Confessions, knowing, or unwitting?

When I downgraded Pak Lah's performance a few months ago from Passeable (Spellcheck, Freelunch: is there an "e"?)to Below Par, it was due to two main turning points.

Number 1. Despte the clear-cut miscreance, misconduct, and outright flouting of the law by a State Assemblyman Zakaria Mat Deros in the royal city of Port Klang, as UMNO President, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi failed to act against the offender, merely some verbal gymnastics handed out sandiwara via his God-lipped mouth and the megaphoine of the Selangor Menteri Besar Khir Toyo (who himself has several cases to answer, bt that's another storey for Citizen Nadeswaran to handle, for Desi's tired.)

Number 2. The case that broke the camel's back for Desi -- the UMNO President dished out a bous of RM600milllion to be used up in double quick time via the 200-odd UMNO division chefs, each receiving RM3million as Christmas angpow. A clear-cut case of going against his call, as the coutry's PM, to fight Corruption as high priority. MONEY POLITICS is re-defined by UMNNOputras to be in the rarefied strata beyond the normal surveillance of Anti-Corruption Agency. In which case, derobed Mohd Isa Samad has a strong case to be reinstated to his throne as senior-most UMNO Vice-President. No, Desi does NOT get any 30% conMISSion fighting for that idiot; I'm just saying What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

But these past few weeks I have done a re-rating of Pak Lah, and I'm giving him back his Passeable grade.
WHY?

I think he was able to "finally" dismiss his predecessor's, plus cronies', which count among the coterie several Bloggers too!) incessant attempts at derailment of the country's economic and socio-civil agendas. The last "nail" to the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's surrender -- knowingly or unwitingly? -- is his much-publicised initiative -- the Congresss to Crimilase War. Culmination in the much lauded (by cronies and several prominent Bloggers included) War Cimes Commission and Tribunal.
Lawyer P. Cumaraswamy gave a reeasoned rebuttal to the former PM's case, and I reproduce here only the core paragraphs featured in theSun, Feb 13, 2007, with Extract following:

Proposed war crimes tribunal a farce: Param

The proposed Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal is a farce and will make Malaysia an international laughing stock, Datuk Param Cumaraswamy said.

The former United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers noted that the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to try war crimes and genocide was agreed to by UN member states in 1998 during Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's premiership.

"If he was genuinely concerned about justice to victims of war and bringing war criminals to trial, he should have got the government to sign the Statute then. He never bothered. The government to date is not a signatory to the Statute," Param said in a statement to theSun.

He was responding to reports last week that Mahathir had mooted the formation of a war crimes tribunal at a Perdana Global Peace Organisation conference in his capacity as Perdana Leadership Foundation chairman.

Mahathir had named US President George Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Australian premier John Howard as those who should be tried for war crimes, even if the accused are not present."

___________________________________________________

Note that Desi has in a Post dated Feb 3, 2007 titled "Din Merican on his Mnetor: DR MAHATHIR", and I reprise the relevant point:

++++Why should we impeach Tun Dr. Mahathir? On what grounds? He always sought parliamentary approval and those of his Cabinet colleagues for his proposals. We, as citizens and voters, too went along with him and kept him in office for 22 years. Most sought to curry his favour while others were indifferent, or did not dare to challenge his ideas. The minority who disagreed with him felt the heat of his high office. That is politics.(Desi: This is from Din Merican's thoughts...)

Desi thinks there is ONE case which warrants Dr Mahathir's "impeachment" -- that of the Sacking of Lord President Salleh Abas and several fellow senior judges in 1988. Recently, there has been calls, especially by the Bar Council, to "review" the Case, perhaps with the establishment of a Royal Commission to thoroughly examine the Case.
I reiterate here the same call for the formation of such a Royal Commission. The panel which reviewed the Bank Bumiputra Finance debacle is a good example to emulate.
PS: I remember a three-man panel was set up to report of the BMF incident in which one Malaysian paid with his life, and most Malaysians saluted the fantastic work done by the three EMINENT MALAYSIANS, I believe we still have many such Good Men in NegaraKu.

Now to the latest confession, which can come only from a God-fearing leader, and I give credit to Pak Lah as "heading in the right direction":

From malaysia-today.net,with the highlights being Desi's, but please read also my Post Yesterday, Compare&Contrast to see if some UMNOputras are sabotaging their chief's expressed agenda and efforts.

14/02: Study shows 85% of Bumi contracts are 'Ali Baba'


(Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said tonight a study by the Works Ministry last year shows that on the average 85.37 per cent of projects secured by Bumiputera contractors goes to the other communities.

Lamenting the outcome of the study, conducted by the ministry's Entrepreneur Development Division, the prime minister said this not only foiled the government's desire to empower Bumiputera contractors but also, in a wider context, undermined the more important Bumiputera agenda to ensure the country achieved progress and stability in the long term.

"They do not want to work; do not want to learn, and give little importance to the opportunities provided by the government," he said in his speech at a dinner of the Implementation Coordination Unit of the Prime Minister's Department, here.

