To compare Tony Fernandez to Idris Jala is like comparing a mangosteen to a “ciku”!

Iqbal Abd Ghaffar

While scanning through my favourite non-biased free online paper, my eyes were immediately fixated to a news headline that was screaming for my attention.

It read “PAS says Tony Fernandes better than Idris Jala.”  This piece of news written by Shazwan Mustafa Kamal was interesting because PAS’s vice-presidents Datuk Haji Mahfuz Omar and Datuk Sallehuddin Ayub “told reporters today that the party is questioning the basis and criteria of Idris’ appointment, claiming that the former MAS chief executive had no record of outstanding performance in his previous job.”

They claimed what!? Idris Jala had no record of outstanding job performance in his previsou job?? I beg to differ!

Here would be my reply to Datuk HajI Mahfuz Omar and Datuk Sallehuddin Ayub.

Dear Datuk Haji Mahfuz Omar and Datuk Sallehuddin Ayub ,

First of all, your remarks about Idris Jala’s past performance before joining MAS is indespicable. You have grossly understated his ability. Talk to any of his colleagues and bosses in Royal Dutch Shell that he has served for over 20 years and you will know that he has been an excellent leader.

His greatest strength is in business turnarounds and he has successfully demonstrated and proven this with turning around the Shell Gas company in Sri Lanka. It had been operating at a loss before he stepped in. He was tasked to turn the company around, and he successfully did so in a few years. There are many more successful business turnarounds which he has delivered throughout his high flying career in Shell.

To compare Tony Fernandez to Idris Jala is like comparing a mangosteen to a “ciku”!

Idris was appointed to change and make a mammoth company full of complacency, beaurocracy, and festered with cronies and corruption that was driven by a GLC mentality profitable.

Whereas Tony Fernandez bought over an unknown AirAsia from DRB Hicom (of which was also making a loss) and made it into a profitable airline making him very wealthy in that process.

Idris Jala was handpicked by the government and tasked to make a GLC profitable of where he does not own major or minor stake in the company, while Tony Fernandzs is a business man who (with a couple of his friends) bought over AirAsia and had no choice but to make it profitable or else he’ll go bankrupt!

Now fellow VP’s of PAS, get your facts straight before lambasting and looking down upon an individual which you know little or nothing off. Please stop playing petty politics just to gain cheap political mileage. I think a large majority of Malaysians would disagree with your “hit below the belt” statement about Idris Jala.

Idrs Jala’s contribution to the organizations and companies that he served is far bigger than what you may have achieved in your party or for the country.

Regards

Iqbal Abd Ghaffar

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It goes to show how some people would go to great extents just to hit at Najib’s administration. That’s fine with me, in fact I do too! One can hit at the politicians who lead the ministries, but one should exercise extreme caution when targeting an individual that is known to have an excellent track record of delivery.

Unfortunately for Mahfuz Omar and Salahuddin Ayub, Idris Jala is a man with many excellent track records of delivery.

I applaud Najib’s move to appoint Idris Jala into his cabinet. I believe He is trying to live up to his motto of “People First, Performance Now”. The move will definitely ruffle a lot of feathers especially political warlords from the ruling BN coalition.

But I strongly feel that appointing a handful of professionals into his cabinet will not make his cabinet any more credible. Its already brimming with corrupt politicians who are more self-interested than they are of the people. If Najib is serious about “People First, Performance Now” then at least 60% of his cabinet ministers should be professionals!

To Idris Jala, I wish you all the best in implementing these KPI’s. You’ve got a great deal of work cut out for you. It won’t be an easy feat trying to get cooperation from UMNO/MCA/MIC and the other BN component party warlords to achieve their KPI. But if you are able to pull this one through and survive BN politics, you can survive almost anything.

-IAG-

Iqbal Abd Ghaffar admires both Tony Fernandez and Idris Jala for their strong business acumen and leadership qualities. He has yet to meet Idris Jala.

Iqbal Abd Ghaffar

I can still vividly recall back in August of 1997 of how almost every vehicle had stuck the Jalur Gemilang (Malaysian flag) onto their windscreen or the hood of their bike. I was only 15, staying in a boarding school. Access to outside of the school compound was only limited to weekends, and even that was limited on a fortnightly basis.

However, the site of my teacher’s and school staff’s vehicle be it a car, van, motorcycle flying the Jalur Gemilang  was a site to behold. TV news and the printed media reported the success of the “Raise The Flag” campaign that ran from the 15th of Aug – 15th Sept. Images of vehicles and homes proudly flying the flag was proudly showcased.

