Landslide Survivor Wises Up To Umno

Malaysiakini today carried a story on Ungku Farid Ungku Abdul who lost his home and Indonesian housemaid last Saturday to the devastating landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa. As a service to those who haven't yet subscribed to Malaysiakini, I'm reproducing the item in full. Here's one wise Malaysian who has learned a hard lesson from this totally avoidable calamity. For decades the MPAJ (Ampang Jaya Municipal Council) has behaved like an Umno mafia under the political patronage of a succession of former Mentris Besar - which explains why greedy developers have been allowed to carry on with reckless hillside projects despite the grave warning of the horrific 1993 Highland Towers collapse...


“The developers go all out with their ‘predatory’ marketing to sell their projects. This must have been with the approval of state authorities,” he said.

“And if the state authorities had approved these hillside projects, they must have known the consequences of such development.

“So why didn't they tell us the risks? You cannot expect home buyers to hire engineering experts to ensure that their houses are safe! We need them to tell us!”

While bitter about these and other unanswered questions, Farid said he is now considerably more rational - and politically inclined - compared to before the landslide.

Unlike other residents who have signaled intent to sue the authorities, Farid said he can only afford to raise his questions and demands before the public. However, he also said it is within his capacity to try and prevent similar incidents.

Among his first steps will be to ensure that politicians - like those who approved the development projects in Bukit Antarabangsa - are not placed in decision making positions.

Asked what this means in concrete terms, Farid said he would start by campaigning against Umno in the upcoming Kuala Terengganu by-election by telling voters the dangers of keeping the party in power.

“The occurrence has been grievous to all of us, but there’s nothing more I can do to get our life back as it was before the landslide,” he said.

“We fell victim to the incestuous relationship of our politicians and businessmen. This is not a ‘natural’ disaster as they claim, because it was human failings that caused it. The least I can do is ensure that (other) Malaysians do not suffer as we have.”

‘Common sense suspended’

Farid, who bought his house 16 years ago, claimed that he had found out too late about ‘irregularities’ in the development projects in Bukit Antarabangsa.

State forestry officials had allegedly told him a few days ago that his house stands on a de-gazetted forest reserve, and that the whole of what is now Bukit Antarabangsa was once a water catchment area.


He also referred to the difficulties faced by more than 1,500 residents after the landslide. They could not leave their homes, as the sole access road to their houses and apartments was blocked.

“Why was there only one access road in the first place? How could the local authorities approve development projects with only one access road?

“Why are they talking about access roads and bridges only now? Is it because access roads and bridges would have cost the developers money, so they put off building these?”

Farid further questioned if environmental impact assessment studies had been carried out, given that several different projects have been, and are still being carried out, in Bukit Antarabangsa,

“Why are they going about these projects in bits and pieces? Did they or didn’t they have an overall plan for the whole area?”

“From this incident, we have found that common sense had been in suspension, the role of greed was prominent, and there was a complete lack of ethics on the part of business interests and politicians. Where were the regulators in all of this?”

3 FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNTS BY DR RAFFICK (WHO COORDINATED THE OPS CENTER IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE LANDSLIDE) REVEAL THE DEEP ROT WITHIN UMNO/BN

Bukit Antarabangsa - Multiple Tragedy I (10 Dec 2008)
Bukit Antarabangsa - Multiple Tragedy II (13 Dec 2008)
Bukit Antarabangsa - Multiple Tragedies III (14 Dec 2008)

CAN WE BEFRIEND THE ELEMENTS?

"Monotheism breeds fanatical anthropocentrism, which eventually destroys Earth." - The Prophet Isaiah, as channeled by Barbara Hand Clow in The Pleiadian Agenda

Those eight words struck me like a sledgehammer when I first encountered them while reading a rather ponderous and nebulous work by the well-known astrologer, shamanic oracle and publisher, Barbara Hand Clow, who says her Cherokee grandfather taught her to listen to the elements and attune her psyche to the earth. After his death the young Barbara was subject to the severe traumas of growing up in a dysfunctional American family and experienced recurring contact with what she later identified as Pleiadian entities. At university Barbara majored in Jungian psychology and began delving into astrology and cosmomythology. In 1974 she married Gerald Cudahy Clow and together they established Bear & Company as a highly successful publishing house for cutting-edge, "New Age" authors.

But coming back to those eight words that had so much impact on me. Let's deconstruct and decompress that "Isaiah" quote:

Monotheism is the defining feature of the Abrahamic religions which are at most 4,000 years old (since the patriarch Abraham supposedly lived in the era between 2,000 and 1,500 BCE). Hindus believe the Kali yuga or Age of Darkness began at midnight on 23 January 3,102 BCE. In effect, the advent of the Abrahamic era (dare I say error?) occurred approximately a thousand years into the Age of Darkness when all divine revelations were subject to severe distortion and refraction. Interestingly, scholars of the Mayan calendar report that in 3,113 BCE the Earth began traversing a 5,000-year beam of density emanating from the Galactic Core, during which humans would become more individualized and egocentric. This densification and dimming of human consciousness is supposed to terminate between 28 October 2011 and 21 December 2012.


