Throw Out A Good Man, Installed A Crook

Hantu Laut

This could, if it happens, be the most dangerous failed state ever.The clock is ticking waiting for the day the extremists and religious fanatics to take over the state and throw the world into utter chaos and possible nuclear holocaust.

Pakistan is now moving much faster than before into becoming a failed state and a nightmare for the rest of the world. The Talibans, the most extreme of all Islamists, had taken over the Swat valley in the north just 100 miles from the capital Islamabad.The government is powerless and have surrendered the territory to this hordes of mad men.

Throw out a good man and installed a known crook, this is what you get.

Can Pakistan Be Governed?

TO ENTER the office where Asif Ali Zardari, the president of Pakistan, conducts his business, you head down a long corridor toward two wax statues of exceptionally tall soldiers, each in a long, white tunic with a glittering column of buttons. On closer inspection, these turn out to be actual humans who have been trained in the arts of immobility. The office they guard, though large, is not especially opulent or stupefying by the standards of such places. President Zardari met me just inside the doorway, then seated himself facing a widescreen TV displaying an image of fish swimming in a deep blue sea. His party spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, and his presidential spokesman, Farahnaz Ispahani, sat facing him, almost as rigid as the soldiers. Zardari is famous for straying off message and saying odd things or jumbling facts and figures. He is also famous for blaming his aides when things go wrong — and things have been going wrong quite a lot lately. Zardari’s aides didn’t want him to talk to me. Now they were tensely waiting for a mishap.

The president himself, natty in a navy suit, his black hair brilliantined to a sheen, was the very picture of ease. Zardari beamed when we talked about New York, where he often lived between 2004, when he was released from prison after eight years, and late 2007, when he returned to Pakistan not long after his wife, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated by terrorists. For all that painful recent history, Zardari is a suave and charming man with a sly grin, and he gives the impression of thoroughly enjoying what must be among the world’s least desirable jobs. Zardari had just been through the most dangerous weeks of his six months in office. He dissolved the government in Punjab, Pakistan’s dominant state, and called out the police to stop the country’s lawyers and leading opposition party from holding a “long march” to demand the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who had been sacked, along with most of the high judiciary, by Zardari’s predecessor, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Zardari defused the situation only by allowing Chaudhry’s return to office and giving in to other demands that he had previously and repeatedly rejected.

Yet, despite this spectacular reversal, the president was not in a remotely penitent state of mind over his handling of the protests against him. “Whoever killed my wife was seeking the Balkanization of Pakistan,” he told me. “There is a view that I saved Pakistan then” — by calling for calm at a perilous moment — “and there is a view that by making this decision I saved Pakistan again.” There had been, he said, a very real threat of a terrorist attack on the marchers on their way to Islamabad. That is why his government invoked a statute dating back to the British raj in order to authorize the police to arrest protesters and prevent the march from forming. I pointed out that Benazir Bhutto faced a far more specific threat and was outraged when General Musharraf kept her from speaking on the pretext of protecting her. The president didn’t miss a beat. “And therefore,” he rejoined, “we moved to the other side”: that is, he reversed his order to the police, and permitted the protesters’ march, just before giving in to their demands altogether. Read more....

Lure Of The Lucre And Bangkok Came To Bukit Gantang.

Hantu Laut

In Batang Ai both sides claim to have over whelming support and would win the by-election.What I heard through the grapevine is that the BN has the edge in this constituency.The people of Batang Ai may not be ready for change yet.

In Bukit Selambau, Kedah the crowded boxing ring is getting too too hot for the independents, attracted by the lure of the lucre but didn't get much attention from PKR and the BN. Both sides of the fence gave them both the lower and tall orders.All will lose their deposits. BN appears to be gaining ground but too early to tell.

In Bukit Gantang the Malays beginning to warm up to the BN but not good enough for a win without the Chinese and Indians supports. BN says it is not a referendum for Najib, Pakatan says it is. Pakatan has all the reasons not to lose this one.BN is in desperate mode here bringing half-naked singers and dancers to entertain the people in a Chinese fishing village and Zaid Hamidi says this is part of Chinese culture.

Look more like Western-influenced go-go dancers in Bangkok nightclubs.



Bukan budaya Cina lah ! Brother Zaid ! Yang lebih tepat ini budaya orang Barat yang disebar dan tersebar diseluruh dunia.

Sacrilegious ?

