Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy, the man embroiled in the Port Klang Free Zone fiasco, has gone on two weeks medical leave.
His press secretary said the condition requires Chan to receive treatment overseas.
The weight of a RM4.6 billion controversy and the loss of lives of innocent citizens riding on an express bus can indeed cause a terrible terrible migraine, to say the very least.
Read this.
"To say that theSun newspaper is a champion of Bangsa Malaysia shows that Dr Lim Keng Yaik sympathises with the newspaper which has all this while fought more for (the DAP's) 'Malaysian Malaysia'."
- Zainuddin Maidin, reported by The Sun; Aug 28, 2007
I have at the rear screen of my car a newly-minted Malaysia Today sticker. After reading this latest post by the Man, i'm doubly proud to have it there.
I know it is frustrating when the government cannot touch me. Well, I am prepared to make your job easier for you, Muhammad son of Muhammad. I am going to allow you to organise another gathering at the PWTC like you did last Saturday. I am prepared to step onto the stage and face your 2,500 Umno members in a gathering organised by Umno and repeat all my allegations live, on Malaysian soil, in the Umno headquarters. I will remove the protection that I now have and throw myself to the mercy of the government to do what it wants to me.
- Raja Petra Kamarudin
So here's what AAB said at the closing of the Langkawi International Dialogue (LID) 2007:
As we are well aware, actions speak louder than words.
So, as we leave this beautiful island of Langkawi, let us resolve, each of us, to do our bit and play our part to give practical meaning and ensure the implementation of the plan of action that we have just adopted here.
As they say in popular jargon, let us walk the talk.
What's worse than stupid?
In three letters - ZAM.
You cannot have a discussion with such creatures. They holler and make declarations which remind you of fascist regimes.
Pressed for time but i just have to say this. Go Jeff Ooi!
It is NOT a loss for blogosphere, despite the number of naysayers. If anything, it may well spur a March of Rights into the halls of Parliament. My only wish is to see more such people of calibre step up and purge the rubbish that is the AAB govt.
Wanna, Nades? You'd make Azalina's day.
Remember this:
"We are doing this as part of Visit Malaysia Year," she decreed and challenged this writer to stand for elections if I didn't agree with her - before the microphone was ceremoniously taken away from me.
- Citizen Nades
The Sun, May 25
You sense the raging breath. Raja Petra Kamarudin will not go down quietly. Correction - he will not go down, period.
And the clowns in Umno better watch out. The Anak Raja Bugis spills the beans on Umno's info chief Muhamad (x2) Taib, the man who made a police report on Malaysia Today, and marinates the serving with bile only hell hath the stomach for. Thank God, the ex-Selangor MB can suddenly choose to not fathom English again, else he'd be pissing in his pants.
i started off reading Malaysia Today as a huge sceptic. The exposes seem way reckless and unfounded; more like a National Enquirer on Malaysian politics. Statements were made without much proof and overall it sure seemed like RPK was headed for lots of legal trouble. i'd imagine he would have been sued down to his last follicle. i didn't wish to see it, but i was sure the day would come when the gaffe politicians in this country, the Joharis, Musas, KJs, why even the Najibs and AABs would drag the man to court.
Widespread lies have to be dealt with sternly if the fine reputation of these 'leaders' are to be maintained. Otherwise, their work will be hampered. These personalities are the country's stewards. i would even say it is then their responsibility to take legal action in order that the rakyat's trust remain unshaken.
But it hasn't happened.
Despite the seemingly outrageous slander on many of these prominent leaders including the Prime Minister and DPM, nothing has happened. It would've been an easy target. Raja Petra writes lucidly unlike those political commentaries in the mainstream media. No read-between-the-lines stuff. Just bang-bang and bang. If he had crossed the line, it would have been an open and shut case in court. Clearcut.
Yet nothing. Even yesterday morning's police report made by Muhamad (x2) was over the alleged denigration of Islam and the Agung in Malaysia Today. C'mon now, RPK's given bolo-punches at the fella in the Prime Minister's seat on so many occasions, yet they choose to report on a grey-area item instead. If anything, that's the picture of a very desperate Umno.
