by the taxi driver
A few days ago, I decided to know more about the fascinating world of taxi-drivers on whom so much election psephology is based, and as luck would have it,As we are all aware, much of the reportage we get from our friends in the main-stream media is either from press conferences and personal one-on-one meetings for which there is great demand because often the gifts and freebies and junkets thrown in are irresistible, or the reportage is basis interaction with taxi-drivers operating preferably air-conditioned SUVs with enough space for huge hampers in the rear part where also will sit the assistants and make-up staff.
It is also important to note that in both these cases, the assistants and make-up staff are now entitled to full benefit of all gifts, mineral water in plastic bottles, and pizza delivery anywhere in 30 minutes. If pizza or burger can not be delivered in 30 minutes, then election coverage may not be possible,
The ‘bikini’ attack was still good publicity (though undesirable) for DAP’s Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud. Now everybody is talking about her. Another trick by supporters of BN has backfired.
Dyana’s wit in rebutting the action is classic. That is how to deal with imbeciles. It is good that she was not upset. It reminds me of the famous racist taunt recently which started the world’s craze in eating bananas and Twitter retweets aplenty.
It started when an opposing fan threw a banana at coloured Barcelona player Dani Alves when he was about to take a corner at a soccer game.
The innate decay of UMNO and BN is akin to an interesting metaphor of the ‘wet monkey syndrome’. Scientists put five monkeys in a cage. Inside the cage, they hang a banana and placed a set of stairs under it. They observed that before long, a monkey moved towards the stairs and started to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touched the stairs, however, one of the scientists sprayed cold water onto all the other monkeys in the cage, causing the first monkey to retreat with the others in tow. As the monkeys started to settle down, another monkey made the attempt with the same result; the scientist again sprayed all the monkeys with cold water and they retreated. The situation persisted for a while, but pretty soon when another monkey tried to climb the stairs; the other monkeys rushed in to prevent it. In the next phase of their experiment, the scientists removed one monkey from the cage and replaced it with a new one. The new monkey immediately rushed to climb the stairs.
The banana was to insult blacks - monkeys eat bananas, you see - but Dani Alves nonchalantly picked up the banana to take a bite.
And the rest is history with the whole world applauding him for his brilliant response. Fight stupidity with class.
Dyana’s wit in rebutting the action is classic. That is how to deal with imbeciles. It is good that she was not upset. It reminds me of the famous racist taunt recently which started the world’s craze in eating bananas and Twitter retweets aplenty.
The innate decay of UMNO and BN is akin to an interesting metaphor of the ‘wet monkey syndrome’. Scientists put five monkeys in a cage. Inside the cage, they hang a banana and placed a set of stairs under it. They observed that before long, a monkey moved towards the stairs and started to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touched the stairs, however, one of the scientists sprayed cold water onto all the other monkeys in the cage, causing the first monkey to retreat with the others in tow. As the monkeys started to settle down, another monkey made the attempt with the same result; the scientist again sprayed all the monkeys with cold water and they retreated. The situation persisted for a while, but pretty soon when another monkey tried to climb the stairs; the other monkeys rushed in to prevent it. In the next phase of their experiment, the scientists removed one monkey from the cage and replaced it with a new one. The new monkey immediately rushed to climb the stairs.
The banana was to insult blacks - monkeys eat bananas, you see - but Dani Alves nonchalantly picked up the banana to take a bite.
And the rest is history with the whole world applauding him for his brilliant response. Fight stupidity with class.
The veteran newsman also lauded Gerakan, which is part of the BN coalition, for not "chickening out" from the race for the Teluk Intan seat, just as what MCA had done in Bukit Gelugor.
"Bravo Gerakan for not running away from responsibility and for not shaming the grand old coalition. Encik Mah (BN's candidate Datuk Mah Siew Keong), I salute you for having testicular fortitude! Unlike the sulking MCA, you are not abandoning your supporters."
Mah, who is Gerakan president, won the seat in the 1999 and 2004 general elections but lost to DAP's M. Manogaran and Seah in 2008 and 2013 by 1,470 and 7,313 votes respectively.
Dyana, who joined DAP in 2011, has caught nationwide attention after being named as DAP's candidate for the Teluk Intan seat, which was made vacant following the death of incumbent Seah Leong Peng from cancer on May 1.
If she wins, she will be DAP's first Malay woman MP.
"Dyana Sofya's youthfulness and look is an advantage," Kadir said.
"But it has to be something deeper than her looks. The fact that she is a young Malay woman representing a Chinese-dominated opposition party is, to me, the real fascination."
"But it has to be something deeper than her looks. The fact that she is a young Malay woman representing a Chinese-dominated opposition party is, to me, the real fascination."
