MAHATHIR VS LEE KUAN YEW : SENILITY COMPARISONS?
It is no wonder that Mahathir had once likened Singapore as the sore tip of the finger as the latter had always been ‘the standing indictment of all the things Malaysia can and should be doing differently’.
September 28, 2010, 7:36 pm
Filed under: Asean, Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, UMNO | Tags: 53 years of independence, growing old, Lee Kuan Yew, LKY, Mahathir, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, PAP, Singapore, UMNO, wisdom
Filed under: Asean, Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, UMNO | Tags: 53 years of independence, growing old, Lee Kuan Yew, LKY, Mahathir, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, PAP, Singapore, UMNO, wisdom
A not-so-old man once declared in a lecture that whilst growing older is mandatory, growing wiser is optional!
This saying came immediately to mind when the media reported extensively the New York Times / IHT interview with Lee Kuan Yew and at the same time Mahathir’s warning to the Malays that they were going to ‘lose’ their status in the country should the opposition “People’s Alliance” or “Pakatan Rakyat” come to power in the next General Elections.
Now, you have on the one hand, somebody who is enjoying the fruits of his labor …. a prosperous Singapore – after having been thrown out of the Malaysian Federation back in the mid-1960s AND on the other hand, somebody who is trying to keep his legacy from being torn to shreds …. hence his attempts to instill fear into the Malay community!
What a comparison and what a shame ….. especially if one is Malaysian.
And depending on the route one takes in the ‘growing wiser’ option, one can either turn into fine wine or …… vinegar!
In the case of the Lee Kuan Yew & Mahathir comparison, it is quite obvious LKY would win the ‘fine wine’ category hands-down!
It is no wonder that Mahathir had once likened Singapore as the sore tip of the finger as the latter had always been ‘the standing indictment of all the things Malaysia can and should be doing differently’.
It is also no wonder that the Malaysian UMNO politicians harangue and insult LKY whenever he points out factual issues and events between the two countries …. because Malaysia’s UMNO led government had always played second fiddle to their neighbours down south ….. out of choice, in favor of self interests!
And after 53 years of independence, the Rakyat has become mature and wise enough to vote in a government that would have the ‘political will’ to act in the interests of the country …… something that appears to be so lacking in the current administration.
1 Comment
SEDITIOUS CARTOONS : BECAUSE IT’S A VOTE LOSER FOR UMNO?
One thing’s for sure ….. Zunar’s book of cartoons will now be a best-seller …. at least in the ‘under-ground’ market ….. which may even be distributed in cyber-sphere!
September 26, 2010, 12:00 am
Filed under: Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian Health sector, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, UMNO | Tags: Cartoons, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, Najib, Nizar, Rosmah, sedition, Steven Gan, Zulkiflee Ulhaque, Zunar
Filed under: Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian Health sector, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, UMNO | Tags: Cartoons, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, Najib, Nizar, Rosmah, sedition, Steven Gan, Zulkiflee Ulhaque, Zunar
When I read that the book of cartoons by Zunar (Zulkiflee Anawar Ulhaque) had been banned and its cartoonist arrested for sedition ….. plus the fact that Malaysiakini’s office in Bangsar was raided in the vain search for copies of those ‘cartoonies’ …. my first impression was that the book must have depicted blasphemous scenes of the religious order or even inflammatory depictions of the racial order.
Alas, it was neither. click HERE
It was a cartoon book of political slant which had caricatures that included the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib and his wife.
One thing’s for sure ….. Zunar’s book of cartoons will now be a best-seller …. at least in the ‘under-ground’ market ….. which may even be distributed in cyber-sphere!
Personally, I do not think that Najib nor wife would be offended by those caricatures.
The establishment’s concern has more to do with the fact that this kind of book will ‘connect’ with the younger set of Malaysian voters …. a group that the UMNO led Barisan Nasional government is trying their utmost to win over.
I am sure that the sedition issue will be dropped once the UMNO led Barisan Nasional government gets their own cartoonists in action by depicting such caricatures in UMNO’s favor ….. just as they did with the blogging fraternity after the March 2008 General Elections!
‘STANDING COUNT’ FOR ETP (EXTRA TERUK PROGRAM)?
But past is the past …. and we are in current times …. and our leaders appear oblivious that times have changed …. much to the Rakyat’s consternation.
One of the key reasons why things never get off the ground is that we have too many chiefs (usually Little Napoleons) and too few Indians (Red, I mean) to do the work. I am referring to the EPU, Khazanah, Pemandu, NEAM, BNM, SC etc etc.