I was ecstatic! I was excited! My young-self then felt every vein in my body oozing with patriotism and love for the country.

The following year, the campaign changed its wording to “Kibarkan Jalur Gemilang”. Though many people did raise it, I could feel that the there was a slight reduction in participation from the public. The spirit was dampened as we were hit with the Asian financial crisis, and the Ringgit and stock market was plummeting to new lows.

The spirit of raising the flag dampened with the passing of the years. Today, finding a car flying the Jalur Gemilang is as rare as finding diamonds on the road.

The strong feeling of patriotism and love for the country that I had 12 years ago remains a distant memory.

People cite all sort of reasons for not raising the flag. Petty reasons such as, no one giving out free flags (cheap skate!) to safety reasons such as flags flying off the cars can become a missile (this argument does have merit).

Our closest neighbor (as much as we hate to admit it) by blood and history down south celebrates their independence day with vigor and pride. I haven’t experienced myself, but from what I read and gather, folks down there are patriotic about their Merdeka Day and its celebration. For every year without fail, they’ll raise their flag and fly it with pride and honor.

Citizens of the USA proudly raise the Star Spangled Banner in their homes as a display for the love of their country without fail on or before every July 4th. And they’ve been doing that since 1776!

So what has happened to the Merdeka day spirit of our fellow Malaysians? Have we really lost the pride of calling ourselves Malaysians? Are we just too distracted with fending for ourselves and our livelihoods that we are unable to express or show the gratitude towards this country in which we call home? Or have we succumb ourselves to petty politics and allowed the differences in opinions and our political stance to divide us and dampen our patriotism and love for the country.

I hate to shudder the thought of it, but the stark reality is that many Malaysians just have no clue on how to celebrate Merdeka day. They’re not sure of how to display their love for the country (even though they would like to). And a great many Malaysians are far too divided with their political stance or non-political stance that Merdeka day becomes a display of their utter disgust towards the government of the day (since the parade stand is always filled with government officials from the ruling coalition).

In my opinion, Malaysians of all creed from all walks of life should make this day a neutral day. It should be marked as a day where one remains apolitical and non-partisan. In all due respect, whatever opinions or stance you may have towards the ruling government towards the opposition, on this special day, all Malaysians should uphold the dignity and sovereignty of this land we call home.

Bask in her glory, and dignify her, and remember the struggles of our forefathers and generations that have passed of their plight to achieve independence and self rule. For since the fall of Malacca into the hands of the Portugese in 1511, this land has been under the control of foreign powers for 446 years.

Let us not allow narrow racial politics to control our emotions and thoughts. Disallow the chauvinists from every racial group who only form the minority from controlling the mainstream politics and majority of the rakyat who only want to see tolerance and harmony permeate and blossom. It serves no one any good to allow such groups to fester and penetrate into the thoughts and lives of peace-loving, multi-racial embracing, diversity-driven Malaysians of all walks of life.

In this time of confusion, let us uphold the sanctity of the constitution and look up to the Yang DiPertuan Agung for his leadership and his non-partisan stance on the politics of this country!

Selamat Menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan Yang ke-52.

-IAG-

ps: I too am guilty of not raising the Jalur Gemilang. I promise to that I will raise it next year and every year after that. Please join me and pledge to do the same.

Will The Real Karpal Please Shut Up

by Iqbal Abd Ghaffar

“Karpal To Anwar: Step Down as Pakatan Head” was the bold headline displayed on the top of the Malaysiakini news portal. 

I couldn’t help but wonder why this grand old man of DAP has to bitch things in the media everytime he’s unhappy about his counterparts in PR. It doesn’t bode really well that the BN controlled media’s radar are always tuned in to look for grouses or bad news that could be used against PR.

Yes, he is angry. Yes, he never agreed to party hopping. Yes, he is against PAS’s Islamic State and Hudud agenda. 

And yes, it is his rights to voice his opinion, but doing it openly may not be the best way to solve any crisis or issues within the PR manifold.

His actions only expose him as an emotional disgruntled old man loosing his cool easily. Aren’t older men supposed to be wiser and more patient by virtue?

His unilateral announcement to sue Sultan Azlan Shah over His Highness’ decision not to dissolve the Perak State Assembly shines a bad limelight on not only him but PR for that matter. After all, he is the DAP chairman.

Luckily, this is just his own personal point of view as other top guns and members of DAP anPRdon’t share the same sentiment and opinion as he does. Or perhaps, its just damage control.