Overall non-action, elegant silence, whatever - and specifically this episode - only reinforces the opinion i have about Raja Petra Kamarudin after the earlier months of sceptism. Over time and by the inductive process, i have actually come to believe the gist of what this man writes.
Unless of course Muhamad (x2) Taib chooses to challenge via the courts the latest flurry hurled his way. Otherwise, Mr ex-MB, it's you on the bus on a non-stop trip to hell. Raja Petra's hell.
Just as Nathaniel Tan is beginning to catch his breath, the fight to close the minds of the Malaysian people has shifted gears. A police report has been filed by Umno's Information chief Muhammad Muhammad Taib on the "sensitive" writings of uber-Malaysian blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin.
The report cites that Raja Petra has been writing stuff which insults Islam and the Agung. Reports Malaysiakini:Taib told reporters later that the report was regarding remarks published on the website on July 11 and several other articles.
i am puzzled and amazed.
He claimed that the postings and articles were disrespectful to the King and Islam. According to him, they had the potential to create unrest in the country and strike fear in the people.
“The reports contain criminal elements which could incite anyone and cause fear. Maybe these people (bloggers) had forgotten that Malaysia is a country with many sensitivities,” he said.
i follow Malaysia Today closely; been reading their stuff for the past two years now. Raja Petra writes exclusively in English (although he also features guest columnists and articles in Bahasa Malaysia). Although it hasn't been established, there's a high chance the articles in question are in English.
Now, in 1998, this Muhammad Muhammad Taib fella told a Brisbane court that he doesn't understand English and on those grounds, he was acquitted on charges of false declaration.
What can i say? All hail Muhammad Muhammad Taib's English tuition teacher! All hail the ex-Selangor MB who can now not only understand English, but fully empathize with the written content. Next, he'll be crittin' Shakespeare.
Nathaniel Tan, social activist and blogger, was detained Friday by a hide-and-seek Malaysian police. The following day, he was secretively hauled to the Magistrate Court and is now serving a four-day remand to "assist" police investigations on internet-related affairs. The Official Secrets Act has been bandied about.
This entire episode smacks of deceit, discrimination and despotism.
We are governed by fools. The price is proving costly.
If the measure of any entity is about where it stands compared to its perceived potential, then i'll say this: The Abdullah Ahmad Badawi government is a dismal failure.
We could be world-beaters; we have geographical advantage (look at the map and understand how strategically-placed we are in nature's scheme of land and seas). We have minerals and ancient forests of untapped treasures, we have sunshine and rain, we have salt, fruit and rice. We speak the languages of four-fifths of the world's population. We were tutored in a system of governance and logistics, and inherited a formidable education system. In other words, we had software. One of the best in Asia.
Even today we have DNA - brilliant minds, nimble bodies, stout will. Mongrel breed. Cross-pollinated. We have ready builders. Bridge builders.
Yet despite all this, we are stunted as a nation. Far short of potential. We're a molehill trying to pass off as Olympus through propaganda pipes. And this is the ultimate failure of government, nothing else. We may be Malaysia, but we are atomic, not a compound. Not even an alloy. Not near forged steel. And they like it that way. Shred the fabric, strike fear, protect the hood. Divide.
Nathanial Tan decided to stand against such shit. He wants to build bridges. In his mind's eye, he sees a Malaysia fair and true; as fair and true to their dictionary meanings, and as fair and true to the understanding of those with virtue. Unlike many who slither and slide in government, you know he has a calcium-rich upright spine. For some twisted reason, this is not a desirable trait.
Of the millions of lines written, and comments left behind by readers in hundreds of local blogs which are more scandalous and cause for serious concern, they picked on Nat.
They hauled his mortal bones and ran off. You may say that for quite a few hours he was technically kidnapped; friends, family and feisty gf were given the fright of their lives by the elusive cops that Friday evening. His whereabouts were not divulged by the authorities. There remains a grave air of uncertainty about his immediate fate because of the continuing cruel and unnecessary reticence on the part of the supposed vanguards of peace and order. Whatever happened to basic rights?