Hantu Laut

I can understand not to mention or ridicule the Sultan of Perak decision on the Perak crisis but why would mentioning Altantuya name is now considered sacrilegious.

If the Home Ministry acted on this just to carry balls of the new PM than it certainly is not good news for Najib and UMNO. Not a good move at all.

Najib has in no uncertain term said he has nothing to do with the girl and have sworn that he had never met her. There are no evidence that can tie him to the girl.The purported photograph, other than the one doctored by Tian Chua, have never made an appearance. Malaysians should give him the benefit of the doubt and stop the mud-slinging.

Anwar Ibrahim and the oppositions can say umpteen times her name and till kingdom come, if he is innocent he should not worry.

He should take them to the cleaners, otherwise, it wouldn't stop.

Is The Road To Hell Paved With Good Intentions ?

Hantu Laut

The famous Hamlet's soliloquy "To be or not to be". Will the prophecy of so many people about Najib's administration come true. Anwar Ibrahim has prophesies the same here.Would it be a case of "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" and whatever good he does would still not be good enough? Is he a victim of wrong public perception ?

Najib will be the most controversial figure to ascent the highest office.He became prime minister by default rather than popular choice and came with a heavy load.

His late father Tun Abdul Razak took over the nation when it was in turmoil and emergency law was passed to stop further violence and bloodshed.Razak headed the National Operations Council.The May 13 tragedy culminated in the Tungku handing over power to Razak in 1970.Parliament and political parties were suspended, press censorship imposed, all political activities banned and use of the ISA to detain troublemakers. Within less than two years Razak managed to bring back peace to the country and Parliament was reconvened in 1971 with the formation of a new coalition government, the Barisan National (BN) comprising all political parties, except the DAP. PAS joined but was expelled in 1977.

In hindsight, without emergency rule and use of the ISA the situation could have been been worse and dragged on much longer.

There is similarity in Najib's and his father's ascension to the premiership, albeit in a different environment. His was a peaceful and planned transition, while his father's came at very difficult times and leadership was thrust on him as the Tungku was seen as a weak leader and his policies not benefiting the Malays. To certain extent Najib replacing Abdullah was of the same nature, Abdullah was also perceived to be weak.

In the early 70s the Malays economic and living standard were still low. Almost 75% of Malays living below the poverty line and excluded from the modern economy.The May 13 tragedy was the result of this disparity and the near loss of political power. The Tungku, for lack of experience, had only wanted political power for the Malays and the civil service to be manned mainly by Malays.He overlooked the economic power. Money can buy material comfort, favours, sex and lately as we all found out can also buy politicians.Therefore, money and lots of it can do miracles, almost anything.Without money life can be miserable and society can be cruel to those who doesn't have it. This is the root of UMNO's problem, money ! money ! money ! every one in UMNO wants a lot of money and they don't care, in the eyes of society, how they obtain it, ill-gotten or otherwise, as long as it's easy, fast and big. They have forgotten what they are there for, they have forgotten what sacrifices previous leaders had made to bring this nation to what it is today.They have forgotten the basic principal of decent human behaviour and lavished themselves with the trappings of power. They have not an ounce of guilt or shame that the money they have are not acquired through hard work or entrepreneurship but through an easy ride on the gravy train.

You hear of horror stories of wives of politicians buying Hermes handbag worth RM90,000.00 and holidays paid by Chinese towkays.You hear of politicians making million of dollars without any business to their names. This is what Najib needs to stop if he wants UMNO to regain its past glory. If things are done within reason nobody will complain, it is the excesses that have driven the people away.

When the late Tun Razak introduced the NEP in 1971 to help narrow the economic gap between the Malays and other races mainly the Chinese it was a sincere and benevolent act to remove the economic imbalance and bring the Malays to higher economic level. Never in his wildest dream he invented the NEP to enrich only the Malays in UMNO. It was mean for all Malays.

Najib must do a serious examination of where UMNO has gone wrong, not only the Chinese and Indians are running away but educated urban Malays are equally disillusioned and have shown their discontentment at the last general elections by voting the oppositions.

Now that Pak Lah will be out of the picture will Najib revert to his father's original idea of what the NEP should be about and put a stop to the gravy train, or at least minimise it, or would he follows in Mahathir's footstep and bring back authoritarian rule and continue with the status quo?

Is the road to hell paved with good intentions?