The need to maintain separation of powers

Yesterday, the Istana Negara issued a statement saying that the Yang diPertuan Agong has issued another decree, advising all MPs to support the soon to be tabled 2021 Budget.

I was a bit amused as to why the king needed to repeat that again.

I actually believe it was because he was not confident about all that talks of stopping the fight.

And I also think that the king agrees with me that all that talks of "political ceasefire" was actually just an

• Umno's brilliant bluff

For some reasons that I could not think of, the statement issued by Istana Negara made it as if the  king was going out of his way in trying to save Muhyiddin's administration on this one.

And I do wonder why he didn't speaks directly about it as the statement was issued quoting the Royal Comptroller saying the king said this and that.

Hmmmmm....

Anyone who has been following this blog for a long time would notice that I quite like Sultan Abdullah, especially because of his hands on approach.

But he doesn't seems to be like that on this matter.

Well, maybe it's because of the protocol of Istana Negara.

Maybe.

Still, someone brought to my attention this morning that the king who is part of the executive shouldn't be interfering or in this case "advising" the parliament, which is the legislature on what it should or shouldn't do.

Doing so would infringe the separation of powers doctrine which is the pillar of our democracy. 

Under a democratic system, there must be a check and balance between the executive, legislature and judiciary. One of them shouldn't be let to dominate the others....like how it is in North Korea or communist-ruled China. 

My opinion on this matter is about the same as the following statement by Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim yesterday, 

Pekara: Hormati Kebebasan Ahli Parlimen Menentukan Pendirian Dan Membuat Keputusan 

1.Belanjawan Negara Tahun 2021 yang akan dibentangkan oleh Kerajaan pada 6hb November di Dewan Rakyat adalah dalam bentuk Rang Undang-Undang Perbekalan di bawah Perkara 100 Perlembagaan Persekutuan. 

2.Parlimen adalah badan legislatif iaitu sebuah institusi perundangan yang tugasnya menggubal undang-undang. Manakala ahli-ahli parlimen adalah penggubal undang-undang atau (laws maker). 

3.Negara kita Malaysia sebuah negara demokrasi berparlimen yang mengguna pakai prinsip pengasingan kuasa (separation of powers).Semua pihak dan institusi perlu menghormati parlimen dengan menyediakan suatu keadaan yang kondusif bagi membolehkan ahli-ahli parlimen bebas menentukan pendirian dan membuat keputusan. 

 4.Dalam hal ehwal kewangan negara, peranan parlimen amat besar.Perkara 96 Perlembagaan Persekutuan menyebut bahawa tiada percukaian melainkan jika dibenarkan oleh undang-undang. Manakala Perkara 102 pula menyatakan bahawa Parlimen mempunyai kuasa berkenaan dengan mana-mana tahun kewangan.  

5.Hal-hal berkenaan rang undang-undang melibatkan kewangan negara adalah dalam bidang kuasa parlimen. Tidak ada sesiapa boleh mengarah, mendesak,memujuk atau memaksa ahli-ahli parlimen supaya menyokong dan meluluskan sesuatu rang undang-undang belanjawan negara termasuklah Belanjawan Tahun 2021 yang akan dibentangkan pada 6hb November nanti. 

6.Peranan Parlimen sebagai badan semak dan imbang perlu difahami dan dihormati. Rang undang-undang belanjawan tahun 2021 seperti belanjawan sebelum ini perlu melalui proses penggubalan undang -undang yang diperuntukkan di bawah Perlembagaan Persekutuan dan undang-undang berkaitan kewangan yang sedia ada.Rang undang-undang belanjawan 2021 perlu dibahaskan di peringkat dasar dan jawatankuasa.Proses pengundian juga perlu dilakukan di peringkat dasar dan juga peringkat jawatankuasa.Tidak ada proses fast track ataupun jalan pintas.Duit beratus bilion ringgit dalam belanjawan negara 2021 itu adalah duit pembayar cukai dan duit hasil negara milik rakyat dan milik negara. 

7.Ahli-ahli parlimen yang mengangkat sumpah telah berikrar untuk mempertahankan Perlembagaan Persekutuan yang membawa maksud menjaga kepentingan rakyat dan negara.Ahli-ahli parlimen sama ada ahli Dewan Rakyat dan Dewan Negara berada di Parlimen atas kelayakannya menjadi ahli Parlimen di bawah Perkara 47 Perlembagaan Persekutuan.Justeru itu kepercayaan wajar diberi kepada mereka untuk menimbang mana yang baik dan mana yang merosakkan negara. 

