Najib’s Farcical Presidential Speech

December 9th, 2012

Najib’s Farcical Presidential Speech

M. Bakri Musa

www.bakrimusa.com

That Prime Minister Najib Razak is oratorically-challenged is patently obvious, and a severe understatement.  The pathetic part is that Najib is determined to delude himself that he is otherwise.  His presidential speech at the recently-concluded UMNO General Assembly was only the latest example.
He confuses ponderousness with deliberateness, equates yelling as emphasizing, and thinks that furrowing his forehead as being in profound thought.  In the hands of a gifted actor, those could be great comedic acts.  Alas, Najib is also far from being that.
I learned early in high school at Kuala Pilah that if I did not know what to do with my hands when delivering a speech, to keep them in my pockets or behind my back.  Do not gesticulate wildly as that would only distract the audience.  Worse, I risked looking like a monkey on speed.  Najib apparently did not learn that at his expensive British school.
As an aside from the personal hygiene perspective, I hoped they sanitized the microphone thoroughly after he spoke; there was an awful amount of spit splattered on it during his delivery.
Najib should take comfort in the fact that there are many effective leaders who are neither charismatic nor great orators. Germany’s Angela Merkel readily comes to mind.  Najib should also be reminded that the converse is even truer.  Leaders with great oratorical gifts and generously endowed charisma can often be among the most corrupt and inept.  Sukarno mesmerized Indonesians with his mercurial personality and spellbound speeches, but that country remained a basket case economically and in many other ways during his presidency.
Had Najib delivered his address in his usual persona, without the put-on gravitas or pretensions of grandeur, he could have finished his nearly hour-long speech in half the time.  Then he and his audience would not have missed their Maghrib prayers.  Besides, there was nothing in Najib’s speech that was so urgent or important to justify that.  As self-professed champions and defenders of Islam, Najib and his fellow UMNO members do not need to be reminded of the importance of prayer.  He and UMNO might need it for the coming election!
Or perhaps those UMNO folks believed in the canard that their party is God’s choice, and thus dispensed from having to pray.
With all the daunting challenges facing Malays, Najib could come up with only two piddling policy prescriptions:  One, increasing Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia’s (AIM) loan amount to RM100K from RM50K; and two, reviewing the country’s bankruptcy laws.  This from the leader of a party that purports to champion the Malay cause!
In announcing the loan increase, Najib looked approvingly to Wanita members, and they in turn responded in kind.  Meaning, they were the intended beneficiaries.  I have no problem giving those ladies who are hairdressers or trained pre-school teachers loans so they could start their own beauty salons or kindergartens, but simply by virtue of their being Wanita members would be folly.  Besides, if all you have is some vague idea of starting basket weaving, you do not need such outlandish amounts.
AIM is Malaysia’s government-sponsored version of “micro-credit.”  Muhammad Yunus, its pioneer, would be flabbergasted to know that a loan of RM100K is considered “micro.”  This is yet another example of Najib adopting an otherwise brilliant idea from elsewhere and then screwing it up in the implementation.  AIM’s generous program has degenerated into another massive and lucrative UMNO patronage machinery.
As for reviewing the bankruptcy laws, I would have been reassured had Najib made it part of an overall scheme to encourage economic entrepreneurialism and business risk-taking especially among Malays.  Alas, none of that!  It was prompted simply to rescue the many UMNO leaders who are bankrupt purportedly from guaranteeing loans of their members in return for their support.  With the proposed changes, those local leaders would be spared from bankruptcy, and then they could be their party’s next “winnable” candidates!  Having not learned their lesson, they would then mortgage the country’s future.
What is obvious here is that Najib and the entire UMNO leadership are bereft of ideas.  They are intellectually bankrupt.  The brilliant political cartoonist Zunar captures well this degeneration of UMNO leaders with his latest cartoon, “Evolusi UMNO.”
The only remedy for the intellectual bankruptcy of our current leaders is to have an entirely new leadership.
Fully aware what Mahathir did to Abdullah Badawi, Najib heaped profuse praise on the still powerful Mahathir.  It was sucking up performance par excellence!  Najib singled out Mahathir’s commitment of loyalty to leaders, which he (Mahathir) apparently forgot when Abdullah Badawi was in charge.
According to Najib, Mahathir had impressed upon UMNO members the importance of loyalty to leaders, presumably in contrast to fidelity to principles.  Najib readily or more accurately, desperately hung on to that!  These UMNO leaders are nothing but opportunistic characters, modern-day Hang Tuahs.
In his speech Najib was like a little kid desperately seeking approval and relishing praises from grown-ups.  Apart from gushingly citing Mahathir’s approbation, Najib reminded his audience of IMF’s Christine Legard’s praise for Malaysia’s “gravity-defying” economic performance.  Najib needs to be reminded that the IMF, World Bank, and other “respected” international bodies were running out of superlatives to describe the country’s economic stewardship right up to the day before the 1997 Asian economic contagion.
When he was not consumed with sucking up and seeking approval, Najib was obsessed with demonizing the opposition, in particular its leader Anwar Ibrahim.  Najib feigned disgust at Anwar’s alleged crime, for which he was jailed but subsequently acquitted on appeal.
Najib and others of his ilk conveniently forgot that whatever crime Anwar may have allegedly committed, no one was murdered.  Instead, Anwar suffered a black eye, literally and metaphorically.  Now compare that to the fate of the beautiful young Mongolian lady Altantuya.  She and her unborn child were literally blown to pieces.  The fact that her killers are close to Najib (they were part of his official bodyguard unit) or the explosives used are available only to his department remains unexplained.
Najib smugly let on that he had other “secrets” of Anwar which he (Najib) would unhesitatingly reveal at the opportune time.  Left unsaid are the many secrets of Najib now swirling openly in cyberspace that he has yet to respond.  The biggest remains the tragedy of that poor Mongolian lady.
It is hard to pick which part of Najib’s speech was the most obscene or offensive as there were many vying for the top spot.  His closing remarks must clearly rank high up there.
It is an accepted tradition in Islam that once you have uttered vile words or committed evil deeds, your wuduk (ablution) would be nullified.  You would then have to re-cleanse yourself (take another wuduk) before reciting any dua (supplication) or verse from the Koran.  The reason is clear and obvious:  You cannot invoke Allah’s name when your heart is filled with bile and hate. It makes a mockery of your good niat (intention).
In vilifying the opposition and uttering those ugly words, Najib had committed evil deeds.  I could also add that he had demeaned himself, but then he could not get any lower.
Earlier, UMNO folks were appalled when PAS members, led by their leader Nik Aziz, had a prayer calling for UMNO’s downfall.  Like many, I too was utterly repulsed by that vulgar gesture.
Yet there was Najib, frothing at the mouth vilifying the opposition and attributing the most evil of motives to them, and then with his instant put-on piety leading his followers to a recitation of dua calling for Allah’s blessing!  They in turn responded in kind with their collective exuberant “Amen!” and “Allahu Akhbar!” (God is great!).  Only UMNO’s carma (contraction for cari makan – lit. seeking food; fig. opportunistic) ulamas would approve of that.

