Is China Becoming A "Show-Off" Nation ?

Hantu Laut

The 16th Asian Games opened with a bang.The pomp and splendour was as astounding as the opening of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, a correlated extravaganza of science,technology and human drama.

Compared to India's poor delivery of the recent Commonwealth Games, this new economic giant put out a magnificient show of verve and vibration.Richer and more advanced countries would not have been able to put up such splendour. They, probably, don't have to, they have shedded their inferior complex long time ago.

Is China becoming a 'Show Off'' nation?

In 2009 China displaced Japan to become the world's second largest economy and is expected to overtake the U.S before 2020.

By the end of 2010, the list of top 10 economic giants would look like this.....USA, China, Japan, India, Germany, Russia ,U.K, France, Brazil, Italy.

By 2020, the whole scenario would have changed and the list would look like this.......China, USA, India, Japan, Russia, Germany, Brazil,U.K,France,Mexico.

The emerging economies, particularly China and India are growing faster than the advanced economies, which is slowing down.

Chinese marvel.

(Six days. That's how long it took to build this level 9 Earthquake-resistant, sound-proofed, thermal-insulated 15-story hotel in Changsha, complete with everything, from the cabling to three-pane windows. The foundations were already built, but it's just impressive.)

In 2009, Japan real GDP shrank 5.2% brought about by long economic stagnation and a greying population.The US economy shrank 2.4% due to the 2008/2009 financial crisis.China, miraculously escaped unscathed.By the year 2020 China would have doubled its GDP to that of USA.

Do not be fooled by all the glittery and pompous shows whenever China hosted major world events and the megalomaniac structures you see in China's big cities that show off its enormous wealth. Some sort of never ending coming out parties wanting to show the world how far they have come.

There is a darker side to China's perceived prosperity.Beyond the high rises and churning factories lie the rural and semi-rural poor, rampant corruption and a government with little interest of wanting to arrest the widening gap between the rich and the poor.There are now, probably more billionaires in China than the rest of the world, other than the United States.

China may have a huge GDP but it is still in the poor man's club as far as the people are concerned.In 2009, its per capita GDP was only $6,600, compared to Japan $32,700, the U.S $46,000, Taiwan $32,000 and South Korea $28,700.

In this respect, in spite of the dazzling economic boom, you would be better off being a Taiwanese than a mainland Chinese.Comparatively speaking, even the average Malaysian is better off than the average Chinese.In 2009, Malaysia's per capita GDP was $14,900.

China's authoritarian politics is spawning a dangerous mix of crony capitalism, rampant corruption and a widening inequality.

Rising faster than China is the hype about China but behind the glowing headlines and publicity there are fundamental weaknesses rooted in the state.Beijing, still have a stranglehold on how politics and the economy should be run.The private sector account for not more than 30% of the GDP.It is still much more a socialist economy.

It's a comforting thought that this Middle Kingdom is now an economic giant but how long more can it keeping showing spectacular Chinese operas to the rest of the world?

The 'Big Lie' ? Whose?

Hantu Laut

The 'Big Lie' technique of propaganda is based on the principle that a lie, if audacious enough and repeated enough times, will be believed by the masses. As they say, lie repeated too often will become the truth.

Adolf Hitler had used it.Joseph Goebbels, his Minister of Propaganda perfected it.

He was Hitler's best propaganda machine that led to the burning of the books and the 'Holocaust', the annihilation of the Jews.

Geobbels was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism which eventually led to the 'Die Endlosung' or the 'Final Solution', the systematic execution of European Jews.

From Geobbel's propaganda machine to Himmler's killing machine, the 'Big Lie' has managed to make animals out of men to commit one of history's worst atrocities against mankind.

Should history be used to threaten others or should we learn from its mistake and do the right thing?

Incidentally,the government has decided to make history a must pass subject which I find vary baffling and could not agree with.

During my time, history was only a must learn subject at secondary level but not a must pass subject and it was one of the easiest subject to learn and made even easier if you have good numeral memory, that is remembering years,centuries,millienium and so forth.

Obviously, the new Minister of Education Muhyiddin Yassin wanted to leave more foot prints.Just like, Malay to English, back to Malay, for Science and Maths.

As George Sanatayana have said "Those who can't remember the past are condemned to repeat it"

Why are the opposition giving Utusan Malaysia the time of the day every time its editorial writes something on May 13, even wanting to take it for debate in Parliament.Isn't the matter best ignored and treated as the writing of some mad man instead of getting all riled up and giving prominence to the propaganda.

Except for the few opposition politicians seeking political mileage not many people really give a damn about what Utusan writes.

What so seditious about saying May 13 is a 'sacred day' and 'blessing in disguise'.Will it starts a riot, a war or an earthquke?

You want freedom of speech and freedom of the press.You make your bed you must now lay on it.

Those who always scream for freedom of the press should not just say it but should practise its full extent.

Do not do unto others what you do not want others do unto you.

Who started the 'Big Lie' in Malaysia?

If you can lied about Sept 16, what other lie are you not capable of manufacturing?

The Prime Minister is a murderer?

A statutory declaration is a rock solid evidence?

Please lah!

I am looking for my mother's tits!

Homeless Zaid And 'Lord Of The Rings'

Hantu Laut

The falling out of Zaid Ibrahim in PKR's recent political turmoil relating to the party elections has Anwar's name written all over the wall.Azmin Ali would be helpless without Anwar's cohesive support and his indifference on the elections malpractices.

This story is all about Anwar, his mesmerisation of the people and his stranglehold over the party.

Whenever things go wrong in PKR, strangely enough, UMNO gets the bashing.Some have branded PKR same as UMNO.