Most astronomers concur that the Solar System is approximately 4.6 billion years old, as estimated by the radiometric dating of meteorites. The Earth, according to consensus scientific opinion, was probably formed shortly afterwards. Some point at the figure 4.56 billion years as the age of our planet. Paleoanthropologists can't quite agree as to exactly when Homo sapiens may have begun to appear on Earth, but the general time frame ranges between 400,000 to 160,000 years. Let's say Homo faber (tool-using hominids) began multiplying around 250,000 years ago. Though the concept of a single Almighty Creator God has been around for approximately 4,000 years, the word "monotheism" was introduced into the English language by the Neoplatonist philosopher, Henry More, only in 1660 - exactly 348 years ago.


What does anthropocentrism mean? It is the belief that humans must be considered at the center of, and above any other aspect of, reality. Monotheistic religions posit that God granted Man "dominion over Nature" - in other words, human considerations take precedence over the rest of the ecosystem. Ultimately, this leads to the dangerous viewpoint that making money is the single most important human activity on earth and that hills exist just so wealthy folks may build luxury apartments from which to gaze upon the urban sprawl below. We have seen the catastrophic results of such egotistical and myopic thinking. Stringent legislation and stricter enforcement won't solve the problem in the long run - but a radical shift in consciousness and perspective most certainly will.


Alchemy (from the Arabic Al-kimia) postulates that the Matter Universe consists of four elements - Fire, Earth, Air, and Water - and that these elements are present on the micro- as well as the macrocosmic levels. Indeed, our physical bodies are a blend of these very elements. Fire represents vitality, spirit, intellect; Earth the mineral compounds that constitute our blood and bones and fleshly tissue; Air the breath that oxygenates and cleanses our lifeblood, separating us from death; and Water (which forms 60-80 per cent of our bodies), symbolizing our emotional tides, influenced by the electromagnetic interaction of the Moon's gravitational field with that of the Earth.


When I relocated from Kuala Lumpur in early 1992 to the verdant hills of Pertak, Ulu Selangor, I soon became acutely aware of the close proximity of all four elements in my ecstatically beautiful riverine environment. Just sitting on a 500-million-year-old granite rock aglitter with embedded quartzite, feeling the hot sun on my skin, the fragrant breeze in my hair, soothed by the neverending riversong of crystalline life-sustaining waters - I felt for the first time in my life completely and absolutely at home.


It's exquisitely therapeutic to find your analytical mind suddenly and spontaneously falling silent while all your senses come alive. You begin to grasp the notion of Zen, of being totally in the here and now. In this serene state of receptivity, your body begins to pick up impressions long forgotten or usually unnoticed in the hurly-burly of urban existence. The rock you're resting on begins to tell you stories in its own distinctive mineral voice. And you begin to perceive the holographic, fractal nature of form itself - wherein the rock you're connected with in turn connects you with the entire spectrum of mineral consciousness.


Gradually, it dawns on you that the compressed experience of spacetime imposed on us by routinely accepted constraints of modern living is no more than an ephemeral veneer of insensitivity, of a societally sanctioned sensory shutdown. Our natural state is to be in constant awe and wonderment at the glorious epiphanies that abound all around us.


When indigenous cultures connect with the elements through their shamans, they do so in a spirit of friendly cooperation. The very idea of combating the forces of nature would strike them as foolish and futile. How can one possibly defeat the wind or vanquish the ocean waves? On the other hand, by understanding these majestic forces and respectfully working with them, one is able to harness their might for one's own purposes. Wind and wave and solar power could free us forever from the stranglehold of voracious corporations that trade in toxic fossil fuels. Do we truly believe we can suck dry the oil reserves with impunity? Have we never considered the possibility that these subterranean and suboceanic pockets of petroleum actually serve as hydraulic shock absorbers, preventing the tectonic plates from scraping together with results disastrous to dwellers on the earth's surface?


The element Air embodies the idea of interconnectivity, communication, communion. When we consciously share breath with another, we synchronize our heartbeats and merge our energy fields. We experience a melding on the soul level, a fusion of destinies. Interesting how in our figures of speech, air features prominently as a metaphor. For instance, Malays speak of khabar angin (gossip, rumors) just as Italians call gossipers venticelli (little winds). Those with noble hearts are considered "fragrant" (wangi in Malay) while others with malicious intent are described as "stinkers" (busuk). The nose obviously knows better then the brain!


Where integrity reigns and people are naturally inclined to speaking truthfully, atmospheric pollution is a virtual impossibility. If you live in an asphyxiating hellhole where pedestrians scurry around wearing gasmasks, car windows are constantly closed with the aircon going full blast, while outside the air is almost unbreathable from carbon monoxide fumes - it's a clear sign that lying has become a national pastime.


