to the nation.Though, dictatorial at times, harsh, abrasive, uncompromising and to some people seemingly cruel he has brought about the most accelerated economic development and turned Malaysia into one of the top trading nations of the world.This is a man you either love or hate. A man much misunderstood said one of his sons.
At his ripe old age and after two heart by-pass operations he still has the energy that put some much younger man to shame.In his vision of a better Malaysia he may have trampled on some basic human rights notably freedom of speech but his autocracy has worked well in keeping racial tension under wrap.Another element that helped him in maintaining peace and harmony was the prevailing prosperity.When a nation is prosperous it would naturally be peaceful and he has successfully achieved both.
What Mahathir did may have worked well during his time and as much as he was feared he was also highly respected by majority of Malaysians.
Mahathir entered the scene as PM with a clean slate, didn't carry any excess baggage, other than being called a Malay ultra which proved to be wrong label.Though, he had used that labeling to get to a higher level he became prime minister for all Malaysians.Using the race card every now and then is not to incite the Malays to go against the other races but more to ask the Malays to rise to new height and challenges.The other races mistook this gesture as inciting racial tension. I believe that was not his intention.
Mahathir is in the same mould as Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore...both are benevolent dictators, which I would rather have than a free nation with the people going hungry.
It's different strokes for different folks.Can Najib emulates his style and succeed in restoring the dignity, respect and integrity to a government that has lost its credibility?
Malaysians want delivery not rhetoric.Let's hope he delivers.
I wasn't wrong when I said there were subtle signs that the new PM is going to turn the clock back, to the good old days when evils stayed in the Pandora's box and Murphy was not allowed to go to war. The days of Abdullah's openess and freedom of expression may be over.Now it's not subtle anymore, it obvious we are in for a change.
First, suspend the opposition party publications without giving valid reasons, than ban internet based media from covering the party assembly because they are the most dangerous and never reported the truth and next ban all bloggers and makes it a crime to criticise the government or any of its leader.
So now we know what kind of change he was talking about.
Mahathir spent 22 years transforming this nation from a tropical backwater into one of the fastest growing economy in this region. He built first class infrastructures and brought peace and prosperity to the nation.Though, dictatorial at times, harsh, abrasive, uncompromising and to some people seemingly cruel he has brought about the most accelerated economic development and turned Malaysia into one of the top trading nations of the world.This is a man you either love or hate. A man much misunderstood said one of his sons.
At his ripe old age and after two heart by-pass operations he still has the energy that put some much younger man to shame.In his vision of a better Malaysia he may have trampled on some basic human rights notably freedom of speech but his autocracy has worked well in keeping racial tension under wrap.Another element that helped him in maintaining peace and harmony was the prevailing prosperity.When a nation is prosperous it would naturally be peaceful and he has successfully achieved both.
What Mahathir did may have worked well during his time and as much as he was feared he was also highly respected by majority of Malaysians.
Mahathir entered the scene as PM with a clean slate, didn't carry any excess baggage, other than being called a Malay ultra which proved to be wrong label.Though, he had used that labeling to get to a higher level he became prime minister for all Malaysians.Using the race card every now and then is not to incite the Malays to go against the other races but more to ask the Malays to rise to new height and challenges.The other races mistook this gesture as inciting racial tension. I believe that was not his intention.
Mahathir is in the same mould as Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore...both are benevolent dictators, which I would rather have than a free nation with the people going hungry.
It's different strokes for different folks.Can Najib emulates his style and succeed in restoring the dignity, respect and integrity to a government that has lost its credibility?
Malaysians want delivery not rhetoric.Let's hope he delivers.
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