Bekok

The Havoc Education Reform Inflicts (Part 4 of 5)

October 7th, 2012

The Havoc Education Reform Inflicts: Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (Part 4 of 5)
M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com

Fourth of Five Parts: Roar of An Elephant, Baby of a Mouse

[In the first three parts I critiqued the Blueprint’s recommendations; specifically its failure to recognize the diversity within our school system and thus the need to have targeted programs, the challenge of recruiting quality teachers, and the link between efficiency efficacy, and quality. In this Part Four, I discuss the major areas the report ignores.]

Education Blueprint 2013-2025 lacks clear authorship. The document carries forewords by Najib, Muhyyiddin, and the ministry’s Secretary-General as well as its Director General, while the Appendix credits a long list of those involved in this “robust, comprehensive, and collaborative effort,” but the Blueprint itself is unsigned.

It is also impossible to tell who actually is in charge of this whole reform effort. According to the complicated box-chart diagram, the entire endeavor was anchored in a 12-member “Project Management Office” (PMO) that reported to the Ministry’s Director-General as well as to an 11-member “Project Taskforce” that in turn reported to Muhyyiddin. Both the PMO and Taskforce are manned exclusively by ministry officials. Then there are the local and international panels of experts.

Such a convoluted arrangement could easily degenerate into a morass when no individual is tasked to be in charge. Every military operation needs a commanding general; every orchestra, a conductor. That is the greatest deficiency with this reform exercise; no one was in charge, likewise with writing the report.

This is typical of the Malaysian civil service “management by committee” mode. So it is difficult to heap praise, or in this case, lay blame. That no one was in charge could be gauged by the final product. For a report that claims to be comprehensive, aimed no less at transforming the system, it is disjointed and lacks a central theme. It heaps praise on the system’s “remarkable achievements” for the past 55 years. If that is so, why reform it? The Blueprint embellishes how well our students had performed on national examinations over the years, and then cites the PISA and TIMSS reports that indicate otherwise.

There are also many technical but irritating deficiencies, as with the lack of references. The Appendix makes only general references to reports from such bodies as the World Bank, OECD, and UNESCO. Those are relatively easy to trace. However, when it quotes studies done by local universities, there are no specific references, leading one to suspect that those studies are not of publishable quality.

Those aside, my greatest disappointment is the Blueprint’s failure to address the system’s obvious and critical weaknesses that demand immediate attention: rural national schools; religious stream; and vocational education. All three regularly perform at the bottom; improve them and you improve the system’s overall performance. For another, the students affected are mostly if not exclusively poor Malays. This failure to address their problems is made more incomprehensible and inexcusable because those involved with this reform, from Muhyyiddin on downwards, are mostly Malays. While today they may live in plush bungalows at Putrajaya, scratch a bit and the kampongness would ooze out of their pores. During Hari Raya they all fled en mass balek kampong.

Surely on those trips they would hear and see the plight of the children of their cousins and other relatives. I too was once one of those children. On visiting my kampong recently, I was painfully reminded of my earlier challenges. Only now they are worse.

At least during my childhood I could dream that if I were to do well in school, I could escape my kampong. Today even if those children were to excel, their opportunities would be severely limited because their limited command of English.

Then there is the problem of school transportation. At least during my time there was a bus service, erratic though that was. Today there is none. Those children have to depend on fellow villagers who happen to have a car. If perchance he is sick or slept over that morning, then those half a dozen or so children that he normally packs into his tiny Kancil would miss school.

The biggest school expense my parents faced was their children’s bus fares. It still is for those village parents. American schools are required to provide free transportation especially for rural students. During colonial rule schools had hostels to cater for those from remote areas. If we have more such facilities then those students would not have to cross rickety bridges over dangerous rivers as often.

The wonder is that chronic absenteeism and academic underachievement are not worse with kampong kids. The Blueprint does not address this. A simple solution would be to have specific transportation allocation for each school for those pupils who live far away. The headmaster would then issue vouchers to be redeemed by the student and the village taxi driver. Better yet, the school could contract directly with individual village car owners and taxi drivers. There are other possibilities; all you need is for someone to first identify the problem and then diligently think about solving it.