When 100-million-year-old hardwood forests are clearfelled and set on fire by oil palm companies, you can be sure that a great many untruths are being circulated about the sustainability of monoculture cash crop plantations and the illusory profits to be made from a nearsighted biofuel campaign. Indeed, some of the biggest logging concerns and oil palm corporations have ministers as major shareholders - and that explains why the annually recurring haze just won't go away. How does it feel to choke and gag on your own lies?


Water is the Vital Essence of Life, it's chi or prana in liquid form. Moistness is an indication of fertility, sensual ripeness, warmth of feeling; and dryness suggests sterility, barrenness, humorlessness, sexual apathy. In effect, water is the element that signifies our emotional flux. The tragic situation in Malaysia wherein anxiety about water shortages is used to justify the construction of unnecessary dams even as flash floods recur with debilitating frequency reveals the unhealthy state of the nation's emotional life. Floodwaters are murky, polluted and often accompanied by waterborne diseases. What does this indicate about the kind of emotions we are expressing... or not? Are we being governed through fear rather than love?


Monotheism and the Abrahamic religions are patriarchal by definition, since these belief systems involve worship of a male deity, a Heavenly Father or Lord. A bit of research into the early history of the monotheistic religions associated with Yahweh reveals that there was a systematic excision of pre-existing Goddess emblems by a misogynistic male priesthood.


Why was the Sacred Feminine suppressed? Look at your left and right brains. The left is regarded as the logical, male brain where abstract symbols are linearly processed into alphanumeric codes - in effect, language. The right is usually associated with intuitive functions such as spatial and temporal navigation and the processing of non-verbal sensory data - in short, the "female" brain. Male children are trained to suppress their emotions while females can cry since they are "the weaker sex." Patriarchal societies are largely warlike and male children are required as cannon fodder for military campaigns. We can't be sending sissies to the battlefield, can we?


Progress is measured in physical terms, never metaphysical. Development is infrastructural, rarely cultural. Science and technology are to be encouraged; arts and humanities are best suited to girls... and effeminate boys (would you like to see your only son become a ballet dancer and move around with the arty-farty gay crowd?) Homophobic, testosteronally propelled national aspirations will neither tolerate the ambiguity of poetry nor the nature mystic's recognition of the aliveness of the elements...


But, alas, only the poet, the mystic, and the true lover in each of us can access and befriend the elements, and restore balance and harmony to the land. Legislative measures and political rhetoric demanding a scientific and technological solution is, at best, the band-aid approach to serious environmental injury. How can we avoid wholesale eco-apocalypse - if we're too goddamn arrogant to apologize to Mother Nature for constantly trying to make a quick buck by flogging off her vital organs as commodities in the marketplace? If you were a magnificent old-growth rainforest, would you appreciate being gangbanged and chainsaw-massacred by loudmouthed louts who call you ugly names like "merchantable biomass"?

When mendacity and mediocrity get you down, Pink Floyd will turn you around.

SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND



WISH YOU WERE HERE



Notes on the album cover design by Hipgnosis (from Wikipedia)

The original vinyl release was intended to be shrouded in an anonymous, all-black plastic wrapper (dark blue for the Columbia/CBS releases). Bruce Lundvall, then-president of the band's US distributor, Columbia Records, was (according to Hipgnosis member Storm Thorgerson in the book that accompanied Pink Floyd's 1992 box set Shine On and also his own book Mind Over Matter: The Images of Pink Floyd) appalled at the suggestion that they deliberately hide their product, so an additional image featuring the band name over the top of two robotic hands in front of the four elements was included as a sticker on top.

Removing this outer wrapper then revealed the proper artwork with its now-famous cover: the flaming businessman, shaking hands with his counterpart (as in the robot image). Three other photographs on the back and inner sleeve represented the remaining elements: a faceless salesman selling Pink Floyd products in the desert (earth); a naked female figure in a grove, barely visible behind a windswept red veil (air); and a splash-less diver half submerged in Mono Lake (water). A postcard with an alternate version of the latter picture - and "Wish you were here" written on the back - was also included. All four photos in this design appeared to have each element 'breaking' (or burning) into the surrounding white margins.


The vinyl record's custom picture labels depicted the robotic handshake (as on the wrapper) with a mainly black with blue prisms background. This picture label was then used again for the 1995 SBM Mastersound reissue and the 1997 Columbia/Sony remastered CD.

