It is easy to remember good government , even if we tend to take it for granted when we get it. It works. Rotten governance is more complicated, for its consequences are more evident than its causes.
The structure of government does not change, whether it is brilliant or awful. A prime minister presides. A Cabinet sits in attendance. But government collapses when common purpose is lost, when every minister becomes his own master and the prime minister turns into a helpless spectator. Government degenerates into a circus without a programme; acrobats become indistinguishable from clowns. The next prime minister must be able to exercise something more vital than the tenuous authority of an office no one takes seriously . Najib has had a resigned air without anyone actually having resigned.
Should inflation be considered an obvious manifestation of political mismanagement? A major reason for today’s street rage is certainly the fact that food inflation has averaged over 10%
The structure of government does not change, whether it is brilliant or awful. A prime minister presides. A Cabinet sits in attendance. But government collapses when common purpose is lost, when every minister becomes his own master and the prime minister turns into a helpless spectator. Government degenerates into a circus without a programme; acrobats become indistinguishable from clowns. The next prime minister must be able to exercise something more vital than the tenuous authority of an office no one takes seriously . Najib has had a resigned air without anyone actually having resigned.
Should inflation be considered an obvious manifestation of political mismanagement? A major reason for today’s street rage is certainly the fact that food inflation has averaged over 10%
The Kangkung Strike Back. Mr PM Please Read This Blog Post. You Dont Understand Things Well.
This is from The Star :
Najib hits back at kangkung critics
> Najib Tun Razak said he used kangkung to explain supply & demand
> I like to eat kangkung
> I gave example on the principle of supply and demand which decide the prices of some of the food commodities which are not subject to price controls," he said.
> the vegetable was only one example of food items used by the public. (Huh ??)
> "..use existing laws against any trader who charges too high"
> he and deputy would go down to the ground to check on prices
Big mistake Mr PM. You really are being misled by your advisors and consultants. Now the people whom you are insulting (ie the members of the public) will associate you with kangkung and quail (kangkung dan puyuh). Just wait and see.
Mr PM the mistake you made was that you accused the people, the rakyat, the citizens, the ordinary man in the street that they were not grateful to you and your gomen when the prices of kangkung went down. Dont believe me? Listen to yourself.
This is what you said:
> masa naik dia persalahkan kerajaan...
> bila dah turun kenapa tak puji kerajaan
> Ini tidak adil
These were your own words. Mr PM please think. Why should the rakyat have to be thankful to you when the price of kangkung goes down?
As you rightly put it, kangkung price is subject to supply and demand. You yourself said it. The price of kangkung is not dependent on you or your gomen.
So why did you say that the rakyat should be thankful to you and your gomen when the price of kangkung goes down? You even said 'Ini tidak adil'.
That is why people are making fun of you. You do not seem to understand simple basic things. If left to market forces the people will not blame you for high prices.
The people never blamed you for the up and down movement of kangkung prices.
People are blaming you for the prices of goods, foods and services that are INDEED THE SUBJECT OF PRICE CONTROLS.
Prices that are determined by you and your gomen, either directly or indirectly through your policies.
Here is a short list:
1. Minimum wages RM900 (a killer, determined by you)
2. Price of petrol (determined by you)
3. price of electricity (a TNB monopoly, price determined by you & JJ)
4. price of sugar (a monopoly - removal of subsidy determined by you)
5. price of rice (a Bernas monopoly - price determined by you)
6. the price of cars (monopolised by Proton - price determined by you)
7. price of almost all imported products (subject to APs controlled by your cronies)
8. price of postage (minimum 60 sen now - determined by you, just before Syed Mokhtar bought POS)
9. toll rates - determined by you
10. quit rent hiked up - determined by you
11. price of steel - determined by you, through import controls
12. price of cement - determined by you, through import controls
13. price ("and other costs") suffered at Puspakom
14. price ("and other costs") suffered at Metrology (a monopoly that calibrates all mesin timbang, including those used to weigh kangkung)
15. taxi fares (determined by you)
16. express bus fares (determined by you)
17. school bus fares (determined by you)
18. train fares (determined by you)
19. LRT and MRT fares (determined by you)
20. digital tv infra charges (determined by you)
21. Langkawi ferry fares (determined by you)
22. Lesen perniagaan DBKL - determined by you (gone up)
23. Price of Mandarin oranges - determined by you (import controls)
24. price of baby formula - determined by you (import controls)
25. price of my cigars - determined by you (APs)
26. price of hiring foreign maids (a killer, determined by you)
27. price of hiring foreign workers (another killer, determined by you)
28. price of imported beef - (determined by you - AP is controlled by one person)
29. price of medicine supplied by Pharmaniaga (determined by you, its a monopoly)
30. Dear readers, can you all please add to this list. Thank you. The PM needs an economic primer on managing the country. and a thousand other prices.
