Chin Peng is dead

Chin Peng died in Bangkok on Sept 16 just five weeks short to his 90th birthday on Oct 21. He was, of course, the MCP leader who wanted to take over Malaya when the Japanese surrendered in 1945. During the void before the BMA was instituted, the MPAJA – the military wing of the MCP --  took reprisal actions against the Malays whom they claim sided with the Japanese during the occupation.  My uncle, Hj Othman – Eton and Wok’s grandfather -- was whisked away into the jungle in the middle of the night and had not been seen or heard of since. And, of course, I had many friends and colleagues who died in the course of duty fighting the CTs during the Emergency years 1948-60 and the second “Emergency” that followed the May 13 riots until 1989.

I can understand that the Chinese DAP supported the idea of bringing his body back for burial in Sitiawan.  He had many relatives in the DAP.  But for PAS and PKR (two Malay-based parties) to support it, saying that he was a hero fighting British colonialism, is simply stupid and unthinking; and ignorant of historical facts. Furthermore, did they not have relatives or friends in the military or police force that died or were maimed during the Emergency years because of Chin Peng? Didn’t these morons not have any feelings for the wives and children of those soldiers and policemen killed or were maimed because of Chin Peng? And Chin Peng or his real name Ong Boon Hua, was not even a Malaysian citizen!  But then the pro-Chin Peng sentiments are also being expressed even by MCA people; and worse still by PAS.  As Shamsul Akmar (The Mole Editor) said in his NST article Sunday 22 Sep 2013 “…there is no cure for imbecility.”

I am glad PM Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak is firm in not allowing even his ashes to be brought into this country. He even told them that if they are so serious about it "take us to court."

Tanda Putera

I went to see the Malay movie Tanda Putera by Datin Paduka Shuhaimi Baba the night of 4 Sep. There was so much controversy that the movie was only released for public viewing on 29 August, more than a year late.  So that made me curious, hence I must see it to verify what the fuss was all about.

It was a ‘tear jerker’ actually.  The acting was superb by the guys who played Tun Razak and Tun Dr Ismail and also the ladies that played Toh Puan Rahah and Toh Puan Nor Ashikin.  The emotions displayed in the scenes when Tun Razak was suffering his advanced leukemia was so real that even I had to wipe my eyes several times.  The movie also managed to show Tun Razak’s caring persona when in London before falling really sick, he went shopping for gifts for all his staff at the PMO and his loved ones. And Tun Razak was a caring person not only to those close to him but more so to the people and the country that he led.
Regarding the main characters, the lady who played Toh Puan Rahah had so much likeness to her; likewise the guy who played Dr Mahathir could be recognised straight away. Good casting.  The gangster CT boss’ acting was also good and believable.  He was despicable, and that meant good acting in my book.  But for the other personalities respective likeness to Hussein Onn, IGP Haniff Omar, Sardon Jubir, Harun Idris, Tunku Abd Rahman or Najib ; there were no likeness at all. And their acting efforts were also stiff at best.
On the issue of May 13 that DAP Lim Guan Eng got so riled up about, well…there were scenes of the riots with the DAP logo/posters quite prominently displayed. For those who have read the NOC report the atrocities depicted only confirm what they’d visualise from the report; but for those that have not read the report it’d appear to them as just another demo, similar to the Arab Spring demos on TV and also our own Bersih nonsense. Really it’s no big deal to worry about; it’s just a visualisation of a page of our history; unless of course you wish to dispute the historical facts. Saying that it'd incite racial tension is a load of BS.  

BTW, a good write-up on May 13 can be found here by blogger Jebat Must Die.