Beneath the outer cover, which on the U.S. release was dark blue, Columbia originally released the LP with a slightly different sleeve, using an alternative picture showing the burning man standing up straight (instead of leaning toward the other businessman) and taken from a lower angle. Columbia started using the more familiar EMI photo in 1984 for their first CD issue and kept using it in subsequent reissues, the only exception being the "SBM MasterSound Collector's Edition". There are other, subtler differences in the artwork of the more commonly-found remastered CD: the naked female is clearly visible behind the veil in the LP artwork, but is almost completely obscured in the remastered CD booklet; the photo of the diver used in this booklet is larger, and shows more of the background salt formations; additional black-and-white photos of the band working in Abbey Road Studios were added to this booklet as well.

Police have good reason to stop people from trying to cycle down the peninsula.

The last time it happened the country fell into Japanese hands for nearly four years. This is why the superpatriots in PDRM have resolved to harass the JERIT bicycle teams at every turn and do everything possible to prevent them from succeeding in their dastardly mission.

There's always a damn good reason why the police do the things they do. It's sad that Malaysians do not appreciate the extraordinary initiative shown by PDRM to prevent a recurrence of World War Two.

Besides, these grassroots movements sound rather subversive. Are they some species of peasant uprising? All this cycling around in red T-shirts handing out leaflets smells suspiciously like another manifestation of Ketuanan Rakyat. We can't have that! If we allow these people to carry on riding, before we know it they will turn this country pinko... and our anointed leader, Dato' Seri Pink Lips, certainly won't be very happy with the PDRM.

Tribute to a Working Class Hero

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) ~ John Lennon/Yoko Ono, 1969




WORKING CLASS HERO (John Lennon, 1970)

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see


A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me

John Lennon was assassinated by Mark David Chapman outside his New York City apartment on 8 December 1980. He had just celebrated his 40th birthday on 9 October. I shall always be grateful for the tremendous inspiration I received from this great soul during my teens and even into my adult years.

Noose Tightening Around Najib's Fat Neck

Why the hurry when it comes to Raja Petra? Is the unholy haste more about Najib than Raja Petra? Are they hoping that what will be revealed during Raja Petra’s trial will turn out to be the noose around Najib’s fat neck?

NO SUCH THING AS A SURE THING

by The Pink Panther

They say justice delayed is justice denied. But who says the wheels of justice always move slowly? Justice can sometimes move extremely fast when they want it to - especially when the court case involves Raja Petra Kamarudin - and when it relates to the Altantuya murder.

Raja Petra’s lawyer had not yet walked into his office after their court appearance at the Jalan Duta Court Complex this morning when a fax was waiting for him on his table. And even before he could digest the contents of the fax another fax came in. The Shah Alam High Court will hear the appeal by the Prosecution at 2.45pm tomorrow, Friday, 5 December 2008. So Raja Petra will, again, be in court - tomorrow (5 December) 2.45pm at the Shah Alam court.

This morning, Raja Petra and his lawyers were in court to confirm the date of the appeal on the criminal defamation case. Yesterday, by order of the court, these same lawyers spent eight hours at Bukit Aman for a forensic test on the computers the police confiscated from his house related to the sedition case. And tomorrow is the Prosecution’s appeal on the amendment of the charge on the sedition case.

Wow! Seldom have Malaysians seen the courts move so fast. There are so many court cases going on at the same time that it is beginning to become very difficult to keep track of who is the defender and who is the defendee, and who is the appealer and who is the appealee.

The issues before the various courts are as follows - the Shah Alam court, the Petaling Jaya court and the Kuala Lumpur court. The prosecution tried to amend the charge in Raja Petra’s sedition case in the Petaling Jaya court but the judge turned it down. So the prosecution is appealing the judge’s decision in the Shah Alam court. And that is going to be heard tomorrow at 2.45pm.

Then, the prosecution is not happy that they did not find the evidence of any crime in the two computers the police confiscated - meaning a copy of the article ‘Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell.’ So they asked the Petaling Jaya court for permission to check both computers again in the hope that this time they might find something. They checked the first computer over eight hours in Bukit Aman yesterday and will do a forensic test on the second unit next Tuesday.

Then, Raja Petra’s lawyers are appealing against the decision to transfer the criminal defamation case from the Kuala Lumpur Magistrates Court to the Sessions Court and this appeal was slotted for mention this morning in the Kuala Lumpur High Court. The court ordered Raja Petra’s lawyers to file their submission on 12 December 2008 and for the Prosecution to reply to it on 19 December. The hearing will be on 20 January 2009 when the judge will probably deliver his judgment as to whether the case will be heard in the Sessions Court (as what the Prosecution wants) or whether it has to be sent back to the Magistrates Court (as what Raja Petra wants).


In the meantime, while the Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur courts hear the various appeals and counter-appeals and applications to amend the charge and applications to oppose the amendment to the charge and application to do a second forensic on the two computers and so on and so forth, the hearings related to the crimes Raja Petra has been alleged to have committed are being delayed even further. And this has upset those who walk in the corridors of power.

