PKR’s Deplorable Attitude Towards Dissent and Criticisms

by Muniandy Vengaiah

I was one of those PKR members who went on the morning of 27th November to the Petaling Jaya Civic Hall to express openly our disagreement and dissatisfaction with the way the party elections has been conducted and its failure to be clean and fair. Our intention was to demonstrate peacefully and in an orderly manner without disturbing the public or anyone in particular. However, I was very disappointed and saddened to observe how nowadays PKR would respond to any display by party members of any stand or opinion which differs or is not in line with what the party wants.

I had participated before in the Reformasi street demonstrations of 1998-2002 protesting against the injustices committed by the Mahathir regime on Anwar Ibrahim and couldn’t help comparing what happened on 27th November to what I witnessed during the Reformasi demonstrations of 1998-2002. PKR, which was born from the spirit of defiance and in protest against injustice, is expected to be understanding and tolerant of peaceful demonstrations which are just open expressions of dissatisfaction and unhappiness. What more when we the demonstrators are its own party members, not from Umno or MIC or MCA or any BN party. However, it did not turn out that way. The response from the party was not far different from the way the police or FRU acted during the 1998-2002 street demonstrations.

Our banners and posters were seized from us by members of the PKR security squad, just like what the police did back in the 1998-2002 street protests. Our demonstration though peaceful and orderly was met with hostility by the party. We were subjected to verbal abuse, harassed and prevented from gathering at the public space we wanted. Members of the media who were just doing their professional duty in covering and recording our demonstration were yelled at and threatened to stop their coverage. Some of us were roughed up as soon as our intention to demonstrate at the congress venue was known.

In short, if PKR that morning of 27th November had water cannons or tear gas or the FRU at their disposal, I am convinced it would not have hesitated to use all those to disperse or suppress our peaceful demonstration. This is what PKR has come to nowadays. A party which was supposed to uphold and practice the ideals of free speech and free press clearly has forgotten those ideals. What is the cause of this loss in direction? If a fish rots from its head, I dare say PKR is now rotting because of its leadership which is drunk and obsessed with gaining the reins of government, so much so that it has forgotten the original aims of the party which was to reform and bring genuine change to the country for the sake of our children and grandchildren.

To me, PKR now is not much different from BN/Umno. The date 27th November 2010 is one which really saddens me. Malaysian Digest

Tuaran Hajiji's Town

Hantu Laut

Is there a need for a gag order? Or was it meant to deaden the enormity of the Minister's blunders? Read what the Minister decreed here.

In my previous article "There Is No Clean Town In Sabah" I would have thought that the issue would have died down.Obviously, the ministers concerned are slinging at each other to cover their own mistakes.

Tuaran, is the hometown of Hajiji Noor, the Minister of Local Governments and Housing, who is at the centre of the Atkinson Tower and dirty towns controversy.He is responsible to oversee all local councils in Sabah.

My daily morning ritual visit to this small town about 6 kilometers from where I live bagged me a surprise this morning.

Someone, somehow, has done a quick spring cleaning of the town.It is not spick and span but an improvement of what it was.

To be fair, this is not the dirtiest town in Sabah but dirty enough to be in the dirty league.It has one of the most nauseating fish markets making the stench unbearable to those not use to it.The market have not seen a washdown for many years until I saw it this morning.Unusually cleaner than what it used to be.

Surprise! Surprise! the Minister must have taken one step ahead before someone also accused him of neglecting his duty to see to it that at least from where he came he put in extra effort to see that the place is kept clean.

The only minister that I knew who took pride in his hometown and made an effort to develop it and clean it up was Chong Kah Kiat when he was Chief Minister and Minister of Tourism.

At one time, Kudat was probably the cleanest town.I personally like this little town with its alluring rural charm.It's a better planned sprawling townships as compared to other towns like Keningau, Lahad Datu and many others, where you can get traffic jam.

As in the adage of Murphy's Law, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" and Tuaran is not short of them. As they say "pictures say a thousand words"













Grim and grimy besides the fish market.













The fish market.Notice the aisle being used as storage area.The fishmongers here are probably the most untrustworthy, biting out more than they can chew.They buy fish in large quantities and store them in the big cooler boxes and take them out every morning for sale.What they can't sell for the day goes back into the box.The same fish can be in and out of the box for as long as one week and you know what in the iced water? Formaldehyde ! I have stopped buying fish from this market unless I know for sure they are "pancing" fish, caught by hook,line and sinker.















