Sabtu, 24 Disember 2011

The Spirit of Lubok Kawah/Semangat Lubok Kawah

The Spirit of Lubok Kawah/Semangat Lubok Kawah


Ustaz dan Guru

Posted: 24 Dec 2011 04:37 PM PST

Saya pergi belajar Bahasa Arab (maaf ya, hingga sekarang belum boleh bercakap Bahasa Arab, bebal betul saya ni, tapi saya akan terus belajar) dan pada malam pertama saya menggelar guru Bahasa Arab itu sebagai Ustaz.

Dia senyum dan memberitahu saya bahawa dia bukan ustaz. Walaupun dia berkelulusan Universiti Al-Azhar dan dia juga mengajar pelbagai subjek termasuk juga mengajar tafsir, tajwid dan membaca Quran. Tetapi dia berkata dia malu jika dipanggil Ustaz kerana dia hanyalah seorang Mualim (Cikgu) dan oleh kerana dia Guru Besar di Sekolah itu maka bolehlah panggil dia Mudir.

Dia mengatakan bahawa dia hanyalah seorang Guru, dia mengajar Ugama Islam, kepada anak-anak muridnya daripada yang berumur 6 tahun hingga berumur lebih 60 tahun.

Dia selesa mengajar dan dia selesa dipanggil Cikgu, tetapi tidak selesa dipanggil Ustaz.

Katanya: "Semasa di Universiti, hanya mereka yang menulis buku-buku dengan ilmu yang tinggi dan berkelulusan sesetengahnya daripada pelbagai jurusan, barulah dipanggil Ustaz, yang lain-lain itu hanya dipanggil Guru sahaja."

Dia hairan kenapa di Malaysia ni banyak sangat Ustaz, yang mengajar Fardhu Ain pun dipanggil Ustaz.

Saya rasa kekok untuk memanggilnya Cikgu dan saya terus memanggilnya Ustaz dan setiap kali saya panggil dia Ustaz dia akan pandang ke muka saya dan melontarkan senyuman, saya faham maksudnya, tetapi kita orang "Melayu" ni lazimnya memanggil orang seperti Guru saya itu Ustaz dan Ustazah.

Apa kata kalau kita buat perbezaan yang nyata diantara Ulamak dengan Alamak. Saya tak nak bincang Ulamak dan ciri-cirinya disini.

Tetapi saya suka nak tampil ciri-ciri Alamak. Alamak juga berpelajaran tinggi dari segi Agama, kadang-kadang ada Phd, walaupun sesetengahnya celup di Universiti-Universiti di Barat.

Ilmunya tentang Agama sangat tinggi, boleh menjadi Pensyarah dan boleh ditanyakan apa juga tentang Hukum-Hakam, kadang-kadang bijak berbahasa Arab, kalau setakat nak jadi Imam dalam solat, itu perkara kacang, bukan semacam sesetengah pemimpin Negara yang bercakap tentang Islam, dialah orangnya, tetapi apabila diminta menjadi Imam dalam solat, jauh sekali dari diterimanya.

Saya tabik Sultan Kelantan!

Alamak ni, kalau belum dapat apa-apa kesempatan, bukan main hebat bercermah tentang agama di TV dan didalam penulisan. Tetapi bila diberikan kesempatan, umpamanya, menjadi Wakil Rakyat, nak tegur pemimpin yang menyeleweng dari segi agama pun takut!

Tak beranilah kalau nak tegur pemimpin yang tak buat uquf atau tak buat melontar. Tak berani, tak berani, tak berani, takut nanti hilang jawatan!

Mungkin mereka tegur juga didalam hati, tak apalah, walaupun itu selemah-lemah iman.

Tapi ada juga golongan Alamak ni bila dapat kesempatan akan kebas apa saja, haram atau halal. Ada yang kebas duit zakat...alamaaak!

Alamak...itulah katergori mereka...Alamak!

Sama Tapi Tidak Serupa

Posted: 24 Dec 2011 02:56 PM PST

Banyak benda dan perkara yang sama tetapi tidak serupa. Yang nama Muhammad pun ramai, ada yang berperangai mengikut Nabi saw; tapi ada yang berperangani macam syaitan.

