Malaysia's Elections 2008 (Before, During & After)

[Brian]

Why MCA?
YouTube - Why MCA

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by Brian

Why MCA?
YouTube - Why MCA

ROTFL!! That's HILARIOUS!!!

[Adrian Wong]

Odd how they suddenly changed their tune and say that there will no longer be any raise in petrol prices...

Not that I don't appreciate it!

No change in prices of petrol and gas for now

KUALA LUMPUR (BERNAMA): Fuel and gas prices will remain unchanged, the government said.

"Whatever the present price, we have to live with it," Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said yesterday at the Invest Malaysia 2008 conference.

As for the price of gas, Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said: "There is no decision to increase gas price at this point of time.

"If there is an increase, we will not do anything to squeeze Tenaga Nasional Bhd. Why should we?" he said when asked whether Petronas would increase the price of gas.

Turning to the economic outlook, Nor Mohamed said although the growth target was 6-6.5 per cent, "I think that the 6.5 per cent level is difficult at present but around six per cent or slightly lower is possible".

Nevertheless, he said the economy was fundamentally strong.

"We have diversified our economy. We have a strongly growing consumption sector and our domestic and foreign investments are also doing very well.

"We still think growth is significant going forward," he said in response to questions whether the sluggish global economic scenario would impact the Malaysian economy.

As for subsidies to narrow the income gap, Nor Mohamed said: "We are working out a better and more efficient use of the subsidies." - NST

If they are trying to court the public's hearts, I think it's a little too late.

[Adrian Wong]

Badawi lost yet another battle with the royal families. LOL!! First Perlis, now Terengganu. He's really being kicked on his ass so much, his diapers have probably leaked quite a few times now.

Ahmad Said stays Mentri Besar

KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 – This decision was reached during a meeting between Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin at the Istana this morning. There is a possibility that another Umno assemblyman could be appointed as the deputy mentri or an advisor to the MB, a concession by the royal household to the government.
But whichever way you look at it, Abdullah’s band of critics will put the score as 2-0.

His choices of candidates in Perlis – Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim and Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh – were both rebuffed by the Malay Rulers in both states. Coming so soon after the electoral reverses suffered by the Barisan Nasional on March 8, this climb down is bound to fuel renewed speculation over his position as the Umno president, and as the PM.

It remains to be seen whether Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah or Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be able to ride on any groundswell of discontent over Abdullah’s handling of these two events.

The Malaysian Insider has learnt that Abdullah’s meeting with the King was cordial, with the Prime Minister apologising for the public spat over the appointment of the mentri besar. He explained that there was no intention to disparage or humiliate the royal household.

He offered Datuk Mohamed Awang Tera as a compromise candidate but the Sultan made it clear that he would not budge from his choice of Ahmad Said.

Several people familiar with details of the meeting said Sultan Mizan said that he had no intention of causing problems for the government, and also added that some people were trying to convince him to take more drastic action to break the impasse. But it was not his intention to stoke the fire, he said.

Over the past few days, there has been talk that the royal household would be prepared to dissolve the state assembly if there had been a motion of no-confidence against Ahmad Said by the 22 Umno state assemblymen.

Palace sources have said that the Sultan, who is also the Malaysian King, made known his disapproval of Idris to the government late last year. He listed down episodes and policies which had displeased him and was clear that he would not accept Idris’ return as the mentri besar.

For Abdullah, this was a difficult situation from the word go. He had to support Idris as the MB. By all accounts, Idris has the backing of Umno assemblymen and was instrumental in delivering the state back to the BN in a difficult election. Not giving his backing to Idris could have been interpreted by the Umno ground as the act of an ungrateful and weak leader.

But going up against the palace was also a strategy fraught with minefields. Abdullah needed to take a hard stance against an “interfering’’ palace to send a signal that despite a diminished mandate, he and the BN were still in control. He also needed to show his Umno troops that he would look after their interests in the new Malaysia, where there appears to be several power centres emerging.

What he did not factor in was the amount of animosity the Sultan and members of his household had against Idris, their willingness to put up with a bashing in the media and their conviction to stick to their their game plan for the long haul.

