Sunday 31 March 2013

The Hazards of Partnering DAP

I got a text message from a friend who attended a DAP event in Muar.  Apparently Dr Boo indicated that DAP will also be contesting in Segamat and Johor Jaya.  Aisey Dr Boo, aren't you being too arrogant now?  Give PKR some face la, they have given you Gelang Patah, now you want to humiliate not just Chua but everyone in PKR Johor?



Announcing DAP is contesting in Segamat when your justification during the big fight with Chua for Gelang Patah was PKR can have Segamat instead is just too much la.  They took your word in good faith and announced that they will be contesting Segamat, then you turn around and say no, Segamat is DAP's too?  

What kind of a partner does that make DAP?  What, you think the rest of Johor don't see this as treachery on your part?  Or is this the accepted conduct of a DAP leader and something to be proud of among the Chinese?

You seriously think that DAP don't need anyone else do you?  Are you that confident that the "Chinese Revolt" in Johor will all be for DAP?  You think the Chinese in Johor Jaya are such an unprincipled lot that they will suddenly abandon the PKR and opt for DAP instead?

However, I can't help but say "serves them PKR right".  They were the ones going around promoting Asal Bukan Umno here and there, and now they can be happy that Asal Bukan Umno also means it is not necessarily PKR either.

What is Happening to Us?

I was going around the internet trying to revitalise my dead brain cells.  And no, I haven't finished that thing that I was supposed to complete for submission on Monday.  What I found on my stalking territories are rather disturbing, and I sincerely hope that Malaysians can continue living in relative peace and harmony after the 13th general election.  The general feeling is that there is going to be real trouble.


My take is the BN-led government has done pretty well for this country, so they can't use the same excuses that were used in the middle-east.   If they were to create public distrust, they have to find something else - and that is to undermine the public institutions.

The venom against the security forces and the judiciary, that is the police, the military and the courts, is their way of undermining the security of the land, creating an environment where they are successfully creating the perception of officers of the law are barbaric, and inhumane, the Courts as corrupt and unjust.

This distrust against the institutions upholding law and order will be fully used to justify the anarchy they plan to create if they are denied power.  Whatever measure taken by the security forces and the courts will be seen as brutality, abuse and oppression.  Again, unfortunately, most of our security forces are Malays, and the courts are part of the largely Malay civil service.

The irony is, there are many opposition supporters in these supposedly apolitical institutions, as exemplified by the husband of Normala Sudirman, who was not dismissed from service for misconduct, but was merely transferred to Pengerang and are now actively campaigning for PAS there.  He is still in service, undermining the government in a much more direct way, knowing that he can get away with it.  The fact is, the number of opposition supporters in the civil service is a lot higher than people think, and many are in decision-making positions, but no punitive action are taken against them.

The way I look at it, the Bersih attacks on Election Commission is to create an environment of distrust and public paranoia that will justify what ever situation or violence that they want to create after what they claim to be a rigged election.  All the signs were there, in their ceramahs, statements and the opinion pieces of their propaganda apparatus - Malaysiakini, Free Malaysia Today, Malaysia Chronicle, Malaysian Insider - and being used as references by their followers who have been indoctrinated to a point of blind hatred for the government.

In Helen's two latest postings, here and here, and Annie's post about her parents, there is no doubt that when DAP paint Umno as the source of all evils in the universe, it is actually an incitement of the Chinese to hate the Melayu, because Umno is Melayu and its stand of for Agama (Islam), Bangsa (Melayu) and Tanahair (Land - Malaysia).  It wasn't initially meant to be a clash based on race and religion, but it turned that way for some.

It is unfortunate, but the truth is, PAS and PKR have both lost it and cannot in anyway challenge Umno.  PAS can no longer pretend to be the champion for Malays as they have from the very beginning denounced Umno as assobiyah for championing Malay causes.  PAS then lost their Islamic credentials when they defer to DAP and PKR in the case of Kalimah Allah, and their flipping and flopping in matters related to Islam.  It doesn't help that they are seen as sissies and desperate in their dealings with DAP, always deferring to the DAP's hard-line stance in anything to do with Islam.

PKR are just a collection of formers - former MCA, former MIC, former Umno, etc. - and they have no credibility, their leadership have serious moral issues and tainted with corrupt practices that they carry with them from where ever they came from, the very reasons why they were rejected in the first place.  They are still useful to be used to weaken Umno, but they will not have the political clout, nor the will, to challenge DAP in anything, as what we have seen in recent events in Johor and elsewhere.

For DAP, the predominantly Chinese support base of the DAP makes bashing the non-Chinese, in this case Malays, the easiest way to incite hatred against a largely Malay Umno, police, military and civil service.  The hatred for mamaks is just a projection of their chauvinism that has been quite successful in touching the insecurities of some of the ultra Malays, that mamaks are usurping the Malays' rights and monopolising the wealth that should rightly be theirs.  They are projecting their greed and their egos on to the Malays and this has worked to some extent.

They have successfully created factions within the ranks of the Malays and insidiously turned some factions against Umno's coalition partners, whose goodwill Umno will continue to maintain by fielding them in GE13.  This will ensure BN will further lose Malay support, hence eroding Umno's political position as a credible leader of the multiracial BN coalition, which indirectly undermines Umno's position as leader of multiracial Malaysia.

The latest rant against Hindu Indians and Hindraf is a measure of what DAP's real opinion of others, and will be unleashed on those who turned away from their brand of politics.  Similarly, DAP's treatment of their pact partners, PAS and PKR, clearly displays the disdain that they have for these entities whom they see as inferior to them in every way.  Only those too blinded by hatred for Umno would be unable to discern this fact.

