MASIH ADA YANG INGKAR...

Sebagai Orang Melayu saya amat bersetuju dengan saranan calon Timbalan Presiden Umno Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin bahawa Gerakan hendaklah bertanggungjawab dengan mengambil tindakan tegas terhadap ketua wanitanya di atas kenyataan boleh mengugat hubungan parti-parti komponen Barisan Nasional serta mewujudkan suasana tegang antara kaum.

Muhyiddin telah dilaporkan oleh akhbar Berita Harian semalam sebagai berkata bahawa kenyataan Tan Lian Hoe boleh menyinggung perasaan orang Melayu dan mungkin boleh mencetuskan masalah baru.

“Sebelum ini pada mesyuarat Dewan Tertinggi BN, semua parti komponen sudah dinasihatkan supaya mengelakkan kenyataan polemik yang boleh menjejaskan keharmonian BN atau yang menyentuh sensitiviti kaum, tetapi nampaknya ada yang tidak mahu mendengar nasihat itu," katanya.

Sebelum ini juga Majlis Tertinggi Umno telah bertindak tegas terhadap Ketua Umno Bahagian Bukit Bendera Ahmad Ismail yang dikatakan telah membuat kenyataan mempertikaikan status penduduk bukan Melayu semasa kempen Pilihanraya Kecil Permatang Pauh dan Tan adalah antara mereka yang begitu bersemangat mengesa agar dikenakan tindakan tegas terhadap Ahmad. Umno yang dikatakan akur akan gesaan Gerakan telah bertindak mengantung keahlian ketua Umno bahagian itu selama tiga tahun.

Kini Tan pula dilaporkan membuat kenyataan yang antara lainnya, mempertikaikan (baca:mengungkit) status penduduk asal negara ini dengan mendakwa bahawa kaum Melayu juga pendatang seperti Cina dan India, manakala penduduk asal negara ini hanya Orang Asli.

Bunyi kenyataan itu hampir sama dengan kenyataan yang pernah dibuat oleh seorang bekas Timbalan Presiden MCA seketika dahulu yang turut mempersoalkan status masyarakat Melayu di Malaysia.

Tan yang juga Timbalan Menteri Penerangan telah dilaporkan berucap pada satu majlis secara terbuka yang mengajak ahli parti itu keluar daripada bayangan Umno sambil mendakwa selama ini mereka hanya mengikut telunjuk Umno, diherdik serta dipijak pucuk pimpinan parti tunjang pemerintahan BN itu.

Sementara itu, Utusan Malaysia melaporkan bahawa beberapa pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) hari ini membidas kenyataan pedas Tan yang mendakwa asal-usul setiap kaum di negara ini adalah sama.

Sambil meluahkan rasa kesal mereka, rata-rata NGO ketika dihubungi akhbar berkenaan menyifatkan kenyataan Tan itu tidak masuk akal dan buta sejarah, selain menyentuh sensitiviti kaum di negara ini yang dikhuatiri boleh menjejaskan keharmonian yang terjalin

Untuk rekod, Tan ialah Ahli Parlimen Gerik yang majoriti pengundinya ialah Melayu sebanyak 73.49 peratus, Cina 17.87 peratus, India 7.46 peratus dan lain-lain sebanyak 1.18 peratus.

Jumlah pengundi di P54 Gerik ialah seramai 26, 227 dan Tan menang dengan majoriti 5,573 setelah memperolehi 12, 526 undi menewaskan calon PAS yang mendapat 6,953 undi.

Sebelum Pilihanraya Umum ke-12, Tan ialah Ahli Parlimen Bukit Gantang yang majoriti pengundinya juga ialah Melayu, atau sebanyak 63.48 peratus daripada jumlah pengundi 55,471 orang.

Saya ingin bertanya apakah pendirian Gerakan dalam hal ini, khususnya Koh Tsu Koon? Apakah akan ada sebarang tindakan ekoran keputusan mesyuarat Dewan Tertinggi BN seperti yang dinyatakan oleh Muhyiddin.