8.Sebagai seorang ahli parlimen yang dipilih oleh rakyat, saya amat gusar dan bimbang dengan suatu kenyataan Istana negara bertarikh 28 Oktober 2020 yang dikeluarkan oleh Dato’ Indera Ahmad Fadil Shamsudin, Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja yang menyebut, antara lain, bahawa Yang di-Pertuan Agong menasihati Ahli-ahli Dewan Rakyat untuk memberi sokongan padu kepada Belanjawan 2021. 

 9. Saya beranggapan kenyataan Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja itu sebagai satu pelanggaran terhadap prinsip raja berperlembagaan dalam sebuah negara yang mengamalkan demokrasi berparlimen.Saya ingin menegaskan ahli-ahli parlimen mestilah bebas untuk membuat keputusan di dalam sidang parlimen termasuk sidang berkenaan Belanjawan 2021 tanpa ada sebarang tekanan atau pengaruh sesiapa (undue influence).

Well, I think it's best for us to defend our constitution and democratic system.

I do know that many of you all are fed up with the politicians these days but if we start to go down that slope, we may find it too slippery to climb up again.

Once we lose our democracy, we may never get it back.

Umno's brilliant bluff

So, this is Umno's current official stand, 

KENYATAAN MEDIA 

Majlis Kerja Tertinggi UMNO yang bermesyuarat pada hari ini, 26 Oktober 2020 (Isnin) telah memutuskan perkara-perkara berikut: 

1. Menjunjung kasih di atas keputusan Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Yang di-Pertuan Agong menolak permohonan yang dipersembahkan oleh Perdana Menteri bagi maksud pelaksanaan Darurat Perkara 150(1) dan Pemasyhuran Ordinan Darurat (Kuasa-Kuasa Perlu 2020) menurut Perkara 150(2B) Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Bagi UMNO, keputusan yang turut diperbincangkan dengan Majlis Raja-Raja tersebut adalah amat bijaksana dan cukup melegakan rakyat. 

2. Mendokong sepenuhnya titah dan saranan Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Yang di-Pertuan Agong dan Majlis Raja-Raja agar dikendurkan segala ketegangan politik dengan melakukan gencatan politik bagi memastikan kestabilan politik negara dapat terus dipertahankan. 

3. Menyarankan agar inisiatif Rekonsiliasi Nasional atau Agenda Perdamaian Nasional segera dilaksanakan dengan menggembleng penyertaan semua parti politik yang bernaung dalam Kerajaan Perikatan Nasional dan juga parti-parti pembangkang. 

 4. Mencadangkan supaya Kerajaan mengambil pendekatan yang lebih inklusif melangkaui perbezaan ideologi parti dalam menangani pandemik Covid-19 dan kesan negatif ekonomi yang dihadapi rakyat yang sedang susah dan gelisah. 

 5. Majlis Kerja Tertinggi UMNO mengekalkan keputusan terdahulu tanpa kerjasama PKR dan DAP. Ahli-ahli Parlimen UMNO akan terus mendokong Kerajaan Perikatan Nasional. UMNO menggesa ditambah baik prinsip kerjasama yang harus berpaksikan nilai penghormatan dan political consensus. 

 6. Memastikan ketetapan Perhimpunan Agung UMNO untuk memperkasakan Muafakat Nasional dapat terus direalisasikan. 

 AHMAD ZAHID HAMIDI

Basically,

1.Thanked Agong and his Rulers gang for rejecting Muhyiddin's emergency move.

2. To continue its "political ceasefire".

3. To continue its "political ceasefire".

4. To continue its "political ceasefire".

5. To continue its support for Perikatan in return for "better treatment".

6. To stick with Pas.

Well, this is actually nothing new.

It's the same thing that Umno said  before the Muhyiddin's "emergency move".

Quite anti-climax, actually.

I was actually expecting Zahid to say Umno will work with DAP  to set up a new government as it promised to flush out Guan Eng and his irritating gang.

Sigh.

That would be much nicer.

Still, I honestly don't really believe in this Umno's official stand.

Obviously, Muhyiddin and his gang didn't believe it too that Umno will not try to pull a fast one on them.

They think the Umno's ceasefire was bullshit and that's why they make that unfortunate "emergency move". 

I strongly believe they still think the same this time.

They still think Zahid and the Umno gang were just bluffing and will side with Anwar when it comes to voting in parliament.

