STILL CAN’T GET IT?

We need to stop shooting from the hip and turn everything into a political issue. We must remember that for every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction to what we do. The laws of nature work that way. Penang develops but property is priced beyond our reach. We subside poor people and rich people have to pay. We increase money to the states and corruption in the states spirals out of control. And so on.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Andrew Pang this article is like a blog for rpk to rant and self confess. in my honest opinion, it does not give any information or insight of value. anyway, i know from past experience that rpk prefers people who give input to be the same people who agree with him.

Nicholas Teng

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Forgive me Raja…I lost my mood reading your stuff lately..but I have to agree you are right this time it is the people off course.. but how to do tell them they are their own enemies- we will see.

Michael Mok

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The kind of change you are talking about can only be achieved if you live alone in M’sia. We have millions of people here and of course it will be easy if their minds are controlled by a remote control in your hand. It easy to talk of solving or handling issues your way but that is only talk and you’re giving your thoughts in the comfort of your home. I suggest you come home to start a political party to do things your way and let the people judge if things can be done your way instead of criticizing everyone for doing things the wrong way.

Phan Tee

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At the time I write this article, the comments in my yesterday’s article (Breaking from the herd) have touched 107. Three of those comments are published above.

It is sometimes very difficult for Malaysians to comprehend the issues when they are wearing blinkers and suffer from Mental Block Syndrome or MBS. These types of people would normally have already made up their minds or have already come to a conclusion regarding a certain matter even before they start reading anything.

The problem is they think that their views or opinions are already correct so why do they need to change their mind? And if they do not wish to change their mind because they are already right then why the need to read further or conduct research on the matter?

I want to refer to what Mariam Mokhtar wrote in her article ISA strikes terror in Malaysians, in Londonpublished today in Free Malaysia Today:

“The draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) was a parting gift which the British left us at Merdeka. This handy tool is used to control the natives, to detain them without trial, to subject them to humiliation, and degrading treatment.” (READ MORE HERE).

I personally know Mariam who is a hardcore Pakatan Rakyat supporter here in the UK and I am disappointed that her opening paragraph is historically wrong. I am equally disappointed that Free Malaysia Today published her article without first correcting the historical error in that opening paragraph. Errors like these teach Malaysians the wrong thing. So how can we expect Malaysians to be thinking Malaysians when we feed them inaccurate information or lies?

The Internal Security Act (ISA) was passed into law in 1960. That was three years after Merdeka or independence. So how can the ISA be “a parting gift which the British left us at Merdeka”? The British had already left us three years before that and it was the Malaysian Parliament of an already independent country that passed the ISA into law. So Malaysians and not the British are to blame for the ISA.

This is an example of how we wish to shift the blame to others for the ills of the country rather than admit that we are the ones to be blamed for this ill, as I wrote in yesterday’s article.

The next argument (which the opposition is fond of raising) is that Umno or Barisan Nasional is the one to be blamed for the ISA and that’s why we must oppose Umno and Barisan Nasional.

There is nothing wrong in opposing Umno or Barisan Nasional. That is what democracy is all about. But the ISA was passed into law in 1960, while Barisan Nasional was formed in 1973. So, while we can blame Umno (or MCA and MIC) for the ISA, why whack Barisan Nasional, which was not even born yet in 1960? You can, of course, whack Barisan Nasional for not abolishing the ISA, but not for creating the ISA. And why did PAS join Barisan Nasional in 1973 if they oppose the ISA? Should not abolishing the ISA be one of the terms for PAS to join Barisan Nasional?

Another very important point is that in 1960, when the ISA was passed into law, the opposition supported it. Mariam and all those Malaysians who wish to know about the history of the ISA need only to refer to the Parliament Hansard (official report of proceedings) to see the debate between the then Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, and the then Opposition Leader in Parliament, Darma Raja Seenivasagam, as proof of this.

Hence, not only the government, but the opposition, too, must share the blame for the ISA.

What went wrong is that the ISA, which initially was supposed to be used to combat terrorism by the Communist Party of Malaya, was eventually used for other things. That is what really went wrong. And that should be what we focus on, the abuse of the ISA, not blame someone else (the government) when we (the opposition), too, supported the passing of the ISA into law.

Let us be very clear on the issue here. The ISA was meant to combat terrorism and even the opposition supported the ISA. However, since then, there is no longer any Communist army in Malaysia (and the ISA has since been misused or abused for other things). So, we can now safely abolish the ISA. After all, there is no longer any danger of hijackings, missing planes, tourists being kidnapped at holiday retorts, and whatnot, like back in 1960.

