1Malaysia: The one time the Spartans had surrendered… and Spartan wit

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Malaysian politicians are incredibly lacking in local and international displays of diplomacy or wit to win over the hearts of their electorate.

Just look at the house politics of Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat; sadly lacking in a touch of class. Malaysians are treated to coarse, KPI-less style of politics which seems highly unsuitable for today’s problem solving era.

In the interest of our children and nation, we will be kind enough to share some information to help upgrade the skills quotient of BN and PR politicKings.

Lesson 1:

There was one time the Spartans surrendered. Yes, in battle in Athens, but they surrendered because arrows were being fired at them from a distance.

It was not the hand-to-hand fighting they believed in. They would not engage in a woman’s approach to war so they handed in their shields.

They were kept in a prison and taunted by the Athenians, who put their shields around the temple of Athena on the Acropolis. “They glistened in the sun for miles around. But the Spartans were imperturbable. To them, firing arrows was not real warfare.

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Spartan wit:

Philip of Macedon sent them a note saying, “If I enter Lacedaemonia, I will raze Sparta to the ground.”

The answer from the Spartans was short: “If…”

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At Thermopylae, when the Persians boasted that their warriors had so many arrows they would black out the sun, and the Spartans said, “Then we’ll be happy to fight in the shade.”

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Note: Appreciation to Melvyn Bragg’s In Our Time Newsletter

Teoh Beng Hock’s death. Truth and law awaited.

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There are many questions arising over Teoh’s untimely demise.

Many are asking “Why?”

We however only have one question:

“Is there adequate law to safeguard the lives of those assisting investigation by MACC?”

Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia government must respond quickly to this.

Nazri Aziz must redeem himself.

We convey heartfelt condolence to the family of Teoh Beng Hock for their dear loss. To his wife to be, please stay strong.

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“The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) controversial probe into several DAP assemblymen’s activities was thrown into more turmoil today with the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock at the anti-graft authority’s Selangor headquarters.

The 30-year-old’s death will put more pressure on the MACC, which has been has been accused by the opposition of conducting selective investigations.”

~The Malaysian Insider

Ong Tee Keat and Lim Kit Siang: PKFZ Monday showdown in Dewan Rakyat

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What has Ong Tee Keat delivered so far:

We would like to applaud Ong Tee Keat for delivering on his promise to disclose Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) problems with the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report and organising a few task forces to heal the problem.

That’s definitely a first for BN and MCA. We also found that this action matches with Ong Tee Keat’s ‘courage’ slogan. And Najib’s 1Malaysia should not hesitate to encourage more of such resolute like this MCA President.

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What is Lim Kit Siang contributing so far:

We would also like to thank Lim Kit Siang and DAP for bringing to voter’s attention to the many questions raised through his blog, ranging from business dealings, accounting, accountability and many comments on feelings of betrayal.

As rational actors, we are concerned particularly with the questions on the PKFZ administrative and management problems. Lim Kit Siang is fully aware of Ong Tee Keat’s efforts and has mentioned his ministerial breakthrough in documenting and disclosing the PKFZ problems. We understand Lim Kit Siang’s unhappiness at the inaptness of the people in PKFZ which resulted in this fiasco.

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Suggestions for next step for MPs:

May we suggest perhaps for next step, Lim Kit Siang will consider to work on introducing a law at Parliament to ensure such GLC management problems will not arise again. He missed pushing for such a law following BMF scandal long ago. But now, with a stronger opposition bench, is a second chance for Lim Kit Siang to prove his ability to introduce such law in Parliament to upgrade Malaysian business environment.

May we the voters see a productive and progressive debate in Parliament coming Monday. Certainly, we will be closely following  the updated reports from Malaysiakini webportal.

Good luck to both Member of Parliaments.

P/S: Perhaps one of these days we may be able to bring our children to see this story as a blockbuster movie showing in GSC or TGV cineplexes. It would make a very good voter’s education and guide to voting for an effective lawmaker.

Both sides now: Use this simple tool to determine process of Perak DUN meeting/fiasco

Just watched the circus of the assembly on Malaysiakini video “The Great DUN Perak fiasco“.

It’s amazing how lacking is our lawmakers’ ability to play the rules of the house in lawmaking. And most importantly the disregard for decorum in the lawmaking process.

Anyway, we leave the politicking to the politicians. Us voters must be wise to see through the drama.

Did you know that there is an established fundamental to check validity of the process of lawmaking? With this tool, you can use it to check your lawmaker’s capability and sensibility too.

Here is 2 examples from the Perak DUN fiasco for you to test this out:

1. Sivakumar said he will not start the meeting until the suspended members are evicted. (Background story: The decision to suspend the members was taken under a tree, attended by some members of the house.)

