Jadi dua hari ini Umno sedang bersidang. Tidak ada apa yang berguna yang akan muncul daripada persidangan Umno itu. Apa yang mereka mempertahankan adalah kedudukan mereka sendiri. Umno kini takut mereka akan hapus dan lenyap sama sekali. Maka mereka akan hilanglah peluang bagi pemimpin dan orang besar beli kereta mewah, rumah mewah, beristeri baru, berjawatan besar dan begitu.
Apakah mereka akan bincangkan nasib rakyat marhaen? Apakah mereka akan bincangkan cadangan atau usul untuk majukan ekonomi negara? Mungkin ikut kepala hotak mereka saja. Tetapi percayalah sebarang cadangan mereka tidak akan membawa manfaat kepada rakyat negara kita terutama sekali kepada orang Melayu.
Sedaq dak siapa yang jaga negara kita selama lebih 62 tahun? Tidak lain tidak bukan geng-geng dunggu Umno juga. Jadi tuan-tuan, tolonglah jawab soalan ini secara honest dan jujur. Agaknya puak-puak UMNO yang bersidang selama dua hari ini akan risau duit kocek tuan-tuan yang haprak atau mereka lebih risaukan duit kocek mereka sendiri?
Yang kita tahu ramai pemimpin depa ini kaya juga. Ada yang kaya raya - mereka beli rumah banglo RM5 juta, RM7 juta, beli motorsikal RM888,000, beli basikal RM45,000, kahwin bini dua, tiga dan begitu. Ada juga mempunyai private jet (dulu sekarang tak tahu apa sudah jadi.) Jadi tuan-tuan dalam mereka bersidang ini adakah mereka fikirkan duit servis kereta MyVi tuan-tuan punya? Atau mereka lebih risau duit untuk servis kereta mewah mereka? Pokoknya Umno kalah dan akan tetap kalah, pasai Umno lebih suka garu tel_q... - Syed Akbar Ali
Quo vadis, UMNO?...
Will Umno rise again from the ashes of their GE 14 rout or will it fade away into the sunset? That depends on who it chooses to partner with for the coming political battle or whether it will go solo. The delegates have these four options:
1. Going solo.
2. Accepting Bersatu, and that means joining Perikatan Nasional.
3. Partnering with only PAS.
4. Partnering with Pakatan Harapan.
Option 1: Going solo.
Umno going solo includes fighting the general election as a member of Barisan Nasional (BN) – the other component parties in BN have negligible electoral weight.Umno should know by now that it is quite impossible for any party (and that includes BN) to secure on its own a parliamentary majority in any general election. And that means that the possibility to rule will only come if, and only if, the party successfully negotiates with others to form a coalition with parliamentary majority to rule after the election. However, such an option is not preferrable as it loses the advantage of mutual electoral support that would otherwise be gained through a pre-election partnership.
Option 2: Partnering Bersatu.
This option seems quite unpalatable, as Bersatu and Umno are inherent rival parties (which share the same ideology and the same electoral powerbase) that will inevitably end up fighting bitterly against each other to gain pre-eminence. Besides, the bulk of Bersatu’s leadership are made up of former Umno leaders having defected from Umno in recent years shortly before or after GE 14 while the remaining leaders are defectors from PKR of Harapan. Keeping in mind the current superior ruling position of Bersatu over Umno and the former’s incessant poaching of the latter’s grassroots and leaders, any prolongation of the status quo will only further emaciate Umno.
On the other hand, should Umno reject Bersatu, the latter will be completely wiped out in the coming election. Sandwiched between the avenging Umno and Harapan, this hurriedly cobbled together party with a tiny grassroot will not be able to cross the winning margin, considering its meagre share of Malay votes and almost non-existent non-Malay support. And Bersatu’s elimination is Umno’s permanent relief. And hence, the assembly should find no difficulty to reject this option.
Option 3: Partnering PAS.
A recent joint opinion poll conducted by Sin Chew Daily and Sinar Harian on their respective readers on which party they would vote for in the next election yield interesting results.
For Sinar Harian, whose readers are mostly Malays, the top three choices are Umno, PAS, and PKR, in that order. However, for Sin Chew, whose readers are mostly Chinese, the top three, in descending order, are DAP, PKR, and Amanah, with Umno getting negligible votes, Bersatu and PAS almost zero support. Granted that the readers polled by these news media do not represent the exact average of a community, the results could at least reflect the general sentiments of a sizable portion of the respective communities.
What we can read from the poll results is that the near monolithic Chinese support given to Harapan in GE 14 has remained largely intact though the voting rate may understandably be reduced this time. Corollary to that, Chinese vote for the Malay-only parties is near zero.
Keeping in mind that Malays form only slightly over 50% of the population, can a PAS-Umno union really sweep an election to gain its parliamentary majority without any non-Malay support? This is a worthy question for the think tank of Umno to look into.
The above numerical data only deals with the winnability in an election, but what about the economic and political viability of a PAS-Umno partnership running the country if it wins the election? One is an Islamic fundamentalist, while the other a racial supremacist. How would such a marriage of convenience for the sole purpose of gaining power impact on this multi-racial and multi-religious country?
Wouldn’t it exacerbate our already badly fragmented society? And wouldn’t it hasten the current exodus of capital to a possible stampede? Is this a workable political partnership to lead a country already slipping badly against our neighbours? These are vital questions that Umno must seek proper answers to, if it wants to avoid any tragic error.