The panel should be less enamored with advanced countries like Finland and South Korea, and instead learn from such poor countries as Mexico. The problems of our kampong children are closer to those of Mexico than South Korea. Mexico’s Progressa program pays poor rural families for their children to attend school. The scheme also extends to healthcare as with immunizations. The money typically goes to the mothers. The program has been modernized such that there are no transfers of cold cash as in the past, rather direct deposit into bank accounts. Yes, bank accounts for poor illiterate villagers! That also brings them into the modern economy, quite apart from bypassing petty local civil servants.

The poor are identified through direct surveys, so even those who do not register or distrustful of governments are not missed. The program is specifically divorced from the ruling political party; hence no political patronage and the associated corruption and leakage. The initiative has been remarkably effective in targeting the hard-core poor, and with low administrative costs.

Progressa reveals the close relationship between health, poverty, and educational achievements, and that all three could be simultaneously addressed effectively with a social initiative that is low cost, highly efficient, and remarkably efficacious. Progressa underscores the wisdom of former US Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders, “You can’t educate a child who is not healthy, and you can’t keep a child healthy who isn’t educated.”

Then there are the dilapidated conditions of rural schools; many lack power and potable water. If they have power then they could use computers and two-way videoconferencing so that one teacher centrally located could serve several classes from different schools. This is particularly useful for small schools as they can be combined online. Similarly, the shortage of teachers for specialized subjects like music could be overcome by sharing one teacher rotated among many schools in one district. Both strategies are effectively used in rural America.

As for vocational education, we cannot be an economic power unless we have well trained and skillful workforce for manufacturing as well as for the service sector. Specifically for Malays, the only way for signs like “Mahmud Motor Repairs” and “Halimah Hair Saloon” to appear on our main streets is to train these skillful workers. Again, we do not have to re-invent the wheel. Germany provides an excellent example of industry/school collaborative apprenticeship programs.

Then there are the religious schools. They share all the challenges of national schools, only worse. Physically, the standard of hygiene of their canteens is atrocious while their hostels are death traps, lacking basic safety features as sprinkler systems. They lack even mosquito nets.

Beyond the awful facilities, the religious stream faces an even far daunting challenge. Its educational philosophy, pedagogical approach, and learning psychology are archaic, misguided, and simply wrong. This is an affliction peculiar not only to Malaysia but also most Muslim countries, and from the highest institutions like Al Azhar to the lowest local Al Arqam preschool.

Abdullah Munshi best described the approach and philosophy of modern education: It treats the human mind as a knife to be sharpened. Current Islamic education on the other hand considers the human mind a dustbin to be filled with dogmas.

The possibilities with a sharp knife are limitless. In the hands of a surgeon it can cure cancer; a sculptor, an exquisite work of art. With a dustbin all you could get out of it is what you put in, nothing more. That assumes nothing gets stuck or crushed at the bottom. Yes, a sharp knife in the hands of a thug is a lethal killing weapon. This is where religious education comes in so that when we send our young abroad to study nuclear engineering they will come home to manufacture radio-pharmaceuticals to cure cancer, and not build nuclear weapons.

What goes on in those religious schools and universities is indoctrination masquerading as education. The emphasis is on mindless recitations and the quoting of earlier scholars and luminaries. The strength of your argument is not based on logic or data but the pedigree of your quoted authorities. Religious education as presently practiced entraps rather than liberates Muslim minds.

The irony is that modern education has all the hallmarks of early Muslim practices and philosophy, at least until the so-called “closure of the Gate of Ijtihad” in the 12th Century. Many would attribute the decline of the Muslim world since then to this “closure of ijtihad” and with it, the closing of the Muslim mind. Those longing for an Islamic Renaissance would do well to first critically examine current religious education.

The other irony is that only in America and Singapore, two secular countries with Muslim minorities, have Islamic schools been modernized. Blueprint 2013-2025 does not even address religious education in Malaysia.

Religion is now a major influence in national schools. That is one reason why non-Malays are abandoning the system. Removing religious studies from national schools, as some are advocating, is not the solution. Then we would be back to my childhood days, where I was put in the hands of the pondok ustads in afternoon schools. The only way I survived that intellectual dissonance was to strictly compartmentalize my mind between my morning secular school and afternoon religious one. Sooner or later I had to reconcile the obvious contradictions. We should never burden young minds with such heavy dilemmas; instead we should guide them in reconciling the two and thus benefiting from both.

We should teach our young early that there is no contradiction between secular and religious knowledge, and that the division between the two is false and artificial. Keeping religion in our national schools would best demonstrate that unity of knowledge. Metaphorically put, modern education sharpens the knife while religious education guides one to use it as a surgeon or sculptor would, to good purpose. I do not suspend my rational capacity on reading the Koran or listening to a sermon, and I do not shelve my religious convictions when I conduct scientific experiments or operate on my patients.

Before we could bring religious studies into national schools, the manner, objective and philosophy of teaching it would have to be revamped. It should be taught as an academic subject, not as theology.

After discussing these major deficiencies, it would seem petty if not anti-climactic to cite the Blueprint’s other omissions, which pale in comparison. However, I will include two more. Though seemingly minor, they reflect the panel’s lack of diligence and failure to critically analyze data.

The Blueprint quotes at length in the text and appendix both TIMSS and PISA. Malaysia paid considerable sums to participate in those studies. They are well designed and tested a broad spectrum of students so as to get as representative a sample as possible. However, its report presents only a composite of the nation as a whole.

