Golfers...when you swing..YOU MUST FOLLOW THROUGH!

It all starts from the ground up. The key is timing and club head speed. Excellent body posture is the key to a smooth stroke

Izzy

Izzy's mum: "I don't feel like cooking tonight."
 Dad Emmett: "Just put in a frozen pizza then."
Mum: "OK."
(half way through dinner ...)
Izzy: "Mummy! This pizza is super yummy! You're the best cook ever!!"
(I look at Emmett ... Emmett looks at me ....)
Me: "Thank you Izzy, I made it just for you."
Izzy: "Wow ... I'm so lucky!"

Lady: "What's your name?"

                                                     Izzy: "Isabel."

Lady: "Isabel what?"

Izzy: "Isabel sayang."

Here comes the Weekend...Gimme All Your Lovin' : Laura Cox

Laura Cox

Kong Xi! Kong Xi! Chinese New Year 2014, the Year of the Horse...

cakap cakap....Anwar Ibrahim...floging a dead horse? Maybe not!

If you read  Wong Chin Huat's   "To Putrajaya via Shah Alam – the maturing of Anwar Ibrahim" you may, like me, feel that this "Kajang Affair" would be one of those times when Anwar and his people has come up with a coherent strategy to move positively towards the 14th general election. With Kajang and Selangor Anwar will have a platform to perform as a CEO of Selangor - as its Menteri Besar! Fours years before the 14th GE is enough time to do this - and to do it well!

There is no doubt that Khalid Ibrahim as MB of Selangor has shown us all what an honest politician can do but honest politicians do not win election. The RM$2 billion reserves that Selangor now has can do nothing for Selangor or Selangorians sitting in the coffers of the state. That money must be utilized for the benefit of the people of Selangor in the lead up to the next general election. Now it seems, it will also be utilized to ensure that Pakatan Rakyat will have the best opportunity to fight UMNO on a level playing field. 

UMNO uses the Rakyat's money to fund its more than generous electioneering activities -estimated at around RM50 billion at the last 13th general election. Pakatan Rakayat will have to see what it can do with Selangor's meagre reserves of RM$2 billion!

The question that begs to be answered is "Will Anwar Ibrahim live up to our expectations if or should be become MB of Selangor....the Selangor Sultan be dammed!

In the past Anwar has put a spanner in the best laid plan - starting from the time he was on his way to become Prime Minister of Malaysia. The only person that stood in his way to him becoming PM when he was in UMNO was Anwar Ibrahim himself. He had the numbers, he had the financials and he already had the approval of Mahathir himself to become numero uno...all he had to do was wait. He could not wait and he did not wait....and from a Hero in UMNO he became a Zero! 

And now looms another battle - the 14th general election about four years away. And this is the thing with Anwar that I fear. He has already forgotten the promise he made to go away and teach should he loses the 13th general election. Now it is about the 14th general election and everything, for Anwar, is a new ball game. This is Anwar Ibrahim at this most creative - planning and strategizing for Pakatan Rakyat and PKR to win the 14th general election. So many possibilities, so many options - and best of all he has a clean slate to work with. 

He may have a clean slate but we have good memories of things pasts! 

For Anwar he is already past the Kajang by election and he is already MB of Selangor. Already his head is full of what he can do for Selangor, for the people of Selangor, for the Sultan of Selangor, for PKR, for his people in PKR, for Pakatan Rakyat....and of course for himself. 

And herein lies the danger of Anwar getting ahead of himself. Anwar getting carried away with the grandeur of being MB and head of PKR and Pakatan Rakyat....and soon, too soon he will stumble as he had stumble when he was DPM with UMNO. Stumble as he did when PKR had its party elections. Stumble as he does when he forgets the bigger picture of why he is MB of Selangor. Let me remind Anwar that we will accept that he can become MB of Selangor for the following reasons:

• To demonstrate his ability to manage Selangor as we aspire him to do
• To be above the fray of PKR politics and do what is best for PKR and Pakatan Rakyat  and not for his family, not for his cronies and certainly not for Azmin Ali.  
• To be a decent, responsible and honest leader deserving of being PM of Malaysia.         

Do anything else and he is dead meat.

