A gathering of the National Organisation of Uncouth Morons

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by David Martin

December 02, 2011

DEC 2 — With the 13th General Elections a day closer with each sunrise, Malaysians are served with a nauseating fare of daily news by major electronic and print media agencies.

It seems that these days, Malaysian lives revolve around that annual gathering of rabid humans in Putra World Trade Centre whose antics would put even simians to shame.

It’s a place where foul language is cheered upon. A place where religious bashing is commonplace. A place where pots and kettles gather to call others black.

It’s a place where one race reigns supreme, not unlike Hitler’s mantra. A place where seeds of hatred are sown, nurtured and watered. A place that reeks of corruption and hypocrisy.

A place where a backdoor minister is angry over dubious goings-on at her hubby’s business venture. A place where warlords of all sorts and sizes gather hoping to find perhaps a scrap in the form of electoral candidacy or senatorships or even cow-rearing projects! Talk about milking moo-lah till the cows come home ...

It’s a place where the gathered are led by a deputy prime minister who is a Malaysian last. A place where a deputy minister accuses a political party of being agents of Christianisation.

A place where the president-cum-PM is a two-faced chameleon in human guise. A PM who espouses a global movement of moderates yet remains silent in suppressing rabid extremism amongst his party comrades.

It is also a place where the average Malaysian see the normally loud, obnoxious, opiniated leaders of the minor parties in the coalition sitting impassively, almost disinterested at the charged up proceedings.

It’s interesting to note the “Mr Nice Guy” and “Mr Cheated on My Wife and Got Caught With Pants Off” presidents of two components parties keeping their zip (not pants) shut despite the obvious racial and religious bigotry on show. If they should ever contemplate an alternative career, I’m sure co-authoring “An Idiot’s Guide to Being A Yes Man” would set them up for life.

Umno is not at a political crossroads. It’s facing execution and with it annihilation in the next GE. What the leaders are trying to do lately is akin to trying to gain a last-second reprieve from the powers-to-be for them to live, to fight another day.

I happened to catch the animated movie “A Bug’s Life” recently. For the uninitiated, it revolves around an ant named Flik who tries hard to fight off a bunch of grasshoppers.

Now these grasshoppers, they’re bullies. They take what they want from the ants without regard, not unlike a government that steals from its people to line its own pocket.

Now, as with most movies, it had a happy ending. Flik makes the colony realise that despite their smaller size, they have the numbers. Needless to say, the grasshoppers get their comeuppance with their leader getting a good blast up the backside.

The people, citizens of Malaysia, must realise that the power is in their hands. You and me, we decide who leads the country and in which direction it is to be led towards.

The time for reckoning is close at hand. The time has come for Malaysians to say enough is enough. It is time to show them political simians that we are the arbiters of our nation’s destiny.

Until then, I’m just going to ignore the gathering of the deluded cult comforted in the knowledge that the end is near.

Taken with a liberal dose of cynicism, it does make for a good laugh or two on a rainy, gloomy day, the antics of these idiots ...

* David Martin read The Malaysian Insider.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

Najib : A Magnificent Failure! But A Failure nevertheless!

How many of us would be able to walk past a rambutan tree that had low hanging branches overburden with ripe rambutans without reaching out for one ripe, juicy and succulent rambutan?

How many of you have lined up for the Bubur Lambuk at the Masjib Jamek in Kampong Baru to take some for yourself not because you could not afford to buy anything else but because you wanted to have that bubur together with that sumptuous banquet that your wife had already prepared for buka puasa at home? Did it not occur to you that there are many more deserving individuals for whom that bubur lombak would have been more needed?

How many of you have been pulled up for minor traffic infringements and “selesai” the matter with the mata mata there and then rather then having to front up in court to pay the RM$300 fine? How many of you have been able to keep to the speed limits while traveling North, South, East or West on the highway?

Not many I would guess. But that is the nature of the beast in us. We know it is wrong to do these things but we continue to do so because that little voice within us tells us it is okay to do so just as long as you don’t get caught!

  

Our politicians are human too and they too go through the same choices and the same temptations. Members of Parliament are given allocations to spend on their constituents and how they spend these “allocations” is for them to decide. They are given money to spend on elections and if they were to spend that money on their family, girlfriend or mistresses …who is to know but themselves? Ministers are continually expose to situations where their decisions will decide the outcome of money making opportunities for their cronies, friends or whomsoever they choose. And the Prime Minister has it in his power to make people, companies and cronies very rich - if he so wishes it.

If the world was an ideal place then these decisions should be made with the greater interest of the country and its people in mind. Essential infrastructure projects will be awarded to companies that will successfully undertake these projects and finish them within budget and on time. The government will ensure that the supply of water, electricity, petrol, health care, transportation, public safety and other essential services, foodstuff and commodities are in the hands of responsible providers who will make available these services and commodities for the people at a fair price and in the most efficient manner.