As is obvious, there are vast differences between the students at Penang’s Chung Ling versus Kelantan’s Madrasah Al-Bakriyyah, between SMK Ulu Temiang versus SMJK (Tamil) Ulu Tiram. Those differences would be captured in the data of TIMSS and PISA but Malaysian scholars and policymakers have not analyzed them.

In America, Singapore, and elsewhere those statistics are pored over, with reams of papers published. Not so in Malaysia. That is all the more surprising as the data are in the public domain. Had that been done, the disparities within Malaysia would have been shocking. Perhaps that was why the panel contends itself only with the composite findings.

The one chapter missing from the Blueprint would be, “Lessons From The Past.” There is no attempt at critically looking at past reforms, their successes and especially the failures. If we do not examine them we are no likely to learn and thus likely to repeat the same mistakes. Then when the next Minister of Education arrives, he too would once again embark on another “bold, comprehensive, and transforming reform.”

If I were to be tasked with this awesome responsibility of reviewing our education system, I would approach it differently. And that will be the focus of my next and last part of this commentary.

Next: Part 5: Cannot Be Part of the Solution if You Are Part of the Problem

Dr Ahmad Azman Mohd Anuar
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Johor
Tel: +60136668334

Kalau anda Islam, pastikan calon2 MCA kalah di kerusi2 ini

Kalau anda Islam, pastikan calon2 MCA kalah di kerusi2 ini

Why listen to the Vice Chancellor?

Why listen to the Vice Chancellor?

Undilah - Afdlin Shauki feat. Namewee, Kuli & Pete Teo

Undilah [Versi Pakatan Rakyat]

PRU13-Undilah PAKATAN RAKYAT (ubah-malay version).mp4

Merdeka 55 tahun - Janji Dicapati

Selamat Aidilfitri...........to ponder...

“Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!”
-Kalidasa

Selamat Aidilfitri Maaf Zahir Batin.

Dr Ahmad Azman Mohd Anuar
+60136668334

Bila Mama Pakai Celana - Kugiran d'Tepi Pantai

to ponder upon.....

“The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naïve forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.”

Thomas Szasz: 

Dr Ahmad Azman Mohd Anuar
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Johor
Tel: +60136668334

to ponder upon.....

“Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame.”

-Laurence J. Peter

P.S. Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Dr Ahmad Azman Mohd Anuar
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Johor
Tel: +60136668334

to ponder upon.....

“Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.”

- Arnold Lobel

Dr Ahmad Azman Mohd Anuar
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Johor
Tel: +60136668334

to ponder upon.....

 “The opinion which other people have of you is their problem, not yours.”

- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross:

Dr Ahmad Azman Mohd Anuar
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Johor
Tel: +60136668334

MCA dicabar ulangi dakwaan di luar DUN

Harakahdaily,

04 Jul 2012

GEORGE TOWN: Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, Lim Guan Eng (gambar kanan) mencabar pemimpin MCA Melaka membuat dakwaan terhadap beliau di luar dewan untuk membolehkan tindakan mahkamah diambil.

Beliau juga mendesak agar Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak sendiri mengarahkan MCA untuk mengulangi fitnah palsu mereka di luar Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Melaka.

Ia berkaitan dengan dakwaan Adun MCA kononnya isteri beliau menyerang bekas kakitangan pejabatnya kerana didakwa mempunyai hubungan sulit dengan Setiausaha Agung DAP itu.

Dakwaan itu dibuat dalam sidang DUN Melaka baru-baru ini.

"Saya mengecam sekeras-kerasnya mengenai cubaan membunuh karektor  peribadi yang dilakukan bukan sahaja terhadap diri saya tetapi juga terhadap isteri dan anak-anak saya oleh BN dan MCA.

"Jelas BN mengamalkan politik kotor dengan cuba menjatuhkan pemimpin yang dipilih secara demokratik bahkan menyerang ahli-ahli keluarga yang tidak bersalah," kata Lim Guan Eng.

Sebelum ini anak beliau yang berumur 15 tahun, yang masih di bawah umur, dituduh melakukan pencabulan seksual terhadap rakan wanita sekelasnya oleh laman web UMNO, iaitu UMNO Online serta Ketua Pemuda UMNO, Khairy Jamaludin dan blog-blog pro-UMNO.

Gambar wanita yang kononnya menjadi mangsa anak beliau tersiar di internet.

Mangsa wanita yang dikatakan itu, kata Guan Eng, telah dikenal pasti sebagai Anya Corke, juara catur dari Hong Kong yang tidak pernah langsung bertemu beliau dan anaknya.

"Umno Online atau Khairy Jamaludin tidak pernah meminta maaf atas pembohongan mereka dan tidak ada apa-apa tindakan yang diambil oleh polis dan Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (SKMM) ke atas laporan polis yang difailkan oleh saya.

"Sebaliknya, tindakan segera diambil hanya apabila terdapat kempen yang memburuk-burukkan pemimpin BN," tempelak Guan Eng marah.

Setelah gagal untuk menghancurkan hidup anak beliau dan gagal untuk menjejaskannya, Guan Eng berkata, jentera media BN kini telah melaksanakan satu lagi kempen keji, kali ini melalui perbuatan memburukkan isteri beliau melalui MCA.

Pengerusi MCA Melaka, Datuk Gan Tian Loo (gambar atas kiri) telah menyalahgunakan keistimewaan dan jaminan perlindungan di dalam Dewan Undangan Negeri Melaka dengan membuat dakwaan palsu mengenai skandal moral terhadap Guan Eng dan isteri di dalam dewan tersebut.