Bagaimana pula dengan Majlis Tertinggi Umno? Apakah akan ada tindakan terhadap mereka yang masih mengungkit status Melayu di negara ini? Ataupun perkara ini akan hanya dibiarkan senyap dan berlalu begitu sahaja lantaran sikap "tolak ansur" (baca:depa dok tolak, kita dok ansoq pi) yang agak terkenal di dalam Umno?

Apakah pula reaksi para panglima Umno? Mereka sedang bergelut dan menanti pencalonan untuk jawatan Majlis Tertinggi. Apakah bagi mereka perkara ini enteng sahaja?

HAIL THE CHIEF...

Buried at almost the end of the New Straits Times’ page one story was this quote of the out-going Prime Minister Abdullah Haji Ahmad : "I am the last of the Tun Razak generation (referring to the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the second prime minister).

“After this there will be no more. Razak's son will lead the new government."

So, bearing any last minute hiccup or unforeseen circumstances, it is already out of harm's way to say that Mohd Najib Abdul Razak will be the next and sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

With his ascension, the so-called RAHMAN theory will definitely come full circle and for a closure. Many believe that there is a certain theory but others saw it as a mere coincidence.

For years politicians have been saying about RAHMAN -- a particular supposition that represented the first alphabet of Malaysian prime ministers beginning from Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj which is R. Abdul Razak Hussein is A while H is Hussien Onn and M is conspicuously Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The letter A, the say was originally meant for a particular Umno politician who fell from grace but was replaced by another whose name’s first alphabet is also A, which is Abdullah.

And N, they say is unambiguously Najib.

A few months ago, some Umno politicians were contemplating that the theorem was actually RAHMAT or blessing instead of RAHMAN. If RAHMAT is to be considered then a certain senior politician in Umno whose first alphabet in his name will be in a striking distance to the throne.

However, as the curtains were lowered yesterday at the 39th Floor of Menara Dato’ Onn of the Putra World Trade Center, RAHMAN seemed to be the right theory after all, for now.

p.s. Does anyone know who owns a certain Negri Sembilan vehicle registration number NAJ 18?

PERJUANGAN SUDAH SELESAI...

Perjuangan Sudah Selesai...Perjuangan Sudah Berakhir...Perjuangan Sudah Tammat ... Oktober 2003 - Mac 2009

JANGANLAH CUBA MEMAKAI BAJU ORANG LAIN...

Ahli Majlis Tertinggi UMNO Dr Rais Yatim dilaporkan telah tertawa besar apabila Ketua Umno Bahagian Pulai NurJazlan Mohamed menawarkan diri untuk bertanding jawatan Timbalan Presiden pada pemilihan jawatan Disember ini.

Sambil melahirkan rasa terkejut dengan minat mendadak ahli-ahli parti terhadap jawatan nombor dua itu, Ketua Umno Bahagian Jelebu itu menambah: “Mereka seharusnya tahu mengukur baju di badan sendiri”.

Sehingga ini kenyataan Rais adalah yang paling rasional dan sesuai untuk mententeramkan keadaan dalam parti yang disifatkan beliau sebagai sudah kelam-kabut dan mencemaskan UMNO kerana mereka yang kelak terpilih sebagai Timbalan Presiden adalah bakal Perdana Menteri.

“Seharusnya mereka ini sudah masak pengalaman serta terlatih sebagai pemimpin parti dan negara,” katanya yang dipetik oleh Utusan Malaysia hari ini, 7 Oktober 2008.

Saya tidak salahkan beliau yang tertawa dengan perkembangan ini, malahan ramai juga orang parti yang tersengih, tersenyum sumbing dan bersikap sinikal akan tawaran NurJazlan, 42, yang juga Ahli Parlimen Pulai, Johor.

Barangkali komen Rais begitu tepat pada masanya kerana sekiranya tidak dikejutkan daripada angan-angan mereka mungkin ramai lagi ahli Umno akan menawarkan diri untuk jawatan parti tanpa mengambilkira kemampuan diri atau sepertimana dikatakan beliau sebagai “tidak mengukur baju di badan sendiri”.

