SHOULD WE BASH THE PRIME MINISTER ?

HANTU LAUT

Is your blog suffering from lack of visitors ? Are your visitors dwindling in numbers? Do you want to be popular? There is a recipe for getting more traffic to your blog.Bash the government or better still bash the Prime Minister and the government. Even better still if you can cook up some outrageously crappy and slimy story about the Prime Minister and his government. If you are ex fourth e'state writer or columnist than that would be even better, highly regarded and an added asset that gives you credibility no matter what lies and half-truths you tell. Your target audience are the uninitiated, the Malaysian junkies with insatiable appetite for junks and ready to please you with more than agreeable comments. Some, may even polish the apple for you and makes you feel really good.

Let's hitch a ride to blogosphere and see what happening in there.We'll start with the leader of the pack, the most popular and undisputed head honco of the blogging community..... Malaysia Today.

Below are some of the unsavoury remarks on the Prime Minister extracted from the pages of Malaysia Today:

by M. Bakri Musa
After nearly four years as Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has clearly demonstrated that he is not fit to lead the nation. He does not have what it takes to hold the nation’s top post; he must be relieved of his office.

The man is too incompetent to be even aware of his own incompetence. His trademark answer to every serious query is a plaintive, “I dunno!” There is not even a hint of embarrassment on his part, or the desire and curiosity to find out. Truly revealing!

After nearly four years as Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has clearly demonstrated that he is not fit to lead the nation. He does not have what it takes to hold the nation’s top post; he must be relieved of his office.

Very strong words indeed, coming from someone who lives in America.

by Jamalidin Mohd Rahim
But Abdullah cares nothing for subtleties and finesse. He must be omnipresent and his face must be everywhere. So happy anniversary, Malaysia, and while we celebrate, let’s lick the RM5 stamp and stick Abdullah’s face everywhere, for by now everyone should know that Malaysia’s 50th anniversary – with all its pomp, grandeur and successes – would have been impossible without the great Abdullah Badawi, Prime Minister of all Prime Ministers and the leader granted the largest ever mandate by the people in Malaysia’s history.

Happy Merdeka, Malaysia and may King Abdullah long reign over us! God save the First Family!

Making a storm in a teacup over a commermorative stamps which has all the Prime Minster's faces on it. A writer with lofty ambition but can't find a better subject to write on.

by Broadside Malaysia
Malaysia faces its worst constitutional crisis in 20 years as its king exercises his constitutional powers to reform the judiciary and the government of the 13-state Southeast Asian federation that has been undermined by charges of wasteful public spending, rising corruption and lawlessness, according to diplomats and political analysts.

They say a confrontation between the king and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is inevitable as Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, 45, Malaysia’s 13th Yang di Pertuan Agong or supreme ruler, is determined to dispel a misconception that his role as a constitutional monarch is purely ceremonial.

Sultan Mizan, one of nine hereditary Malay rulers who take turns to become king every five years, has the backing of all his eight other peers who last year elected him to the throne. Among them is former king Raja Azlan Shah, 79, the sultan of the northern Perak state, who is a constitutional law expert and former Lord President of the Federal Court. Raja Azlan, in his writings, has shown that the rulers have more than a ceremonial role.

This writer is either ignorant and stupid or has the bad intention to pit the royals against the Prime Minister.

The rulers don't have more than ceremonial role.That's it, nothing more, nothing less.The Agong can't act on his own to dismiss the Prime Minister. He can only be removed by majority vote of no confidence in Parliament. Only than the King can ask him to vacate the seat and appoint the man, not of the Agong's choice, but the choice of the majority of the Members of the House. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy based on the British Westminster system. Do you think the Queen can sack the Prime Minister of Britain?

For the Agong and the Council of Rulers to forcefully remove Abdullah is tantamount to a coup d'etat, which is the last thing this country can afford to have. Whoever this writer is, he certainly is ignorant and not doing any good by pitting the royals against the PM and I do believe the Agong and all the rulers are, not being churlish or disrespectful to them, not stupid to be taken in by such skewed and malicious article.

If the writer is so sure of what he wrote is true and stated that Raja Azlan has, stipulated so in writing, which I doubted very much, why didn't he quote the particular section in the Constitution that gives the Agong the power to remove the PM.The Agong and all the rulers in this country are expected to be apoliticial, the running of government is not their business, the government is the people's choice and only the people can change the government. As Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address in November 1863 said "the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth", and that's exactly what it is and it's going to stay that way.

by IBNU HAKEEM
The will of the people is now reverting to the Malay Rulers to save the people from the clutches of the mentally inept, the corrupt, the sleepy, and the cowards. The country is most certainly going down the toilet.

The Prime Minister has made Australia his second home. He has also gone overseas 83 times (and counting) in just three years in power. The Prime Minister's favorite phrase is 'I dont know'.

The Ministers and the high and mighty are robbing the country blind. The Iskandar Corridor is a fake. The Northern Development Corridor is another fake. The Prime Minister's son, son in law and their cronies are set to make billions from land development in these areas.