Unfortunately we do not live in an ideal world. The people need to be policed and laws and regulations must be put in place to make us all do the right things. There are speed limits to be observed. You cannot harm another human being without being punished for it. You cannot harm your wife and children without being punish for it. And so all around us there are these written and unwritten commandments that guides us through life and differentiate us from animals so that we can call ourselves civilized. Over time the Rakyat have been able to live within these written and unwritten commandments. There would be general consensus that by and large Malaysia is a country that is peaceful, harmonious and law abiding – as near as one can get to having a Shangri-La in a world full of conflicts and disquiet.   

But who oversees all this? Who ensures that the balance in our life is kept within acceptable parameters? In different parts of the world they are called by different names.  President, King, Dictators …….. Here in Malaysia we call him the Prime Minister. He heads the government that is task with doing the right and responsible thing for our people and our country. For now that Prime Minister is Najib Razak and he heads the Barisan Nasional government that now govern Malaysia.

This Prime Minister must have integrity. He must be someone we trust, someone we look up to and someone that will put our interest before his own. And most important of all, because we the people are not really that good at looking after ourselves, this Prime Minister must take care of us and not abuse the trust we place in him to do just that. 

And this is where Najib has failed.

Najib has failed magnificently! He has failed in his duty to our country and to us and to Barisan Nasional. And he has done so knowingly because he chooses to put his own and Barisan Nasional interests over ours.

Today we have a Prime Minister who does seem to understand that we no longer trust him to do the right thing for us. And it is a fact that UMNO,MCA, MIC and all those within Barisan Nasional are together colluding for power and profit at the expense of the people and of our country!

It would seems that this Barisan Nasional government is unable to understand even the simple things that we the people have been against for so many years.

It has taken them 50 over years to finally understand that the people of this country are against the ISA.   

It has needed many Malaysians to put their bodies on the line to be whacked and pummeled and many bones to be broken for this BN government to even begin to understand that we want freedom of expressions, civil liberties, clean and fair elections and an immediate stop to rampant corruption and abuse of executive powers by those tasked with the responsibility of governing them: And this same people now demands that the BN government listens and hear what it is the people are saying.

There has been too many deaths of our people while in PDRM and MACC custody and we the people will not endure any more of these deaths….not even one more!

And it has taken all this and many more “incidents” to happen for the people to now tell our political leaders that they must get their act together and do the right thing.

Najib will be the first Prime Minister to be told this at the poll…it has to be at the poll because despite all our protestations since he took office as Prime Minister, Najib is unable to understand his and Barsian Nasional’s predicament. We no longer want them to govern us!

Mahathir and Pak Lah knew their time was over and  resigned before they were voted out by their party rather then by the people. In fact until recently UMNO has been able to cleanse itself by making its leaders understand when it is time to go and the cull have gone on without bloodshed and rancor.

But Najib is a man without substance either as a leader or as an individual. Najib is all glitz and glamour without an underlying veneer of respectability or gumption that you would need to have once the glitz and glamour is stripped away. Angelina Jolene, with or without make up still looks amazing. Najib without his job as Prime Minister is zilch, zero, naught! Yes he is a well-read man and able to sense what the people want from him. He says the right things and he thinks that saying the right thing without doing is enough to placate the people of this country. Stripped of all his public relations exercise and measured against what he promised and what he actually delivered Najib is shown up to be the person he really is – all talk and no substance.       

So what do we do with a Prime Minister that no longer has our trust to govern us?

If UMNO does not remove him then we will. I will certainly not be a party to deceiving the Malaysian people as we moved towards the 13^th general election. I hope that our people will not be fooled by Najib’s expensive attempt to reinvent himself into any semblance of being a “people” Prime Minister, a Prime Minister for “change” or even a Prime Minister that will “transform” our country into a “high income” economy simply by announcing that he intends to do these things. And I hope that the young will see through his superficial attempts to win their approval by being “Mr Cool”.

We are now beyond superficiality. We have entered into the realms of racial and religious conflicts. We now have an economy that requires responsible and knowledgeable management to hopefully become viable and vibrant again. We have rampant corruption by the very people who are tasked with stopping it. Everything points to a need for change.

Change from the clutches of a Barsian Nasional government that understands nothing about good government. Change from a Barsian Nasional government that has actively assisted in the collapse of the traditional structures of our Malaysian society and our Malaysian way of life because of its mistaken belief that they could best retain power by a divide and rule dogma over its own people.

It has now come to this – we believe that removing Najib as Prime Minister will make little difference to our lives – toppling Barisan Nasional will! The message from the people is clear: We have the power to back up our demand for change at the 13^th general election. It will now be up to the Pakatan Rakyat to be the change that we want!          

You, you and you...help us help PR!

If you think that PR is going to win the 13^th GE the way things are now…you better think again! Do not kid yourself. Do not be lull into a sense of complacency and think that all will be well….that Pakatan Rakyat will be the government of the day come the 13^th general election! I tell you friend the way things are…you will be disappointed.

Just because the chatter on the Net seems to be mostly for  PR does not mean much. If all we bloggers were to cast our votes for PR it will still be negated by just one cawangan under UMNO. Just the vote coming from one Cawangan is enough to neutralize the votes of all the bloggers now working to kick UMNO/BN out of government. Just like that!

