Fuel Price hike - malaysia solution

Don't Treat Us Like MORON

Fuel price hike 41% was announced 7 hours before its implementation. We had no time to adjust ourselves.

Entertainment allowance slashed up to 10% (out of mostly over RM10k) - announced 29 days before implementation. They still have plenty of time to enjoy the over RM10k worth of monthly entertainment!

"Entertainment" allowance of at least RM6k. Wow...

If you think 10% cut from your "entertainment" is harsh enough, think about how many people in Malaysia who live on less than 10% of your monthly "entertainment" allowance. Even if there are 1000 ministers in this country, 10% cut from all your 'enjoyment' allowance is not even enough to help 1% of the poor in the country.

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Blog by EX PM - Dr Mahathir

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the fourth and longest serving Prime Minister of Malaysia, has also started his own personal blog on May 1st this month.

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's blog, simply called "Dr. Mahathir Mohamad", is registered under domain name www.chedet.com

For the uninitiated, "Che Det" was Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's pseudonym when he used to contribute to the The Straits Times during his student days.

Those interested in Malaysian politics may find Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's blog an interesting read.

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Who will be the next Prime Minister

Is it RAHMAN or ANWAR ?

Are Malaysians caught up in the past and the future, forgetting the present ? Are Malaysians caught in a time warp ?

Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister, whether we like it or not, represents Malaysia's past. All his deeds, or to some, his misdeeds, when he was prime minister, were all done in the past. Although he is indeed an icon of Malaysia's public life, he does not represent the present or the future. Just like whatever benefits derived from his leadership is enjoyed in the present, anything he has done that must to be corrected must also be done in the present.

Abdullah Badawi, Malaysian's 5th Prime Minister, represents Malaysia's present. We may not know how long this will be, but he is still the current prime minister - he must deal with the present.

But instead of focusing on the present, Malaysians like dwelling on the past and speculating on the future - who will be the next prime minister. This has been going on since Dr. Mahathir Mohammad's tenure - then, Malaysians were guessing as to who will succeed Dr. Mahathir Mohammad. Whilst many names were suggested, Tengku Razaleigh and Anwar Ibrahim were the favorites. But then, unexpectedly, Abdullah Badawi succeeded Dr. Mahathir Mohammad.

In attempting to predict the future, Malaysians like to device theories, not based on political analysis, but on myths.

For the simple minded, the classic RAHMAN theory, named after the country's first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, became very popular. The theory simply states that RAHMAN is an acronym for the names of the prime minsters of Malaysia:
R - Tunku Abdul Rahman
A- Abdul Razak
H - Hussein Onn
M - Mahathir Mohammad
A- Abdullah Badawi
N - ?

Thus, following the RAHMAN theory the next person in line should be a person who's name starts with the letter "N". Those who believe this theory will quickly say that the next in line should be Najib Tun Razak, the current deputy prime minster. However, some people joked that the "N" stands for Nurul Izzah, Anwar Ibrahim's 27 year-old daughter who recently won the Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat.

When Dr. Mahathir Mohammad was prime minister, many Malaysians believed that the letter "A" after the letter "M" in RAHMAN, represented Anwar Ibrahim, who was then the deputy prime minister. Well, now we know that was not meant to be, then.

Now, as Anwar Ibrahim's Pakatan Rakyat has won a very convincing victory in the recent general election, he is seen as the prime minister in waiting and people have conceived another acronym to represent the prime ministers of Malaysia - ANWAR:

A - Abdullah Badawi
N - Najib Tun Razak
W -Wan Azizah (Anwar Ibrahim's wife and current official leader of Pakatan Rakyat)
A - Anwar Ibrahim
R - (Tengku) Razaleigh Hamzah ? Dr. Rais Yatim ?

Some people even suggest that the "R" stands for Raja Petra Kamarudin, a political analyst whose political blog Malaysia Today, played a significant role in the outcome of the recent general election.

Ok guys, what do you think? RAHMAN or ANWAR? or post your own acronym theory...
Please post your comments let us know what you think.

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Malaysia - PM Fires Back

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi went on the offensive against his critics yesterday, signalling he would fight back to keep Umno and the government together. Speaking after a special presidential briefing to Umno members, the prime minister and Umno president acknowledged that while his predecessor had influence, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had misused it to the disadvantage of Umno.

"In 2004, when we won, he said we were too powerful and this was not proper and that we should have some opposition.

