Malaysia no hope?

KL, 010917: A survey in conjunction with our country's 60th Merdeka found that most Malaysians are, actually, mighty proud to be Malaysians. 98.3 per cent of the respondents said so, to be exact [Read Bernama's Overwhelming majority are proud to be Malaysians]. Eight out of 10 said they would never leave this country for another, come rain or shine. Through thick and thin. Like me. And probably you.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 2017 : A survey conducted among the people in the run-up to National Day 2017 found that an overwhelming majority are proud to be Malaysian. 

In the study, conducted by commercial and social intelligence outfit Kajidata, 98.3 per cent of the 1,041 registered voters surveyed throughout the country stated “I’m proud to be a Malaysian”, a three perent increase compared with last year’s findings.   

Kajidata advisor Prof Datuk Seri Syed Arabi Idid told Bernama the same survey, conducted from July 10 to 18, also found that a strong patriotic fervour among Malaysians, with 80.2 per cent celebrating the National Day on Aug 31 every year, a date they considered auspicious and very meaningful to them. 

Syed Arabi, a former rector of the International Islamic University Malaysia, said the survey also found that Malaysians were well aware that unity is among the important building blocks of the nation. The survey also found 85.9 per cent of the respondents saying the Rukun Negara can serve as the guiding principles in promoting and fostering unity.   

Almost 80 per cent of the respondents also stated that they would not migrate to another country regardless of the current situation in the country, another testament of their patriotism. In the study, conducted via a telephone poll, only 12.2 per cent had indicated their intention to migrate. 

Established in 2015, Kajidata (www.kajidata.com) has the mission of effectively acquiring and seeing beyond data and unearthing actionable insights. Respondents are selected based on random stratified sampling along ethnicity, gender, age, state and national demographics to reflect public opinion on current issues with greater accuracy. – Bernama

And quite certainly for James Chai, a Malaysiakini contributor who has just returned after four years as a Malaysian student abroad. 

Sadly, instead of being welcomed home, he found himself being treated like a fool for not ditching his country. He reported:

A day after I landed in Malaysia, I followed my mother to the wet market in Petaling Jaya. The local grover asked my mother if her "bodyguard" (myself) would be going back to London to work. My mother said no.   

The grocer admonished me for coming back. “Why don’t you stay abroad and find a job there? The salary’s five times higher than what you can get here. It’s also fairer and more transparent!” There is no place for you here, he said. 

He looked into my eyes with some sympathy before relentless anger compelled him to say: "Malaysia no hope."

Read James Chai's homecoming article Choosing to return to Malaysia, with hope.

And instead of giving the likes of James Chai hope and encouragement, he gets the total opposite from supposed Malaysiakini commenters.  Our children leave because they are second class citizens here,  the Malaysiakini editorial says. 

Lim Kit Siang did not tweet what James Chai wrote about hope. The DAP big boss tweeted this:

p.s. Of course, Kit Siang's children did not leave this country and are no second class citizens. But such is the hypocrisy of most privileged Malaysians.

What is it with the Johor Palace and KJ?

TTDI, 25 Aug 2017: The Istana Johor's disdain for Khairy Jamaluddin, our Sports and Youth Minister, is not new. When KJ was just the son-in-law of then PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, he offended someone in Sultan Ibrahim's family. To this day, I am not sure what exactly happened. But back then I was somewhat close to Tunku Yem, who was the Crown Prince, so I was sometimes privy to some of things that affected Istana Pelangi and its occupants.  

I remember one day in September 2006 KJ was in Johor, in what capacity I am now not sure, and some members from the Pasir Pelangi palace were there at the same event. One of them reported to me about how arrogant KJ had been.  

I even blogged a short one on it:

Read the actual posting h e r e

That was 11 years ago, mind you. So much time to mend bridges. Or burn a few more. In the case of Sultan Yem's family and KJ, obviously the latter. I used to think it was just between the present TMJ (Tunku Ismail) and Khairy but, well, that seems no longer the case!

Sultan says Khairy's polo team "mediocre". Full report h e r e

The Sultan of Johor is a very popular man but I'm not sure if his advisors have told him that his comments on KJ and the polo team did not endear him with too many of us. Khairy may not be any good at polo, or anywhere as good as TMJ or Sultan Yem himself, or is manipulating sports for his political advancement, etc etc but let someone else say it. 