Finally, Abdullah ran out of time. And options. - THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

[Adrian Wong]

Isn't it funny just how vindictive AND childish BN officials can be?

Penang school heads told not to invite State Govt leaders as VIPs

School heads in Penang have been instructed or “advised” not to invite State Government leaders and other elected representatives in Penang as VIPs and guests-of-honour. The message was conveyed during a briefing last Wednesday by a senior official from the Penang Education Department, which comes under the federal-level Education Ministry.

The directive/”advice” to play on the safe-side was made verbally (and not in writing), according to a principal of a school in Penang and confirmed by another senior staff member from the same school. They were understandably indignant at the ruling.

This just shows the kind of small-mindedness among certain Education Dept/Ministry officials. I believe even DAP-PKR state assembly members who are not holding exco posts may now not be invited as VIPs/guests-of-honour to schools.

Take a look at this year’s Penang Schools Sports Council (MSSPP) meet, which is opening today in Batu Kawan and closing on Friday. The Penang school sports meet traditionally has been officially opened by the Governor of Penang and closed by the Penang Chief Minister. But this time around, my second source said that the invitation cards issued to schools indicates that the closing ceremony will be officiated by the State Education Director.

I wonder if there is a similar ruling/”advice” in the other four opposition-controlled states. Perhaps readers of this blog who are school heads can tell us.

But I think there is a silver lining. This directive will, unwittingly, give the new Penang State Government leaders more time to spend on running the state efficiently, instead of wasting time officiating at routine school functions. Though I am sure the Education Department officials did not have that in mind!

Now, the question is, will USM officials follow suit and avoid State Government leaders like the plague?

Umno wants village heads to quit

Although the Barisan Nasional-appointed village heads in Perak are allowed to stay on the job until the end of the year, their chief has asked them to resign.

The president of the state village heads committee, Sukiman Jalil, said he received the consent of former menteri besar Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali, who is also the state Umno liaison head, on March 21 to speak to the 814 village heads and get them to quit.

Sukiman said all Umno division chiefs had also agreed to the move.

"All village heads are Umno members and were appointed by the previous administration under Tajol Rosli.

"Now we have Pas, Keadilan and DAP in the new state government and it is definitely not appropriate for the BN-appointed village heads to remain in their positions or to co-operate with them," he said yesterday.

Sukiman, who was speaking to a gathering of 50 village heads from the Kinta district, called on them to resign to "save the honour of the village heads and Umno".

"It is better for all of us to resign than being instructed to do so by the new state government," he said.

He said the committee would collect the resignation letters by Saturday and hand them over to Menteri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin on Sunday, adding that the resignations would take effect on May 1.

"In the meantime, please do not attend any functions organised by the new state government even if they invite you," Sukiman told the gathering.

He said his committee would meet Rural and Regional Development Minister Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib to discuss the issue of allowances.

Sukiman said the committee would ask the federal government to continue paying RM600 in allowances to all the BN-appointed village heads in the state even after their resignations.

It was reported yesterday that Nizar promised the village heads and penghulu in the state that they could remain in their posts until the end of the year and that no one would be forced to resign. He said the selection of new village heads would be carried out next year.

If you ever wondered if you made a mistakes NOT electing them, I think you can rest assured now that you made the right decision.

If you voted for these idiots... then I hope your eyes are opened now.

[Adrian Wong]

Here's another great editorial by Michael Backman.

Malaysia's PM pays high price to stay in power
Michael Backman, THE AGE

MALAYSIA'S hapless Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi got something right last week: he announced a radical reshuffle of his cabinet, which included dropping several ministers who had seemed untouchable. But what Abdullah got wrong was the timing. The reshuffle is about two years too late. Had he done it then, his coalition Government would not have done so badly at this month's elections. He would not now be staring into the political abyss whereby it is almost a certainty he will not be Prime Minister at the next election. It is a possibility that his party will not even be in office.