Actually, even more so now after their failed attempt to stab Umno in the back using the "emergency move".

And I think they are right.

I still think the fight is still on.

I think Umno is just putting up a nice front with the ceasefire and reconciliation stuff.

Now people will have to say that Umno wants peace, work with everyone to overcome Covid-19, forgive Muhyiddin's emergency move betrayal, etc.

In actual fact, it's a brilliant political move.

Umno can get what it wants now without being the bad guy.

If Muhyiddin doesn't give in to it, Umno can sides with Anwar without looking bad.

After all, it doesn't have to be the whole block of Umno to vote against Muhyiddin in parliament.

Just a few of them siding with Anwar would do the trick.

If that happens, Umno can always say, we stick with our official stand but we can't control those few who sided with Anwar.

Then it joins the new government.

But working with mortal enemy DAP?

Eh, we already said we want peace for the good of the people to fight this Covid-19 pandemic, okay.

And DAP is now led by that nice Anthony Loke guy. Guan Eng is going to jail for corruption, what. And they will get rid of the other irritating bastards such as Tony Puaka soon.

So, Umno becomes the good guy and wins.

Nice, right?

But seriously, I think I'm right on this one.

I was right in my last post, okay.

Hahaha....I really really wish Umno and DAP could be friends.

Then I can have nice chats about politics with my DAP supporting mother and beloved.

And Malaysia could be a better and more peaceful country.

Okay, I need to get up and go to work now

Cheers.

Between emergency and democracy

Everyone went gaga yesterday over what was said to be an emergency about to be declared by the Perikatan government.

I even got an inquiry about it from Japan.

Well, Muhyiddin went to Kuantan to meet the Agong after a special Cabinet meeting, causing everyone to believe that he was trying to get the king's consent to declare the emergency.

However, in the end, nothing happened....yet so far.

I did some checking and as far as my sources are concerned, the emergency move was real.

The pretext is Covid-19, but as everyone suspected, the real reason is to prevent a no confidence motion from being tabled against Muhyiddin in parliament.

That could also happen indirectly via the voting to pass next year's budget, scheduled before end of next month.

If the budget doesn't go through, that's as good as a no confidence vote against Muhyiddin.

According to my sources, the main characters behind this emergency idea are Muhyiddin himself,  Azmin, Hamzah Zainuddin, Ismail Sabri, and that flying car minister, whose name I can't remember.

As for the meeting with the Agong, it was said that the king wanted to discuss the matter first with the other Rulers before giving his consent for the requested emergency be declared.

If this is true, then I suspect the Agong is not 100 per cent supportive of the idea for Malaysia being put under an emergency rule.

Otherwise, he would have just agreed to it.

For that, I salute the Agong.

I'm also against this emergency move because it's against our democracy and may worsen the country's economy which is already battered by Covid-19.

The Perikatan government shouldn't run for emergency cover whether in handling Covid-19 or the challenge from the opposition.

Even the Agong had previously said that all quarters must abide by the Constitution.

True, there's currently a spike in Covid-19 cases but we have been handling it well so far and I can't see why the need for the state of emergency, if that's the real reason to have it.

If the real reason is Anwar to challenge Muhyiddin in parliament, then stand up to it and just count the seats.

Prove to the world that the government has the mandate to rule.

That should shut up Anwar and the gang.

There's the Umno ceasefire, what?

Surely Muhyiddin could get enough support.

Unless, if Zahid had actually just been bluffing about the ceasefire the other day.

Well, if that's the case, Muhyiddin should talk with Zahid and the Umno gang again.

And this time, talk nicely to them.

But if Muhyiddin still wants to go the emergency route, then he should bear in mind that his government will become even more unpopular.

He would be just buying time if he does that as come GE15, the people will punish him and his gang.

Unless, of course the state of emergency be prolonged beyond the GE15 deadline or till forever.

Then we can be like North Korea.

Hey, anything could happen, okay.

Umno vs Pribumi Bersatu, the story so far

When Zahid yesterday declared a "political ceasefire", the first thing that came to my mind was that it was directed at Pribumi Bersatu.

Definitely not at DAP, PKR and their allies.

The real struggle for power now is between Umno and Pribumi Bersatu.

Anwar, Dr Mahathir and the others are just supporting characters.

At the moment, Umno has the upper hand.

The only reason they didn't go for the kill yet was because of the Covid-19 crisis.

Or, Muhyiddin had offered them something.