So, Mariam (and Free Malaysia Today), please take note of this error and correct that opening paragraph accordingly. And, in future, do some research before writing lest you feed the Malaysian public the wrong information and they start foaming at the mouth and run riot on the streets.

Okay, let me now move to another issue and I want to refer to what PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat said in this news report, Kerajaan pernah beli getah dengan harga tinggi (READ HERE).

Nik Aziz wants Malaysians to come out and join tomorrow’s protest demonstration regarding poverty in the country, in particular for those who depend on rubber for a living, the rubber smallholders. Nik Aziz added that back in the old days the government used to buy rubber at a high price even when the rubber price was low and later when the rubber price went up the government would sell it.

In short, the government should help the rubber smallholders by subsidising the price of rubber and by stockpiling the rubber until such a time it is profitable to sell the stockpiled rubber.

Now, this is actually a good idea. Rubber smallholders are suffering because the price of rubber is too low. So, if the government can spend a few billion Ringgit to buy this low-priced rubber at a high price and then store this rubber in warehouses all over the country (until one day when the rubber price goes up) this will greatly help these poor people, who are mainly all Malays anyway.

This, basically, is a Pakatan Rakyat leader’s suggestion on how to help the poor rubber smallholders. And I support any move to help the poor Malays who depend on agriculture for a living. I just hope the non-Malays who claim that they pay 90% of the tax can support this idea of Pakatan Rakyat. This will prove that Malaysians are a caring society and are prepared to sacrifice whatever it takes for the sake of the poorer Malaysians.

Rubber saw its best price during the Korean War about 60 years ago. Considering the present developments in Korea, we may yet see another Korean War and this time it will be a nuclear war with China and the US getting dragged in. So maybe the Third World War in the South China Sea may come true after all, as the military experts have predicted. That may augur well for those who depend on rubber for a living.

Oh, and we do not want the Chinese and Indians to leave the country. If not the country will collapse. What we need is for the Chinese and Indians to continue paying tax so that we can use this money to help the Malays, such as those rubber smallholders.

Finally, we come to the issue of the oil royalty. Of late, there is a lot of talk about increasing the oil royalty for Sabah and Sarawak (and, of course, this will invariably include Terengganu as well) from 5% to 20%. I am one of those who support this move and I have said so many times, even before the 2008 general election. However, there are a few issues to consider first.

First of all, why are we asking the federal government to give the states 20%, an increase of 15% from the current 5%? The word ‘give’ is wrong. It should instead be ‘take’. We should say: instead of taking 95% of the states’ oil wealth the federal government should take just 80%. That is the correct way to address this.

The fact that Malaysians, even those from Sabah and Sarawak, are still talking about what the federal government should give them back shows that most people do not yet understand the issue properly.

State resources belong to the state. However, by Act of Parliament (like in the case of the ISA in 1960), oil and gas were nationalised in 1974. Hence that same Parliament can amend or abrogate this Act.

So take the case to Parliament. Stop screaming in Kota Kinabalu, Kuching or Kuala Terengganu. Go scream in Parliament House in Kuala Lumpur. There are 57 Members of Parliament from East Malaysia. There are more than 57 opposition Members of Parliament from West Malaysia. You only need 112 Members of Parliament to amend or abolish this Act.

Why are you not doing this? You scream about the evil federal government. You scream about the evil Umno government. You scream about the evil Malay government. But the power is in your hands. So why, yet again, blame others when the fault lies with you (as I said yesterday)?

The next point is: if the states get 20%, then the state revenues would increase four-fold. What are they going to do with this money? Who will have power over this money? Who will decide how the money is spent?

We say that Terengganu gets RM1 billion a year (and has been getting for the last 40 years) and we do not know where the money has gone. At 20%, Terengganu will get RM4 billion a year. Will we then know where the money has gone?

Those states are all Barisan Nasional states. We accuse the Barisan Nasional government of being corrupt. With 5% oil royalty they are already corrupt. Would not increasing it four-fold to 20% make it four times more corrupt?

Have we thought of this? Can transferring corruption from the federal government to the state governments guarantee us a better country? How would this be so?

We need to stop shooting from the hip and turn everything into a political issue. We must remember that for every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction to what we do. The laws of nature work that way. Penang develops but property is priced beyond our reach. We subside poor people and rich people have to pay. We increase money to the states and corruption in the states spirals out of control. And so on.

So, contrary to what you may think, I have been giving all these issues serious thought.