However annoyed he is, this respected old man of Malaysian politics should learn by now that if it has anything to do with the interest of his party or the PR, fight it out internally. Don’t work towards gaining cheap and quick publicity old man.

And Anwar, can you please keep your house in order?

I think that a great many Malaysians and your supporters are not interested to hear too much of your “wife’s” or “wives”  hatred with each other openly?  We don’t want to have to take sides either. We believe in what PR stands for…so please work towards strengthening its structure and strength. -IAG-

This is one man who is both smart and evil in the same time. His rule and grip on the ountry and its institutions would be far reaching and perhaps far worse than Mahathir’s years.

BN is a Four Letter Word

by Iqbal Abd Ghaffar

Dissapointed, disgusted, and outraged is a pure understatement of what the Rakyat of Perak and Malaysia feel of the saga that has unfolded in Perak.

Perhaps not all would feel that way, but to some extent a large majority of Malaysians who support PR, are anti-BN, or are pro-BN but sympathise PR, and not forgetting the fence sitters would feel that the events that have happened were in the most dubious of manners and shrouded in doubt and secrecy.

It could well have been that the whole ordeal was orchestrated and engineered timely and precisely to every minute of the hour. It was a movie directed extremely well, with scripts prepared by the best of brains, and a cast that could stand every chance of being nominated for a grammy award.

The actions of Datuk Nasaruddin Hashim, assemblyman for Bota to jump ship from UMNO to PKR on 25th Jan may have been a coy. The coy successfully put the PR’s gaurds down as they celebrated a small victory. Probably, little were they aware that by them accepting Nasaruddin into PR’s fold, this very move gave every reason for BN to justify PR’s assemblyman to jump ship to BN.

The “I’ll get even with you” and “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” attitude prevails. 

Soon after, the ex-minister of Perak and Perak UMNO liaison and BN chief, Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli quit. Najib Razak replaced his incumbent as Perak UMNO liaison and BN Chief with immediate effect.

This was followed by two of the most corrupted, incompetent, unethical and immoral PKR assembly went missing since the 27th of Jan. Their dissapearance caused a stir as it was rumored that they were defecting to UMNO. All attempts to contact them were futile as even their family members could not even reach them.

In the same time, Jelapang Assemblywoman from DAP, Hee Yit Fong also went missing for 24 hours. Speculation and rumors went abuzz about her meeting up with the President of MCA to defect into that party. When she appeared, she only said that she turned her phone off because she was “unwell” and quashed rumors that she was leaving the party. 

The whole event came to its climax when the speaker of DUN Perak recieved two undated resignation letters from the missing Behrang and Changkat Jering Assemblyman via fax. Suddenly then, did those two men who were MIA appeared rebuking that they had resigned from their posts as assemblyman. Ironically, this was done via a represntative and not appearing by themself! What a coward!

The mess began got from bad to worse as these three ADUN’s then left their party to become independant. They went as far as becoming friendly and supportive of BN. 

The Bota Assemblyman, after completing his mission , joined UMNO again. 

This gives BN a 31 seat lead against PR’s 28. 

Datuk Nizar’s request to the Sultan of Perak for a snap election to allow the people of Perak decide on their leaders was not well recieved by the King.

His Royal Highness rejected it, and instead accepted the BN’s proposal to form a new government in Perak. One wonders why the King had done this, but I figure that this could really be related to the decision of Nizar’s government to convert lease hold land of many new villages to free hold status.

This sentiment was reflected in a speech given by his Son and crown Prince of Perak, Raja Nazrin Shah on the Islamic Economic Forum held in KL last January. He had made references of how the British, before the inception of Malaya and during the Malayan Union gave away Malay Land to the Chinese in many parts of the country. Raja Nazrin was emotional when he said this in his speech.

Coming back to today, could this have been the real reason why the wise Sultan disapproved Nizar’s request? Only he will know, but the backlash from the rakyat was something that was never expected by the Sultan. 

But whatever the reason the Sultan may have used to deny the request of the Datuk Nizar, what’s brewing for sure is a constitutional crisis.

On the one hand, the Sultan is to be fair, neutral, and uphold justice for the interest of the people and uphold the sanctity of the constitution, but on the other hand, did the Sultan live up to the expectations that he has after he and his son has positioned themselves as a champion of nuetrality and the uplholder of the constition since March 8th?

Constitutional experts have a mixed view on this as there are gray areas in the constitution that does give the right to the ruler listen or not listen to the advice of the Menteri Besar of the day.