The Executive has no power. Parliament has no power. The Judiciary has no power. Power resides only with the people. Power resides where the people decide to place it. Right now, the people are turning to the Malay Rulers to intervene to save the country. The people will empower the Malay Rulers. The Malay Rulers cannot ignore the people at this most crucial time.

The Malay Rulers have it in their power to dismiss the Executive. There are sufficient provisions in the Federal Constitution to allow the Malay Rulers to fire the Executive. If the Malay Rulers choose to exercise this authority, the people will support the Malay Rulers.

The Prime Minister is not a leader. He is a monyet. He has to be replaced and all his henchmen thrown out.

To be born into real leadership is not a privilege. It is a commitment, a duty, and an awesome responsibility. That shall be the Daulat. To save the nation is paramount. The Malay Rulers must act decisively now.

Daulat Tuanku

Another mercenary writer's frail attempt to rile up the Agong and the other rulers to intervene.Another ignoramus, not exactly cultured and completely lacking in decorum.

There are sufficient provisions in the Federal Constitution.? Hi !, smart arse!, which one? At least, the monyet is smarter than you to get where he is today.You!, IBNU HAKEEM can't tell the difference between a banana and a piece of crap.

You see what I mean, bashing the Prime Minister is a growing sport in Malaysia. More and more are joining the fray.

He is such an affable man who hardly loses his temper, might not be a splendid orator but a nice and clever man anyway. He knows the blogger are small in numbers and just like empty vessel makes the most noise, he is not the least bit bothered or felt threatened by the incessant attacks on his personality. The blog in this country has become a form of entertainment for those junkies who are bored with the mainstream media. If you own a blog and are one of those who regularly bash the PM and his government and get a lot of hits and positive comments from your readers who are more than willing to agree with you, or use your blog as a forum to test their literary and debating skills, just ponder awhile, are they really with you ? Can your opinion in reality sway them to join your choir?

Take the very popular blog 'Malaysia Today' which claimed to get almost 2 millions hits a day and on certain days can peaked to 5 millions hits. Although, we are unable to verify whether this is true, I do believe it to be true, no reason for Raja Petra to lie.Would that figure translates into support for him personally or it's just the popularity of his blog.If he stands for election, let say, on a PKR ticket can he wins the contest?

We already have one popular blogger, Jeff Ooi who recently joined DAP and has, kind of declared his desire, to stand for office in the next election. This man truly believes in his principles and not only criticises the government through his blog but has decided to face them in an election. That's the way it should be, if you want to change the government, get involved.This is the man to watch.

To prove my point I would like to show some facts and figures on Malaysia Today and our famous blogger, the ever combative Raja Petra Kamaruddin.On or about 26th July, Raja Petra was summoned to the Dang Wangi police station to answer some questions on a police report lodged against him, a kind of police harassment. A few days later some blogger put up a 'petition' on the net to campaign for signatures in support of Raja Petra. Below is the latest result shown on the partition.

We endorse the Citizens In Solidarity with Raja Petra and Freedom of Speech ! Petition to The Government of Malaysia.

Read the Citizens In Solidarity with Raja Petra and Freedom of Speech ! Petition

	Name	Comments	Organisation
973 Total Signatures

The figure speaks for itself.

So!, you see, the 2 millions didn't translates into votes or support.

Would you still like to bash the Prime Minister, call him monyet, bodoh, tidur ,I dunno, gila, incompetent, not fit to rule, no finesse, and he is anything but smart in the eyes of the many overwhelmingly churlish writers who had jumped on the bandwagon.

A wagon full of stinkers.

ARE WE VOCAB POOR ?

HANTU LAUT

Sometimes, I get mystified with the loathsome habit of our civil administrators and those in power using terminologies that are disgustingly inappropriate to this country and its culture. An intrusion of English words, more at home in the United States than in the homes of Malaysians.Although, it is not wrong, it still bemused me why those given the task can't find an appropriate local names or if there aren't any, spare some afford, to coin new words in line with the cultural context of this country.

English has evolved from many other languages including those of its ex colonies and has become a lingua franca in many parts of the world.It has not stopped adding new words to its extensive vocabulary.It was never shy to include foreign word if and when circumstances dictates the need to do so.

Malaysia is slow to coin new words. Many new words can be taken from Chinese,Indian or the dialects of other ethnic groups in this country to form part of Bahasa Melayu.The eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak have numerous dailects and languages where some useful words can be added to the Malay vocabulary. Is it necessary to confine ourselves just to English as a source of new words and phrases.I believe we are not short of scholars and academicians who are more than capable of creating new words and phrases to fill the bill.