It is now DAP, a Chinese-dominated political party, against Umno, a Malay party that heads a coalition of a number of ethnic-based political entities.  Whoever planned all these have crafted the scenario in such a way that regardless of whoever wins, chaos may not be avoidable.

Saturday 30 March 2013

Just Personal Nonsense

I'm supposed to be working today.  Something that had to be submitted by Monday and I am stuck at page 6, I am not even halfway to the end.  Darn it!  I wish the boss would stop giving me unexpected work that ruin my weekend plans.  I was so looking forward to going visiting and the nephews were disappointed I couldn't take them to Legoland.  The last time we were there, there were so any people, I swore I'll never go there again, but I can't say no to the boys.  I hate it when these things disrupt my carefully planned weekend.



Tried to compensate my boredom with my favorite comfort food, New York Cheese Cake, but the mind is elsewhere, so I dropped by Annie's place and saw Ai's piece about getting tired of waiting for the election.  Me too!  Me too!  The anticipation is fading, irritation is setting in.  Wish they'd just get on with it so that everyone can move on.  I hate all this waiting!

I saw in the RTM evening news that things are going back to normal in Sabah and the affected villagers now can start planning on rebuilding their lives again.  (Yes, I watch RTM news, but I'll switch to TV3 when our Minister of Information gets his daily dose of airtime, and switch back after he's gone.  Sorry, I do have my limits.)  They must have felt terrible to see the destruction of their homes and personal belongings, whatever assets that they own, but looking on the bright side, they get to build new homes and shop for new things.  I would love to help with the shopping, and the landscaping part would be fun.

The setting up of ESSCOM will go a long way in assuring the Sabahans that they can continue with their lives in relative peace as part of Malaysia.  Whether we like it or not, being part of Malaysia is good for Sabah as Sabahans get to enjoy the protection of our security forces against the Philippines claim.  By the way, I kind of have a crush on that Sabah Police Chief, though.  Datuk Hamza seems like a tough, no nonsense guy and I enjoy watching the way he handles the press.  My kinda guy.

Anyways, I have only been to Sabah once in the 90s, but that was a long time ago and I wasn't a very observant kid back then.  We stayed at the Tanjung Aru Resort I think, somewhere in Kota Kinabalu, and that was when we found out I was photosensitive.  But that's OK, I prefer forests and jungles to beaches anyway.  However, I look forward to visiting Sabah again and maybe see the land and the people with more mature eyes.

And of course there's all that LIMA stories and Malaysia's plans to buy 18 fighter jets.  But this time Tony Pua is strangely quiet, or maybe he is still reading up on the subject.  It is rather amusing though to see all those five foreign suppliers shortlisted are falling all over themselves to sign MOUs with local partners.  I bet Tony Pua and gang are hopping mad that the acquisition wasn't made earlier, especially if Mindef decides on the Rafales.  I can just see the headlines in Malaysiakini "Kickbacks: The French Connection".

Thinking of the Future

Latest:

PKR Johor Deputy Chief Dr Ahmad Faidhi Saidi announced that PKR will be contesting in Segamat, and in the Johor Jaya (Pasir Gudang) and Tangkak (Ledang) state seats.  Dr Ahmad Faidhi is also taking over the responsibilities of co-ordinating PKR Johor election machinery from Chua.

Chua Jui Meng is reportedly OK, but location is unknown.

Translation to Cat language - Jimmy doesn't want to play ball with Annie anymore.


The happenings in Johor and moves by the various political parties, most especially the dynastic power tussle of the Lims and the Anwars, have given a Rational Mastermind a reason to ponder.

We have seen how a particular "chinese revolt" turned out for a segment of the people of an island up north and how that revolution has evolved to affect the lives of low income workers and small businesses, regardless of their ethnic background, who are now left with no choice but to look for affordable dwellings and greener pastures in the mainland.  

Of course there are also stories of gag orders, press boycotts, private "security" units enforcing the "security" as they please, not to mention the problems caused by Microsoft Excel to an exemplary democratic and transparent election process, and now a typo, probably the fault of Microsoft Word, that caused differences in the billions.

The holy "green uprising" from the northeast has swept across the north and the almost unchecked destruction of Lojing is now replicated across Kedah, from Baling to Pedu.  

We are witness to the decades long success of a certain northeastern state government exporting their brand of holiness to other parts of the country through the "migration" of their people who not only benefit from the good jobs and good living elsewhere, but returning in droves during elections to ensure stunted economic growth at their "kampung", amid unsavory stories of sexual exploits, domestic abuse and funds mismanagement. 

Then there is of course the absolute mess in turquoise territory, being advised by God's Gift no less, with ADUNs and MPs who spend most of their time blaming everyone else for everything gone wrong with their sex lives and yet continue on their merry way to ruin what was once the richest and most developed state in the country.  

Or not saying anything sensible at all in the Dewan, if they were there, because they were too busy with their facebook, tweeter and spy camera to feed the rapacious need of their cult followers for more of their repetitive pure and holy pronouncements, peppered with large doses of insinuations and unveiled insults against non-followers.  

Maybe these are the domains of Potentates, ulama's and God's Gifts, but Johoreans must not allow their emotions to overrule their thoughts in the upcoming general election, because that's what is coming their way via Gelang Patah.


Friday 29 March 2013

Wassup Annie?

It is curious how to what lengths DS Anwar Ibrahim is willing to go in order to please DAP Johor, even at the expense of his party supporters and the man once hailed as the PKR candidate for the post of MB Johor.



Now Chua Jui Meng has gone off merajuk, PKR Johor is in shambles, morale of party workers is at an all-time low and there is confusion all around.  In the mean time, Lim Kit Siang was seen drinking coffee with Dr Boo at a local kopitiam and going around town like nothing out of the ordinary happened, completely making Gelang Patah his new home.

