Thursday 18 April 2013

Outside Looking In

I guess Battlefield Johor is coming to town a lot earlier than I anticipated and the Culling Process has almost reached its final conclusion.  We should have already seen how the strategies are being played out by DAP's master handlers for Johor, namely Tony Pua, Anthony Loke and Teo Nie Ching in candidate placement.  Tony Pua was supposed to be fielded but isn't, instead Teo gets the Kulai seat with its 56% of Chinese voters.  In Gelang Patah, Lim Kit Siang still needs Dr Boo Cheng Hau and his supporters.



I am kind of reflecting on a number of anomalies in the DAP's candidate placement and find it interesting that decision for Labis is still up there in the air.  Northern Johor, which should include Segamat, Labis, Bakri and Muar, is supposed to be under Pua's dominion, making Labis the most likely choice for Pua now that Segamat has been given to PKR.  As for Teo, being the Central Johor Coordinator, she should be looking at Kluang as a possible new home.  However, both wanted to contest in Kulai, though Teo won that.  Loke, on the other hand, was supposed to be responsible for Southern Johor, which by right should include Kulai too, but he was not even named as a candidate in Johor.  Strange.

I know, I know, when people talk about the Fight For Johor, everyone has moved on to Gelang Patah.  Personally, I really don't see what the big deal is.  BN Johor as a whole has not been race-oriented when it comes to parliamentary representation, not even at the state assembly.  When it comes to the issue of race, Johor Malays have been tested time and time again to be capable of proving ethnicity is not an issue.  It's just that all these while, BN has always considered the political traditions of all coalition partners when allocating seats.  Gelang Patah GE13 is just the first opportunity for Johor Chinese to prove that they are just as non-ethnic-biased as their Malay neighbors.  We will see how that turns out.

If Gelang Patah Chinese are more concerned about getting someone who will sincerely represent their interests, then they would be looking at the candidates' track record of serving their constituents and their contributions to nation-building, as both are senior politicians with many years of service.  If Gelang Patah Chinese decide to vote along ethnic lines, then that will be the basis of Johor's future political landscape.

I am not going to start analyzing the possible outcome of Gelang Patah as almost everyone has done all the possible scenarios.  My view is more personal to me, as I am a voter in Gelang Patah/Skudai, and I am looking at this the way I would look at who will represent my voice in parliament.

For one thing, Dato Ghani has a reputation of giving equal attention to the needs of all Johoreans alike, irrespective of ethnicity.  All the major land-related issues in Gelang Patah has been more or less resolved - removing most of the land-related grouses people may have.  Those that have not been resolved are the complicated ones that involve matters outside the control of state administrative functionaries, although efforts are still on-going to resolve them.

Infrastructure and commercial development in Gelang Patah has resulted in almost a doubling up of population numbers in the area, providing greater opportunities to the business-savvy individuals, and more higher paying jobs for skilled workers that translate into higher disposable income.

When I talk to neighbors and people I strike-up conversations with, there is a sense of greater prosperity all around, although people do complain about higher food prices, which is really about scarcity, demand and supply, and with people flocking to Johor looking for better prospects, you can't really avoid that.  (Yes, I do have this tendency to start up conversations with complete strangers, although I am careful to be extra smiley when doing so.)

From my observations, Dato Ghani has never been a part of any faction in Umno Johor either, and this is a good thing.  The neutrality that he maintains, which may not go down well with many people who wanted privileged access to champion their interests, has been instrumental to ensuring that his integrity remains intact, his decisions respected.  He is also very media-shy, which is quite unique among politicians, and actually looks rather cute whenever he bashfully attempts to respond to sensitive questions with the minimum of words while maintaining political correctness.

I don't know enough about Lim Kit Siang, as he is an outsider as far as Johor is concerned, despite being born in Batu Pahat, Johor.   As far as I can see, whatever I know of Lim is what I read in the papers, as whenever he comes down to Johor prior to this, his focus has always been on addressing only the Chinese voters.  Even when he was in Tenang, whatever he said in the national language had very little relevance to me, and the bulk of his "ceramah" and speeches there were not in the national language nor in English.  For someone like me, it is difficult to relate to someone I can't understand.

However,  in a future where it is clear that we are heading towards ethnicity being the determinant of one's political leanings, as evident in the "Chinese Revolt (revolution)" expectations of the opposition operatives, what happens in Gelang Patah on May 5th will determine my future political leanings as a Malaysian Malay.