Merdeka 2013

It’s Medeka Day tomorrow 31st August 2013. Somehow the atmosphere is not there; at least I don’t feel it as much as when I was in service. Probably because I am not invited to any of the functions that generals get invited to. No, I am not being sour grapes. I really miss all that pomp and pageantry of parades, dressing up for dinners and such.
And certainly it was not the way I felt on the actual day 56 years ago at the Merdeka Stadium. I was there lining up the inside of the stadium as "point man."   Being senior boys of the FMC we were given this honour. As I witnessed the whole proceedings unfold before me, I felt such great pride to be part of history. I was at a position quite close to the dais where Tunku Abdul Rahman, our first Prime Minister, shouted "Merdeka, Merdeka..." seven times with the crowd shouting likewise in thunderous response. I actually felt the rush of Adrenalin and my bulu roma standing on ends. We all stood at attention watching the Jalur Gemilang, our brand new national flag being hoisted. A new nation was born; and we fought for it through military and diplomatic means. And today when it became known that some fringe lunatics led by our Poet Laureate, Dato A. Samad Said, wanted to change that flag to "Sang Saka Malaya" I felt like doing the unthinkable to this traitor.  I hope the Home Minister will take due action on this unkempt, mad 78 year old man. He and his cohort (Hishamuddin Rais and Adam Adli) that's shown in the picture above deserve to be thrown into the slammer.

Right now there’s too much going on around the world and back home that’s not to my liking.  I am disappointed with the Arabs for being so stupid to be manipulated – one after another – into the Arab Spring. I was in Cairo in May 2011 and saw the devastation to their economy. They had a free and

fair election but the losers didn't like the winners. So they demonstrated again and toppled the democratically-elected government. They are now worse off. I was in Tunisia in Dec 2012 but the Tunisians appear to a bit more sane. Libya and Yemen removed their dictators but they are not any better off. And now Syria who stubbornly resisted the onslaught, is having a civil war since March 2011 (more than 24 months already.)  And with any war, winning counts and by any means. It’s no surprise therefore that the regime would use chemical weapons; but who pushed them into it?  Who sold them the ingredients to make the nerve gas?
I had friends who went to Syria to study and lived there several years. They were full of praise of the living conditions and standards they experienced; and how friendly the people were. How come there is so much animosity now? Is it really a Sunni-Shia issue or some hidden hands at work. Remember, Al Qaeda is also fighting the Assad regime in Syria. So, is the US on the side of Al Qaeda now? I am glad the Brits have learnt their lesson with the Iraqi adventure and voted not to support the US hawks. I wonder if Obama is up to it – to resist all the hawkish noises or join the likes of George W Bush.
On the home front Anwar is making overtures to Najib. His Merdeka message was very conciliatory, excerpts thus:
“Titik pertemuan BN dan PR perlu segera dicari bagi menyelamatkan negara di samping menyeru melupakan kesalahan masing-masing sempena hari kemerdekaan negara esok,” katanya ketika menyampaikan perutusan itu di Ibu Pejabat PKR di Petaling Jaya hari ini.
Cheeky bugger.  I hope Najib won’t be so stupid to fall for this desperado tricks. Meanwhile  PAS is struggling with Shia infiltration in their ranks. And the DAP is compromising their CAT principles. Recently the government of Penang issued an “advisory” to cinemas in the state to not show the film “Tanda Putra” centred on Tun Razak and Tun Ismail’s handling of the aftermath of the May 13, 1969 tragedy which didn’t show DAP in a very good light. To top it all, the Appeal Court acquitted Azilah and Sirul from the charges of murdering Altantuya seven years ago, on a technicality. Just like Anwar got away from two sodomy cases on a technicality.
Our economy is also not doing well with the Ringgit depreciating sharply against the major currencies. With the UMNO General Assembly scheduled for late this year, Najib is not on a very strong footing. I wonder if the acronym RAHMAN is becoming a truism.

GE 13

Notice my inked finger. A bit 3rd world, but that’s what Dumbiga wanted. We could have gone biometric, we have the technology and even introduced chip-based passports to the world. So ladies, bear with it for another 5 days or so.

Ham and I went to vote today at SK Taman Ahmad Razali Ampang Jaya.  Mek and Zaki voted at KDE, Sabrina at 1Utama. Whom did I vote for?  Of course BN.  Voting for PR is simply a no-no.   Why, because these clowns simply cannot govern.  They have been given five years (2008-12) to prove themselves as a possible alternative, so that we’d have a two party system.  Regrettably, they screwed up, big time.  In the five years, instead of governing they continued to behave like the Opposition. They went on and on with their criticizing spree and “politics of hate.”  PAS hated UMNO, DAP hated the MCA/BN and PKR hated Dr Mahathir. Added to that we had some fringe lunatics like Harris Ibrahim with his ABU (Anything but UMNO) mantra