But one thing is for sure, Pribumi Bersatu has now realised that it can't bully Umno in Perikatan Nasional anymore.

Even Pas realised this, thus the agreement to formalise Muafakat Nasional the other day.

My bet is that those two will go on their own along with the Umno's BN allies in GE15.

A united Malay Muslim front supported by parties representing the minorities and those in Sarawak.

Basically the old BN with the inclusion of Pas. 

It's better that way as I previously wrote.

Anyway, Muhyiddin apparently has managed to buy some time but he and his people need to find their own ways too from now.

They would probably be absorbed back into Umno or melt into the other parties even before GE15.

Doesn't matter.

If the whole thing goes that way, Anwar, Dr Mahathir and the other old men of Malaysian politics would also become irrelevant, which in a way is good.

No more the usual baggage.

Personally, I hope Umno will keep its cool till GE15.

It has sent its message that day, and that should be enough for now.

As for the opposition, I hope PKR, DAP and the others could survive the remainder of the Muhyiddin's administration.

We will still need a good opposition no matter what happen because this country is a democracy.

Please help the Bajau Laut people

UPDATES at 12.31pm

Apparently, NST has picked up on this story just now. Alhamdulillah.

More holistic approach needed to address Covid-19 among Semporna islanders

ORIGINAL POST 

My beloved forwarded me this yesterday and asked me to highlight it,

My beloved is really concerned about the plight of those Bajau Laut people but felt helpless for not being able to do much.

I wish I could do more to help them myself.

Since we can't do much, I hope those who are really in the position to do something could help them.

I know, there are many others who are in need of help too amidst this Covid-19 crisis but these unfortunate people seemed to be in more need of help than others.

For those who may later help the Bajau Laut people, may Allah bless and reward you. Thank you.

Counting chairs got nothing to do with Covid-19

Apparently, Umno is now divided over whether it should continue to support or abandon Perikatan.

Hishammuddin and KJ, who are Perikatan ministers, have came out with very strong statements that they will not support their party leaders if Umno decides to stop supporting the coalition.

Well, I guess, if Umno really do so, then that duo would be among those who will leave the party.

Maybe they will join Pribumi Bersatu, and continue to be ministers.

Not really a bad thing, actually. Many former Umno leaders had done so, particularly after Umno and its allies lost in GE14.

Of course, they will do well....provided Perikatan remains in power lah.

After all, I have a feeling that it would be the end of Pribumi Bersatu if the party could not keep its grip on Putrajaya.

It actually doesn't have much except Dr Mahathir, when the handsome old man was still with the party.

Really, it doesn't even have proper grassroots machinery.

GE14, in my opinion, was won by the then popularity of Dr Mahathir as well as resources and hardwork of DAP's machinery.

For GE15, I believe Pribumi Bersatu will want to rely mostly on Umno's machinery to win their seats.

And the irony is that, those seats that Pribumi Bersatu will want to contest are Umno's traditional seats.

Something like what happened in Sabah the other day.

They would not kacau Pas as they know that party would not give them face. And they definitely couldn't contest at mix constituency, let alone non-Malay majority areas as they would be massacred there.

On top of that, those MPs and assemblymen who won their seats as Umno candidates but then jumped to Pribumi Bersatu after GE14 would like very much for Umno people in their area to again work for them so that they can continue to be Yang Berhormat.

People like Tok Pa, Hamzah, Dr Latif, Mas Emerianti and many others.

Again, it's something like what happened in Sabah.

The idea would be that Umno will stupidly play along.

Demi perpaduan ummah dan Melayu, they would say.

Well, now Umno seemed to be getting a bit smarter and demanded for itself not to be treated like fools.

So, the chorus started about not wanting another political turmoil with Covid-19 being thrown in for good measure.

Eh, all they need to do is to just count which side have more chairs in the Dewan Rakyat la.

You don't get infected with Covid-19 just for counting chairs.

If you don't have enough seats, then let the one with enough seats to run the country.

That's democracy.

Unless, Muhyiddin feel that he really doesn't have enough seats and want to pull the same stunt like what Shafie Apdal did in Sabah the other day.

Dissolves the parliament and triggers a fresh general election.

Then we'll have Covid-19 problem.

So, if we don't want a fresh wave of Covid-19, don't pull that stunt just because we know we don't have enough seats in parliament.

Be gracious and let go.

Of course, the same goes to the other side, if after the chairs have been counted and it turns out you don't have enough, accept it and shut up.

Really, there should not be any problem over this.

