Tuesday 31 March 2020

A plea from the food delivery industry


Got another request, and this time it's from my father.

He got this from his friend and asked me to help publish it.

For the record, I don't agree with all the points made in the write-up, particularly on how food delivery services are helping hawkers (at least not all of them), but I'm still publishing it because my father asked me to do so. Hopefully my mother won't kill me for it, as she's very pro-hawkers (as explained in my last posting).

So, here it is;

By A voice in the food delivery services 

The business of food deliveries in the age of the coronavirus has been devastating for the industry.

The adverse economic impact stemming from the Movement Control Order has diminished the income of restauranteurs, petty traders and gig workers in various industries and outfits. 

Let’s face it: food is crucial during the MCO. Disruptions to the food supply chain has been catastrophic. 

The supply chain – restaurants, supermarkets, food delivery and grocery services – can keep the economy going, but in a limited capacity. 

We strongly feel that there is no clear case or evidence of contamination through food delivery: in fact, contracting the virus from grocery shopping is riskier. 

Delivery risks, if any, would be from contact with the delivery rider. 

However, food establishments now offer contactless deliveries and best practices in food handling. Food packaging can be discarded, disinfected and disposed like grocery bags or other products we buy. 

Contrary to public opinion, food deliverers lose revenue during Covid-19, attributable to restricted F&B opening hours, limited riders, and outlet and road closures. 

Many F&B establishments struggle to adapt to the takeaway/delivery only method while deliverers operate at reduced capacity. 

Food deliverers support local businesses and hence, the economy. They provide revenue for F&B outlets, hawkers, petty traders and riders in the gig economy, many from the B40 segment. 

Food deliverers are the few employers during the MCO that still stimulates the economy by providing employment, helping small traders, hawkers and businesses in F&B to stay alive. 

The government needs to ensure the security of companies within the essential services so that these businesses can continue to support the economy. 

These businesses provide employment for many B40s in the following chain: 
• Food delivery delivers food (Income for gig worker riders) 
• Restaurants and hawkers sell food from buying ingredients and fresh produce from farmers and fishermen 
• Restaurants employ mostly from the B40 group The government should also allow food deliverers to continue services beyond 8pm. While we support the government’s efforts to contain the virus, we must consider the consequences of limited operating hours: 
• The 8am-8pm time slot triggers panic buying in supermarkets and eateries, forcing more people in crowded spaces and higher risks of infections 
• Food deliverers have restricted workers: frontliners working beyond 8pm will also have problems ordering food, leading to reduced income for gig workers, riders and restaurant staff in food delivery services. 
• If the MCO’s intent is to limit movement, then adhere to the no dine-ins and adopt no takeaways for eateries, therefore only food delivery is allowed after 8pm. This is China’s approach where F&B outlets were allowed to operate until 12a. 
• Petty traders are impacted by the limited hours, so a need to support these businesses to survive. While we appreciate the government’s efforts to provide the stimulus aid, the cash injection is unsustainable. 

We need to support the local hawker/neighbourhood stalls. Here, we humbly propose the following solutions: 
• Set time slots for takeaways and pickup services between 8am and 8pm in MCO Phase 2; 
• Allow F&B outlets to operate until 11pm to cater for the late-night crowd and workers. Allow food delivery services but NO takeaways and pickup; 
• The much better food delivery option promotes social distancing where customers can opt for contactless delivery while restaurants and café adopt the WHO safety and hygiene guidelines; and, 
• Food/grocery delivery could decrease people movement, ensuring that the food industry, at least, remains drivers for employment and the economy. 

In conclusion, the big question is, are food deliveries safe? 
We referenced two experts: 
• Prof Sally Bloomfield, honorary professor of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
“…by having home delivery, all risks are eliminated. By comparison, coronavirus does not ‘breed’ outside the body so by the time it is delivered, any chance of infectivity is already lower because the virus starts to lose its infectivity as soon as it leaves the infected person…” “This means that the risk of home delivery is “very small” compared with visiting supermarkets.” 
• Dr James Gill, honorary clinical lecturer of Warwick Medical School 
“…People could look to use food delivery services as a way to reduce their need to visit supermarkets. (Delivery) highlights the importance of the imposed lock down, as social isolation and the restriction of movement is the strongest defence that the general public has against possible COVID-19 infections. “Should people be concerned about coronavirus exposure from groceries delivered directly to their homes? The fight against this pandemic is driven by data that is rapidly evolving and updated. In all likelihood, the risk of exposure from food delivery is less than risks of exposure to supermarket and queues at checkouts. “Food deliveries, whether from friends/relatives or supermarket courier will carry a lower risk of exposure. Most people have bleach and cloth to wipe over home deliveries, effectively eliminating risk.” 

