One of my fave columnists, Zan Azlee, penned a most interesting, relevant and important article in Malaysiakini titledThe opposition must tell us who we’re voting for.
I have long liked reading Zan's articles for his humour, tongue-in-cheek jabs at appropriate people a la Dean Johns, another of my fave columnists at Malaysiakini, but most of all, for Zan's love of being foremost a Malaysian.
Zan wrote: One of the most important things that a political party needs to do when a general election is looming is to make it known to the voters of their manifesto, intentions, promises and plans for when they take office, if they were to win, of course.
In order to do all that, they would need to have clear leadership. As of today, Pakatan Harapan has failed to do that by being unable to decide on who would be their choice for prime minister should they win.
Opposition Leader Wan Azizah Wan Ismail yesterday stated that they will concentrate on winning the elections first before deciding on their prime ministerial candidate. She said the decision will be made based on who has the most support from those elected.
In my opinion, this is just nonsense. Wouldn’t it make more sense to decide now so that the voters will know what they will be getting themselves into when they vote? We need to know who and what we are voting for, don’t we?
To emphasize what Zan means, there is an old English saying which may give offence to my Muslim friends, especially when they are about to celebrate their completion of a month-long disciplined empathetic fasting.
By the by, I hope you know the meaning of 'empathetic' (as totally different from 'emphatic' from the word 'emphasize' seen in the immediate above paragraph), which to help if you don't, has been defined by the dictionary as 'showing an ability to understand and share the feelings of another'.
I have long liked reading Zan's articles for his humour, tongue-in-cheek jabs at appropriate people a la Dean Johns, another of my fave columnists at Malaysiakini, but most of all, for Zan's love of being foremost a Malaysian.
Zan wrote: One of the most important things that a political party needs to do when a general election is looming is to make it known to the voters of their manifesto, intentions, promises and plans for when they take office, if they were to win, of course.
In order to do all that, they would need to have clear leadership. As of today, Pakatan Harapan has failed to do that by being unable to decide on who would be their choice for prime minister should they win.
Opposition Leader Wan Azizah Wan Ismail yesterday stated that they will concentrate on winning the elections first before deciding on their prime ministerial candidate. She said the decision will be made based on who has the most support from those elected.
In my opinion, this is just nonsense. Wouldn’t it make more sense to decide now so that the voters will know what they will be getting themselves into when they vote? We need to know who and what we are voting for, don’t we?
 |
you may be voting for me, |
To emphasize what Zan means, there is an old English saying which may give offence to my Muslim friends, especially when they are about to celebrate their completion of a month-long disciplined empathetic fasting.
By the by, I hope you know the meaning of 'empathetic' (as totally different from 'emphatic' from the word 'emphasize' seen in the immediate above paragraph), which to help if you don't, has been defined by the dictionary as 'showing an ability to understand and share the feelings of another'.
I've cut and now paste an extract from an Islamic website about empathetic fasting for your perusal:
Empathizing With Less Fortunate Ones:
During fast a Muslim neither eats nor drinks during the whole day for the whole month. This being deprived from food and water is perhaps the story of every other day of the people who are unfortunate and don’t have access to even the basic necessities of life such as food for eating and clean water for drinking.
During fast a Muslim neither eats nor drinks during the whole day for the whole month. This being deprived from food and water is perhaps the story of every other day of the people who are unfortunate and don’t have access to even the basic necessities of life such as food for eating and clean water for drinking.
Thus, when a Muslim bears such kind of condition, he or she actually empathizes with what the less unfortunate go through every day and they then get to feel that how do such people live their life.
This empathizing then leads to softening of their hearts and makes them more sensible as well as charitable when it comes to the less fortunate ones and their sufferings.
Thus, i.a.w. above, going to a 5-start hotel in KL to go berserk during breaking fast in the evening (ifthar), wakakaka, is definitely a no no.
Anyway, back to my English saying but please examine it metaphorically (not literally) as it's after all an English saying, namely: 'Don't buy a pig in a poke'.
