Undur Lah, Pak Lah! (Part II)
At a press conference early this morning he declared, “I don’t know who is being pressured (to step down), I’m not resigning.” At best, that reflects a leader totally out of touch with the harsh reality; at worse, the bravado of an idiot. With Abdullah, it is both.
If UMNO members do not complete what the voters had set out to do in this election – that is, get rid of Abdullah – then the next elections would be even uglier. If former UMNO leader and Prime Minister Mahathir was accurate in his assessment that the party can no longer be reformed from within ( a sentiment I share), then we are indeed watching the beginning of the end for UMNO. The implosion has begun.
Nothing is inevitable, however. This once proud party could indeed regain its luster and the citizens’ confidence if it were to thoroughly cleanse itself. As with a fish, the rot begins at the head. Chopped off the head, and unlike a fish, with a viable organization a fresh, unblemished head will emerge ready to take over, as with a hydra.
Fortunately the party has a chance to do this soon. Its Supreme Council members must move forward the party’s leadership conference that was postponed to this August. The council should also rescind its earlier “tradition” of there being no contest for its top posts. It should open up the process and loosen the rules. There is no need for a prospective candidate to line up support from umpteen divisions. To discourage frivolous candidates, institute the payment of deposits, as with the general elections.
Those two initiatives would immediately open up the field. UMNO could then preview more candidates instead of restricting itself to the same tired old faces. New faces of course would not guarantee change. We have already seen many young leaders in UMNO who are only too quick to learn and too eager to acquire the unsavory traits of their elders.
He was also instrumental in aligning the opposition parties. Those parties also worked closely together in 1999 and 2004 elections, but without Anwar’s personal involvement they did not achieve much. Clearly the Anwar factor is real and remains formidable.
The academics will no doubt have their own voluminous analyses of this election, the most significant turning point in Malaysian politics. I wish only to highlight one positive and refreshing trend. This election saw all parties fielding many new and young candidates. Two young fresh talents deserve scrutiny for different reasons, but both reflect the greater political dynamics.
One is Nurrul Izzah, Anwar’s daughter who defeated Welfare Minister Shahrizat Jalil in the Lembah Pantai constituency which included the upscale community of Bangsar and the
Nurrul Izzah’s considerable talent (she after all has a graduate degree from
On the other hand, the fate of another young candidate, Abdullah’ son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin, provides an amusing contrast. A year or two earlier Khairy, using the “protection” of his father-in-law, managed to ascend to the number two position in UMNO Youth san a contest or election. This time he was catapulted to contest the hitherto safe rural parliamentary seat of Rembau. Despite being challenged by an unknown school teacher, Khairy managed only to squeak through. UMNO has problems even in the Malay heartland.
Obviously this
Non-Political Lessons From This Election
While the pundits in the mainstream media were all wet in their prognostications – they all confidently predicted a return of Barisan’s supra-majority – Raja Petra of Malaysia-Today was spot on in his overall predictions. He also predicted a significantly reduced majority for Abdullah and a greatly enhanced one for Najib.
Mainstream media readers may not have heard of “Chegubard” Badrul Hisham Shaharin, Khairy’s political opponent in Rembau, but ‘Netizens are very familiar with him. They also contributed substantially towards his campaign. Had indelible ink been used on voters to prevent repeat voting and had the Elections Commission not have spare postal votes handy, Chegubard would have handily crushed Khairy.
Equally telling was that I had difficulty assessing both Malaysiakini and Malaysia-Today; their websites were swamped despite having multiple mirror sites. Even when the authorities suspended Malaysiakini’s website, it could still be accessed via its mirror sites elsewhere.
For another telling contrast, I had no problem at all downloading the mainstream media’s websites. In my hunger for news however, I readily settled for second best! This election is more than a repudiation of Abdullah Badawi. It is also a repudiation of the mainstream media and their pundits and journalists.
