Sabah, Fuel, Scholarships – Headless chickens battle it out as the crumbling BN coop burns?
I feel like I’m harping too much on this matter almost, but it seems that almost every day, there is news indicating more troubling disunity within the current government.
Today’s Malaysiakini spread includes Federal vs. Sabah squabbling over illegal immigrants, PM vs. his ministers confused over dates of fuel prices hikes, and Umno vs MCA on government scholarships.
Why the government absolutely refuses to do anything real about what is perceived perhaps as the core political problem troubling Sabahans today baffles me, unless they are indeed complicit in a scam designed to forever illegally dominate Sabah politics in the most dastardly manner imaginable.
I can’t possibly imagine either, how the Prime Minister and some of his ministerial chief lieutenants are spouting different nonsense about the date of fuel hikes. Think about the terrifying degree of internal disunity that must exist when different factions within the government appear to be making premature announcements – possibly in an attempt to undercut the position of opposing factions. Exactly the type of politics that can ruin a country.
As for scholarships, once again we see the sandiwara of pro-Melayu vs. pro-Cina, while ever failing to be pro-Malaysian. Racists continue to fight over how the pie is divided, while no one thinks enough about how to enlarge the pie, and keep thieves from stealing larger and larger bits of it. We can’t be surprised however, because as we all know, racial division is inviolably inherent to the BN structure.
So not only is our chicken headless, we have multiple chickens, all without heads, some without wings or feet, battling each other as the chicken coop burns amidst them.
I’m ok with some internal political conflict. It’s not exactly ‘politics’ without such conflict; but I have to admit that I find the degree to which this is happening right now a little scary.
People may find it hard to believe, but I really don’t have any major problems with waiting until the next general elections before Pakatan takes power (young mah :) . That said, it should be noted that we are hedging this wait against the possibility of the government and BN falling to pieces all around us, in a manner which paves the way for all sorts of deep mischief to be done in the name of protecting stability.
ps- help me test a hypothesis; i’ve really no idea, but there seems to be an iota of feeling that most of the ethical objections regarding crossovers seem to come from the english educated middle class? have you observed any patterns in different socioeconomic circles with regards to attitudes towards government by crossover?
Hmm! BN is at a cross road and you are right they are headless chicken running this country. They are spineless too almost scared to make a stand and deal with the sabah illegal immigrant. Oh! I know, it must be that everyone is guilty for all what is wrong in Sabah.
Who knows setting up RCI might get down to the bottom of their lies and hipocracy? After all, we all know they did it to offset the voting groups in Sabah. Infact, Anwar knows about this too and believe me he was one of the culprit along with current BN.
One by one the wrong doings of the ruling elite is coming back to haunt them. There’s more to come and we know each and everyone will be paid for by the people as the headless chickens come home to roost.
Ezam, where are you now? Bodowi has revolved as per your perception. Go and get all the cupboards cleaned-up on all corruption money, if you are what you claimed you want to be or……???
I’m english educated middle class. I think crossovers are ethically wrong. However I fully support any crossover to enable PR to form the new government. Why? Cos BN is just crap. Between unethical crossovers and corrupt BN, give me the former anytime.
Bondoun,
Yes, Anwar was but not anymore. Can’t you guys give him a break? Would you rather have the current BN’s gobloks running the country then DSAI? You can complain and complain but you were the ones who put BN as our Master by refuse to have faith in others. People makes mistake, who doesn’t? You?
Spot on again Nat.
Little knowledge is a dangerous thing – which unfortunately is common regardless of class orientation. My guess is that the those with full bellies and ample free time are the more vocal ones as the rest have to press on with trying to make ends meet.
My take is that ethics is a luxury in times of chaos. Should we sit on high horses and go tsk tsk while the country is being sacked and looted?
Let’s focus on the task and objective first. If frog power is indeed needed, so be it. I do not want to wait till the next election and keep on talking about “what if “. Isn’t it obvious enough that we are now heading for the rocks and some drastic action is needed to steer the ship around?
At times, ethical or moral considerations have to be put aside for the greater good of all. If a dilemma occurs and hard decisions need to be made, I will be more comfortable with a leader who will act decisively for the greater good even if his act is construed as ethically wrong. Just so the act is transparent and explained clearly so we can learn from it. And try to understand why it had to be done.