Is Anwar capable of doing all this? The short answer is "NO". In the past he has shown that he does not have the ability to put the common good of the people who have elected him to office first. In the past he has failed to keep the loyalty of those who have sacrificed much for him and those who have joined PKR in good faith. Always without fail he has chosen to put his own personal interest before party and his political ambitions have triumphed above all else. And I fear that nothing has change and certainly I cannot hope that Kajang will be any different.

I hope I am wrong. I know that Anwar has a good heart and he is a decent man at heart. What he must now do is to tell himself that this next few years will test his resolve to remain good and decent. His personal life must be beyond reproach - even by the the running dogs employ by UMNO to seek out these personal failings that seems to dog Anwar for as long as we can remember. NO MONEY POLITICS, NO CRONYISM,NO NEPOTISM AND CERTAINLY NO SELFISH PERSONAL AGENDAS. Do your job as MB. If you build PKR and Pakatan Rakyat war chest do so by fair means and we will understand. And in everything that you do...HUMILITY! 

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

Saint Augustine.

           

Mahathir : Politics now is all about enriching self..cakap bukan serupa bikin ma!

81

‘Politics now is all about enriching self’

January 30, 2014

Meanwhile when asked about the culture of using the new media to criticise the government, Dr Mahathir said he had set up his own blog because he was ostracised.

KUALA LUMPUR: The current political scenario no longer focuses on the actual task of a politician but on the grabbing of wealth, says Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The former prime minister said that to be in a political party was not to enrich oneself but to shoulder the responsibility of developing the country.

steadyaku47 comment: See below! Posted November 2009....cakap bukan serupa bikin....

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Mahathir's Dodo Dynasty

With Thanks to Antares of Magick River

Mahathir's Dodo Dynasty

A friend forwarded me an email with a selection of photos taken at a recent gala housewarming party hosted by Mukhriz Mahathir. The images were from a local gossip blog and merely revealed without commentary the Gatsbyesque garishness and pompousness of Mukhriz Mahathir's lifestyle preferences...

I decided to turn these images into a blogpost and began editing the photos. When I was ready to upload I discovered my Streamyx connection down again (third time within two weeks!) - this time it was due to a dysfunctional phone line. That happened around 3:00PM Saturday. 

It's almost 2:00PM Monday as I type this and Telekom has been unable to get my line working. Each time this happens I think of Mahathir and his privatization program and vow to do everything within my power to prevent Mukhriz Mahathir from establishing a Mahathir dynasty.

We need another dynasty of arrogant mediocrity like we need a great big hole in our wallets!

This blogpost comes to you from the same cybercafe I had to use every day for 3 years, while waiting for Telekom to provide me a land line.

Back in 1975, when I was living at 7 Pesiaran Ampang Hilir, I applied for a phone and was made to wait nearly 3 years. Telekom's monumental lack of enthusiasm over the notion of progress is perhaps a quaint and wonderful cultural trait - but I don't think it does a telco's public image any good.

Looking at the new mansion that Mukhriz Mahathir built, one can't help but speculate about how much it might have cost...

A wild guess might put the overall cost between RM15-20 million.

Apart from shooting his mouth off at every opportunity and coming across as an overconfident moron (the worst type of moron, if you ask me), what DOES Mukhriz Mahathir actually do? Does he have any marketable skills or special talents?

Is he a financial whizkid, for instance? I doubt it. Mutual friends assure me that Mukhriz Mahathir can be quite a charming and affable fellow. Maybe so, but does being "charming and affable" mean you can afford to live in a multi-million ringgit mansion?

I know his elder brother Mirzan is ranked among the richest men in Asia (read somewhere he was worth USD8.5 billion a couple of years ago)... I guess when your daddy is Mahathir or Suharto it's impossible to fail in business, no matter how hard you try.

So how do you suppose Mukhriz amassed his fortune? Surely not on his cabinet minister's salary? Does he have a couple of hit albums on the charts?

I don't have a problem with people who strike it rich by fortuitously stumbling on a cave filled with pirate treasure... or who inherited a fortune from their tycoon fathers... or who invented something the world finds useful - like the personal computer or iPhone or Google...

But Mukhriz Mahathir's dad is a politician. To be precise, he was prime minister for 22 years. He has publicly lashed out against corruption and Umno-style money politics (while privately stashing his store of nuts away in offshore hiding places, no doubt). So did daddy give Mukhriz this mansion as a birthday present, for boldly speaking out against Abdullah Badawi's lameness and making snide remarks about the seriousness of Anwar's sodomy accusations? 

