Save the Rain Forest....

Dragon

Another digression...

The eyes are now on Umno. A former vice-president who had never been able to wrestle his home state back from an Islamist party is now saying the nation lacks leadership although Malaysia has a prime minister, Umno president and the National Front. Ok. I often ponder over this... One person, whose state has been perpetually under the rule of the opposition, can say that the nation is without leadership... Then, my next question to the leader would be if he can see this happening to the nation, then why is his home state is still under the administration of the Islamist party... Would it not be better if such words are to come from a person whose state he represents is governed by the ruling coalition? Go figure... To me, it is like the pot calling the kettle black.

Then we have the Youth Wing of Umno, currently lead by Hishammuddin Hussein. He wants to quit for a more senior post. Granted, he is no spring chicken and well, time to make way for young blood. I hope the new young blood would remember that politics is the art of serving the larger interest, not self-interest. Looking at the current crop now, there may be one or two but the rest, I just hope they would remember who and what they represent. Otherwise, what goes around comes around.

I am also amazed when I read this (for those not in the know, this excerpt concerns the shenanigans within Umno, a party that the calls the shots in Barisan Nasional, that rules the country):

But these are early days yet. The nominations for posts, including those for the Youth wing, will take place when division meetings start in October and that’s when the games really begin.

More candidates are likely to emerge in the meantime. The possibilities are lawyer Razali Ibrahim and chartered accountant Datuk Norza Zakaria, the Youth heads for Johor and Federal Territory respectively.

They have probably not jumped in yet because they do not have the sort of war chests that Mukhriz and Khir are reputed to have.

Hmmm... war chest? War Chest = Money? War Chest = Money + Politics = Back to Square One.

Good sense should prevail. Please. After what the party had gone through, do we really really really need this? Come on la... Or else the nation will end up like this guy...

Another digression, and some fun...

Had a good laugh when I tried this... Now I know I'm worthless in bed...

A digression...

Writing, to some, is tedious but there are the few who enjoy it. For me, it is something that I had done for a good chunk of my life and to say that I have developed the skills of a prolific writer would be akin to saying that I have achieved the life that I wanted. But fact remains, my life is not what I want it to be and neither shall I ever be the prolific writer which I hope to be.

Is blogging writing? What is a blog anyway? I have been doing this since last year, partly because of too much free time and partly because of what had happened to me. Are bloggers nice? There are those who are sincere and there are those, well, I leave it that. They are no better than the people they are criticising. Somehow, being an influential blogger gives them immunity and the size of their head had swollen. Ah... the price of being influential... Your ascent from reality and descent to reality can be just as fast, or even faster than the speed of light.

In the time that I have writing for this site (I still dislike the term blogger - makes me think about loggers and what they do to the forest) I have made friends across the world. For instance Jin Jirrie, truly passionate about what she writes (note, I still use the term writing as opposed to blogging). Then there are the self-centred bloggers who right what they think is right and no, I shall not give them the privilege of messing up this posting of mine.

In perspective, may be these self-centred bloggers should read this. And most importantly, understand the implications.

Judging things from the way they are now, it appears that Malaysia and Malaysians in particular, should be more rational now. I think the people in Malaysia have shown their maturity, after 50 years of independence. The country is now in interesting times but of course, there are those who could not wait for it to descend into chaos. Whether this would be the case can only be left to time. Only its people can decide where it will be heading to and it is hoped that they would be wise in who they choose to lead them through these tumultuous times.

This digression of mine is necessary. I have been reading too much negative spin by bloggers, who write about social-political issues. Sometime I think that these bloggers are short of being a menace to society because nothing nobody does is right by them, or meet their "high exacting standards". And if you look at what they were before, well, some of them were not asked to be part of the mainstream, which is why they rebelled and joined the alternative. Well, finally we have a self-proclaimed most influential blogger elected to the house of representatives (I wish him luck and hope that he will fulfil his social contract with the electorate and, by the way, stop running down people). Perhaps he should apply to the Guinness Book of World Records and get himself included. After all, blogging is about getting publicity isn't it?

Enough digression and ramblings. Malaysia, I pray for you.

Malaysian Election Result - Is this what the people really wanted? (10)

Now is the time for cooler heads to prevail. Why talks about toppling government? Why calls for resignation of the prime minister? Yes, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is responsible for the poor showing but bear this in mind and these are facts:

• More than half the electorate that came out to vote casted their votes to the incumbent.
• Whether embattled or not, Abdullah must now reform his administration to regain the people's faith.
• He stood for election. Those calling for his resignation did not contest, with one being a first time voter (the person had admitted so).
• In their eagerness to call for his resignation, what are the alternatives? Have we considered what will happen after this? Stop looking for someone to blame. Look at the bigger picture.
  