Monday 30 March 2020

Please help our hawkers, don't hate Taiwan

This one is quite long and I don't even know who wrote it, but my mother asked me this morning to share it in this blog with the hope that more people will read it as do the minister in charge or people with authority.

I don't think this blog is that influential but I need to try as I can't let my mother down, okay.

So, here it is;

It is Day 11 of the Malaysian Movement Control Order (MCO) due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and I have a tale to tell.  A tale unfortunately not borne out of fiction, but firmly rooted in a sobering reality. 

This morning I experienced first hand, a distinct sector of society which has slipped under the radar.  Or at least which has brought me to my knees in re-evaluating my role as a citizen in my community.

And that sector is our local neighbourhood coffee shop hawker and gerai makan. 

11am: As the head of the household, I made my way out for a grocery run (as is what is allowed within MCO rules). While driving, I passed one of my favourite local hawker coffee shops and unexpectedly saw that 3 hawker stalls were open. 

It was ages since I had a good greasy chicken rice meal so I proceeded to order from the chicken rice seller, 3 packets of chicken rice. While going about his usual way of preparation, he started lamenting that his daily sales now is only around RM140 but he has to open shop from 7am-11pm. 

To put it in a nutshell, he has to work 16 hours to just sell Chicken Rice and survive between rm100-180 a day. 

He continued that if business went on for 2 more weeks like this, he would go out of business. 

His next response shocked me. He begged me to come back and buy from him for dinner...in which he then gave me extra meat in my packets, in the hopes that would seal the deal and I would come back that night. 

It was at that moment I realized that yes, all sectors are hit badly because of this MCO (which is unavoidable and IMHO, a necessary long term manoeuvre) but the really small coffeeshop hawkers and gerais are at the most vulnerable. 

I began a conversation with him and a few things which he pointed out, emphasized his hardship. 
1. He couldn’t go and register himself on an ecommerce site or platform due to him being illiterate and having near zero technological knowledge. 
2. He said he considered house delivery but delivery fees were at a minimum of RM5 so he couldn’t afford it and no customer would be willing to pay a jump of 200% for chicken rice. 
3. He heard from people about the recent Economic stimulus and although he qualifies for some of the incentives, many hawkers like him, are not willing to contact the IRB due to various reasons because of a checkered past (perhaps certain troubled run-ins with the law) and warranted/unwarranted fear towards the government. 
4. Why did he have to remain open instead of staying home and waiting for this MCO to end? His response was akin to a traditional malay saying “kais pagi makan pagi, kais petang, makan petang” 

I tried to persuade him to let me assist him financially or at least help him with some of the technology woes he had, but he kept deflecting and saying that my patronage of his business is good enough for him. 

When he said that, I felt a wave of emotion sweep over me. One not just of guilt, but of shame because of my ignorance. You see, my family and I have been very comfortable for the past 11 days, utilizing convenient delivery services such as Grab Food and FoodPanda everyday since MCO day 1.

We even enjoyed the occasional bout of home cooking and it was laughter around the house, while at the exact same time, there was an Uncle sitting in his chicken rice stall waiting 16 hours for a mere 10 customers per day. 

8pm: I came back that night, bought half a chicken and slipped him an extra big note into his money tray without him noticing to try and appease my guilt but I think that is why I am compelled to write this. 

For those of us who fall within the same scenario, where we are comfortable within our four walls , indulging in the diverse offerings of Grabfood/Foodpanda or even have been cooking at home the whole time during the MCO and trying out new bold recipes, perhaps it is time to play our roles as citizens of our local communities, where we can show some love to our local hawkers who are stuck with no choice, by helping them through this time of crisis by making it a point to “Tarpao” and “Bungkus” from them, besides also saying a prayer for them, because once this MCO ends, it would be a sad day for our community when we have to start having conversations as to whatever happened to our favourite chicken rice hawker stall down the street.