But you can't put a good man and his fraternity down. Not till hell freezes over.
i do not know if we've hit the bottom. All i know is we shall continue to stand for principles. Because it is principles which will stand; eons after the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi government has crumbled and recorded as the period when true bridges were forcedly left unbuilt and Malaysia was an archipelago of divided islands in the fearsome Osa-Isa sea.
graphics: courtesy Mob's Crib
“I see (Samy) in the form of Lord Krishna. You (Samy Vellu) know what the people need. You know what the people want.”
- MG Pandithan, president of the Indian Progressive Front (IPF), at the party's congress today. It is reported that Pandithan is sick. With such quotes, I do not for a moment doubt that.
"Say sorry."
"Uh-uh, no way."
"Say sorry, dammit."
"Uh-uh, no way. I stated facts. Want to debate over it? Live?"
******* (Answer pending) ********
Flashback:
DAP's Tony Pua writes a commentary about the just-announced civil service pay increase. He is all for it. He does note however that the civil service is bloated after recent massive employment drives.
In 2006, there were 1.1 million civil servants. The nation's total labour force that same year was 10.7 million. In other words, 1 out of every 10 employed persons in the country works in the government. Such a statistic is out of whack with the Mahathir administration's philosophy to reduce the economic burden on the government via privatisation. They were aiming for a 500,000 civil service workforce then; we are currently 120% off-target!
Tony points that this scenario exists because the civil service has been turned into a 'reservoir' to absorb "unemployed Malay graduates". Najib himself made that call last year, although he didn't use the word Malay.
Umno's Khairy Jamaluddin is pissed with that remark. How dare Tony insult the civil servants, who had to go through stringent entry tests, and who had faithfully served the country for years. He wants Tony and the DAP to apologise.
Tony ain't budging. Instead, Screenshots' JeffOoi informs that DAP has booked a hall to host a debate on this issue, and perhaps more.
*********
Ahhh, who needs the Man U show?
Say yes, KJ. Say you'll be there.
And tell Zam to bring along his TV, radio and newspaper crew. Tell him to beam it live. Allow the nation's bloggers and amateur video enthusiasts to record the event too. Let the international press know about it. It'll be for the nation's good; one sure sign that your Papa-in-law is moving towards a more open government.
More importantly, discourse such as this will disprove dongengs, myths and wild accusations which hamper the progress of this fine nation, even threatening to frazzle the nerves of fragile and sensitive citizens. And if in the end, with fact and with rationality, it is proven that Tony has to apologise, then let's together make him do it.
But before that.... Say yes, KJ.
The mainstream media has carried the official version of the Parliament House leaks. But like the whole episode itself, it is a porous story with large gaping holes.
Somebody's lying big-time.
Scrutinize the picture below. It is the Malaysian Parliament House. You can view it here. (Click the 'Reference' tab.)
The picture was downloaded from Polygum's website, a premier product of Belgian waterproofing company, Atab. Among it's many references around the world, it lists Malaysia's Parliament House as one of its completed projects covering a total of 2,000 sq m. That's about 20,000 sf or the area of four football fields. That plausibly equates to the entire flat roof area of the Parliament House.
But, as with the other projects on the list, no indication of the year is given.
Hence the logical question: When was this waterproofing exercise conducted? Was it 44 years ago when Parliament House was constructed? Could it be that this international brand is so wanting of business, it has to reach deep into its archives and pull a four decade-old project as reference?
I think not.
Scrutinize the picture again; see that aircon compressor unit ill-placed behind one of those sun-shading devices? That's newer technology around these parts. Right up to the 90s, air-conditioners in sweltering Malaysia were of the hole-in-wall types or window units. You can still see them in many buildings although the split-unit systems are the norm these days. Clearly, this picture is not from the 60s but much more recent. Assuming this picture was taken by the manufacturer upon completion of the job, what does that tell you about the period of the project?
