Parliament May Be Dissolved Tomorrow for GE14

It seems that with the rushing through of the Fake News Bill as well as the passing of the Redelineation Exercise through the final Parliament sitting recently indicate the imminent announcement of GE14.

Tomorrow, Friday 6 April, will be a special Cabinet Meeting in the morning moved from Wednesday and is also the final day sitting of the Parliament. Because there was no Cabinet Meeting yesterday, the fuel pump prices remain unchanged. Perhaps, it will remain unchanged until after the next Government assembles because the current BN Government will only be a caretaker after the dissolution of Parliament.

On the next day, Saturday 7 April, BN will announce their manifesto and a lot of news breaks have been alluding to the fact that our PM Najib has never announced the manifesto unless he calls for the General Election.

As such, tomorrow will be a timely moment for him to do so. The Rakyat of Malaysia has been long awaiting this GE14 as our PM Najib has been teasing since last year but it never did materialize. This suspense has inadvertently hurt the economy because all the anticipation for the GE14 do cause anxiety and suspense to Government and Corporate procurement.

And PM Najib is most likely to announce GE14 tomorrow which is much welcomed!

PAS Polls Gives Clarity to Pakatan

PAS wrapped up their party polls yesterday with Hadi Awang, the incumbent President since 2002, swept the positions with the pro-ulama faction leaving the so-called professionals biting the dust. The professionals faction had a poor showing. Mat Sabu, the ex-Deputy President, as well as the ex-VPs in Husam Musa, Mahfuz Omar and Sallehudin Ayub all lost their positions. Central committee members like Khalid Samad, Mohammad Hanipa Maidin and Dr Dzukelfy Ahmad also lost their positions. These were members who were critical of Hadi and vocal against his position of unilateral decisions in the Kelantan hudud issue and of PAS relationship with Pakatan, particularly DAP.

Indeed the polls have given clarity to the direction of PAS members. Although the professionals faction garnered about 20% of the votes, it is now crystal clear where the members want the party to head. They want a firm leadership like Hadi who can stand his ground against other parties and head down a path that the old warrior of Nik Aziz will not travel, namely, a path of cooperation with Umno.

With Hadi remaining at the helm, it also helps Pakatan to be clear of what to do next. DAP will have to cut ties with PAS for sure this time. There is no way Lim Guan Eng will continue entertaining the whims of Hadi and it is sure to signal a breakage in the Pakatan pact. PKR will not be able to hold them together as the glue was Anwar who is now incarcerated. The coming days will see the various parties having to make the hard decision to kick PAS out of the Pakatan group and suffer the consequences. PAS has said that they can win their political war alone without the help of others but that remains as a hollow rhetoric.

Who will be the next PM?

As much as questions fielded to Pakatan Rakyat as to who will be their choice for the PM position in the event they win the GE13, the same question should also be asked of Barisan Nasional as if current PM Najib will continue to be one if they win with a lesser majority than during ex-PM Abdullah Badawi in 2008.

Tun M has voiced out his opinion that Najib is weak and if a lesser majority is obtained by him, Tun M believes Najib should be replaced. Of course, he gave a caveat that it was to be the decision the of Umno Supreme Council. The observation of most political analysts actually concurs with Tun M and if Badawi had to go for historical poorest performance, so should Najib in following the precedent. Read here for an analysis that BN will not get a 2/3 majority in the GE13.

BN has been trying to shake the PR tree playing up a strawman that Anwar may not be the PR choice for PM because of objections from PAS. At the same time, BN is playing ignoramus regarding Najib’s position as PM and Najib knows it all too well.

That is why the GE13 will now be held at the very last possible moment that Najib can call. It is very clear by now he has missed all the best timing over the past 3 years and has placed Malaysia in a state of flux guessing the GE13. The expected date will now be mid-April for dissolving Parliament and EC shall call for the GE in mid-May with a possible 10 days of campaigning. Otherwise, Najib’s term automatically expires on 30th April and the constitution will take over from there onwards.

What is clear will be as follows:

Absurdities in Malaysia – Signs of GE13 round the corner

There are many absurd things happening in Malaysia that baffles the man on the street. Why are things that matter not being worked on? Like inflation, corruption, jobs, etc? Here is a round up of absurdities this week.

1. Lie Detector Test

MIC Welfare and Social Bureau deputy chairman R Ramanan was reported to have called for Penang MB Lim GE, his wife and a woman alleged by MCA that he had an affair with to take the lie detector test (read here).

What will politicans dream of nowadays? First, they make wild allegations in Parliament. Then it is presumed to be true by the MSM. The lie detector test is novel and perhaps all BN politicians should take it. Are we living in a “you are guilty until you prove your innocence“? And MCA Gan dare not repeat that allegation outside of Parliament. So who is the scardy cat now? Abusing the Parliamentary freedom of speech with unfounded allegations only for political mileage. Gutter politics is a sign of politicians impoverished of focusing on things that matter. At least

Vell Paari, who is also the party’s public relations and communications chief of MIC, had the decency to disapprove of Ramanan’s crap but stopped short of censuring him.