The Prosecution has been told to wrap up all these many cases as soon as possible, preferably way before March 2009. March 2009 is when Najib Tun Razak is supposed to take over from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as Prime Minister of Malaysia. Abdullah wants these cases settled fast but Najib would rather they drag on until way past March 2009.

Abdullah wants all the cases settled now in the hope that damaging evidence will surface during the trial, which will implicate Najib, or at least his wife, in the murder of Altantuya. If this happens, this will disqualify Najib from taking over as Prime Minister. Najib, however, wants things to remain as they are until he takes over so that, when he is already Prime Minister, he can sweep everything under the carpet and suffer no damage.

How he is going to sweep everything under the carpet will be a bridge he crosses when he comes to it. Dropping the charges would be one way or making sure the judge shouts ‘irrelevant’ every five minutes could probably work as well, as it did in Anwar Ibrahim’s trial in 1998-1999.

Raja Petra never dreamt how important his trials were going to be in deciding who would become the Prime Minister of Malaysia come March 2009. Everyone assumed that Najib would automatically be taking over from Abdullah at the ‘agreed’ time. But it appears like nothing has really been agreed yet. And this is troubling Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as well who is banking on Najib taking over in March 2009 as planned.

However, according to Murphy’s Law, what can go wrong will go wrong. And the plan for Najib taking over from Abdullah in March 2009 can certainly go wrong. So Abdullah wants to see to it that it will definitely go wrong.

And Mahathir is fully aware of this and he is already lamenting about it even before the plan can be put in place. Call it a preemptive strike if you wish and Mahathir is the master of preemption, amongst other things. So he is preempting Abdullah’s move to block Najib from taking over as Prime Minister in March 2009.

Mahathir realises that you need not be the Umno President to become Prime Minister. Tun Abdul Razak Hussein became Prime Minister without becoming the Umno President, till much later. Mahathir himself stayed on as Prime Minister in 1988 even though be had no party (when Umno closed down) and was an independent Member of Parliament (calun bebas) while Ling Liong Sik was the Barisan Nasional Chairman at that time. In fact, Ghafar Baba became Deputy Prime Minister in 1986 without ever becoming an Umno (Lama) member until Umno Baru was formed in 1988.

Yes, who says you must first become the Umno President or the Barisan Nasional Chairman to become Prime Minister of Malaysia. All the Constitution says is that you must be a Member of Parliament whom, in the opinion of the Agong, commands the confidence of the majority of the Members of the House - in other words, the 222 Members of Parliament.

Let’s say Anwar Ibrahim has the confidence of the 82 Pakatan Rakyat Members of Parliament. This leaves another 140 who are not with Anwar. Then, say, Abdullah has half the 140 with him, meaning 70. This leaves another 70. Let’s also say 20 abstain. This leaves 50. And, say, these 50 are with Najib.

In this case, Anwar Ibrahim has the confidence of the majority because he has 82, Abdullah has only 70, Najib 50, while 20 are ‘sitting on the fence’ and are not supporting any side.

It must be noted that Umno has only 66 Members of Parliament in Peninsular Malaysia. Even if the 13 Umno Sabah Members of Parliament stay united that would come to only 79. Pakatan Rakyat still has more at 82. Abdullah is said to control at least 20 Umno Members of Parliament. So Najib will be reduced to 59 against Pakatan Rakyat’s 82. The question would be: will Abdullah’s 20 remain neutral or will they swing to Pakatan Rakyat to give it 102? Either way, with only 59 Umno Members of Parliament, Najib would be far short and would need the other component members of Barisan Nasional to take the chair as Prime Minister.

MCA (15), MIC (3) and Gerakan (2) total another 20. These three parties plus PPP (which has no Parliamentarians) are totally pissed with Umno. They may not throw their lot behind Pakatan Rakyat but they would certainly stay neutral and become the ‘third force’ or ‘independents’. Though Pakatan Rakyat may not benefit from MCA’s, MIC’s and Gerakan’s 20 seats, neither would Umno, or rather Najib.

Najib would need the 30 non-Umno Members of Parliament from Sarawak and the balance 11 from Sabah (totaling 41) to make up his majority. If they too decide to follow MCA, MIC, Gerakan and PPP and stay ‘neutral’, then Najib is sunk. His 59 against Pakatan Rakyat’s 82, Abdullah’s ‘neutral’ 20, and the MCA’s, MIC’s, Gerakan’s, Sabah’s and Sarawak’s ‘neutral’ 61, would mean that he does not have the confidence of the majority and the Agong just can’t appoint him as the new Prime Minister.

Yes, many are looking forward to the 30 Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament crossing over to Pakatan Rakyat to give it 112 seats in Parliament (111 of 222 is exactly 50% so it will be 50% plus one seat). But what if they don’t cross over? What if they just remain neutral or leave Barisan Nasional to create an ‘independent third force’? This too would be enough to deny Najib the Prime Ministership. And there is more than one reason for them to want to remain neutral or to leave Barisan Nasional to become a third force.

