More important things in life

My father's condition seems to be improving.

Alhamdulillah.

But I'm very careful not to get my hopes too high.

Praying for things not to take a turn for the worse again.

Hopefully Pa will fully recover and be happy again with Ma and me.

You see, when your personal life is in crisis, the rest doesn't really matter.

If my father had died the other day, I don't think I would have cared whether Malaysians still want DS Najib Razak as their PM or otherwise.

I would have done almost anything to save my father's life.

If Lee Hsien Loong had come over to me that day and said that he can save my father if I become a Singaporean, then I think I would be willing to be a Singaporean.

Being a Singaporean is not so bad anyway.

For one thing, Hsien Loong as their PM is handsome, okay.

And then they don't have to worry over things that they don't really understand such as the 1MDB mess.

Honestly, I don't really understand the whole thing.

Do you all really understand it?

Don't pretend, ok.

At the end of it, all I can make out was that it was Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad versus Najib.

It's hard for me to believe that Najib stole the billions of ringgit so that he can buy Rosmah nice handbags.

At the same time, it's equally hard to believe that Dr Mahathir was being malicious and intentionally wanted to harm this country which he built for more than two decades just because he doesn't like Rosmah's hairstyle.

Due to my lack of comprehension of the issue, I decided not to attack Najib but defended Dr Mahathir.

I simply have to defend the handsome old man because he had done good for Malaysia and those who attacked him are real mercenaries assholes.

But I don't really blame those assholes too.

They needed to earn a living and the only way they knew how was to be the assholes that they were.

Sure, their children need to eat and go to school too. They needed the money for all that.

Back about being a Singaporean...it's really not so bad.

My mother's side of the family were mostly living there.

Some of them have become Singaporeans after renouncing their Malaysian citizenship.

They are not bad people at all.

They just wanted to be practical about their future.

Similarly, I don't find Singaporeans who renounced their citizenship to be Malaysians as being bad people or traitors to Singapore.

It's just the practical thing to do for them.

I even suspect that they actually still love their original country even though they are no longer its citizens...okay, may be just a bit of love is  still there.

Whatever it is, I don't resent them.

I'm writing this after reading BigDog's

Good riddance

I'm writing all these because I feel that I need to be honest, especially with myself.

There are more important things that matter to me than questions such as who is our PM and whether he stole people's money to pay his wife's hair treatment bills.

If he did all that, I believe Allah will sooner or later punish him.

I can make all the noises against him, but in the end it's Allah who knows better and will punish him if he's indeed guilty.

No need for me to get all stressed out over it.

Instead, I better concentrate my energy on more immediate things in my life such as taking care of my Pa and Ma.

If they are healthy and happy together, then I will be happy too.

Najib and Rosmah want to be happy also I don't mind.

Hopefully they really didn't steal those billions of ringgit.

If they didn't, then I wish them all the happiness in the world.

A weekend alone in Penang

I drove up to Penang for the weekend on Friday evening.

Just wanted a change of environment to recalibrate myself.

Been a bit stressed out of late.

It was a pleasant drive.

I was going at an average of 140km per hour all the way.

Was driving my father's two-years-old Proton Preve.

It's really a good car. Nice looking and the handling was superb.

Stayed at a seaside hotel near Batu Ferringhi.

Just enjoyed the solitude.

I didn't fast though. It's that time of the month.

Just went about like normal.

I look so Chinese that no one bothered me as I ate alone in the restaurants.

But most of the time I spend those two days at a beach.

Got myself a spot under a tree, spread a mat, and just laid down there with a book.

But I always ended up sleeping there.

A nap under a tree by the beach is heavenly.

It's nice to forget about everything else.

Needed the rest.

As someone said to me the other day, I was a bit too caught up in the negative mood of the Umno rebellion.

But I believe that it's over now.

The rebellion is effectively over after the Umno supreme council decided on Friday to continue with Najib as their party leader ahead of the next general election.

There's really nothing for the rebels to fight for anymore.

They had failed to oust Najib and replaced him before the next general election.

I can also stop from being bothered by it.

Well, that at least until the next general election.

If Umno and its BN allies still perform poorly, then the rebellion can start again.

Of course that is, if Umno and BN survive the polls.

If they lose, then we all better get ready to be ruled by the likes of this guy.

Then the rebels don't need to rebel anymore.

Honestly, I don't think Umno can survive without being in power.

I don't know yet whether I'm going to continue writing this blog in support of BN until the next general election.

It depends on my mood.

Well, to those who have been complaining about my mood swings in this blog, I really apologize.

Actually, I have always been like this.

You can find this kind of posts quite regularly in this blog.

I'm not one of those clever sopo bloggers who prided themselves in writing clever stuff and knowing everything and everyone in the Malaysian political scene.

I instead just wrote whatever there were in my heart and those crossing my brain.

Sometimes I actually wrote nonsense to make myself happy.

I hope you all can understand.

Anyway, the weekend in Penang was quite alright.

It's nice to go on a solo road trip once in a while to clear the cobwebs in my brain.

Oh, and I didn't bump into the Chief Minister while I was there.

So, my weekend was not spoilt in any way.

Motorcycle race better than politics (with a caution)

(Note: Due to some requests, I'm cautioning readers that this post is boring...unless you are a fan of motorcycle races)

I thought of writing about why Pas, DAP and even PKR are now actually stronger after their "split".

But I feel so tired of politics for now.

You all can however read my past posts for that,

Umno, you realize this coming danger...