Beliau adalah antara orang lama dalam Umno dan politik Malaysia, antara menteri besar paling muda pernah diketengahkan oleh parti, antara orang politik yang berprinsip, antara menteri yang berpendidikan tinggi dan antara mereka yang terbabit dalam Pertembungan Besar 1987, kemudiannya berpolitik sebagai Timbalan Presiden Parti Melayu Semangat 46 dan kini lebih sedekad kembali berjuang bersama Umno kerana masih Orang Umno.

Saya bersetuju dengan Rais mengenai ukuran kemampuan diri dan ingin menambah “janganlah cuba pakai baju orang lain” dalam soal kepimpinan Umno dan negara.

Disebabkan telah menjangka akan berlakunya perkembangan ini maka saya telah dalam posting sebelum ini menyarankan agar kouta pertandingan sebagai syarat utama ke pemilihan jawatan tinggi dalam Umno dikekalkan untuk memelihara parti.

Sekiranya tidak ada kouta, sesiapa sahaja yang merasakan beliau layak bertanding akan menawarkan diri (dengan hanya dua pencalonan) dan ini dibenarkan dalam Perlembagaan Umno. Sudahpun ada seorang ketua cawangan Umno yang menawarkan diri untuk jawatan Naib Presiden!

Daripada sudut Perlembagaan Umno, NurJazlan, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Mohd Ali Rustam dan sesiapa sahaja layak bertanding akan namun apakah tawaran-tawaran itu bersesuaian dengan selera perwakilan bahagian yang akan mula membuat pencalonan apabila persidangan mereka bermula minggu ini?

Sekiranya tidak ada lagi kouta maka akan berlakulah cacamarba dalam Umno apabila sesiapa sahaja yang merasakan layak akan menawarkan diri tanpa mengambilkira kriteria-kriteria lain sebagai seorang pemimpin tertinggi parti.

Disebabkan pintu banjir (floodgate) telah dibuka lantaran ingin menyegarkan demokrasi dalam Umno maka akan ramai lagi akan menawarkan diri untuk jawatan-jawatan Ketua Pemuda, Ketua Wanita, Ketua Puteri, Ahli Majlis Tertinggi (25 orang), Naib Presiden (3 orang), Timbalan Presiden dan Presiden Umno.

Seperti kata negarawan Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad: “sistem demokrasi tidaklah sempurna akan tetapi ia adalah yang paling baik untuk ketika ini”.

Namun apakah demokrasi juga menghalalkan kita memakai baju orang lain yang tidak padan dan langsung tidak muat untuk kita?

IS IT STILL A REAL BALIK KAMPONG?...

Balik kampong for Aidilfitri is a time-honored custom and in the words of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad it is a great tradition.

“It helps renew our ties and relationship with other members of our parent's family and relatives. And if we really come from the kampongs, it would remind us of our past, our bucolic antecedents and the simple life that we lead,” the statesman said in his blog, www.chedet.com.my/.

Many of us have taken this (balik kampong) journey before and many will during festive seasons and this custom which was at times only confined to the Malay-Muslim folks was now being emulated by our Malaysian Chinese and Indians. Thesedays Chinese and Hindus balik kampong for The Chinese New Year and Deepavali respectively.

For us northerners it used to be a very long balik kampong to Kedah, Perlis and Pulau Pinang. We were used to a grueling 10-hour drive or more those days through the old trunk road including along the notorious bends and dangerous stretches. The balik kampong of the old days was like annual pilgrimages with various stops for rest, eating home-made food and prayers.

Now with a stable highway, we could reach Alor Setar in a matter of 5 hours of driving, plus a half hour to an hour’s extra time should the number of vehicles multipy. The stops at the rest and recreation areas are more comfortable with all the basic amenities available.

There was a time when I had to take more than one type of ride to from Kuala Lumpur to Alor Setar for Aidilfitri. It was a bus ride from my college in Sungei Besi to Puduraya and then another bus to Kuala Lumpur’s main railway station and then a long train ride to Butterworth. Subsequently I was among those in a crowded bus from Butterworth to Alor Setar and finally a private taxi to my kampong in Anakbukit, some 5 km from the state capital. The ride was easily more than 12 hours.