Another fact: the Polygum waterproofing system was only launched in 1978, according to the manufacturer. It has since been upgraded with better materials. So again no way the Parliament House used a Polygum waterproofing system in its original inception in 1962.
I have written to Atab seeking clarification on this project. I imagine they will reply within a short period. They have to - it's their reputation on the line.
But for now let's turn our attention to the government and its conduct over this episode, specifically Samy Vellu. Samy says "the waterproofing material used when the building was constructed had worn off after 44 years, resulting in water seeping through the roof.
The Works Minister attributed a JKR (KL) report saying, among other reasons:
Waterproofing on the roof was not working and had been used beyond its lifespan;
Waterproofing was installed on the concrete surface without any protective layer;
(text verbatim from The Star)
Assuming though, that the gist of Polygum's claims is true - that it did conduct a waterproofing exercise on Parliament House - what the hell then are Samy and the JKR talking about?
And let's speculate a little given the morsels of info garnered from MSM's tape-recorder journalists. Polygum as a membrane-type waterproofing product is a packaged system. Any licenced applicator has to follow a series of procedures and specifications before the product is deemed functional and eligible for its 10-year insurance-backed guarantee. Polygum stakes its reputation on that.
But as with all waterproofing systems, there is limit to its scope - it doesn't cover the functioning of gutters and their accompanying downspouts. That is under the purview of building maintenance. Flat roofs are notorious for faulty or choked roof domes (rainwater outlets). A stray plastic bag, ciggie butts, debris and weeds can easily lodge the openings. Any number of malfunctioning roof domes will result in a flat roof simulating a swimming pool during a heavy downpour.
And that's trouble. The tao of water is about flow. It doesn't judge, and obeys two masters - gravity and capillary. When water collects into a sizeable pool, any alternative opening becomes a leak. It pours rather than ooze or bleed. That seems to be the case with Parliament House.
Not having had the benefit to walk on the Parliament House roof myself nor peek into the ceiling cavity, I can only deduce this: The heavy rainwater leaks into the interiors indicate that it is less of a roof waterproofing issue than gaping holes that have emerged due to negligence at the interface of various equipment and the roof. It may be broken mechanical pipes or large cracks close to the roof plane.
I suspect it is due to poor coordination work between the mechanical equipment (exhaust fans, central air-conditioning systems, water supply lines, sprinkler lines) where they penetrate the roof. These oftentimes happen when maintenance or repair is done without enough care hence compromising the waterproofing system in place. But I'm only speculating.
In short, the full true story hasn't been told.
Without proof, I do suspect waterproofing was redone, perhaps back in 2005 when Parliament first sprung a massive leak. The extent is why, possibly 2,000 sq m.
In April 25, 2005, Malaysiakini reported:
"It was 3.30pm. Parliament was in session and a legislator was speaking. There was heavy rain and thunderstorm outside. Suddenly, water started pouring into the chamber from a badly leaked roof, messing up the seats of several deputy ministers.
"Parliament workers frantically brought in buckets to collect the water. The microphone suddenly went dead. Then it was pitch black. Deputies in the House panicked and ran out. The meeting was adjourned indefinitely."
Some among us, tak mudah lupa. The penultimate line in the article then: Ramli said the parliamentary administrative department will conduct a thorough probe into the matter.
DAP's Lim Kit Siang then went on a subsequent rampage, unleashing a series of media statements in the month of May 2005. You can check the archives here and here. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's response then: "If there is a leak, it must be repaired."
Despite Samy's current claims to the contrary, I think it was. And I think repairs ran into the millions and worked just fine until recently. I think the building maintenance successfully defaulted on the 10-year warranty because some act was conducted quite recently by unqualified parties which ruined the waterproofing layer and subsequently voided the policy. Maybe they upgraded the aircon ducts, poked new pipes here and there, who knows. No one's clarifying, neither were reporters asking.
Also ask yourself this - why would Samy state such: "We not only have to waterproof the roof but also create a heat-proof layer on top of it. It is quite a big job." For crying out loud, what is a heat proof layer, dude? And why the need for it when waterproofing systems work just fine in the searing Arizona sun?