34 comments:

  1. Today there a big rally, a fierce protest by DAP's Pulau Tikus constituents, in Penang. They are not satisfied that their ADUN Koay Teng Hai was sidelined by their Tokong. The protestors seem very angry. Mr. Koay, last year was suspended for missing that sitting where they voted, barring their own politician from doing a 'lompat katak' after wining the election. The Lim Dynasty was angry since they need a 2/3 majority aye for the law to be enacted. With Mr.Koay absence, they fear that the law would be abstained by the BN opposition.

    That law against 'frog leaping' shows how undemocratic DAP is. Couple with the practice of nepotism to the hilt, how could they be not shameful, to enticing the rakyat into voting for them.

    RD.

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  2. When face with prospect of defeat, what's UMNO/BN response?
    Using RoS to ban DAP and the Rocket symbol! Brilliant move.

    That just swing 80% Chinese voters to 95% throughout the country due to sympathy votes and move the Indian & Malay fence-sitters to PR. Kalau tanding, main bersih la.

    ~ Kluang girl

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    Replies
    1. UMNO/BN using ROS to ban DAP? Umno's fault again? How illogical is that? The complaints were filed by DAP members, the investigation is done by ROS, and the proven to be at fault is DAP, and you come in here blaming Umno? Even my 7 year-old nephew has better reasoning ability.

      You think everyone is as stupid and thick as your batty self, do you? Go and try to develop some logical thinking before you try spinning everywhere, can't you?

      You think I am going to allow stupidity of your kind to reign supreme in here?

      And playing the ethnic-politics again? You think you can play that card in here and get away with it? How old are you? 12?

      Delete
    2. Oh Kluang girl, showing again how stupid you can be. Your DAP's fault and its memebers who filed in the grouses and yet your pea brain still blame UMNO/BN.... this is a very typical DAP/Pakatan reply..blame everyone and everybody but themselves....oh well whatelse can you do silly girl...blame yourself for DAP having a Sec Gen who can't count and who doesn't know how to manage an organisation, what more a state....that's what will happen if you have monkeys running the show....

      Delete

    3. Kluang Girl does represent the Malaysian Chinese mentality and ways of thinking toward anything under the sun and the moon that Malay are in controlled and would never be satisfied unless it's happened otherwise.
      Never know what her political associate but I believe association does not bound them in their believe that they are the batter species that should lead this country not the lazy and stupid Malay as what they always propagate .
      Ethnicity was never an issue to the Malay when choosing their representative from the party of their choice "I tends to agreed wit BIG CAT" but not only in Johore, I am convince that Malay on the whole does accept the principle of shearing and tolerance because Malays always belief in peace and harmony.
      I strongly believe that it's good for the Kluang Girl keep on spreading her poisons venom of hate ,it only prove that Malay had made wrong perception all those years ,because Melayu mudah lupa.

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    4. Typo Pernama, not Perhebat...

      Delete
    5. This comment was accidentally deleted when I was cleaning up spam.

      Dear Tebing Tinggi,

      I have never called any Malays as "lazy and stupid".
      I have schooled, played, worked and lived with them all my lives. Even now...

      We are from a military family, so to a multi-racial environment. Also we used to regularly shopped from Naafi when it was cheapest place in town and later Perhebat, which has become the most expensive these days. It 's tough surviving as a soldier family nowadays. The government has failed to take care of them i feel. But our life is Malaysian.

      Due to media and political distortion, DAP has been convenient punching bag for the establishment for over 40 years while BN cronies got richer on the back of poor Malaysians, Malay, Chinese and Indian everyone.
      At least now with Internet, people can watch and read what is actually said by DAP leaders without the spin and lies.

      Anyway, i have earlier replied to your posting in Annie's blog.

      ~ Kluang girl

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    6. Setuju dengan you, Kluang sweetie girl. UMNO king pins have plundered us all. We gave them our votes and loves and they give us only RM500.00 per year i.e about RM42.00 per month or RM1.40 perday. I got to give my poor child at primary school RM2.00 per day for her canteen break. Well, I am a better father than Najib as PM and father of Malaysia. BUT my labourer neighbour next door can only beri bekal nasi dari rumah for his daughter at school. He can`t afford RM2.00.

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    7. My nephew, whose father is not a laborer, go to school everyday with home cooked food in his lunchbox because it is healthier than what RM2.00 a day at the canteen can buy him. It is not a matter of affordability, it is a lifestyle that you choose.

      Delete
    8. Begitulah kata mantan PM Mahathir: `UMNO is rotten to the core`. I agreed with you too Anak Bentan and Kluang Girl. I am also from an army family and my father was a sargeant in territorial army and retired 15 years ago and life was tough for him to bring up family of 8 with small pension. Lucky me for 2 of my elder brothers funding my studies even though they too earned meagre incomes with own family to support. What do UMNO people do for us in kampong. They only take care of their own JKK and close supporters. Distant supporters like us were left to our own perils. Still we voted for them and will continue to vote for them in future and I hope things will change in near future. I wish the rich UMNOputras can just give a glance at poor Malays instead of enriching themselves, their cronies and rich Chinese towkays.