But apart from all this, what’s most disturbing and the real focus should be on the upcoming Prime Minister in-waiting, Najib Tun Razak. 

A protege of Dr. Mahathir, he is already showing his leadership style; strong, willed, and determined; far more dictatorial then the man he is replacing. 

This is one leader that carries the most access baggage with him. He comes in with his name stilled embroiled with the Altantuya case, his commisions that he earned from the procurement of the submarines, and the latest, the toppling of a people’s government in Perak to that of the Federal’s choice of government from Putrajaya.

If there’s anything to go by, his cloak-and-dagger leadership style that was effectively and well demonstrated in the toppling of the PR government in Perak shows that he is one leader is power hungry and will stop at nothing to have things his way.

After a defeat in Permatang Pauh and Kuala Terengganu, he needed something strong to show to the UMNO warlords and its members that he is no weak leader. The Prime Minister in-waiting needed to tell his people that, he is strong, capable and not a wimp. And the UMNO warlords are happy that they have someone who can stand up to Anwar’s onslaught and grind his plans to a halt with the saga in Perak. 

This is one man who is both smart and evil in the same time. His rule and grip on the ountry and its institutions would be far reaching and perhaps far worse than Mahathir’s years.

But his show down in Perak and his onslaught to topple more PR state governments will not bode very well for everyone particularly with the more enlightened Malaysians. He is dealing with a country far more politically divided than his predecessors and his father had ever faced.

Though he may have won the battle in Perak, he has already set the stage for the imminent down fall of BN and put UMNO on a fast track to extinction. The very people that he should have worked hard to win their hearts and mind, has been cast aside for his political ambitions.  He has lost my respect and many other Malaysians as well.

Thanks to him, BN and UMNO has become a four letter word. – IAG-

I hadn’t realized that the last post on this blog was exactly 2 months ago!

A lot has happened. It wasn’t my intention to stop, I was more in a dilemma of trying to find my substance and define my writing style.

It’s easy to vent anger and write an article that’s got “I am pissed” written all over it. But then again, I guess, controversies sells better doesn’t it?

What are the core issues? What is my passion?

It’s a dilemma of what really this blog should represent. What’s its substance? What’s the pull factor or what the  marketeers would call “Unique Selling Proposition”?

One thing is clear, I don’t want this to be “just another angry political blogger” type of blog.  Nope! There’s far too many of that in cyberspace and real space.

I’ll stick to my motto “Behind the Reading Glass”. That should guide me and the readers in what this small blog really stands for.

IAG

The third scenario explores the likelihood that defections happened despite the absence of 49 BN BBC MP’s. However PR had not gained the numbers that it had boasted to form a new federal government.

Is the third scenario likely to happen? The unfolding of events in the days to come will provide us to some clues as to which of these 3 scenarios will most likely materialize.

Mass Defections: BN Thinly Holding On To Power
by Iqbal Abd Ghaffar

Kuala Lumpur, Sept 16 – The BN for the very first time in is now thinly holding on to power when 22 of its MP’s had defected to the opposition coalition led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The BN government is effectively crippled when eight of its ministers and deputy ministers also defected to Pakatan Rakyat.

PR now controls 104 seats in Parliament, while BN’s representation has been dwindled to 115 after two seats were lost when Gerakan left the coalition and the Parliament seat of Pensiangan was left vacant after the election court nullified PBRS President, Tan Sri Joseph Kurup Mar 8 win for the seat.

BN is holding on to a simple majority in parliament to govern the country. It is expected that more defections will take place when BN BBC MP’s will return to Malaysia tomorrow.

Political analysts are debating whether defections are ethical.

“What goes around comes around. It bears no credibility if the BN MP’s are only switching sides for their own gains. There’s no stopping these MP’s from switching sides again if they so wish because their loyalty can easily be bought”, said Iqbal Abd Ghaffar, an independent political analyst.

Meanwhile, the PM has blasted at the MP’s labeling them as traitors to their constituents and going against the choice of their people.

“I feel sad and disappointed with the MP’s who had abandoned us (BN). They not only violated the trust of their constituency but also the trust the rakyat had in them”, said Abdullah.

Anwar is confident that he will get more MP defecting to PR when the BN BBC MP’s return from their overseas trip tomorrow.

“I don’t see a problem. Does Najib think that by sending his party’s MP’s to Taiwan for a study trip would thwart my plans? He has made an obvious blunder,” commented Anwar. – IAG Today

BN Still Controls Federal Government
by Iqbal Abd Ghaffar

Kuala Lumpur, Sept 17 – Traffic in the city remains as busy as always in the capitol and Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is still the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Despite talks of toppling the BN government through defections of its law makers into the opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat, no MP’s has switched sides.