I just need to know what actually happened.  Something must have happened for Anwar to capitulate so completely without a fight.  What was it that make it necessary for him to humiliate Chua in that completely, to my thinking, cruel manner?  The man was supposed to be your ground commander in Johor, by your own declaration a front-line state.  It's getting curiouser and curiouser ..

Birthdays and Personalities

I turned a year older this week and would have forgotten all about it if I had not had a few birthday wishes from people who knew.  Yes, I am an Aries.  Not that I believe in all that zodiac business, but according to a friend, all the descriptions ascribed to an Aries personality fits me to a T.

Ha .. ye la, as if you can fit the entire how many billions of earth population to fit into 12 zodiacal personality types, and I happen to belong to a group described as moody, short tempered, self-involved, impulsive, impatient, independent, generous, optimistic, enthusiastic and courageous.

Take note, "garang" is not one of the characteristics ascribed to the Aries group, of which I belong to.

Golden Aries Dragon by Rene Polumorfous @ Deviantart

However, it got me curious about all these personality types and tests that seem to abound on the internet.  So I did a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator free test just now to know what Type I am.  Apparently there are people who actually pay to take these tests.  I found out that I am an INTJ personality Type.  According to wikipedia INTJs are the rarest of the sixteen personality types and account for 1-4% of world population.

So that makes me a combination of a ram, a dragon and a rare scientist.  Heh .. what a strange animal that would make.

PS: My next project is to guess the personality types of my favorite politicians.


Wednesday 27 March 2013

PKR Decimated

One of the biggest stories last week was the announcement made by DS Anwar Ibrahim of Lim Kit Siang as the DAP candidate for Gelang Patah this coming GE13.  For Chua Jui Meng, it was an extremely humiliating way to be told "you lost the fight".

Obviously PKR Johor and Chua Jui Meng had been putting a lot of their effort and resources in hammering BN in Gelang Patah.  After the last 2 unsuccessful attempts, they have made substantial inroads on the ground, thanks to a dedicated team that worked relentlessly to establish PKR's presence.  They were confident that they could win it in the coming GE13.  But now their eight years of effort is only going to benefit Lim Kit Siang and DAP.

DAP's excuse that Gelang Patah was formerly a DAP seat is really too lame to be accepted.  PKR being a much younger political entity than either of its partners, could not possibly have established a traditional base prior to its formation in 1999.  It was in 2003 that PKR in its current form first formalised arrangements with its pact partners, and it was natural to assume that the agreed seats allocation of that time would be basis of developing PKR's power base, at least in Johor.

In the following years after that 2003 agreement, PKR continued to develop a number of its Johor bases, one of which is Gelang Patah.  When Chua Jui Meng became the Head of PKR Johor, naturally it was assumed that Gelang Patah would be where he takes his fight.  The best of Johor's PKR cadres were brought in from all over the state and Gelang Patah became the spearhead into their fight for Johor.  AMK Gelang Patah was involved in almost all the major PKR programmes in the state, working hand in hand with their comrades from Pasir Gudang and Tebrau, going as far as Mersing and Pengerang with their fight.

During the recent seat allocation discussions, when Dr Boo declared that DAP will contest in Gelang Patah, Chua offered a trade off with Bakri.  DAP declined, it will keep Bakri and it wanted Gelang Patah back as it was just a loan to PKR, very much similar to Jamalul Kiram's claim on Sabah.  Instead, DAP offered Chua a loan of Segamat for GE13, another traditionally DAP seat.  It didn't make sense to Chua as Segamat was contested by DAP in the last two general elections.


When Dr Boo called for DSAI and DS Dr Wan Azizah to come down to Johor and lead PKR, it was a message for the PKR de facto leader.  Chua was hoping that DSAI will insist that Gelang Patah will be contested by PKR, but that didn't happen.  DAP, or more precisely Dr Boo, had sent his message to Anwar and the message was heard and a decision was made.  Betraying Chua wasn't difficult for Anwar, he has done it to better men.

Now Chua and PKR Johor will have to be wary.  Segamat has always been a DAP seat too.  It is just a matter of time.

Tuesday 26 March 2013

Blue and Green and Other Things

I saw a bit of the 206th Police Day parade on the news yesterday, and watched a bit where our guys in blue were given the recognition due to them.  Didn't get to see the whole thing as it was a working Monday.  The Sulu Intrusion has served as a reminder of how important our security forces are in protecting our well-being and how we have grown to take them for granted.

For those who keep on belittling them, deriding them, mocking them, abusing them, biting their ears, questioning acquisition of military assets, making up stories about our submarines in foreign countries, etc. etc., I wish you people would just find somewhere else to call home as you don't deserve their protection.  And once you are out of this country, stay out of our business and stop making clever pronouncements as if you are better than the rest of us.

So here's to our guys and gals who put their lives on the line for Malaysia.


As for other things, the Lahad Datu incident got me curious about the pinoys, and I started lurking in their current issues and news forums to find out about how they view the Sabah issue.  I realised that many Malaysians are there too, and the "discussions" were rather interesting.  That got me curious about how the discussions were in the local forums, so I started lurking in Malaysian forums too.  It was kinda interesting but not something that I would want to spend too much time on.

Maybe it's just me, but other than blogging, the new social media is not really up my alley.  I got bored with Facebook after 3 weeks and was there just for the games, which I haven't got the time to maintain anyway.  I don't tweet either as I have nothing to broadcast that would be of interest to anyone else, and since I am neither funny nor charismatic, tweeting to nobody would be pointless.  Even this blog is courtesy of Ai who created a following whom I am afraid I may just bore to death, but at least it is an outlet for my thoughts.