Guess we'll never know... unless Marina spills the beans!

To Putrajaya via Shah Alam – the maturing of Anwar Ibrahim by Wong Chin Huat

• Lee Myung-Bak was mayor of Seoul (2002-2006) before becoming President of South Korea (2008-2013).
• Mahmood Ahmadinejad was mayor of Tehran (2003-2005) before becoming President of Iran (2005-2013).
• George Bush Jr was governor of Texas (1995-2000) before becoming President of US (2001-2009).
• Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas (1983-1992, 1993-2001) before becoming President of US (1993-2001).
• Mah Ying-Jeou was mayor of Taipei (1998-2006) before becoming President of Taiwan (2008- ) 
• Chen Shui Bian was mayor of Taipei (1994-1998) before becoming President of Taiwan (2000-2008).
• Jacques Chirac was mayor of Paris (1977-1995) before becoming President of France (1995-2007).
• Joko Widodo, the currrent Governor of Jakarta (2012-) and the former Mayor of Surakarta (2005-2012) is now a popular hopeful for President of Indonesia in the 2014 election. 

 

 

THESE are not coincidences. In presidential system, chief executives of subnational government command more resources and opportunities to showcase their ability to govern than senior national lawmakers. 

 

The logic is the same for Malaysia, even though we are a nominally a parliamentary system. Given our dysfunctional Parliament, the Parliamentary Opposition Leader carries less weight than perhaps a powerful BN backbencher in the eyes of the Speaker and Ministers. As a matter of fact, the much desired two-party system cannot possibly happen if there is no healthy room for the opposition to perform. Had the Pakatan Rakyat won a landslide in 2013, the Barisan Nasional or any new opposition parties would not be able to compete competently even if they want to. To begin with, the Parliament meets so shortly that a Parliamentarian had only 2 hours 32 minutes on average to speak and be heard in 2012.

 

Given the concentration of power in not just the executive, but in the Prime Minister's hand, the two-party system can only happen when different parties capture different tiers of government. Despite our centralised federalism, state governments still have considerable power and resources to compete with the federal ruling coalition. 

 

Through policy and institutional reforms, from longer maternal leave, water subsidy, releasing lands to the needy, no-plastic bag policy, smoke-free policy, SELCAT and other legislative committees, freedom of information enactments, to baby steps in reviving local elections, opposition state governments in Kelantan, Selangor, Penang and Perak have shown Malaysians how governance can be different. As a matter of fact, the most important change of the 2008 Political Tsunami was not the denial of the BN's two-thirds majority, but the opposition running an unprecedented five states.

 

If Anwar wishes to return the wind to the sails of Pakatan Rakyat since a disappointing nine months since GE13, Selangor is a good point to restart the coalition's vision. The opposition is in dire need of showing more wonders as the electorate are not satisfied with just a continuity of what they had since 2008. They want more and better. Anwar is therefore being realistic by putting himself in Shah Alam before eying Putrajaya.

 

Many people - including pundits - will think that it is a climb down for Anwar to be Menteri Besar. This is only because few UMNO leaders have risen from the ranks of state leaders to become national leaders after PM Abdul Razak. The post of Menteri Besar or Chief Minister is often seen as the peak of a B-League UMNO leader's career, as if the Prime Minister must come from the rank of federal ministers. But amongst early UMNO leaders, Onn Jaafar was Johor's MB (1947-1950) and Abdul Razak was Pahang's MB (February-June 1955). Even Najib spent four years as Pahang's MB (1982-1986) before going to the federal level. However, after Razak, Muhyiddin Yassin is so far the only former MB/CM who did not have a gigantic father and yet made it to the top.

 

This perception that Federal Ministers are A-League and MBs/CMs are B-League was arguably spread to the opposition in 1990. Tengku Razaleigh's S46 made a deal with PAS to concede to the latter the MB posts in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis should the Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah (APU) take these states. Tengku Razaliegh positioned himself as the Prime Minister to be with no spare position in the event of a near-miss. He languished in the political wilderness when S46 lost every seat west of the Titiwangsa Range and S46 was marginalised by PAS in his home state where the pact won by a landslide. The demise of S46 can be arguably attributed to the lack of a power base in a winner-takes-all political system.

