{"id":4279,"date":"2011-01-06T06:32:16","date_gmt":"2011-01-05T22:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buletinonline.net\/v7\/index.php\/2011\/01\/bn-may-not-be-lucky-this-time-around\/"},"modified":"2011-01-06T06:32:16","modified_gmt":"2011-01-05T22:32:16","slug":"bn-may-not-be-lucky-this-time-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/bn-may-not-be-lucky-this-time-around\/","title":{"rendered":"BN may not be lucky this time around"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 13th general election will be on its way soon. The  question to ask is: should victory change hands to Barisan Nasional  instead? If looking at the course of events thus far as an indication,  truthfully \u201cNo\u201d. When all BN does is sweep its misdemeanours under the  rug, there is little hope the country will be in good hands.<\/p>\n<p>When it was Abdullah Ahmad Badawi\u2019s short stint as prime minister,  under his lame \u201cCemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang\u201d he did something so  despicable that it is hard to show this \u201cMr Nice Guy\u201d any respect \u2013 he  hid the fact that a senior minister in his Cabinet had committed a  crime, that of raping his domestic helper. (Also read:\u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freemalaysiatoday.com\/2011\/01\/06\/attempt-to-rape-attention-from-sodomy\/\" target=\"_blank\">Attempt to rape attention from sodomy\u2019<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Abdullah\u2019s excuse for hiding this crime was that he did not want ties  between Malaysia and Indonesia to turn sour. But Pak Lah conveniently  forgot that ties between these two countries had become acerbic after  the many reports of Malaysian employers physically and sexually abusing  their Indonesian domestic helpers.<\/p>\n<p>How could Abdullah forget the pain Indonesia felt when in May 2004  news broke out of how an Indonesian domestic helper Nirmala Bonat was  brutally abused by her Malaysian employer for five long months? This  case prompted Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take a  personal interest in ensuring justice took its course.<\/p>\n<p>That was Abdullah, who with his so-called transparency claim, had no  qualm hiding a perpetrator, one who is still roaming about freely  because the law has yet to muster the gall to nab him.<\/p>\n<p>By hiding a crime, Abdullah had proved his unworthiness to lead a  nation. While former Israeli president Moshe Katsav on Dec 30, 2010 was  been convicted of two accounts of rape, sexual harassment and indecent  acts, the scenario is the reverse back in Malaysia where ministers  accused of sexual harassments are let off the hook and ironically  further \u201crewarded\u201d, as was the case with former Cabinet minister  Jamaluddin Jarjis who in April 2008 was accused of sexually harassing an  employee of a restaurant in a five-star hotel.Not only did Jamaluddin  escape any punishment, he was shamelessly exported to the United States  as Malaysia\u2019s ambassador there.<\/p>\n<p>Certainly Abdulah\u2019s disrespect for women brings much shame unlike the  stand taken by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who, when  commenting on Katsav\u2019s conviction, said: \u201cThe court today delivered two  clear messages, one being that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law  and the second, the right of every woman to be in control of her own  body.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What will it take for Malaysia\u2019s power-crazy politicians to mend their ways and act more respectful in going about their work?<br \/> <span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong><br \/> Promises with an agenda<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Post-the 12th general election, Prime Minister Najib Razak has, short  of the moon and the sun, promised the people just about everything he  can think of. The truth, however, is that all the promises are nothing  but gimmicks to win the two-thirds majority in the coming general  election.<\/p>\n<p>Pumping money from the nation\u2019s coffers to set up shopping spots is  not what the rakyat need. What the people need is for Najib to turun  padang or go to the ground regularly to improve all that needs to be  improved. The truth is Kuala Lumpur is a filthy city, with rubbish  strewn just about everywhere. What is City Hall doing about this?<\/p>\n<p>What is annoying is that City Hall has the cheek to put up signages  requesting that the public love and keep the city of Kuala Lumpur clean.  