In fact they can do it everyday when parliament is in sitting.

It doesn't really costs anything.

Okay lah, that's my thought on politics today.

I'm going back to watching a Korean drama now.

More fun.

Cheers. 

Umno being friends with DAP is nice

From the very start, I thought it was just another Anwar's stupid drama, but yesterday it turned out that Ku Li had filed a motion of no confidence in parliament against Muhyiddin.

Now it looks more serious as Anwar may really have the number.

Istana Negara had postponed the schedule meetings between the Agong and party leaders but that I believe was because of Covid-19.

Even if those meetings are to be delayed to much much later, Anwar may still be a threat to Muhyiddin when the parliament convenes next month.

It would be interesting to see how Art Harun as the parliament speaker handles the whole thing.

If he is seen as purposely delaying the tabling of the private motion, then we will know that his claim of being impartial would be just bullshit.

More importantly, we would also know that Anwar does indeed have the number.

And that extra which gives him the number comes from Umno.

Well, Muhyiddin for now should try to strike a deal with Umno to prevent that from happening.

Meanwhile, from my personal observation, it could be seen that the pro-Muhyiddin faction in Umno are trying very hard to convince party members and the public to support their cause.

For instance, there's Annuar Musa, who is becoming more and more like Pribumi Bersatu spokesman.

It's quite laughable, actually.

The choice for Umno now is whether to make peace and combine forces with its enemies, or stick around with smaller friends who once stabbed it behind its back and are still bullying it till now.

Yeah, I know that many Umno people can't stomach working with the Anwar's faction, especially DAP, but the option is to die a slow death in the current situation.

For me, DAP is no longer a threat to Umno as it could only make noises despite its huge block of MPs.

And even if it becomes a part of the government again, DAP should already learnt its lesson from the fall of Pakatan Harapan not to be so kurang ajar again.

Okay, I still think Anwar as PM would be bad but it's going to be just for less than two years.

As for the next general election, Umno and its BN allies could go on their own.

In fact, if Umno manages to clean its house by then, BN could even combine forces with DAP to present a new multi-racial front.

That would be nice, I think.

Of course DAP needs to get rid of its bad people too and learn to work with MCA and MIC to win, especially the non-Malay votes.

Let Anwar, Muhyiddin, Pas and the others be on the other side.

I would not even mind them using that Malay unity slogan against the BN and DAP gang, because I believe Malays are rationale people who want to work with other people, provided the other people are not kurang ajar towards them.

I know, many of you would think this could never happen but who knows, Malaysian politics could be quite weird sometimes.

Anyway, just let me daydream of it for a while.

Yeah, Umno and DAP being friends is nice.

Maybe they could find a common ground for the good of the country.

And if that happens, I don't have to quarrel over politics too much anymore with my beloved who is a DAP supporter.

That's really nice.

Okay, that's all. I need to get back to work now.

Ciao..

Anwar's little farting and a Chinese future choice

 So, Anwar met the Agong.

Then he told a press conference that he has more than 120 MPs in his pocket, and the king is going to meet party leaders to discuss the matter.

However, the palace issued a statement saying that Anwar never showed the king any evidence of his majority in parliament. Nothing was mentioned about the king meeting party leaders.

It's beginning to look like another Anwar's drama.

Lots of noise and nothing much else.

I seriously think the guy should just quit the game.

Anyway, people are more concerned about Covid-19 than anything else at the moment.

Most, I think had just shrugged their shoulder over the comedy.

Really, looking at Anwar, I believe that all the old farts of Malaysian politics should just retire.

Some of the younger ones should too.

They are really a tiresome bunch.

Anyway, I still think Umno and its BN allies should go on their own for the next election.

No need to be with Anwar, Muhyiddin or even those Pas people.

They should fix their house, and offer Malaysians a good moderate multi-racial coalition like it used to do.

No need to have an overwhelmingly Malay dominated government as it may not be good for the country.

I believe a lot of Malays feel the same and if the non-Malays are smart they would agree too.

They would likely support such a good coalition. Just like they used to do back when BN did a lot of good for the country.

After all, they had tried something different with Pakatan Harapan and that didn't turn out very well.

That's why I hope, especially for the Chinese community to give MCA some of their support so that the idea of a multi-racial coalition, like BN used to be, could work.

If they still want to give their support solely to DAP, then they may as well endorse a Malay-dominated government without their representation.

Some of my Chinese friends said they don't mind that as they believe their community's wealth would be enough for them to not care as to who's in power. But that's just about ego and being silly, and I suspect they knew it to be so.

