Nauseating

The latest Demi Negara piece is an absolute must read for those who wants to understand why I no longer respect the present Umno leadership and why I have been rather scathing when it comes to writing about the "classy" people surrounding our PM.

I have been unfortunate enough to have seen some of them in action, in this case the PEMANDU crowd, and I must say that I wasn't too impressed with what I saw.

If everyone in PEMANDU had been so fabulously talented, and everyone had performed commendably, why do we still need McKinsey, Boston Consulting, et al?

I also had the misfortune to have had dealings with the political types from Umno War Room HQ prior to GE13, and that wasn't too pleasant either.

How can he be so blind as to surround himself with these kinds of people when I have encountered others on the ground who are far more sincere and just as capable if not more so than these types that he depends on for advice?

For example, although I am a city girl myself, my social circle is rather limited and does not include the urban poor as mentioned by Demi Negara.  That is inexcusable, but I can only say that I will attempt to rectify that as soon as possible.

However, if that is inexcusable for me, it must be more so for people who make decisions that affect other people's livelihood and the future socio-economic opportunities for generations to come.

Maybe PM himself would have all these photo-ops with poor people, but does he really understand these people's needs?

When I was a Management Trainee with a British multinational, I had to spend at least 3 months each in Customer Services, Marketing Communications, and Product Development before I was finally placed in Management Consultancy Services as an Associate.

In Customer Services, I had to understand our customers, their different issues, how to communicate with them directly, and how to address their problems.

In Marketing Communications I had to learn all the different perspectives, master the mass communications skills and tools required to reach a large audience of diverse backgrounds, to gain acceptance of our corporate messages.

In Product Development, I had to understand not only the products that the engineers develop, but also to relate that into real applications that can address real customer issues, while others had to translate market requirements to be incorporated into product life cycle plans.

I quickly became a full-fledged consultant once I mastered the art of the con, the use of communications tools to impress the audience, and there was one occasion that a customer actually asked for me because they remembered me and was impressed by my presentation.

In short, it is all about understanding customer requirements, meeting customer expectations and manipulating marketplace/customer perception, i.e. creating a need where there is none.

Guess which one our politicians have been good at lately?

Frankly, I find them all nauseatingly fake.

Intellect Beyond Measure (Edited)

Oh my!  The current darling of the neo-liberal has spoken!

In 10 to 15 years they (he and his exalted like-minded companions of the super-intelligent IDEAS) are going to do away with Articles 153 and 3 of the Malaysian Constitution.

(These pieces at Free Malaysia Today, Pure Shiite and rocky's bru as reference.)

So people, be prepared for the day, 10 to 15 years from now, when we shall no longer have Islam as the official religion of the Federation, while the Malays and Bumiputras of Sabah and Sarawak no longer can claim the pride of being sons of the land as defined in the Constitution.

The land of their ancestors will be theirs no more.

And there will no longer be justification of federal funding for Islamic pursuits such as for JAKIM, IKIM, Tilawah Al Quran, etc., nor should Malaysia be a member of the OIC, as that would be unfair to the other religions.

It will happen for sure, as these IDEAS chaps are supremely intelligent beings, immensely meticulous researchers with infallible analytical predictive models that can predict the future socio-political landscape of any given society.

Well, of course what they predict always comes true ... not only are they supremely intelligent, they are all educated in London, and all lead classy lives.

Remember when IDEAS went around the country telling government servants that they must be prepared to accommodate a smooth transition of power once the Pakatan takes over control of the Federal government after GE13?

That really, really happened.  Pakatan took over Putrajaya and the transition was smooth because of IDEAS efforts to ensure smooth government transition, so smooth that you don't even see much difference other than some loonies and their 505 black something or other.

What do you mean BN is still in power?  Stop hallucinating ... supremely intelligent beings don't make such mistakes when declaring future events ...

You think if they are not supremely intelligent and infallible, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in Washington, D.C. would want to be their partner ke?

Or that IDEAS would receive grants from the International Policy Network and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation ke?

That one I got from wiki la .. 

Only the super classy newspapers and media outlets understand them enough to quote them regularly in justifying their opinions of current issues.