Negara yang bergelar demokrasi pun banyak, ada di Eropah, ada di Timur Tengah, ada di Amerika, ada di Amerika Selatan, ada di Asia dan ada di Tenggara Asia.

Malaysia pun panggil dirinya demokrasi jugak. China pun demokrasi. Ada demokrasi di Jepun dan ada Demokrasi di India dan Thailand. Namanya Demokrasi. Tapi tak serupa.

Di England, Demokrasinya sangat berlainan daripada di Malaysia walaupun Malaysia belajar dan mengambil pemerintahan Demokrasi dari England.

Di England, TV nya bebas. Surat khabarnya bebas. Parti-parti politik, dan kesatuan-kesatuan sekerjanya bebas mengeluarkan media sendiri dan mengeluarkan pendapat, tidak ada kekangan dari pemerintah, tidak ada kekangan dari polis, dan peranan polis di sana berbeza dengan peranan polis di sini. Polis di England berkhidmat untuk Negara tetapi di Malaysia polis berkhidmat untuk parti yang memerintah walaupun gaji mereka dibayar oleh Negara (duit rakyat). Sebab itu disini, kalau UMNO dan NGO UMNO buat demo, polis hadir membantu dan kalau Pembangkang buat demo, polis datang menghalang dengan melepaskan gas pemedih mata dan air beracun.

Perjumpaan UMNO/BN tak perlu ada permit tetapi kalau Pembangkang diperlukan permit, dan untuk mendapatkan permit bukanlah perkara yang mudah, macam-macam syarat dikenakan.

TV di Malaysia adalah untuk UMNO/BN sahaja, begitu juga surat khabarnya, menjadikan penonton-penontonnya dan pembaca-pembacanya sebagai katak di bawah tempurung; nak mujurlah ada internet yang sukar dikawal oleh UMNO/BN, maka dapatlah mereka yang celik IT membaca berita alternatif. Manakala yang buta IT masih bergantung kepada TV 1 dan TV 3, Utusan Melayu dan Berita Harian, menjadikan minda yang menonton-membacanya berkarat dan langsung tidak terbuka minda; mereka menjadi golongan yang bodoh sombong. Punyalah berkaratnya minda mereka sehinggakan air percuma di Selangor itu mereka kata Khir Toyo yang beri.

Di Jepun pemerintahannya adalah Demokrasi juga, tetapi Demokrasi disana berbeza dengan Demokrasi di China dan di Malaysia.

Di Jepun, kalaulah berlaku kejadian seperti menimpa Shahrizat yang suaminya dan anak-anaknya menyalahgunakan wang rakyat dengan Fidlot (NFC) nya, dah lama Menteri itu kena letak kerajaan, begitu juga wang zakat yang disalahgunakan oleh Menteri Jamil Khir. Belum dijadikan isu besar pun Menteri berkenaan sudah diletak jawatan. Di Malaysia, dah jelas lagi bersuluh, masih "berkukut" (sorry Bahasa Temerloh) dengan jawatan itu.

Di Jepun, kalau keretapi tergelincir sahaja, Menteri Pengangkutannya mengambil tanggungjawab dan letak jawatan. Di Malaysia, Menterinya boleh dengan senang melepaskan tanggungjawab dan menyalahkan orang-orang bawahnya.

Kalau di Jepun belum terbukti skandal sexnya, Menterinya sudah letak jawatan, tetapi di Malaysia walaupun sudah ditangkap di Port Dickson, Menterinya tetap berpaut kepada jawatannya.

Di China, mereka juga gelar Negara mereka Demokrasi. Mereka tidak ada Pilihanraya terbuka, tetapi pemilihan Parti Komunis. Parti Komunis adalah suara dan bicara rakyat, mewakili rakyat; dan pemilihan didalam parti adalah demokrasi dan merekalah yang menjadi pemimpin dan pemerintah.

Parti Komunis China berjuang dan berkhidmat untuk rakyat. Dari sebuah Negara miskin yang sentiasa dilanda kebuluran, China berjaya menjadi Ekonomi yang kedua terbesar di Dunia mengatasi Jepun; manakala Ekonomi terbesar dunia, Amerika Syarikat kini sedang demam teruk.

Orang China tidak ada yang kaya melampau dan tidak ada yang miskin melampau.