and Hishamuddin Rais with his “let’s demo” as his pastime vocation. Dumbiga and unkempt Samad Said and their motley bunch of troublemakers with their “Bersih” thingy was fuelling the rioters with unclean money from foreign NGOs. PAS is naturally hopeless, having had Kelantan for 22 years and nothing to show for it. They can’t even provide clean water. And their leaders when caught on a sex video got away being hudud-ed with the blessings of their self-appointed Murshidul ‘Am and the party president. And they call themselves an Islamic party. Shiissh.  Kedah PAS govt was in a perpetual quarrel with a faction trying to oust the MB.  They also antagonized the non-Muslims with stupid rulings, besides destroying the eco-system by rampant logging at the Pedu lake catchment area. Meantime, their own University College, KUIN, suffered a financial crisis which is yet to be solved.

DAP had Penang.  Being an offshoot of LKY’s PAP when Singapore was kicked out of the Malaysian Federation in 1965, they of course carried on with LKY’s slogan of “Malaysian Malaysia” espousing meritocracy or “winner-take-all” policy as opposed to BN’s power-sharing or “prosper thy neighbour”  policy, that has proven to work well for the last 55 years. Also the fact that their leadership perpetuates dynastic rule of the Lim’s and the Karpal’s – is quietly camouflaged when they chant their war cry of Ubah (Change) for GE 13; quite oblivious of the fact that UMNO have changed their President six times; likewise MCA and MIC.  What hypocrites.  Worst still, the CM of Penang, a parachutist from Melaka, is trying to do a Singapore in Penang by building expensive high rise condos on acquired land that’s beyond the previous owners’ (read Malay) ability to buy. As a result, they had to move out to the mainland thus facilitating a subtle ethnic cleansing exercise. And for this GE, encouraged by the perceived high Chinese support for DAP’s Ubah war cry, LKS decided to jump over to Gelang Patah in Johor. And he did win although BN fielded Dato Ghani Othman, a well-liked good-report-card Johor MB for the last 18 years. Johor Chinese are sending a dangerous message indeed.

What about PKR.  Well, this is a party belonging to the Anwar family, nepotism of the highest order – mother as President, daughter as Vice-President and father as self-appointed Ketua Umum.  By the way, isn’t it strange to see that all the three parties of the illegal PR, having their leaders – Anwar, LKS and Nik Aziz – being self-appointed instead of voted in by their party members? What a mockery they make of democracy.  Unlike PAS and DAP, PKR was cobbled up in the wake of Anwar being kicked out of UMNO in 1999 and sent to jail for corruption (abuse of power) and Sodomy (which he got away with on account of a technicality.) It’s only 14 years since but most of his stalwart supporters have left him after realizing that they were taken for a ride by his acting ability, chameleon character and low moral standing; aided and abetted by his naïve wife. It’s amazing how he could get away with things – even Sodomy II (again on a technicality) after getting his case postponed more than 60 times in the course of four years; thanks to his lawyer, the wily but highly unprincipled Karpal Singh.  PKR have no credible policies to speak off; they even said that a manifesto is not a promise and therefore no obligation to honour. Their only aim is for Anwar to be PM. Period. And if Anwar is PM, then this disparate lot could occupy Putrajaya. God forbid.

Afternote: The voters did their thing. BN won with 133 seats with PR 89. Kedah was wrested back and Perak retained. End result: DAP kept Penang, PKR kept Selangor and PAS kept Kelantan. But in terms of the popular votes, PR had 50.87% and BN 47.38% – it was a Chinese tsunami with MCA, Gerakan and SUPP trounced.  Consequently, MCA decided not to accept any govt posts, not at State, or town and even village level.  A stupid merajuk attitude. Anwar, however, who was cocksure that PR would win and he become PM chose not to accept the results saying than BN and EC cheated; citing 40,000 Bangla phantoms, blackout during vote counting, washable indelible ink and other “scripted” accusations. So he went on a nationwide “Blackout 505” demo spree, with initial heavy turnout by the Chinese. PAS and the Azmin faction of PKR stayed away.  Finally when it came for the opening of Parliament on 24 May, Anwar and gang meekly attended and took the oath as MPs. However, to save face he has instituted a court case to have the results of the GE13 declared null and void and a fresh General Election be convened.