You need a government, which care for you. If it sees you as being hostile, things are going to get difficult.

It's the policies of the government, which allow things to be the way it is now, and if those change, things would not be the same again.

Simple example, they will close down the Chinese schools under the pretext of national unity.

I know for certain that some powerful figures in the current government have that in mind. 

For them, it's a popular thing to do to further rally the Malays.

There's the MCA in the current government, but I don't know how long their leaders could stand up to the Malay ultra-right wingers there.

DAP may have a huge block in parliament given by mostly the Chinese community's almost total support for them , but they are in the opposition, so there's nothing they could do except making noises.

And please don't think about going to the streets, because this government is not the same as the Najib's administration which allowed such thing, abolished the ISA and many draconian laws of the past etc.

You go to the streets and protest now, they will clobber you. I'm quite sure of that. Nothing good will come out of that.

But that's up for the Chinese community to decide.

By the way, there's Covid-19 too to shut up protests these days.

Eh, I need to get up and go to work now. I'll try to write more regularly after this. Still trying to discipline myself to be like before.

Cheers.

Umno as the kingmaker

Anwar said he will be meeting the Agong on Tuesday to present his majority in parliament.

Is this for real?

Anwar is after all known for his drama.

However, there has been no denial from the Istana Negara.

So, I think the Agong must have been informed that Anwar do actually have the number and granted the audience because he wants to know whether it's true.

The Agong must have prior information on the matter to grant the audience.

It's the king's job anyway, the same with what he did leading to the formation of Muhyiddin's Perikatan Nasional government.

Now everything points at a faction of Umno, particularly the Zahid's gang, as the ones who may be providing Anwar with the extra MPs to form the majority in parliament.

Why would Zahid do that?

Well, as you all may know by now, Muhyiddin's Pribumi Bersatu people are insisting that they are the ones who should lead the PN coalition.

Umno, they said must give way to them.

Some of the more rude ones even said Pribumi Bersatu should take the lead because Umno is after all a corrupt party.

They don't care how Umno people feel about them saying that.

It should be remembered that Pribumi Bersatu was not that long ago almost a gone case after a series of by-election losses, particularly when their candidate was humiliated in the Malay-majority Tanjong Piai by BN, which fielded an MCA candidate.

I even believed that the party would be dead by now if it didn't turn against its Pakatan Harapan allies to form the PN government.

And still now, they want to be the king on top of the hill. 

Then there is Pas, who is quite happy with what's happening to Umno under PN.

They probably think that their party could benefit too from Umno getting weaker under the coalition.

Pas has after all always wanted to be the main Malay-based party.

There were already talks that Pas wants the whole of at least Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah while Pribumi Bersatu was said to be demanding to contest up to 50 seats in GE15, most of which are in areas traditionally known as Umno's strongholds.

Some Umno leaders, particularly those who gain positions and rejuvenated political career under the PN arrangement don't seemed to care about all that.

They said Umno need to sacrifice itself for the interest of Malay unity.

However, many others are beginning to realise the danger to their party. Umno may soon be irrelevant if the current situation continues.

When the well-liked Mat Hasan came out with a statement right after the appointment of Pribumi Bersatu guy as the new Sabah chief minister that he wish Umno to stay away from PN, I started to believe that things were really brewing in Umno.

This came after Zahid said he would not stop any Umno MPs from supporting Anwar.

Since the Umno number one and two have made almost the same stand on this matter, then I think the possibility of Anwar getting support from at least a faction of Umno is real.

Would it be bad for Umno to join forces with Anwar because that means joining forces with DAP and its Amanah minions too?

Well, Anwar's PKR and DAP have different support base than Umno.

They will not likely try to encroach into Umno's traditional Malay strongholds like what Pribumi Bersatu and Pas are trying to do.

Amanah should not be a problem as it will just listen to what DAP tells it to do.

PKR would be concentrating on mixed urban areas, DAP on Chinese areas while Amanah takes what ever in between those two.

So, it's not actually really bad for Umno under such a deal as it would likely have more parliament seats than those three parties if it could win back the bulk of Malay electorates.

It would actually be a better deal than being bullied by Pribumi Bersatu and Pas and losing the Malay heartland to them.

But can Umno stomach Anwar?

Well, at the moment Umno has to stomach Azmin, ok. Same what.

How about DAP?

I have talked with a DAP friend and she said DAP may likely swallow its pride and work with Umno in order to get back to Putrajaya.

