PAS-Umno unity very unlikely ...

... if PAS leadership wants their "maruah" to remain intact.

This is of course just my opinion.

The thing is, with the leadership that they have in PAS currently, I doubt that they would be crawling to Umno any time soon anyway, despite all that talk about leaving Pakatan.

The problem with PAS is, I have this weird feeling that all that talk of unity government, leaving Pakatan and what-nots are just political posturing, them maneuvering to get attention for whatever that they are not getting from the powers-that-be within Pakatan.

PAS wants a share of power (prior to GE13, they were even aspiring to the Premiership), which they are obviously not getting in Pakatan states other than Kelantan.

There is only so much you can get out of a state without any coherent socio-economic development planning and implementation in place.

But then reality bites, and they now have one full year to reflect on what they got out of the Pakatan deal after what has been termed as the most successful opposition political achievement ever since the riots of 1969.

However, the state of PAS in Selangor, despite having the same number of seats as DAP, kinda reflect what is in the dish that was shoved to their corner.

Let's not even talk about Pulau Pinang.

They are even reprimanded for attempting to table Hudud Laws in Kelantan, where there isn't a single non-Muslim representative in the State Assembly and more than 95% of its population is Malay Muslims.

Then there is that allusion to idiots in Ariff Sabri's description of PAS as "parti tok alim kampungan".

Of course they are upset, and they want to hit back in whatever form they can, hence the support for Khalid Ibrahim, the leaking of their WhatsApp chat, the insistence in tabling Hudud.

What difference would it be to PAS whether Khalid Ibrahim or Wan Azizah becomes the MB of Selangor?

It isn't as if it would change PAS' lot.  They are both PKR.

But they won't leave the Pakatan, primarily because they will have to eat their words, all those years of constant Umno-hating ceramah, even "doa pecah perut" and "Umno KO".

Really difficult to do that, considering the size of their ego.

How would they explain all that to their members and followers whose life-long "perjuangan" was to fight against the Umno infidel?

I wish Umno and pro-Umno bloggers would just quit talking about PAS-Umno unity as I think if the Malays truly had wanted to be united above any need for personal glory, there would not have been a PAS in the first place.

And their anti-Umno rhetoric has not significantly lessened by any degree either.

So Umno should not waste their time with PAS.

What Umno should do is focus on steering our nation through these difficult times without wasting too much time pandering to those who are dissatisfied with the outcome of their choices.

Instead, they should just pay more heed to some of the Islam-based NGOs which have been quietly active on the ground, have dialogues with as many of them as possible and invite them more often to be part of the planning think tank and implementation machinery of Islamic social programmes.

Be sure to avoid organisations that appear to have over-weaning political ambitions, or narrow definitions of Islamic social development, or those with overly political rhetoric about Malay rights without making any significant work on the ground.

Be smart with your choices will you, Umno, and steer clear of the mess in Pakatan.

Opting Out of Pakatan

Okay, I've lost the depression.  Most of it anyway.

Spent the last 36 hours in isolation, sewing a brand new baju kurung.  That was supposed to be my Baju Raya but I wasn't motivated to finish it in time, so it will now be my Baju Hari Kebangsaan.

For some reason, sewing always calms me down.  That's why I always have my sewing basket handy, and to visit Kamdar regularly to stock up on fabrics.

But I digress.

The reason I am posting so soon is because I read Helen's latest posting here about a TMI editorial piece.  (As a rule, I don't read TMI as a source for reliable information - too gossipy, largely unverified innuendos, and an opposition slant too obvious that it insults my intelligence.)

Helen has always been a good motivating factor for me to write about what little I know of politics .. heh

1.   I agree with Helen - TMI's "analysis" was a desperate attempt to intimidate PAS to stay within the Pakatan fold.

With almost 90% of Chinese votes, all of PAS Islamist Malays votes and whatever hotch-potch liberal urbanites under the banner of PKR and PSM, Pakatan failed to win Putrajaya in 2013.

PAS also lost Kedah.

In GE13, PAS was the biggest loser, while DAP the biggest winner.

The fact that they have already captured as much Chinese support as they can possibly capture, DAP need PAS to retain sufficient Malay support in winning urban mixed constituencies that would have gone either way.

With the confrontational biadapness of the DAP supporters and Christian evangelists, I would be surprised if PR would be able to garner more support from the Malays in these constituencies without PAS, even if they were to field their collection of "awek cun" Barbie dolls as candidates.