"When the opposition gained ground, we thought he was going to celebrate but instead he hit out at us," Abdullah said.

"We can't win big and we can't win little. So what can we do?" he said when asked whether continued criticism by Dr Mahathir would damage the party.
Dr Mahathir has been saying that Umno was in fear of Abdullah, to which he riposted: "In my time there is no freedom but it is also said that I am soft. Are they afraid of this softie?"

Asked whether his replies meant a change in his stance towards Dr Mahathir, the usually reticent Abdullah said: "I have to say what needs to be said.

"If there is no need to say anything, then I would not say it. There is no other intention."

He also asked why Dr Mahathir was questioning his handling of the mainstream press when the former premier himself had a tight grip on the media.

"I know that editors were called when Dr Mahathir took over as prime minister. They were told not to write nor carry pictures of Tun Hussein Onn," he said.

Dr Mahathir had also been responsible for "Operasi Lallang", a crackdown which saw the detention of 106 people under the Internal Security Act.

Asked whether he would call for an investigation into Dr Mahathir on his past actions, Abdullah said that would be left to the government agencies.

"If the matter needs to be investigated then it will be done."

On Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who is making a bid to challenge him for the party presidency, Abdullah said the Kelantan Umno leader should look at himself for an explanation of why Kelantan remained in Pas hands.

"Ku Li needs to look at himself. He was the reason (in 1990, through Semangat 46) why we (Barisan Nasional) lost and Kelantan fell to Pas," he said.

He also asked whether Tengku Razaleigh had made any effort to help restore the Barisan Nasional as the state government.

Abdullah said he was informed that the Gua Musang MP did not assist the Kelantan BN in the 12th general election.

On the claims that 30 BN elected representatives were looking at defecting to the opposition, Abdullah said such an act would be despicable.

"They do not realise and recognise that the seat won was due to the rakyat. They do not care about the rakyat. What they want is power. All they are interested in is their leader becoming the prime minister.

"This is a form of corruption," said Abdullah.

He said Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who had claimed to be actively persuading BN MPs to cross over to the opposition, was impatient to become prime minister.

"He considers himself the leader-in-waiting. Let him wait. I am the prime minister now."

On the move to reform the judiciary, Abdullah stressed that its troubles did not originate from his administration.

"Confidence, including from business circles, in our judiciary is low," he said.

Abdullah said the corporate sector preferred to refer contractual disputes to countries other than Malaysia.

"They do not have confidence (in the Malaysian judiciary). This is bad," he said.

Abdullah said the government had to do something about the negative views of the judiciary.

"The people have high hopes that the judiciary will be reformed."

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Dr. M to Blame Too

I refer to the recent report in the Star, entitled, 'Zam: Dr M to blame, too'. I think this is not right. The article was written with regards to the matters that Dr. M had said leading to the election. It was alleged that this had also contributed to the less than favourable election results.

That may be true to a certain extent. For all things said, Dr. M is entitled to say what he thinks. It is easy to blame someone else for one's own failures.

However, I can't recall anybody in BN, be in Umno, MCA, MIC etc., that had really said to Dr. M, 'Thank you very much for leading us repeatedly to victory' during those earlier days when BN had a bigger share of the election constituencies. Only when things did not really work out well, it seems that the blame culture start to set in.

Bear in mind, he is no longer the PM. Let's be fair. There are things that Dr. M did that are not so good, and there are things that he did that are good. Not all are bad, and, neither is everything good. He is only human. Nobody is perfect.

On the whole, he has contributed immensely to the development and well-being of this nation, both directly or indirectly. He was an example to others and also to the leaders of other nations. Now, just because he is an old man who may have made mistakes in the past and has (allegedly) make mistakes in the present, we forget his past achievements and condemn him?

Let us ask the person or persons who blames Dr. M for contributing to the recent BN poor election, what has he done for the nation or BN for that matter? Famous US Kennedy era saying, "Ask not what your country (or party) can do for you. Ask what can you do for your country (or party)."

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Prime Minister Promise

"The result of the elections was a strong message that i have not moved fast enough in pushing promised to undertake. . . i thank the Malaysian people for this message." said PM

MAIN THRUST OF THE PRIME MINISTER'S REFORM PROGRAMME TO HELP LOW-INCOME EARNERS:

• Curb rising prices and limit waste caused by subsidies.
• Spread economic gains to the neediest.
• Narrow income gaps between and within ethnic groups.

Hope these promises can be fulfilled.

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