This architect ( he is on RIBA's chartered list, you know) needs some Continuing Education courses.
A lot of flak is being directed towards the waterproofing system to explain away the Parliament House leaks.
Old, worn-out system that hasn't been replaced since 1962? Or a false claim by a waterproofing company of a job it never did?
Somebody's lying.
Credit - Mid-post picture: New Straits Times
In Zam's world, big news happen to be events of little significance except to angkat and ampu a cabinet comrade. Self-conjured feel good factor.
See here for earth-shattering account.
So, Sports Minister Azalina flies over to the Everest base camp in a Russian helicopter, sticks around for 15 minutes and flags off a Malaysian contingent set to climb the tall peak. Then she and her 10-member delegation flies off, perhaps to some shopping haven closer to sea level. All in a very constructive day's work.
Among her coterie is the Sports Ministry's Deputy Director-General Madrib Ibrahim. He also acts as the chief sycophant since it is not polite for the minister herself to boast about her 'achievement'.
"We hope to put her name in the Malaysian Book of Records as the first minister and the first female minister of Malaysia to set foot at the base camp," Bernama quotes the stooge.
And this, friends, is news.
Bear in mind she didn't climb to get there! Nevermind that you and I probably paid for this important trip. Heavens, it's become even more daring than those "lawatan sambil belajar" excursions. This 15-minute let's-suck-in-the-view trip for 10 freeloaders itself might be a Malaysian record on public spending.
Yeah, Zam news - essential tongkat ali for the masyarakat. And the nation shall be fortified, bursting with pride.
The results have been announced. Behold, a two hundred increase in majority votes. The Barisan cheers have erupted. Moist Lips and Sleepy Hollow and Dark-to-Light are busy congratulating each other and thereafter patting their own backs, as strange a behaviour as it may be.
Half-the-Value has shown he's worth twice the price. That Car Thing will say he burned rubber at Batang Berjuntai. A merry Son-in-Law can now dismount from the uncomfortable kapcai. The photoshoot's done. A job well done.
And the carnival shall leave Ijok. And all shall be quiet at the Markas and the Bilik Geraks.
We have here a gentleman winner in Parthiban. A good guy, say many Ijokians. A wonderful smile that makes many a mother wish her daughter would snag. A legendary son who provided for his siblings, and educated himself via the Malaysian dream.
But wet blankets such as me have never been happy with fairytale endings per se. Happily ever after? Really, for that we have to turn to the yet-to-be-inked storyboard.
Of how a good man becomes a puppet - a morbid Pinnochio in reverse. As the strings are tied, one thread at a time, from favours owed leading to tonight's victory, of beholdenship and masters and servants.
Yea, the story will unfold in quiet Ijok away from the pesky eyes of unemployed women or bloggers. A string for Moist Lips, another for Sleepy Hollow, two for Half-the-Value, another two for Dark-to-Light... and on and on the parts of the body of this scholar gentleman shall be divided among his power investors. And the strings shall tug and slack in a strange Ramayana, and his legs will kick, and his head nod, and there'll be loud choruses along with "three bags full". And he will be rewarded, why even loved.
But the heart remembers. It will remember of a cloudy evening, April 28, before the announcement and the euphoria, when he was a truly good man with a brilliant smile. And most of all, it will definitely remember this: free will.
All the best, Parthiban. Sincerely. I pray it's just the sour grapes oozing from my pores.
While the physical boundary of Ijok (N11) is amply defined and understood, the moral boundary of the existing ruling party is another story. For three by-elections now, BN has rapidly revealed new territories south of Moral.
Much has been documented by independent observers but the full terrain has not been charted; all we know is there's a string of caverns - running from Batu Talam through Machap and Ijok - covered in slime. By the time we understand its features, we'd have seen the true face of Ugly.
Expedition KeADILan dropped anchor for two weeks over at Ijok and through its lens we record the caves are deeper, the smell fouler. And bats. Thousands of 'em. Whirling, screeching, and flinging water bottles. But there's a culture to all this, a primordial technology called 3G - greed, gangs and gempur.