Frankly, PKR is many times worse than UMNO.It's void of democracy, single screw and appears to have no viable direction or rather it has only one fixed direction , like the magnetic compass, pointing to a fixed pole...toward Anwar Ibrahim and his dream of a journey to Putrajaya, which, unfortunately, looking more and more like the receding horizon.

UMNO, albeit, for all the wrong things it has been accused of is still a party for the masses.It makes no pretences that it has one and only political objective, to protect bumiputra rights, come what may, but is prepared to share political power and fair treatment of the other races.

Leaders have come and go over the many decades of its existence. Even the branded pukka dictator Tun Mahathir Mohammad was willing to handover the baton to his deputy, who, unfortunately, was the cause of today's political upheaval rising out of his flip-flop policies.

What does PKR stands for?

All this while it was all for Anwar.It is all for Anwar becoming the prime minister.It is all for saving Anwar from his sodomy trail.Obviously, it is a party for Anwar, his family and cronies that look after the interests of only one man, Anwar.Any one who dares questioned his leadership would be ridiculed and ostracised.

Back biting, back stabbing, mud slinging and anything under the lexicon of evils would be used to protect the Ibrahims and his cronies.The same lexicon of evils is used perpetrating the leaders in government.Though, some are true, most are architected to malign certain leaders to bring down the government so that Anwar can be prime minister. His failed Sept 16 coup was example of how far he would go to get his trophy.

Over the years the party had seen many fatalities of those closed to Anwar.Those infatuated with him and his style would soon find out to their own detriment what Anwar is made of......his insatiable appetite for absolute power and blind royalty that he expects from his supporters has brought perils to those who stepped out of line.

The first, very closed to him, was his former deputy Chandra Muzaffar. The list of fallen angels is too long to mentioned. By now Zaid should know that he would not be getting any support from PKR members if he stays on.

Anwar does not believe in consensus.He believes in absolute power and totalitarianism where he alone will make all major decisions.His excellent oratory skill draws people to him.He would make excellent dictator.Even as de facto leader he makes most major decisions not only in PKR but extended to the coalition.

His sugar-coated demogaguery even manage to captivate the West into believeing that he is being persecuted, the West demanding Najib to immediately stop his prosecution of sodomy without considering that there is rule of law in this country.The West double-standard is obvious when they asked Najib to interfere with the judiciary to save Anwar who has accused the same judiciary of being rotten to the core.It seems alright to interfere with justice when it comes to Anwar Ibrahim.

When he was in UMNO and was deputy prime minister it was rumoured that all his supporters particularly from the Youth wing headed by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi then have to wear talisman rings to identify his supporters from those not with him, that, in his case, was how he separates the wheat from the chuff.By then he was already very influential and had enough supporters to demand for Mahathir to step down and hand over the helm to him.As we all know the rest is history.He underestimated Mahathir's shrewdness and capability to hit back with a deadly blow.

He accused the leaders in government and those in UMNO of corruptions and peddle his new found moral upstanding of wanting to make this nation corruption free and bring about a just society is hard to swallow when he has in the past allowed cronies and families to be given contracts and public listed shares while he was the Minister of Finance.

Anwar's father and his two brothers are shown to have received shares allocated by the government.His father Datuk Ibrahim Abdul Rahman and his brothers, Farizan and Marzukhi were given shares amounting to 7.1 million.His father owned 250,000 shares in Pengkalen Holdings Bhd and 3,790,500 of Nissan Industrial Oxygen Incorporated.Farizon owned 250,000 shares in Pengkalen Holding Bhd and Marzukhi owned 2.8 million shares in Penas Corporation. He has also rewarded his cronies with shares and contracts.

The point is why would someone who has the same dark feather be calling the kettle black?Even among thieves there is honour, they wouldn't call each other thieves. As much as I don't condone corruption, I find hypocrisy even more appalling.

So far my predictions about Anwar and PKR has not gone off track yet (see previous posts in my archives) and I strongly believe PKR and Anwar will screw up Pakatan chance of taking Putrajaya.

DAP will come out the strongest among the three.PAS will lose some of its seat to UMNO.

Fast track back to when Anwar was still in UMNO and was deputy prime minister then, two years before he was sacked by Mahathir, I can't exactly remember what was the occasion, where I told my uncle who was close to some Federal leaders at that time that " Anwar will never be prime minister" and he replied "that is a very strong word".

That was 1996 and Anwar was already "Lord of The Rings" secretly working to promote himself to take over from Mahathir.

Zaid's call for Anwar and Azmin to give up the leadership is absurd. He is making a laughing stock of himself.If he does not leave PKR and form his own party, no other party would accept him.He has burned all bridges.

He would become a homeless politician.

Zaid! Get Out And Strike While The Iron Is Still Hot

Hantu Laut

Now, the leadership tussle in PKR has taken on a confrontational front with Zaid asking Anwar and Azmin to give up the leadership.

Is Zaid clueless or he has gone completely bonkers.If the two are prepared to cheat in an election to keep their positions would they listen to him now that he is the loser.

Get serious, does he think Anwar and Azmin are going to hand over their resignations to him and hand over the party on the platter to a newcomer and walk away just like that.He must be out of your mind.

In the first place he shouldn't have stood for deputy president knowing fully well Azmin Ali is Anwar's blue-eyed boy who has been through thick and thin with him and he a newcomer upsetting the applecart.I thought he is a lawyer and should have known better.Obviously, some lawyers don't make good politician.

It's getting too hot in there, get out while the going is good.

He should get out and form his own party.Than he can be his own boss.

Strike while the iron is hot.If possible pull a few MPs with you and show Anwar it takes two to tango.

If he can do it, you can do it too.

Now, you know why Tungku Aziz did not join PKR, he has read Anwar like a book and rather be joining a Chinese based party than associate with someone like Anwar.