So PAS must be compelled to stay in Pakatan to maintain access to Peninsular mosques and suraus, while they concentrate their efforts to penetrate new rural base through Christian evangelism in Sabah and Sarawak churches.

Once Sabah and Sarawak have been sufficiently penetrated, and their Barbie collection are sufficiently accepted by the drooling Malay masses, PAS would readily be kicked out.

2.   Staying in Pakatan is harmful to PAS and will eventually reduce it to a mosquito party.

If PAS were to stay in Pakatan, their support base among the Malay Muslims will gradually be eroded because they are seen to have lost their Islamic conservatism which was their defining identity.

Along the way, PAS seem to have lost their ultra-Islamist credence whenever they are faced down by PKR and DAP, while their vitriol seems to be reserved for everything Umno; not even Umno's non-Muslim coalition partners get the kind of hatred that they heap on Umno.

DAP's arrogance and condescending attitude towards PAS doesn't help either.

PAS' seeming deference, almost subservient attitude, to the ultra-liberal PKR and ultra-chauvinist DAP in matters pertaining to what are deemed (by Malay Muslims) as affecting the sanctity of Islam is a turn-off to young Muslim professionals and the undecided Malays who feel "maruah Melayu dan Islam sedang dicabar".

Now PAS is neither truly Islamist, nor are they nationalist, and they can't compare to PKR when it comes to liberalism and multi-culturism ...

As it is now, I see ISMA as having a stronger political will than PAS to provide the needed check and balance to Umno's commitment, or lack of it, to the betterment of the ummah while defending Islam and Malay interests from DAP and Christian evangelism aggression.

I had a chat with a chap who was a PAS totok while waiting for a flight to Dubai not long ago, and he somehow inadvertently expressed his disappointment "entahla, sekarang ni generally yang biru tua macam lebih islamik dari yang hijau - if things don't change, I may just stay at home next election ..."

So that's my 2 sen ...

Paranoia

The family get-together is definitely over as my sister took the early morning flight westward this morning, back to her job and life on the other side of the globe.

I didn't send her to the airport this time, just my sister (the one I am living with) with all three kids in tow, right after Subuh prayers.

I am not certain why, but I feel extremely depressed the last couple of months and I simply couldn't keep up the happy and carefree facade that I must maintain in front of my family.

I also find it difficult to write about local political goings-on that seem too petty to me when compared to the life-threatening situations being faced by ordinary people in trouble spots throughout the world.

The world of politics and international diplomacy (or posturing more like it) is something I cannot even claim to fully comprehend, nor attempt to analyse.

But I don't need to be an expert to see the proxy wars being fought throughout the world, the manipulations at play, the public posturing of the head bullies (they call them presidents and prime ministers, but they are just bullies to me), and the eventual negotiations which they called diplomacy that will apportion territorial influence over regions, resources and minions after they have accomplished a certain number of casualties.

After all the killings, the number of deaths are just statistics that will determine who had the upper hand in the fight for economic influence and acquired-by-proxy resources.

How little do these warmongers value the lives they obliterate by the thousands to further their ambitions for global hegemony, not that they value the lives of their proxies any higher than those they killed.

Looking at the events that affect our nation these past few years, I have this sinking feeling that peaceful and prosperous Malaysia is being manipulated and pushed into a situation.

Lahad Datu was the first real public threat that test the resolve of our security forces, while MH370 pitted us against China, and MH17 pushed us to decide how to deal with Russia (see how MH17 seems to unite our politicians in condemnation of the perpetrators ... kinda telling that this time around all the opposition MPs were all in agreement, meek as lambs.)

When Malaysia seems to be avoiding conflict by keeping neutral and side-stepping the issues of condemnations, Israel is now accusing us of training Gaza fighters.

It is one thing to be accused of training MNLF by Filipino riff-raffs, but to be accused by Israel of training Hamas is something else.

It can be used as an excuse to bomb us to oblivion.

And amid all these, social unrest is being stoked under various guises of civil liberties by NGOs which have been mushrooming lately, while opportunistic political parties riding on the waves of negativity, take advantage of the situation to further their political ambitions.

Despite our government's efforts to steer clear of creating situations that would trigger foreign intervention, I can't help feeling that we will, sooner or later, be pushed over the precipice into unwanted violence.