The party is in a worse situation now than at any other time during the long BN rule.

Its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, along with his wife are facing multiple corruption charges, not unlike several Umno leaders.

The possibility of other DAP leaders suffering the same fate soon is real.

That put DAP and Umno in the same boat.

Then, there's the matter of stopping the country from being rule by an overwhelmingly Malay-dominated government.

I think Umno's MCA and MIC allies in BN would agree to make peace with DAP and vice versa to stop that.

They may even agree for Umno to be the dominant partner in a new coalition as long as they could be there in the government to protect their community's interests.

But can the Malays, in particular Umno members agree to such an arrangement with DAP?

I think they would, as long as DAP people don't kurang ajar towards them and other Malays like when they did so after winning GE14.

Well, DAP probably has learnt its lesson on that one.

Am I supporting this possible arrangement between Umno, Anwar and DAP?

I'm just an observer. But if I'm an Umno person, I would want my party to be in charge of things, even if it means playing the role of a kingmaker.

Anwar or Muhyiddin, if they want to be PM,  they must be nice and listen to my party.

But then again, I'm not even an Umno member.

Personally, I prefer Umno to just stick with MCA and MIC, along with those in Sabah and Sarawak under the multi-racial BN banner.

That, I think is better than all these bullshit coalition arrangements.

Covid-19 second wave damages Perikatan

Received this from a friend in the morning,

My beloved also sent me these last night, 

Well, it looks like the government is going to face more of these in the coming days as the country's number of Covid-19 cases increases.

Personally, as I put it at the early stages of the pandemic, the Perikatan government had done well in managing the situation.

The problem is when certain individuals in the government made stupid and insensitive remarks or do things which angered the people.

Like when a particular minister went holidaying in Turkey and blatantly ignored the SOP.

Of late, there were more of those.

Then of course, there were all those political manoeuvrings which prompted even allies of the government getting crossed with it.

For instance, when Pribumi Bersatu leaders insisted on themselves being the top dogs in the coalition.

As you all know by now, many in Umno are currently demanding for their party to have nothing to do with Perikatan anymore.

So, when the government and its leaders screwed up things such as the management of Covid-19, the voices of dissatisfaction were amplified even more.

Nonetheless, the unhappiness is real and the government of Muhyiddin may soon be in danger if it fails to address the problem.

Yesterday evening, a foreigner friend asked me whether there was still the possibility of a snap general election in the next few months despite what appeared to be a worsening Covid-19 situation.

I told him that I don't think that would happen now. It's not just because of the Covid-19 situation but also other factors including the seemingly eroding popularity of Muhyiddin and his Perikatan government due to their few recent blunders.

However, delaying the snap polls may only actually worsen the situation for them as the people would likely find new things soon to be dissatisfied with as the pandemic causes more damages to the economy.

And this pandemic may even drag on until the GE15 deadline in 2023.

I'm hoping that's not going to be the case but these days, anything could happen. I just can't imagine how terrible the suffering is going to be if it does.

Muhyiddin's government may lasts till then but by then it could perhaps be the most hated government going to the polls in Malaysian history.

That, unless they clean up their act, stop being stupid and get back to work like how they were when the pandemic started.

Stop whacking the guy who created jobs for journalists

 Saw this latest post by Rocky just now,

If Vinod is a bankrupt (and he's doing so much good for so many people), then what we need is more bankrupts like him

It's a response to an article whacking the guy which was shown to me by a friend earlier today.

Honestly, I didn't know about this Vinod guy until I was told several weeks ago about the setting up of the new news portal called The Vibes.

The little that I know about it was that the guy had initially wanted to buy out an established portal but was advised against it.

He was instead persuaded to set up a new portal with the money he intended to use to buy the established one.

He agreed to it because his advisor told him that if he buys an already established portal, then he will most likely has to get rid off some of the staff members, particularly among the journalists.

That would results in more journalists becoming unemployed.

As you all already knew, the country's media industry is not doing very well at the moment with newspapers stopping printing and laying off workers, including journalists.

I heard even the mighty Star Publications is laying off people these days.

In fact, even the great Syed Mokhtar's Media Prima has been throwing people out of the boat for quite a while now. 

Considering all that, I once advised a young university student not to follow in her journalist father's footsteps as the prospect of that industry looks grim for I think a good many more years.

The girl ended up studying English instead of journalism. 

Well, when the Vinod guy set up The Vibes, instead of laying off journalists, he actually created jobs for them.