2. Polls Expenses from 40m to 700m

This must be the age of Malaysian Government printing money where our PM Najib is going around behaving like Santa Claus giving away RM100 there, RM500 here. Then the quarterly request for budget increase for 2012 over what was tabled last year, 30B here and there.

So the Election Commission must have caught the vision from Najib that they too can do the same. They have requested RM700m to conduct the next General Election, the most expensive in history. Obviously, poor Malaysians are not aware that the EC is trying to get into the Malaysian Guinness Book of Records for spending the most in Malaysian history. Malaysia Boleh! (read here).

Who stands to benefit from this out-of-the-world increase in expenses? EC should declare to all Malaysians because they are paying for this.

3. Crime Awareness on the Rise

Malaysia Round Up of Interesting Happenings

Selepas Tsunami (After the Tsunami) by KOMAS.org

This is an excellent video that attempts to show what changes are and have taken place since the 2008 GE 12. It is a 36 minutes video and a very well produced documentary. Click on the link below to check it out.

Selepas Tsunami (After the Tsunami)

Ali Hamsa is a Partisan KSN

In his interview reply to NST, this was what he was reported to have said:

DAP, Tunku Aziz and Dissent

The unfortunate episode where Tunku Aziz finally quit DAP has occured. Much has been said by many people but in the final analysis, a highly respected individual like Tunku has gone down the path in a distasteful way.

Is it that DAP cannot handle dissent? On the contrary. Just as in Pakatan Rakyat, they have plenty of issues they cannot agree on but they can agree to disagree. You can’t see that in Barisan Nasional. If you disagree, keep it to yourself.

Tunku Aziz has stood up for many good and noble issues during his time as the leader of Transparency Malaysia International (TMI). He spoke fearlessly and without favor. The people loved him as a genuine and honest and sincere leader of the society. But those were the days.

When in a collective leadership in an organization like the DAP, Tunku forgets that he is not the TMI head any longer. He is neither the DAP head either. So when he takes a public stand against party position, he became the embarrassment for the DAP leadership. It is no longer about dissent. Once it becomes a public matter, Tunku has breached his honor to the party.

Opposition Does NOT Have To Announce Shadow Cabinet

There are calls by many quarters for the Opposition to announce a shadow cabinet. These are foolish demands by vested interest parties who knows nothing of political parties setting up a cabinet.

I don’t believe the Opposition needs to do that for the federal cabinet or for BN to announce one for Selangor.

It is definitely too premature to announce a cabinet because we don’t know how the GE13 results will turn out. How many seats will each party win? Will the intended leadership personalities win their seats?

Why put the cart before the horse? Even in the US Presidential elections, the only known role is the so-called shadow Vice President, the presidential candidate’s running mate.

President Obama only appointed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State after he won the presidential election as with his “cabinet”.

So why is everybody clamoring for Pakatan Rakyat to announce a shadow cabinet? Maybe there are other parties that need to join forces to form the government. We shouldn’t think that there are only BN or PR only in the next GE13. We shouldn’t assume PR will win or BN will lose.

Dissecting RPK: He was just being honest

I didn’t read the spins that the Main Stream Media made. Just watch this video on the interview here.

The conclusion one can draw is that RPK was just being himself speaking what he believes is the truth albeit sometimes hard to take. Yes, they are his opinions and yes as opinions go, the interview doesn’t carry many facts to back them up except in some cases. I am not defending RPK but he is just trying to call a spade a spade.

There was nothing on MCLM so I can’t comment on the reasons why the movement’s president resigned. But what we can tell is as follows. You be the judge when you watch the interview.

Relevance of Anwar

This is politics. As long as it is expedient, Anwar will always be held in the highest esteem by the party, PKR, as well as by the Pakatan partners of DAP and PAS. RPK is right to say that the people is not in love with Anwar to vote for Pakatan. They see that Pakatan under Anwar is the only real alternative to Najib and BN.

PAS New Dawn

A new dawn emerges in PAS. Hadi Awang remains as President. Tok Guru remains as the spiritual advisor.

The new changes appear in Mat Sabu as Deputy President and Husam Musa as the new Vice President of three such posts who are now all professionals but grown up with ulamas (the other VPs are Mahfuz and Salahuddin).

These changes now gives PAS a good professional balance to their brand of ulama politics that the Malaysians can more appreciate in PAS.

The messages that Hadi Awang clearly articulated to put Umno in their place that PAS will not turn their backs on the Pakatan alliance. He had said many things about Umno and what they did that PAS will not support and the answer for Malaysia is PAS in Pakatan. PAS is clearly rejecting the Umno overtures and considers them as detrimental to PAS.

“UMNO as a Malay-bumiputera majority party was entrusted with leadership but the wealth of the nation has been turned into the private property of its leaders, while the ordinary people struggle to make ends meet,” Hadi told the assembly.