But I do understand how social media can be used to reach out and to influence the online masses.  I am just not comfortable with the way it is being used to dumb down the masses, to manipulate perceptions based on untruths, to create panic through rumor-mongering, and most especially the bullying and terrorising.  Then there's the problem with bad language, as in the grammar and the expletives.   We have bullies in the schoolyards, bullies on the roads and now we have cyber bullies roaming the social media.  

What happened to our eastern values?  Can't we eradicate this bullying culture from the Malaysian public?




Sunday 24 March 2013

Battlefield Johor



The Pakatan, most especially PKR, has been focusing their resources over the past few years on what they term as their frontline states of Johor, Sabah and Sarawak.  Now that we are that close to GE13, let us assess the situation on the ground.

With YB Lim KS confirmed to contest the Gelang Patah seat, everyone seems to be eager to focus their attention to Johor and you can already hear the experts predicting a BN fallout in Johor.  It is too easy to say that being a Chinese-majority constituency, Gelang Patah is deemed to be "kacang putih" for Lim KS.  From a certain point of view, even as he is the revered old man of the party, Lim KS is not exactly at the top of the power structure within DAP.  The present power structure belongs to the young guns within DAP, the ones making the operational strategic and tactical decisions for the party.

Lim KS is part of the old guard, whose role is predominantly to fight the fires and to subdue rebellions within the ranks.  The majority of the DAP members in Johor are of the old school, with deep respect for the original ideals of the party and view Lim as the father of DAP.   Hence he was quickly dispatched to Johor to cool down the southern hotheads fighting for their survival within the DAP new power structure.  More than anything else, Lim's decision to enter the fray is a reflection of how serious the fractures within DAP Johor is.

DAP knows that they will not be able to wrest Johor from BN in the GE, hence the real power within that structure will not risk their political career by moving to Johor.  However, those that do not belong to the new circle of power will be thrown into the southern refrigerator as "front-liners" until they are properly subdued for secondary roles within the new DAP power structure.  Those who cannot be subdued will be sidelined or discarded.

This culling process will be used extensively in the next GE in preparation of a direct assault in the following GE.  DAP will also continue using Anwar and PKR and their well-financed NGOs to ensure that they strengthen their political power base in their target areas.  This does not mean that DAP is poor, far from it, but it makes sense not to lose steam too soon by expending too much too early in the game.

In the mean time, the PKR machinery and the PAS hordes will continue to hammer BN Fortress Johor with their NGOs, financial might, religious infiltration and civil disobedient movements.  The DAP elites will only muscle their way into Johor for the kill once BN is sufficiently weakened.  The coming GE will determine how much they have actually gained, and the Johor stalwarts of the GE13 will have to make way for the elites once they have established a strong footing down south.

To counter PR's, or in this case DAP's, gains in Johor, it would serve BN well to double its efforts in not only Chinese-majority and marginal constituencies, but also in Malay-majority seats where Malay support for BN have been greatly eroded by arrogance, constant in-fighting and factionalism within Umno.

Friday 22 March 2013

Redha

This week has been rather hectic, so I have not been able to spend much time "entertaining" guests to this blog.  Though I do try, in between meetings, during lunch breaks, late at night or very early morning, it is very difficult to take my thoughts away from work.

I wish I can be like some people who can do many things all at once, unfortunately I'm not made that way. Once I am on to something, I have this tendency of overdoing things to the point of being obsessed.  It's what someone used to describe as single-minded tenacity in the pursuit of the absolute, whatever that may mean.  By the time I had the time to ask him what he actually meant by that, he'd already left for a scientific research expedition to Alaska, and I never hear from him since.  That was especially sad, as I really liked him, but life goes on and time waits for no man.



Personally I think it is OK to be single-minded, if I may say so myself, but that single-mindedness must be tempered with wisdom and intellect.  The ability to remove emotions from the equation, reason things out with logic, and most importantly to analyse information from all sources and perspectives, outside the scope of self-interest, will be crucial if we were to avoid being manipulated by others.

One of the things I love about Islam is the concept of "redha" as derived from one of the six articles  of Islamic faith, faith in the pre-ordained (Qada & Qadar).  Please do correct me if I am wrong, but from my own personal experience, that is when something happens, you must have the capacity to accept the outcome as pre-ordained and should not find someone or something to blame. According to my Mom, who used to remind me to be "redha" at all times, being "redha" will help me to move on, because there is always something to be learned from every misfortune, and I will not have the capacity to learn if I keep looking for someone to blame.

Over the years, I have learned that being redha with what life allots me has helped me to understand my limitations, single-mindedness being one of the more problematic ones, and find ways to overcome these limitations without trying to blame every misfortune and calamity on someone else.  It also has helped me to move forward without carrying too much baggage of the past and enabled me to think with a clearer head.

I am sure other faiths have something similar.  It would be nice if we can discuss this concept without being overtly political or downright hostile, but I doubt that is possible in the present political atmosphere.  Redha is much needed in politics.

Tuesday 19 March 2013

Where to, Hafiz?

Now that Lim Kit Siang has been endorsed by Anugerah Tuhan as the candidate for Gelang Patah, what will happen elsewhere in Johor?

The drama between head of DAP Johor, Dr Boo and Head of PKR Johor, Datuk Jimmy Chua, the Boo-bashing press conference by YB Ong of Senai, the YB Er and YB Gwee fisticuffs - all make for interesting gossip.  But the prevalent opinion being bandied about where Johor is concerned, is the role of astronomical increases of chinese voters in target areas that will power the unholy trinity to storm BN's Fortress Johor.  In Gelang Patah, for example, the number of chinese voters increased by 30%, or more than 13,000 over the past 5 years, while in Tebrau, chinese voters increased by 49%, or almost 11,500, in the same period.