"Saya mahu Gan untuk mengulangi tuduhan itu di luar supaya saya dan isteri boleh membuat saman fitnah kerana mengeluarkan kenyataan yang kurang ajar atau biadap itu," katanya.

Jika Gan tidak berani berbuat demikian, maka dia telah menunjukkan dirinya sebagai seorang yang pengecut dan tidak layak untuk menjadi seorang pemimpin, ahli EXCO dan wakil rakyat, tambah beliau.

Lebih teruk lagi, katanya, dia akan menunjukkan dirinya sebagai orang yang tidak layak untuk menjadi suami dan bapa kepada anak-anaknya kerana sanggup membuat tuduhan palsu terhadap orang lain untuk menghancurkan bukan sahaja karier politik tetapi juga kebahagiaan rumah tangga orang lain.

"Apakah jenis pemimpin seperti Gan ini apabila dia sanggup dipergunakan sebagai orang suruhan UMNO untuk bermain politik longkang itu?

"Ulangi kenyataan di luar supaya saya dan isteri boleh buktikan di mahkamah bahawa Lim Guan Eng bukanlah seperti Chua Soi Lek," desak Lim Guan Eng.

to ponder upon.....

“The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.”

-Frederick Douglass

Note: Are we honest, truthful and virtuous...???

Dr Ahmad Azman Mohd Anuar

Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Johor
Tel: +60136668334

Umno bukan lagi wakili orang Melayu

Umno bukan lagi wakili orang Melayu

Tak boleh mengundi, nombor IC 'dicuri'

Tak boleh mengundi, nombor IC 'dicuri'

Zunar Kartunis: KARTUN TERBARU / LATEST CARTOON

Zunar Kartunis: KARTUN TERBARU / LATEST CARTOON

Gambar Kemewahan Rumah Pemimpin PAS.. Umno Pun Kalah

Gambar Kemewahan Rumah Pemimpin PAS.. Umno Pun Kalah

Posted by Addin at 5/17/2012

Gambar kat atas nih ialah rumah Menteri Di JPM, Jamil Khir Baharom, punyalah besar rumah siap ada kubah dan ada rumah pengawal. Inilah menteri United Malays National Organisation (Umno).. baru jadi menteri beberapa penggal rumah bagai istana.

Manakala gambar kat bawah nih adalah rumah kediaman yang menjadi lambang kemewahan pimpinan PAS ketika menyandang jawatan Menteri Besar .

Tuan Guru Nik Aziz - Menteri Besar Kelantan, 1990 - Hingga Kini

Tuan Guru Haji Hadi Awang, Menteri Besar Terengganu 1999- 2004

Ust. Azizan Razak, Menteri Besar Kedah, 2008 - Hingga Kini.

Dikala pemimpin PAS sibuk membangunkan Ummah,pemimpin United Malays National Organisation (Umno) membangunkan Rumah.

Artikel nih di edit dari karmic

RAKYAT MARHAEN: BERSIH3.0: Surat daripada seorang guru kepada peng...

RAKYAT MARHAEN: BERSIH3.0: Surat daripada seorang guru kepada peng...: Tuan Pengetua, Mesyuarat tergempar dipanggil pada petang itu.  Maka terpaksalah saya memohon cuti daripada anda, kerana sememangnya saya...

to ponder upon........

The only thing we really have to fear is fearmongering itself.

- Maureen Dowd

Note:

And we always succumb to these fearmongering.......b'cos we fail to think!!!!

 

Dr Ahmad Azman Mohd Anuar
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Johor
Tel: +60136668334

Bagaimana ucapan pimpinan UMNO dipercayai jika umurnya pun dipertikai?-Merdeka Review

Bagaimana ucapan pimpinan UMNO dipercayai jika umurnya pun dipertikai?

Mujahid Yusof Rawa | May 07, 2012 03:51:58 pm

Sejarah

Bagi seorang aktivis politik, tarikh adalah penting untuk diingati kerana ia menandakan peristiwa-peristiwa yang membangkitkan jiwa para pejuangnya untuk terus kekal berjuang. Tarikh paling utama ialah penubuhannya kerana ia mengingatkan pewarisnya mengingati pahit maung yang dilalui oleh sesebuah perjuangan politik sepanjang keberadaannya. Bagi mereka yang mempelajari sejarah tanahair tahun 1946 adalah tarikh yang mereka perlu hafal kerana tarikh itu adalah tarikh penubuhan Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu atau ringkasnya PEKEMBAR.

4 April hingga 11 Mei 1946 adalah hari-hari yang telah membawa kepada lahirnya parti Melayu yang menggabungkan 41 Pertubuhan Melayu seluruh negara. Signifikan tarikh ini juga adalah kerana cetusan membantah Malayan Union tajaan British oleh orang Melayu apabila Malayan Union akan memberikan kuasa yang lebih besar kepada British dan Raja Melayu akan hilang kuasa politiknya. Orang Melayu bangkit dan penubuhan PEKEMBAR (UMNO, Bahasa Inggeris), mengiringi kebangkitan itu.

Kebangkitan lebih awal

UMNO menjadi alat orang-orang Melayu untuk menuntut kemerdekaan ketika itu di mana British telah kelihatan bersedia untuk membebaskan tanahair menurut Perjanjian Atlantik pada tahun 1941. Namun kita tidak boleh nafikan pada tahun 1945 satu lagi pertubuhan Melayu yang lebih awal menuntut kemerdekaan ialah dari Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya atau PKMM pimpinan Mohktarudin Laso, Pak Sako dan apabila Kesatuan Melayu Muda dipimpin oleh Dr.Burhanudin Al Helmi, beliau turut menjadi antara pemimpin kanan parti tersebut.

