Just got back yesterday from a bit of holidaying in Sabah.
Quite a pleasant trip, actually.
It was so pleasant that I had not bothered to keep up with the political happenings in the country this past week.
What's there to keep up with anyway other than the usual nonsense.
Just look at the PKR election. Was it worth monitoring?
Isn't it just the usual merry go round of a party which has lost all sense of significance?
The election process of the party itself was a joke.
Just read here,
One election, three winners - the joke about Ampang’s PKR election
And yesterday, Anwar appointed some of the losers to key party posts.
Some said it's to balance the influence of his new deputy Rafizi.
I don't see why he needed to do that as Rafizi is just a clown.
Aren't you all tired of such politicians, who could only talk nonsense and not much else?
Seriously, PKR is just a circus full of clowns like Rafizi and I just can't wait to see it get thrashed in the next general election.
Anyway, I met Joniston Bangkuai of PBS when I was in Sabah.
Went to his beautiful kampung in Kiulu, actually.
Now, that's one politician that I like.
The guy is down to earth, know how to articulate things properly, can do his work exceptionally well and as cool as a sea cucumber.
Best of all, I know that the guy is honest and sincere with what he's doing.
Really.
You see, I have known Joniston since before he became a politician and we used to spend many hours talking about all kind of stuff, usually after he had a few drinks.
Okay, the guy drinks a bit too much sometimes, but that's normal considering where he comes from.
And he's most honest when he's a bit drunk.
He would tell me all kind of things he wished he could do for his beloved kampung and Sabah.
The guy however doesn't seemed to have any political ambition at that time.
Then things got a bit funny with him when he was conferred with his datukship for his social and charity works, particularly in his capacity as the then president of Sabah journalists' association.
I used to tease him for getting that title and he got quite flustered every time.
I was told by another Sabahan friend that Joniston had even tried to decline the award as he felt he's not worthy of it but was pushed by then CM Musa Aman to accept it.
He would at that time tells me that being a datuk was a bit of a burden as people in his kampung would ask him for help and he can't do much being only a lowly paid journalist.
I only knew that he was with PBS shortly before the 2013 general election when he quit his journalist job after being nominated by the party to contest in his kampung in Kiulu.
He won the seat with a razor thin majority of 44 votes that year but increased it to 1,443 in the difficult 2018 election and maintained about the same majority in the 2020 Sabah election.
It's a testament of the good work he had done for the constituency, and the people there recognise what he had done for them.
Kiulu, which used to be purely an agriculture-based area is now a popular tourist spot where people may enjoy the tranquility and beauty of Sabah rural area or experience the thrill of white water rafting down a river which flows from Mount Kinabalu.
The place, despite categorised as rural, is actually just an hour drive away from Kota Kinabalu.
Joniston had done such a good job at promoting tourism in his constituency and other parts of Sabah that he was appointed as the chairman of Sabah Tourism board and State Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment.
I have not met him for quite a few years until a few days ago.
Honestly, I expected him to change now that he's some sort of a big shot politician.
However, I was pleasantly surprised that Joniston turned out to be still the same guy I knew from long ago.
He's still the jovial cool fella who drinks a bit too much when he's lepaking with his friends.
And he seemed still the same honest and sincere guy.
The only criticism I gave him was when I poked his stomach a bit and told him he's getting a bit too fat now.
He just laughed and accused me of also being fat, which is actually quite true too.
It was nice seeing that guy again, but I didn't spend hours talking with him like in the old days as he seemed very busy and most of the time surrounded by people who wanted to be close to him.
Well, that's normal. People tend to want to be close with those who had made good of themselves.
I'm just glad that Joniston is still the same and hopefully he will remain true to himself and continue to do good as a politician and an elected representative who truly works for the people.
We do indeed need more politicians like him instead of those many clowns and crooks who are trying to con us with their sweet bullshit talks.
In the next GE, Bersatu and Pejuang are finished - Daim Zainuddin
ReplyDelete"The guy is down to earth, know how to articulate things properly, can do his work exceptionally well and as cool as a sea cucumber."
ReplyDeleteDid he vote for or against the FORTY PERCENT pay rise for the useless parasites in Sabah?
After all they have done such an excellent job since 1963, right?
https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/09/625711/sabah-ranks-malaysias-poorest-state-again
Please lah.
Enough whitewashing.
I thought you are going to say a little bit about the same old same old superficial crocodile tears offered by wan azizah? So ridiculously irrelevent wayang.