 

When Anwar built the opposition pact in 2008 – which became Pakatan Rakyat within three weeks after GE12 – like Ku Li, he did not plan to be a state chief in the event of a federal upset. The same happened in 2013. This is starkly different from DAP and PAS top guns who contested both federal and state seats to prepare for all possibilities. The difference of a more realistic attitude is huge. Benefiting from astute and popular chiefministership, PAS kept Kelantan under Tok Guru Nik Aziz and DAP has made Penang its impenetrable fort under Lim Guan Eng. The two states instead provide a base of gravity for the rest of the party. 

 

It should be noted that the idea of Anwar leading Selangor was actually raised by Liew Chin Tong in 2005 when the opposition was still recovering from the near wipeout in 2004 – surviving in only 10% of federal constituencies. It would have given a boost to the opposition and a two-step strategy to power would also appeal to more skeptical voters.  Now DAP's top strategist but then a nobody, Liew's idea was not taken seriously by anybody in the party. Having interviewed Tengku Razaleigh then for my PhD thesis, I was illuminated by Liew's insight to see clearer the winner-takes-all nature of our political system and its implications.  

 

It's great that Anwar has finally learned to be realistic. The resignation-by-election route – used by PKR in Permatang Pauh in 2008 and Penanti in 2009 – would probably irk many voters who see arrogance in PKR as it seemingly takes voters' support for granted. They should perhaps not miss a greater benefit from the democratic stand point – by having the Pakatan Rakyat supremo to head Selangor, Anwar will have to bear full responsibility for the successes and failures in the governance of Selangor. Unlike in the case of Khalid, no one can pull Anwar's legs in the name of party leadership. If Anwar fails to take Selangor better than Khalid does, he should really just retire. If he does better than Khalid, we know regime change in Putrajaya would truly mean a better tomorrow.

 

 

Attached to Penang Institute, Wong Chin Huat is a political scientist by training and a political activist by choice. He believes that like it or not, we are witnesses to history. We can choose to shape it or be shaped by it.

Schumacher being woken up: reports

Yahoo!7 and APJanuary 30, 2014, 8:45 am

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Things have taken a turn for the better for former Formula One champion Michael Schumacher, with reports from France suggesting he is being woken from his coma by doctors.

Schumacher had been in a coma since his ski accident on the slopes of Meribel in the French Alps last month.

Doctors had planned to slowly bring Schumacher back to consciousness in the first signs of recovery from the accident, sports daily L'Equipe reported.

This contradicted earlier reports that the race driver could be in a vegetative state for a long time.

Spokeswoman Sabine Kehm did not confirm or deny the report from L'Equipe.

"I am stressing again any statement regarding Michael's health is not coming from the doctors treating him, or from his management, must be considered as speculation," she said.

"I repeat, we will not comment on any speculation."

She also said that Schumacher's condition was "stable", the same report that was given 11 days ago - the last time an update had been given on his health.

"I also repeat that Michael's family is very happy and confident with the work of the team of doctors treating Michael, and they trust them completely," she said.

F1 world sends messages of support

Both Schumacher's former team Mercedes and the current Formula One world champion have sent messages of support to the German great as he continues in coma a month after a skiing accident.

Mercedes included a message for Schumacher on the side of its new Formula One car, while four-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel said he was praying for his friend and countryman.

Drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg unveiled Mercedes' silver-and-turquoise W05 before the first session of the pre-season began at the Jerez track.

The upper part of its chassis just behind the driver's seat carries the Twitter hashtag (hash)KeepFightingMichael.

Rosberg was Schumacher's teammate for three seasons before the seven-time world champion retired from F1 for a second time at the end of 2012.

Vettel, who drives for rival Red Bull, says that he "was as shocked as anyone else in the paddock".

"I have known him for a long time and have been looking up to him all my life," said Vettel.

"I got to know him obviously when he did his comeback a little bit more and became his friend.

"It's horrible, especially for his family and close friends not knowing what's going to happen.

"I pray and hope a miracle will happen and he will come back and be the person he has always been before."

Schumacher suffered severe head injuries while skiing in the French Alps on December 29 and has been in an induced coma since. He remains in a stable condition.

Pre-season testing continues in southern Spain until Friday.

The next tests will be held in Bahrain on February 19-22 and February 27-March 2.

The season opens with the Australian Grand Prix on March 16.