First, it was this.This was standard British issue for five-foot way during colonial days, simple concrete finish and drains covered by concrete slabs flush with the walkway.Concerned for safety of pedestrians and knowing the habit of the people for not cleaning anything outside their domain was the criteria.Choosing the colour of dirt for the five-foot way and non-slip concrete finish, naturally makes it not dirty looking and save pedestrians from slipping in the event the floor is wet.















Than came this. Not too bad but this flawed.Notice the drain cover? How they are spaced apart.How do you clean the full length of the drain, knowing how primitive the people and equipment are? Another, even more stupidly designed and dangerous to pedestrians, the protruding hinges, which I have had the nasty experience of nearly breaking all the bones in my body tripping over it.Don't they have people with uncommon sense in the town council?















Than came this.The most horrifying drain cover one can imagine laid on a covered five-foot way.If the monkey who designed this thinks rainwater is going to flush the rubbish away than he must be of the same quality.One can't imagine the stench coming from the drain that permeates into the shops.What are the shopkeepers thinking? Weren't there any objection? The tiles? Try walking on it when it's wet.













Than somebody got a better idea, cut a piece of plywood to cover the hole to keep the stench away but nobody remembers to remove the rubbish.This was in front of a restaurant whom I believe suffered a drop in business because of the stench emitting from the drain.The owner had to improvised to save his business.















A giant tiered flower pot.Where are the flowers? All you can see are the wild 'lallang' Look at the ground.Would you like to walk over it? Why built something you can't maintain?













A clock tower without clocks.How much would it cost to buy 4 clocks? Today's quartz clocks are not only cheap but almost maintenance free.Isn't it shameful that somebody donated a clock tower to you and you simply abandoned it.













This is a new rubbish collection centre that's already looking its age.It has not been bathed since it was born. Typical, everywhere in this country, toilets must smell like shit and rubbish bins must look like shit.

There are still many shortcomings of this little town that would be too long to mention.

There are two golf courses, a 5-star resort and a 3-star resort just stone throw away from this town but tourists avoided the place like a leper colony because it simply has nothing to offer.

It could have been a quaint little town if the town council is manned by people who took pride in their jobs and not their pockets.

Money Can Burn Hole In Your Pocket

Hantu Laut

Today, I'll wind down on politics and look at some of society's negative human impulsions.

It's a sad story of trying to "keep up with the Joneses" and a compelling case of "easy come easy go"

Obviously, money can be your master or your servant and can "burns hole in your pocket" if one lacks prudence.

My good friend Apuh knows it, so he is saving his for the future generations. Future generations?? I told my children I want to enjoy mine, anything left behind, just consider yourself lucky, done my duty giving them good education.

It does not take long to finish millions if you don't have sustainable return and as the axiom " a fool and his money are soon parted" one can be penniless in no time. Mr Martin is one such person.

In Malaysia, living beyond the means are common among certain sector of the general population,particularly in credit card spending and buying cars they can ill afford.Malaysia's household debt rose to 67 % of GDP in 2009, partly due to the banking institutions changing policy of focusing on the household sector as part of their diversification strategy of not putting all eggs in one basket.

Prior to the 1997 Asian financial crisis lending to the corporate sector was much higher than household sector, taking almost 70 % of total lending.

Compared to the U.S which has household debt of over 95 % in 2009 and worse Britain, which household debt exceeded the GDP, ours is still manageable so long as the economy stays rosy.

Some of us have gone through hard times and came out unbroken, some did not, and suffer the consequence.

The foregoing is a sad story of prodigality.

Family’s Fall From Affluence Is Swift and Hard

The New York Times

WAMEGO, Kan. — Grateful to have found work in this tough economy, Nick Martin teaches grape growing and winemaking each Saturday to a class of seven students in a simple metal building here at a satellite campus of Highland Community College.

Then he drives 14 miles in an 11-year-old Ford Explorer to a sparsely furnished tract house that he rents for $900 a month on a dead-end street in McFarland, a smaller town. Just across the backyard is a shed that a neighbor uses to make cartridges for shooting the prairie dogs that infest the adjacent fields.