For those who already have been buying from your local hawkers, I applaud you 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 For the rest of us, perhaps we could practice these steps: 
1. As a family, pick out your regular hawker stall around your neighbourhood. 
2. Get your head of the household to swing by and check whether they are open during one of his/her grocery runs. 
3. If they are open, drop by and buy some breakfast, lunch, dinner. 
4. Give them a little bit of encouragement by having some small talk or conversation with them to brighten up their day. 
 #supportyourlocalhawker #supportyourlocalgerai *

I did not upload a picture or information of the real chicken rice hawker stall or the owner’s face due to his request, in which he only asked me to share his plight and the plight of other hawkers like him to let the world know the seriousness of this situation on ground. 

Your single action today, albeit how small your takeaway order might be, will be able to alter the course of destiny for each of these hawkers who in this period of distress, need us to show our solidarity as Rakyat Malaysia and practice the evergreen and holy virtue of "Loving Your Neighbour".

Why my mother wanted me to share this particular story?

It's because my grandmother used to be a fried kuey teow hawker and my mother as a small kid, used to help out at the stall.

My grandmother used to run a fried kuey teow stall like this

She used to tell me that my grandmother's stall collected about RM100 per day and maybe about RM200 during weekends, half of which had to go to fix costs like cooking materials, rental payment, gas and electricity bills, etc.

She said she was a happy child though, and most delighted when it's time when my grandmother counted their meagre earnings at the end of each day.

My mother went to study at a Chinese school after winning a scholarship and later worked at a restaurant in Singapore for two years before offered another scholarship from Taiwan to further her studies in that country.

In those days, only Taiwan offered scholarship for our Chinese school graduates. The communist government in Beijing only did so in recent years.

That actually explains my affection for Taiwan and why I always defended Malaysia's Chinese education system and schools which offered better education for children of poor Chinese families such as my mother's.

As for Taiwan, it helped a girl from a poor hawker family in Malaysia to further her education, and that girl is my mother. So, I'm grateful to Taiwan because of that.

Okay, I know, some people made a lot of noise over a misleading statement by a Taiwanese lawmaker about the Covid-19 situation in Malaysia several days ago.

But, come on guys, the man had since apologised and in the first place, he didn't even represent Taiwan as a whole.

Please don't hate Taiwan just because of one man's mistake. After all, this Covid-19 pandemic was not even started in Taiwan.

Well, this post is indeed quite long. Hopefully you all have the patience to read it till the end.

I better stop here, okay.

Let's do our best to help each other, especially those in more need than us during this Covid-19 war.

Take care, stay safe, cheers.

Sunday 29 March 2020

Heroes of Covid-19 war

In war, we need heroes.

I actually remember this from the movie

Search Results

The film is a fictionalized story of sniper Vasily Zaytsev, a Hero of the Soviet Union during the Battle of Stalingrad in Second World War.

Yesterday, my beloved sent me this,

#InDGweTrust

My beloved is now a fan of Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

I like the guy too, and so do many others, I think.

We can tell that he has been going all out in this Covid-19 war and he seemed to know what he is doing and doing it quite well.

He's quite a bit of a hero now.

But, in this article,

Kisah anak flat Loke Yew memerangi Covid-19


Dr Noor Hisham was quoted as saying this when asked about his personal self,

excerpts;

“Let us all work to solve Covid-19 first. This is the priority. Its not about me, its about Covid,” katanya dengan penuh rendah diri.

Still, I think it's okay for us to be inspired by the good doctor.

This is an interesting bit about him written by his former schoolmate at KL Methodist High School as published in that article;

Please click on image to read

Quite inspiring.

I'm sure we have many other heroes out there fighting on the frontline against the invisible Covid-19 enemy.

In fact, for me, all our frontliners are heroes in their own right, risking their lives for us and this country.

We must do our best to assist them in whatever we could.

At the very least we could give them moral support from our MCO confinement.

Or by not complaining too much about our difficulties which may irritate them.

Well, you all know lah, some people keep on bitching about the government not doing this and that, not helping them enough, etc.

Why can't these people just shut up and bear the burden like everyone else?

Again, this is a war, okay. We are all suffering and it's not all just about those selfish dumb-ass whiners.

Personally, I'm suffering here too and will suffer more if I really lose my job because of this Covid-19 pandemic.

But I see that as a cost of war, and I will try to bear with it without complaining too much and being a burden to others.