2. BN members elected a new speaker Ganesan. (Background story: The ‘old’ speaker is still seated, note example 1.)

Apply only 2 questions to test the validity of the examples:

1. Is it constitutional?
2. Is it legitimate?

Remember, put aside any emotions, the people are supposed to be the judge.

Dear Barisan and Pakatan supporters… tis about the economy

With so much going on in political wranglings in Perak, PKR’s Elizabeth Wong’s case, MCA’s Chua Soi Lek and upcoming by-elections x 3.

Anybody heard the common Rakyat’s rumblings over the country’s economy future?

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Share with you the following received via a forwarded email.

Do you agree with below thought? What should we do now?

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This nation was birthed with a social contract agreed by our forefathers (the people’s representatives who agreed to Malaysia’s independence and the Sultans).

It was the social contract agreed by the respective bodies/people which has created a sense of oneness which was demonstrated during Tunku Abdul Rahman’s time.

How come we only hear UMNO still wanting the social contract?

What about the others who subscribed to the contract?

What are the obligation of the parties to the social contract?

There’s too much anger and unthinkingness without any ideas to move forward or willingness to engage with different stream of thoughts and viewpoints as fellow Rakyat Malaysia. Sadly, the BN supporter will scold, curse or vilify the Pakatan supporter and vice versa. What a terribly sad demonstration of the Malaysian undemocratic mindsets in cyber. It conveys a very Hitler-like dictatorial stance: “My viewpoints are supreme and just! Your viewpoints doesn’t count, you stupid!”

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Perhaps your small group can lead the way to a more progressive Malaysia and take action, gather ideas for action from all fellow Malaysians regardless of their political affiliation/thinkings.

Love your enemies, constructively?

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MCA on Ong Tee Keat’s watch: About your aides

Dear Dato’ Seri Ong Tee Keat,

I have this uneasy feeling about you and those leaders helming the MCA national bureaus.

Chua Soi Lek, Lee Wee Kiat, Wong Nai Chee, Gan Ping Sieu …

Competence is clearly trumping ideology in the Ong Tee Keat’s new administration, and God knows after two terms of Ong Ka Ting & Co., it’s time to get back to the idea of streetwise smart, capable people advising the MCA president and executing his policies.

What I wonder is whether the members of your administrative team and staff aides, in addition to their grasp of the issues and success at achieving power, have a real feel for the needs of the people they are supposed to be representing.

I don’t doubt that they have the best of intentions. But the people near the pinnacle of power in MCA are encased in a bubble that makes it extremely hard to hear the voices of those who aren’t already powerful themselves.

There is no underestimating the challenges facing MCA, and you will need a strong administrative team and staff aides in your Presidential office NOW to help back you up with intelligences (internet and grassroots) and execute necessary actions at the grassroot level to get MCA started on the long road to re-connect MCA with the voters, both Chinese 25% and non-Chinese 75%.

Will your staff aides / administrative officers follow a new course, reaffirming plans to remove deadwoods of the previous administration?

We wish MCA all the best on your watch.

~Femalevoter

** I took the liberty to paraphrase a little from that excellent piece Bob Herbert wrote for The New York Times

cc: Malaysiakini.com

A question for MCA members… thru Malaysiakini

We believe in governance and a good government made up of good people with strong principles of life.

As we have received many queries from members concerned about the upcoming MCA party election, we would like to throw these questions to you to assist members to make the best decisions this October.

It is worrying that the female MCA members do not seem to regard this as a big question of concern for the party or think of its impact on the Confucian family values which the women wing claim to represent.

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Questions to ponder for MCA’s future and the 13th General Election. And we would love to hear input from readers of Malaysiakini also:

• What sort of persons would you want to be leading the party and represent your voice?
• Do you want your candidates to tell you about their principles in life?
• Since they would like to represent the community, would you want them to possess some moral standing?
• Would you be contented to just let them be what they naturally are?
• And they, being what they are, can they just simply represent you and your community to interface with the global world?

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A penny for your thoughts: See below * a concern from a commentator (we think he/she is an MCA member):

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When you were caught you resigned immediately cause you said you don’t want to bring trouble to BN and MCA. I truly respected your act at that time. However, now you say you want to come back? What responsibility you were talking about? Is this what politician all about? Don’t you think you bring the mud back to BN and MCA?

I think many people don’t want to talk about your video story and people already forgive you when you had resigned. Why must you still want to show your existance all the time? Why don’t you let MCA members be proud to have a leader who dare to take up the responsibilities and walked out?

I do not know what is your agenda and what unfinish plan you have. Or you just want to make a revenge on certain group in MCA regardless you would tainted MCA image again.

Dr., I strongly believe MCA can do without you at top leadership. There are still many ways to contribute. Please don’t bring disgrace back to MCA. This will definitely will be a burden to BN and MCA at next general election if you won in MCA election.