Lebih awal dari itu tahun 1938, Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM) di bawah Ibrahim Yaakob telahpun meniupkan semangat kemerdekaan dari penjajah British, bezanya ialah kemerdekaan yang dilaungkan ialah Melayu Raya yang mencangkupi kebebasan Indonesia. Sebahagian sejarah kebangkitan kemerdekaan yang lebih awal jarang sekali ditonjolkan kerana sebahagian besar dari tokoh dan pemukanya adalah "tidak mesra British" manakala sejarah UMNO memang dikenali sebagai lebih "mesra British"

UMNO terancam

Setelah meletakkan dirinya sebagai mewakili orang Melayu menuntut kemerdekaan dan diberi kepercayaan untuk memerintah kerajaan sejak PRU 1 pra Merdeka (1959), kini kedudukannya tidaklah berapa selesa. Hasil kebangkitan rakyat yang mahukan perubahan kepada sebuah kerajaan yang lebih Telus dan Adil serta Bertanggungjawab, UMNO kini terancam untuk mengekalkan rekod tanpa kalahnya dalam memerintah Kerajaan Persekutuan. Parti elit Melayu ini berhadapan dengan masalah yang dihadapi oleh semua parti politik yang terlalu lama memerintah iaitu mereka menjadi KORUP dengan berlalunya masa dan kuasa yang mereka miliki.

Vitamin Palsu
Kerana tidak ada pilihan untuk terus berkuasa, UMNO juga memperkakaskan semua alat kerajaan untuk memastikan kelangsungan kuasanya. SPR adalah perkakas terbaik untuk mereka terus berkuasa dalam konteks demokrasi berpilihanraya. PDRM diperalatkan melalui ugutan dan penggunaan kuasa yang melampau untuk menjaga "keselamatan" UMNO manakala MEDIA Perdana adalah "penyapu buruk" untuk membersihkan wajah UMNO yang hodoh dengan dengan skandal dan pertuduhan rasuah. Kehakiman pula "dijerut" dengan pendengaran selektif. Pendek kata tanpa semua perkakasan ini sudah lama UMNO ditolak rakyat, tapi mereka masih bertahan dengan "vitamin-vitamin" ini, walaupun ia vitamin palsu yang akan menjerat tuannya.

Peristiwa Hitam

UMNO ada episod hitamnya dan ia tidak pernah berlaku kepada parti lain khususnya pesaing utamanya Parti Islam Se Malaysia (PAS). Tahukah kita UMNO pernah diharamkan pada 4 Feb tahun 1988? Gara-gara perpecahan dalaman ahli UMNO sendiri telah membawa ke Mahkamah kes penipuan dalam Mesyuarat Agung UMNO sehingga UMNO dibubarkan dan dianggap sebagai pertubuhan haram. Hasilnya lahirlah UMNO Baru pada 13 Feb 1988 yang kalau dikira umurnya hari ini baru menjangkau 24 tahun berbanding dengan PEKEMBAR (UMNO) awal yang umurnya 66 tahun.

Sambutan 11 Mei

11 Mei akan menyaksikan satu perhimpunan raksasa mengingati ulangtahun UMNO ditubuhkan. Presidennya hari ini amat memerlukan satu kebangkitan UMNO yang berhadapan dengan kemarahan rakyat terhadap salahguna kuasa yang dipraktikkan. Isu Melayu akan senantiasa menjadi laungan keramat UMNO kerana ia ditubuhkan di atas hasrat perjuangan Ketuanan Melayu. Kita akan menjangkakan itulah sentimen yang akan dipakai dalam ucapan-ucapannya untuk memperingati pejuang-pejuang UMNO tentang perjalanan perjuangan UMNO.

Kita juga tidak boleh membayangkan betapa sukarnya Presidennya yang juga Perdana Menteri Malaysia mahu membangkitkan satu perjuangan yang sudah tidak relevan kepada rakya Malaysia? Ia bukan soal Melayu tetapi soal regim lama yang sudah korup menghitung hari untuk diundurkan. Ia juga bukan soal ketuanan Melayu, tetapi rasuah yang berleluasa dari parti Melayu yang tidak punya pendirian moral lagi untuk bertahan. Apakah ini ucapan terakhir kepada aktivis UMNO untuk mempertahankan satu perjuangan yang sudah tidak terpakai lagi di negara yang mahukan kerangka baru negara? Ataukah Najib mahu memperkenalkan sesuatu yang baru supaya partinya boleh kekal berkuasa? Ataukah ia isyarat kepada PRU begitu hampir?

Berapa umur UMNO?

Kita tidak akan melihat apa-apa yang baru, yang baru hanyalah rakyat akan terus ditipu dan dihidangkan dengan maklumat palsu bahawa negara ini semuanya ok dan UMNO akan terus mengungguli perjuangan rakyat. Bagaimana kita harus mempercayai ucapan pemimpin UMNO kalau umurnya pun menjadi pertikaian, samada 66 tahunkah dia atau 24 tahun? Apapun SELAMAT HARI JADI UMNO!

*Dr.Mujahid Yusof Rawa (gambar kiri) adalah ahli parlimen Parit Buntar, merangkap Pengerusi Perpaduan Nasional PAS.

KNOW and realize.....

We know corruption is illegal....

But...

Do we realize that RM250 million is our money???