A definitely stronger Pas

Anyway, I think I want to cut down a bit on politics for this blog.

It's not really fun anymore, especially after observing friends from my own side fighting each other these past weeks.

I refused to be dragged into the fight.

I may be seen as being pro-Mahathir though for defending the elderly statesman, but that's because I love and appreciate the old man for what he had done for the country.

Even if he was wrong about the whole thing, I can't stand watching him being whacked by especially those shady characters employed by the gang defending PM DS Najib Razak.

Okay, enough of that.

What I really want to write tonight is about Valentino Rossi.

Valentino Rossi is definitely cuter than Najib, Guan Eng or Hadi Awang.

I watched the nine-time world motorcycle champion winning the Dutch TT at Assen just now on Fox Sports channel.

Fantastic ride as the 36-year-old Rossi beat the much younger Marc Marques at the last chicane to win the race.

I was still a kid in 1996 when I first watched the Italian raced in his debut season in the 125cc class.

I was at that time in love with Japanese rider Tetsuya Harada who was battling it out in the 250cc class against his great rivals, Max Biaggi and Loris Capirossi.

Tetsuya Harada won the 250cc championship in 1993

Still, I noticed the young Italian despite him racing in the lower class because he was monkeying around so much that the commentators were calling him an idiot and immature, among other things.

But I enjoyed his antics.

He did funny things such as patting his rivals' back as he was overtaking them at high speed.

And he is indeed a good rider.

He won his first world championship in the 125cc class the next year and from then on there was no stopping him.

Can't imagine that it was almost 20 years ago since then.

I miss those young carefree days when my main interest was just a simple motorcycle race on TV.

I'm happy whenever I got to watch a motorcycle race.

Definitely not so with politics.

Especially now.

Politics were so stressful.

Ya, maybe I will write more about simple things like motorcycle races and such.

I'm actually quite happy writing this post :-)

Lay down your weapons, rebels

The way I see it, the rebels need to lay down their arms for now.

If they continue the fight now, Umno will stand no chance in the next general election.

Reuters reported last night that,

Malaysia's PM Najib says will postpone UMNO elections by 18 months

Now, whether the rebels, led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad like it or not, they have to acknowledge the fact that Umno and its Barisan Nasional allies will now face the 14th general election led by Najib.

They have to admit that they have been unsuccessful in executing their most critical mission -  to persuade members of the party's supreme council to go along with them.

Last night the supreme council opted to continue being led by Najib,

The way I see it, the primary rebellion objective of forcing Najib to step down before the next general election had failed.

In fact, I think it was doomed from the start.

Firstly, the rebellion started too late.

If it had started right after the relatively dismal BN's performance in the last general election (GE13), then things would be different.

When Najib consolidated his grip on the Umno hierarchy by maintaining the status quo at the party polls several months after GE13, he basically ensured that there will be no changes in the party till the end of the term.

I was frustrated when that happened.

Umno is going into the next electoral battle with the exact same leaders, same strategy and same attitude.

Do you see any changes in Umno since GE13?

I don't.

Secondly, the lead characters supporting Dr Mahathir never really try to appeal for others who could help win the fight to join the rebellion.

They seemed to "monopolize" the rebellion.

For instance, unlike the rebellion against Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the pro-Umno bloggers were this time clearly divided.

Those who had already positioned themselves in the Dr Mahathir's camp treated the others rather too harshly, causing them to shy away from joining the fight.

I know of some who were unhappy with Najib but decided to stay neutral because of the cold or even hostile way they were being treated by the pro-Mahathir camp.

It's the same flaw with Najib forces manned by mostly mercenaries and people with vested interest.

The difference was that the Najib camp posses a bigger arsenal in the form of the mainstream media and quite well staffed cyber war effort.

They also have the advantage of incumbency.

The Dr Mahathir camp only have a few blogs and some sympathetic elements in the social media.

They may not be outnumbered but totally outgunned.

Now, having said all that, I don't think Najib and his supporters had totally won the fight.

BN and Umno did suffer from the fight over the past two months, and the rebellion will continue to simmer.

It's for Najib now to win back Dr Mahathir and his supporters to face the general election.

He can't afford to throw them away.

The fighting had caused Umno and BN to lose a lot of ground especially among the fence sitters, who are now fed-up with the whole thing.

Najib has to get everyone onboard now, something which he failed to do previously, which was among the main causes of the rebellion.

Some may argue that he doesn't have to do that as the opposition is now split and weak following the Pakatan break-up.

But I think otherwise. I believe the opposition is now stronger than ever.

I will write about that later.

About Sufi Yusof

Saw this post at the Another Brick In The Wall blog,

Doubt Sufi met Justo 

The senior blogger, called Brick by the guys and Voicey by the girls was expressing his solidarity with his friend Sufi Yusof, a long time aide of former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Voicey (I call him this after hearing a famous political writer of The Star called him such) used to be a staunch supporter of Dr Mahathir but now I believe has become a pro-Najib blogger.

Despite being now of different camps, Voicey defended Sufi Yusof from the insinuation cast by RPK of Malaysia Today, who is also a pro-Najib.

excerpts:

Coming back to Sufi Yusof.

Immediately upon news of the capture of Justo, RPK made that revelation. Unless he has an untampered photo, there is hardly any reason to believe it. It would be a slanderous act to stretch the psychological gain for more with a lie. 