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* Extracted from Malaysia Today’s article ‘Datuk Chua Soi Lek -Ahli Politik‘

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Character, Leadership and Command in Malaysia politicians

We found an extremely interesting research which may be of help to educate our Malaysian politicians. Perhaps you might want to get one and donate it to your neighbourhood politicians.

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The book excerpt below talks of the importance of Character, Leadership and Command in Organisations.

“Even when leaders try to hide and disguise their character, their traits are recognizable to others,” says Harvard Business School professor emeritus Abraham Zaleznik. His new book, Hedgehogs and Foxes: Character, Leadership, and Command in Organizations, explores the internal complexities of people in control.

Key concepts include:

* Hedgehogs know one big thing while foxes know many things.

* Applied to leadership, hedgehogs reduce reality to one single principle, while foxes are prepared to adapt to a complex view of the world.

* An individual’s character is outwardly represented while it is a product of development, starting with early childhood.

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Here’s a book excerpt from Hedgehogs and Foxes: Character, Leadership, and Command in Organizations, by Abraham Zaleznik

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Individuals who are caught up in empowerment movements, both nonviolent and violent, substitute one form of dependency—on an authoritarian program or leader—for another—economic privation. Liberation, from these and other forms of dependency, requires freeing the ego from group psychology and from neurotic disabilities that restrict the development of the individual.

Once restrictive governments are replaced, new goals have to be developed with the aim of enhancing the ego through education, economic opportunity, and personal freedom. …
Empowerment movements have sprung up in the United States and other developed countries with democratic institutions. Empowerment movements have been adopted in the name of feminine liberation and equality of the sexes.

In complex organizations empowerment programs seek to alter hierarchies, to “flatten” the organizational structure, decreasing the authority of top levels while increasing the autonomy of the lower levels. These ideological approaches carefully avoid the fact that hierarchy is a form found in nature. Assemble a group, give it a purpose, and if left to its own devices, it will organize itself into a hierarchical structure in the shape of a pyramid.

True empowerment is a result of individual transformation from dependency to autonomy following the path of maturation from infancy onward. … Education and training to develop competencies is the sure, albeit slow, route to empowerment through the enhancement of talents, whether in developed economies or third world nations.

In underdeveloped nations the route toward self-engendered empowerment may be longer, and the results may be slower to materialize, but whether in developed or underdeveloped economies, self-empowerment requires motivation. The desire to develop and strengthen the ego must be internalized, and this comes with the cultivation of talents.

Unlike mass movements under the leadership of a charismatic leader, empowerment of individuals through the development of talents comes through education and training.

Identification with gifted teachers, who stimulate learning, is a microscopic process that occurs not only in the formal atmosphere of the classroom but also in the seemingly mundane activity in factories and offices—wherever people assemble to accomplish work.

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P/S: Unlike our UiTM under leadership of its lifer vice chancellor, Abraham Zaleznik is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School. You can read his biography here.

Abdullah’s hand-me-down the PMship to Najib unconstitutional?

It is good that bloggers are now asking the right questions.

What we have said in our previous post have now been picked up. We are terribly relieved that bloggers are finally leading thoughts and the rakyat to ask the right questions.

Bravo, Susan Loone… we reproduce below latest posting from her blog for your thoughts (caveat: we reserve the right to not agree with some of her recommendations)

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When Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he and Najib Tun Razak had made a deal about when the latter will take over the leadership of Malaysia, no one asked the right question!

One experience mainstream editor merely said “It’s a done deal” and another ex-editor asked “When?”. As if that is the only thing that matter.

Now you know why the media is in such a pathetic state like it is today. Every news fall into people’s morning tables or lazy laps just like that!

No one asked if it is even legitimate for Abdullah to make such a statement. Had he consulted other UMNO members? Had he even broach the subject with other BN component parties, or are they now non-existent, after the March 8 Tsunami?

Sadly no one ever considered any of these questions.

But in “Are we a democracy or a feudal state?”, lawyer Charles Hector asked in his blog if it is even constitutional for Abdullah and Najib to have come to this decision all on their own.

It looks like the two not-so-gentlemen may have even insulted the Yang Di Pertuan Agong by going against the Federal Constitution:

In Article 43 of the Federal Constitution — and it says that it is the “…Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall first appoint as Perdana Menteri (Prime Minister) to preside over the Cabinet a member of the House of Representatives who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House…” – it is the Yang Di-Pertuan Agung that appoints the PM – not the current PM who decides on the next PM…and here Abdullah is reported stating that there was an agreement —
Hector asked: Is this is not an action that demonstrates disrespect to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Is it also not an action (….an agreement) that is in breach of our very own Federal Constitution?