But Abdullah's new ministry is no clear-cut triumph. Two Government members named as ministers refused to serve, highlighting the sloppiness of the process of government in Malaysia. Why did Abdullah not check with them before announcing his ministry? This is the usual process in parliamentary democracies elsewhere. One, aged just 54, said he wanted to make way for a younger person. Did he sense a sinking ship?

The head of the Malaysian Chinese Association, a component of the ruling coalition, made it quite clear he didn't want to be considered for a cabinet post. He wants to spend more time watching his back. There is much bitterness in the MCA and a chance it will split.

Most interestingly, Abdullah appointed Muhammad Muhammad Taib as his Minister for Rural and Regional Development. What does such a minister do? He travels to Malaysia's more far-flung parts and hands out money for development. What he really does is to hand out contracts to politicians, their families and friends to keep them onside. This will be more important than ever now, as the ruling coalition does not have a majority of seats in Parliament drawn from peninsular Malaysia and can only rule with the support of the smaller, regionally based parties in Sarawak and Sabah states on the island of Borneo.

Muhammad Taib's job will be to fly to those states with suitcases of money to keep them onside. It's a role for which he's shown some talent.

In 1997, when chief minister of Selangor state, he was arrested at Brisbane International Airport with the equivalent of $1.26 million in currency in his luggage as he was about to board a plane for New Zealand.

Australian law requires that amounts above $5000 be declared. Muhammad Taib had no identifiable source of significant wealth and had been a lowly paid school teacher before entering politics. In addition to the cash, he and his wife were found to own property in Queensland and another six properties in New Zealand.

Muhammad Taib avoided prosecution for currency smuggling by claiming he misunderstood the customs declaration form because it was in English — a sad indictment of a former school teacher from a country where English is one of the main spoken languages.

Sabah and Sarawak hold the key to the longevity of Abdullah's Government. If the parties based there can be persuaded to leave the ruling coalition, then it will be out of office. It is for this reason that in the days after the election, opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim travelled to the two states for discussions with local politicians.

What would it take for them to change sides? No doubt Anwar gently inquired. And no doubt the answer would be no surprise.

The distribution of government contracts is the amalgam of any political coalition in Malaysia. And the principal figure when it comes to handing out contracts is the Finance Minister. It's not on account of his skills as an economist that Abdullah defied convention and made himself Finance Minister when he came to office. Indeed, I once asked a former finance minister Daim Zainuddin what he spent most of his time doing. His response was absolutely unequivocal: awarding contracts and making sure all those who politically needed pay-offs got them, took up most of his time.

What was Anwar before he was sacked from the government? He too was the finance minister. Essentially Anwar fully knows the grubby ins and outs of politics in Malaysia because, as finance minister for five years, he was the nation's chief dispenser of contracts. So in his discussions with the Sarawak and Sabah powerbrokers, he will know exactly what buttons to press and what promises to make. Don't expect high-minded principle to be behind any changes in alliances. Leopards do not change their spots, particularly when they are from Borneo.

Abdullah knows this too, which is why Muhammad Taib has returned to the ministry: Abdullah needs a bag man. The battle for Sarawak and Sabah is going to cost Malaysia dearly. Sarawak especially, which has already experienced break-neck development, will be even more resplendent with contracts and infrastructure. Its politicians will grow richer and its jungles sparser. Projects that have been put on hold suddenly will be approved.

One project, a giant dam and hydro-electric scheme, which has been on and off for at least two decades, will be one of the bargaining chips. It will net the family of the Chief Minister of Sarawak hundreds of millions of dollars in supply and construction contracts. Indeed, in August Rio Tinto signed an agreement with a company controlled by the Chief Minister's family for an aluminium smelter in Sarawak. Other foreign contractors will also find rich pickings in Sarawak and Sabah.

Its not clear who will win control of the Malaysian Parliament, but the family businesses of the politicians of Sarawak and Sabah stand to profit handsomely no matter which side is victorious.

[Adrian Wong]

Abdullah Badawi's in deep shit. Not only did his government lose FIVE states and the Federal Territory in the worst showing ever by his coalition, three of his deputy ministers have already resigned.