And then there's the fourth. You see, a revised national almanac lists today as being All Souls Day in Ijok; at the polling stations, the fourth G is believed to emerge - ghosts, with an X factor.
This much I have surmised. The south of Moral is an ecosystem of reptilian values.
I've seen enough money pumped into this quiet charming town to make Dubai envious, heard a moist-lipped DPM tell lies, read of a self-appointed World Information Minister zamming BBC for biased reporting. I've seen high-ranking police officers shamelessly shutting down Opposition ceramahs, seen low-ranking Umno hooligans shamelessly decked in Zakaria shades.
I have not seen grace.
The good ship KeADILan has to be commended for helping to reveal the deeper nature of the coalition that has ruled us for 50 years; the BN party which could have chosen to go the loftier north, chose instead the bowel route.
No matter how Ijok's story ends later today, by my reckoning the Opposition has already won big-time. Winning Ijok will only be a bonus to the eventual BN thrashing that is to come in urban districts at the General Elections.
It's confirmed - Politics and power make you stupid. Najib, Deputy Prime Minister, is proving that he is a bit thick up there for assuming that the people can't see through snake-talk and hogwash.
Today's headline in The Star:
DPM: Fighting corruption a national mission
KUALA LUMPUR: Fighting corruption remains a national mission and the Government is all out to eradicate graft.
“Some people might be quick to say that the Government is not serious in fighting corruption or that the Prime Minister is the only person speaking on this subject,” said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
“But let me remind everyone that this is not just the agenda of the Prime Minister. The Cabinet is firmly behind him on this,” Najib said in his keynote address at the third anniversary of the National Integrity Plan (NIP) and Integrity Institute of Malaysia.
And yet a day earlier, in TheSun:
Najib announces RM3.5m for mosques, suraus, schools in Kg Jaya Setia
BATANG BERJUNTAI (April 23, 2007): The Barisan National (BN) is leaving nothing to chance in Kampung Jaya Setia within the Ijok constituency.
Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced a special RM3.5 million allocation from the Prime Minister's Department for seven mosques, 16 suraus and six schools for the constituency.
"Although there has not been any request for these but we feel that we need to do this as a sign of the BN's commitment," he said during a ceramah in Kampung Jaya Setia.
**Duhh. This guy's a sad case. One of a pack of them up there in Bluffsville, Putrajaya.
Ain't the first. Won't be the last. It's become so commonplace nowadays, these two-faced declarations, the only way to shut them up is to kick them out. With nice steel-toed construction boots. Simple as that.
It'll do the system a whole lot of good if the Elections Commission was given a solid kick in its butt to do its job.
The body today stands as a shameless shell, fit only to conduct the barest logistics of running an election. The more important role - as guardian of the principles of the democratic process - it turns its back. It has forsaken its Constitutional role. There is enough evidence in the three by-elections - Batu Talam, Machap and now, Ijok - to show yet again that the EC is nothing but a carapace to propagate the misdeeds of the ruling BN party; it is a token billboard to declare that there is such a thing as fair elections on this land. We may suffer from the Mudah Lupa Syndrome, but three abusive jolts in a row? This we must never forget nor let go.
Bribes are bribes, no matter how you approach it. Just because it's a by-election and a hundred streetlamps emerge in a couple of days when none was erected in the decades prior - that's a bribe. When RM36 million worth of development suddenly gets poured into a constituency because there's a by-election - that's a bribe. When you get RM200 on the very morning of the by-election, that's a frigging bribe.
Any Commission proudly fulfilling its duty would have put a stop to this nonsense. But pride, here in sycophantsville Malaysia?
Forget about the rants in the warongs and coffeeshops, forget about the rants in cyberspace. It doesn't give a hoot about what you think. It only listens and acts according to who's up there, never down. Which is a bad, bad mistake in the longer term. We've reached the apex of the longer term; it is now.