But how will the public do that when there are no rubbish bins in  place? In places where a rubbish bin is provided, its mouth is choked  with all the rubbish which City Hall fails to collect promptly. One area  which desperately needs a clean-up is Lebuh Ampang and the areas nearby  the Bar Council and the Masjid Jamek LRT station.<\/p>\n<p>It is puzzling what really is the truth behind the Najib tagline  \u201cPeople First Performance Now\u201d because as far as the people are  concerned, they have yet to be treated with respect where providing the  basic infrastructure goes. Take, for instance, the toilets at all the  LRT stations. Previously, patrons of the LRT had to pay 20 sen each time  they needed to use the toilets but recently the payment was waived. But  abolishing the pay-to-pee system came with a price \u2013 the patrons have  been stripped of the very basic items a toilet should make available,  such as tissues and hand sanitisers.<\/p>\n<p>Not just that, some of the toilets at these stations are in dire need  of repair. And do not insult train users by refusing to switch on the  fans at train stations in Masjid Jamek, leaving the patrons bathing in  their own sweat. Why disrespect the rakyat to this extent? Are these not  the very people whose votes BN desperately needs to stay ahead of the  opposition?<\/p>\n<p>If taking the people for granted is the federal government\u2019s way of  counting support come the next general election, BN might not be lucky  yet again.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong>BN, stop coning the people<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>With the 13th general election due, Najib and his deputy Muhyiddin  Yassin are wasting no time in condeming their arch rival, the Pakatan  Rakyat coalition. No doubt Pakatan has a lot to work on but it, however,  can make a difference provided its leaders get their heads and acts in  order. To censure a rival to the point of sounding downright petty and  tacky is so very BN.<\/p>\n<p>When BN accused Pakatan of money politics, the former was arrogant in  adopting the \u201cholier than thou\u201d attitude when campaigning in the  by-elections. The truth as we all know it is that BN and money politics  are synonymous. A resident of Hulu Selangor recently disclosed to me how  the supporters of BN candidate P Kamalanathan went house-to-house  offering RM100 to each voter in the family in lieu of their vote in the  Hulu Selangor by-election in April 2010. How is it that this bit of news  did not reach the shores of the mainstream media?<\/p>\n<p>Not surprisingly, Kamalanathan did win the Hulu Selangor  parliamentary seat, defeating rival Zaid Ibrahim who was then contesting  under PKR banner. That was then and according to the resident,  Kamalanathan was never again a \u201cfamiliar\u201d face with the people.<\/p>\n<p>While Pak Lah was an utter disappointment as the country\u2019s fifth  prime minister, he has now brought shame to the nation by sheltering an  alleged rapist and in the process, making a mockery of the country\u2019s law  and order system. How dare Abdullah allow a man who has committed a  crime to escape punishment? Will Najib make sure the alleged  minister-rapist receives due \u201cattention\u201d from the law or will he too  play politics and save the minister concerned who is also a senior  member in Umno?<\/p>\n<p>Be it Najib or Anwar Ibrahim, the rakyat have no personal interest in  either of them. All the people ask is that the chosen leader remains  focused in raising the quality of their lives, by giving them  respectable infrastructure and not dishing out scraps. As we stand  today, Malaysia has become home to \u201cthird-class\u201d mentalities, with  people having no respect and compassion for one another. They shove and  push one another at train stations and pretend to close an eye when they  have to vacate their seats to accommodate a disabled or senior citizen  on board the same train.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, \u201chello\u201d and \u201cthank you\u201d have become words too difficult to  utter. And Najib is preparing the \u201crunaway\u201d to achieve fame and glory  which is but all for himself. One example is the 100-storey Vision Tower  or Menara Wawasan which Najib struggled to justify its creation.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong>Politics is about doing good<br \/> <\/strong><\/span><br \/> The country is now besieged with so-called leaders trying to outdo one  another in terms of achieving personal glory. When former prime minister  Dr Mahathir Mohamad was applauded for conceiving the landmark  sky-scrapper, the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers, a fusion of offices  and shopping mall, the current prime minister Najib has set his sight on  doing better, making sure he receives all the glory for his Menara  Wawasan idea and steals all the thunder and lightning from Mahathir.