Anwar or Ku Li? The race is on

Raja Petra Kamarudin

TAWAU, March 27 (Bernama) -- Kalabakan Member of Parliament Datuk Ghapur Salleh relinquished his post as Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister effective yesterday. He told Bernama today that he submitted his resignation letter to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Putrajaya last night. Dismissing talk that he would hop over to the opposition, which is said to be trying to lure several MPs from Sabah and Sarawak, Ghapur, who won the seat unopposed in the March 8 general election, said he would continue to be an elected representative and Kalabakan Umno division head. He is the second MP from Sabah and the third person to resign as a federal deputy minister since the election.

Ghapur Salleh actually wanted to resign from Umno Sabah just before the 8 March 2008 general elections so that he could contest the election on a PKR ticket. Anwar Ibrahim, however, would not allow him to do so. Ghapur grumbled to his friends that all Anwar needed to do was to give the word and he, plus a few other close associates in Umno Sabah, would cross-over and contest the election under the PKR banner. Anwar, of course, had his reasons. He wanted Sabah and Sarawak to be the 'reserve team' in the event the opposition wins enough seats to form the federal government.

As it now stands, the opposition has won 82 seats in Parliament and all it needs is another 30 to give it a two-seat majority over Barisan Nasional. 30 seats would make the score 112:110, all that is needed for His Majesty to do what the Federal Constitution of Malaysia requires him to do. And what His Majesty the Agong would have to do would be to appoint a new Prime Minister from amongst any of the 222 Members of the House who, in His Majesty's opinion, commands the confidence of the majority of the Member of the House. It is certainly very 'loose' though clearly worded but the way it has been written gives enormous powers to His Majesty the Agong to interpret 'opinion', 'commands' and 'confidence' the way His Majesty sees it. Most important of all, though, is that His Majesty need not 'seek advice from the Prime Minister' but instead can exercise his 'own discretion' in arriving at 'his opinion'.

Isn't the English language just lovely? And that is what it all boils down to, so the legal eagles can just stay out of this whole thing and allow the English teachers to step in to help properly interpret what the Federal Constitution of Malaysia says -- which is written in the Queen's English anyway. And 'Queen' here refers to Elizabeth II and not Freddie Mercury who died of AIDS.

So, does Anwar have 30 Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament safely tucked away? No, he does not have 30. Instead, he has thus far 38, the majority from Sabah and Sarawak. Did you not notice Anwar flying off to Sarawak the morning of 9 March and to Sabah the following day? And rest assured it was not to buy some Iban or Dayak hats. It was to conference with the Barisan Nasional leaders from these two East Malaysian states.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi knew all this of course, as did his advisers on the fourth floor. However, instead of trying to win the hearts and minds of the East Malaysians, he antagonised them further when he offered the East Malaysian warlords just five Deputy Minister posts, and in very unimportant ministries on top of that.

Sabah and Sarawak brought in 54 Parliament seats to match the 86 from Peninsular Malaysia. Without these 54 Parliament seats from Sabah and Sarawak, Barisan Nasional would be having a mere four-seat majority over the opposition coalition of PKR, DAP and PAS -- while the popular votes garnered by Barisan Nasional would be less than half. It became slightly over half only when the Sabah and Sarawak votes were included.

20 of the 30 Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament from Sarawak have agreed to cross-over to the opposition while 16 of the 24 from Sabah will follow suit if Sarawak first takes the plunge. To start the ball rolling, Anifah Aman, brother to the Sabah Chief Minister, rejected the offer for the post of Deputy Minister and with about half a dozen or so other Sabah warlords flew off to Melbourne to meet the other warlords from Sarawak. They have been there since last week; planning, plotting and scheming their moves, which they will make when the time is right. Rest assured Anifah would not act without the consent of his brother, Musa Aman.