It is a far cry from the life that Mr. Martin and his family enjoyed until recently at their Adirondacks waterfront camp at Tupper Lake, N.Y. Their garage held three stylish cars, including a yellow Aston Martin; they owned three horses, one that cost $173,000; and Mr. Martin treated his wife, Kate, to a birthday weekend at the Waldorf-Astoria, with dinner at the “21” Club and a $7,000 mink coat.

That luxurious world was fueled by a check Mr. Martin received in 1998 for $14 million, his share of the $600 million sale of Martin Media, an outdoor advertising business begun by his father in California in the 1950s. After taxes, he kept about $10 million.

But as so often happens to those lucky enough to realize the American dream of sudden riches, the money slipped through the Martins’ fingers faster than they ever imagined.

They faced temptations to indulge, with the complexities and pressures of new wealth. And a pounding recession pummeled the value of their real estate and new financial investments, rendering their properties unaffordable.

The fortune evaporated in little more than a decade.

While many millions of Americans have suffered through this recession with only unemployment benefits to sustain them, Mr. Martin has reason to give thanks — he has landed a job at 59, however far away. He also had assets to sell to help tide his family over.

Still, Mr. Martin, a strapping man with a disarming bluntness, seemed dazed by it all. “We are basically broke,” he said.

Though he faulted the conventional wisdom of investing in stocks and real estate for some of his woes, along with poor financial advice, he accepted much of the blame himself.

“We spent too much,” he conceded. “I have a fourth grader, an eighth grader and a girl who just finished high school. I should have kept working and put the money in bonds.”

Mrs. Martin recalled the summer night in 1998 when the family was having a spaghetti dinner at home in Paso Robles, in central California, and a bank representative called to ask where to wire the money. “It seemed like an unbelievable amount,” she said regretfully.

Soon after the money arrived, the family decided to leave Paso Robles, amid some lingering tensions that Mr. Martin felt with his brother and brother-in law, who had run the business. Mr. Martin had never been in management at the billboard company, though he had been on the board and worked at Martin Brothers Winery, another family business.

First, the Martins bought a house in Somerset, England, near the home of Mrs. Martin’s parents, and he decided to write a novel. At about the same time, they spent $250,000 on the 3.5-acre camp with four structures on Tupper Lake, deep in the Adirondacks, as a summer home. They began extensive renovations at the lake, adding a stunning three-story boathouse and two other buildings.

Clouds gathered quickly. Life in England turned sour when Mr. Martin’s novel, “Anthony: Conniver’s Lament,” did not sell, and the family’s living costs — school fees, taxes and even advice for filing tax returns — swelled. In 2002, fed up with England, the Martins chose a new base, Vermont, and plunked down about $650,000 for a home there, as renovations continued on the Tupper Lake property.

By March 2007, the Martins were determined to move to the lake full time.Read more.

Saudi Arabia urged US attack on Iran and more...

Nov 29, 2010

WIKILEAKS DOCUMENTS

LONDON - KING Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on its website on Sunday.

The Guardian is one of a number of newspapers to have had access to US diplomatic cables ahead of their publication on whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.

Referring to US diplomatic cables, the Guardian said that other Arab allies have secretly agitated for military action against Teheran over its disputed nuclear program. The Saudi king was recorded as having 'frequently exhorted the US to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons program,' one cable stated, according to the Guardian.

'He told you (Americans) to cut off the head of the snake,' the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir said, according to a report of a meeting between Abdullah and US general David Petraeus in April 2008. -- REUTERS

Nov 29, 2010

WIKILEAKS DOCUMENTS

US diplomats spied on dignitaries

WASHINGTON - THE United States has ordered its diplomats to play a larger intelligence role by performing espionage work like obtaining the credit card and frequent flyer numbers of foreign dignitaries, according to leaked US documents published on Sunday.

Secret cables - leaked by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks and published in newspapers including the New York Times and The Guardian in Britain - reveal that US State Department personnel are asked to glean highly personal information from UN officials and key players from countries around the world.

The cables alluding to work usually associated with the Central Intelligence Agency and other spy bodies were sent to embassies in Africa, the Middle East, eastern Europe, Latin America and the US mission to the United Nations.

For example, a classified directive sent to US diplomats under US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's name in July last year sought technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials, The Guardian said.

These included passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications, it reported.

The New York Times said that one cable signed by Clinton sought 'biographic and biometric information on ranking North Korean diplomats' from US diplomats at the US mission to the United Nations in New York. -- AFP