... or it is a Kelantan thing?
Lawyer turned politicians now trying to be NGO but is more cry baby, Dato Zaid Ibrahim wote an article and published by The Star yesterday.
Cry baby usually wants things their way. So does Zaid.Thus we will never see Zaid as a man whose view should ever be given serious consideration. He just wants attention.
That article came about just two days before Perkasa's Annual Conference tomorrow at the Pusat Islam in Kuala Lumpur from 8:30 AM. By the way, all PEJUANG MELAYU are invited.
The honored guest is Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. While the prince from Kelantan will be honored for his contribution to Bumiputera economy, he will be speaking on the Constitution. Not sure he will repeat his Amanah message of returning back to the spirit of the constitution as he sees it.
It will be interesting as to what Dato Ibrahim Ali will deliver in his keynote speech. Talk is his speech is about neo-liberal threat within the context of the threat to the constitution.
One side with DAP and one side with PAS. When DAP withdrew from BA and accused their poor showing, due to Semangat 46 link with PAS, he turned around to proposed late PAS President Dato Fathil Nor as opposition leader.
There is also the deal to rejoin UMNO enbloc but let's keep it under lid.
When he established Amanah, the veteran reporter described it as Ku Li trying to carry his new liberal image and blunt Perkasa.
Others within the BN coalition trying to discredit Perkasa are Khairy Jamaluddin, Dato Wee Ka Siong, Dato Dr Chua Soi Lek, Dato Nazri Aziz and Tengku Dato Adnan Mansor but more out of insecurity.
However, Perkasa under Dato Ibrahim Ali has grown from strength to strength of 500,000 members within their 4 years of official existense from the 916 day Anwar tried to overthrew the government.
Perkasa essentially displaced Pemuda UMNO as the suara pendesak. It almost camouflaged UMNO as the Malay voice till the recent empty UMNO General Assembly reverberated the Malay Agenda again to the chagrin of Omar Ong, Najib's beloved and Rasputanic adviser.
Amanah ... remained as a hodgepodge organisation of has been politicians and aspiring opposition election candidates without any grassroot support. It is not gaining traction on the ground.
The only Malay organisation that has strong and wide grassroot support is only Perkasa. The rest are too elitist to within intellectuals and upper class Malays. Old organisation like GPMS, Gapena etc have lost their independence or bought by corporate interest.
UMNO is larger in membership numbers but Perkasa has far more committed members. UMNO's commitment has to be fueled by money.
As far as Ku Li, only Ibrahim Ali can get the crowd to listen to him and revive his lost esteem. Not his Semangat 46 boys from the past, lastly not Zaid.
Zaid look up to Ku Li as an elder stateman from Kelantan when he was in and out of the party. . He is a strong supporter of Ku Li's Amanah agenda.
Ku Li knows Zaid is unrealiable and opportunistic. He had failed him before. He went to Dr Mahathir to make money. He went to Pak Lah went offered a Ministerial post.
Zaid went to Anwar when under pressure. He quit when he could not defeat Azmin. Started KITA and expectedly failed again.
One strength of Ku Li is that his friend and supporters remain loyal to him despite some being outside BN and Ku Li remain in BN. Be it Aspan Alias, Zaid Ibrahim, Tamrin, Dato Ariff and the list goes on. There are also supporters within cabinet members like Dato Ahmad Shaberry Chik.
Zaid have been endlessly whacking at Perkasa and it looks personal as he directed it specifically towards Ibrahim Ali in his columns in The Malaysian Insiders. It has come to the point that he is no more rationale but looks to seek Ku Li's affection.
He could never live with another fact that he is not well accepted in Kelantan. The Kelantanis, at least those in Kuala Krai and Pasir Mas, knows he is a son of a mamak estet in Kuala Krai. Too obvious when he tried too hard to impress "I am also Melayu" thing in his book.
He wants to show that he has made it and yearns for that that public acknowledgement. The former Presiden Peguam Islam is willing to get the acknowledgement of apostatates, liberals, LGBT and fringe groups.
Since Amanah is failing and old age is making him more obscure in UMNO, is Ku Li throwing his back on Amanah and Zaid Ibrahim?
Ibrahim had the support of Dr Mahathir in the formation of Perkasa and it has become synonymous as his activist platform. Now that he has supported Ku Li, Zaid could be feeling uneasy.
To save face, Zaid got his friends in Malaysian Insider and FMT to say that Ku Li will teach Perkasa a lesson in the spirit of constitution. Ku Li does not have the political or numerical strength to "ajar" Perkasa and he does not need to.
So what is Zaid to do now?