So, that's a good one for him.

Anyway, when I was told about that story, I thought this Vinod is actually quite crazy.

Surely nobody really sane would want to spend money on the media at the moment because of the economic situation, brought about by Covid-19.

But this Vinod actually did so.

Don't ask me why, but what he did was good for the country's journalists.

Creating jobs for them at a time like this was indeed amazing.

I was told that The Vibes has quite a big team, a complete news room and with bureaus in Sabah, JB and Penang.

Okay, I have to admit that by looking at the names there, the top editorial staff look collectively a bit pro-Pakatan.

But then, Rocky and  Big Dog are there too. And they are definitely not pro-Pakatan.

Also, I know at least one of their senior reporters who is definitely pro-Umno.

Therefore, maybe it's true that The Vibes is trying to be balanced with its politics.

As of now, I have to say that the portal's coverage has been quite decent and not really siding with either sides of the political divide.

If that holds, then The Vibes could be the best thing that has ever happened to Malaysian journalism for quite a long time.

And to think it's Vinod's  pet project, it's a bit hard for me to agree that the guy is bad.

Hey, at least he's doing something good and positive....unlike some people who only talked and claimed to be God's gift to journalism yet did nothing for the profession except milking it for self interest.

Yea, what's the point of being a Tokoh Wartawan Negara but did nothing for journalism and instead used that position to enrich oneself with sweet deals while wrecking the reputation of the profession by cosying up to the power that be in order to get those benefits.

Journalists' welfare? Hey, did any of the living Tokoh Wartawan Negara has done anything to save the jobs of their fellow journalists, let alone created some for them.

Talks only can  la.

I can talk too, okay.

Well, as per Rocky's posting, this Vinod guy apparently is doing some other good things.

That's rather refreshing during this time when people, especially the rich ones are running for cover, too busy protecting their money.

Based on that, I don't think this Vinod is bad.

Okay, he is close to Anwar. But that's about it. Nobody's perfect.

Hey, if Vinod is actually Lim Guan Eng, I would still give him credit for what he has done so far.

The laptop that may starve Annie to death

In my last post, which was quite sometime ago, I wrote about difficulties accessing this blog using my laptop.

It turned out that my laptop was the actual cause of the problem.

I could use it for everything else except accessing this blog.

I have tried to fix it but was unsuccessful.

That explains why I have not been writing for quite a while.

So, with a heavy heart, I decided yesterday to buy a new laptop.

Honestly, I don't want to do so because the one I have been using seems perfectly okay, except when it comes to this blog.

Furthermore, I love that laptop. It was a gift from my friend Sufi who bought it for me in early 2012.

It was the only laptop I have ever own.

Yup, I have actually never bought a laptop before.

And now I have to buy one in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic which has significantly depleted my regular income.

I'm actually now using my savings to top up what I earn every month to make ends meet.

I was hoping I could survive like this for at least a year until the pandemic eases off and things get back to the old normal.

I had done my calculations and by right I could only afford a RM3k+ laptop.

However, I decided that I need something similar to the one I have been using as I don't want to start learning all over again on how to use a new laptop.

So, I went to the computer shop yesterday aiming to buy a RM4k+ laptop which is similar to the one I have been using.

I pointed to the salesman the one that I wanted on display and he went about doing the necessary.

When he asked for my credit card, I just handed it to him and proceeded to punch the numbers to make the purchase.

Then something terrible happened.

The salesman handed me the receipt and to my horror I realised that the laptop that I have purchased was priced at RM5.5k+.

It turned out that there were two versions of the laptop that I pointed at to the salesman.

The lower specs one at RM4.3k+ and the higher end one at RM5.5k+.

The salesman thought I wanted the more expensive one. He had shown me the specs, but being an IT idiot, I did not really look at it.

I almost cried when I realised my mistake.

Can't do anything as I have already paid for it.

When I reached home, I just left it in the box as I was still affected by the whole thing.

Oh, on top of the stupid purchase, it turned out that I also have to pay RM800+ for the laptop's three years' warranty. Really crazy.

Now, I have to adjust my finances again. Hopefully, I wouldn't starve to death during this Covid-19 season.

Maybe I should stock up more on Maggi. 

Well, nothing much else I could do.

Just now, I decided to unbox the laptop.

I have to do it sooner or later.

And there it is,

The laptop, which caused me severe depression over the last 24 hours....and probably more after this.

All just because I need to access this blog again.

Sigh.