Sometime in 2012, Tun M wrote of Malays in Thailand losing their "kemelayuan" in his blog and there was a Berita Harian article related to the blog posting [readhere]. They could not speak any more Malay, not even the northern Kelantan or Kedahan dilect.

It was after a trip Tun M made to certain part of Thailand. After the trip, there was believed to be follow-up. If RPK's contact is genuine, then he would have told him that Sufi was not there to meet Justo but for a worthy and noble cause. Sufi would not want to brag of his efforts so it is not necessary to tell.

The known place Sufi went was too far from the vicinity Justo was captured. His timeline does not tally with Justo's departure from Petrosaudi and his blackmail operation against Petrosaudi and 1MDB.

If truly Sufi did meet Justo, then it will link Justo as Tun M's source.

Differences in opinion should not be the barrier to friendship. True friends would not antagonise and troll on another just cause they see things differently. And differences in opinion does not mean not defending a friend being slandered.

Such claim is slanderous and makes no sense. Justo could have come over to Malaysia to deliver information or emailed it. Or he could give his materials through a trusted someone. Why would Tun M's office send someone over to collect such information?

This an unnecessary effort to inconvenient people with the law. If the need to defend Najib, then stick to defending Najib. But to answer allegations against Najib by not answering and doing endless personal attack on the messenger, that is a dumbass strategy.

Same with attacking Proton. If the real issues of Proton are made known, everyone - both side of the political competition - would be embarassed. One fella orchestrating the attack on Proton used to be on the board of a subsidiary. Covering his failure?    


I guess Voicey could not stomach people from his current side employing dirty tactics like that, especially when they were trying to destroy his own friend who is a good person.

I know Sufi Yusof too.

There is no way he can be the nefarious character RPK was trying to insinuate him to be.

He was similarly attacked during the fight to pressure Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi out of the prime minister office almost a decade ago.

Sufi Yusuf is the sweetest boyish-looking guy you could ever imagine.

Loyal, friendly, always helpful and as far as I'm concerned, almost totally without malice.

Sufi Yusof (standing next to his boss) taking notes during a Dr Mahathir's press conference

He once gave me a big help without asking for anything except wanting me to continue writing as according to my conscience.

I will always appreciate that about Sufi Yusuf.

To me, there is no way he can be a bad guy.

Well, the rest of Voicey's post was a bit too long (for me).

Voicey tends to be like that, but that's probably because he is smarter than me and therefore got more things to say.

Unlike Voicey, who said he writes based only on facts, I'm more of a perception blogger, thus I guess for many of lesser value.

Since I'm not smart, I better end this post here before you all get bored with my own perceptions of things and people.

Need to be good

Today the sun seemed bright again.

They told me that my father is not going to die yet.

He is very ill and I really thought that he was likely to die.

My father is my strength while my mother is my inspiration.

I blame myself when he suddenly got sick that day.

I have been a bad person, and I thought that Allah is punishing me by wanting to take my father away.

I know it was blasphemy but that was what in my mind these past few days.

Alhamdulillah that he is out of danger for now.

I promised myself that I will try to be a better person after this.

I have been very mean, especially towards my mother.

I will totally stop from being that.

No more unreasonable demands, throwing tantrums and such.

If I'm a better person, maybe my father will get better.

If he dies, I don't think I can carry on with what I'm doing now.

I don't think I can continue blogging.

I have not really been following the news, so I can't write about politics or any other things for now.

Will do so in my next posting if things continue to improve.

Okay, I better sleep now.

Need to get up early for sahur.

Good night.

Sorry.

Still can't write.

At rest

When I first started this blog, it was to lend a little help to BN led by PM DS Najib Razak.

Now I'm not really sure what I'm doing.

Mostly, these days I just wrote what's in my heart.

No real direction.

Things have changed so much since I first started writing.

Even the person who persuaded me to set up this blog has now become a fierce critic of Najib.

It has been quite haywire for me since former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad started his all out campaign to oust Najib.

And tonight I'm not feeling well.

Maybe it's the cigarettes that I smoked.

I have started smoking heavily again.

At least a pack per day.

It's all been very stressful.

Sorry for making you all read this nonsense of mine.

I need to rest for a while.

Avoiding TV3

First, let me say that I don't watch too much TV, except the Astro's cinema and cooking channels during weekends.

I hardly watch the free channels.

TV3 is now running a smear campaign against national car Proton or to be more truthful, trying to destroy the legacy of former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Do excuse me as I feel the need to be direct to that point.

However, it's so stupidly and tastelessly done that I think it will only further reduce the support for DS Najib Razak whom Dr Mahathir was trying to remove from the PM office.

"Ini mesti Najib yang suruh TV3 buat sebab nak lawan Mahathir," the orang kampung would probably remarked.

Well, too bad for you Mr PM. Your people in TV3 are too lazy to do things properly...or is it that they are so lacking in talent that they don't know how to do it better.

I cringed when someone showed me a clip of the TV3's Bulletin Utama on how it was done.

Now I wouldn't say that I don't watch TV3 anymore, but instead I'm avoiding it completely.

Sorry to the ordinary folks who work in TV3, but I just can't bear watching the whole thing.

I totally agree with what Rocky wrote here,

No "balik kampung" ad for TV3 this year

While TV3 is losing advertisement revenue, that development should also mean that Proton lost advertisement airtime.

So, for Proton, I decided that I'm giving it a bit of free advertisement on this blog page..

I know it's not much but I'm trying my best to support the national car.