Our highest law of the land, the Federal Constitution, is also clear that the only consideration before appointment by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is that the candidate for PM is “…likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House[i.e. the Dewan Rakyat]…”
Do the two individuals think they have the support of the majority or are even liked or respected by Malaysians?

We only know that there are not enough UMNO divisions who are courageous enough to nominate someone who will challenge Abdullah or even his deputy.

I hope Karpal Singh or someone else will make a police report aganst the two power crazy duo!

UMNO President aka Prime Minister of Malaysia: Fifth estate must lead!

Following the conclusion of the 12th General Election, news media hound’s attention is now focused on UMNO and fate of its future and its President.

Every Malaysians remembered how the rancour of the General Election’s campaign was covered. The amount of money spent was covered. But in this political season, nobody has yet to shout out about lack of information about the top UMNO proposed candidates’ vision, mission, priorities, policies, and leadership — and for that matter, important information that Malaysians will need to back up the next Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Was this why we always get the gut feeling that our political appointees too often did not make the cut or fit our aspirations?

Why? The vigorous press that was deemed an essential part of democracy in Malaysia is mediocre at best. The internet and the blogs have the tendency to spew too much flames, according to a tired BN operative (flame means hate). I am not suggesting that every journalist in the mainstream media is neglecting his/her duties as the fourth estate. There are still a sprinkling of good souls in newspapers and magazines who run analytical articles, and publicise longer, more probing segments.

And what did we learn from the 12th GE?

We found out that the mainstream media supplied faithfully a variety of analysis – that is shortened, taking every corner that is cut, which moves us further away from the truth until what is left tasted bland in our palate.

This problem has drove voters who take their responsibility to be informed seriously enough to search out information about the candidates in the internet. Even though there was not much substantive findings to be found in midst of the flames, as some may say.

Would you, as a non MCA member for example, ever know a single fact about Ong Ka Ting’s leadership values based plan? Anything at all? But let me guess, you know better about Chua Soi Lek’s sex escapade. We seem to forget the serious business about choosing political appointees, especially in the instance of the office of the Prime Minister, the next leader of the country. Are we buying pisang goreng or are we choosing a spokesman possessing speech ability or a leader with primarily leadership abilities? All are very different and not the same!

What’s troubling is that, the internet news media have shown instances where it has cut candidates like Tony Pua out of the process even before he got started. And then rushed to cover him as he won. Just to be clear: I’m referring to all serious contenders regardless of political affiliation and ranks who encounter the same prejudice. Voters are finding it harder and harder to have a 360 degrees overview, what more if they do not have access to the Internet.

And it’s not as if people didn’t want this sort of information of serious candidates with distinguished record.

Who is responsible for the veil of silence over the unheard of serious candidates?

The decision was probably made by the same people who decided that Najib or Muhyiddin were serious candidates. In the case of Najib, articles purporting to be news spent thousands upon thousands of words contemplating whether he would enter the race, to the point that before he even entered, he was already anointed the successor for UMNO presidency. Has he had not done or said anything that would allow anyone to conclude he was a worthy candidate. Whether the voters noticed the absence of leadership testimony, serious ideas or commitment to getting in progressive economic policies makes for another thesis altogether.

I join as one of the very few who noticed this shallow news coverage. An overseas report by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy found that in the early months of the USA 2008 presidential campaign, 63% of the campaign stories focused on political strategy while only 15% discussed the candidates’ ideas and proposals.

Watching the UMNO party elections campaign unfold, I saw how the press gravitated toward a narrative template for the campaign, presenting stories of each characters as if for a novel: a man more comfortably fitted as a religious teacher, a second man who has no testimony of leadership qualities, a former chief minister who bettered his leadership skills and a respected royal who has not demonstrated new ideas to embrace the Rakyat Malaysia aspirations.

When the important issues will be presented to the rakyat as they watch on the sidelines of UMNO? Issues that could make a difference in the lives of Malaysians that didn’t fit into this narrative template and which was forced to take a back seat to these superficialities?

The state of UMNO’s political campaigning is not espected to be better: without a press to push them, candidates who do not have solid workable national proposals avoid the tough questions. All of this leaves Rakyat uncertain about what approach makes the most sense for them in the choosing of the next UMNO President aka Prime Minister of Malaysia. Worse still, it gives us permission to ignore issues and concentrate on things that don’t matter.

As UMNO move to gear up for its party contest, I want to propose the bloggers to know as much as they possibly can about what these men or woman would do as President of UMNO aka Prime Minister of Malaysia.

If the Rakyat want a vibrant democracy, the apparent mandate is for the fifth estate to demand it. By talking calmly, repeatedly, constantly for the ears of those in whom we have entrusted this enormous responsibility.

For starters, we the fifth estate, must fulfil our stakeholders’ rights to demand for the best UMNO President aka Malaysia Prime Minister.

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