“Umno has created a flock of Malays and Muslims who are blind and deaf to money politics, with entertainment and media used to turn Malays and Muslims stupid.” (Read here)

With the new professional blood in the top leadership in PAS, we shall see how they continue a progressive path for all Malaysians while applying their religious leanings.

Umno’s overtures to PAS is purely for political expedience and appears that the PAS wisdom won the day.

Hadi also lambasted UMNO, the dominant BN partner, for “disgusting acts like corruption, money politics, slander, racism, lies and all manner of things which embarrass even our children who are watching us”. (Read here)

There is a difference of extremes in the PAS 57th Annual Assembly compared to Umno’s General Assembly. It clearly shows the maturity of the PAS candidates in the 21st century Malaysia for sure.

PAS is attempting to address the pan-Malaysian issues genuinely while Umno is staying on the racial politics to drum a possible dwindling support.

“We need to realise that a plural or majmuk society is part of Islam’s political message. It is compulsory for us to spread the message of no compulsion in religion, and that Islam is fair for all so that non-Muslims can see how Islam should be practiced, and Islam’s image which has been tainted by Umno’s antics can be redeemed,” said Hadi. (Read here)

PAS is definitely emerging as a more tolerant Islamic political party than Umno can ever be. PAS is honest about their aspirations to institute an Islamic State but also knows full well they can’t as long as they don’t command majority votes. Nevertheless, they are honest about it and nobody can say they have a hidden agenda.

Interestingly, Hadi Awang never once mentioned the Islamic State but gave allusions to an Islamic welfare state to take care of the poor and needy as opposed to corruption squandering the money.

So, all three major parties in Pakatan Rakyat may have some conflicting aspirations but they managed to set aside those differences without any single party overwhelming the others unlike BN where Umno’s agenda dominates. That’s the maturity of Pakatan Rakyat.

Certainly, no single political party is perfect. Not PAS, and certainly not Umno. In the public perception. PAS emerges as more tolerant, mature and most understanding of the plight of all Malaysians. They have moved on from a pure ulama culture to a more moderate and progressive front with the inclusion of professional minds.

Will this new dawn in PAS bring strength to Pakatan Rakyat to gain more support from Malaysian voters both urban and rural? We now have deep and renewed strength in PAS and DAP with a “growing up still” PKR who is the glue.

In the coming days, we may see the incarceration of Anwar Ibrahim in the Sodomy 2 trial. This is the way to break the Pakatan Rakyat teaming arrangement. The popular thinking is that without Anwar, there is no Pakatan Rakyat.

The possible way forward is for the new PAS to strengthen their ties with DAP. That will checkmate Umno and BN for the coming GE13 which may happen as soon as end-June or July this year.

Will the new dawn in PAS bring about a renewed strength of Pakatan Rakyat and new confidence by Malaysian voters in PAS?

Another Soi Lek Rant

MCA President Chua Soi Lek has a knack to say the darnest thing. Today, it was reported that he accused the DAP of fostering a 2-race political system instead of a 2-party political system.

Read the report here.

His trend of thought appears totally skewed and off tangent. Nobody saw that coming and is totally illogical.

Why is it that he must see things from a race viewpoint? He seems to feel that as an extrapolation of the recent Sarawak election results that the Chinese community is voting DAP and abandoned MCA but strangely MCA never stood for election at that time. How can this conclusion be made?

Why does he make such sweeping statements that ignore all non-Chinese voters who voted DAP and Pakatan Rakyat for that matter?

Did he not realise that Chinese also voted BN too or now that they are considered non-Chinese all of a sudden?

Soi Lek’s Strawman
Soi Lek loves to create the impression he is tackling a major issue where it is totally non-existent. It exists only in his skewed mind.

General sweeping statements are intended to cause friction and does not help in nation building.

If he thinks stirring this angle helps Malaysians vote MCA, then he must have his head in the sand. Look at all the Malaysians of all ethnic communities who voted MCA and BN. Why must it be Chinese vs Malay? This is very mischievious indeed.

His strawman that he is beating serves no benefit to the country and talking out loud of a myth doesn’t make it true.

His statements in this case belittles all Malaysian voters. There are no constituencies with only Chinese voters voting DAP. It just simply doesn’t exist but perhaps it can create a sensational topic for this MCA President.

Focus on Country Building Ideas to Swing Votes
Instead, Soi Lek should put his thinking cap on to tell Malaysians why they should vote MCA and BN.

It should be for the reasons they are more superior in ideas and execution to bring about dramatic growth and prosper all Malaysians.

It should be for the reasons that uphold justice and eradicate poverty and corruption.

Unfortunately, MCA has fallen prey to staging strawman arguments that drives voters away instead.

Bankrupt of Ideas?
MCA had lots of brilliant people or was that in the past such that they resort to racial slants?

Soi Lek should get himself a bunch of economic advisors who can prop him up as a country growth champion instead of saying such wild rantings and ravings.

MCA should look at how to help all Malaysians prosper instead of blaming one section of Malaysians for their failings.

He is much ado about nothing really!