This is the dilemma facing Najib. And Mahathir is also greatly concerned. They both know that March 2009 is a long way away. And many things can happen from now till March 2009. The non-Umno component members of Barisan Nasional are reevaluating their relationship with Umno. It is no longer a matter of whether to abandon Umno, and in the process abandon Najib as well. Leaving Umno is almost a foregone conclusion. What they are undecided about is whether they should leave Barisan Nasional to join Pakatan Rakyat or leave to become an independent third force. Both have its merits. In Pakatan Rakyat there is good and bad, as an independent third force there is also good and bad. That is what is preoccupying the minds of the non-Umno component members of Barisan Nasional. And the more mistakes Umno makes the more reason for them to proceed with the divorce. And Umno is making mistakes by the dozen these days.

So they want Raja Petra’s various cases in the Shah Alam, Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur courts to be settled super-fast. The legal brains are mind-boggled as to how fast the courts seem to move in dispensing with justice when it comes to Raja Petra’s cases, when other cases are sometimes known to stretch over ten or twenty years with no end in sight. Why the hurry when it comes to Raja Petra? Is the hurriedness more about Najib than about Raja Petra? Are they hoping that what will be revealed in Raja Petra’s cases will be the noose around Najib’s neck? I can only speculate on the reason but it does not take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.

Sure, Abdullah said that Najib will take over in March 2009. He even did not contest the Umno Presidency and allowed Najib a walkover as part of this plan. But it was not an unqualified assurance. It certainly is subject to certain conditions. And one of those conditions would be that he is free from any legal problems such as being implicated in a murder. The second would be he procures the confidence of the majority of the Members of the House. The failure to fulfill any one of these conditions is enough to disqualify him. And Abdullah has four months to work on the disqualification.

There is no such thing as a sure thing. Najib and Mahathir of all people should know this by now. And who said Abdullah is stupid? He may not be smart but this does not mean he is stupid. And Abdullah may yet prove he is sneakier than most people give him credit for.

I think Malaysians should launch a ‘No to Najib’ campaign. Maybe they should collect 100,000 signatures for a petition to the Agong to appeal to His Majesty not to appoint Najib as Prime Minister in March 2009. Maybe it is not a bad idea after all that Abdullah stays on. At least Pakatan Rakyat can take him on come the next general election in 2012-2013 and finish the job they started on 8 March 2008.


[Portraits of RPK & DSAI courtesy of Knights Templar]

Martin Jalleh on Nazri the Incontinent Nazi

NAZRI PLAYS-PLAYS AND POOH-POOHS IN PARLIAMENT!

by Martin Jalleh

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, has a very long tradition of treating parliament as his personal playground where he proudly leaves a trail of his political pooh behind.

When he fails in an intelligent debate in parliament or when an answer deserts him, leaving him dumb, he dishes out a diatribe, creates a dramatic diversion or distraction, and/or goes into a delirium.

Nazri acts tough, talks and thinks as though he is the PM, or he knows everything, threatens and taunts those who stand up to him, throws a tantrum together with some theatrics when things don’t go his way.

Past and present Speakers or their deputies have always given the Minister full and free access to the House to go into a fit or a frolic or to flaunt his foolishness according to his whim and fancy.

Nazri's rewriting of history on 6 November 2008 adds to the list of growing examples of the Minister treating the House as a place where he “play-plays” by being provocative and pokes fun at serious issues.

He told Parliament that former Lord President Salleh Abas and other senior judges involved in the judicial crisis 20 years ago were not “sacked” but had their "services terminated early". Yet, in September 2006 he had himself taken part in a ‘1988 Judicial Crisis - To review or not?’ forum attended by 1,000 people who had heard him defend the sacking of the judges!

Karpal Singh (right) insisted that action be taken against Nazri for allegedly lying to the House. The latter in a press conference conceded making a mistake, adding he had no intention of misleading the House. But Nazri refused to explain in nor apologise to Parliament, where he first made his infamous revelation. Telling the press would suffice! For the first time, a press conference took precedence over Parliament!

Karpal persisted. Deputy Speaker Wan Junaidi (below, left) waved his wand and everything was back to square one. Gobind Singh told Wan that his decision was very wanting. He got suspended for two days. Nazri get off scot-free - to nurture more nonsense.

Nazri said Gobind was suspended “because he challenged the decision of the speaker. The reason why you don't see us (BN MPs) get suspended is because we don't go against the decision of the speaker". Since when has the Speaker decided against a BN MP over a controversial issue?

Nazri has many fans and followers amongst the BN MPs, the latest being Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (Umno-Pasir Salak, left) whose sexual innuendo remarks in parliament were recently revealed and who called a DAP MP “bloody bastard” but escaped punishment (rings a bell?).

