By election due to scandalous issues---coincident or planned?

Elizabeth Wong has finally decided to quit, paving the way for the third by election within such a short period of time. The death of Bukit Gantang former member of parliament was god calling, but the resignation of Bukit Selambau and now Elizabeth Wong's case are certainly too scandalous.

The undercurrent after the March 2008 General Election has finally been surfacing. For too long, the politic in this country was predominated by a single party, or should I say, an UMNO dominated Barisan Nasional. Some of the mainstream politicians coming from the ruling coalition for such a long time in Malaysia were rejected by the people during the 2008 General Election. But do they realise why are they being rejected? Possibly not. So some losers resort to dirty tactics to discredit or blackmail the winners to create chaotic conditions so that these suckers can take every opportunity to turn around.

All this while our country is blessed with abundance of peace and harmony, while we are seeking a change in the political landscape for a better tomorrow, are we not risking our stability with the constant politicking like this?

Soap Opera Politicking

It is truly disgusting. The way of politicking in this country is becoming more and more soup opera-type. The murder of a Mongolian lady, betrayal, back-stabbing, resignation due to extra-marital affairs and the latest episode, nude pictures of a woman member of parliament. Oh, before i forget, there was a sex video scandal involving a MCA leader sometime back.

Or shall we say that politicians nowadays are so crazy about power and thus, they will use any dirty tactics to frame their opponents so as to bring them down. Sex video, nude pictures and what's coming up next is anybody guess.

If our lawmakers are always thinking about dirty tactics to out do their political opponents, we can be rest assured that our future is rotting by days.

Buckle up please......

After having my hair cut yesterday evening, while I was walking towards my car, I saw a man opened up his car boot to take out a gas cylinder presumably to replace with a new one from a sundry shop nearby. As he was doing that, I saw inside his Daihatsu Charade, there were two kids, one boy and one girl, were squatting inside the rear part of the small car, and I said squatting simply because there were no more seats at the back. The back seats were all removed so that the car could accommodate more stuff such as cooking utensils, a big tent and a lot more other stuff. The man was probably a hawker, rushing to open up his stall in a nearby pasar malam.

It is certainly dangerous to let the kids sitting alongside all those pasar malam stuff without buckling up. I guess the parents were also realised how dangerous it was, but alas, that was what it is, they probably couldn't afford a bigger van or were not feeling safe to let the kids staying alone in the house without the care of adults.

I remember my former boss would never allow his kids to ride on a motorcycle as he thought that it was too dangerous. But in the kampung, you probably could see a lot more very young kids riding on motorcycles without helmets, and more certainly without a license. Sometime worse still, you can see four or five kids riding on a bike to go to school. I think those kids coming from poorer families would probably growing up faster as the parents are simply too busy to earn a living let alone enough time to pamper their children.

Ban Karpal fron entering Perak?

I respect Karpal Singh for speaking his mind when he said that he would take legal action against Perak Sultan and the new menteri besar if they proceed with the swearing in of the new MB and his exco line-up. Karpal also openly criticised Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng for their wishy washy stance on party-hopping and hudud laws issues.

Karpal instantly becomes an enemy of state due to his intended lawsuit on the Sultan of Perak. You can see UMNO youth were too quick to put up a demonstration in front of his office and the Kedah Royal Household Association (PKDK) is proposing to the Sultan of Perak to ban Karpal from entering the state.

But are these people really care about the feeling of the majority people in Perak where the government elected by them were called to resign due to party-hopping of 3 elected representatives? At least Karpal has the gut to speak his mind when come to sensitive issues such as the special rights of the ruler, unlike some other who only know to say ampun tuanku, but contribute nothing to the people at large.

Recession-Proof Profession?

I always thought that politician is a recession-proof profession. Otherwise we would not see so many people trying to climb up the power corridor to become ministers or state exco. Despite the suffering of the common people due to escalating unemployment and difficulty in doing business as a result of economic downturn, hardly we heard that politicians were affected by economic downturn. However, with the collapse of PR-led Perak state government recently, the exco members were instantly retrenched. That certainly was not voluntary separation scheme as the PR exco members still insist their legitimacy. What happened in Perak was never seen before in the history of Malaysia, two menteri besar with their own exco members, what a disaster?

The new menteri besar on the other hand finds it rather tough to name his exco members. Out of 28 state elected representatives, 27 are from UMNO and 1 from MCA. How to form a balance state exco representing a multi races composition of the state? He then appointed 3 advisers, one each from UMNO, MIC and Gerakan, which carry exco status adding to the earlier appointed 6 exco to form a rather weird line-up. But these advisers are not elected by the people during the March 2008 general election. In other words, they are not representative of the people. Can this line-up be accepted by Perakian?

I was wrong to say that politician is a recession-proof profession. Some how the Perak episode shows us that even the politicians are not spare from the threat of unemployment even they have won their elections. Betrayal from their counterparts may cause them to lose jobs. But like any other people who were retrenched or terminated during economic downturn, they just have to pull up their socks and try their luck 4 years later, prolonged tension between political parties and their supporters would not do any good to the country. After dust settles down, the priority of the government, be it state or federal government, is to lessen the adverse impacts of the economic downturn on the people. Otherwise, 4 years later, there could be even more drastic political turbulence awaiting us.

Perak Infernal Affairs (霹雳无间道)

Remember Infernal Affairs (无间道)? A popular Hong Kong crime thriller film about the story of a police officer who infiltrates the crime gang, and a police mole secretly working for the same gang? Two PKR state assemblymen charged with corruption, one BN trojan horse and one DAP marginalised state assemblywoman recently played up the Infernal Affairs viz Perak version, leading to the collapse of short-lived PR state government.

I thought democracy has come to live after 3-08. Obviously I was dead wrong. After the historical victory of opposition alliance since March 2008 general election, which resulted in BN lost 4 more states to Pakatan Rakyat, people at large were happy with positive changes in the political landscape in our country. But the politicians become agitated, nervous, over-ambitious as they are beginning to play up their respective political games. PR were planning to pinch MPs from BN in order to topple federal government. BN, on the other hand, couldn't sit still. For centuries, their political supremacy was challenged, they certainly can't live with that. Hence, as the people of Malaysia were hoping for a better tomorrow, they could sense an undercurrent of political hostility.

People like Najib, Azalina, Hisammudin and other BN leaders were saying that democracy had come to live when they had successfully convinced the Sultan of Perak to force Nizar and his exco to resign. That was absolutely bullshit. Democracy is a form of government in which power is held by the people under a free electoral system. I therefore say democracy is dead when the government elected by the people was brought down by political frogs who betrayed their supporters and back-stabbed their parties for what so ever reasons.