Pemimpin yang memperkayakan diri sendiri kerana jawatan akan ditangkap dan dibicarakan dan jika didapati bersalah akan ditembak mati; di Malaysia rakyat biasa termasuk anggota polis biasa jika didapat rasuah kecil boleh dipenjarakan hingga lima enam tahun, tetapi pemimpin yang rasuah besar hingga berjuta ringgit hanya dihukum 12 bulan sahaja, itu pun ditolak dari tarikh mula-mula bicara.

Ada juga jutawan di Shanghai yang didapati menyalahgunakan kuasa ditangkap dan dibicarakan dan didapati bersalah dikenakan hukuman penjara seumur hidup; di Malaysia banyak juga jutawan dan Menteri yang dibicarakan tetapi dihujungnya didapati tidak bersalah. Maklumlah, sukar mendakwa orang besar-besar ni!

Di England, Negara tidak masuk campur didalam Pilihanraya kecuali mengendalikan Pilihanraya yang BERSIH.

Di Malaysia, Negara terlibat dengan Pilihanraya. Habis semua Jabatan Kerajaan berkempen membantu UMNO/BN. Wang Negara digunakan untuk kempen UMNO/BN; Jentera Kerajaan digunakan untuk kempen UMNO/BN; bahkan SPR yang sepatutnya berkecuali itu tidak terkecuali daripada berpihak kepada UMNO/BN sehingga badan-badan NGO dan parti-parti Pembangkang terpaksa mengadakan Demo Bersih yang terpaksa pula berhadapan dengan Polis yang menjadi alat UMNO/BN. Yang menuntut Demokrasi Bersih di Malaysia adalah Pembangkang manakala UMNO/BN berseronok dengan Demokrasi yang tidak bersih. Hanya Pembangkang di Malaysia ini yang mahukan demokrasi tulen dilaksanakan di Negara ini, manakala UMNO/BN mahukan Demokrasi yang kotor lagi mengotorkan.

Semasa dekat dengan Pilihanraya ini, Kerajaan (dibaca UMNO/BN) mengeluarkan wang RM100.00 untuk setiap kanak sekolah dan ibu bapa pula nak diberikan RM500.00. Itu adalah jelas wang rakyat tetapi wakil-wakil rakyat UMNO/BN terlibat memberikan sehinggakan menyusahkan pihak yang menerimanya. Kalau betul nak bantu rakyat bukan itu caranya, harga komoditi rakyat kena sentiasa tinggi, sekarang ni, harga getah dah turun hingga RM4.00 se kilo, sebelum ini turun hingga RM3.40 daripada RM6.00. Berapa ratus juta didalam sebulan dua pendapatan rakyat sudah dikurangkan dan duit yang dikurangkan itu sudah jauh lebih tinggi daripada RM500.00 itu.

Harga barang naik semacam aliran sungai yang tidak dapat disekat lagi. Naik, naik, naik. Hanya orang Rompin sahaja yang dapat membeli gula dengan harga yang murah, 20 sen pun dapat. Kalau nak beli gula murah, pergilah ke Rompin, Pahang!

Tetapi di Rompin tidak boleh beli satu, kena beli dua, kena beli gula-gula. Barulah murah! Cis!

Punca harga barang naik adalah kerana kenaikan harga minyak. Kenapa harga minyak kena naik? Kenapa harga minyak di Negara-Negara pengluar minyak seperti di Timur Tengah harganya tidak melebihi 50 se liter?

Janji daripada Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim adalah: PADA HARI INI PR DIISYTIHARKAN MEMERINTAH NEGARA, MAKA PAGI ESUKNYA HARGA MINYAK AKAN TURUN.

Dengan penurunan harga minyak, harga barang-barang lain akan turut turun dan dibawah pemerintahan PR, harga barang yang turun akan menjadi stabil.

Pemerintahan yang cekap bukan melayani kehendak dan nafsu kapitalis yang mahu mengaut untung yang besar, tetapi melayani kebajikan rakyat. Itulah diantara ciri demokrasi yang mesti dipertahankan iaitu Negara hendaklah memihak kepada kepentingan rakyat!