Just like at one time there were media people who were in love with IKD and Khalid Jaafar.

That one was a Pakatan outfit?

Well, you think this one is not?

As for me, I am more of a down to earth practical kind of person and I prefer to spend time scrutinising materials with enough depth and substance for my less than superior intellect to digest.

Life Goes On

I find Chin Peng and the people who idolise him totally repulsive.

I admit that I am glad that that particular terrorist is dead.

He was not a citizen of Malaysia, he fought against the country when it was Malaya, he fought against it when it became Malaysia, so he didn't deserve to be interred in this land.

For people who wish to bring this dead terrorist home, go and find where his loyalties were as that would be the proper home for him and for you too.

Anyone who justified terrorising and killing his own countrymen, innocent ones at that, purely for ideological differences and for being in the way of his own political ambitions, deserve an ignoble death.

Those who consider him a hero, or freedom fighter, deserve the same, for nothing justifies murder of innocent people.

As for me, we have far better things to think about and do for the country than to glorify an alien mass murderer who directed a bloody terrorist war against "tanah tumpah darahku" that lasted a couple of decades.

End of that story.

Life goes on for the rest of us.

The PM's Bumiputra Economic Empowerment Initiative

When the PM first announced that he would be announcing some measures to address the Bumiputra economic agenda recently, I wasn't too excited as I have often been disappointed with his decisions in the past.

His decisions in the past have been proven to be Bumiputra-unfriendly and he has spent the larger part of his time as Prime Minister pandering to the demands of the louder non-Bumiputra groups that despite all the groveling that he did, they showed him what they really think of him and his efforts by supporting the Pakatan en masse during GE13.

So this time around, I am taking the attitude of wait and see, before deciding whether this time it is a sincere effort to uplift the poor, or just another gimmick to garner support before the Umno General Assembly.

Finally I get to see Najib's speech text at Annie's, a bit too long to digest immediately, though, so I need time to see what he has to offer the Malays and Bumiputra in the form of economic empowerment.

It is good that PM Najib acknowledged early on that BN won because of Malay and Bumiputra support.  It is a sign that he knows whose welfare he should pay attention to as head of the BN coalition.

It is also good that he noted that Bumiputra represent almost 68% of the Malaysian population, forming the majority despite their voice being hardly heard in the din created by the minority groups.

It is interesting that he did not elaborate about how his Model Ekonomi Baru was initially devoid of the Bumiputra agenda, and how he then qualified the meritocracy in Rancangan Malaysia Ke10 as meritocracy with respect to competition among Bumiputra.  Heh ... good one there ..  so the meritocracy is just among Bumiputra ...

For me, I think the most significant part of the whole thing is where Bumiputra-engagement, in various forms, is included as part of Heads of GLCs' KPI, and the setting up of a materials supply chain for Bumiputra businesses.  The rest isn't particularly exciting to me, not even the ASB2 if its going to be managed the same way as ASN and ASB.

The role of GLCs in nurturing Bumiputra enterprises is such an important part of the Bumiputra economic development mechanism as it provides opportunities for Bumiputra organisations to gain the much needed experience and networking to compete effectively while creating job opportunities for the Bumiputra workforce.

There is no point in training, re-skilling or even marketing our Bumiputra human capital if we cannot develop organisations willing to employ them at their market value.

Hopefully these Bumiputra organisations will prove that despite our Bumiputra graduates' lack of command of the English language, as is claimed by so many people to be the reason why they are unemployable, they can excel in their jobs, given the opportunity and support.

The proposed supply chain  to assist Bumiputra businesses to be more competitive is also something to look forward to as cost of supplies has been a major stumbling block for Bumiputra businesses to compete effectively in the open market.

To conclude, based on my early assessment, I look forward to the implementation of these initiatives, and will be looking at how the government intend to check for abuses on the part of the enablers, i.e. the GLCs and the Ministries, to ensure that this time around, Bumiputra economic empowerment can really be achieved.

Wanita Umno Revisited

Annie got tired of Umno decide to kacau Sin Chew as a hobby.

