Friday 24 April 2015

Dismally Diss-full Disdain



I had wondered about this weird maths that is the 1MDB debt and liabilities when the RM42b (At least? At most? Nobody knows?) was being bandied about.

By blogging about it, Che Det has sort of enabled the mainstream whatever to tap onto his comments and pursue this same line of enquiry.

Really, what were the billions used for and how did it grow that large?

On a micro economic level, people (you, me and everyone else who still cringe when they see the GST word on the receipt) largely knows how one’s debt grows: your unfettered credit-fueled spending like its nobody-else’s business.

Usually, it is none of anyone’s bleeping concern, except for those directly impacted by your orgy in maxing-up credit lines.

Could the same analogy be drawn when we talk about 1MDB?

BNM has pointed out that runs on the 1MDB debt liabilities would not cause a systemic risk to the local banking system.

Maybe, maybe not. At most some people would be getting less in their bonus payment, perhaps.

So what is it about 1MDB debts and liabilities that so rile us (meaning those who cares enough to follow the tech-filled saga closely) up?

Could it be the dismal adherence to governance aka “ikut suka aku, aku punya pasal la” stance to public scrutiny?


Tuesday 14 April 2015

In Need of a Hurrahiyipiekiaiyeoe Moment



What is it that some segment of the population could get and understand which the rest of us can’t seem to?
Really perplexing to see Umno Youth – including the much heralded KJ – going all Hurrahiyipiekiaiyeoe* after listening to PM Najib's “explanations” on the many questions posed to him.
Keeping in mind the questions, at least on the much maligned 1Em Dee Bee, have long been asked by the opposition Young Turks of Tony Pua, Rafizi and others for a long while now wayyyy before Dr Mahathir taking up the cudgel on the same set of questions.
Granted, the former PM’s questions get more prominence and suddenly, all hells broken lose.
Perhaps the rest of us are not seeing the big picture like the Umno Youth fellas and the Ketua Bahagians, eh?
Cannot be, what. Dr Mahathir is famous for this Big Picture mindset.
If he doesn’t get it, that really means something.
All manners of technicalities, perhaps?
Nahhh…. Pua and Rafizi have been yakking so much Goobledegookie tech stuff on the issues that would probably fill up a whole RM98-priced MBA student’s edition.
SO, what did the PM say that gets them so hyped up?
AND, why can’t the same hyped up hysteria be equally given to us Rakyats live through any one of the free TV channels?
Surely in this era of grimace-inducing, GST prompted, urm, profiteering and price hiking, we are entitled to some crowd surfing moments of our own?
So, how? Can or no can?
 * Similarities with Bruce Willis' famous "Yipikiyae Muther Bleeper" in the movie Die Hard (1988) is unintended.


Tuesday 7 April 2015

Snouts and Troughs

In suits they trot
Italian’s Caraceni and HK’s Ascot
With loud guffaws and the occasional snort
At times on high as though on pot

Oh who are they these snobbish smattering
Nonsensical talk and gibberish chattering
At a place most August yet they’re buffoon’ing
Oh who they are, from whence their originating

Eloquent advocate or puppet squealer
Effective pleader or frothing titular
We know this naught; nor do we bother
They’re so aloft, mostly aloof, often cavalier

Our voice they supposedly represent
Of publics interests, in distinct liberty and mutual consent
Transcending breed, beliefs, tracts and accent
Our hopes in them, so naïf so fervent

So, who are these callous few?
Do they not hear, have they no view
In patience stretched, of anger brew
Who are these, so screwed up their worldly purview?
Too damn late, things’ now gone askew
Just desserts for choices miscue?

In suits they trot
Amid much guffaws and snorts.