Hairan tak, bila kita tuntut demokrasi yang tulen dan luas seperti yang boleh diamalkan di Jepun, India, England dan Amerika, Kerajaan UMNO/BN menyatakan bahawa tidak ada kebebasan tanpa sekatan; kita bukan menuntut kebebasan tanpa had, kita hanya mahukan kebebasan mengikut lunas-lunas demokrasi dan kita menuntut demokrasi yang sama, bukan semacam sekarang, UMNO/BN bebas berbuat sesuka hati tetapi pembangkang disekat bermacam-macam. Malulah!

ISA untuk apa? Saya pernah ditahan dibawah ISA dan pertuduhan yang dikenakan kepada saya adalah kerana saya memperjuangkan hak minyak sawit Malaysia berbanding minyak soya Amerika. Apa gilanya, keselamatan dalam Negeri tahi kucing apa tu?

Saya juga dituduh menyokong Iran menentang Arab Saudi, lagi satu tuduhan tahi kucing, yang tidak ada kena mengena dengan keselamatan Malaysia. Itu pun kalau benar saya bersikap sedemikian?

Isu yang paling pada sebagai tuduhan kepada saya ialah saya memecahbelahkan masyarakat peneroka Felda!

La..la...saya masa itu berjuang supaya peneroka Felda diberikan hakmilik individu bukan hakmilik atas nama kelompok seramai 20 orang diatas nama koperasi seperti yang termaktub didalam Surat Perjanjian diantara Peneroka dan Felda.

Kalau peneroka Felda boleh berkongsi geran tanah, kenapa tidak masyarakat bandar juga berkongsi geran? Kenapa tidak masyarakat kampong tradisi juga berkongsi geran? Kenapa tidak Menteri berkongsi geran?

Saya tidaklah mengaku bahawa kejayaan akhirnya memihak kepada peneroka apabila Kerajaan mengumumkan (diumumkan oleh Ghafar Baba) bahawa Peneroka yang sudah menjelaskan BK dan CAC akan diberikan hakmilik individu, tetapi saya ditahan dibawah ISA kerana perjuangan itu. Tahniah kepada Peneroka. No,thanks to the BN Government.

Demokrasi bukanlah sekadar ungkapan yang kosong. Ia mempunyai elemen-elemennya yang wajib diikuti. Kalau disebut demokrasi, tetapi penindasan dijalankan dan undang-undang yang zalim seperti ISA, Akta Mesin Citak, Akta AUKU dan undang-undang baru yang lebih menekan daripada Seksyn 27 Akta Polis tetap dipaksakan keatas rakyat, ini namanya Demokrasi Tahi Kucing!

Demokrasi Tahi Kucing ini akan terus ditentang oleh Rakyat yang celik politik walaupun disokong oleh rakyat yang bodoh sombong!

Anwar Ibrahim

Anwar Ibrahim


Mahathir’s Side of History: As They Say, Liars Are Sightless

Posted: 23 Dec 2011 08:18 PM PST

Malaysia chronicle

Abraham Lincoln had this to say: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

They say liars are sightless. They swathe their eyes to the truth and trust that people they talk to are as dim as themselves. Why do most politicians customarily lie? They discern that the majority will follow rather than think for themselves. A lie told often enough becomes the truth. To lie in politics is a Machiavellian mode of manipulation and conspiracy.

Mahathir's intelligence and political astuteness are generally acknowledged by his acquaintances and enemies. Mendacity or mendacious propaganda is Machiavellian. The people are already familiar  with his political  slant as he understands the Malay minds better than any of the past and present leaders in UMNO. The book 'The Malay Dilemma' (1970) that he wrote 11 years before he became Malaysia’s 4th Prime Minister is worth reading. It is an insightful analysis of the Malay mind.  The Malays in general have a feudal mindset and Mahathir has acknowledged this in many of his writings and intellectual discourse. He either failed or did not want to do enough to change the mindset of the general Malays despite helming the nation for many years, for fear that an enlightened Malay race could not be easily manipulated. The Malays – especially the rural folks –  can be easily manoeuvred by leaders to make them believe a lie to be truth if it is well propagated.  The UMNO propaganda tools – newspapers and the electronic media – are ever ready to help their political masters to remain in power.

