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.

Sad news from Kuantan

A friend in Kuantan succumbed to her illness two days ago and her death quite affected me. She was just 47. It just broke my heart, especially thinking about her son who is with autism. Will he be okay? What if he miss his mother? I pray for Allah to always protect and provide for Fidie. I hope he will continue being loved by others and not miss his mother too much. My friend was a good mother. I have known her for more than 15 years. May Allah places Su in jannah. Alfatehah.

p.s Blogspot changed the interface of this blog causing me not being able to write new posts using my laptop. I'm writing this using my phone which is quite difficult. Still trying to fix the problem.

Being blur about Malaysian politics

It has been a while since I last updated this blog.

It's because I was occupied with something else the past weeks.

Also, at the moment I'm not really sure again which political side that I prefer to support.

I don't like the opposition mainly because of their hypocrisy and I'm beginning to dislike the government too for things such as its ministers' stupidity.

On the opposition side, there were things like the direct negotiated contracts that they did when they were in power while on the other side the government has ministers like the one who recently broke the Covid-19 SOP after holidaying overseas.

The opposition shouldn't have put stopping the direct negotiated contract stuff in their GE14 manifesto.

As for that stupid minister, he should have just resigned because what he did was so blatant and reprehensible.

Anyway, things political in this country are currently so muddled up that I don't feel like writing too much about them.

That's at least until I gain better knowledge of what's happening later on.

For now, I prefer to let them settle their mess first.

Don't want to contribute to the nonsense by commenting about things I'm not really so sure about.

Let the politicians play their games and we just watch for now.

Bad enough that most people are now struggling to survive the aftereffect of Covid-19, now they want us to waste our time and energy for them and their ego.

Well, we shouldn't be fools and dance to their tunes.

Personally, I'm now suffering some financial difficulties too.

It's not too bad though as I think my savings would be enough to tide me up for at least a year more.

Hopefully the economy would be better by then.

For now, I have to cut down on quite a few things.

But I'm thankful to Allah for I can still enjoy a relatively comfortable life and even keep up with my inexpensive hobby.

On a completely different matter, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe resigned yesterday, which I feel was unfortunate.

He resigned because he felt that his illness may prevent him from doing his job.

How I wish our politicians have the same attitude.

I'm not well, so I resign. I'm too old, so I resign. I'm facing corruption charges, so I resign. I'm a sexual pervert, so I resign.

Back to Abe, I received a message from my mother, wishing that his replacement will be a right wing hardliner who can stand up to the communists in Beijing and help defend Taiwan in the event of a war.

As I previously wrote, my mother is a Chinese school alumni and attended university in Taiwan. She loves that country. She's a Chinese traditionalist yet is against the communists who rule China.

Yup, being a Chinese does not mean being a communist.

As with me, she supports the democracy movement in Hong Kong too.

Well, at least on that one I'm clear about where I stand....unlike Malaysian politics.

Relax, Guan Eng can still prove his innocence in court....like Najib

Looks like Guan Eng is in serious trouble now because of the tunnel project.

My DAP friends were understandably quite upset when MACC arrested him last night.

Well, looks like it's the new normal.

Just last week Najib was convicted, now it's Guan Eng's turn.

Wonder what those DAP leaders who lauded the Najib's conviction would say this time.

One already posted this,

I think Auntie Kok shouldn't jump the gun like that.

How does she know that there's "not a single bit of evidence"? She so smart ka?

Then simply simply said it's a political prosecution some more.

Hey, let the case goes to court first la.

Then we can see whether there are evidence or not or whether it's really corruption or just political prosecution.

Let's not be like the Anwar's supporters who before even the start of trial already declared that their idol never buggered young men.

Trust the court, okay....like when it dealt with Najib's case.

You all applauded that decision what. Independence of judiciary, remember?

So, now lets just wait for the trial.

Remember, even if Guan Eng is to be convicted, he can still appeal all the way to the Federal Court....just like Najib.

And please, don't go to the streets to protest for Guan Eng. Trust me, it would be a waste of time and energy.

Furthermore, I think the police will not be so nice to protesters anymore....like during Najib's time when they were told to refrain from beating up protesters.

And of course, there's the Covid-19 too.

So, again, I would like to advise DAP people to stay relaxed and wait for Guan Eng's trial....just like what Umno people did when Najib was arrested and later convicted.

And when people start to call Guan Eng a thief....like they did to Najib....you all should also just stay calm and not get too upset.

Prove to everyone that DAP people are as good as Umno people...or better.

Okay, for Guan Eng, this song is for you.....

Jangan nangis ya.

And to DAP people, let's stop saying all Umno people are corrupt as that's really not nice now that Guan Eng is going to be charged with corruption. After all, I don't think all DAP people are corrupt.

Cheers.