The text of Abdullah's speech was read out by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Abdullah said a community that lags behind must foster the realisation to change and learn to improve itself.

Abdullah said the subsidy assistance to the needy groups, whilst fulfilling the moral demands on the government, was insufficient for survival on a global level.

"This approach will only make us hope and wait for aid and subsidies. Such a mentality thrives among the people, including Bumiputera petty traders and contractors," he said.

Abdullah said the government, as a responsible one, realised that this was detrimental in terms of competition and would not empower the nation in the long term.

The prime minister said the government had to consider now how to facilitate the people who required assistance so that they could generate wealth exponentially and widely.

"Many people say that there is no shortcut to progress but I believe that is the old way of thinking. If we have to run and not walk, then we must be prepared to run.

"If we have to leap and not stride, then we must be prepared to leap provided we succeed and succeed fast," he said.

Referring to the government's move to make 2007 the year of implementation, he said that while some quarters doubted the capability of the administration he saw the government machinery being more than able to implement the programmes successfully.

He cited the implementation performance of 2006, the first year of the Ninth Malaysia Plan period, and said 90.2 per cent of the RM39.79 billion allocation had been expended.

Nevertheless, he promised that the government machinery would continue to be streamlined to ensure further improvement to the public service delivery system.

Commenting on the nation's volume of trade last year that touched RM1.069 trillion, Abdullah said it went to show that the country was moving in the right direction.

"To ensure that we do not deviate from our goal, we have to develop the sources of our strength in various spheres -- the public service delivery system, a vibrant and efficient private sector that can secure opportunities within and outside the country, and develop human capital particularly in terms of our capability and capacity," he said.

Abdullah also emphasised the importance of the Implementation Coordination Unit streamlining its strategies in monitoring the implementation of development projects to ensure that they were carried out according to plans and fulfilled the people's aspirations.

The unit should be the supervisor of all ministries and, to bring about such a situation, Abdullah said, civil service officers and staff should instil the God-fearing culture in their respective organisations.

The God-fearing culture will instil a sense of fear and caution in the government machinery, he added.

Abdullah said it was such a culture that would ensure government employees remained on the right path.

"In this extraordinary world, we want to be part of the extraordinary countries. Therefore we, as extraordinary leaders, need an extraordinary team like all of you to accomplish the tasks extraordinarily," he said.

DESI: I will still give Pak Lah the support when he is moving in the right direction, DOING THE RIGHT THING BY NEGARAKU.

I sincerely believe he's a God-fearing leader, and I take HIS WORD as a matter of trust, ala A MAN'S WORD IS HIS BOND.

I:
S:
A:men

that God bless his professed aims and objectives that they be realised.
If not, God save Malaysians from their own folly.
I just pray before the next decade is over, our masochistic tendencies have ameliorated.


The God-fearing culture will instil a sense of fear and caution in the government machinery, he added.

Abdullah said it was such a culture that would ensure government employees remained on the right path.

PS: I may even ungrade Pak Lah's performance to Good if he rises to three immediate challenges:

(1) To set up a Royal Enquiry into the Sacking of Salleh Abas and fellow judges in 1988; see if there is a case of actionale remedy against theses victims and the Perpetrator, former PM Mahathir.

(2) To refer Musa Aman's alleged corrupt acts (as documented by Raja Petra @malaysia-today.net) to the Anbti-Corruption Agency, pronto.

(3) To stop immediately such nonSENse as depicted in the following, to prevent the Bursa Malaysia being made a "laughing stock" in the world.

UMNO TO BUY INTO PECD TO OVERCOME MONEY CLAIMS PROBLEMS WITH GOVERNMNENT-LINKED PARTIES. We have enough of Bail-Outs in the 22 years before Nov 1, 2003. Can we stop the rot starting with these idiots at UMNO-PECD?

As I blogged Yesterday, from www.nst.com.my, the online edition of the New Straits Times:

"Umno set to surface in PECD.


THE United Malays National Organisation (Umno) is set to emerge as a substantial shareholder in construction firm PECD Bhd, a source said.

Umno will buy 25 per cent of PECD, a loss-making firm with a RM1.4 billion order book, a move that could help the company settle its disputes with government-related bodies."

Coincidently, JeffOoi also highlighted the above, and I had left my footprint at screenshots.com as tracked:

"jeff: I am concerned as more and more entrenchment of partisan politics with listed copanies will further erode foreigners' participation in the local bourse. The present "bullish mode" of Bursa Malaysia, even if anchored by foreign funds entry, may not be helped by such occurences of "political" linkages to smoothen any listed entity's problem resolution.

When I first read the news item, I shook my head. You mean to tell the whole wide world that UMNO's patronage, a listed Company would enjoy special preferential treatment? Isn't NEP bad enough. and now UMNO's admission to all and sundry that its patrticipation is a special ointment to oil government bureacracy and government-linked companies' bureaucrazy?

Posted by: desiderata | February 14, 2007 05:58 PM "