As for TV3, I don't think it needs the help of an insignificant anonymous blog like mine.

It's big, strong and powerful.

It can survives even if no one is watching it....at least that's what the powerful media bosses, advisers and consultants thought.

They must have thought that it's a channel where they can air all the garbage and the orang kampung will swallow it all.

Very clever of them.

I hope Dr Mahathir is okay (updated)

UPDATES

Please also read Jebat Must Die's

Anifah Aman misses the point by a mile

ORIGINAL POST

Tonight, the first night of Ramadhan, I read about former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad coming under heavy fire from supporters of PM DS Najib Razak.

He was called a compulsive liar, and many other things.

Some of his ardent admirers and supporters have also apparently turned against him.

Fine, that's their right to choose who to support and who to attack.

But it made me sad to read what they wrote about him.

I wondered how the almost 90-year-old former PM took the bashing.

Indeed he is tough and everything, but still, he is in actual fact a very old man.

It must be very tiring for him to fight the way he does at that age.

I hope he is okay and his health was not too affected by the whole thing.

Guess he had anticipated all these when he started the all out campaign to call for Najib's resignation.

In fact, he had gone through the same bashing during the effort to remove his successor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

But that was almost a decade ago.

This time, it is probably his last fight.

He may be wrong in wanting Najib to step down, but I believe he is indeed doing it with the intention of trying to save the country.

I refuse to believe that he is doing it for anything else.

Dr Mahathir must had strongly believe that he is doing the right thing.

Probably his final sacrifice for his beloved Malaysia.

I'm not going to comment on these latest attacks directed at him.

I'm simply too tired for that at this moment.

After all, it's puasa time now.

I'm just putting this picture of him which has been my favorite for a while,

Such a sweet and kind smile.

You all decide for yourselves whether Dr Mahathir is a compulsive liar as accused by his enemies.

Was he really an evil lying person when he was our PM for more than two decades?

Did Malaysia really suffer during that 22 years?

You decide, okay.

I'm going to sleep now.

I hope Dr Mahathir sleeps well tonight.

Here is his favorite song, which I dedicate to him,

Good night

Idea of secession must be stopped

This is not a very good development,

On Instagram, younger Johor prince talks about secession

After media reports, Johor prince's secession post now off Instagram

I guess the young prince must had been a little bit too upset by the spat between his elder brother and Tourism Minister DS Nazri Aziz that he entertained the idea of Johor getting out of Malaysia.

But still, I don't think it's a spur of the moment episode.

Tunku Idris Sultan Ibrahim must have done some research to present such a case on why Johor could actually secede from the federation.

Actually, I was drawn to carefully read those stories about the prince because just the other day I was told by some old friends from Johor that there has been a quiet campaign to persuade  Johoreans to consider the possibility of their state separating from the rest of Malaysia.

When I was first told about it, I dismissed it as just a work of pranksters.

My friends were however persistent about it, saying that it was a systematic campaign with even some sorts of "visits" being organized to promote the idea of Johor being an independent country.

Among the arguments put forward include Johor being capable of self-governance and economically self-sustaining with help of Singapore.

In term of security, it was claimed that Johor may get the assistance of friendly countries from other parts of the world.

It was said that Johor could exist as a sovereign country similar to Brunei.

Being a Johorean myself, I actual found the idea to be quite cool except that it's a treasonous thought for a Malaysian to have.

And that bit about being like Brunei doesn't appeal to me too. I prefer Johor being like Singapore with handsome Lee Hsien Loong as prime minister.

Anyway, I guess Tunku Idris must probably had heard of the same thing and blurted it out in Instagram when he got upset that his elder brother was "threatened" to be "whacked" by Nazri, a federal minister.

I don't think he was really serious about it.

In fact, I believe this case of Tunku Idris writing about Johor getting out of Malaysia is the same as when some of my friends from Sabah and Sarawak talked about their state doing the same thing.

Actually, I even have friends from Kelantan who wished for their state to be on its own.

Nonetheless, since Tunku Idris is a prince, I think he should be more careful about what he posts in cyberspace.

People may simply believe that he really meant for Johor to break off from Malaysia.

You never know what crazy people may do when they were inspired by such things.

The authorities should also look into this matter seriously.

We can't let people going around promoting the break up of our beloved country.

Also, PM DS Najib Razak should be firm on this and send a clear message that the government is not tolerating the idea of secession among the states.

Note: Please be careful when commenting so as not to be seditious.

Guan Eng's strategic tantrum

You all probably have by now read all kind of commentaries about Pakatan being dead after DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng announced so yesterday.

Yay! We win! So cheered the Barisan Nasional and Umno people.

I beg to differ though.

To me, it's just little boy Guan Eng throwing another tantrum.

However, this time it's a strategically designed tantrum, actually.

Go ahead and read again Guan Eng's statement.

Did he say anything about DAP quitting Pakatan?

No, right.

He just said that Pakatan is dead because the Pas people had gone crazy doing this and that.

He also said that the DAP central working committee (CWC) still wants to be in "pakatan" with PKR.

So, what DAP (or more precisely Guan Eng) wants is DAP being in a reformatted Pakatan, but be seen as not in alliance with the now more hardline Islamist Pas.

Really, that's how I read Guan Eng's statement yesterday.

And this is probably what happened at the DAP CWC meeting:

Guan Eng: I don't want us to be seen as friends of Pas anymore. Their ulama gang who are now in charge were scaring the Chinese and Christians of Sabah and Sarawak.