Hey, at least I'm still alive and well for now....my beloved too.

I'm praying to Allah to lessen my hardship and that of the rest of this country.

Well, that's the least that I could do.

And to cheer myself up in this MCO confinement, I watch YouTube videos such as this;




Okay guys, cheers and stay safe.

Friday 27 March 2020

No need for hate-mongering during this Covid-19 war

I saw this article yesterday and thought it has some good suggestions concerning the plight of middle income group, especially those who operate small businesses.

Search Results

However, I felt that the article was also nasty at the same time.

Were these necessary?

excerpts 1:

It’s worth remembering that the poor do not pay taxes and the majority of the civil servants do not pay tax. Thus, it can be safely said the poor and the civil servants are far better protected and cushioned to face any downside from the Covid-19 pandemic.

excerpt 2;

Thus, it’s the government’s brilliant idea, that the M40 segment can and should dip into their EPF and live off it for the next 12 months.
In short and in truth, the government has decided to leave the M40 segment high and dry to their own and their fate ― yet it is from this segment the government depend its taxes from.
excerpt 3:

To continuously announce yet another help for the B40 segment and the poor, and appearing on TV in yet another Perutusan Khas, announcing another “lockdown” isn’t helping the M40 segment employers.

Hey, if we want the government to help the middle income group, just tell it to do so lah.

Why the need to bash it for helping the poor and those from the low income group like that.

I don't really believe the allegation that the government doesn't care for any particular group of Malaysians during this hard time.

Everyone is suffering from this Covid-19 pandemic, and I think the government is trying to help every single one of us.

It's just probably that the government sees the poor as being in need of help more for now because their problems are more basic such as not having enough money to buy food for their families.

I don't think the middle income group's problems are that dire yet. Yes, having to close down businesses is hardship but it's not the same as not having the means to feed one's family.

I'm quite sure the government will address the needs of the middle income group more, once it can already make sure no one among the poor die of starvation and such.

Well, it's not like the poor are being given luxuries, okay. So, please don't begrudge them too much if it appears that the government is paying more attention to them for now.

And it's not true that the poor and most civil servants are not paying taxes. We are all paying taxes one way or another.

On this one, I read a hint of an old racist political dogma - we pay taxes, they don't.

Heard of it a lot during political campaigns when certain people were trying to gain support from certain community by making them hate people of other certain race.

That's bad, especially now as this country is facing the Covid-19 pandemic.

Not the time to play politics of any kind, okay.

It's time for all of us to get together, no matter B40, M40 or T20, and help the government in this Covid-19 war.

We are all in the same boat now, remember that.

Tuesday 24 March 2020

In war, we must bear with casualties and sufferings

My beloved was quite upset when told that I will have to take a severe pay cut or maybe later even lose my job because of Covid-19.

My beloved was upset not actually because of the pay cut or the prospect of my  retrenchment but rather because I was so calm about it.

My beloved has always hated my calmness.

Well, that's just me. I'm mostly a calm person.

I mostly avoid problems and unpleasantness if I could do so.

If I still have to face them, I'll try to do so without much complaints.

So, in this Covid-19 scenario, I do understand why my employer have to take drastic measures.

Business is simply suffering.

The way I see it, this Covid-19 pandemic is a real war - and a world war at that.

There are bound to be casualties and sufferings.

Everyone suffers in a war, okay....one way or another.

I tried to imagine that the place where I'm working had been bombed in this war and the boss have to cut everybody's pay or even retrench the workers to keep the place going.

Well, the boss has no choice.

On my part, I know I can't expect things to carry on as usual during a war such as this.

We are all in the trenches together, so we have to suffer together.

If I got shot, then I have to accept it. I shouldn't be complaining why it's me and not the next person who got shot.....or suffer a pay cut or even retrenched.

I still have a bit of saving that will lasts for a while. Hopefully it's enough for my needs.

For now, I'm just praying for this Covid-19 pandemic to blow over as soon as possible.

Staying put in the house for these past few days has not been so bad for me.

Spent it mostly reading and playing games on my phone...and praying.

My beloved kept me updated on what's happening out there, which I'm grateful.

I don't have much heart to read about all those deaths and suffering myself.

As for the movement control order, I believe it will be extended beyond its March 31 dateline.

Well, I support any move by the government to contain this Covid-19 outbreak even if it causes me to suffer.

