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?

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.

Fascist Book of Tricks

"It is an old strategy in the fascist book of tricks: to dehumanize the other, to relegate and reduce their individuality into racial labels and to render their hopes, fears and vulnerabilities invisible; in other words, to oppress. What is worse, passages from the holy Quran are evoked in the process for justification."

Ouch… Unless you have a supremely thick hide, to be called a fascist must surely hurt somewhere.

The only fascist I know in my ever so limited knowledge is Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), him who was a leader of one of the three Axis Alliance of World War II.

For an in-depth read on what exactly is fascism, look it up in Wikipedia here. One thing’s for sure, it is not pretty to be called one.

Anyway, the above is a direct copy pasting of a statement by the Islamic Renaissance Front titled: “Lessons from the demonization of DAP”.

This is in the back of two front pages by DAP’s perennial fourth estate foe, Utusan Malaysia, of so-called religious, urm, statement that it is haram (not kosher?) to vote for DAP and any other political parties who are “sekongkol”ing with them as they (DAP, that is) is a kafir harbi kind of party.

As I don’t read Utusan, I neither know head nor tale of the detail story, but even the headline is somewhat silly vis a vis the soon-but-not-that soon to be held 13^th General Election. 

Say, just say for brevity's sake that you do take the issue seriously.

Okay; noted then. No crossing the boxes of DAP candidates, even if they are Malays or Muslims.

No crossing boxes of “sekongkol”ing political parties either; so scratch PSM, PKR and PAS candidates.

Which leaves fellow non partisan Malaysian Muslims with pretty much only the independents IF they wish to NOT vote for the candidates of UMNO and “sekongkol”ing MCA-MIC and the likes.

 

You know, there is such a thing as Syubhah (looks like haram but not quite, so better to keep at arm’s length).

Then again, independents these days are either BN or PR friendly, so you’re stuck there to.

I give up: do you even get to exercise this once every five year basic right then?

Seriously, Utusan Malaysia has played the racial card and now is playing the religious card against DAP with nary a slap on the wrist.

To what ends are the editors looking at with such incendiary headlines?

Let’s face it: as it is, many have made up their made their mind whose butt they want kicked come vote counting time, and stoking such racial and religious lines just jack up the adrenaline levels of only hard core followers.

I seriously doubt it will sway the so called fence sitters with minds of their own.

Scoring Points and Keeping Tabs

Apparently the government has been keeping tabs on the things it’s done to and for the Rakyat at large.

Not just of late but as soon as the country hoisted its own Jalur Gemilang to replace the Union Jack some 55 years ago.

Hence, this statement by Info Minister Rais Yatim: “…The government has already decided to continue using the theme 'Janji Ditepati' (Promises Fulfilled) for the 55th Merdeka celebrations despite the criticisms, because since 1957 we have fulfilled almost 95% of what we have committed to achieve for the people.”

Hear that: 95%! Definitely a high score.

And here we thought that the politicians forming the executives of this country had been slogging throughout, you know, out of pure love for the country.

Keeping count is like having a black book of tabs to call in should there be a need to do so in the future.

So much for ikhlas-ness, eh?

BUT just how in heaven’s name do you compute on fulfilling commitments for the people?

The qualitative stuff such as roadworks, rails, ports, airports, buildings etc is QED though still argumentative, but what about the more subjective ones such as wellbeing (as opposed to pure monetary computation), nation building, solidarity, (ahem) patriotism etc.

How does someone derive the “95% Janji (telah) Di Tepati” scoreline?

Is there a national accounting book lying somewhere on commitments promised and things done to achieve the said commitments and targets?

What are the KPIs ? Did KPIs and the rest of the acronyms so synonymous with the current government existed back when Malaysia was still Tanah Melayu?

Does it extend to Sabah and Sarawak (and Singapore, too, for a short while) when they joined the Peninsular to become Malaysia in 1963?

Who is the bookkeeper of this “Commitments to the Rakyat and What’s Achieved to Date” register? Is there an audit to see who and what is slacking so that knuckles can be rapped?

Perhaps the Minister did not mean to let the cat out of the bag of this so-called national count keeping thingy: maybe it is supposed to be a hush, hush, super confidential, super secretive, PM's (and close allies) eyes and ears only, item.

Something like the Book of Secrets “discovered” by Nicholas “Benjamin Gates” Cage of the National Treasure franchise.

Now, THAT would be cool.

Fanciful Sniggers

"Using the photographic blocking system, it has been determined that 22,270 people were at the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28. This is close to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) estimated figure of 25,000 people but way off from what Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had announced to the rest of the world."

Quoting Rais Yatim;figures apparently from Bernama.

What is this penchant for dwelling on the trees and missing out on the forest?

So what? What if merely 2,353 people turned up?

What about their message of the need for electoral reforms? For the Authoritative Institutions to not be tainted with hints (much less full stench) of partisanship?

What is so bloody wrong with freer and fairer elections anyway?