Doing away with Abdullah is much more doable task, not so with our incompetent sycophantic media. UMNO members must not shy away from doing the necessarily dirty task at hand, getting rid of its leader Abdullah Badawi. If they fail to do that, then Malays would not hesitate in getting rid of UMNO.
March 8th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Well written. This is a big win for the people of Malaysia. MPs (which ever party) has to work hard or in the next election the people will show who the real boss is. Democracy is alive!
March 8th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I am glad to see that democrazy is alive (to an extent). I just hope that those we place our faith in will fight on and do what is needed to put Malaysia back on track and fulfill her potential.
Will be interesting to see the next cabinet line-up seeing that many ministers have gone. Good to see some go after too many years in power.
God bless.
March 8th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I don’t look at this election as an UMNO affair rather a BN humiliation. For some incumbents they may have won the election in their constituencies but BN have lost the war (election) The message is loud and clear, the arrogant BN leaders must go. No more fooling the Malaysians and no more bogeyman the Malays. The Malays are willing to take their chance without UMNO.
Shahrizat is a wonderful person and a very dedicated Minister. Sad to see her go. Rafidah should be the one to lose instead..
March 8th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
This is music to my ears. Adieu BN and all the Umno bums. Time they learn to be a little respectful of the rakyat.
March 8th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
basically the result is a sort of ‘protest’ to high fuel prices, food prices, tolls, corruption scandals etc. In my opinion, one of the biggest winners is keadilan, even malays vote for a change, what a result compared to last election and who say Anwar is irrelevent. In a way there is good thing coming out of these, this will make the next MPs or local representatives work harder to serve the people. Viva democracy.
March 8th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
politics is service, election is means to give that oppurtunity. So get cracking. Intresting - if foreign residents were allowed to vote, i bet you BN would have had it worst.
March 8th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
“…Raja Petra of Malaysia-Today was spot on in his overall predictions. He also predicted a significantly reduced majority for Abdullah and a greatly enhanced one for Najib.”
Are you implying that Najib should take over UMNO? god forbids… UMNO would be more scandal-tainted?!!!
March 8th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Through “protection” of father-in-law UMNO has allowed the skunk aka sil aka kera jahat, spells trouble and final lap for UMNO’s downfall!
March 8th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
oops should read”
Through “protection” of father-in-law UMNO has allowed the skunk aka sil aka kera jahat, to stand for GE, spells trouble and final lap for UMNO’s downfall!
March 9th, 2008 at 12:52 am
For the first time since Tunku Abdul Rahman was the PM, we see some hope for the future. We have been robbed of our rights the day Mahathir became the PM. He horned nepotism, corruption and racism to a fine art. This was perpetrated by Badawi further inspite of his promises. If only he had delivered 50% of his promises, he would have been hailed as a great Prime Minister and a stateman. And we would’ve given him another more than 90% of seats.
But all we got was an imcompetence PM who lived a life of an emperor not only for himself but for his family and cronies at the expense of the rakyat. The country was left to the little Napoleons and bigots was spawning everywhere.
Looking at it positively, maybe it was a blessing in disguise. It brought out a strong opposition and we the people are taking charge of our future again. May this be this is the beginning of a revival of our great country where all races can live a fruitful live and we’re all one as a nation.
Long live all bloggers.
March 9th, 2008 at 1:04 am
Quick question sir. Why is the MB of Perak nominated from PAS when DAP won the majority of the seats? Is this because there is a rule stipulating that a MB cannot be from a non-bumi race?
March 9th, 2008 at 3:34 am
Pak Lah is a blessing in disguise. Without him, all these may not have happened.
March 9th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Great News and thanks for all who worked hard for the Election. This is the beginning of an end to AAB and hopefully of UMNO as we know it (unless it can reform itself).
However, this is the beginning of Opposition. Let’s hope they can deliver what they promise.