“I have always believed in that the BN MP’s will not betray the choice of the rakyat and will remain loyal to the coalition,” said the Prime Minister.

“We must stand united and work towards an amicable solution for the people and country,” Abdullah added.

BN however has suffered a loss of 2 seats in Parliament with Gerakan leaving the coalition. The party has chosen to be independant.

Gerakan had only managed to gain 2 Parliamentary and 3 state seats of which none of them were in their home base Penang. Gerakan left the coalition it had joined for 38 years, after it felt that it can no longer play a meaningful role in the BN that had become more divided and racist after the political tsunami of March 8th.

Anwar meanwhile had lambasted the BN and Abdullah for corruption of the highest authority. Just days before Sept 16th, Abdullah had agreed to give 20% oil royalty to Sabah and Sarawak.

“Abdullah bribed Sabah and Sarawak MP’s with the royalty that Pakatan has promised to offer when we were supposed to take over the government. Why did he agree to it on the 13th when he had all the time to do it in the last 5 years of his rule?” said the opposition leader

Plans to thwart the imminent takeover by the opposition was countered when the DPM had announced an overseas trip for all BN backbencher’s club MP’s from the 7th – 19th of September ostensibly to study agriculture and other matters ahead of the next Parliament session.

Meanwhile, street celebrations for the takeover plan on Sept 16th has been turned into a rally requesting for Abdullah to resign. Some 50,000 people have marched from KLCC to Merdeka Square on this event.

“Abdullah is bleeding the country dry and has gagged our freedom of speech. He has only one option and that is to resign!” commented Iqbal Abd Ghaffar, chairman of the National Organization for Information Systems Employees (NOISE) at the rally. – IAG Today

Anwar is new PM!
by Iqbal Abd Ghaffar

Kuala Lumpur, Sept 16: After a 10 year exodus and unceremoniously expunged from the second most senior post in the government, Datuk Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim was succesfully installed as Malaysia’s sixth Prime Minister.

Immediately after an audience with the King, Anwar announced the slashing of petrol and diesel prices by 55 sen and 60 sen respectively to RM2.00 and RM1.90 effective midnight tonight.

Later that day at a packed press conference at Parliament, Anwar announced the scraping of the NEP for his coalition’s new Malaysian Economic Agenda (MEA) and the tabling of a new budget immediately after hari raya holidays.

“This is a win for the rakyat. The rakyat has tirelessly fought for reformasi, and today is a day where the struggles of the rakyat finally materialize.”

“There is no time for me to waste. Our country has been crippled, the economy is ailing, and the rakyat is suffering. I have promised for reforms, and I will deliver what I had promised. It starts with the reduction in fuel prices immediately at midnight tonight.”

Anwar’s coalition now controls 138 seats in Parliament. This was made possible by large defections of BN lawmakers from Sabah, Sarawak into Pakatan Rakyat.

Barisan Nasional has for the very first time become the opposition controlling only 72 seats. Barisan Nasional is now made up of only UMNO, MCA, and MIC. Gerakan and PPP has chosen to be independant.

Datuk Seri Abdullah has resigned as president of UMNO on Sept 10th. Najib now helms as the acting President of UMNO and acting chairperson of the shrunken Barisan Nasional. Najib was not reachable for comments.

“I will announce it in due time,” Anwar told reporters when asked to comment about the formation of his new cabinet. – IAG Today

Chronology of Anwar’s comeback

8 Mar – BN loses customary 2/3 majority, Opposition controls 82 seats, and BN 140.
31 Jul – Wan Azizah resigns as MP for Permatang Pauh
6 Aug – Nomination Day for Permatang Pauh by-elections
16 Aug – Polling Day. Anwar wins with 15,671 majority
18 Aug – Sworn in as MP of Permatang Pauh in Parliament
5 Sept – Sabah component parties leaves BN
6 Sept – All component parties from the Peninsular leaves coalition except for MCA and MIC
7 Sept – 10 BN MPs joins Pakatan
8 Sept – 5 BN Ministers resign, Sarawak component parties leave BN.
9 Sept – Extraordinary Parliament session called
10 Sept – Abdullah resigns as PM
12 Sept – Motion of selecting Anwar as caretaker government submitted
15 Sept – Anwar forms caretaker government. Anwar faces King for consent.
16 Sept – Anwar takes oath as sixth Prime Minister.