September 23, 2010, 7:02 am
Filed under: Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, UMNO | Tags: 1Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia, BNM, Economic Transformation Program, ETP, Extra Teruk Program, Idris Jala, Khazanah, Lim Kit Siang, Najib, NEM, Private sector initiative, Tun Ismail Ali
Filed under: Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, UMNO | Tags: 1Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia, BNM, Economic Transformation Program, ETP, Extra Teruk Program, Idris Jala, Khazanah, Lim Kit Siang, Najib, NEM, Private sector initiative, Tun Ismail Ali
Observers are already giving the ‘standing count’ to our country ambitious ETP a.k.a. Economic Transformation Program.
(Note: A standing count in boxing is to enable the referee to stop the fight and see if the boxer (in duress) can continue with the fight)
Maybe these are the kind of stimulants that worked in the past especially during the era of Mahathirism.
But past is the past …. and we are in current times …. and our leaders appear oblivious that times have changed …. much to the Rakyat’s consternation.
As quite rightly articulated by one, our policy framework is just out-of-sync with the current situation at hand.
So long as this fundamental structure is not addressed to expeditiously, you can have all the ETPs, NEMs, Khazanahs and 1Malaysias …. but they will be just illusions.
One of the key reasons why things never get off the ground is that we have too many chiefs (usually Little Napoleons) and too few Indians (Red, I mean) to do the work. I am referring to the EPU, Khazanah, Pemandu, NEAM, BNM, SC etc etc.
Maybe it’s about time, it is concentrated and coordinated at one source.
So far, the one that stands out as a steady ship is Bank Negara Malaysia ….. thanks mostly to the strong leaderships of the Governors, a legacy of the late Tun Ismail Ali.
But alas, everything in Malaysia seems to depend on the political will!
SIME’S CONFESSIONS : BUT WHERE ARE AUDITOR’S?
But from the reading of it, action will be taken in the form of legal action and reports to the relevant authorities.
September 21, 2010, 10:30 pm
Filed under: Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian Health sector, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, UMNO | Tags: Azhar, Bakke, Energy & Utilities Division, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Sime Darby, Tun Musa Hitam
Filed under: Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian Health sector, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, UMNO | Tags: Azhar, Bakke, Energy & Utilities Division, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Sime Darby, Tun Musa Hitam
Well, the long awaited forensic report about the losses incurred by Sime Darby’s Energy & Utilities division is out.
And no surprises as far as corporate Malaysia is concerned! click HERE
It was wrong doings galore but the details and people involved have not been made public …. apparently under legal advice.
But from the reading of it, action will be taken in the form of legal action and reports to the relevant authorities.
The question that begs to be asked is ….. will the legal action be whimpers / wrist slappers …… and will the relevant authorities take the requisite action and charges that befits the wrong-doing?
The public awaits with anxiety …… with equal wonder as to whether the auditors will take their share of the flak too!
JUST WHO IS TRYING TO ‘STOP CRITICISMS’ EMANATING FROM GOPAL SRI RAM?
“Be you ever above, the law is still above” was one of his quotes ….. and that was how he treated cases involving individuals who were deemed well connected with the ‘executive’.
September 20, 2010, 1:29 am
Filed under: Ahirudin Attan, Asean, Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian Health sector, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, Rocky's Bru, UMNO | Tags: Ahirudin Attan, Chief Justice of Malaysia, Court of Appeal, Federal Court, Gopal Sri Ram, Lord President, Malay Mail editor, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, Rocky, Zaki Azmi
Filed under: Ahirudin Attan, Asean, Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian Health sector, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, Rocky's Bru, UMNO | Tags: Ahirudin Attan, Chief Justice of Malaysia, Court of Appeal, Federal Court, Gopal Sri Ram, Lord President, Malay Mail editor, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, Rocky, Zaki Azmi
Boy, to have a recently retired senior judge to criticise the government and the partiality of the judiciary must be quite damaging to the UMNO led Barisan Nasional government. click HERE
More so when the country is virtually at the bottom of most ratings …. other than those slanted self glorifications created by self interested parties.
It is no wonder that ‘damage control’ started to kick in with the counter attacks initiated by media assassin Rocky a.k.a. Ahirudin bin Attan! click HERE
They obviously want this high profile individual to clam up!
As usual, the first Rocky strike was below the belt ….. like “why did Gopal Sri Ram keep quiet when he was in the judiciary? Why did he stay on …. he should have resigned!”
Such shallow criticism reflects a lack of attempt to understand the individual before indulging in the barrage of personal attacks against a person of substance who was operating in a hostile environment ‘controlled by the executive’.
“Be you ever above, the law is still above” was one of his quotes ….. and that was how he treated cases involving individuals who were deemed well connected with the ‘executive’.
And yet he did not waver and therefore caused severe embarrassment to the establishment that tried to push ahead with their agenda with utter dis-regard to the law.