<\/p>\n<p>With such childish display of leadership, there is little wonder that  Malaysia has to work really really hard to get rid of the \u201cthird-class\u201d  mentality embedded amongst its people. What will it take for Najib to  realise the real job of a prime minister?<\/p>\n<p>Being a prime minister is not about bragging when help is provided to  survivors of floods like in the case of Kedah. It is only noble to help  when we can and bragging only reveals the pretension behind such  assistance. I am sure Islam does not condone its followers to brag over  help rendered, so why did Umno keep blowing its own horn each time it  went into a village to offer help during the floods?<\/p>\n<p>Really, it is getting tiring to watch the desperate acts of BN in  wanting to wrestle back the majority in the coming general election. Can  help not be provided sincerely, with no drum rolls?<br \/> <span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong><br \/> Najib, learn to embrace IMalaysia<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>More recently, the \u201cconfused\u201d aides of Najib took it upon themselves  to instruct the Catholic church officials to remove crucifixes and sing  no hymns in the presence of Najib when on Dec 26 he turned up for a tea  party organised by the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur. The aides also  directed the church officials not to quote from scriptures or utter any  Christian prayer in Najib\u2019s presence. It seems these nonsensical  directives were not known to Najib, but then as the mind behind the  1Malaysia concept, why has Najib not tendered an apology to his host?  Did it really scare Najib to attend the tea-invite, worried that his  fellow Umno honchos might grill him for being less \u201cIslamic\u201d should he  listen to the Catholic hymns?<\/p>\n<p>If Najib refuses to apologise, it becomes evident that he has yet to  embrace 1Malaysia as a way of life. If he cannot practise what he  preaches, then it is best the 1Malaysia propaganda be extinguished.<\/p>\n<p>If 1Malaysia is about unconditional acceptance by Malaysians of one  another in spite of colour and creed, this then has all along been there  as far as the Indians and Chinese are concerned \u2013 they have learnt to  accept and tolerate each time their Muslim brethrens utter words like  \u201cinsyallah\u201d (God willing) or \u201calhamdullilah\u201d (Praise be to God). There  is no cry that Muslims should not utter such words in the presence of  the Indians and Chinese but Najib\u2019s addle brained aides found it fit to  instruct the Catholic church officials to remove the crucifixes and say  no prayer or verses from the scripture \u2013 what then should the Indians  and Chinese make of this? Obviously Najib\u2019s aides had cut it too fat  here.<\/p>\n<p>To hoodwink the people by all ways and means is not the name of the  game. Does BN have what it takes to win an election, both the  by-election and the general election without buying votes using money or  hankering about, crying foul over any move its rival makes?<\/p>\n<p>There is a saying that \u201ccharity begins at home\u201d. In Najib\u2019s case,  that has yet to happen and as the people have come to realise, as the  days pass by, the frenzy towards campaigning for the next general  election will become greater. The question to bear in mind: is  slandering and character assassination THE way to win votes or is hard  work and commitment to improving the people\u2019s welfare THE only way to  earn votes? Are our votes so cheap that at the sight of money we readily  agree to compromise on the best candidate for the job?<\/p>\n<p>If BN is sincere in wanting to serve the people, then it should stop  bragging and just concentrate on the task at hand. Belittling your  rivals is not going to win you anything, nor votes and certainly not  respect from the people.-FMT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 13th general election will be on its way soon. The question to ask is: should victory change hands to Barisan Nasional instead? If looking at the course of events thus far as an indication, truthfully \u201cNo\u201d. When all BN does is sweep its misdemeanours under the rug, there is little hope the country will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"better_featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4279"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}