Unfortunately I don't seem to see anyone else sharing my concern, definitely not our aspiring politicians.

Maybe it is just paranoia, but the feeling of helplessness is rather overwhelming.

Twisted

When MH17 happened, I wasn't quite satisfied with the news I was getting from the major news agencies because the stories just didn't add up, what with operation against Gaza being launched at exactly the same time frame.

However, I now understand why Cameron's belligerence reminds me of Lim Guan Eng and why Abbott's pronouncements resemble that of Mat Sabu's.

Brainless politicians are the same the world over.

One can't possibly know what actually happened and assigned guilt within hours of a disaster of that proportion, especially since there are warring parties near the crash site, more so when the guilty verdict was delivered by one of the warring parties.

Something was not right.  It was too convenient.

So I started scouring the alternative media outlets and then everything sort of falls into place.

To read about the condemnations of Russia and the Eastern Ukrainian separatists over the shooting down of MH17 by the  likes of US of A, their ever subservient sidekick, Britain, and their eager "Asian" servants, Australia plus their various toadies (read that as their media of global propaganda and subservient Western-dependent slave nations) while they practically approve the mass murder and maiming of Palestinians in a systematic genocide by the criminal state of Israel is hilarious if it isn't just too horrifying.

On the one hand they immediately pointed their fingers at Russia and Ukrainian separatists based on dubious evidence garnered from youtube, facebook and the Ukrainian government who is currently bombing civilians in Eastern Ukraine.

On the other hand, they pointedly allow Israel to murder more Palestinians in Gaza with token calls for ceasefire amid blockades that will give Israel the upper-hand should a ceasefire happens.

When Russia came up with an alternative possibility, backed by concrete military data and satellite images, they were largely ignored because the west and their macais were never interested in the truth.

They conveniently blame Hamas for the violence as if that exonerate the Israel murdering spree in Gaza.

In Eastern Ukraine, Kiev continue their bombardment of Donetsk civilian targets as the powers that be conveniently put the blame on the separatists when the crash site was made inaccessible because of the fighting, totally ignoring the fact that it takes two sides to fight a war.

No recrimination at all against their butchers, whether in Eastern Ukraine or Gaza.

Their obviously differing reactions to these two events simply demonstrate how sick and twisted these western powers truly are.

The pieces that got me started:

http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/07/25/mh17-verdict-real-evidence-points-to-us-kiev-cover-up-of-failed-false-flag-attack/

http://robinwestenra.blogspot.com/2014/07/jewish-nazis.html

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/israel-bombs-u-n-shelter-with-over-3000-women-and-children-with-multiple-strikes/

http://dprogram.net/2014/07/31/turns-hamas-didnt-kidnap-kill-3-israeli-teens/

http://everything-pr.com/american-media-and-politicians-gambit/249690/

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2014/07/23/the-graduated-palestinian-genocide

http://rt.com/op-edge/175240-uk-intelligence-snowden-gchq-drip/

http://rt.com/op-edge/176548-crime-israel-punishment-russia/

http://www.wnd.com/2014/07/obama-pushing-false-narrative-on-flight-17/

Syawal 1st

My congratulations and best wishes to all Muslims celebrating the Eid ul Fitr tomorrow after a month of blessed Ramadhan.

However, I admit that I find it very difficult to throw myself into a celebratory mode this time around, what with the loss of MH370 and MH17, the inhuman repression, bombardment and murder of Palestinians in the occupied territories, the killings and destruction in Iraq and Syria, the continuous unrest in North African countries, the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine ... there simply are too many to list them all.

My one wish and prayers are for the killings and maiming to end and for the Mercy of Allah be upon the innocent victims of human avarice.

Prayers for MH17

I can't describe how horrible it is to see reports of The MH17 crash after it was shot down over Ukraine.

154 Dutch, 27 Australian, 23 Malaysian, 11 Indonesian, 6 British, 4 German, 4 Belgium, 3 Filipino, 1 Canadian, and 47 passengers of unknown nationality were reported to be on that flight.

Condolences to all families and friends of those on board.  Al Fatihah.

Wbat saddens me most was, apparently it takes a fairly sophisticated missile system to take down an aircraft at that altitude.