It is rather peculiar why so many people (or is it really the people who are asking) wants him to resign. Bloggers in general, especially Malaysian ones, are up-in-arms asking for his resignation, claiming that it is what the people want... right... I thought this was a democracy. Abdullah was voted in. He got the majority and his coalition won. He made mistakes and he is trying to make amends but do these select few want to give him a chance? Nooooo... Abdullah must resign, they say... The people have spoken, they say... Right... What about the 52-odd percent who voted in the incumbent? I thought they had spoken and they wanted the incumbent.

I also have issues with point number 2. Abdullah is expected to carry out reforms but well, his new Cabinet line-up went poorly with bloggers in Malaysia. Not the people mind you, the bloggers. Looks like they don't like certain personalities there. When I read their blogs, I don't know what they want or who would be the right person in their mind. Perhaps the right person in their mind is the blogger but there is a problem here, the blogger did not stand for election.

While we are on this, could we also have past leaders, who instead of harping on the debacle that was the 12th General Elections, to instead help the leaders. One had even gone as far as saying that in Japan, such leaders would have committed harakiri. Sir, this is Malaysia, not Japan and Sir, taking one's own life is frowned upon by religion. Anyway Sir, weren't you the one, at one point of time in your life, had said you would stay on even if you won by 1 vote. With all due respect Sir, fix the blame, not find someone to blame and stop sniping. I think highly of you Sir but there is a limit to everything... Now you are not being cool.

Then we have the former deputy prime minister who could do no wrong but the courts decided otherwise, now goes around courting Members of Parliament from the ruling coalition, to entice them to join the Opposition. Dear Mr deputy prime minister, please show some respect to the voters. They voted who they wanted to vote for and it is definitely uncool of you to entice them. If these MPs want to cross over, then they should resign. These MPs won because the voters wanted the ruling coalition. Crossing over for now is definitely a no-no and it is a breach of the social contract between the elected and the electorate. Not cool Mr deputy prime minister, you are definitely not cool.

Now we come to the bloggers. After reading what they wrote, I thought they were trained by the CIA, KGB, FSB, MI5, Mossad etc... They have inside information and the way they have been writing is, well, the way they write... They be super-bloggers... (if you are to use fingers on both hands to count the number of these influential bloggers in Malaysia, you still have some to spare, fingers I mean). Anyway, these few bloggers keep talking about the need for Abdullah to resign as the people have spoken. Hallo... I thought 52-odd percent of votes went to the ruling coalition. Those who wanted the opposition had voted as such as the numbers is reflected as such.

Anyway, let common sense prevail. Being atypical Malaysian, everybody wants to find someone to blame. I would rather adopt the Japanese philosophy on such matter. Fix the blame, not find someone to blame. With that, I pray for Malaysia and I hope that cooler heads will prevail.

Malaysia Election - Is this what the people really wanted? (9)

The composition of the new Malaysian Cabinet (and no, not the one you find in your kitchen) is quite interesting. Those in the know may look at it as a peace offering but is it really that? Some bloggers seem to object to everything, maybe they want to be ministers... Anyway, have a gander at the following story from The Star. There is hope yet...

PM announces new Cabinet line-up

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced his new administration on Tuesday, trimming his Cabinet from 32 to 27 seats, of which more than half featured new faces.

"I hope they will perform better than before and I believe that with the choice we have made we will be able to fulfil our agenda," he said.

"I would like to tell you that this term we would go into vigorous implementation of our policies and projects. I have heard many times, and read many articles and comments by the people who said Pak Lah (Abdullah) has worked out the policies well but is short on implementation," he told a packed press conference at his office.

Abdullah, who retained his Finance portfolio, scrapped the post of parliamentary secretary.

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim is one of five ministers in the Prime Minister's Department

He did not retain big names such as Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz (former International Trade and Industry Minister), Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid (former Natural Resources and Environment Minister), Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad (former Home Affairs Minister), Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis (former Science, Technology and Innovation Minister) and Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor (former Tourism Minister).

MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting (former Housing and Local Government Minister) asked not to be reappointed so that he could focus his energies on rebuilding the MCA after its disappointing performance in the election.

Abdullah also merged the Home Affairs and Internal Security ministries, saying that they had many overlapping functions, and named former Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar as its minister.

"I am still surprised with the post although I was sure I will move from the Foreign Ministry," Syed Hamid said.

Former Maybank CEO Datuk Amirsham Abdul Aziz was also made Minister in the Prime Minister's Department

"I have to learn fast to regain public confidence in security related matters. Judging from the election results, Malaysians expect some things to be done," he said.

In the 12th general election on March 8, the Barisan Nasional saw its two-thirds majority in the 222-seat Parliament pared down to a simple majority, lost control of four states including industrial centres such as Selangor and Penang, and failed to wrest Kelantan back from PAS.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin, formerly Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Minister, said he was looking forward to the challenges of his new portfolio.

"I know the challenges in this ministry are very big and the expectations of the rakyat are very high, particularly in trying to make Malaysia the centre of excellence for higher education.