Well, I got tired of Umno and DS Shahrizat a long time ago.  She is just the most obvious example of the "tak sedar diri and mabuk kuasa" syndrome within the upper echelons of that political party.

I would say that the majority of the so-called Umno leadership are inflicted by the same syndrome.

We have seen the decay within the Pemuda wing and we are now seeing Wanita going the same way as Pemuda.

What makes it worse for Umno is that Wanita is the backbone of its grassroots programmes and their acceptance at the grassroots level is much closer associated with the public acceptance of  BN.

Worse still, is the lack of new blood in Wanita leadership at the middle and grassroots levels, or more specifically the demise of Puteri leadership once they become of age and graduate to Wanita.

Puteri was supposed to be the training ground for young women who are supposed to be groomed as future leaders of the Wanita wing.

They are supposed to bring youth, new ideas, innovations and vibrancy and to continue making Wanita more relevant to a larger crowd.

In order to do this, Wanita should be working with Puteri, grooming and training them to succeed them and eventually make way for new blood to invigorate the movement.

This is obviously not happening.

Puteri seems to have less success in the transition into Wanita.  I think this is best illustrated by what is happening between DS Shahrizat and DS Azalina in the fight for Wanita leadership.

This is a fight between a sitting MP who won convincingly, a single woman, relatively younger and with a track record of not only leading the Puteri movement but was responsible in enabling its formation, who have some baggage herself but has no sufficient impact to kill her political career, against the incumbent Wanita leader who lost her constituency to the opposition but was given a position in government only because she was the Wanita Head and promptly lost that because of a scandal that has also become a major liability to Umno and BN.

DS Shahrizat not immediately dissociating herself and her family problems from Umno, never acknowledging that she is a massive liability to the organisation, that she was willingly subjecting Umno to the humiliation of having one of its top leaders being associated with such a damning scandal, clinging on to power by whatever means, is a problem in itself.

What makes it dire is the support of other women in Wanita who cling to her in fear of change, living in a cocoon that insulate them from the realities on the ground.

This same "ostrich with head in the sand" syndrome is the real reason why Umno will not be able to transform into something more relevant to the public.

Being Classy

Unspinners, rocky's bru and OutSyed The Box have been knocking at PEMANDU's door for the unbecoming behavior of some of its highly paid cons ...

Fellas, don't you people know that this is all part of the government's plan to ensure that the nation becomes a "highly developed nation" populated by extremely "classy people" with a lifestyle that can match the Pakatan's social icons of their many amateur video actors?

Pakatan have the two iconic sexual exhibitionists and their various liberated politicians, so PEMANDU must also create similar icons, you know, to fight fire with fire, so that we can also have very "classy" gomen people to avoid being dubbed low-class by the Opposition.

For pro-BN bloggers, your views, opinions and requirements are not important, no one listens to you now as you are already captured slaves and all the Prime Minister's men are only concerned about attracting those Opposition-inclined voters.

You know la how the gomen people always kena hantam, with Pakatan politicians and those cons from IDEAS saying they want to reduce the number of gomen servants?

No good la if BN and gomen always kena hantam for not keeping up with the time, so we need to hire as many liberal-minded "classy" cons as possible to prop up the government's image, and indirectly BN's image, so they can say that we are just as liberal, just as classy, and just as shallow as the next Pakatan supporter.

They are Opposition sympathisers?  Man .. BN-led government are equal opportunity employers, what ... and we must show all those "low-class" BN members that they must emulate the thinking of these liberal-minded people before they are "classy" enough to be considered for all that "transforming" that is happening throughout the country.

You don't want to transform and become "classy", PM carik la already classy people to advise him.

You see that clever KJ?  He is very clever one, emulating PM with his classy Press Secretary.

Sheesh ... as if you don't already have many PAS and PKR people in the gomen, want to complain about some liberal-minded Opposition-sympathisers and supporters joining the government service ke?

Why PEMANDU?  Probably because their skills and salaries wouldn't fit in the present SPA structure (and probably they wouldn't have been able to pass the entrance exams anyway), but PM probably wanted classy people around him pronto, so the PMO must create a reason for their existence.