That makes Zaid Ibrahim's article in The Star yesterday interesting because he praised Tun Dr Mahathir:
Published: Friday December 20, 2013 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Friday December 20, 2013 MYT 7:57:11 AM
Democracy in Peril
by Datuk Zaid Ibrahim
When election results are not accepted, there can be no long-term stability.
TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad is a wise man so when he gives advice, we should not take it lightly.
He said that democracy will only work if the party that loses an election accepts the people’s decision. It is assumed here that the people have been sensible in making their choice; otherwise, there would be chaos and mayhem in the political system.
The economic cost of such chaos would be immense, as would the damage to the government machinery and national political stability.
In Malaysia, we are fortunate that, despite massive protestation of irregularities and fraud in the run-up to the last General Election, the Opposition accepted the results with equanimity. [Note: Obviously it is questionable.]
This is the kind of acceptance that in the long term will bring stability to the country whenever the electoral process is put in place. This is the real test of a democracy – whether the loser will accept the result – and this year we passed this test.
What has happened in Thailand is from another planet altogether. It should never be allowed to take root in this country.
It would be a disaster to our future as a nation if the sentiments and flawed political logic of Thailand’s Democratic Party and its cohorts were adopted here.
They demonstrated for weeks to topple the duly elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
They resorted to using all kinds of language and tactics to camouflage their true intention, which was to paralyse the Government and remove the Prime Minister from power.
Their leader Abhisit Vejjajiva is a well-educated man from a reputable university in England. That has not prevented him from wanting to topple a duly elected government and Prime Minister.
When asked why the demonstrators were acting as they did, he said the Government had broken the trust of the people.
Now this well educated man seems to think that when it suits his political agenda, there is no reason to wait for the next election for the people to reject the Prime Minister for “breaking their trust”.
They have to do it now, which means of course that Abhisit had nothing to do with bringing the people out on the streets for this purpose.
In the latest twist to this drama, this highly educated man had all his Members of Parliament resign en masse so that Parliament itself was paralysed. By so doing, he hoped Yingluck would resign and a new government would be installed.
His explanation for his actions clearly showed his thinking: he said he had to resign with all his party members because they could no longer wait for the Government to take responsibility for what it had done.
What did the Government do that was so wrong to the people of Thailand, and that was so offensive to this politician? The Government had tabled a law to give amnesty to all those who had been involved in the riots of three years ago.
It also tabled another charter to amend the composition of the Upper House, i.e. for the Senate to be elected by the people, as opposed to the present system where there are many appointees, not unlike what we have here.
Both laws were ruled by the Constitutional Court as being in violation of the Constitution and had to be withdrawn.
The Prime Minister, like any other sensible leader, withdrew the Bills and even asked the King for a personal pardon, in case he found her actions wrong and offensive.
What has since transpired in Thailand, however, reveals that in this so-called democracy, leaders who were elected by the people cannot carry out their mandate in the way they feel is for the good of the country.
With respect to the Constitutional Court, it may have been right to rule that the two laws were in violation of the Constitution, but that surely did not warrant having the people march on the streets to topple the Government.
The Thai Prime Minister does not seem to have done anything untoward. In fact, in some countries reforms are expected from leaders so that the country can move forward.
Abhisit said that he believed Parliament had violated the Constitution, and that the only way to maintain the political standard was to resign.
He may have higher standards than most of us but surely he knows that as the body of the people’s elected representatives, Parliament has a duty to legislate on any matter it thinks is appropriate.
It is for another government body – the Constitutional Court – to rule on its legality. Parliament itself does not become disrespectful or dishonoured by passing laws that ultimately run foul of the Constitution.
I am sure that Prime Minister Yingluck’s decision to dissolve Parliament and call for a snap election in February will not prevent Abhisit and his followers in Bangkok from rejecting the result of the election if he loses again.
They will not be short of reasons why Yingluck is unacceptable as Prime Minister and why yet another wave of demonstrations will be necessary.
I hope this kind of politics does not take root in our country, for the sake of our own future. We need to accept the results of the General Election, with all its imperfections and irregularities.
Having said that, we must also keep improving on election laws and processes so that people are willing to accept the results without feeling the need to take to the streets.
For this to happen, we need leaders who will honour their promise to keep this country, to keep it safe from harm and to respect the wishes of the people. The Prime Minister of Malaysia is such a leader.
>> The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own.
The column only reflects Zaid's naivety despite being involved in politics and being in the political limelight. Never mind about that.
Is Zaid now like a jilted lover trying to gain the affection of Dr Mahathir now?
The old man is not senile. In the last 24 hours, we are quite sure his memory and thinking faculty is still intact and as sharp as he ever was. He should remember the nasty Royal Commission stunt he tried on him.
However, if you ask the opinion of Bigdog, his Johorean parochialism will surface. He is likely to say this is all a Kelantan thing......... :)
* Edited: 9:30 PM