They will of course not make their move now. They are waiting for May 2008. By midnight of 14 April 2008, Anwar will be eligible to contest the elections and probably Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim will resign his Bandar Tun Razak seat or Zulkilfi Nordin his Kulim seat. A by-election will then be called and Anwar will of course be that PKR candidate to contest the by-election. On 5 May 2008, Parliament will be convened with Anwar now a Member of Parliament. From 7 May 2008 onwards, 82 opposition Members of Parliament will be able to table a motion of no confidence against Abdullah, supported by no less than 38 Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament, as it now stands. The 38 Members of Parliament from Barisan Nasional is of course the latest tally taken this morning. 7 May 2008 is still more than a month away and one day is a long time in politics, what more 40 days. So expect this 38 to grow further and it should not come as a surprise if the final tally is no longer just a simple majority but a resounding two-thirds majority. Will we see, therefore, Anwar finally taking office as the Sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia?

Nevertheless, while all this is going on, another candidate for the post of the Sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia is also moving very rapidly in the background. And this man is the resident of that very imposing White House-like abode along Langgak Golf.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has not been sleeping. He has been aggressively meeting hundreds of people from all over Malaysia. Even as you read this Tengku Razaleigh is hosting more than 100 Umno division and branch leaders to a sumptuous feast in his office cum home behind the United States Embassy.

Tengku Razaleigh is going a slightly different route though. While Anwar is working on a 'no confidence' vote in Parliament, Tengku Razaleigh is working on the 193 Umno divisions. And he, thus far, has 74 Umno divisions with him. He needs at least 58 nominations to be able to contest against the party President cum Prime Minister. But that is only if he wishes to contest the August 2008 party elections, which Abdullah is trying to postpone till 2009.

August 2008 is too late. 2009 even later. By then Anwar may already be Prime Minister. So Tengku Razaleigh can't afford to wait till August. He must move now. And, on 4 April 2008, Tengku Razaleigh is organising a rally at his home base in Gua Musang. If he can get more than 100 Umno divisions to attend his rally, then he can push for an EGM on 11 May 2008 whereby the party constitution can be amended to allow the 'normal' two-nomination-only to contest, just like what it is for all the other positions -- plus he probably can get a vote of no confidence against the party president passed as well.

Yes, it is certainly going to be a close race. Tengku Razaleigh will make his move on 4 April while Anwar can make his only after 14 April. Then, Anwar can make his second move after 7 May while Tengku Razaleigh will make his on 11 May.

It will be a photo-finish and a win by the nose. But whose nose will it be that will cross the finishing line first? Hey, I can't reveal all just yet. Khairy Jamaluddin and his boys are reading this too, you know. Let's first of all see if they succeed in postponing the August 2008 Umno party elections to 2009. If they fail, then Tengku Razaleigh is well-poised to become the next Prime Minister. If they succeed in postponing the party elections, well, then I suppose my money will have to be on Anwar. Did I not tell you that Malaysia is an exciting country?

Oh, and one more thing, observe what the Rulers have been doing these last three weeks since 8 March 2008 and what they will be doing these next few weeks. That should give you a good hint as to what's in store for us. In the meantime, read the following piece by Mathias Chang, which also gives us an insight into what's in store for us in the not too distant future.

[Chai]

I will know who to vote for next time.

[Adrian Wong]

More from Pete...

Elementary, my dear Watson

Raja Petra Kamarudin

More than 50 years or so ago, when I was still a baby, my mother weaned me off my bottle in quite a shattering manner, literally-speaking of course. After I finished drinking my milk, I would hurl the bottle over the cot and it would go crashing to the floor and shatter into a million pieces. In those days, milk bottles were made of glass, not of plastic like nowadays. Plastic technology, then, was not as advanced as today so bottles were made of glass -- and tins from tin, tyres from rubber, car dashboards from wood, and so on. Today, of course, nothing is original any longer and most products are manufactured from synthetic materials. Even ‘wooden’ car dashboards and faces of certain Menteri Besar are made from plastic.

The cost to replace my bottles was certainly pretty exorbitant and eventually it became cheaper to carpet the entire room to cushion the bottles when they came crashing to the floor. One day, however, my mother removed the carpet and when I threw my bottle out of my cot it hit the floor and smashed into smithereens. My mother stormed into the room and raised quite a ruckus. “That’s it,” she said, “now you have no more bottle. You will have to drink from a cup from now on.”