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    9. Well, well my Bigcat. Running out of suitable answer for Anak Bentan and start coming up with rubbish statement. Who says the canteen food is not good. Every week the HM and teachers checked on our canteen food and district health inspectors do surprise check in every 2 months. So far for the past 12 yrs nobody get poisoned up or become thinner. Lain kali bagilah better arguments to show your maturity.

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    10. What a rubbish statement by BigCat. Rich people like you always belittle a RM2.00 of the poor Melayu. What lifestyle do we have if we earned only RM850.00 ( Gaji basic/pokok pekerja malaysia) a month!

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    11. Never said canteen food is not good, just that what he has in his lunch box is healthier than what RM2.00 can buy him at the canteen.

      Who is belittling the poor Melayu's RM2.00. He may be smarter than the rich Melayu, because his child gets home cooked meal prepared by a loving mother.

      I carried a home-prepared lunch box when I was in primary school. Nothing wrong with that, as my mom preferred I eat the food that she prepared.

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  3. Let's see if Malaysian voters are smarter than your spinning.
    Everyone knows government institutions report to UMNO/BN.
    Anyway, let's wait for the elections result soon...

    ~ Kluang girl

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    Replies
    1. I am a Malaysian voter la, batty, and believe me, not everyone shares your limited mental capacity.

      Oooo ... Umno is the evil one, therefore anything BN-related evil stuff must be appended with Umno as in Umno/BN, or Umno led BN, just to reinforce the spin that Umno that Malay political party is the evil one, everyone else are not. Yeah ... and you accuse me of spinning???

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    2. No need to get personal.
      At least I give you respect not to call your "mental capacity limited".
      So sad la you guys...

      ~ Kluang girl

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    3. Accusing me of lying about my gender is as personal as it gets, so don't come in here and pretend to be holy as if you don't indulge in your own brand of personal attacks. You have not shown yourself to be worthy of respect, so I accord you none.

      Accusing me of spinning when you have been doing that very thing since the very first time you were here, even since Ai was running this blog; and if you still don't get it, that I am on to your blame game and your twisting and spinning, then you are truly mentally limited. So I was just stating facts.

      Delete
  4. Kluang Girl seems to suffer from cirit birit when she appears here. Don't mind her, just keep a safe distance away in case you are overcome by the smell.

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    Replies
    1. I know I shouldn't but I am not going to take her insinuations lying down. She can badmouth me anywhere else she wants, but not in my blog.

      Delete
  5. UMNO was so powerful, it got itself de registered once.

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  6. Yeah UMNO is so powerful that even when it was legally deregistered after its day in court, it still can wield governmental authority, sign contracts, transfer and manage asset.

    Here today before RoS even see the two material witnesses in their investigations after the GE13 as agreed, they already can issue a verdict declaring the party illegal and banning the usage of DAP symbol in the elctions.

    ~ Kluang girl

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  7. Bigcat, sometimes but lately most of the time, ghost might pop up here and there & in yr (blog) case, they thought they found a new playground, lets just ignore them and I believe they will silently vanish

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  8. Suruh la pemuda puteri buat keje. Kami nak tengok...

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  9. why bigcat so concern about DAP contesting in Johor ?? Johor kubu kuat UMNO..takkan satu UMNO and bigcat takut sama apek cina LKS ???

    Cadangkan Bigcat upload video porno pemimpin-pemimpin Pakatan, baru ada impact utk kalahkan Pakatan.


    Ahli UMNO JB


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DAP has been contesting in Johor since well before I was born, so why should I be concerned about DAP contesting in Johor? Scared of LKS? Are you kidding? I don't tolerate porn, so live with it.

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  10. There is an ancient Chinese saying 'Have harmony in the home, before you fight and win in the street'. The somewhat duller brilliance of the DAP leadership than the brilliant Lee Kuan Yew and his failed policies has led the flock between a rock and a hard place. It is alleged the ROS has postponed his decision on the crucial CEC elections of the DAP with 700 Indian members left out. And the results of these elections were counted over and over again after the polls were completed long after the complaints. This oversight by the DAP leadership must be able to make it to the annals of Malaysian Political history. But for certain, without an endorsement of a clean bill of health from the ROS, what guarantee is there for those unfortunate candidates of the DAP who happened to win ?
    There are definitely cogent reasons for calling a Royal Commission of Enquiry to investigate this blemish in our political records apparently committed by a party founded through proxies by Lee Kuan Yew and had always claimed to be whiter than white.