I have more to write about this as soon as I have access to a proper keyboard as I strongly believe that all parties involved in the proxy wars all over the world are equally responsible for the disaster and other dangerous situations worldwide.

Reflection

The situation in Gaza, Syria and Iraq is really sad.

I cannot imagine how much more difficult life there is at the moment during this month of Ramadhan.

I have been spending the larger part of my free time keeping myself up to date with what is happening in those places.

Their suffering must be great, and although I may not agree to their form of retaliation, I can totally understand what drives some people to take up arms and fight back against the real injustices visited upon them, their families and loved ones.

The injustices they face are real, the violence and brutality are real.

Getting these people to take up arms and exact revenge is just too easy, no matter that they will be branded terrorists by the "democratic liberators" for doing exactly the same things that the "democratic liberators" did to them and their loved ones.

That's western hypocrisy for you.

It is okay if they do it, but not okay if others who do not share their ideology do it.

And if they want to to do something dastardly like bombing a country to oblivion for their oil, they will use their media to create stories about how evil the targeted country is, or how evil the ruler is, painting a perception that will be shared globally.

Like what they did to Saddam Hussein (Iraqi Sunni), Bashar Al Assad (Syrian Alawite) and Muammar Ghadaffi (Libyan Sunni).

Something like what the Malaysian Opposition parties were doing and still doing right now.

All those countries are in a sad state right now, because people are so driven by their political agenda that they forget that politics are just a bunch of ideological balderdash that some people, with no better things to do with their time, use to puff up their own self-importance.

What I cannot understand is, why are people, who are largely well-off and privileged, willing to drive our country into anarchy and chaos only to further their own political ambitions and self-importance.

With so many examples of what the Arab Spring has done to North African and Middle Eastern countries, why are these "super educated" people still dead set upon pursuing their similar political agenda that will plunge our country into similar strife and chaos?

Why are they constantly using religious sentiments in politics when they have seen what happened when religious differences were exploited to create political intolerance on a massive scale from as far  back as the crusades, to the Spanish Inquisition, to modern day India?

Why have some of us refused to learn from history and from other examples happening around the world?

What good would it be for you to have the coveted political power, while the rest of your countrymen suffer displacement, unemployment, undernourishment, and in extreme cases such as in the occupied territories of Palestine, bombardment?

Ask Nouri al Maliki what it is like being the Prime Minister of Iraq these past eight years, and how does it feel now, now that the "marginalised" are assisting "terrorists" to terrorise him and his, in his little Baghdadi bubble.

When you are thinking of accusing others of evil, look in the mirror and question your motives, are you truly sincere in your pronouncements and actions?

Or are you just as self-serving, or more so, than the people you are accusing of the said evil deeds?

Salam Ramadhan

Today is the second day of the fasting month.  I reckon it is not too late to wish fellow Muslims a peaceful and blessed Ramadhan.

I have been neglecting this blog for quite a long while but I have been able to keep myself updated with the latest writings by people on my blog roll through my phone.

I use the headlines to select what I want to read and what I prefer not to read.  It is a form of self-censorship that allows me a few moments of detachment from the horrible outcome of human greed and rapacity.

I have not meant to stop writing, but I am going through a period of life where I don't feel particularly motivated to urge people to do something or even to express myself.

Heh .. even the goings-on in Syria has failed to dislodge me from this serenity of living life in the shroud of self-imposed detachment from the harsh realities that currently is affecting our nation and the Muslim ummah.

I no longer feel strongly about anything, no fears nor worries, not even for my beloved Malaysia.  I do worry for my nephews, but I do believe that their parents can provide them with the means to survive, elsewhere if need be.

I still have lots of questions, though.  That hasn't changed much ...

As for politics, I no longer feel an attachment for a group of people whom I thought would be the defender of the way things are/were in Malaysia because I sincerely think that they have lost it.  Totally.

Some of these people still have this out-moded thinking that, for example, the Malays of Gelang Patah can still be fed with Malay-centric rhetoric while they blatantly plunder the wealth of the state and still expect the Malays of not so kampung Gelang Patah to still elect them come GE14.

Living in Klang Valley has opened my eyes to the reality of how detached these people are from the old ways of the kampung folks whom I love and tried to emulate.

In view of the excesses, stupidity and arrogance of some of these new Umno "leaders"  I can now understand how the large majority of urban Malays can be influenced by the insidious politics of the urban political parties of the opposition and their strange predilection of spouting things that defy logic.