When it came time for my next milk routine, my mother brought my drink in a cup and I of course refused to drink it out of a cup. I wanted my bottle. My mother then reminded me that I had just smashed my bottle that very morning so I would now have to drink out of a cup or else no milk for me. It was either a cup or no milk so I reluctantly agreed to the cup. It was I, after all, who had smashed my bottle so I really had no one else to blame except myself. Eventually the cup became second nature until I discovered that there are certain drinks that are best drunk straight from a bottle. But that would be another story for another time though.

When my wife and I got our first baby, the deal was: she had carried our daughter for nine long months so it was now my turn to suffer -- I had to wake up at 3.00am to feed the baby. The first week was very tiring and I went to office the following day feeling very groggy. The second week, however, I filled the bottle with plain water and after three days or so my daughter no longer woke up in the middle of the night. She probably did not find it remunerating enough to wake up just for a drink of plain water.

There is currently quite a bit of brouhaha about the continuation of the New Economic Policy or NEP. Even ‘progressive’ Malays like Shahrir Samad, surprisingly, are of the opinion that the NEP must be retained because the Malays are not yet ready for the removal of their ‘security blanket’. I suppose, as long as you still bottle-feed the Malays, they would continue to demand it. But once the bottle is smashed or you feed them plain water, they may decide to move on and not keep clinging to their baby ways.

There are two things about the NEP. One concerns education and the other business opportunities. The education part is actually not as complex as what some make it out to be. Sure, there are certain quotas allocated to Malays while non-Malays are given a token quota. And because of the limited places in local universities, the non-Malays have to pay for their own education, in particular at overseas universities.

But does this need to be so? China has more than 1,000 universities with more than 100 in Beijing alone. Malaysia, which has only twice the population of Beijing, does not even come close to the number of Beijing universities. Based on the Beijing population to number of universities ratio, Malaysia should have at least 250 universities as opposed to less than 10% that at the present moment.

Why can’t we build more universities? We spent RM100 million to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Merdeka last August. That is one university complete with equipment, fittings, libraries, and whatnot. We spend RM300 million a year on the Terengganu Monsoon Cup. That would be another three universities a year. We are spending more than RM3 billion on the second Penang bridge. That would be about 35 universities. With savings from this, that and the other, we could have 100 new universities built over 10 years.

Yes, we do have money. It is only that the money is spent on the wrong things. According to Umno circles, Daim Zainuddin has transferred RM42 billion of our taxpayers’ money out of the country and has sunk this colossal amount into about ten banks that he owns in Africa and Eastern Europe. That RM42 billion plus all the other money that has disappeared into the pockets of Umno cronies could have built 1,000 universities, as many as they have in China though our population is just twice that of Beijing.

If our money had been well-managed and better-spent, today we would have more universities than students. We would be begging Malaysians to go to university because most of the lecture halls would be empty. Who would need the NEP? There would be no need for racial quotas. Our problem would not be about limiting places in universities so that these places could be reserved for Malays. Our problem would be about how to convince non-Malays to stop going overseas and instead go to local universities because there are just not enough students for the too many universities.

But the reality of the situation is, our money has been wasted. Billions have disappeared into the pockets of Umno warlords and their cronies. Billions have been spent on the wrong things. I have estimated that, over 30 years, Petronas has earned about RM1 trillion. One Petronas consultant tells me that I am wrong. The figure should be RM2 trillion, he says. RM1 trillion or RM2 trillion what’s the difference? Both figures are equally exorbitant.

If just part of that money had gone into building one new university a year, today Malaysia would have no less than 50 universities. They could have even built 100 universities over 30 years with RM2 trillion. And we would then no longer need to reserve places in these universities. We would no longer require racial quotas. And this means we would no longer need the NEP.