Such is DAP's confidence in their chinese support that a few months back, a DAP crusading trooper had gleefully commented, that various opposition rallies will galvanize a "chinese revolution" in places such as Tebrau, Pasir Gudang, Gelang Patah, Pulai and Johor Bahru, which will presumably result in the fall of BN.  Tellingly, these are the parliamentary seats that the Pakatan are confident of winning as reported here.

DAP Johor has done such a good job here in the south that even Lim Kit Siang is confident of winning in Gelang Patah.  It is unfortunate that the red army invasion of Johor on the wave of overwhelming Chinese support will not be of much benefit to Dr Boo's own national ambitions, unless he is aiming to contest in Kulai.

The fact is, it will be difficult for Dr Boo to develop a new national base too far from Skudai at this late stage of the DAP campaign.  Maybe YB Ong has a real reason to fear that he will be dropped from the DAP GE13 lineup, now that Dr Boo has appointed his man as the Kulai Head of Operations.

Pakatan is also confident of wresting Segamat from BN, which is another marginal seat that will most probably be contested by Chua Jui Meng, which was predicted here way back then.

No surprises there.  Pakatan is so predictable, it is almost boring.

But where is PAS?

Unfortunately for PAS, they are no longer in the Johor equation.  It is all about DAP and PKR.  Since PAS has obviously delivered in Johor, it no longer has a role to play for the unholy trinity in Johor.  The state of PAS Johor is so pathetic, that the likelihood of Salahuddin Ayub winning a parliamentary seat for PAS in Johor is so slim, PAS will most probably field him in a Kelantan safe seat despite its recent "Kelantan for Kelantanese" slogan.  For a PAS Vice President to lose big time in his home state would be too disastrous for the party.

Obviously in the Pakatan scheme of things, PAS has been allocated Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis to govern, and they are quite happy with that.  Their campaigning focus has always been geared to cater to the northern Malay masses of these states.  My guess is, the prospect of getting their hands on oil royalties have managed to pacify PAS leadership, hence the relentless and almost hysterical demands for Kelantan oil royalty.

Selangor, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Sarawak is the focus of PKR political ambition, while DAP is content to tighten its grip on Pulau Pinang, Perak, Melaka and Johor.  Therefore, PAS doesn't feature very much in these states, just as PAS has never been bothered about DAP and PKR noises in Kedah and Kelantan.  Sabah is another kettle of fish altogether, and with the on-going Ops Daulat, it is best to leave that speculative exercise well alone for the time being.


It is only right, therefore, to view the Pakatan tsunami sweeping Johor as that of the Rocket variety, on the back of chinese chauvinism that has been nurtured and fanned by both DAP and PKR and enthusiastically endorsed by the Johor Chinese Press.


For PAS Johor, it is game over, and the game hadn't even begun yet.





Monday 18 March 2013

Cracking Rocket (Updated - Lim Kit Siang contesting P162)

Update: Lim Kit Siang has declared that he will be contesting the P162 Gelang Patah parliamentary seat.

Correction : It was Kulai Head of Operations, not Johor - sorry.

A little birdie gave me a tinkle just now about a press conference that was called by YB Ong Kow Meng, the Senai DAP rep.  I was told only the Chinese press was invited (tsk, tsk YB Ong .. you think NST, BH and Utusan won't carry your story ke?) to this event.  And the YB wasn't alone - there were sixteen DAP branch heads with him at the press conference to lend weight on what YB Ong wanted to announce.

Impressed, I asked the friend, what was that all about?

According to my friend, Ong was pretty scathing about Dr Boo Cheng Hou, head of DAP Johor.  He indicated that Dr Boo practices cronyism, nepotism and is responsible for breaking up the Pact with PKR in Johor by attacking Datuk Chua Jui Meng.  In essence, Ong is telling everyone that Dr Boo is bad medicine for Pakatan in Johor.

So what was the real story behind this one then, I asked?

Well apparently, not so long ago, Boo appointed someone, whom Ong and his group consider as an outsider as DAP Johor Kulai Head of Operations.  This appointment is, by Ong's reckoning, an indication that he may be dropped from the DAP line-up for the coming GE.  So he was unhappy with the possibility of not being a YB anymore as Senai is considered a sure-win seat for DAP.  FYI, 65% of voters in Senai are Chinese.



And I thought only Umno have this problem.

As for the big pronouncements that the revered Father of Tokong will be contesting in Gelang Patah as reported here, I was told that the old man, who is in Muar today, said that he had not decided on where he would be contesting.  Hehehe .. what we are sure of at this point is that he will definitely be contesting somewhere ...

Sunday 17 March 2013

DAP in Mersing?

Rumor has it that DAP will be contesting Tenggaroh in the next GE.  Now that would be interesting in so many ways.

Consider for a moment the ethnic composition (according to SPR Register September 2012)
Malay - 81.8%, Chinese - 13.8%, Indian - 1.8%, Others - 2.7%

Tenggaroh is what most people would think a BN stronghold with almost 60% of Malay voters being Felda settlers from the large Felda Nitar and Felda Tenggaroh settlements.  In the 2008 BN was represented by MIC in Tenggaroh and YB Murukaswari won 74% of the popular votes with a fairly comfortable majority of more than 8,000 against Shahar Abdullah of PAS.

What makes DAP confident of contesting here, then?

First, I was told that DAP will be fielding a Malay candidate.

Second, there are those who question why the overwhelmingly Malay-majority constituency is represented by MIC when there are plenty of other state seats with much higher Indian voters than Tenggaroh.