I believe a crippling protest is what's needed to shove these idiots to kingdom come. Reform has to happen institution by institution and the EC is ripe for a solid structural makeover given the topicality and relevance to our everyday lives. 100,00 strong, why 200,000 strong, assembling peacably and without arms at its den in Putrajaya.
Peacably and without arms but with a clear message - have balls; you're serving the People, not be a stooge.
This picture in The Star on Wednesday speaks volumes. Minister in the PM's Dept Nazri Aziz and Minister of Works Samy Vellu in front of a passive Chief Justice - that's Law and Order for you.
It was the handing over of the new KL courts over at Jalan Duta. While it may seem innocuous, this protocol shot captures the scary scenario clouding our land.... the Executive runs just about everything in this country. Everybody else, even if you represent the third equal arm of government, are expected to only stand and watch.
BN won handsomely at Machap. It was a 4,000+ majority, in results very similar to 2004, the Year of the Promise. Can you handle it?
Plainly speaking, the Opposition was whupped good despite their coordinated venture. Despite employing new technologies (they have a blog), cranking out a full-on series of ceramahs by Opposition heavyweights, and house-to-house canvassing. It didn't matter that case after case of govt abuse was voiced by the opposition; didn't mater if MIC thugs pounded on a couple of DAP folks. Didn't matter that the charismatic Anwar pitched in his support to huge ovations the night before.
What matters: Hakka karaoke, free food, badminton stars being forced to do exhibition games, fresh tarred roads, a new park, millions of ringgit of projects (more promises) and the trusted Payung coming to town on voting day allegedly handing out cash. As a recipient told a DAP crew (as reported by Malaysiakini) upon emerging from the Payung's ad hoc disbursement outpost: "...Biasalah."
At the end of the day, with a shedding of 481 votes compared to GE2004, it wasn't even a dent on BN's performance. It meant that for the people of Machap, the Promise is getting along just fine. Like the nine-day fiesta of songs, gifts and a twirly Payung spinning out red and teal-coloured ringgit.
Me, i'm disappointed. Downtrodden. And i'm not even active in politics.
See, despite what the pundits say, Machap may be rural but it isn't exactly backwater rural or inbreeding country. It's less than half an hour from Melaka city; close enough to the Kelang Valley. They have cars and bikes, handphones and Astro. Many of Machap's sons and daughters have basic if not tertiary education, and ought to be able to carry a proper dialogue. In other words, Machap is just about your typical west coast constituency from Pontian to Kepala Batas with a mix of villages capped with a small town.
And so, as a wonderful test case, the opposition channeled its firepower over nine days in an express education on the misdeeds of the ruling party. It seemed the mood was bouyant. Perhaps the message was getting through.
Machap Demokrasi! And at the end of the day, DAP's Liou polled 1,542 votes. That's about a fifth of total votes. That's status quo.
And that's what scares the woolies out of me. The results clearly show there's a whole big, fat population out there who are willing to go with the status quo.
And here we are battling for the return of local council elections, for safer neighborhoods, for stern action against cronyism. We lash out against corruption and toll hikes, and idiot ministers who want to carve their dominance into our space and lives. We ask for justice served, and integrity restored. And we think we make progress.
But we look up... and all we see is the steep, craggy incline of Mount Status Quo. *Gulp*
Good Luck, Opposition. Even as the sun rises this morning, your dew of persistence shall remain. Will the Xs be inked on the Rocket's box this Machap day? That's quite out of your hands now, we know. Seems like nobody's giving you much of a chance.
But take heart. You fought the good fight, fought as warriors. Fought even as the BN mudslide of bribes - fresh paved roads, free land, free food, new park, badminton treat - predictably came rumbling to sweep you away. But you held firm. And you made them quake.
Thank you for reinforcing certain perspectives. For proving yet again that the Elections Commission is a piece of shit which failed in its fundamental role as guardian of fair elections. That it went to sleep while pathetic vote-buying ran rampant under its nose.
Thank you for pounding the noses of those arrogant, patronising nation-breakers; for calling them on their clear misdeeds; for giving them a hard time.
But most of all, thank you for being. Here, there and everywhere.