DAP CWC members: Yes boss (in unison).

Guan Eng: But we must work together with PKR. We need the urban Malays' votes. Let the Pas people go on their own to steal away the kampung Malays and those in Felda settlements from Umno by selling their hudud and Islamic state mumbo jumbo.

DAP CWC members : Yes boss (in unison).

Guan Eng: To make it seems real, I'm going to put some drama to my statement by saying that Pakatan is dead. The Umno people will go ga ga to that. Don't worry. The Chinese worship me. We are not going to lose their votes. In fact, we have everything to gain by distancing ourselves from those Pas crazies.

DAP CWC members: Hallelujah! You are the smartest and greatest of them all! (bow in unison).

Guan Eng: Of course I am.

Really, I don't think BN people, especially from Umno should be overjoyed by the latest development.

I am quite sure that not only they are not going to get the Chinese votes which will remain with DAP, they will also be facing,

A definitely stronger Pas

Royalty in the ring

I guess there's really no turning back now.

Tungku Mahkota of Johor had apparently sent a cruise missile with a nuclear warhead which exploded right in the middle of PM DS Najib Razak's camp last night.

His Royal Highness was responding to minister DS Nazri Aziz's rather brusque remark against him on Saturday.

You can read TMJ's statement in English at Apanama's

TMJ - Don't use me to divert attention from 1MDB and other national issues 

or in Bahasa Malaysia at Zam's

TENGKU MAHKOTA MARAH MAHU ALATKANNYA UNTUK TUTUP ISU 1MDB 

Now, even the royals are not backing off and ready to slug it out.

Nazri really should not had tried to be tough on TMJ.

As, I previously tried to warn, fighting fire with fire is quite stupid, actually.

I heard there will be a gathering of thousands of people in JB this morning,

Johor Umno was said to be the organizer.

I was told that it's a rally to express support for TMJ.

If it's true, then they seemed to forget about their loyalty to their party president.

I guess Johor will once again be the place of turning point in the country's history.

Personally, I think the whole thing is bad.

What would happened if every time there's an issue everyone decides to take side, including members of the royalty?

How I wish these are all just a nightmare.

Note: Please be careful with your comments and avoid being seditious.

Royally convoluted politics

I have not been writing about my home state Johor for quite a while.

Honestly, I was a bit tired of bitching about how things were there on my own.

Everyone, including the other Johorean bloggers didn't seem to care too much, so why should I.

This is the last Johor-related post which I wrote on Feb 26,

Kota Iskandar's consultants

Since then I heard Johor MB DS Mohamed Khaled Nordin had hired some good people to help him improve his administration.

The names appeared to be good as I know one or two of them.

So, I thought I should give Khaled a chance and stop bitching about his administration for a while.

Unless of course if I heard anything freshly rotten.

Anyway, what I really wanted to write today is about the Tengku Mahkota Johor versus DS Nazri Aziz issue.

Actually, I had rather stay out of it because of personal reasons, but since someone I respect asked for my opinion about it this morning, this is what I think,

1. TMJ shouldn't make that remark about the #nothing2hide thing as being a royalty he shouldn't be involved in politics.



2. Nazri shouldn't behave the way he did when voicing his displeasure about TMJ's remark because no matter how much he disliked TMJ's opinion, he should know better then to use such a harsh language on his royal highness.

Stay out of politics or we'll 'whack' you, minister tells Johor prince

Many Johoreans had since taken to cyberspace to express their anger towards Nazri in defense of their beloved TMJ.

Some, being supporters of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad were quick to point out why didn't Nazri say anything about the Sultan of Pahang's support for PM DS Najib Razak.

That's quite awkward, as pointed out by the Apanama's blog posting,

OK atau TIDAK?

For the records, I maintained that ALL members of the royalty shouldn't get involved in politics. That also means politicians shouldn't use members of the royalty to promote themselves among the people.

Yes, I'm of the opinion that the prime minister shouldn't talk about the support given to him by the Sultan of Pahang.

I also have to say here that I disagree with Dr Mahathir for saying that TMJ was just exercising free speech when he made his remarks because being a member of the royalty, his royal highness should know the impact of his remarks on politics. The same goes for Tuanku Sultan of Pahang.

There, I have said it.

Okay, things seem to get worse now in Johor with several members of the state government getting involved,

I think these state executive council members should stay out of it as their statements will only make things worse.

I know that they were probably worried that many in Johor may not like it that Nazri, being an Umno guy had sorts of pick up a fight with the popular TMJ, but they should also remember that collectively, they need to support their party president who is the actual target of criticism of the royal highness.

Either that or they should declare that they no longer support Najib as their party leader.

Well, that's if they really have the balls lah.

Okay, I know, it's the popular thing to do in Johor at the moment, but considering the circumstances, they should just keep quiet for the sake of their integrity as Umno leaders.

I think Khaled as the MB and state Umno chief should remind them of that.

Otherwise, he and the other Johor Umno guys could be deemed as rebelling against their party president.

On another front, a member of the Johor royal household has this to say today,

The younger brother of the Sultan of Johor must be referring to this statement by Dr Mahathir,

Judiciary crisis not my doing, says Dr M

It's now all very convoluted, I'm afraid.

I don't know how it could be fixed but those in power really need to do something as the whole mess doesn't look so good for Johor.

Note: Please be careful with your comments to avoid being seditious.

Najib should learn from Nausicaa

I first watched  Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind  when I was a kid.