There are NO market forces or very little market forces operating here. I am not saying market forces must operate here. Let me repeat (in case your boys twist things around). I am not saying market forces must operate here.
I am pointing out the fact that in Malaysia market forces DO NOT determine the prices of the things on this list - plus many, many more.
Dear Prime Minister please look at that list again. Do you see kangkung on that list? No you dont.
Why? Because kangkung is NOT a price controlled or price regulated item. Kangkung depends on market forces. No one blamed you for kangkung prices going up or down.
Therefore your point that "bila (harga kangkung) dah turun kenapa tak puji kerajaan" is completely out of place. It is an illogical statement.
No one mentioned kangkung. Who mentioned kangkung? You did. You mentioned an item that is NOT subject to price controls.
So which prices are the people complaining about? Look at the list again. The people are complaining about the prices that are determined by you Sir, Najib Tun Razak the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Not the prices determined by the market forces of supply and demand. Whether we like it or not, the market forces are more ADIL. They do not discriminate.
We cannot say the same for all these "controls" that we have in our economy. All these "controls" need good and careful management. This is where you and your gomen are falling down. You are not managing things well. That is what the people are complaining about.
Najib's route to power had two maps: maximization of electoral spread through regional alliances, and largesse from the national kitty, in the name of distributive justice, to targeted demographic clusters
Najib is reversing decisions made byMahathir, not by an Opposition party. That is the nub. And now Khairy has been discovered accepting cheques for services rendered. Najib slipped through this minefield by claiming he did not know anything. will not have the luxury of such indulgence in an election season
The issue is basically how the Prime Minister in this country is chosen. The way the Prime Minister should be chosen in this country is through the MPs. Our system chooses MPs & MPs elect Prime Minister.that democracy is about respect of processes. Democracy is about non-arbitrary decisions. Democracy is about spreading decisions; it is not about destroying processes. There is a process in the constitution and that process says, and it is clearly written in the constitution, and it says members of parliament are to be elected by the population and members of parliament are to elect the Prime Minister.Najibi’s problem is not the culpability of others, but sins within. A knight in shining armour is better suited for the frontlines of opposition.7years in power leave him vulnerable to slippage towards a Don Quixote, tilting at windmills in the hope of heroism. Najib is reinventing himself as a blueblood warrior against sleaze. He rolled up his sleeves yet again and became avenging angel on voters. gesture of furious piety has enough money left over for both legal fees and endless celebration.in kickbacks have become a little fatter.then during my period.
There is a new development on the Malaysian political scene. PKR and Umno are holding unofficial talks regarding coming to the conference table to explore issues of common and national interest. The two news items below confirm this but what I want to talk about today is the following part of those news reports:
In response, Anwar said: “I must commend Zahid Hamidi as this is the first positive response of any senior Umno leader to reach a national consensus”. Anwar said that PKR party secretary-general, Datuk Saifuddin Nasution, has been instructed to explore the issue and take the proposal forward.So now we are beginning to understand what Anwar Ibrahim’s ‘national consensus’ press conference at 3.00pm yesterday was all about. It was to prepare Malaysians for the planned PKR-Umno peace talks.
The two men who have been tasked with the job of paving the way for PKR and Umno to meet are Saifuddin Nasution and Zahid Hamidi. Saifuddin used to work under Zahid back in the former’s Umno days and they have remained friends ever since even though Saifuddin crossed over to the other side while Zahid chose to remain in Umno.
We must remember that Zahid was the man who was instrumental in the attempt to bring down Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad back in 1997 by exposing the wrongdoings of the Prime Minister regarding the awarding of contracts to his (Dr Mahathir’s) friends, family members and cronies.
That move, however, backfired when Dr Mahathir also revealed the list of contracts that Anwar, too, had awarded to his friends, family members and cronies. Hence it ended in a checkmate with no winner and both coming out looking bad.
Further to that, Zahid was also amongst those who were detained without trial together with Anwar in September 1998. Eventually, all the others left Umno to join Anwar’s new party, Parti Keadilan Nasional (some joined PAS), while Zahid remained in Umno, a decision that puzzled most people (unless this was Anwar’s plan to keep some of his people in Umno).