Third, DAP is banking on PAS support to ensure a substantial Malay vote, to ensure that they will have a Malay ADUN should Salahuddin fails to secure Nusajaya for PAS.

If this is so, this will be a test of Umno's mettle, whether it can prove that it will support and campaign for a non-Malay candidate in a Malay-majority constituency.  It is also a test whether the BN formula is still accepted by rural Johor Malays.

Easy Weekend (Updated)

Update:  Check out who the next Johor MB is here.

These past few weeks had been extremely intense for me, what with work, taking over from Ai, the Sabah situation and of course facing up to the CTs trying to intimidate me with their bullying ways.  Heh .. you can only try CTs.

The situation in Sabah seems to have eased off a bit, although I'm sure that our guys out there are still in grave danger, and they are still in my prayers.  Work has been easing off too, with the bulk of my more time-consuming workload delegated to the rest of the team, so I have more time to do the less urgent but more important things that I have been putting off.


However, I'm taking it easy this weekend.  Being intense can be exhausting, so I am just going to chill this weekend and do things that I had been putting off for weeks now.



I am thinking of going to JPO tomorrow, though, for a bit of retail therapy.  The last time I was there, I only managed to get myself a pair of Skechers running shoes and a pair of Clarks oxfords for work.  I am not sure what I will find tomorrow, but I am in search of a good bag that looks feminine but will fit my laptop, tablets, hard disks, cables, chargers, my med-kit and other work essentials, to replace my tatty Targus.

I like having all the mid-range brands in one place so I don't have to walk miles just to get a few things.  Most of the stuff at JPO are things that I can afford, quality stuff that I don't have to save months for, but are great for daily use and last for a long time.  The crowd that I saw the last time I was there was a good mix of locals and out-of-towners.  It provides a different shopping experience for middle-income Johoreans and will be a plus point in attracting more professionals to reside and work in Johor.

Personally, I think JPO is a good addition to southern Johor.  Besides being another tourism attraction for shoppers, I think JPO is a reflection of the changing landscape of commercial activities down here, a much needed boost to Johor services sector.  Things are getting livelier in JB too, and I am seriously thinking of setting roots here, maybe buying a property somewhere nearby, a studio apartment maybe.  Maybe I should start looking after the General Election.


Friday 15 March 2013

Where Does Violence Take Us? (Edited & Updated)

Updated: I have something interesting to share with you readers.  I found this rather interesting discussion and picked up on something by this Dawn person, whom I concluded is a filipina but shares about her opinion of police as brutal and very specifically gave the example of Bersih 3.0.


Dawn  poyo  2 hours ago
Policemen aren't innocent bystanders either. So they don't qualify as "innocent civilians" being targeted by "terrorists".
Why is it so hush-hush that their own policemen killed an innocent teenager? Is it because they themselves are the terrorists? Barisan itself should be tagged as the terrorist. Look at Bersih 3.0.


I guess the Opposition hordes have taken their poison abroad.

Edited: I have removed the excerpt because it was doing bad things to the posting.  If you want to follow that discussion, suggest that you just follow the link given.

Feeding my obsession with the mental state of pinoy keyboard warriors, I find an interesting discussion of what seems to be a discussion of our political situation.  I will just take an excerpt of what is being discussed here, but you can see the rest there, if you wish.

Other than Hans Hans who openly expressed his support for BN and pretty_ugly_1 who seems to be quite neutral, the majority of the other Malaysians are not BN-friendly.  I find it strange to find these pro-opposition forumers arguing the Malaysian case against the pinoys, and yet back at home you don't find them being as patriotic or appreciative of the relative peace that we have.

Don't they realise that moderation is what makes Malaysia different from the Republic of Philippines?  Why didn't they realise that the demo-culture and overly emo rhetorics that they are fond of using as a means to intimidate the majority and challenge the government of the day is exactly what got us "13 Mei"?  You think politics of hatred by opposition leaders and their NGOs and incitement against the security forces as done by Tian Chua and Nurul Izzah will not result in something similar to "13 Mei"?

When we can't get the Kiram and his terrorists to see reason, can't you see that reflection in ourselves?  That we are unable to see the other point of view and resort to violence, either verbal, or physical as demonstrated by the Bersih violence?  What is the difference between the Tausug terrorists and the Bersih ones?


What's the difference between Kiram's daughter's lack of logical reasoning about going to Sabah for a picnic armed to the teeth and the way Himpunan Hijau defied scientific evidence to protest the Lynas "mutants" factory?

What's the difference between Suluk Filipinos who had jobs and homes in Sabah, enjoying subsidised food and fuel, and yet assisted and harbored the Tausug terrorists, from the Orange-clad Anak who were given land titles for nothing and still go around the country trying to create unrest and claimed being discriminated against?

Email from the East

For you guys missing Ai and wanting a peek at how she's doing, Annie shares an email from our cute blue shorthair here.  Hahaha .. so I am too garang, eh?  Ye la, maybe I am.  I will try to be less garang, but don't expect me to be sopan santun like Annie or flirty cute like Ai.  I'm just not like that.


Update: The Farrah and Jassmine Story

Thursday 14 March 2013

Who is Commander Musa? (Edited)

I read this and this, which made me think that this old man may had been responsible for the Jabidah massacre, and had links to the Marcos political dynasty.  Of course greater research must be done.  This is something I will have to add to my "must find out" list.


Of Eyes that Can't See (Updated)

Update:  Along the same line of thought, Annie shares her piece here.

I was having difficulties with reading all day and night yesterday because I misplaced my contacts lens case, with lens, and couldn't get a replacement where I was yesterday.  So there I was, going around, almost blind, hoping that I could survive the day without too much trouble.  Fortunately, my shortsightedness isn't serious, just -2.50 on the left, and -3.00 on the right.  So I could still see, though kinda blurry.