Barisan Nasional should spare some time to understand why young educated Malays are joining DAP instead of bashing its candidate for the Teluk Intan parliamentary seat, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, said a former editor.
Political forces that work to take Malaysian society closer to, rather than away from, the Constitution’s ideal of liberal democracy have to work honestly and tirelessly round the year, on all fronts, and not just in overtly political activity at election time. They have to work as political parties that truly represent the people’s concerns and seek to enforce their rights, instead of promising patronage during polls. They have to work in education, in skill-enhancement, in improving healthcare, in the entire range of cultural production that shapes the public discourse.The forces of democracy have to go far beyond training spokespersons to create a public discourse that is critical, liberal and plural. That is a sorely needed guard against further rightward movement of the polity.
For the new voters,, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, came across as a person who looked, acted and sounded like a leader while , Datuk Mah Siew Keong), coached by apolitical, rootless wunderkinds, came across as the caricature so popular as the butt of a million Datuk Mah Siew Keong,recycle jokes that whiz around in cyberspace.
, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, demonstrated that voters today value the prospect of prosperity much more than identity and voice for their communities, offering which some parties had thrived in the past. strategy of voluble championing of minority rights. Voters needed an alternative to Barisan for venting their pent-up anger against corruption, indecision, growth slowdown and inflation, all of them brazenly held out to the voters packaged in smug certainty that there was no alternative if you wished to stay secular.Do not overestimate the polity’s rightward shift is not to underestimat it either is bold in his imagination, aggressive in execution and thorough in planning But, it is not the end of the idea of Dyana Sofya as the world in microcosm, where diverse identities coexist in harmony, without being forced to merge into an amalgam. Yes, a dark shadow hovers over it but we have not yet put out the light in order to put out the light.
Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said instead of blaming others for their political woes, BN leaders should "look at themselves" and examine why young educated Malays preferred to join DAP.
"While the BN campaigners and their cyber troopers are having a field day maligning her, they should perhaps spare some time to understand why this sort of thing is happening. Why young educated Malays are joining DAP?"Leaders of the parties should look at themselves and not treat the rakyat with disdain," he wrote in a blog posting today.
The former New Straits Times group editor-in-chief said there must be something "particularly strong" in the push and pull factors to encourage a young Malay like Dyana Sofya, who hails from an Umno family, to join DAP as an active member.
Dyana said Umno has gone on the defensive by accusing her of wanting to close UiTM instead of being open to constructive proposals.
This, she said, was why many Malaysians felt Umno had lost the plot, closing both ears and reading what it wanted to read.
"Equal opportunity to all deserving Malaysians does not mean that the Malays will be robbed. It means that more deserving Malaysians of all races, including many Malays, who do not support Umno, will have access to quality higher education.
"Umno has lost sight of our future and is more concerned with stoking ethnic sentiments in order to shore up its support base.
"A public institution, more so a public institution of higher learning should never be placed at the mercy of a political party. UiTM belongs to the people, not just Umno," Dyana said in a statement today.
The 27-year-old Perak-born lawyer said while she was a student of UiTM, she noticed the discrepancy where children of well-to-do Umno leaders were admitted into the varsity while poorer but more qualified non-Umno linked families were shut out.
In addressing Umno's labelling of her as a traitor for joining DAP, Dyana said no political party had a right to stand in the way of the dreams and aspirations of young Malaysians.
"Umno leaders are labelling me a traitor for being a DAP candidate, as apparently according to them, UiTM alumni are not supposed to do that. When did joining UiTM make us Umno members?
"It is ironic that Umno is claiming that UiTM students should support Umno as this is the same party that discourages students from being active in politics. Students (should) be free to express their views and thoughts, and be accorded their freedom to pursue their dreams and ambitions."
Meanwhile, Wanita Umno head Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil continued her tirade against Dyana by telling her not to be a "traitor" when she shook her hand at the nomination centre this morning.
Malaysiakini quoted Dyana as saying Shahrizat warned her not to become a “traitor”, in reminding her she was a UiTM graduate.
But Dyana, according to Malaysiakini, brushed off the warning, saying that she felt “Zen” (peaceful) about the whole incident and reassured Shahrizat she would not become a traitor.
“I take it as good advice. I would never become a traitor for Malaysia, don’t worry,” Dyana said.
She also said that she did not understand why someone’s university should become a benchmark for the choice of political parties.
In calling students in all public universities not to be "chained" to Umno's and Barisan Nasional's agenda, Dyana said the Latin words alma mater means "nourishing mother".
"Never allow Umno and BN to rob you of a nourishing mother by turning it into a repressive master," she said, adding that she would take up students and youth activism in Parliament if wins the by-election on May 31
"Never allow Umno and BN to rob you of a nourishing mother by turning it into a repressive master," she said, adding that she would take up students and youth activism in Parliament if wins the by-election on May 31
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