Anwar’s most brilliant move ever was probably in appointing Zahid as Najib Tun Razak’s political secretary in 1986 when Najib was still just the Umno Youth Leader. In that way Anwar could keep track of what Najib was up to and ensure that there would be no surprises.
Anyway, Saifuddin and Zahid both spent Christmas in London recently where they met to hammer out the details of PKR and Umno meeting at a ‘table talk’. Anwar, who confirmed that this was the plan, denied, however, that this is the first step to some sort of ‘unity government’ between PKR and Umno.
It is no doubt too early to talk about a unity government. They first have to meet and see whether an engagement is even possible before discussing a marriage. But if the unity government does happen, then all credit must be given to Saifuddin and Zahid who have been working very hard over the last month to pave the way for such a probability.
Malaysians by and large are not violent people. But for how long can Malaysia remain stable in the face of persistent violation of the good understanding and the sharing of power between the races.
Malaysian, be they Malays, Chinese, Indians or the native of Sabah and Sarawak must banish from their minds the idea of racial dominance. This country must be shared and shared fair by all the races.
Despite obviously rejecting the sharing principle, support for the BN did not return. Instead the DAP dangled before the Chinese the possibility of having both political and economic dominance. This was deemed possible because the Malays had split into three parties and each one of them needed Chinese support in order to win. The Chinese had the deciding vote and were in a position to give victory only to those who believe in throwing out the sharing concept.
The slogan coined “Ini kalilah” (this time we can) was used to indicate that political power could be wrested from the BN and the opposition would form the next Government. This opposition Government would discard the sharing principle.
Many non-Malay supporters of the BN component parties were convinced that by withdrawing their support the BN would lose and so would the idea of sharing political and economic power between the races.
In the event the BN managed to scrape through with a reduced majority, principally through the support of Malays and other indigenous people.
Taking advantage of liberalisation and the weakened BN Government, the conflict between the races heated up. The situation in Malaysia is tense as never before.
The people show no respect for the Government.
The second mistake Mahathir, in his foolishness, made was to pool the major part of the nation’s wealth in the hands of a few. This time he included non-Malays millionaires such as Vincent Tan, Robert Kuok and Ananda Krishnan. Tan has just announced his retirement, Kuok unhappy with the worsening racial system in the country has chosen to stay Hong Kong, while Ananda is wanted by the Indian authorities for allegedly having corruptly wangled a telecoms licence to buy into Aircel.
This pooling of wealth in the hands of a few inevitably left the ordinary Malays and Malaysians with just a few crumbs to share amongst themselves, a slow-boil situation that has blown up to today’s red-hot disputes about social and economic fairness. Not only is there not enough money for scholarships, education, healthcare, employment and welfare for everyone, even the Malays who have been repeatedly told by Mahathir’s Umno party that they will get priority, have left in the lurch.
Malays now form 96% of the poorest 40% lowest income earners in the country. As for the non-Malays, of course, they have felt the pinch more. Many have been forced to go overseas to work and to study. That’s right, educational and employment opportunities are scarce for the non-Malays in the country. Again, the only group that benefited were the elite in the Umno party, their families and cronies. So Mahathir – despite his self-praise – was in fact rather shortsighted. Money was far more important to him than he cared to admit.
Former premier Mahathir Mohamad has criticized every prime minister of Malaysia from the late Tunku Abdul Rahman to the current leader Najib Razak, sparing no one except of course, himself. Mahathir has also criticized other world leaders including UK’s Tony Blair and of course George W Bush, the 43rd president of the United States.
So far none of his local peers have swung back at him, which is not surprising considering that several are already dead and only Najib and 5th prime minister Abdullah Badawi are alive. As for the international leaders, they have largely ignored Mahathir’s existence, which only adds to his frustration, but there is nothing he can do to them. However, he can make life miserable for his successors here, and this he is already doing.
When Mahathir retired in 2003, after 22 years as PM, there was talk about his ‘great’ legacy and he was even called Bapa Pemodenan or Father of Modernization. Some 9 years after his retirement, the excesses and sheer ill-judgement of his economic, social and political decisions have come back to wallop the nation with a backlash stronger than the ferocious tsunami of 2006 that devastated much of South Asia.
At 86, Mahathir is now reviled by most Malaysians, blamed for the massive corruption that may soon bankrupt the country if no remedial economic action is taken, and for the apartheid-scale racial fissures amongst the various ethnic groups in the country.
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