Fortunately, my shortsightedness does not extend beyond my eyesight, unlike some people who tend to see themselves as the all-powerful centre of the blogging world.



When I wrote about the real faces of Umno as defined by the ordinary kampung folks in the rural parts of Johor, it was because largely, they stayed true to the essence of Umno.  However, I am not blind to the fact that there are those who have lost their way, and given in to their personal greed.  The dirty minority are the ones that bring disrepute to the party and what it stands for.  They may not even be people in positions of power, but they are definitely in position to undermine people who are in power with lies, deceit, and treachery.  Especially when they work together in groups to create the desired perception.

They use all kinds of trickery to ensure that their targets give them what they want, most of the time involving huge amounts of money for services rendered, or simply to keep silent.  I know of some organisations who provide real professional services, and take in rejections gracefully, as professionals.  However, there are those who cannot take rejection well.

With the presumed power of the social media and blogs, these extortionists have gone online with their vile campaigns of subversion, coupled with insinuations and innuendos, claiming that their intentions are pure and for the good of the party, when in fact they are just fighting for their own stomachs.  And boy, what huge stomachs have they got.

Those who have openly sided with the opposition have revealed themselves, but there are many more within the fold.  Their eyesight never go beyond the size of their stomachs, and their concern for the party is not as deep as the pockets they want lined with money to finance their SUVs, latest gadgets and coffee at Starbucks.  Their hypocrisy sickens me.


Tuesday 12 March 2013

Why aren't we surprised?

Despite what is happening in Sabah at the moment, the opposition pact leaders and propaganda apparatus are still in their all out "attack-the-police-army-government" mode.  There was Tian Chua, and now we also have Nurul Izzah as reported by MIK.  But then we shouldn't really be surprised, because as Annie reminded us here, they see our police the way Kiram and his army saw our police, and if they had the chance, they probably would do the same things that Kiram's men did to our men and women in blue.

I've got here some photos of our forces in action in Sabah,  not that war is cool, but I really admire them, because despite the noise made by these opposition mosquitoes, they just ignore them, like they ignore the gnats and the leeches in the jungle.  Annoying, but of little consequence.  How cool is that?






And little girls wave at them too.

Updated:
Al Fatihah
4.17pm: One soldier was killed during a fire-fight with a group of terrorists in Kampung Sungai Nyamuk in Lahad Datu at 10.45am today. Three terrorists were also killed.

The First Attack
Part 1
Part 2


Monday 11 March 2013

About Musa and Sambas and My Extended Family

I found this while browsing the net which I think would be interesting to those who wants to know a little bit about the Tausug terrorist Musa who was killed by our forces.  The article links the two to the Jabidah massacre incident in 1968.  It is an interesting read.

On another note, I find it very difficult to write about anything else at the moment, with Lahad Datu occupying my attention.  I am spending the bulk of my time on the net scouring for news, roaming the military forums, and of course finding out as much as I could about our security forces, downloading the impressive photos of our men and their armaments for my collection ... (heh .. blame that pinoy OBEY who got me into this ..)  However, since I know nuts about military matters, I am not going to write about something I know nothing about.  Leave it to the experts, I say.

My areas of knowledge are far more mundane and some can say rather shallow.  I am more comfortable talking about Birkins, the must-have accessory of fashionistas, than say, the Glock Gen4 that was recently chosen by PDRM for our police.  I have far better knowledge on how to spot a fake Chanel 2.55 than a fake IC.

Until a couple of years ago, I also know nuts about politics.  When I decided to make Johor my base, I was determined to just do my job and not get too involved directly.  I went around the state, telling myself that I was just getting to know the locals, familiarising myself with my surroundings, and finding my roots in the state where I was born.  I was going to be detached from the politics.

But I wasn't prepared for the warmth, hospitality and acceptance of the people, most especially the kampung folks that I met.  I have been to the fishing villages of Penyabong, the Orang Asli village of Kampung Peta, the villages near Tanjong Kapal, the folks in Pulau Pisang, the various kampungs in Kota Tinggi, Pontian, Batu Pahat, Kluang and Segamat.  I couldn't help myself.  I fell in love with them, think of them like they are family, because they treated me like family.

And they are largely Umno members, some are community leaders, but mostly are ordinary grassroots members who are simple folks with simple needs, forming the majority of the almost 400,000 Umno members in Johor.  In some places, the social activities and way of life in the village are interwoven with the local Umno activities, that you can't separate the two.  They are hardworking, honest folks, and it hurts me to read the nasty comments being hurled at these people.

It is difficult for me to just let go of the generalised insults and vile names being heaped on these people by those who have better access to modern facilities, drive more expensive cars, earn more money and have more assets than them.  To me, these folks are the real Umno, and they are precious to me.

Saturday 9 March 2013

The Questions I Must Find Answers to

The one thing I have learned these past few days of "entertaining" visitors to this blog is that how exhausting it is trying to drum the same thing over and over again through thick skulls that seem to have been "sense-proofed" so well that I got bored with the repetitive denseness.

On the one hand we have the super blinkered various opposition cult members, and on the other is the Malay supremacist hell-bent on cleansing Malaysia of "foreign" DNA not deemed pure enough to be considered as part of the Malay ethnic group.

And I can't seem to get through to either.

It is so sad that we have reached a point where some of our citizens, whom I assume to  be young and have better educational opportunities than their parents, are so locked in their respective self-pity and imagined insults that they can't move forward in their thinking and attitude, and are ripe for exploitation by unscrupulous politicians.