Umno information chief Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib is Rural and Regional Development Minister

"What I know is that the work is going to be very different from the ministry I was heading before, but I will reserve my plans for the ministry until I have been briefed by the ministry staff," said the Pasir Gudang MP.

Khaled took over the portfolio from Datuk Mustapa Mohamed, who is now the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister.

Abdullah also appointed two corporate figures, who will be sworn in as senators later Tuesday, as ministers in the Prime Minister's Department.

They are lawyer Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, the former MP of Kota Baru who was not chosen to contest in the recent general election, and Maybank chief executive officer Datuk Amirsham A. Aziz; the latter will head the Economic Planning Unit.

Wanita MCA chief Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen is Women, Family and Community Development Minister

In KOTA KINABALU, Liberal Democratic Party president Datuk Liew Vui Keong described the new Cabinet as a "dedicated team."

Liew, appointed Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister, said the people in the east coast district of Sandakan were very fortunate as they had a Chief Minister, a Deputy Chief Minister and a state cabinet minister representing them with him at the federal level.

Other new deputy ministers from Sabah in Abdullah’s line up are Kalabakan Umno MP Datuk Abdul Ghapur Salleh who was a deputy chief minister until 1999 when he resigned and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) president Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, the Pensiangan MP.

The fourth Sabahan was veteran Datuk Anifah Aman, the Umno MP for Kimanis, who was moved from the Plantation Industries and Commodities to the Transport ministry.

MIC secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam is Human Resources Minister

The three ministers from Sabah were United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Organisation (Upko) president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, Parti Bersatu Sabah deputy president Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili and Sabah Umno deputy liaison chief Datuk Shafie Apdal.

Dompok, the Penampang MP, was retained in the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department portfolio.

Dr Maximus, the MP for Kota Marudu, was moved from the Prime Minister’s Department to the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry.

Shafie, the Umno Semporna MP, was transferred from the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to the Ministry of Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage.

The full list:

Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

Deputy Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak

Ministers in the Prime Minister's Department
Tan Sri Bernard Dompok
Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz
Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim
Datuk Amirsham Abdul Aziz

Umno supreme council member Datuk Shahrir Samad is Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister

Deputy Ministers in the Prime Minister's Department
Datuk Johari Baharom
Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim
K. Devamany
Datuk Hasan Malek

Finance
Minister - Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Second Finance Minister - Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop
Deputies - Datuk Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, Datuk Kong Cho Ha

Defence
Minister - Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak
Deputy - Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop

Internal Security and Home Affairs
Minister - Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar
Deputies - Datuk Chor Chee Heung, Senator Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh

Housing and Local Government
Minister - Datuk Ong Ka Chuan
Deputies - Datuk Robert Lau, Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin

MCA secretary-general Datuk Ong Ka Chuan is Housing and Local Government Minister

Works Minister
Minister - Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamad
Deputy - Datuk Yong Khoon Seng

Energy, Water and Communications
Minister - Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor
Deputy - Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum

Agriculture and Agro-based Industry
Minister - Datuk Mustapa Mohamed
Deputy - Datin Paduka Rohani Abdul Karim

International Trade and Industry
Minister - Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
Deputies - Datuk Liew Vui Keong, Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan

Foreign Affairs
Minister - Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim
Deputy - Datuk Seri Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar

Education
Minister - Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein
Deputies - Datuk Wee Ka Siong, Datuk Razali Ismail

Higher Education
Minister - Datuk Khaled Nordin
Deputies - Dr Hou Kok Chung, Datuk Idris Harun

Kemaman MP Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek is Information Minister

Transport
Minister - Datuk Ong Tee Keat
Deputy - Datuk Anifah Aman

Human Resources
Minister - Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam
Deputy - Datuk Noraini Ahmad

Women, Family and Community Development
Minister - Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen
Deputy - Noriah Kasnon

National Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage
Minister - Datuk Shafie Apdal
Deputy - Datuk Teng Boon Soon

Science, Technology and Innovation
Minister - Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili
Deputy - Fadilah Yusof

Entrepreneurial and Cooperative Development
Minister - Datuk Noh Omar
Deputy - Datuk Saiffuddin Abdullah

Natural Resources and Environment
Minister - Datuk Douglas Unggah Embas
Deputy - Datuk Abdul Ghapur Salleh

Bera MP Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaacob is Youth and Sports Minister

Rural and Regional Development
Minister - Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib
Deputy - Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, Joseph Entulu Belaun

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs
Minister - Datuk Shahrir Samad
Deputy - Jelaing Mersat

Plantation Industries and Commodities
Minister - Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui
Deputy - Senator A. Kohilan

Youth and Sports
Minister - Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaacob
Deputy - Wee Jeck Seng

Health
Minister - Datuk Liow Tiong Lai
Deputy - Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad

Information
Minister - Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek
Deputy - Datuk Tan Lian Hoe

Tourism
Minister - Datuk Seri Azalina Othman
Deputy - Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib

Federal Territories
Minister - Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique
Deputy - Datuk M. Saravanan