If changes can happen for racial politics to be removed it will take just one more generation. Now lets see what the market sentiments are. Will the checks and balances provided by the Opposition be enough to convince Foreign Investors or is it too late that Malaysia had lost its competitiveness to neighbouring countries?
March 9th, 2008 at 3:58 am
Thank You so very much NST, STAR, TV3, RTM, mainstream media & the Minister of Mis-Information……for yr 150% support to the BN govt via yr daily overexposure of the BN govt’s messages, without giving the opposition a fair chance for media coverage……..without yr support, we Malaysians wld never have bothered going to the internet to look for a more unbias & impartial news on Malaysia, for which moved us all to restore democracy & vote for change.
March 9th, 2008 at 7:50 am
It does not matter who become the MB of Selangor. The person must be capable enough to lead the state to another state of growth. He must be able to woo in foreign direct investments. Perak can be the world class centre for pottery manufacturing and fruits cultivation. He must be able to clean the state and their little napoleans out of corruptions and halt the islamisation of the public institutions. No more lawatan sambil belajar. Only belajar. He must be able to retain the state in Barisan Rakyat hands in the next general election. And people want election for local councellors positions. Anyone can manage these is qualify for the job.
March 9th, 2008 at 8:16 am
well said but more to be done for us sabahan, leaders here are more corrupted and our cm is sweeping all our assets. he’s a businessman not a politician.
sabah contribute 60 adun and this contribute to bn success. i pray n hope people here will read more rather then just listen n complacent after receiving rm50 attending to all their speeches. ( my clerk collected rm200 a night for 8 days n she is smiling from ear to ear)
once again i’m truly happy n pray for a trustworthy n sincere leaders.
March 9th, 2008 at 10:08 am
I wonder if those in the corridors of power truly understand the message the rakyat sent them. You see, arrogance among the ruling elites has no bounds. Examples are too many to list but a few among them are: Ketua Menteri Melaka alias UMNO Vice President once stated that UMNO does not need Indians or Chinese to govern; Mentri Besar of Pahang once stated that he has a mandate to cleanse his State of Pahang from Anwar; Zainuddin Maidin not trusting the rakyat with his statement that the rakyat are not ready with free press and that blogging is a child game enjoyed by his children and since only children are on the cyberspace, the rilung elite should not mind them. His arrogance is equally showing when the results are being transmitted by alternative madia faster and more efficient that say, Bernama or mainstream media such as the Star, NST, Utusan, etc.,
I have not heard nor read someone from Barisan Nasional congratulating the winners; let alone praising the rakyat for making their voices heard! Arrogance to the max!! And a sore loser!!! Barisan Nasional people need to grow up.
It will be interesting to see who will be in the cabinet. I wont be at all surprise if Abdullah still remain as PM and Khairy being appointed to Deputy Minister or Parliamentary Secretary. All these because they never learn. Their sultan-like attitude and mentality are blinding them to reality. They consider themselves above the ordinary laws governing the masses. They believe the reportings of their own mainstream media outlets.
March 9th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Just a little comment, for our Government Standard.
Our Formal Information Minister, Zaibuddin Maidin may accused the blogger for publishing comment. He cannot differential what are comments and blog content. Our friend Zainuddin Maidin (Formal Information minister) assume Comments as the content of the blogger.
If you have time, have a look at him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHC1ogF4ai8
P/s: I feel so pathetic for him, being an Information Menteri, but his mind did not update with the latest information technology tool.
Being an Information Menteri, shouldn’t his language is up to standard in order to absorb new information? or to read new information? Can a Minister say something like” we are not Myanmar?
Lets watch his language standard.
At minute 1:10, Zainuddin Maidin said, we allow protest….
At minute 1.51, Zainuddin Maidin said, Protest is illegal.
(Poor English Minister)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1_GQ-K7P_w
March 9th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Abdullah seemed not getting the message despite the heavy loss. He will pay the price heavier later.