It has been much speculated that he was confined to the Court of Appeal precisely for that reason …… so that his decisions at the Court of Appeal could be over-turned at the Federal Court level. There are enough cases here for you to be the judge of that!
It was only in his last year or so before retirement that Gopal Sri Ram was elevated to the Federal Court in 2009.
One thing good ol’ Rocky did not appreciate was that Gopal Sri Ram stayed on in the judiciary because he wanted to create change from within. Alas it was not to be ….. maybe he was not good enough OR maybe because it was resisted with the support of the executive.
And by the way, it would be totally out of decorum if he was to publicly air his grouses whilst serving in the judiciary. It is usually done within …. out of the ear shot of people like Rocky!
For the attack on Gopal Sri Ram to take place shows the esteem he is placed in by most that one can even speculate that Gopal Sri Ram may be the next Chief Justice of Malaysia under a Pakatan Rakyat government!
MALAYSIA : A ‘SHUNNED COUNTRY’ TO INVESTORS?
The next level is ….. to be as good as ‘dead’ …. figuratively speaking!!
September 16, 2010, 8:17 pm
Filed under: Asean, Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Health sector, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, UMNO, Uncategorized | Tags: Anwar Ibrahim, Asia Pacific, Bank of America Merrill Lynch report, Investors, least favored market in the Asia Pacific for investors, Lee Kuan Yew, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, Najib, Putrajaya, shunned investment destination
Filed under: Asean, Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Health sector, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, UMNO, Uncategorized | Tags: Anwar Ibrahim, Asia Pacific, Bank of America Merrill Lynch report, Investors, least favored market in the Asia Pacific for investors, Lee Kuan Yew, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, Najib, Putrajaya, shunned investment destination
Why is it that when it was reported that Malaysia is the “least favored market” in the Asia Pacific for investors, I was not the least surprised? click HERE
Aren’t all the tell tale signs, red flags, research reports (objective ones), speeches by luminaries including birthday boy, Lee Kuan Yew …… enough to indicate that Malaysia is on the verge to ‘suffocate’?!
The next level is ….. to be as good as ‘dead’ …. figuratively speaking!!
The sad part of this whole episode is that the denial mode is still very significant especially to those with entrenched interests.
Why do they care anyway? They may already have stashed away …… enough riches to last several of their generations!
Sure, they always say that what politicians say is not as critical as what they do.
But what have they actually done todate to arrest the symptoms of ‘suffocation’?
I won’t give an answer to that ….. for it is clear for all to see ….. from whichever angle one is to view the ‘scenery’.
Najib must now gather the political will to do what is necessary ….. failing which Anwar Ibrahim and gang will just ride into Putrajaya on the crest of the ‘need for change’.
SOSILAWATY’S CALAMITY : COULD IT HAVE BEEN AVOIDED?
But let’s not forget, the more these crimes are left unsolved, the more they will be committed with impunity.
September 14, 2010, 8:22 am
Filed under: Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, UMNO | Tags: Banting, IGP, Ismail Omar, lawyer murderers, murders, Musa Hassan, Nalliannen, Pathmanabhan, Sosilawaty, Surendran
Filed under: Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, UMNO | Tags: Banting, IGP, Ismail Omar, lawyer murderers, murders, Musa Hassan, Nalliannen, Pathmanabhan, Sosilawaty, Surendran
It is most distressing, especially when one considers the young children left behind, to read about the brutal murder of Sosilawaty and her associates.
It becomes even more distressing when it is now reported that the alleged murderers may be linked to at least 9 other missing individuals …. who are now feared to have met with the same fate as Sosilawaty.
I understand these other missing individuals’ relatives had also made reports to the police …. similar to what Sosilawaty’s family had done.
The question that is bound to be asked when it comes to the stage of ‘what lessons have been learnt from this episode’ would be …… does the case need to have a high profile individual involved for it to be adequately investigated into?
Maybe it’s the usual issues like lack of resources, lack of talent, lack of training etc.
But let’s not forget, the more these crimes are left unsolved, the more they will be committed with impunity.
This applies to all sorts of crimes …… and is not confined to murders alone!
This reminds me of the case against the murderers of the Mongolian girl, Altantuya, where it was mentioned in court that the site of the murder is an area where other such grisly crimes could have occurred!
That is chilling!
Both these crimes provide us with a legitimate concern and hope that they are not prevalent in Malaysia.
And with the entry of our new Inspector General of Police, we also hope that when he said, “I will do my best”, it is not purely rhetorical!
STOKING COMMUNALISM : IS UMNO & PERKASA SPAT A “SANDIWARA”?