However, did we really have a balik kampong like we used to? Or our custom has changed tremendously over the years due to the rapid development taking place around us? Is it still the same balik kampong?

I cannot answer for all but for me my balik kampong is no longer like it used to be, especially in the 1970s.

Firstly, the kampong I used to grow up in is no longer around. In its place is the new Kedah State Government Administrative Center, a smaller version of Putrajaya in the north of Alor Setar. It used to be the National Padi Board or LPN’s headquarters and its rice mills located just besides our paddy-planting kampong.

In front of the kampong is the Darulaman Highway linking Alor Setar and Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzzam Shah Airport. Just a km away from my kampong is the ever-famous Pondok Maharizan, the Alor Setar's home of Dr Mahathir.

The real kampong I was born in had for many years taken over by a large Buddhist temple complete with its complex next to the Teluk Wanjah roundabout in downtown Alor Setar. So my origins were, in a way written-off. I was born here and grew up in Anakbukit and then our family migrated to Kuala Lumpur while my present residence is in Mergong and my family house is in Taman Sri Gombak, Kuala Lumpur.

Secondly, the old kampong folks were not there anymore, deceased. And thirdly, we brought back all our daily lives in Kuala Lumpur and elsewhere to our kampongs just to make sure that the kampong environment did not deprive us of all our pleasures in life and one of these is the satellite television!

In a way it is not really a balik kampong of sort, we just bring back our lives to our kampongs.

With us will be our handphones, Blackberry, iPads, laptops and whatnots. In some which appeared to be extreme cases, we bring back our stand fan since “Tokwan’s house is a little bit warm for our kids, bla bla bla”, our liquid soap and other effects simply to make our lives in the kampongs bearable.

We have forgotten that we did grew up there under different circumstances (read:with a little hardship) but since we are well-to-do now we now could not tolerate anything less than what we have back in Kuala Lumpur.

I knew of a kampong mate whose family had to stay in air-conditioned hotel room in the state capital while being back in Alor Setar for Aidilfitri! It was his wife and the kids who could not adapt to the kampong’s live, being a daugther of a rich family. Others will be busy looking for a wireless hotspots just to be connected (and not wanting to miss the latest news) forgetting that our balik kampong tradition was to actually get away from our busy lives in Kuala Lumpur.

Or did we?

But our biggest sin is bringing back the famous Kuala Lumpur traffic snarls to our kampongs. The traffic congestion was transferred from Kuala Lumpur to Alor Setar, Kangar and Ipoh during these festive occasions.

There was even a queue getting out from the mesjid after performing the Aidilfitri prayers and again another congestion along Jalan Ibrahim on our way to the famous Pekan Rabu for last minute Raya shopping. It was a problem finding a parking space outside.

In a nutshell, the good old Alor Setar my kampong is not the same anymore, taken over by Alor Setar the city.

During Aidilfitri we are supposed to visits relatives around our kampong but these days the various television programmes, the must-see shows had taken over our routine. So, we are stuck in front of the black box for hours until its time for bath and meal.

I cannot be saying that Alor Setar is my kampong anymore because this is where I am staying now for the dictum balik kampong is traveling from one’s house to the family’s house for the festive occasion. Technically, I am right here in my kampong. My family’s house is in Meru Heights, Ipoh which at anytime did not resemble at all any kampong surroundings but that is where we come back to for Aidilfitri and others.

The only kampong that I have now is my wife’s kampong in Kampung Kubang, Nilai, Negri Sembilan which is about a 45 minutes’ drive from our house in Kuala Lumpur. It is still a kampong with all its values and virtues but traveling under an hour to reach our kampong is hardly a balik kampong journey, perhaps maybe to my Kuala Lumpur-bred boys as the only kampong they knew is that of my wife’s.

This is were they will find durian trees (but no longer growing fruits) as well as other trees behind the good old house and there is a stream a few metres from the house to really make up the original kampong environment.