As I said, it's a war.

In a war, we as a nation must get together and support our leaders.

Whether we like them or not, doesn't really matter at the moment.

So far, this government has been doing not so badly in its job to combat the pandemic.

Of course, there were problems, but they are getting better at it.

Let's pray that they continue to do so.

Okay.....I'm running out of things to write for now. Will update this blog later.

You all stay safe, okay.

Cheers.

Friday 20 March 2020

Covid-19 blues

I was working in the office till yesterday when the boss told us to shut down to observe the Covid-19 stay home order.

The boss told us to work from home, so I'm doing what I could to keep it going.

It's a bit tough for me as I'm not used to working at home.

Don't really have the self discipline.

I tend to be lazy at home.

But I know it needs to be done.

This Covid-19 pandemic is really dangerous, and people are dying all over the world because of it.

For me the scariest of all is that the pattern of the outbreak in our country at this stage is very similar with Italy at the begining of the outbreak there.

Now Italy have more deaths than China, where the pandemic first started.

The death toll keeps climbing there.

Hopefully, we are not going to be like that.

It's a good thing that our government enforced the restriction order immediately once there were signs that the pandemic is getting worse.

Of course there were some hiccups here and there at the start, but I believe they are getting better at enforcing the restrictions now.

On Sunday they are deploying the army to further improve the enforcement effort, which I think is a good move.

Too many stubborn people around such as that cardiologist who insisted that he needed to go jogging at a park and argued with enforcement officers who tried to advice him against it.

And of course there were some of those tabligh guys who refused to go for screening despite so many of them being infected recently at the Sri Petaling gathering.

I hope the police and army people will put a stop to all those nonsense and be tough on those idiots.

Well, we have to suffer this in order to get better or even to just stay alive.

And I know, it's so boring just staying at home....but it's better than ends up being dead, right?

 I'm going to spend most of my time indoor, reading.

And watching YouTube, I guess.

I'm learning to sing this song now via YouTube;


Oh, and I hope the Japanese will quickly announce the postponement of the coming Olympics there and defer it until after the Covid-19 pandemic has blown over.

Stay safe guys.

Ciao.

Sunday 15 March 2020

Let Muhyiddin's team work first - priorities : Covid-19, economy

A friend the other day asked me to comment on Muhyiddin's Cabinet of whhich I said to him that I rather wait a bit longer.

I do have complaints about the line -up but for now I prefer to let them do their work first, before judging them.

After all, no one really gives a shit about politics with the Covid-19 situation currently looking as if it's getting worse by the day.

Personally, I want the Muhyiddin's administration to do well in handling the coronavirus crisis.

It's hurting the people, the economy, the country and everything.

So, politics doesn't matter at the moment.

If Pakatan had not collapsed and is still in power now, I would have wished them to do well too as far as the Covid-19 is concerned.

In fact, I think Dzulkefly Ahmad, who was the Pakatan health minister did well in the early stage of the outbreak.

I hope his successor Dr Adham Baba will do even better.


I last met Dr Adham just before GE13 when I was still in Johor and I kinda like the guy.

At that time I was even hoping for him to replace the retiring TS Abdul Ghani Othman as  Johor MB.

I did a posting on him in support of his candidacy;

Introducing Adham

Not sure if he's still the same now, but hopefully he still does.

Meanwhile, the spin machine apparently continues its spins, this time to undermine Muhyiddin and his allies, particularly those from Umno.

Covid-19 or not, they continue with their work.

It does not matter to them that people are fearful of the coronavirus as for them getting back the power for themselves tops everything else.

Here's an example;

In Umno pushback over Cabinet, 
a flash point for Muhyiddin to avoid

It's an obvious attempt to pit Muhyiddin with Umno.

But then again, just look at the Umno leaders quoted in the spin

excerpts;

Among those from Umno who have been vocal over the Cabinet posts are Kinabatangan MP Datuk Bung Moktar Radin and Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Azalina Othman, who both questioned the allocations given to the party. 
Citing arithmetic, Azalina said Bersatu MPs only made up 28 per cent of Perikatan Nasional (PN), but gets one prime minister and two senior ministers, referring to Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and Mohd Radzi Md Jidin.
Meanwhile, she said Umno only has one senior minister — Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri — despite making up 35 per cent.
Umno’s Pasir Salak MP Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman had said earlier this week that the appointment of Azmin as a senior minister in the new Cabinet makes him and others uncomfortable.
Yesterday, Umno vice-president Datuk Khaled Noordin expressed discontent with the party’s role in Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s Cabinet, saying it was not “subordinate” to Bersatu in the PN coalition.
Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also joined the chorus of discontent yesterday, clarifying that the PN government is not a Muafakat Nasional and Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

I never really like any of them except for Najib. And in this case the guy was not even complaining about the Cabinet. The writer put him there to make the number of "disgruntled" Umno leaders a bit more, I guerss.

