The day Ronnie Liu praises Dr Mahathir

Dec 2: For decades, DAP was a chauvinist party whose raison d'être was to make life for Dr Mahathir Mohamad, when he was Umno president and the country's 4th PM, as difficult as possible. From top echelon leaders to the grassroots, they seemed dedicated to this mission. Then, after the 14th general election, Dr M became the 7th PM and the DAP his strongest supporter. Except for Ronnie Liu.  

 Ronnie Liu takes a swipe at Dr M, says Pakatan will be fine without Bersatu

Ronnie Lui hits out at Mahathir again

DAP issues show cause letter to Ronnie Liu 

Today all that changed.

Ronnie Liu puji pendirian Mahathir abu Chin Peng.

Excerpts of what Dr M said with regards to Chin Peng's ashes:

“Yes, we know the guerrillas fought a war, and they have killed many people in the war. We killed many people too. So what is the point of raising issues like this? Who are we appeasing?

“Are you telling us to pick up his remains and send him back (to Thailand)? These petty things are being dug up to cast the government in a bad light,” he said, rubbing his forehead a few times when asked to comment on the issue.  

 Dr M: Shamsiah, Rashid came back when alive, why not Chin Peng's ashes"

Recession already here, says survey

Puchong, 26 Nov: The experts, including from Bank Negara, have been telling us that 2019 won't be a recession year. Well, according to the latest survey by Nielsen, 3 out of 4 Malaysians think that our great economy is already in a Recession.

 

But it's not doomsday. Nielsen, the research firm, tells us that these Malaysians are also  optimistic that better days lie not too far ahead. Give the economy a year, at the latest, they say. It also helps that Malaysians are generally prudent spenders, according to Nielsen.

Read the entire article h e r e.

I'm no economist, but I've been having this feeling - more or less the same as the 3/4 of those surveyed by Nielsen - that we ought to start saving up for rainy days, dear Readers.


Read also:
Recession in 2019 unlikely, says economist 
Recession fears overplayed for now, says BNM 

Fight for Change now [updated]

updated 25 Nov: 
The journalist who fought for change 
FIGHT FOR CHANGE RAISES RM20K FOR JOURNALISTS' FUND

source: twentytwo13news insta

ORIGINAL article
CAUTION: There's nothing political in this posting

Journoman vs MMA pro fighter for good cause 

D-Day for Haresh Deol, deputy president of the NPC as he takes on "The Jeneral"

PJ, 23 Nov 2019: The fight takes place tonight.
If you are feeling charitable, or just curious as to what will happen when a journalist takes on  a pro MMA fighter,  just head over to the Cobra Rugby Club in Petaling Jaya.
The doors open at 5pm with some demo fights and scheduled undercards. Admission RM50.

Haresh will take on Shareh "The Jeneral" Nasrullah at 8pm.

Dilema Mahathir (and why Anwar's better half may be the Tun's best way out)

Why the hell not?

TTDI, 20 Nov: Post-Tanjung Piai, things in Dr Mahathir Mohamad's Pakatan Harapan ruling coalition have gone halter-skelter. From calls for his resignation for losing the Tg Piai by-election to Azmin Ali's clandestine meeting with so-called thieving MPs to purportedly form a "backdoor" pro-Mahathir government, the knives are out and the war drums beaten. Anwar Ibrahim's supporters are openly calling for the Old Man to gently pass on the premiership to their man. The only thing left is for Anwar himself to make Mahathir do it.

But do people REALLY want Anwar Ibrahim as Prime Minister? 

Personally, I don't think Anwar is the answer to the mess that new Malaysia has found itself in. I don't speak for the people, of course, but I've spoken to quite a few who agree that, yes, Dr Mahathir shouldn't wait until he's 104 to call it a day but, no, Anwar is not fit to be PM as he carries with himself too much baggage. Anwar  Ibrahim is part of the problem, they say. And he's an ex-convict!

But Mahathir promised that he would step down in 2-3 years!

Yes, he did give his word but after all the broken promises to the people by this Pakatan Harapan government, what does one promise to one individual matter, right?

So, he should make Azmin his successor?

Noooooo! That will lead to greater strife within PH. And, also, there's that video ...

So, who lah wei?

Therein lies Dilema Mahathir.

Foto hiasan: The book by Jalil Backer. is out now! 

People forget that we have a Deputy Prime Minister. 

Her name is Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. 

She has been an MP since 2019, is president of PKR, a major partner in the PH coalition, and the first woman DPM.

Now, why shouldn't Mahathir hand over the premiership to his deputy when he thinks we are all ready for the transition, whenever that is? Isn't that the natural - and democratic - process of transition? 

But, but ... does Wan Azizah have what it takes to be PM? 

Ronald Reagan was not brilliant but he was one of the more successful presidents in the US modern history. He had a great team of advisors. Trump thinks he is the most brilliant President of the US. Look at him now. Look at America today.

Will Anwar allow it?

I can't see how or why Anwar Ibrahim would want to oppose her appointment. Anwar, in fact, should rejoice. His wife has sacrificed so much for him and she has suffered like no other politicians' wives, because of her husband.

She's weak lah. 

She also has relatively no baggage. And, more importantly, so far she's shown to be as good a Deputy Prime Minister as Anwar was in the 90s. If not better.

But Mahathir decides, one way or another. As for us the people, a decades-old animosity is rekindling in front of our very eyes and, once it burns we can rest assured that it will burn for a long time. We will burn.

Good news for official media staff but more job cuts elsewhere likely

No job cuts ... yet

KL, 111119: No news is good news, as the old saying goes, but news of no job cuts is damn good. For we are bound to read about more layoffs and retrenchments in weeks and months to come not only for us journalists but for others, too, in government as well as the private sector. Things are so bad even the Human Resources Minsiter has finally snapped out of his denial syndrome as he admitted last week that there will. be more layoffs in the private sector this year. 

The media industry used to be quite immune to retrenchments or layoffs. Digital tech has seen to it that this is no longer the case. The closure of several news portals the last couple of years and two old dailies this year has resulted in thousands of what used to be secured employment. More will lose their jobs as revenues for media companies continue to fall. In this context, Gobind's assurance that there will be no job cuts in Bernama and RTM for now is good news, indeed. The Minister was careful not to make promises (note his liberal use of for now and not yet when making this point) but we shall take whatever good news we get, for now. 

What's important is to get the safety nets ready for those who have just lost or are about to lose their jobs. Media Prima, for example, is throwing in "career counselling" for the next batch of employees who will be laid off soon. But more needs to be done. YB Kula told Parliament last week there are some 640,000 jobs for grab, 150,000 of them created during the first nine months of this year alone. Now that's terribly, terribly good news, really.  

If only Kula can share the jobs-to-fill data with members of the public, trade unions and the Malaysian Employers Federation. Companies that are forced to lay off their workers can help those workers seek quick - even immediate - reemployment with Kula's help.

Read also

Difference between layoff and retrenchment 

30k jobs to be lost this year, said MEF in Feb 2019