Option 4: Partnering Harapan
From sheer numerical consideration, such a partnership is a winning formula.
If Harapan (with Bersatu in it) could sweep the last general election, wouldn’t Harapan (minus Bersatu) plus Umno this time sweep to greater victory? The answer should be obvious.
From the nation-building point of view, this multi-racial grouping is also the right structure for success. Such a truly multi-racial government would at least provide the foundation for the partnership to build its superstructure.
Whether it will succeed will of course depends on whether the leaders could formulate the right policy and provide the right leadership to the people. This idea may sound fine and dandy, but in reality, the path to the partnership of these bitter enemies is strewn with almost insurmountable obstacles.
However, understanding the following truism will help to breakdown entrenched differences and encourage common effort:
• Taking power is the pre-requisite to any attempt to reform and move the country forward. Without governing power, all good ideas and ideals remain as such and will not be transformed into reality.
• Principles of good governance like corruption-free leadership, social justice and democratic values are absolutely essential and must be adhered to if we want to build a successful nation that will benefit the people we profess to serve.
Time and tide wait for no man. Striking up a viable Umno-Harapan partnership on sound principles will surely be a game changer that will transform the county into the next level of nation-building. However, the conditions that currently exist that will make such a corroboration possible may be transient. Time and tide wait for no man. Seize this opportunity of a lifetime now and make the best of it. - Kim Quek
PN and PAS forgot about alcohol
smuggling and moonshine production...
Perikatan Nasional and the many wannabe politicians among the clerics in PAS thought they could regulate the lives of non-Muslims with the ban on alcohol. They forgot about supply and demand. They should be prepared for more smuggling of alcohol and more importantly, the proliferation of illegal breweries.
The ban on alcohol would have serious repercussions on employment within the tourist trade, the hospitality industry, the entertainment industry, airlines, drink manufacturers and the ancillary trades which cater to the brewing companies, like duty-free outlets, supermarkets, Chinese medicine shops, warehouses, drivers and bottle manufacturers. These companies would have paid their taxes, their permits and licence for selling alcohol.
Three days ago, the authorities arrested a Malaysian and two Myanmar nationals, in Putra Heights, Subang Jaya, for allegedly smuggling huge quantities of alcohol worth an estimated RM1.3 million. The imported alcohol had been stored at a place of worship, to avoid detection, and sold to locals at a lower price than in the Klang Valley.
When PAS proposed a ban on alcohol last year, to curb drink-driving, did they imagine that it would have driven the trade underground? A flourishing moonshine trade will deprive the Treasury of tax revenue. Perhaps, an increase in the sale of bootleg alcohol will cause more deaths than car accidents.
On May 26, 2020, the PAS information chief, Kamaruzaman Mohamad called for the suspension of the production and sale of alcoholic beverages until the issue of drink-driving has been resolved. This knee-jerk response will not educate the population about 'drink-driving' related deaths.
Did he care to investigate the deaths caused by drivers who were under the influence of drugs? Some of the deaths involving coaches were caused by drivers who took drugs to keep awake. The truck driver who caused the accident and death of the late DAP parliamentarian Karpal Singh was high on drugs.
The recent crane accident on March 3, was caused by a trailer driver whose urine tested positive for methamphetamines. In this incident, two people were killed and three others injured along the unfinished Suke highway bridge near the Desa Tasik apartment in KL. So, where is the PAS and PN outcry about drug-taking among bus and lorry drivers? Nobody condones drink-driving. Malaysians, including Malays, have been drinking and driving for decades.
We have sufficient laws to protect our road users, but they are poorly enforced. It is an open secret that some policemen only need to name a price to cover-up an infraction of the motoring laws. Then, why is there a renewed and unprecedented focus on drink-driving accidents? Is this focus on alcohol the start of PAS' subtle attempt to introduce other syariah laws into secular Malaysia?
On March 23, the Customs Department raided a factory, near Seremban, which had been making and bottling alcoholic beverages illegally. Several brands of fake booze were seized and eight workers fled when they saw, on their CCTVs, the Customs officers approaching their premises.
The illegal brewery was on a three-acre site and had been operating for at least two months. Investigations are continuing to find the syndicate masterminds. The Customs director-general, Abdul Latif Abdul Kadir, said that the quantity of illegal hooch seized was estimated at 59,104 litres, and was worth RM344,644, with unpaid duties of RM1.952 million. The total seizure was worth RM3.12 million.
Brewery equipment, fermentation tanks, labelling and trademark printing machines as well as laboratory equipment worth RM1 million, which are believed to have been imported into Malaysia, were also seized. Abdul Latif said that the syndicate operated from a warehouse in a remote area and the fake alcoholic products included a German brand. The beer was sold at below the actual market price.
PAS and PN must know about the American prohibition, which increased the production of moonshine. It is highly likely that there will be some deaths, caused by greedy illegal breweries using methanol to give them higher profits. When will PAS and PN learn that banning alcohol is not going to stop drink-driving or moonshine production; but education, more advertisements on the dangers of drink-driving and stricter enforcement will help?
PAS should think of the revenue from alcohol sales. Also, this knee-jerk reaction, which affects the legitimate businesses that produce non-halal products, is another reason which causes foreign direct investors to shun Malaysia. - Mariam Mokhtar
cheers.
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