It's a 1984 movie by Hayao Miyazaki.

I love the anime movie so much that I lost count the number of times I watched it.

It's the inspiration for my "a little lady of the valley" description in this blog.

I know that most of you will be too lazy to go to that above link, let alone take the trouble to look for a DVD and watch the movie.

So, here is basically the story which I took from the link:

One thousand years have passed since the Seven Days of Fire, an apocalyptic war that destroyed human civilization and gave birth to the vast Toxic Jungle, a forest swarming with giant mutant insects in which everything is lethal to humans. Scattered settlements exist wherever the Toxic Jungle relents. The Valley of the Wind is one such settlement. The Valley's settlers have a prophecy about a person, "clothed in blue robes, descending onto a golden field, to join bonds with the great earth and guide the people to the pure lands at last".

Nausicaä, the agile, cheerful and peace-loving princess of the Valley of the Wind, has managed to befriend the Toxic Jungle. She explores the Jungle and communicates with its creatures, including the gigantic, armoredtrilobite-like creatures called Ohm. She often travels on a compact jet-powered glider in order to find out about the origins of the Toxic Jungle, understand its nature and even find a cure for both humans and the world.

One night, during a visit by the Valley's swordsmaster, Lord Yupa, a large fixed-winged cargo aircraft from the kingdom of Tolmekia crashes in the Valley. Nausicaä tries to rescue an onboard passenger, the wounded Princess Lastelle of Pejite, who pleads with Nausicaä to destroy the cargo before dying. The cargo is an embryo of a Giant Warrior, lethal genetically engineered bioweapons that caused the Seven Days of Fire. The invading Tolmekians seized the embryo and Lastelle. The Tolmekian plane, however, was attacked by mutant insects before it crashed. One of the insects then emerges wounded from the wreckage and seems poised to attack the frightened villagers, but Nausicaä uses a small bullroarer to create a high-pitched tune that helps calm it and after mounting her jet-glider, guides the insect out of the village to safety.

The next morning, Tolmekian troops, led by Princess Kushana and Officer Kurotowa, enter the Valley and secure the Giant Warrior embryo, killing Nausicaä's sick father in the process. Kushana plans to mature the Giant Warrior and then use it to burn the Toxic Jungle, even though history warns of fatal consequences. After witnessing her father's death, Nausicaä goes berserk and kills several Tolmekian soldiers before Yupa intervenes. Kushana announces her decision to leave for Pejite with Nausicaä along with five hostages from the Valley. Before they leave, Yupa discovers her secret garden of jungle plants. According to Nausicaä, plants that grow in clean soil and water are not toxic. The jungle's soil, however, has long been tainted by humankind.

Kushana and her detachment are unable to reach their destination, as an agile Pejite interceptor shoots down the Tolmekian ship. Nausicaä, her fellow hostages and Kushana crash-land in the jungle, disturbing several Ohm, which Nausicaä soothes. She then leaves to rescue Asbel, the Pejite pilot and the twin brother of Lastelle, but both are swallowed by quicksand and end up in a non-toxic world below the jungle. Nausicaä realizes that the jungle plants purify the polluted topsoil, producing clean water that remains hidden underground.

Nausicaä and Asbel return to Pejite, only to find it ravaged by the insects. While boarding a single plane, the surviving villagers reveal that they lured the creatures to eradicate the Tolmekians and are doing the same in the Valley to recapture the Giant Warrior. To prevent any intervention, they capture Nausicaä. Later, with the help of Asbel and his mother, Nausicaä escapes on a glider. While flying home, Nausicaä finds a team of Pejite soldiers using a wounded baby Ohm to lead a furious Ohm herd numbering in the thousands into the Valley. The Tolmekians deploy tanks and later the Giant Warrior against the herd, but to no avail: the tanks' firepower is nowhere near enough to harm an Ohm and the Giant Warrior, having been hatched prematurely, soon disintegrates, despite successfully destroying a few waves of Ohm.

Nausicaä liberates the baby Ohm and gains its trust: in the process, her pink dress becomes stained by its blue blood, turning completely blue. The two attempt to stop the raging herd, but are run over, with Nausicaä seemingly killed. The herd, however, calms down, and the Ohmu use their golden tentacles to heal Nausicaä. Nausicaä awakens and starts to dance on top of the hundreds of glowing golden tentacles. Clad in blue and walking as through golden fields, Nausicaä has fulfilled the prophecy. The Ohmu and Tolmekians leave the Valley afterwards, while the surviving Pejites remain with the Valley people, helping them rebuild. Meanwhile, a new tree is beginning to grow underground.

Important lessons I learnt from the movie;

1. Don't destroy the environment.
2. Study the situation and think before you do anything about it.
3. Always try to be a good and sincere person.

Lesson number two is for me the most unique as after watching the movie for the first time, I understand the importance of finding the right way to solve a problem.

In the movie, the Tolmekians tried to stop the rampaging Ohmus herd by deploying tanks and the Giant Warrior but to no avail. It was the pure hearted Nausicaa, after befriending the Ohmus and learning what they were actually angry about who managed to calm the herd and saved everyone from destruction.

Fighting fire with fire may not be the best thing to do because fire should be fought with water instead....or fire extinguisher if you have one.

I think PM DS Najib Razak should watch the movie and maybe he may learn how to better handle his current problems.

Of course, his expensive advisers and consultants would think otherwise.

It's just a cartoon movie, they would probably say.