Whatever you all want to say, for me Najib is okay as I never really believe that he stole all those money. In his case I rather wait for the court to decide.

As for the others quoted in the spin, I even despise two of them and regard the group as those whose political career had expired.

Well, they can continue to spin, as it doesn't matter to me. I still believe in freedom of expression.

Just that I hope this new government can fix things.

So far, I kinda like its moves. First thing it did was the setting up of an Economic Action Council which I think is crucial as we continue to suffer from the slump.

Hopefully the council would be able to turn the tide and reassure the public of a minimal impact from all the talks of an impending global recession.

Then there's also its stepped up of effort to contain the coronavirus outbreak which I believe was doing relatively well.

These are still early days, yet I hope the new government will be able to shoulder the responsibility.

In this time of crisis, we should put aside our political differences and support whatever effort necessary for our country's interest.

Anyway, how much worse could this new government be compared to the now defunct Pakatan Harapan government, right?

It may be labeled as a backdoor government, but if it performs well, why should we care about the politics?

At the very least, we know that these bunch of people in the new government didn't lie or make fantastical promises to the people like what the Pakatan people did.

Them lying and betraying their own fellow politicians doesn't count, okay.

Just don't do that to the people. Serve them well instead. That  would be good enough.    

Saturday 7 March 2020

Looks good in Johor

I was quite happy when I read this story,

New Johor excos sworn in before Sultan


It's because I personally know some of the names in this list are good guys,

excerpts:

The state executive councilors who were sworn in were Datuk Samsol Bari Jamali (Semarang-Umno), Mazlan Bujang (Puteri Wangsa-Pribumi Bersatu), Tosrin Javarnthi (Bukit Permai-Pribumi Bersatu), Ayub Jamil (Rengit-Umno), Mohd Solihan Badri (Tenang-Pribumi Bersatu), Zaiton Ismail (Sungai Balang-Umno), Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi (Layang-Layang-Umno), Mohd Izhar Ahmad (Larkin-Pribumi Bersatu), R. Vidyanathan (Kahang-MIC) and Dr Chong Fat Full (Pemanis-Independant).

Those I personally know to be good are;

1. Samsol Bari Jamali
Met the guy several times and aware of his good track record in managing things. He's the one who led the BN machinery in Ayer Hitam in GE14 where MCA's Wee Ka Siong defeated DAP's Liew Chin Tong despite BN's heavy losses elsewhere. Quite a practical guy as well as courteous and willing to listen, especially to his seniors. If there's one advice I like to offer him, it would be - work even harder YB. I wrote a bit about him in this post;

2. Mazlan Bujang
A straight talker, like his brother Maulizan of Tebrau Umno. This guy is an idealist. A bit brash sometimes but it's a quality I much appreciate in a state exco member, especially in Johor where the state government would likely face constant interference. We need someone who is straight as an arrow willing to say exactly what is right and what is wrong. With him in the exco line up, I'm counting on no hanky panky going through without him shouting out to stop it.

3. Ayub Jamil
I know him from all the way back during the run up to the 2004 GE. A good senior Umno assemblyman who serves his constituents well irrespective of race or religion. He was nominated as the BN's candidate for the Batu Pahat parliamentary seat for GE13 by the Johor Umno liasion committee led by its then chief TS Abdul Ghani Othman. His candidacy was however rejected by Najib after the much disliked then deputy education minister Ahmad Puad Zarkashi threw a tantrum insisting he remains as the Batu Pahat MP. The result - BN lost the only Malay-majority constituency in Johor in that election. I don't think that would have happened if Ayub was the one contesting the seat. I have not heard anything bad about the guy over the years which is quite something for a politician.