Dr Ahmad Azman Mohd Anuar
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Johor
Tel: +60136668334

Majlis Fatwa: Jangan berjalan sebelah kaki, pincang atur langkah

07 Mei 2012

Saya membaca laporan akhbar tentang kenyataan yang dikeluarkan oleh Pengerusi Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan, Prof Tan Sri Dr Abdul Shukor Hussin tentang Muzakarah Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan yang memutuskan haram untuk umat Islam menyertai perhimpunan atau demonstrasi yang bertujuan tidak baik, melanggar undang-undang dan kekacauan di dalam negara. Menurut laporan akhbar, beliau menyatakan bahawa Islam membenarkan mencari keadilan tetapi melaui tindakan beradab.

Saya setuju bahawa perhimpunan yang bertujuan untuk mencetuskan huru hara dan merosakkan harta benda adalah haram. Bagaimanapun, apabila dikaitkan dengan himpunan BERSIH 3.0 yang dikatakan menimbulkan huru hara, saya berpandangan bahawa kenyataan tersebut dikeluarkan dengan hanya menggunakan sebelah mata. Mata yang digunakan pula adalah kabur dengan cermin mata yang telahpun rosak. Saya menghormati ahli-ahli Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan dengan setinggi-tinggi perhormatan namun dalam hal ini saya amat berbeza dengan pendirian yang dikemukakan oleh Pengerusi Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan ini.

Tidakkah disedari bahawa Himpunan Bersih 3.0 bukannya bertujuan untuk mencetuskan huru-hara? Himpunan ini menggariskan lapan tuntutan untuk membersihkan pilihanraya bukannya mencetuskan huru-hara jauh sekali untuk menjatuhkan kerajaan melalui jalan raya. Jika dikatakan menggunakan cara beradab dibenarkan, maka suka saya bertanya, apakah jalan beradab yang lebih aman melainkan pergi dan duduk? Pernahkah Majlis Fatwa memandang dan memahami di sebalik lapan tuntutan yang dikemukakan oleh BERSIH untuk mengatasi isu pengundi hantu dan penipuan di dalam pilihanraya yang implikasinya lebih besar kepada negara? Saya yakin bahawa fatwa ini hanya laporan akhbar pro kerajaan sahaja tanpa mendapat penjelasan dari penganjur BERSIH 3.0 sebelum membuat pertimbangan. Justeru, soalan saya ialah fatwa kah namanya sekiranya tanpa penjelasan dari kedua-dua belah pihak, terus sahaja dijatuhkan hukuman?

Huru-hara tercetus jika ia dihalang. Andaikan himpunan di Gua Musang dan RCT, Kota Bharu ketika kedatangan Perdana Menteri baru-baru ini ke Kelantan dihalang dan disembur dengan air, tidak mustahil ia turut menjadi huru-hara. Jika BERSIH berhimpun dianggap haram, apa pula hukum perhimpunan Presiden UMNO di Gua Musang dan RCT baru-baru ini yang tujuannya jelas mengajak rakyat menukar kerajaan Kelantan?

Justeru cukuplah saya mengatakan, jangan berjalan sebelah kaki, nanti pincang mengatur langkah. Salam hormat saya buat Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan.

Dengan hormat,
NIK ABDUL AZIZ BIN NIK MAT,
Al-Mursyidul Am,
Parti Islam Semalaysia (PAS).
Bertarikh : 15 Jamadil Akhir 1433H bersamaan 07 Mei 2012M

Tweet from @GreatestQuotes

 "Cleverness is not wisdom." - Euripides


Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

In defence of storming the barricades at Dataran

Abdar Rahman Koya,

30 April 2012

COMMENT It is sad that despite the success of the Bersih 3.0 rally, the government’s media have successfully managed to distract some of us from the larger issue which is the demand for electoral reforms. Many of Bersih’s own supporters, even those who took part in the rally of April 28, have been busy accusing fellow participants of breaking the law and indulging in violence.

Some commentators cite the storming of the barbed wire barricade at Dataran Merdeka as the reason why the police shifted their position from “token resistance” back to their old ways. Others were more crass, calling those who stormed the barricade as “hooligans” who took law into their own hands despite the court order banning the crowd being inside the square. These so-called law abiding citizens of course do not ask questions like “which law?” or “whose courts?”

Then there are of course others who treat the rally as simply a parade, and that being peaceful means abiding by even the unfair laws symbolized by the barbed wires. Some are clearly under the illusion that Bersih 3.0 was our answer to the Rio carnival. Their political loyalty is only laid bare upon reading their ‘eyewitness’ reports taking pains to point out that majority of rally goers were not opposition supporters. In their inability to overcome their inborn allergy of opposition parties such as PAS and PKR, they even make the claim that shouts of ‘reformasi’ were not entertained by the crowd.

The truth is that we all went there to break the law. A law devoid of fair play and justice, a law which is enforced to the detriment of ordinary citizens. The barricades blocking our march into Dataran Merdeka are the clearest and most tangible symbol of the government’s animosity to the ordinary public. It would be foolish to be there and not dismantle them...

One eyewitness, none other than the daughter of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, even points out that no political leader in the country could have mobilized something as big as Bersih. (Gentle reminder: 14 years ago, 100,000 people gathered at the same spot in support of a certain individual that her father despises).

The truth is that shouts of ‘reformasi’ and ‘Hancur Najib’ were reverberating in liberal doses on that day. Anyone who was there would tell you that slogans against Barisan Nasional had echoed with the same fury and spirited volume as the “non-partisan” shouts of “Bersih” or “Hidup Rakyat”, and spiraled later into the LRT coaches and nearby restaurants. Those who claim otherwise could be living in their smart sound-proofed walls of wishful thinking, selectively erasing out words they couldn’t stomach.