Must have lied routinely

Telling lies is for political expediency and we can expect this from Mahathir. He must have lied routinely in his political career. It is noteworthy, throughout his career as a prime minister and past this era he has seldom admitted his mistakes. It is not his character or principle to accept his mistakes or weaknesses. To Mahathir, 'to admit one's mistake is to admit one's weakness'. Critics say that  'he has a very strong character'. The people seldom hear him apologise for his mistakes, hence dealing with this Machiavellian persona, his political enemies must learn to be equally incisive.

Understanding Mahathir's wiliness is as simple as having to accept him as he is. Reading his 843-page Memoirs – 'A Doctor in the House' (2011) – noticeably, some relatively hard-to-believe facts are written about issues and personalities who were never in his good book. Anyway, this is only his side of the stories.

Even Chin Peng had his side of the stories as told in his book,  'My Side of History'(2003) – a 527-page 'recorded journey of a man who opted to travel along a different road to pursue a dream he had for his country'. Reading his 'journey' makes us understand how stoic this man was and how he stuck strong to his principles till the end of his struggle. Leaders – good or bad – are often 'successful' due to their strong character.

Mahathir has his side of the stories to tell on many issues that must have incurred the wrath of the people for the past many years. Some of these narrations from his Memoirs can never go unchallenged in the court of opinion.

His view of the Chinese: "Losing my Parliamentary seat hurt terribly and on the ride home with Hasmah, I could not help shedding  tears. The taste of defeat was unfamiliar and it was painful. I was also angry at the Chinese, in particular the MCA, who I felt were responsible for my defeat and with it the undermining of my political future." (p196).

So the insinuation here is that it was not his fault then, but the Chinese who did not vote for him. Mahathir had lost the Kota Setar Selatan parliamentary seat to a PAS candidate Haji Yusof Rawa in 1969.

On Anwar Ibrahim: "Anwar should have been the Prime Minister of Malaysia today. But if he is not, it is because of his own actions." (p698)

In other words, Mahathir blamed Anwar for his 'disillusionment' but not the former's ultimate resolution to dismiss the latter from the government for trying to 'dislodge' him.

Complaining about the noise

On the dismissal of Salleh Abbas as Lord President and the judiciary:  "… the Agung showed me a letter that Tun Salleh had written to him: complaining about the noise  that was being made in the course of repairing the Agong's private residence near Tun Salleh's own house." (p565).  "I recently called the Attorney General at the time, …. and asked him where was the first letter. He said it was with the Government. I can have no access to it now but I am prepared to swear on the Quran that it was the letter and the instruction from the Agung which caused action to be taken to remove Tun Salleh Abas." (p568). "Tun Salleh demanded that the tribunal be made up of his peers. We obviously could not find enough Lord Presidents… Tun Hamid Omar, who by then was the Acting Lord President, chaired the tribunal."  (p568)

So, he did not blame himself but the Agung and the lack of Lord Presidents to be in the tribunal for Salleh's predicament.

On Tengku Razaleigh:  "We also heard Team B spent RM20 million on their campaign, with most of the money provided by Tengku Razaleigh himself." (p541).

Beyond doubt, given the chance Razaleigh would like to refute this feral accusation against him.

I don't remember

On the permanent government administrations (such as the police or the judiciary): "Ultimately, we had no way of enforcing our decisions on them." (p551)

But we have heard of the 'fixing of judges' and of how a well-known lawyer with good political connection wrote the judgement for a judge. Even when this was revealed in the VK Lingam RCI (Royal Commission of Inquiry) the matter was just swept under the carpet. Mahathir was reported to have said to this,  ”I don’t remember.”

On interfering with an ACA investigation: "Though some witnesses were hostile towards me, nobody came forward to say that I forced him to tell lies to support me. Datuk Shafee Yahya who had earlier accused me of interfering  with an ACA investigation…. Our meeting did not go well and Shafee became angry, accusing me of interfering with his duties. Actually, the affair with the ACA had nothing to do with Anwar's case. But Shafee had his day in court and seemed to be happy to vilify me." …." (p695)

Shafee was only doing his fair duty as an obedient ACA officer like any other dutiful government servant but this had hurt Mahathir.