The Sultan should be above this kind of things, if you know what I mean. 

p.s. The medal tally at the time of this posting [and polo is likely to add to Malaysia's gold]:

The day Syed Saddiq made a name for his opponent

Updated 3 Sept 2017:
With Assessment of debate between Shahril Hamdan and Syed Saddiq on Economic Agenda, Azmi Arshad has written what he says his longest post ever. Why? Because he did not want one of the debaters to get away with "lies, spin, diversions and rhetoric to deceive the audience with his political agenda".


Original posting

Playing second fiddle, a rear role for Syed Saddiq

KL, 22 Aug: Watching Asia's top debater Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (in t-shirt) in action for the first time at the Malaysian Student Leaders Summit XI on Sunday, I was assured straight away that my country would be alright in the coming years. The 25-year old youth chief from Dr Mahathir Mohamad's party, made me realise that there are, actually, young Malaysians out there with the brains and the guts and the humility to lead Malaysia to greater heights. 

I'm talking, of course, about Syed Saddiq's opponent Shahril Hamdan during the debate on Sunday by The UK and Eire Council of Malaysian Students in Kuala Lumpur.  

Shahril Hamdan, a fresh revelation

I had expected young Saddiq to demolish the little-known Shahril, an Umno Youth exco member, with his legendary oratory skills. And the topic This House believes that Pakatan Harapan has a better economic agenda than Barisan Nasional was a great chance for him to shine. 

Instead, Sharil, 31, outclassed Saddiq with clarity of thoughts, simplicity of arguments, and even a bit of wit here and there. Syed Saddiq was not at all bad but the association with all those politicians (and all that hype) was showing: I thought he drowned himself and the listeners with too much political rhetorics and election promises from start to finish.

Shahril was focused and kept to the topic. Unlike the top debater, the 31-year old did not speak to impress his audience or his opponent; he was there to debate an economic issue. By Shahril's own admission, neither he nor his party were perfect. But for me, for now, that would do perfectly. 

p.s. Question now is, where will Shahril stand in GE14?

Watch the debate here 

and Q & A here

Why MACC may want to do away with the orange pyjamas altogether

Kuala Lumpur, 18 Aug: Of Isa Samad, I've written on this blog too many times, none of them with great fondness. But when photographs of this ex-Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar, ex-Felda-FGV Chairman, ex- Umno Vice President, and soon probably ex-SPAD acting Chairman splashed the front pages of the local dailies middle this week, clad in the unmistakable orange pyjamas of SPRM (the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission), I hesitated in making a posting.  The pomp and the parade ... there's something not right about the whole thing. Lawyer N. Surendran, who is also a Member of Parliament, may have a moral point here. It is not just humiliating but premature to dress Isa in that bright orange uniform and paraded him in front of the media as if he had been charged and found guilty. When, in fact, you were just producing the suspect in court for a remand order to question him further on suspicion of corrupt practices.

Anyone in this orange would look like a crook 

This is not to say that the blazer Isa had on when he was arrested by the anti-graft officers was less of an eye-sore! A sober, dark suit or batik or a Baju Melayu complete with songkok would probably have done better for his PR.

Before the arrest

I fully agree with YB Rais Yatim, the seasoned politician from Jelebu, about the need for hemah or discretion on the part of the MACC in upholding the dignity of every person they deal with:

Rarely, I am also with Akhbar Satar, the Transparency Insternational-Malaysia  president. Let Justice Takes Its Course. But the first person who should listen to his advice is Akhbar himself.  One minute he says we must always bear in mind that Isa is innocent until proven guilty. The next minute, he proclaims that Isa's arrest is a signal for the government to End political appointments in GLCs. Akhbar, moronically or not, has already found Isa guilty!

Sometimes I think Akhbar is no different from some Opposition politicians who would go out of their way to discredit MACC whenever one of theirs is taken into custody for alleged corruption is expected. To them, the Commission is doing their job only if others, preferably their political rivals, are involved. It's the childishness in these politicians that we've come to expect and which is holding the MACC back. When it suits them, they hail themselves as "friends of MACC". 

No more friends after arrest of Phee Boon Poh