Is it so wrong for a person to support the ideals of Umno and be a member of a party that was formed based on unity and solidarity of the children of the land, that more than 3 million Malaysian citizens are liberally labeled with the same brush?  Are the non-Umnos so pure and clean of wrongdoings?

Does it really matter if I am not a pure 100% Malay?  So what if I am a mongrel, with Javanese, Indian, Dutch and Chinese blood?



I am a Muslim and speak fluent Bahasa Melayu.  I love and practice the Malay culture. I even choreographed Malay dances when I was in boarding school and formed a traditional Malay dance troupe with other Malay girls while I was studying in the US.  I remember proudly performing in front of the mostly white audiences in the American red-neck Midwest, showing off our beautiful gamelan, the lively joget, and the intricate steps of zapin.  I even wore the baju kurung and kebaya in the dead of winter when I was working in London.   To this day, I hand-stitch my own baju kurung the traditional way.

And even if I am not a Malay, does it really matter?  Should I be kicked out of Malaysia for not having a drop of Malay blood or a trace of Malay DNA?  If I am not accepted in this blessed land for not being a 100% pure, DNA-wise, daughter of the land, despite my love for my country, my language, and my culture, pray tell me where should I give my heart and loyalty to?   Where do I belong?

I left my job in the UK the moment I got a job offer in Malaysia, not because it was better paying because it wasn't, but because I wanted to live here, tanah tumpah darah ku, and be with my people, to give my bit to its glory.  Was I wrong?


Thursday 7 March 2013

Our Guys are Very Photogenic

I have this obsession of scouring for information and observing opinions related to specific topics that catch my interest, and at the moment it's the relationship of northern Filipinos and their southern "brethrens" who share the same nationality but with differing ideologies and loyalties.  I thought this comment was rather amusing, and I thought should be shared with everyone who frequents BigCat.





OBEY  6 hours ago

It's kinda weird that the Malaysian forces are very photogenic


Go here for the whole thing.  The compliment was real, although grudging.  Poor OBEY, he doesn't like it, but he just has to say it.  I guess Malaysians are generally good looking to the extent that even our guys in green and blue are very photogenic in the eyes of our neighbors.

OK, so I am shallow, but that was somehow very satisfying.  Hehehe ...

Updated:











Back to The Future According to Annie

I find this Armed group claim Jurong part of the defunct Johor Sultanate to be an interesting futuristic headline.  Not that I think HM the Sultan of Johor would entertain such a stupid thing, nevertheless it is an interesting "what-if" to exercise your mind with ... heh ... I have only one possible scenario for that - destruction of Johor within 24 hours.  Well, maybe 48.  Nah, 12.

Wednesday 6 March 2013

To our Men In Blue

These are tough times for our men in blue.  Their mettle had been well and truly tested these days, what with the yellow and green stupidities, not to mention the constant harassment from idiots of the political persuasion, and now the Tausug terrorists.

I guess it is fitting that my first posting as the new tenant at BigCat is about the much-maligned boys in blue, eight of whom died this week in the line of duty protecting our sovereignty from foreign terrorists.  My heart goes out to their families, wives and children.

To think that even with the recent sacrifices of our heroes in Lahad Datu, there are those who are still at it with their political crap and unpatriotic stance.  It is astounding reading some of the articles/stories in Malaysiakini and Malaysian Chronicles that I can only term as anti-government propaganda at its best, unpatriotic to its core.  Especially the chronic Chronicles.

I know that they are part of the opposition apparatus, but what I cannot comprehend is their complete lack of patriotism and support for our security forces, its like reading stuff from the Philippines perspective, the anti-Malaysian one at that, using unverified Manila-based rumors and such.  I will not link to them as a matter of policy, as I do not want to be responsible for directing any traffic to their trash.

After all the bullshit that they have been subjected to by the so-called citizens of this country who have been constantly deriding them, I can just imagine the kind of motivation the VAT69 and Special Branch boys have in making sure that everyone involved in the Lahad Datu incident is identified and justice meted.



For those who might have forgotten, or too young to know, these are the very same Special Branch unit which painstakingly tracked, profiled and then eliminated the communists way back then, and the very same VAT69 who did their jungle-warfare thing to completely shred the communists to pieces.  They are well and truly blooded.  To those Tausug terrorists and their supporters and abettors, you think you are gonna get away with the murder of their comrades this time around?

To our fallen heroes, Al Fatihah.  To those who are still fighting for our nation's well-being and upholding the laws of our land, May God give you the strength to continue and may God bless you always.

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Ai's farewell

It is with great reluctance that I'm announcing here that this is going to be my last posting in this blog.

I'm flying back to Taiwan tomorrow and due to very personal reasons had decided to abstain from blogging for the time being.

But this is not going to be the end of BIGCAT.


I'm handing over the running of this blog to a friend who has been helping me with it, particularly the technical aspects ever since this blog was set-up more than a year ago. My friend had also in the past made some contributions to the contents of this blog. Her style may be different from mine but I'm confident you all, dear readers will find this blog a better read under her care.

Well, for one thing, her English is much much better than mine. You all will no longer suffer from my Phua Chu Kang's english anymore :-)

As for my plans, I will concentrate on my studies in Taiwan. Maybe after I finished my studies two years from now, I will be running a blog again.

I would like to thank everyone who had helped me with this blog as well as those who had visited it and commented on my postings including the nonsensical ones. I hope you all will continue to do the same once this blog has been taken over by my friend.

As I'm leaving this beautiful country tomorrow, my thoughts and prayers will be for our security personnel in Sabah and their families. My deepest gratitude for their sacrifices.

My condolences for the family of our brave men who had sacrificed their life defending us all. Alfatihah.

Thanks everyone. Take care.