Do not mock those UMNO cyber troopers too much. Look at the work they do to discredit PR leaders. Yes they sink to the gutter or go deeper into the sewer with the tactics they use but just compare that with what we do.

I use only words and the occasional YouTube videos and images I take from the Net to embellish steadyau47. What they have in their arsenal of smut and spin we would have difficulty in unraveling what more equal. We simply do not have the financial resources and support they have from their political masters. We can dismiss their attempts as being theatrical and political backstabbing of the lowest order but they have their audience. And with each story they hurl towards Mat Sabu and DSAI they hurt PR considerably. And more important every time they do so they gain more converts to their side.

We cannot continue to be in denial of the ability of these goons to match us word for word and story by story – but what we have working for us is a level playing field in as far as the Net is concern. The Net knows not if you are BN or PR. If you are DAP, PAS, PKR, UMNO, MCA or MIC. If you have a PC and Internet access then you have entry into cyber space….and that is where this fight is taking place now. You and me can give those goons working for UMNO as good as we get!

I can only speak for myself. I work on my blog anytime I can. Every posting I do requires time, effort and a focus on our matalamat (aim) and that is to change the political landscape in Malaysia for the better. 

From a corrupt and self serving module to that of an open, responsible and accountable one. No ifs no buts. No “trial period” for another government, no trial period for another Prime Minister. 

From day one the new government must hit the ground running and already have in place responsible leaders who will deliver what they promise us. No more no less. 

And if I doubt their ability to do so I will say so in my blog. If I doubt the ability of PR to perform as I I expect them to, I say so in my blog. No more holding back on my critique and my comments when PR does wrong. No more treating PR with kid gloves.

I do so not because I love PR less but because I love PR more. If PR is unable to, or will not live up to our aspirations then better the devil we know then the devil we do not know. UMNO is the devil we know!

I am not going to give PR a “CHANCE” to do what UMNO has done to us – rob us blind and enrich themselves at our expense. Not for five years, not for one year, not even for a month or a week. As I have said earlier if PR has not learn after these years in opposition what the people want then they will never learn once they are in government.

Right now the jury is still out if PR is ready to take over government from BN. Just the mere mention of Hudud has got PR going for each other throat while UMNO sits back and enjoys their latest act of throwing a big juicy bone amongst the uneasy pack that makes up PR. What would PR do when UMNO takes out DSAI? If the best that PR can do is Mat Sabu then I suggest PR should go back to the drawing board and think of something else more potent, more decent and more able to stand against the riff raffs that UMNO throws at us – and mind you, UMNO does have a good number of riff raffs to throw at PR.

I think we bloggers must not be too “shok sendiri”. We are messengers of stories. We should not become the story ourselves. There is why there is much work to be done. Let us concentrate on getting the story out there into the minds  of people that matter. That critical mass that will decide who will govern our country.

If you agree with the message we are trying to get out there for a positive change to the political landscape of our country then please take our message to at least one other person - play it forward – not just click out and leave that message dead where you found it. Move the message around. Cut and paste it onto your blog or email it to a friend. Only then can our posting begin to have a life of its own. Once you give it life then it can start to do its work of making people become aware of the need for change. Why we need change, how we can change and what the change should be. 

We write…you breath life into it and help us move it around…then it will be able to have a life of its own and hopefully make a difference to the way people think and do things. We want PR activists to be found where ever we find Malaysians.Help us do this.

Only when we have the numbers will we be able to make a difference to the wretched state our nation is now in. Then this BN government will have to think twice before they do anything that we do not agree to. No more verdicts of death by misadventure when someone is found dead while under MACC custody. No more announcements of the repeal of the ISA or PPPA – not unless it is really so. No more empty promises through “transformation programs” for every community, no more lies , no more arrogance and certainly no more side trips for your children’s engagement while on Official Trips to a foreign country.

So let us focus on building up that critical mass. Each and everyone of you can help us in this effort. You are one. With me we are two.  

...then we will be with UMNO!

A Cikgu at a Sekolah Kebangsaan in Pekan is explaining to her class that she is a Barisan Nasional supporter and how nice it is that the Prime Minister of Malaysia is from Barisan Nasional and comes from Pekan.

The Cikgu asks her students to raise their hands if they too are Barisan Nasional supporters and support Najib Razak. Everyone in class raises their hands except one little girl at the back of the class.  

"Kalsom" says the teacher with surprise, "why didn't you raise your hand?"  

“Because I'm not a Barisan Nasional supporter," says Kalsom.

"Well, what are you?" asks the teacher.  

"I'm a Pakatan Rakyat supporter and proud of it," replies the brave little girl.  

The teacher cannot believe her ears. "My goodness, Kalsom, why are you a Pakatan Rakyat supporter?" she asks.

"Well, Ayah and Emak are with Pakatan Rakyat  so I'm with Pakatan Rakyat  too."  

"Well," says the teacher in an annoyed tone, "that's no reason for you to be a Pakatan Rakyat supporter. You don't always have to be like your parents. What if your mother has been convicted of corruption and your father is in jail for money politics ….. what would you be then?"

Kalsom  smiled. "Then we'd be with UMNO."