“My guess is that the those with full bellies and ample free time are the more vocal ones as the rest have to press on with trying to make ends meet.”
hahaha! full belly? guilty as charged, in fact it’s too full I need to start jogging regularly again. As for ample free time… anyone who accuses me of that to my face is going to get a swift knee to the groin. Seriously. Heheh :P
Let me start off by saying that for me, this isn’t mainly about ethics and morality. It’s about practicality… whether we can actually make this happen. I will put aside issues of setting bad precedents for now.
It has been suggested that those opposed to party-hopping are shaken by the very prospect of a new government. Speaking just for myself… that’s not it at all. I welcome a new government. Heck, my party (DAP) even has a national budget proposal for 2008, so we’re all set to rock-and-roll! But the simple fact is this… if a PR government arises from katakification, it will be mired in severe questions of legitimacy from day 1. This puts PR in a position of severe weakness. It will be a constant fire fight. And jelas.info will be telling us every day for years “don’t worry guys, be patient, we will sort things out”, just as it did right after the previous election. But two differences: 1) the stakes – and the risk – would be so much higher, 2) whatever is said and done… legitimacy would be almost impossible to establish and UMNO could realistically maintain enough pressure to cause severe harm to the country.
Aggravating the situation is that PR is not, presently, ready for power. It simply is not. That’s why DAP Secretary General is so reluctant to even acknowledge it’s very existence! He says publicly that PR is “not yet formalized!” AND HE IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! How can the PR be formalized when on an issue as important as oil subsidies, DAP’s position is so different from the position of PKR/PAS? This is a major issue that effects the daily lives of all Malaysians. So, all of you who say you are ready for PR to take over right now… what are you saying on the issue of oil policies? Continue or discard? If you say “continue” then you are saying you want PKR/PAS in power. If you say “discard” you are saying you want DAP in power. There is no PR policy. So far, there is no middle ground.
But that’s the beauty of the present situation. We have time to FIND THE MIDDLE GROUND. And in the next general election, we can TAKE OVER LEGITIMATELY… and actually start taking actions from day 1, instead of kowtowing constantly to those who would feel like they were robbed of power undemocratically (And you know what? History would probably show that they were…)
We should take this time to formulate policies… identify talent within our ranks… everyone is quick to point out that Anwar will be the PM. Fine. What about the rest of the cabinet? Why not form a shadow cabinet first, and let it run for a couple of years? There is ample goodwill within the Pakatan today, and we can leverage that to forge a more permanent alliance. Or, as LGE might say, “formalise”.
The trouble is, political power is an effective solvent of goodwill. So, right now we need to spend all that goodwill preparing a strong coalition with a clear platform, and one that we can implement straightaway if we can take over Putrajaya in the next election. And from what I’ve been seeing… that’s exactly what’s happening today!
Which is why I am puzzled by the tone some of you are taking. Why is is that, while we are all trying to foster better relationships and ties and accentuate our common ground, some of you are starting to accentuate our differences along lines of educational background and social class???
Exhibit A: “but there seems to be an iota of feeling that most of the ethical objections regarding crossovers seem to come from the english educated middle class?”
Why raise something like that? What does that have to do with this issue? Why can’t we just argue things based on the facts and merits? Anyway I’m not sure what you mean by “English-educated”, I went through the public schooling system and then UK system in Malaysia (then dropped out, transfer credits) and then Aus system in Malaysia (twinning) and then Aus system in Aus (transfer). There. Full educational history. lol
And anyway, FWIW, Nik Aziz was originally against party-hopping, but has now changed his tune. But I’m not sure where he was educated. And I’m not sure where Zaid Ibrahim and Karpal Singh were educated.
Btw, not to be mean spirited about this…. but PKR people… are you sure even your own house is in order? You might want to have a chat with Sg Siput and Kota Damansara. Some decidedly anti-PR things were said at PSM’s recently concluded congress (note that all PSM’s reps wear PKR colors). And what about all your other reps? Most of them are first-timers. They can’t be having a walk-in-the-park… this wakil rakyat gig is not that easy.
You are all supposed to be “Yang Berkhidmat” right? Not “Yang Berangan-angan-nak-jadi-menteri”.
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