A glance at Nazri’s track record and tales (in italics) - a major part of which I have highlighted before and condensed here below - will show that the Minister overseeing parliamentary affairs has in fact in the recent past mislead and made a mockery of Parliament, with the Chair condoning his monkeying around.

2004: Nazri Bulls and Blunders

May: Suhakam’s report is never meant to be debated in Parliament. Nazri was wrong. It is a legislative requirement for Suhakam, a creation of Parliament, to submit annual reports to Parliament so that its findings can be debated and its recommendations deliberated on.

2005: Nazri Bluffs and Bullies

April: The Cabinet’s plan to form a select committee on water privatization was dropped because the King wanted water privatisation to be in place by the end of the year. Lim Kit Siang (LKS) told Nazri not to drag the King into the issue and added that “…the Royal address is the policy pronouncement of the government of the day”.

April: Bibles in Bahasa Malaysia cannot be circulated in the country as this could be seen as an effort to spread Christianity among the Malays….the prohibition had been in force since Independence and was in line with the Constitution (Star, 13.04.05). A week later the PM said that there was no such ban.

June: Nazri shouted racist and bloody racist at DAP MP M Kula Segaran 41 times. His “racist” fit which the then Speaker deemed fit to allow, was intended to divert attention from a dispute involving two government backbenchers!

Sept: If every issue raised requires a select committee, then perhaps we also need to discuss that former Communist Party of Malaya secretary-general Chin Peng is DAP’s Father of Independence.— This was Nazri’s childish response to LKS’s suggestion of the setting-up of three new Parliamentary Select Committees.

2006: Nazri Barks and Boasts


March: Nazri branded DAP MP Teresa Kok an Islam hater after she questioned the directive that all policewomen must wear the tudung during official parades. Teresa protested. However the then Deputy Speaker merely told the minister that the remark was unnecessary.

June: Nazri told parliament: There is no basis for the allegation of corruption in the judiciary as contained in a letter written by former High Court judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Idid… the case has been investigated by the Government, the ACA and the AG.

Syed Idid replied that the allegations were “never really investigated”. This was confirmed by a former AG Abu Talib Othman who added that “on the other hand, the poor judge who wrote it was investigated”!

July: The presence of foreigners, including those with IMM13 documents, does not cause social, security and economic problems in Sabah. A leader of the Sabah Progressive Party (then a part of the ruling coalition) accused Nazri of being ignorant and said “it would be better for him to keep his mouth shut….”

July: The Government is satisfied with the ACA’s performance. Param Cumaraswamy a former TI Malaysia president pointed out: “It is not the satisfaction of the Government that the ACA is handling its responsibilities effectively that matters. It is the satisfaction of the public that matters most.”

July: The ACA is free to act on its own. In 2003, when he (who was then Entrepreneur Development Minister) was under investigation for corruption, Nazri had said that he would advise the Cabinet to replace the then ACA Investigations Director with whom he had a war of words with!

Sept: You are just jealous because I am standing! - Nazri told wheelchair-bound Karpal Singh who had urged the Deputy Speaker to restrain the minister as he had “gone crazy” by racing through the text of his 80-page winding-up document, refusing to allow any interjections for clarification.

The Deputy Speaker later said that Nazri’s remarks were “improper” - without making a ruling that the remarks be withdrawn!

2007: Nazri Goes Berserk

March: The government is not prepared to study and research current election laws or revamp the Election Commission (EC) because in the past 50 years we have not revamped any ministry. This was Nazri’s response to then EC chairman’s call for an independent commission to oversee changes in the election laws and regulations.

March: I think these NGOs are stupid... We don’t need another system, independent inquiry and all that. Nazri dismissed calls by rights groups for an independent inquiry into the graft and sexual assault allegations against then ACA director-general Zulkipli Mat Noor

And so for the first time in the country’s history we had the police investigating the (then) chief of the ACA and at the same time the ACA investigating the top police officer of the nation -- and the Attorney-General deciding later that both were clean! The whole world was laughing at the government’s stupidity.

April: It's like ants attracted to sugar… Malaysians leave to make money but they will return. You don’t have to press the panic button yet. This was Nazri’s response to LKS’s concern over the alarming migration trend. He forgot that his boss had in 2004 offered a host of incentives to lure an estimated 30,000 of Malaysia ’s graduates working overseas to return home. Pak Lah panicked?

May: Bernard Dompok’s resignation was influenced by Lim Kit Siang. Dompok resigned as the chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity because he had disagreed with Nazri over the committee’s scope of duties. Dompok’s reply to his colleague: “It’s a cheap shot!”

May: “...they should not apologise to Fong or the DAP for their remarks. - Nazri came to the defence of the two MPs who had made sexist remarks following Fong Po Kuan’s observations of leaks in the Parliament building.

June: Singapore is not a real country, it is a small island. Singapore’s population is just three to four million and there are no opportunities for corruption, unlike in our country. Nazri’s inference of larger countries being more prone to corruption and smaller countries being less corrupt was wrong.