The conduct of some of our "defenders of the faith and way of life" too provides me with an insight on how France became a republic and the aftermath of that revolution.

It is always the helpless who suffers, even to this very day, while the powerful trade barbs and spout rhetorics to incite the masses towards the inevitable conflict, while the privileged and rich continue their plundering, preparing their escape route to safe havens of England, US of A, Australia, and elsewhere.

I can also understand why urban Malaysians spend a large amount of time on online social networks, commenting on inane things, gossiping and spreading gossip, with absolute faith in the truthfulness of their social network friends that they failed to exercise their own god-given mind.

It is entertaining, mindlessly so.

It also provides a sense of false bravado, that we can hide behind a keyboard, typing things that we may not say in polite company, thus desensitising us from the values of polite society that we must maintain in the real world.

We spend an inordinate amount of time on these social networks, whether online or at the local kedai mamak, that we neglect the much needed exercise of our mental capacities though books and academic discourse.

How much non-entertainment reading material do our youth consume in a given month?

How many non-entertainment discourse do our average youngster conduct in a given week?

Don't they realise how never-ending entertainment-based socialising will slowly but surely desensitise us from our moral and cultural values, if not from our religious observations, and affect our ability to discern fact from fiction?

I have been wondering lately, why are some people becoming so self-absorbed that they fail to register, evaluate and reflect the impact of their conduct and words on others?

Why are some people demanding others to respect their wants and needs while they ride roughshod over everyone else's wants and needs?

Why do some demand tolerance and yet refuse to tolerate others?

Why do people forget that for every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction?

It is physics, but it also applies to the human psyche.

Or maybe it was precisely intended to provoke reactions which will escalate into social unrest.

Are we falling into this trap?

Kajang

Now it is confirmed that DS Wan Azizah will be standing against DP Chew Mei Fun in Kajang.

I am not invested in the Kajang by-election, simply because I think it is just the outcome of a man's machinations in trying to stay out of prison by creating a platform to garner public sympathy and spread his kind of street activism.

Strangely, there are quite a number of people out there who really believe that the Court's decision in overturning his acquittal was because BN/Umno was trying to stop him from taking over Putrajaya through Kajang.

I can't believe how idiotic some people are, but I guess there must be a reason God created these highly educated morons.

Come on, how would him winning in Kajang, in a state already controlled by a PKR MB and DAP evangelistas, would make BN fear that Pakatan's chances of capturing Putrajaya would be better?

Why would Najib and Umno be afraid of the supposed rise of a man they had already ejected from their party for "low morals" in Kajang and Selangor, when they are willing to put one of their own Generals against the DAP's very own Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah where the rural Malays were a mere 34%?

You cannot accuse Umno of being cowards in Gelang Patah, can you?  Suicidal, yes, but definitely not cowardly.

As it is, he is already the Advisor to the Selangor State Government, which means he already has influence over how the state is being run, unless he needed the authority of the State Government to enforce his "advice".

How can him being a state rep in Selangor change that equation?

As predicted, most of the foreign press spent the larger part of their coverage of the Court ruling on how Queenie supposedly led Pakatan to a strong showing in GE13 and implied that the Government had something to do with how the ruling turned out instead of the actual ruling.

I have said this before, idiots come in all guises.

Putting up his wife in his stead because he can no longer be a candidate for Kajang is just painting her as a weak and pathetic woman whose life is at the mercy of his whims and fancies.

With that kind of image, how can she possibly be compared favorably against someone like DP Chew who not only works hard on the ground but has proven that she is a woman of integrity and high principles?

What kind of person do you want to acknowledge as your leader?

The kind who can't even chart her own political direction and career within her own party of which she is the President, or someone who resigned all political posts because her principles dictate so.

If PKR think they can win the sympathy votes, then they are insulting the intelligence of the voters.

But then, maybe rightly so.

Prayers for MH370

I heard about it at dawn yesterday but couldn't get online until now.  Have been scouring the 'net for the latest information and the plane is still missing.

My prayers are for those on board the missing MH370, may they be in the safekeeping of the Almighty.  Insya Allah.

I sincerely hope that we get to know what happened to them soon and family and friends can be informed accordingly because I know how difficult it is just waiting, expecting the worse to have happened, all the while hoping that everything is just a bad dream that you will wake up from.