But elsewhere around Nilai development is really taking shape and is poised to turn this once sleeping hollow into a major growth center in Negri Sembilan. In less than half hour we could reach the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and lesser than that, the Low Cost Carrier Terminal.

It is just a 20 minutes drive to the Sepang International Circuit, home of our F1.

On the other side of the town is the famous Nilai 3, the new fabric center among our Malaysian housewives while there are a few hotels around this town should the kampong life is a little bit unbearable. Nilai also boasts of having among the most strategically planned and organized housing complexes around the country with the ubiquitous presence of a hypermarket to serve all and sundry in this part of the country.

So, is this the kampong we are talking about?

Part of this article appeared in Metro section, The Star newspaper today, Oct 6, 2008.

POST AIDILFITRI SNIPPETS...

THINGS TO DO AFTER AIDILFITRI...

1.Brunch at Nasi Kandar Yaseen - Status:Done

2.Lunch at Nasi Kandar Yaseen - second round (in the works, maybe tomorrow)

3.Eat Mee Rebus Penang at Taman Selera Melawati (kedai Mail Mee Rebus yang ada cawangan di Bandar Baru Sentul, tak pun kedai Hamid Mee Rebus). Status:Coming Soon

4.Pasembor or Pasemboq at Jalan Ampang Hilir. Status:Coming Soon

5.Nasi Beriani at Restoran Bismillah, Jalan Semarak. The joint is located right in front of Wisma Tanah and very near to the entrance of a Telekom Malaysia College. Status:Must Do

6.Hari Raya visits to friends and relatives in Kuala Lumpur...Status:Post-Aidilfitri tradition...


UMNO'S SUPREME COUNCIL POSITIONS...

Things are really hotting up in the run-up to the December party polls...with a few surprises, what more with supreme council member Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's announcement to offer himself as a deputy presidential candidate. Ali Rustam followed suit and Muhammad Muhd Taib is expected to be the next.

At this point of time, these party leaders can only offer themselves as a candidate because it is the divisions which will decide whom they want to nominate for the positions. The leaders will have to wait until October 10 when the divisions began their meetings.

With these announcements, premature ones included, it would safely means that it is the beginning of the end of the party president Abdullah Haji Ahmad. Otherwise the other leaders will not have the guts to openly state their intentions towards the higher post (the deputy president in particular due to the expected vacancy).

On the other hand, words got around the open houses that a list of a so-called "Dream Team" has emerged. Those listed in the team are:

1.President: Najib Razak
2.Deputy President: Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin

Vice-Presidents:
1.Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
2.Mohd Shafie Apdal
3.Hishamuddin Hussein

Youth Chief: Mukhriz Mahathir
Wanita Chief: Shahrizat Abdul Jalil while the prefered candidate for the Puteri's chief has yet to be decided.

And since Zahid has decided to break from the ranks, they said, the list has now been altered with another name. The new list for the Vice-Presidents is:

1.Mohd Shafie Apdal
2.Hishamuddin Hussein
3.Dr Rais Yatim


BALIK KAMPUNG...

It is a time-honoured tradition and my family was part of the exodus from Kuala Lumpur. However our balik kampung ride was only around 45 minutes or so since my wife's kampung is in Nilai, just after the Selangor-Negri Sembilan border. My kampung in Alor Setar is set for Aidiladha.

My wife's Kampung Kubang in Nilai was very much a kampung with all its values and virtues intact even after all these while and even with the agressive developments taking shape around this satellite township. Nilai is poised to be major growth center in Negri Sembilan.

However, we didn't actually balik kampung per say, we just transfered our lives to the kampung, hence not a really balik kampung's balik kampung. It was so because we brought back our handphones, Blackberry and laptops and most evil of all -- we brought the traffic snarls from Kuala Lumpur to our kampungs! There was even a congestion while going out of the mesjid after the Aildilfitri prayers and again when waiting for roti canai breakfast on the second day of Raya.

SALAM AIDILFITRI...MINA AIDIL WALFAIZIN...