June: Malaysia will never develop as long as we have people like Lim (Kit Siang). All these (corruption allegations) are lies. Why are you so stupid? Where are the allegations? You have no brains. Stupid, stupid, stupid...! Nazri turned nasty in a heated exchange with LKS (left).

The then Speaker said that he could not cite Nazri for using unparliamentary language because “such language was used all the time”. Grinning like a school bully having his last say, Nazri added to his string of “stupid” salvoes: "OK, tidak cerdik (not smart) then. It’s like stupid too."

Aug: The then Chief Justice (CJ) Ahmad Fairuz had advocated the abolition of Common Law, and replacing it with an Islamic legal system. Nazri denied on behalf of Fairuz, in Parliament, that Fairuz had made such a proposal. LKS provided Nazri with a newspaper tape transcript as proof. He played down its significance, claiming that the CJ was pressed by reporters to offer his opinion!

Aug: When Karpal Singh revealed the name of a Federal Court judge who had not written judgments in as many as 35 cases (in response to the then CJ’s challenge to show proof) Nazri declared: "The writing of judgments was not the only criterion to promote judges”!

Aug: When the country did not have a Chief Judge for eight months, Nazri insisted that there is no law that says the Chief Justice cannot act as the Chief Judge of Malaya”. The Bar Council showed him that he was wrong!

Aug: There's no need for such a judicial commission (in charge of judicial appointments) as there is no crisis in our judiciary... No crisis, no problems. I don't see any scandal. These are all efforts by the opposition to create distrust and erode public confidence in the judiciary. This was in sharp contrast to Sultan Azlan Shah, who later expressed his grave concern over the “disquiet” about and “serious criticisms” against the judiciary at the 14th Malaysian Law Conference.

Sept: ... the lawyers' march was "unbecoming." (On 26th September, 2,000 lawyers walked to Putrajaya to submit a memorandum on judicial reform to the PM.) It was in sharp contrast to Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan’s statement: “We are walking for justice, we want judicial reform. Lawyers don't walk every day. When lawyers walk, something is wrong.”


Oct: Whistleblowers in the Lingam Tape scandal could be protected under the Witness Protection Bill tabled recently in Parliament. — Nazri later admitted there was no such bill and blamed his press secretary for failing to issue a clarification to the media!

Nov: ... it would be pointless to try and understand the reason behind the rally as the brains of opposition members do not function well…the wires in their heads are severed. I don’t understand why they claim that the EC is unfair.

Nazri was commenting on the march on 10 November of 40,000 people to submit a memorandum calling for electoral reforms to the King. Ironically, a few weeks earlier, Nazri had told opposition MPs in parliament “not to get over-excited about the ‘independence’ of the EC, when it does not exist."

Nov: “Don’t try to drag the King into this. The King and the people are behind us. They (the opposition) are afraid to face the next elections. If you’ve no courage, don’t become a pondan (wimp).” If there is anyone who has tried to make use of the King it is Nazri himself (see above)!


2008: Nazri Brays Brazenly

May: "The government did not order the commission. We merely told them there were concerns about the legal implications and it could create problems later." Nazri blamed the EC for the last-minute decision to cancel the use of indelible ink in the March polls. The then EC chairman had said it was a Cabinet decision.

Nazri also told parliament that no action would be taken against those who had lodged police reports saying that indelible ink was being smuggled into the country during the last general election... because they have believed the rumours they heard were true!

June: The Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BBC) was upset with Nazri for branding it childish and gangster-like for removing a barricade at the Parliament lobby put up to ban reporters from the lobby.

I am expecting the BBC to recommend to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to sack me as a minister. If they dare not do that on Monday, then shut up and don’t talk anymore - Nazri lambasted the BBC chairman.

Oct: The government does not have a problem with setting up the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) but there is “strong evidence” that certain quarters disagreed with the proposal.

Nazri was responding to LKS’s query as to why the IPCMC was not established although the IGP had said that the police would agree if the government insisted on it. When a PAS MP questioned Nazri on who these “certain quarters” were, Nazri evaded the question and took a dig at PAS instead.

Misfortune

It is very obvious that the Minister in the PM’s Department who is also the overseer of parliamentary affairs and the de facto Law Minister, is a misfit in Parliament and an unmitigated mistake to the country.


As a loudmouth and loose cannon, Nazri would no doubt take Bolehland to greater heights in hype, hypocrisy and of course, hysterics and histrionics in Parliament!

The public cannot be blamed for its increasing perception that the Speaker and his deputies have been blind, biased, beholden to the Umno-dominated Government and begging and bending backwards to do its bidding. They have allowed Nazri to get away with impunity whilst appearing to be impartial.

Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz should be included in the posse who will mount up and ride into the sunset together with the soon-to-be-retired PM.

Martin Jalleh
4 November 2008