You know, probably one of his transformational KPI is to have more classy people around him or something to that effect?

To justify the humongous salaries required to maintain their "classy" lifestyles, we need to create important-sounding jobs and functions, not that they are doing anything that existing gomen people and their functionaries aren't capable of.

They don't speak Malay?  Alah ... so low-class la, speaking in Malay, why do you expect classy people to speak Malay?  The stronger the British, Australian or American accent, the classier.  You don't know that?  So low-class la you ...

Besides, you don't expect our Prime Minister to be surrounded and advised by ordinary rakyat, living ordinary lives, like you and me, do you?  Tak class la camtu.

For those who aspire to be a PM adviser, you also need to learn all those fancy English words that consultants normally use to confound their clients (and the public at large), otherwise you are not "classy" enough or intelligent enough to advise the PM.

And remember, everything else is not important, as long as you can convincingly spout fancy words in a reasonably foreign accent and can blow your own trumpet while hobnobbing with the big guys, you'll fit in with the PEMANDU crowd.

Queuing for RON95

My brother called last night to tell me about the 20sen price increase of RON95 effective from midnight and suggested that I and my sister to go and fill up our cars before the new price became effective.

Neither of us bothered to do so as we don't really see how the few ringgits of savings would make much difference to us personally given the amount of time and fuel wasted while queuing up at the local petrol station.

The problem with Malaysians nowadays, we are so fixated on the immediate advantage without thinking beyond the obvious, as in the case of queuing for hours to take advantage of a few ringgits savings before the price increase which will last how long given the amount of fuel we waste on private vehicles.

We are unwilling to pay the full price of our excesses.

Throughout the decades, we demand development and progress that transcends our lives with excessive food choices, increased wages, improved infrastructure and facilities, and yet we are still expecting prices to not increase at the same pace as our own voracious consumption of everything that came with "progress".

We continue to expect the government to bear the burden of an excessive lifestyle through public subsidies while at the same time deriding the very same government for attempting to uplift the life of rural dwellers with better access to things that urbanites have been taking for granted.

If the urbanites are as intelligent and educated as they claim to be, instead of queuing up for hours just to make a few ringgits in savings, they should be thinking of lifestyle changes to tackle increasing costs instead of being such cheapskates.

For once, start thinking rationally about politicians who stupidly predict stupid things such as more road deaths should petrol prices increase because people will be using motorcycles instead of cars to get places, or those who promise lower petrol prices which means greater subsidies that will without doubt eventually contribute towards crippling the government.

What they should be thinking about is how they could change their lifestyle to accommodate increasing prices, environmental degradation and dwindling resources such as clean water.

They should be thinking of using public transports more instead of personal cars or motorcycles to reduce fuel consumption, inculcate the habit of recycling things that can be recycled and reducing using things that cannot be recycled, and minimise water wastage at work and at home.

How can we possibly improve our public transportation system if there isn't any demand for an improved system, not to mention those people who protest about mass transit system going through their neighborhood?

How successful was the recycling programme introduced by the government some time ago, and how many of us actually recycle stuff or even segregate our waste at home?

How many of us actually use water from the dishwasher and laundry washing machine to water the plants and lawns, or reduce water wastage by being frugal with water in our daily lives, or have collecting tanks to ensure we can collect rainwater to supplement our piped water?

Have you considered having an edible garden to supplement what we buy at the supermarket, with each household in the neighborhood contributing a different vegetable to be shared with others so everyone can have a variety?

How about having a little herb garden so you can grow your own tumeric, ginger, green onions, chillies, oregano, basil, etc. in pots near the kitchen?

Have you considered going out less for entertainment purposes and spend more quality time at home with the family, hence reducing fuel consumption, traffic jams and air pollution?

How about getting to know your neighbors better by spending time entertaining neighborhood friends at home instead of going out in the evenings and have a healthy social life within walking distance?

There are so many other little ways in which we can reduce our cost of living, so many things that the community can collectively do to create an environmentally friendly and socially healthy neighborhood.

Please stop whining about increases in prices.

Start thinking about how we can reduce costs and still have a good life.  You'd be surprised that not only life will be good, it may be a healthier life too.