September 9, 2010, 7:48 am
Filed under: Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, UMNO | Tags: 1Malaysia, Ibrahim Ali, Khairy Jamaluddin, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, Najib, Perkasa, snap elections, Tengku Adnan Mansor, UMNO, UMNO Secretary General
Filed under: Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, UMNO | Tags: 1Malaysia, Ibrahim Ali, Khairy Jamaluddin, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, Najib, Perkasa, snap elections, Tengku Adnan Mansor, UMNO, UMNO Secretary General
UMNO is indeed caught in a bind …. like the phrase, being caught “between the devil and the deep blue sea”. click HERE
On the one hand, the party was originally set up to represent the interests of the Malay of the land.
On the other hand, it has lost its credibility, in the eyes of the non-Malays, to warrant the legitimacy to lead the country impartially.
What has made it worst is that a significant portion of the Malay population is doubting the integrity of the war-lords helming the party!
It is no wonder that talk making the rounds in the corridors of power is the impending snap elections that Najib is seriously considering.
Should this occur, Najib will be cleaning the slate by appointing his own people (hopefully ‘clean’ people) as candidates …. people who reflect his 1Malaysia credentials, hope and vision!
It is no wonder that the UMNO war-lords are fighting tooth and nail against the proposed snap elections as they would be decimated even before the snap elections proper takes place!
Come to think of it, it is Najib who is now caught “between the devil and the deep blue sea”!
SPEAK CONFIDENTLY ….. AND MULTI-LINGUALLY!
Relegating the police officer to a desk job for castigating the poor woman for not being able to speak the Malay language misses the whole point!
September 6, 2010, 8:19 pm
Filed under: China, Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian politics, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion | Tags: Barisan Nasional, Cop, go back to China, Malay, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, Malaysian Mirror, Police, theft victim, UMNO
Filed under: China, Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian politics, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion | Tags: Barisan Nasional, Cop, go back to China, Malay, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, Malaysian Mirror, Police, theft victim, UMNO
It was with much amusement reading about the desperate ways in which the UMNO led Barisan Nasional government is trying to appease and win back the support, in this case, of the non-Malays. click HERE
Everything nowadays seem to be seen under the prism of what race you represent.
Relegating the police officer to a desk job for castigating the poor woman for not being able to speak the Malay language misses the whole point!
The more important point here is that the woman, or any Malaysian who has had an education (everyone should, right?) should not only have the ability to speak Malay (our national language) but also other languages ….. especially English.
It is quite obvious why English is top of my list ….. it is spoken the world over and communication is essential in this rough and tumble world that we live in.
Even Indian and Malay families are sending their children to Chinese schools to learn the latter’s lingo.
I would! After all, did they not say that China will be the next economic power and doing business with them is inevitable?
So, if one is able to have a more than reasonable command of English, Chinese and Malay (considering the huge potential in Indonesia too under SBY), would it not put that individual in good stead for the future?
By the way, I think Malaysians should also try to master Hindi or Tamil!!
SCURRILOUS CHARACTERS : THE NEED TO REIN THEM IN
Then there was this Sabah politician, Jeffrey Wong, who claimed that he was bestowed a ‘knighthood’ from Queen Elizabeth herself. There was even a ‘doctored’ picture of both Queen and the man himself!
And lately, there is this dispute between Vinod Sekhar, a Forbes ranked 16th richest man in Malaysia, and the Insolvency Department over his bankruptcy status arising from non payment of RM12 million to his creditors! I recall news of him nearly having had himself
September 5, 2010, 12:24 pm
Filed under: Ahirudin Attan, Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, Rocky's Bru, UMNO | Tags: Bukit Tunku home, drug cartels, Elie Youssef Najem, enforcers, Farid Ariffin, Idris Jala, Jeffrey Wong, law enforcement, Makna, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, Mexico, Vinod Sekhar
Filed under: Ahirudin Attan, Coaching & Mentoring, Corporate Governance, Global financial crisis, Human Resources, Malaysia, Malaysia politics, Malaysian Bloggers, Malaysian politics, Pakatan Rakyat, Racial Issues, Racial politics, Rakyat's concerns, Religion, Rocky's Bru, UMNO | Tags: Bukit Tunku home, drug cartels, Elie Youssef Najem, enforcers, Farid Ariffin, Idris Jala, Jeffrey Wong, law enforcement, Makna, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, Mexico, Vinod Sekhar
Remember Elie Youssef Najem? He is supposed to be a billionaire …. third richest man in the world. Even ex-Minister, Farid Ariffin was duped by this Elie …. whose subsequent life story became a farce and laughing stock of the tabloids!
What really concerns the rakyat is that if left unchecked, these ‘monsters’ will become a law unto themselves and will be difficult to subsequently eradicate …. as is being experienced in Mexico with the drug cartels, with enforcement officers being brutally and callously murdered.