Go to Putrajaya and you would see local terminology dropped in favour of Americanised version ....'precinct', used mainly in the United States to determine the boundaries of police jurisdiction within a city.In Britain, a precinct would best describe a commercial area in town where cars cannot go or an area surrounding cathedrals or colleges.The use of precinct in Britain is not as popular as in the United States.In Britain, US and Ireland 'counties' are preferred and used to sub-divide big city into different administrative zones. Using 'precinct' for names of road and street, as the case might have been in Putera Jaya, are inappropriate.The closest Bahasa Melayu equivalent of 'precinct' would be 'mukim', a sub-district. Sabah and Sarawak have an even better and shorter version.The simple word 'Lok' can stand for a sub-district, a small town or a kampong.

It is without any doubt that the half-arsed and sombong attitude of those in Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka were the reasons for the slow expansion of the Malay language. Very little is done in term of research and enrichment of the vocabulary by those given the task. The easiest and laziest way is to take English words and just change the spelling.

Many articles have recently appeared in various blogs disputing who should be called the 'First Lady'.One recent article in a very popular blog titled 'Abdullah(and UMNO) insults the Royals, again' by Jamaludin Mohd Rahim raised the issue of who should be the one entitled to be called the'First Lady', the Prime Minister's wife or the Agong's wife. The article's main motive was a personal attack on Abdullah and his wife. Again, do we have to copy another American term which can't even be translated into Bahasa Melayu sensibly.Are we really that dumb and completely incapable of chosing our own mother tongue to address the Prime Minister's wife and the wife of the Agong that we have to copy blindly from the Yanks. What would 'First Lady' be in Bahasa Melayu.... perempuan pertama, wanita pertama, perempuan No.1 or perempuan gembilang terbilang dan temberang ?

Below is an excrept from the vitriol article of Jamaludin Mohd Rahim that appears in Malaysia Today. It's Badawai's bashing. It's so petty, so crappy and so disgusting. An unworthy article belittling the Prime Minister over a commemorative stamp and an attempt to pit the royals against him.How low can you get?

As the preparations were being made for the wedding of Abdullah and Jeanne, Kamal Khalid, the supremo in charge of all matters in the spin machine of the government, receives a phone call from an anxious national newspaper editor.

“How do you want to play this?” asked the editor, a middle-aged hack who had risen up the ranks by toadying to former kingmaker and arch-spin-doctor Kalimullah Hassan.

Kamal Khalid replied, “What do you mean?”

“Well, this can backfire. The people might take kindly to Jeanne or they may hate her. If they love her, we can laugh all the way to the bank, or at least the next election. If they hate her and think she’s some kind of manipulative controller, the PM will look like ‘dayus’”.

“We must build up her reputation,” said Kamal. “After all, she’s the First Lady of Malaysia.”

The editor took a deep sigh. “Actually she’s not. There’s no such thing as a First Lady. In fact, even if there is, then that would probably be the Agong’s wife.”

Kamal laughed and retorted, “The Agong’s wife? She has no power. The Agong is not elected. The Head of Government is the PM. So the First Lady is the PM’s wife. The Agong’s wife has no role other than ceremonial. She can cut ribbons, but that’s it.”

“But the wife of the PM also has no official function. She also cuts ribbons.”

“No way,” said Kamal. “Definitely Datin Endon was much more useful than that. So we have to play the same game.”

“Will the Agong get offended?”

“Who cares?” Kamal snapped back.

We all know the famous 'first lady' of America is the President's wife. The term 'first lady' is not exclusively use on the wife of the President but are also given to any woman who has contributed immensely to their professions and the nation. For instance, Ruth Loredo, the famous pianist was called 'First Lady of the Piano" for her landmark recording of the complete solo works of Rachmaninoff and the sonatas of Scriabin. Lynda Lee Potter, was called the 'First Lady of Fleet Street'.She worked for the Daily Mail and died in 2004. She was the best columnist ever on Fleet Street and none has surpassed her yet.

We have never used the title before, so what's the hullabaloo for ? Are you ashamed of your own mother tongue ?

ADAM AND EVE

Oil on canvas by Fernando Botero.

"Adam and Eve had two children that we know of. Cain and Abel. When they grew up, Cain (or was it the other one?) went off and found a wife. Just where exactly did this woman come from?"

"Trouble in the Garden" by Adrian Barnett

PROCRASTINATING JUDGES

HANTU LAUT

Procrastination: The intentional and habitual postponement of an important task that should be done now.Chronic procrastination maybe a sign of an underlying psychological or physiological disorder.

The Court of Appeal registry's record revealed that a former High Court judge did not write grounds of judgement in 33 criminal and civil cases. The judge concerned has since been promoted to the Federal Court. In two of his cases, the prisoners were languishing in death row for almost ten years due to his failure to provide ground of judgement, in the absence of which, the accused couldn't make an appeal to a higher court.

As usual and in true Malaysian style of living in denial and false sense of infallibility, the Chief Justice of The Federal Court,Tun Ahmad Fairuz asked for proof that he had elevated undeserving judges.

Maybe, those seemingly busy, overworked and procrastinating judges should delegate the writing of grounds of judgement to their underlings.