March 9th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Former PM has no rights to condems the current PM as he is the one who started all the problems.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Really well said, I have always been a BN supporter, this time around enough was enough, could not afford to look like a fool listening to idiots like Nazri, who is apparently given so much credit by Abdullah Badawi and his band of merry fools, (tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are) could not stomach the corruption, the criminal police force, the lack of transparency and accountability, I voted for the DAP, my children were voting in a constituency that had a PKR candidate and and a PAS candidate, I told them., “even the PAS yes, but not the Barisan.”
The winds of change are blowing, the people have rejected racial politics, the BN needs to rebrand itself, it needs to cleanse itself, the corrupt that form the core of the party must be dug out and cast out, that is the cancerous part of the BN and it has to renew itself of become irrelevant and fade away very soon.
March 10th, 2008 at 3:15 am
While we enjoy the glory of the win of 5 states by the opposition, we should remember this: this time the BN has been caught totally by surprise. BN will come back with a vengeance in the next election.
Most West Malaysian may not know is the Sabah voters’ list (especially in the rural areas) is inflated with thousand of voters who a few years back were non-Malaysians. And this is done with the tacit help/encouragement of the federal (UMNO) government.
It is still not too late to ask the government to set up a Royal Commission to get to the root of the issue. Arrest and deport those who obtained their Malaysian citizenship illegally. Most of these people has also became instant Bumiputras overnight.
Don’t say this is not your problem. Look at the number of seats (24) delivered by Sabah to BN in the parliament.
March 10th, 2008 at 6:38 am
If not Badawi, can you think of a better candidate for the PM role? NJ?!
Btw, in the first place, it was Dr. M who placed Nazri in the cabinet.
March 10th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I sincerely hope Pak Lah will step down in a proper way and not by us chasing him away. Oh perhaps he is still sleeping and in dream.. he is simply wasting his time and our time.. We, Malaysian know that he is at no use for the nation’s progress.. It disgusting to see his sleepy face or sleeping in important forums and seminars. Wake up Pak Lah and just Get Lost!!! YOu are a humilation to our Nation!!!
March 11th, 2008 at 9:20 am
[...] Under Lah, Pak Lah! [...]
March 13th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
I support Datuk Seri Abdullah and here is my reasons.
After 50 years, if not for Datuk Seri Abdullah, we would not have the first Tsunami
and victory for democracy in Malaysia.
Let’s just look at the scenario:
1. Datuk Seri Abdullah released DSAI when he came to power. He did not need to
do this. Dr M would probably have driven DSAI to commit Harakiri in prison!
2. Datuk Seri Abdullah did not stop the bloggers from giving altenartive news. He
could have arrested these bloggers under ISA. Dr M would definitely have done
this at least prior to the election.
3. Datuk Seri Abdullah allowed the Bersih and Hindraf to organise their rallies.
Under Dr M’s rule, the organisers would have been arrested even for thinking
about organising the rallies.
Judge a person from the outcomes of their leadership, not from what their
detractors say. Datuk Seri Abdullah may just have become the “Gorbachev of
Malaysia”. So think twice before kicking him out like how Gorbachev was kicked
out by the opportunist Yeltsin.
Think!
April 10th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I fully agree with Lim Yee Fatt. Though many put blame to PM Abdullah,
I believe he is the catalyst for Democracy or the Dawn of Democracy.
He has created the conducive atmosphere for Democracy to grow.
He has reversed all the dictatorial designs of Dr M., who may still have
some political clout left to cause harm to his own self-selected successor
whom he has admitted openly that he had made a mistake. That means
Dr M’s judgment is not in people is faulty, perhaps blinded by too much
power at his disposal.
In the future history of Malaysia, Dato Abdullah Badawi would be known as
The Father of Real Democracy in Malaysia.
We must all salute Dato Abdullah Badawi for his achievements too. Though we may also want him to leave gracefully and enjoy his retirement, we must never forget the good deeds that he has done for a real Malaysian Malaysia to take root.
Think again, fellow Malaysians.