The NEP started in 1970 and has gone on for 38 years now. We started earning petroleum revenue in 1974 and have continued earning for 34 years now. But the petroleum money did not go into addressing what ails this country. And soon this petroleum money will dry up but what ails us will remain. We missed a golden opportunity to resolve our race problems with the income from the black gold. But we did not. And because of that we still need the NEP because, without the NEP, Malays would not have places in local universities.

The NEP is not just about education or places in universities, some would say. It is also about business opportunities. Sure, but is that an excuse not to solve at least half the problem; racial quotas in universities. If we solve one problem then we will have only one problem left to solve. Now, after 38 years, we still have two unresolved problems, and both involve race and racial quotas.

Okay, say that the government had solved the problem of racial quotas in local universities by building so many universities that there are no longer enough students, Malays or otherwise, to fill them up. This would still not solve the second problem of creating more business opportunities for Malays, many would argue. Actually this is not quite true. Malays have been in business since before 1969 and these Malays were actually very successful in their time.

Take Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s ex-father-in-law as one example. Mahmud Ambak was a very successful businessman, as were his peers such as Safuan, Mat Jan, HM Shah, and so on. No doubt there was only a handful of such people and you could count them on your fingers of one hand. But the numbers were beginning to grow and, in the East Coast, the Malays were involved in all types of businesses and were even beating the non-Malays on top of that.

Then came the NEP and with it came the quotas and Umnoputeras. Eventually the rent-seekers and commission agents monopolised the scene. Furthermore, you had to be an Umno warlord to obtain businesses, contracts and quotas -- so eventually your Umno membership and not your business acumen decided whether you got ahead or not. The genuine businessmen soon folded up and the Ali Babas; Umno Malays backed by Chinese towkays; took over. And what we see today are products of the NEP rather than genuine businessmen who made it because they are good in business.

The NEP killed the ‘real’ Malays. In their place emerged the Umnoputeras. Without the NEP and with a level playing field, Malays would have made it -- but only the good Malays, not the commission agents. Granted, without the NEP, there would have been fewer Malays in business. But these few Malays would have been the quality Malays. Now we have the ‘low-class’ Malays who made it only because they are Umnoputeras and for no other reason. Why play the numbers game? Why go for quantity without quality? Would it not have been better to see the birth of the Robert Kuoks, Queks and Tan Chin Tuans of the Malay community, people we could be proud of?

To say that the Malays would never reach the level of the Robert Kuoks, Queks and Tan Chin Tuans without the help of the NEP is an insult to the Malays. I, for one, believe I can make it with or without the NEP. To say I am who I am because of the NEP and that I would be nothing if not for the NEP is a great insult and I take it as an insult. I believe that without the NEP and without the unfair advantage given to the Umnoputeras there would be no ‘ceiling’ above my head and the sky would be my limit.

But alas, I need to be Umno to get ahead and I need to be an Umnoputera to get my hands on quotas, contracts and permits to make it in the business world. It is not a level playing field and unless I am prepared to play the game according to the rules of the game then I had better not bother to play at all.

The NEP is our milk bottle. But eventually we need to grow up and discard the bottle. We are now 38 years old so surely we should stop drinking from the bottle by now. But we are still being given the bottle. And the bottle is in the form of the NEP. And because of that we are still babies even at 38 years old. And our ‘mother’ tells us that we are still going to be given the bottle over the next 50 years. I will not live another 50 years. I may not even live another ten. But I shall still be offered the bottle till the day I go to my grave.

Yes, we Malays are going to die as babies. We shall never be allowed to grow up. We shall never see that bottle go crashing to the ground and getting smashed into a million pieces. And because we have never be weaned out of the bottle we shall know no other way in which to drink our milk. And we will never learn how to eat rice because we do not know how to grow and cook rice. But one day, when the ‘mother’ dies, we shall cry and cry, asking for our milk that will never come. And the baby will die when the mother dies because the baby knows no other way in which to feed itself other than waiting for the mother to bring the bottle.

That is the sad future for the Malays. Do you now know why the baby does not want the mother known as Umno to die? This is because the baby needs its daily dose of milk which only the mother can provide.