Barricade a symbol of arrogance

Whatever the instructions given by Bersih leaders, the fact is that the clamour for electoral reforms has taken a life of its own. It is therefore naïve to expect that the tens of thousands of people who went there should not storm the barricade, having been told to be as close as possible to Dataran Merdeka.

A video clip going around on the internet purportedly shows PKR chief Anwar Ibrahim giving the green light to his deputy president Azmin Ali to open the barricades blocking Dataran Merdeka. This clip is then used by some to condemn Anwar as the cause of the police brutality that followed.

I for one have never vehemently come to Anwar’s defence other than my profound sympathy for the vile allegations that he and family have been made to endure. But if Anwar had indeed called for the barricades to be torn down, I really don’t mind putting a photograph of him as my desktop wallpaper!

The truth is that we all went there to break the law. A law devoid of fair play and justice, a law which is enforced to the detriment of ordinary citizens. The barricades blocking our march into Dataran Merdeka are the clearest and most tangible symbol of the government’s animosity to the ordinary public. It would be foolish to be there and not dismantle them.

We did not go there to merely shout and punch the air. We probably did so last year, singing in rain at the gates of Stadium Merdeka. This time, it is serious business. There is no time to waste. We are talking about tens of thousands of dubious names in the electoral roll, new voters whose citizenship are suspicious, the continued Big Brother mentality of our tax-funded television channels, and many more.

Nothing wrong with breaking down barricades

The people of Egypt would not have celebrated the downfalls of their tyrants had they followed the law and stayed outside the perimeters of the heavily fortified Tahrir Square (left). History shows that for change to happen, removing police barricades is a norm, indeed the act has become a main ingredient of peaceful protests to claim back public places and venues denied to them. It does not justify any high handedness by the security forces.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders should not pay attention to the constant focus by the police and the UMNO media on the storming of the barricade, as if the act were a grave threat against public safety. This is no time to defend from accusations of violence and vandalism. People are angry, they want reforms.

History is replete with such examples. Change could not have happened if Iranians had obeyed the law against demonstrations during the Shah tyranny in 1979, or if the Berlin wall had not been vandalised in 1989, or if Gandhi had not picked up salt during his 240-mile Salt March in 1930, or if Rosa Parks had not stuck her butt in a bus seat in Alabama in 1955.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders should not pay attention to the constant focus by the police and the UMNO media on the storming of the barricade, as if the act were a grave threat against public safety. This is no time to defend from accusations of violence and vandalism. People are angry, they want reforms. More importantly, they want them now. There is no need to waste time claiming ‘agent provocateurs’ amongst the crowd.

I find nothing wrong in what some protesters did at Dataran, and simply accusing them of being ‘agent provocateurs’ is not only clichéd but also plays into the hands of propaganda. There is no use compiling evidences to back claims of police brutality. Now is not the time to seek apology for the treatment meted out on protesters, but an apology over the way institutions of democracy have been raped and systematically undermined. After all, it is why we braved the tear gas, defied police warnings, and by the same logic, stormed the barricades at Dataran Merdeka.

Not a tea party

The April 28 rally is not a tea party or simply a ‘walk’ as some who participated in it would like to think. Those who feel we should not have stormed the barricades at Dataran might as well stay home clicking at the ‘like’ button of anti-government Facebook pages, or disappear into some obscure stadium as suggested by the Kuala Lumpur mayor, in keeping with the stand that DAP leader Tunku Aziz has taken.

My only regret is that I was not part of the crowd who tore down the barricades. I was suffering from tear gas attack near Masjid Jamek, with the multiracial ‘hooligans’-cum-‘pharmacists’ coming to my help offering toothpaste, salt and water, before charging towards a police force that is armed to the teeth and trained to injure.

To those who fail to understand why we defied the law that day, I have this to say: “Kalau takut dengan risiko, jangan bicara soal perjuangan”. Pull aside, chew the gum of defeat and watch the show. That will be better than accusing those who risked personal safety to hammer in the urgency of reforms. To paraphrase a verse from the Qur’an, not equal are those who stay home and those who strive hard with their wealth and their lives.

The writer is editor at Islamic Book Trust, Petaling Jaya.

KANTOI: Lelaki ini kejap jadi peserta, kejap jadi polis

http://kafesantai.blogspot.com,

29 Apr 2012

Dicatat oleh Tuk Kiyai
Label: jenayah
Pautan pada catatan ini

Gambar atas kiri: Lelaki ini sedang menerajang motosikal polis

Gambar bawah: lelaki ini juga yang menangkap peserta BERSIH

Sedikit demi sedikit bukti penyamaran polis terdedah. Sesiapa yang mengenali polis ini, sila dedahkan namanya, akaun facebooknya (jika ada) dan berkhidmat di IPD mana.

Dan yang paling penting, bantuan diperlukan untuk mendedahkan gambar lelaki tidak siuman yang menaiki bumbung kereta polis dan menghentaknya. Jika Datuk Zaharin dari UMNO Bandar Tun Razak maklumkan hampir 2 ribu polis yang menyamar menjadi peserta Bersih untuk menimbulkan huru hara dan provokasi, maka tidak pelik kalau lelaki tidak siuman yang menaiki kereta polis dan menghentaknya juga seorang polis!

Sumber: BERSIH - Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih dan Adil

Read more: http://kafesantai.blogspot.com/2012/04/kantoi-lelaki-ini-kejap-jadi-peserta.html#ixzz1tRHNv3Bj