On the removal of Ghafar Baba: "I criticized some UMNO leaders in Terengganu for staying too long and not giving a chance to young aspirants….. he interpreted my advice there to mean that I wanted older leaders to step down." (p411). " I did not want to remove Tun Ghafar but what would have happened if I did not appoint the new Deputy President of UMNO….." (p411)

Ghafar realising that he was only  being  'made use of' by his superior in the party during the latter's 'bumpy' times in politics was very humiliated, caved in and resigned. Seeing which side of the bread was buttered at the time of crisis, only one UMNO politician at the time came to sympathise with Ghafar and she was Rafidah Aziz – sighting that it was against Malay tradition and etiquette to disgrace an elderly man.

But Soros did it and made a lot of money

On Tajuddin Ramli and MAS, after the debacle in forex trading by Bank Negara:  "Claiming that he had bought Malaysia Airlines out of national duty, Tajuddin demanded that he receive the price per share that he had paid when he bought them." (p711) " But I knew that he had bought the company because he felt it was a good investment." (p711). "Our purchase of his stake received a lot of criticism because we paid him RM8 a share, at a time when the market value was RM3.62 per share." (p711)

If only Tajuddin was given a chance to rebut this. The MAS fiasco has still been a hot issue long after Mahathir left the government.

Malaysia did it and lost a lot of money. But Soros did it and made a lot of money: "….It was a matter of taking calculated risks, and when one of our speculative ventures failed, we lost a lot of money. After that lesson, we got out of the business. " (p671). "I mentioned Soros by name as one of the traders who had manipulated the currencies of Southeast Asian countries and undermined their development." (p671)

Soros must be smarter then our Bank Negara executives then.

On his ancestor: " I admit that some Indian, or more accurately South Asian blood flows in my veins, but from which part of the Indian subcontinent my ancestors came from I do not know." (p24)

We have to forgive him on this for his selective memory. He almost forgot where 'exactly' his ancestors came from. As Abraham Lincoln once said,  "No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar."

He was the Prime Minister

Despite what has been documented clearly that Malaysia did seek loans from the World Bank to overcome the 1999 financial crisis, he has adamantly denied that it was not he who sought it. The blame – as usual –  falls on Anwar though Anwar was at the time and prior to his dismissal from the government only the Finance Minister when Mahathir was the Prime Minister. Any layman would discern that without the blessing of the Number 1 in the government it would not have been possible for his subordinates to bulldoze their ideas through especially when it involved loans from the World Bank amounting to millions of dollars.

At the height of the Asian financial crisis, Mahathir sacked Anwar in 1998 and subsequently served as the Finance Minister till his retirement in 2003. The Finance Ministry could not have endorsed any colossal deal without Finance Minister Mahathir's knowledge and consent.

It is the mainstream media – the  propaganda implement – that has been misleading the rakyat all these while about Mahathir and Anwar. No economists during the economic turmoil in 1997 could deny that, without the urgent loans taken from the World Bank at the time to ride out the financial crisis Malaysia it would have roughly affected the country. Just accept this fact. The loans came in at the right time to at least cushion the effect of the bad recession during the time until sometime later when the country subsequently pegged the ringgit against the US dollars and gradually began to recover from the economic smithereens. Is it a shame not to tell the truth?

Despite not being in favour of George Bush, Mahathir had the knack to engage Jack Abramoff using 'taxpayer's money' to lobby for a chance to meet Bush. The lobbying part of the story was not highlighted by the local media until the news broke out very much later by other sources. Is it also a shame here not to tell the truth?

To swear on the Quran

Excepts from one of the documents from the World Bank supported the evidence that the country did seek financial help from this international body:

"In view of these circumstances in July 1998, the Government announced a National Economic Recovery Plan to bring the economy back on a positive growth path."

"The Government has proposed a plan of action to mitigate the adverse social impacts of the crisis which threaten to reverse the gains made in the past."

"The Government has approached the Bank for help in strengthening this plan and implementing it through a Social Protection Project."

Reportedly, officially World Bank documents showed huge loans were taken by the Malaysian government from the international bank, when Mahathir denied the claims and challenged Anwar to swear on the Quran over the allegation that the former had sought the loans. His challenge to swear on the Quran reflects poorly on his understanding of Islam and his credibility as an elder statesman. It says in the Quran, "…that the Believers who succeeded … are those who turn away from ill speech… but whoever seeks to go beyond that, these are that exceed the limits."  (23:1,3&7).