They rather go on demonizing Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and such to please their  boss.

Like the Tolmekians, they will fail.

Poll hijacked and taken down

It's quite obvious that the poll I was conducting had been hijacked.

The surge in number of votes since last night was not normal.

I noticed it started about midnight until about 3am.

It appeared to start again just now.

I think there are people who don't want us to know the real sentiment on the ground.

Sorry to the genuine participants of the poll as I now have to take it down.

Thanks so much.

Guess you all have to rely on organizations such as Merdeka Centre to carry out such a poll from now on.

But of course those were really pro-Pakatan.

Too bad the BN side simply don't want to know the truth.

Just wait until the next general election, then.

I'm going to the beach now to lepak the whole day.

You all can enjoy this song, okay,

Testing Dr Mahathir's prediction - Part 2 (updated)

UPDATES

There's been a surge in the number of votes for BN since the last one hour.

It's 12.45 am as I'm updating this.

An hour before that there were less than 20 votes for BN.

I'm expecting votes for BN to surpass the number of those who planned to refrain from voting either BN or Pakatan by the time you all read this.

Guess the pro-BN cyberspace people are doing their job after all.

At least, that's something.

ORIGINAL POST

About two months ago I was

Testing Dr Mahathir's prediction

that Barisan Nasional, led by PM DS Najib Razak is going to lose the next general election.

Here is the

Outcome

which indicates that Dr Mahathir could be right.

The result of the poll is still on the top right corner of this webpage.

Many things had happened since then.

Among others, the PM has mounted a spirited fight back against Dr Mahathir.

In his latest blog post,

What Motivates Tun Mahathir’s Attacks?

Najib said,

Tun is now saying that BN will lose the next general election, but since when did any one individual have the right to speak for the entire voting public?

Maybe he is right.

So, I'm doing exactly the same poll again for readers of this blog to check the mood on the ground .

Who knows, maybe you all have changed your mind since the first poll.

I hope you all can participate so that we may get some idea of what it's going to be if things continue as it is now.

Everyone may vote only once (unless maybe you use more than one IP address, which I hope you won't).

The poll is going to run for a week like last time.

You may cast your vote on the very top right corner of this webpage.

Thank you.

Dismantling Dr Mahathir's legacy

I managed to read the latest post by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad before starting my trip today.

THE 1MDB STORY

I thought that was the last I wanted to do as far as politics were concerned before my planned weekend rest by the beach.

Then later this evening someone alerted me of the latest post by PM DS Najib Razak.

I can't help but to read it,

What Motivates Tun Mahathir’s Attacks? 

I became sad as I read towards the end of the post,

9.    It is a shame that Tun has, yet again, turned against the leadership of his own party. These public attacks will only harm UMNO, the government and ultimately Malaysia. This unbecoming behaviour will be an unfortunate postscript to his legacy. 

10.  Tun is now saying that BN will lose the next general election, but since when did any one individual have the right to speak for the entire voting public? The opposition is in chaos, and, given their coalition’s fundamental ideological splits, there would be national paralysis if they assumed office. If we in BN stay united and prove ourselves worthy over the coming years, I have faith that the rakyat will prove Tun wrong at the next election – once it’s understood that his allegations are false and motivated by self-interest, not Malaysia’s interest.

I had previously stated that I don't believe Najib stole that billions of ringgit which Dr Mahathir alleged had gone missing due to the 1MDB mess.

There should be some other explanation to it.

Similarly, now I also can't believe that Dr Mahathir's attacks was motivated by self-interest as alleged by Najib.

It's heartbreaking but I have to admit that I now think it's true that Najib intends to dismantle Dr Mahathir's legacy as a mean to fend off his attacks.

I might be wrong, but that's how Najib sounded to me in that posting.

Anyway, they are already attacking the old man and the latest was that TV3's campaign of highlighting problems with Proton.

You can read that at Zam's

TV3 BURUKAN PROTON ATAS ARAHAN JPM 

I agree that Najib has the right to defend himself, but how I wish it was not done this way.

Didn't the people of previous PM Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi tried that and failed?

Dr Mahathir had late this evening replied to that alleged attempt to destroy his legacy,

Dr M tells critics to 'blow up' PLUS highway to erase his legacy

excerpts:

“Some people said I have done many bad things, such as the North-South Expressway. We should actually blow it up,” he told a press conference here.

“The Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), the Petronas Twin Towers, all these things are very bad you know,” Dr Mahathir added with a smile.

Of course he was being sarcastic. I don't think he really care about his legacy.

A good Muslim such as Dr Mahathir probably only care for what he is doing now being approved by Allah.

Anyway, for me, those were the least of Dr Mahathir's legacy.

He had done so much more, that it would be too tedious for me to list them down here.

Towards the end of his premiership, Dr Mahathir who then was past his 70 years on this earth even saved the country during the economic crisis of the late 1990s.

As far as I'm concerned, Dr Mahathir's greatest contribution was enabling Malaysians to be proud of their country during his 22 years as our prime minister.

That confidence was the most essential ingredient for us to build this country to what it is now.

I don't think anyone can dismantle that.

Hired gunslingers

It's raining heavily outside.

Later today I'm going on a long drive to the beach.

Going to hang out there for a few days.

I need a break from KL.

Somehow this city seems such a tiring place now.

As for the politics, I think those who are involved need to sort it out themselves.

I'm tired with most of them.

To me, it looks like the ordinary guys just want peace.