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  11. Hi,

    I'm from Gelang Patah, and its really quite here.. i don't know what all the fuss about but it seems nothing much going here. Haven't see any politician here yet...:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, same here .. although I was told that Dato Ghani will campaign in his usual low-key manner.

      Delete
  12. Hi all Malaysians ! You have now seen the truth and the fiction as concocted by the Singaporean Chinese chauvinistic DAP led by the duller brilliant version of the brilliant titan Lee Kuan Yew with his failed policies. You have seen on the Web and the newspapers today that the DAP and all its Singaporean Chinese and young and brash Christians of Subang Jaya and the hard core Chinese are going to the ulitmate battle of the 13th General Elections under the wonderful Islamic green and white flag of PAS. All the Rockets that have been fired will now have to be retrieved because it is illegal. If the CEC DAP does not exist, is there an organisation known as DAP
    and if not, are the DAP members phantoms ? So much for the absurd confection as dished out by DAP's Singapore style democracy. We are proud to be Malaysians and stand proud together whether we are Malays, Bumiputras, Chinese, Indians and all. And we are all for BN as led by the UMNO with the 14 component parties which served us Rakyat well since 1957.
    The vestral virgin DAP which was whiter than white by shouting 'Malaysia for Malaysians'for 44 long years,has now fulfilled its latest desire 'Malaysian Politics is Malay based'by its latest pronouncement which is now consummated or subsumed by the PAS wonderful Islamic flag of green and white. How DAP candidates and supporters are you protected by your leadership which is duller in brilliance academically than the brilliant titan Lee Kuan Yew and his failed policies ? Are we suppose to cry or laugh at you and your clever and smart Singaporean shenanigans coupled with dollops of unconventional Christianity ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's strange, depsite the 'failed' Singaporean policies, Johorean UMNO basically go and beg for Singaporean money to be invested in Johore after their Middle East Muslim brothers abondoned them.

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    2. I doubt Johorean Umno would beg Singapore for anything, anon, that falls under the scope of JSIC, IRDA and IIB. If you want to blame anyone, blame them.

      Singapore may contribute the highest numbers of investors, but in terms of value, not so impressive. Singapore investments in Johor are largely labor-intensive (mostly employing foreign workers), low-capital operations, something the state has been trying to discourage.

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    3. So it is true that Johore UMNO is willing to let Singapore make Johore as their second Jurong!

      Delete
    4. Anon 12:55, Umno Johor as a political party has nothing whatsoever to do with decisions related to investments. That is the responsibility of JSIC, a state government function, as well as the other agencies such as IRDA, IIB and JPDC. If you want to blame anyone, blame these agencies and the people in it, most of whom have no wish to be associated with Umno. For an example, a senior officer in IRDA once disparaged Umno in my presence as "a bunch of Class F contractors expecting handouts". These people are too "high-class" to be associated with Umno la. Pakatan is more their cup of tea.

      Delete
  13. Please note the failed policies of Lee Kuan Yew are different from the one tier lower investments in Iskandar. It is not strange at all. Here are his failed policies.
    1. The use of money as a tool of foreign Policy which killed or maimed innocent men, women and children. Vide Thaksin.
    2. The loss of US$108 Billions (RM350 Billions) of her citizens Trust money in October 2008 on Wall Street by the much vaunted meritocratic pyramid of 'yes men' with the smartest fellow on top. Vide. Channelnewsasia. Lee Kuan Yew. November 2008. All Singaporean Blogs. Financial Times London. Gillian Tett. April 2010.
    3. Humanity and multicuturalism never practised in Singapore. Vide. Channelnewsasia. The Curry Smell Tribunal. The 188 bus drivers strike. The toilet fights.
    4. The 2 child family policy of 1970s and 1980s. Vide. Singapore Government White Paper on Population. In 1959, Lee Kuan Yew took over. Indigenous population - 100%. 2013 - 62%. 2030 - 45%.
    5. A perfunctory Judiciary System well known throughout the World.
    6. 5,000 pigs imported daily. The flower nurseries contracts. The sale of Kim Eng Securities to Maybank. etc.etc.
    7. Lee Kuan Yew rules over Singapore since 1959 and according to sources he will be there the next 10 years. During this same period, Malaysia had 6 democratically elected Prime Ministers.
    8. The utter incompetence and inefficient DAP leadership leading the Trojan horse. They should have struck in 2008 and won outright, and now they eat humble pie all the way to 5 May 2013. How these lesser digits let down Lee Kuan Yew who must use the DAP to conquer our beloved Malaysia for him to save his reputation and legacy for the Singaporeans ! As a wisecrack said, ' Man proposes. God disposes. '

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