According to one explanation, the idiom 'Don't buy a pig in a poke'refers to a confidence trick during the Late Middle Ages, when meat (pork, beef, chicken, mutton, duck, goose) was scarce, but cats and dogs were not.
The word poke comes from the French word poque which means a bag or a sack. Thus if one (in the Late Middle Ages) bought a pig in a poke, that was, without checking what's really inside the bag, he might find on reaching home that the pig in the sack was a cat, wakakaka.
The original Pakatan Rakyat was a whole lot better, stronger and more stable because it had two strong men then, Anwar Ibrahim and Pak Haji Nik Aziz, who were able to keep the coalition reasonably cohesive by their moderate and compromising approaches.
Apart from Anwar being behind bars, there is one additional reason why the new Pakatan Harapan can't find a fresh and capable new leader to head it, namely, that it has for political correctness eliminate 35% of available leaders, those of Chinese, Indian and Eurasian ancestry [based on Malaysia's ethnic ratio of approximately Malays 50%: Natives 15%: Chinese 25%: Indians 10%].
Whether politicians like Ramkarpal Singh, Lim Guan Eng, Dr Ramasamy, etc will be good leader of PH or not is a separate question but they are all automatically 'disqualified' or in crude Malaysian Manglish 'dis-kulit-fied'.
But if you name a young woman like Nurul Izzah, then notwithstanding she is a female in a Muslim environment, she will be almost or even completely acceptable, and definitely far more acceptable or 'kulit-fied' than Ramkarpal Singh, Lim Guan Eng, Dr Ramasamy.
Place the far more experienced and capable Teresa Kok against Nurul, and Teresa will find she can only continue to talk about her fave steamed salted eggs with mince meat to her constituency of Seputeh, while Nurul will be a possible PM-designate.
'Tis still a House built on sand, architecture-d on 'divide & conquer' racism for more than 22 years.
Anyway, back to my English saying but please examine it metaphorically (not literally) as it's after all an English saying, namely: 'Don't buy a pig in a poke'.
According to one explanation, the idiom 'Don't buy a pig in a poke'refers to a confidence trick during the Late Middle Ages, when meat (pork, beef, chicken, mutton, duck, goose) was scarce, but cats and dogs were not.
The word poke comes from the French word poque which means a bag or a sack. Thus if one (in the Late Middle Ages) bought a pig in a poke, that was, without checking what's really inside the bag, he might find on reaching home that the pig in the sack was a cat, wakakaka.
Then Zan continued: In the past few weeks, all we have seen from Pakatan Harapan is that they are at odds as to who will lead them. Chairperson of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohamad has stated that he is willing to be prime minister if needed. But that won’t fall favourably with many.
With a new opposition coalition in the process of being formed, jailed de facto PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has been the opposition’s candidate for prime minister all this while, has decided to withdraw himself as a candidate.
It may be obvious to many that with the new coalition, the main senior candidates for the post of prime minister are old and tired faces - Mahathir, Muhyiddin Yassin, and yes, Anwar. Do you readers see the actual irony of the situation? Oh yes, there’s Wan Azizah too.
Anwar’s move in withdrawing from being considered for the post can actually be seen as a way to indicate to the other individuals to withdraw as well. Bersatu president Muhyiddin has announced his withdrawal.
Only 91-year-old Mahathir is still holding strong. In fact, he has even reinforced his stand that he can be prime minister. However, he did say that the decision has to be a unanimous one if he were to be selected for the post.
But even if this line of old leaders decide to make way for young blood, are there any that would have the potential to take on that important post? Can any of you readers name an individual in the next layer of leadership in the opposition that would be suitable? I can’t.
Basically, Pakatan Harapan has just been unable to show the people that they are on top of the situation. In fact, they have even postponed their registration as an official coalition with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) because they can’t come to a decision for their office bearers.
It is unfair to voters when political parties aren’t able to provide a clear alternative for them to vote on. It would mean that they are actually taking the voting power out of the voters’ hands. Why vote in the first place if all the decisions will be made by other people?