All these statements would be quite comic if not for the almost tragic connotations of their utterance.

Why is there a need to whittle the numbers down? Just because Anwar says its 250,000 doesn’t mean it is.

Everyone knows so.

BUT, if the turnout had really been 22, 270, then probably the Parliament would have been dissolved by now.

Especially since the Umno recently held 66^th birthday (really? Umno Baru?) garnered like, what, 150,000 attendees?

Being in a Stadium, probably Bernama super duper masses calculation method via the “photographic blocking system” would not be needed to cite the figure, correct?

So, what’s the hold up?

Doesn’t BN want the three states back into their fold?

Doesn’t BN want to kick LGE / KI / AAR out of office and save the down-trodden and sidelined Malays from the clutches of the LGBT-loving and promoting PR?

After all, 22,270 is barely 0.18 percent of the total number of voters in Malaysia (12,595,268, isn’t it?)

You can say, Bah!!, snigger away and say: Okay, let’s get a good margin mandate now.

And remember too, the 22,270 people are most probably from the Klang Valley, which means that their votes would be in places like Jinjang, Kepong and Bukit Bintang anyway. Or Klang and Gombak.

Again: Bah!!! Snigger and holds the General Election.

22,270 is like the number of people at a Pasar Malam.

Status Blipping Quo

It’s barely a week into the New Year and some things looked pretty much status quo for the country.

The (ahem) alleged dipping of greedy hands into public coffers and land reared its ugly head again with this piece of news today.

Curious though as to why this featured in the Metro instead of the national pages. Hmmm…

There are some nice aerial-view pictures, too, ala a dentist and former Selangor MB’s multi-million Shah Alam’s home expose some time ago.

From the article, it sure looks as though the alleged dipper (heh) had decided to “fu*&ing GungHo” it with regards a disputed land for public use to come up with some nice, beautiful, unaffordable to the masses, homes.

The report mentions some VIP as well, alas, minus their glorious names, as owners of these homes.

This land dipping allegation, however, show up a certain political solidarity with PKR, Umno and MIC in the thick of things notwithstanding the existence of the so-mentioned VIPs.

Kudos to them, I say.

I wonder what can be done against the alleged offender in this case. We’ve seen a fair share of illegally constructed building (mostly miniscule ones, though) being torn down in the past by local authorities.

Would Dewan Bandaraya similarly take a “fu*&ing GungHo” approached IF the encroachment is indeed illegal? Will it?

I seriously doubt so.

Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin was quoted in the report as saying that action will be taken in the matter against the alleged offender.

What kind of action? As paraphrased: “a notice would be issued to the developer”.

Sure makes you want to holler out loud until tears gush down your red, flushed cheeks, doesn’t it?

Expect the case to go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on…

Yep. No ending in sight.

Like I said, it’s pretty much status quo in Malaysia.

Déjà Vu, even.

Positive Prose

A beautiful rendition taken from www.writteninsight.com

Reading Tunku Abdul Aziz: The truth about bloggers got me thinking into the reasons why many are jumping into the bandwagon (a tired old cliché, eh?) of blogging, for want of a better word.

Most of the better known bloggers are doing it in protest of the clamp on freedom of speech. Never mind the many pontifications by obviously internet-literate politicians of wanting to control blogs, bla bla bla… the question they would need to first ask would be: Just how do you stop someone from writing what’s in their minds?

Blogs are after all just a notepad – albeit a virtual one – that is extended to friends, relatives, even strangers, just by virtue of their knowing where to look. The braver spirits put their names and often their whole lives – including that of their families – within these private pages; while other far less extroverted in character hides behind pseudonyms.

Anything wrong with that?

Someone somewhere might just write some crappy comments about, let’s say, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and this note is seen by someone else who shows it to someone else. What is important to realize is that just because the so-call comments are written and read, does not make it the unequivocal truth. It might be perceived as the truth by those who read the note, but could hardly stand the scrutiny of being the truthfully truthful truth.

How does one even know what is the truth, anyway?

This is where credibility comes into play. When a blogger, or a writer (any wordsmith outside of the fictional genre) chooses to pen his or her name on his words, due respect should be accorded accordingly to the degree of truth in what was written. Grant respect where its due.

At the very least, the subject of their comments - should they take offence – can then pursue the matter further, legal or illegally.

Those looking at blogs in a derogatory way are missing out on the insight provided by the medium of the person writing the postings – their thoughts, their outlook on life, their private sentiments, the background situation behind their postings.

Just like diaries, especially those written in times of hardship, blogs can be very illuminating. There are some brilliant prose, insightful words and speeches waiting to be discovered. They need not be all deep, emotional and poignant postings, as shown by some of the younger set of bloggers who writes with stylish slang.

If you are less than inclined with this style of writing, just turn away as you are essentially looking someone’s personal space, albeit one that is open to everyone who cares to visit.

After all, it could just the posting of someone who is bored and looking for some escape from life’s tedium.