ReplyDeleteWhilst I agree with you that PKR is in pretty bad shape right now, especially after the drubbing it got in the Melaka and Johor state elections, however I feel that Rafizi and Nurul Izzah Anwar have it right in their Ayur Malaysia initiative, in that they emphasise a focus on issues such as economic survival, unemployment, under-employment, cost of living, affordable accommodation and so forth which are foremost priorities amongst youth, the urban, rural and semi-rural Marhean today, especially as Malaysians struggle to recover from the ravages of the COVID-19 MCOs, business lockdowns and so forth.
ReplyDeleteRafizi, Nurul Izzah and others in their Ayur Malaysia initiative recognise that the old mantras such as Reformasi, corruption, cronyism, nepotism, kleptocracy. "backdoor government", competence, accountability, transparency, 1MDB, 2MDB, 3MDB ..... nMDB, Altantuya, Scorpene Submarine, Teoh Beng Hock, so on and so forth are already stale and are not top priorities amongts the concerns of today's youth and Marhean who are struggling to survive.
The also recognise that PKR's vote base is mostly amongts the educated, English-literate, urban middle-class, and if PKR is to make inroads into the mostly ethic Malay rural and semi-rural heartlands, as well as amongst urban, lower-income voters, they will have to renew and re-orientate their strategy and focus to address these concerns over economic survival, since if they don't, UMNO/BN will and have been since independence.
That said however, I agree that there obviously is factional in-fighting within PKR, which could end up in a clash between the Rafizi and Anwar factions, even resulting in a split.
Also, given the Barisan Nasional's huge wins in the Melaka and Johor state elections, it looks like BN could win GE15 with a comfortable majority, and the wider Pakatan Harapan, this time minus Bersatu and Mahathir , will find it very hard to win more than 50% of seats in parliament, which will enable it to form the federal government, coupled with the high possibility that PH component PKR will very likely lose many parliamentary seats, as well as seats in the Selangor and Penang state assemblies, even though Pakatan Harapan are likely to hold on to these states with a reduced majority.
Ayuh - not Ayur - Malaysia
DeleteThanks for the correction.
DeleteAt least it's not "Ayoh! Malaysia", which sounds rather distressful.
PH needs a leader that appeals to almost all its coalition parties. If only Anwar agrees to retire and let Rafizi and the rest of PKR leaderships to spearhead PH in the next GE. Rafizi could be the next Malaysian Prime Minister.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see that only those who were borned after 1957 to get involved in Malaysian politics. It's about time the "younger" ppl took over the mantle. DrM, Hadi, Anwar, LKS, and the likes should retire.
ReplyDeleteOne day everyone in Malaysia will become Dato, maybe even you too Cik Annie.
ReplyDeleteI know a family in Sabah, papa about to retire fm service, anak2 menantu2 (ada yg sekadar housewives melepak rumah 24/7 aje), semua diberi gelaran Dato. Nothing to be so excited about. Isssh agak kekok dok kena address them as Dato and Datin.
Msia needs PKR.. sama macam circus perlu ada BADUT to entertain the crowd.
Professor Nasi Lemak
Talking about clowns, not a single party in Malaysia has a great number of clowns other than in UMNGOK. Look at the long-serving MP of Pasir Salak with his stupid remarks in parliament as well as in public..."the only woman with kok", "two train kissed each other"....
ReplyDeleteHowever, Najib is the greatest clown...he robbed billions of public fund and making a joke that it was a donation. Have you forgotten about a few UMNO ministers with their famous punch lines...like "Ayam mahal, makan ikan", "GST menurunkan harga barang", "Petrol naik harga bagus, boleh mengurangkan kemalangan jalanraya..."
Stop calling people clown if you are an idiot!
Asrul Asrul. Kamu ni dari benua mana? Ikan bilis pun RM50/kg, Kembung RM27. Baru2ni makan keli sekoq kecik pun RM7each. ONLY born idiots rasa harga ayam lebih mahal dr ikan keli tau. Tak oernah gi pasar ke?
ReplyDeleteMinyak naik Honda full tank almost RM200 tau.. less private vehicles ond road pasti la kurang kemungkinan adanya kemalangan jalan raya.
GST? Hang gi baca pros n cons dia dulu.. hang ni pasti jenis tak pernah bayaq cukai pendapatan seumur hidup kut?
Professor Nasi Lemak