Playing politics in the name of God is a misdeed. It simply shows weakness and lack of the ability to sustain one’s emotions at times when patience is required. It shows a person being incapable of performing the right action such as providing a rightful answer to a particular situation. It also smacks of undertones that are meant to abuse the truth seekers.

To lie in politics is Machiavellian

As opposed to Mahathir's rigid regulation of foreign investment and currency control method to avoid the weak ringgit that was prone to future currency attacks – bogged down with the syndrome of blaming currency attackers as root cause of the financial fiasco, the Anwar formula had during the 1997 Asian financial crisis supported the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank plan for economic recovery. Anwar also established a rigorous package that cut wastage on government expenditures, cronyism and endemic corruption among politicians and government bodies and also deferred most major mega projects.

He advocated a free-market strategy to the crisis, which included trade liberalisation favourable to foreign investment. Complying to these prescriptions, it was successfully done in South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and many other countries with the help of loans from the international bodies. And these countries recovered from the economic recession with much pride very much earlier and faster than Malaysia – in fact within two years of the IMF and World Bank prescriptions.

If truth be told, Malaysia did indeed get monetary aid from the World Bank after the sacking of Anwar in 1998. If Mahathir has said, "I can't remember, he would be excused for his age as he has been known to have a selective memory. But if he wants to portray himself as an honest politician by again telling a lie this reflects on his false pride.

There's one way to find out if a man is honest ~ ask him. If he says, "Yes," you know he is a crook. ~ Groucho Marx.

Wee Choo Keong

Wee Choo Keong


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all Malaysians

Posted: 24 Dec 2011 07:06 AM PST

May I take this opportunity to wish all my readers of Christian faith a Merry Christmas and for my non-Christian Malaysian friends have a pleasant holiday. For those Malaysians who are taking this opportunity to balk kampung, drive safe and berhati-hati di Jalan raya. May I also wish all Malaysians a Happy New Year.

ANGKATAN MUDA keADILan CABANG PARIT SULONG

ANGKATAN MUDA keADILan CABANG PARIT SULONG


UPSI AMBIL TINDAKAN TERHADAP ADAM ADLI

Posted: 23 Dec 2011 05:53 AM PST



KUALA LUMPUR 23 Dis: KEADILAN menyelar tindakan dan tekanan yang dilakukan pentadbiran Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris (UPSI) terhadap mahasiswanya, Adam Adli yang mencetuskan kontroversi kerana menurunkan bendera Datuk Seri Najib Razak baru-baru ini.

Ia berikutan surat dikeluarkan pihak universiti itu yang mendakwa Adam di bawah dua pertuduhan iaitu merosakkan nama universiti dan memberi ancaman kepada ketenteraman awam.

"Kedua-dua pertuduhan adalah tidak berasas, tidak berperlembagaan, tidak sah dan jelas tidak masuk akal. Dalam tindakan Adam menurunkan bendera Perdana Menteri, beliau hanya menjalankan haknya dalam kebebasan bersuara dijamin di bawah Perkara 10 Perlembagaan Persekutuan," kata Naib Presiden KEADILAN, N Surendran.

Menurutnya, Adam tidak melakukan kesalahan undang-undang malah harus dipuji kerana mempunyai pendirian yang berani untuk memperjuangkan autonomi di institusi pengajian tinggi.

"UPSI tidak mempunyai hak untuk menghalang Adam daripada menjalankan hak-hak sivil beliau sebagai warganegara," "Tindakan Adam merupakan bantahan yang sah dan demokratik terhadap kegagalan Najib bagi memastikan pelajar mendapat kebebasan akademik dengan memansuhkan AUKU," katanya dalam satu kenyataan hari ini.

"Justeru, kami menyeru kepada UPSI dengan serta-merta menggugurkan semua tindakan disiplin yang dikenakan terhadap Adam serta menuntut Najib melakukan pembaharuan besar agar mahasiswa dapat mepertahankan kebebasan akademik di dalam negara," katanya.

Adam menerima surat panggilan ke jawatan kuasa disiplin dari UPSI hari ini, gara-gara menurunkan bendera Najib di Ibu Pejabat Umno pada 17 Disember lalu. Beliau dipanggil untuk hadir ke pendengaran jawatankuasa universiti tersebut 19 Januari depan.