But sadly, many have come to realize, though they won't admit to the existing reality, that a coalition founded on different ideological principles but mere opportunism to remove Najib would be a House built on sand. Because after Najib, what then?
On top of that, Pribumi insists on dominating the coalition with its leaders with the ulterior motive of convincing the Malay Heartland it will look after them. Not only is its party name per se a mocking sneering ketuanan insult to the non-Malays but its game plan is based on Mahathir's favourite gambit, that of 'divide & conquer' racism.
 |
Oh! Siapa pengkhianat bangsa Melayu? |
With a new opposition coalition in the process of being formed, jailed de facto PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has been the opposition’s candidate for prime minister all this while, has decided to withdraw himself as a candidate.
It may be obvious to many that with the new coalition, the main senior candidates for the post of prime minister are old and tired faces - Mahathir, Muhyiddin Yassin, and yes, Anwar. Do you readers see the actual irony of the situation? Oh yes, there’s Wan Azizah too.
Anwar’s move in withdrawing from being considered for the post can actually be seen as a way to indicate to the other individuals to withdraw as well. Bersatu president Muhyiddin has announced his withdrawal.
Only 91-year-old Mahathir is still holding strong. In fact, he has even reinforced his stand that he can be prime minister. However, he did say that the decision has to be a unanimous one if he were to be selected for the post.
But even if this line of old leaders decide to make way for young blood, are there any that would have the potential to take on that important post? Can any of you readers name an individual in the next layer of leadership in the opposition that would be suitable? I can’t.
 |
me? wakakaka |
Basically, Pakatan Harapan has just been unable to show the people that they are on top of the situation. In fact, they have even postponed their registration as an official coalition with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) because they can’t come to a decision for their office bearers.
It is unfair to voters when political parties aren’t able to provide a clear alternative for them to vote on. It would mean that they are actually taking the voting power out of the voters’ hands. Why vote in the first place if all the decisions will be made by other people?
 |
you will be voiceless |
But sadly, many have come to realize, though they won't admit to the existing reality, that a coalition founded on different ideological principles but mere opportunism to remove Najib would be a House built on sand. Because after Najib, what then?
On top of that, Pribumi insists on dominating the coalition with its leaders with the ulterior motive of convincing the Malay Heartland it will look after them. Not only is its party name per se a mocking sneering ketuanan insult to the non-Malays but its game plan is based on Mahathir's favourite gambit, that of 'divide & conquer' racism.
The original Pakatan Rakyat was a whole lot better, stronger and more stable because it had two strong men then, Anwar Ibrahim and Pak Haji Nik Aziz, who were able to keep the coalition reasonably cohesive by their moderate and compromising approaches.
Apart from Anwar being behind bars, there is one additional reason why the new Pakatan Harapan can't find a fresh and capable new leader to head it, namely, that it has for political correctness eliminate 35% of available leaders, those of Chinese, Indian and Eurasian ancestry [based on Malaysia's ethnic ratio of approximately Malays 50%: Natives 15%: Chinese 25%: Indians 10%].
Whether politicians like Ramkarpal Singh, Lim Guan Eng, Dr Ramasamy, etc will be good leader of PH or not is a separate question but they are all automatically 'disqualified' or in crude Malaysian Manglish 'dis-kulit-fied'.
 |
kt, don't forget me okay sweetie, wakakaka |
But if you name a young woman like Nurul Izzah, then notwithstanding she is a female in a Muslim environment, she will be almost or even completely acceptable, and definitely far more acceptable or 'kulit-fied' than Ramkarpal Singh, Lim Guan Eng, Dr Ramasamy.
Place the far more experienced and capable Teresa Kok against Nurul, and Teresa will find she can only continue to talk about her fave steamed salted eggs with mince meat to her constituency of Seputeh, while Nurul will be a possible PM-designate.
'Tis still a House built on sand, architecture-d on 'divide & conquer' racism for more than 22 years.
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