This is an interesting suggestion,

Umno leader suggests Mecca as venue for truce

Okay, maybe it's a little bit outlandish, but that's how desperate they seem, to see an end to the Najib-Dr Mahathir quarrel.

They knew that there's a high probability that Barisan Nasional will lose the next general election if the fighting continues.

Bear in mind that despite being united going into the last general election, BN was nearly drowned by the Chinese tsunami.

It even lost the popular votes.

But I guess many had made up their mind that they just can't stand it any more and don't mind a change of government.

These are some comments in my last post from whom I believe are Umno or BN supporters,

Anonymous11 June 2015 at 01:42

Indeed.

Tun...you are not alone. We are always with you.

GE 2018...we know what to do.

Anonymous11 June 2015 at 01:57

So, so true.

With Tun M, what you see is what you get. His words, thoughts etc have remained the same. Unlike certain political leaders who say different things to different audiences. And he says it in simple straightforward language. No need for flowery phrases or fistwaving.

To me, he built Malaysia. Sure, he's been accused of financial scandals etc but at least we see concretely the results of his government ie Petronas twin towers, putrajaya, proton, MSC, Klia etc.

But now, 42 billion ringgit...where? Several plots of land originally owned by the government.

I've always supported BN, but if Najib's still there, I'm not voting.

Anonymous11 June 2015 at 21:22

Listen carefully Umno people. If you insist in keeping your beleagured president and unwilling to replace him, then we're sorry guys. We have no choice but putting you guys on the left hand side of the Dewan Rakyat come GE 14.

But I don't think the fighting will stop.

What I learned was that both sides will fight till the end.

Teams of hired cyber gunslingers were being recruited.

These hired guns are people who don't care about Umno or BN but see the fight as a mean to make some easy money.

Lots of money, that is.

Well, I can't be bothered anymore.

There were already plenty of those mercenaries hanging around for just the money and big boss jobs.

That's why the handling of the Najib-Dr Mahathir crisis has so far been so cocked up.

It's being handled by insincere people who only care about their own "tembolok" and have no real love for this country or even BN and Umno.

And they are killing off those who do.

Okay, I need to get ready for my trip now.

The rain had eased up a bit.

Ciao.

There will never be another Dr Mahathir (updated)

UPDATES

For the latest from Dr Mahathir, please click this link

WHO’S BEHIND THE CRISIS

ORIGINAL POST

It's a tiring day for me today.

Don't feel like writing anything too serious.

There were already plenty of those in the other blogs at the moment anyway.

Just want to write a bit about something more mellow.

I'm usually in mellow mood at this hour before I go to sleep.

Okay, this is about the first time my heart went out to former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

It's probably one of the reasons why I can't stand people attacking him.

I was quite young when it happened and admittedly, I was not really a fan of the guy at that time.

From what I read about him back then, I thought he was too hard a man and not such a nice prime minister.

It happened that afternoon I was at the house of a person who had just died of an illness.

The place was in Bangsar.

There were not many people yet there to pay their last respect except for family members of the deceased.

Dr Mahathir, who was at that time still the prime minister arrived shortly after me.

It happened that the deceased was his friend.

Dr Mahathir was apparently attending his horse riding session at Mount Kiara when he was informed of his friend's death and had rushed to the house from there.

He was wearing a checkered shirt and jeans.

He was also still wearing his horse riding boots.

I was standing near the gate of the house as i observed his arrival.

There were only two bodyguards with him.

He performed the ablution at a pipe outside the house before going in to offer his prayers and pay his last respect.

He was inside the house for a while before coming out again.

I noticed that he appeared shaken and looked drained.

The bodyguards who were waiting for him outside the house immediately ushered him to a chair at a corner of the porch.

They must had feared that he may passed out.

Once seated, Dr Mahathir waved the bodyguards away.

It was at that moment for the first time I really realized that Dr Mahathir is actually an old man.

He really looked his age as he sat alone on that chair looking so sad and tired.

At that moment I remember telling myself that Dr Mahathir is just like any other guy.

He is just human after all.

The guy got feelings and he is definitely not a fake.

Ever since that day, I look at Dr Mahathir differently.

Whenever he looked sad, I know that he was not faking it.

For me, he is as sincere as a man could possibly be.

As to why he is attacking PM DS Najib Razak now, I believed that he is doing it because he was worried that the prime minister is not doing good enough for the country.

I think he was worried the country will come to ruin should Najib lead Barisan Nasional to a defeat in the next general election.

He must have made careful assessment and consideration before embarking on such a perilous endevour.

Whatever it is, even if Dr Mahathir was wrong about the whole thing, I still sincerely believe that he is doing it for the country.

The man is almost 90 years old, for goodness sake.

What else there is for him to wants.

He clearly doesn't mind at all for his legacy of building this country to what it is today be torn to shred if that's the sacrifice he needs to make.

He surely knew that his children will likely have to suffer setbacks in their life because of what he is doing now.

That's why I think  everyone who are against him now shouldn't be too hard on the old man no matter what.

Even if I ever decide that Najib is right, I can never stop from defending Dr Mahathir whenever anyone attacks him excessively.

These days, I always worried that his struggles may take a toll on his health.

Then there is also his soulmate Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, who is also of his age.

I'm worried that she may also suffers along with him.

One day, which I hope a long time from now, when this grand old couple are no longer with us, I think many who are now being so unkind to them will regret what they did.

There will never be others like Dr Mahathir and his wife.