A small number of Malaysians -- amend it to a "substantial" number -- remain frozen in a mode of denial. And if thou be Miss Patience, who is also Mr/Ms Virtuous, I will reward thee wit' a witty quote on the Malaysian DENIAL SYNDROME. As they say on radio, Stay tuned:)
Lately, not belatedly, I have been interacting with Dr Lim Teck Ghee quite a bit, or byte, mainly because I helped him carry several stacks of the TIME FOR CHANGE handbill for distribution to Candidates who believed in the mission for Change, for the Better of course.Or worse if those who are now put into positions for power do not use the Agency for Change in the manner and spirit intended by the Planners, Backroom workers and campaigners. And believe me, it's people like Teck Ghee who worked behind the scenes mostly, but making those occasional, precious public appearances at the right venue, right time, who make a difference.
I now turn to a QUALIFICATION of a point made by the esteemed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Not when the word "esteemed" is used by Desi, it's accorded that status because of the position the man occupies -- and citizens of Malaysia must surely agree the country's Chief Executive Officer's post is the msot esteemed of them all. I would like to sit there if God wills it, let's not be too modest about such matters.
Reprising from yesterday's post "Point made, Point Taken, Point Qualified", to wit:
MAIN THRUST OF THE PRIMEMINISTER'S REFORMPROGRAMME TO HELP LOW-INCOME EARNERS:
+ Curb rising prices and limit waste caused by *subsidies.
+ Spread economic gains to the neediest.
+ narrow income gaps between and within ethnic groups.
DESIDERATA: That *Point qualified must mean the *subsidies include the wastages and seepages, loot from day-robbery from Monsoon cuppas and robber barony from the infamous and similar PKFZones -- accruing to UMNOputra and **super-Bumi OLIGARCHS (I like this BIG word since I learnt its true meaning at Doc Mave's maverickysm.blogspot.com two years ago!:), MCA and MIC and East Malaysian BN minors and a whle retinue of BN and non-BN (taking care of IPF, Kimma and MIUP, remember?) lackeys and ball-carriers and law-breakers like (late) Zakaria Mat Deros and wan (not late) Muhammad s/o Muhammad, et al.
BUT EVEN UMNO MEMBERS, and leaders, CAN CHANGE.
At least theoretically, as witnessed by Pak Lah, ex-Mr Nice Guy's, confession, to wit (again, from my Post yesterday, when all my troubles seemed so far away...):
Internet served a painful lesson
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Barisan Nasional lost the online war in the general election.
"We didn't think it was important. It was a serious misjudgment," he said at the opening of Invest Malaysia 2008.
"We thought that the newspapers, the print media, the television were important but young people were looking at text messages and blogs."
DESIDERATA: The process of CHANGE starts with identifying the problem, admitting its commission, and the realisation that something must be done about it.
The UMNO chief-cum-PM has at least identified a big problem relating to its "misjudgment" of the impact of the new media. He realised he must tackle the problem -- but does he have the political will? Or rather, does UMNO, the BIG BRO in the 14-member Barisan Nasional -- looks like dwindling in numbers...-- have the polictical resolve to take a quantum leap in political survival and relevance in changed and changing times?
Frankly, I prefer he UMNO continu to live with its "denial syndrome".
Yes, here's an example of its symptom:
The UMNO information chief, Muhammad s/o Muhammad, rewarded with a Senatorship and then a Ministership, had announced on Tuesday that the party election mighht be postponed to next year after several division leaders met the party president and decided to call for the polls to be deferred to avoid "havoc and disaster".
The highlight (thus BOLDED) is mine ~~ Desi, but I am no UMNO member, so I shall quote a State leader to demonstrate my thesis today that "EVEN UMNO MINDS ARE CAPABLE OF CHANGE".
From the Star 27 March 2008, page N10:
To wit 2:
Thumbs-down for polls delay
SEREMBAN: Several UMNO leaders have expressed reservations over the proposal to postpone the UMNO party elections to next year.
:
:
:
DESI: And the "leaders" include Supreme Council member and NS UMNO chairman Mohamad Hasan, also BTW, my Negri of Nine States' Menteri Besar, hence he's by definition, the chiefest of damned awe!
And one bold Ipoh Barat acting youth chief Ahmad Faizal Azumu questioned how it was possible for the state liaison committees including Perak UMNO to make such a decision (to postpone party elections) without getting the mandate from the divisions first.
"Is it to save the party from disaster or to save some individual?" he asked.
Desi's party shot: Dear Umno -- or should it read DIRE UMNO? -- may you continue to live in interesting times!
UPDATEd @10.37AM, when Miss Patience turned up at the door wit' the Posttman, the bell did ring twice, so I remember to gift Thee thus, especially all ye Bloggers now that the Esteemed PM has elevated to a higher market value-chain!:~~ To dim witlustknot:)
From Dr Lim Tech Ghee's presentation to young lawyers in Jan 2007, two extracts:
Imagine Malaysia without the NEP
The Malaysian Denial Sydrome
Deeply ingrained in Malaysia'spolitical culture
is a remarkable propensity to shy
away from the truth, to cover up,
to run for cover, to resist the impulse
for accountability. It's Alice again:
"the more things change, the more
they remain the same -- and get worse."
C'est la vie!
Factors Accounting for Denial/Feel GoodSyndrome/Culture
> Prevalance of sycophancy/"bodekism"
* Rise of professional apologists for the system
> Fear and apathy culture deeply embedded
> Enormous reach of power structure o ensure
compliance and passivity
* Cronyism; handouts; subsidies
> Subservient and manipulated media
Desi: Dear ER, PLEASE NOTE THE LAST POINT: > Subservient and manipulated media;
Surely the "media" referred to would portend the new media too, including Bloggers' citizen journalism, falling victim to manipulation and subservience.
So walk the talk, you blardy bloggers! Stop bragging and bull-shitting.
Leave Desi alone, I want just my tehtarik and three toppings of Skippy on my french toast, wit'out the cap.
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