4. Onn Hafiz Ghazi
I first heard about this young man during the GE13 campaign. Smart, hard working, polite, and sincere were qualities I heard about him at that time. He was just a young junior Umno guy then and it was said that he didn't mind being assigned to minor things despite him being the great grandson of Umno founder Datuk Onn Jaafar. I however only met him in person in the aftermath of GE14. My assessment of him after several encounters was that he looked the way he was described to me back then. I have high hopes for this guy to be part of the future of a good Umno.

As for the others in the exco line-up, I have to admit that I don't know much about them. However, I have not heard anything bad about them either, which for me is good enough for the time being.

I also have considerable confidence in the new Johor MB.

I believe Hasni had chosen the right people for his exco line-up, based on the four whom I personally know. They are all good to me. The rest are probably good too.

After all, Hasni is for me the best guy now to lead in Johor.

I'm quite sure his administration will definitely be better than those of the two Pakatan MB's for the past 22 months. His is also most likely better than the previous Khaled Nordin's administration.


I first predicted Hasni becoming MB in this post in October last year;


excerpts;
I'll soon write about the next Johor state administration which I'm predicting will be headed by Datuk Hasni Mohammad.
I know the guy and I believe he is good.
Okay, maybe not as good as TS Abdul Ghani Othman, but he will definitely be better than the current and past Pakatan MB clowns.
He is also definitely better than Khaled Nordin.


I also mentioned a bit about Hasni in these posts;


excerpts;
Special salute to Johor BN chairman and Umno chief Hasni whom I believed as being the one who made that final decision and his boss Zahid, who allowed him to make the decision.


excerpts;
Third is Hasni, the Johor Umno/BN boss who is the real mastermind behind the landslide victory in Tanjung Piai. The guy doesn't speak much but he is good at what he is doing. Always low key, yet very effective. Very much like my favourite Umno leader of all times TS Abdul Ghani Othman. Hopefully Hasni will be the rightful successor of Ghani after the next general election.

And the longest I wrote about my contact with Hasni was in this post;


excerpts;
A very high ranking Johor Umno leader asked me the other day whom should BN field in the upcoming Tanjung Piai by-election. I actually felt honoured that he asked for my opinion. After all, I'm just a nobody while he is a very important Johor Umno decision maker.

Yup, that unnamed "very high ranking Johor Umno leader" whom I talked to as I wrote in that post was actually Hasni.

Sunday 1 March 2020

Hopefully, the rakyat will get to decide in the end

So, you all happy today?

Well, not all of you, I guess.

Muhyiddin as PM, that's the outcome of Pakatan's demise.


Such a pathetic ending for them.....at least for now.

They can try again when parliament opens for new session.

Try to get that no confidence motion against Muhyiddin.

I actually don't mind if they get it if the end result is that we can have a fresh general election.

Whatever the outcome, the rakyat decide.

A fresh polls is not for Pakatan but for the rakyat.

Pakatan people have no right to claim anything now that they screwed up big time over the whole thing.

They fought among themselves and screwed up.

In fact they have been screwing up since two years ago when they formed the government.

Theirs was the worst government that Malaysia ever had.

I don't think I have to give any example here again as I'm sure that you all know what I'm taking about.

If we are going to have that fresh election, I want them to be punished for that.

And not punished by anyone but the rakyat, not by some technicalities exploited by some quarters as it is now.

The winner, whom I'm quite confident would not be Pakatan will be truly chosen by the rakyat.

No more crooks in the government....or at least lesser than before.

And that government will not be beholden to anyone other than the rakyat.

Since I'm now a BN supporter, I hope they and their allies will win and do the right things.

No more nonsense and no more people who fucked up things before GE14 should be among them.

The rakyat can decide on that by voting the right candidates being fielded.

I don't mind bad people from BN to lose in the election, the same as those from Pakatan.

Hopefully the rakyat have became wiser after all the nonsense and able to choose wisely.

We need a strong and capable government again to manage the country.

Not a government that comes to power by lying, cheating or playing politics and then screwed up everything.

Not a weak government led by a minority party which is beholden to all quarters and could crumble at any time just like the Pakatan's and the incoming one.

We need the stability in this country to move on.

Well, hopefully we can have that very soon.

If not, then we need to be patient and wait for another three years to go to the polls again.

Whatever sufferings we need to endure till then, are the price we have to pay for our democratic system.

I know it's not going to be cheap but for me, it's worth it.