Layan ucapan Ketua Pembankang full trottle...

Layan ucapan Ketua Pembankang full trottle....

 

Belanjawan 2021 kena repot polis...

The 2021 Budget...

1. For 2½ hours I sat down in my seat at the Dewan Rakyat listening to the Minister of Finance’s budget speech.

2. It was amazing. It was the biggest ever. For operation and development the Government will spend 322.5 billion altogether.

3. I am not a financier. These big figures are mind-boggling. It seems that the Government will be putting money in the pocket of everyone, rich and poor, employed and unemployed.

4. The question that I would like to ask is where the money will come from. The deficit is said to be about 85 billion Ringgit. It is bigger than the development budget of 69 billion.

5. We know that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the economy badly. Although the glove industry has done well but Petronas and Tourism, the two biggest contributors to Government revenue, have done very badly.

6. All other industries have suffered badly. I don’t think income and corporate tax would amount to even 2/3 of the normal figures during normal times.

7. It is expected that vaccines would put an end to the pandemic. The industries, trade and business will recover. But can they recover fully so as to achieve a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 7.5%. Just think. From a shrinkage of 4% to growth of 7.5%, the recovery would be 11.5% – fantastic.

8. From the complaints I hear from the business community mere approvals would take more than a year. That means there would be practically no inflow of investment funds in 2021. Certainly, there would be no profits made, or taxes paid to the Government. Even local investors will meet with these delays.

9. Policies don’t grow economies. Only implementation will do so. I know of cases where multi-billion Ringgit projects have been delayed for years. If the investor pushed, he is likely to face even longer delays.

10. So don’t expect restarting or launching new industries to begin on the 1st of January. The rosy picture of immediate recovery once the COVID-19 pandemic is overcome is not going to happen. The pandemic would not end on new year’s day.

11. I suppose the Government will have to borrow to implement the budget. This is estimated to increase Government debt to 1.3 trillion. That is a lot of money. If you fail to service loans, you may be bankrupted.

12. I can understand the need but we can still prune the operation and development costs. In the last 15 years salaries had been increased at very high rates – as much as 25% each time. Ministers and members of parliament had been given numerous allowances. Such is the increase that everyone is keen to be members of Parliament and Ministers. Nothing will make them part with their position. Even when their leaders commit crimes, they will support them. Giving up their posts would deprive them of so much money. Principles don’t count anymore.

13. It is perhaps better to make these posts less lucrative.

14. This pandemic is affecting the poor the most. Those who have lost their jobs and the small traders have no income at all. They earn today for today. If they don’t then they will have no money to buy food even. They will starve.

15. On the other hand those who are paid high salaries continue to earn more than their daily needs. Of course, those who are paid high salaries, such as airline staff and business executives may also lose their jobs.

16. Dato Seri Shafie Apdal had suggested that Ministers should have their pay cut by 30%. That is a big figure. I think people earning high salaries in the Government or private sector should forgo 10% of their salaries. It is a sacrifice but I don’t think it would hurt them if there is a reasonable cut off point, say RM 20,000 p.m.

17. The money should be used to provide food to the unemployed and those without income.

18. Back to the budget. While the economic situation requires more money to be spent by the Government, the pandemic also affects the revenue for the Government.

19. When business do not do well, they would pay less tax to the Government. Indeed, when they fail to make profits, they would pay no taxes to the Government.

20. Government revenue must shrink during this pandemic. But the Government needs to offer stimulus packages. That cost a lot of money.

21. Additionally, Government has to service loans and also reduce the principals. For this RM35 billion would be needed. Total charge expenditure is RM72.3 billion or 30.6% of Operating Expenditure of RM236.5 billion.

22. I must admit to being frightened. It is a behemoth of a budget but can we raise the money to finance it. Government debt will be RM1.3 trillion. How do we pay.

23. The budget is for the Year 2021. The expectation of economic recovery is too optimistic. I can think of lots of other things which can be done to lower cost and increase income. But I suppose the Minister of Finance has considered all of them.

24. What is a fact is that most people are not happy. That is shown by their reaction.

25. I hope this budget would be modified in order to become more realistic. Then we can support it. We need not be bribed for our support. We do not want to precipitate a crisis. - chedet

Trump, Hitler and Malaysian Politics...

Do you like fairy tales? Here’s one -- the evil wizard Donald Trump has been defeated and America lives “happily ever after”. The End. But hold on. We know that life and politics don’t work out that way. Trump may have lost but Trumpism is still very alive -- in fact, half of America voted for it. Can we in Malaysia learn some lessons from this?

The Conman-in-Chief was just the symptom of a deeper disease - mainly of inequality - that has plagued the country for decades. Real wages for ordinary Americans (after adjusting for inflation) in 2018 had not gone up in 40 years (yes, forty!) even though GDP and corporate profits have soared many times over.

Hilary Clinton lost the Democrats’ “blue wall” (of industrial states such as Michigan) in 2016 because her husband had promised back in the 1990s that free trade deals like Nafta would bring many high-paying jobs. Instead, factories closed down and jobs went overseas.

Small towns were devastated - the only work available was to flip burgers - and in the despair, many turned to drugs (the opioid epidemic). While it’s easy to dismiss all Trump voters as irredeemable racists, we easily forget that they were also driven by bread and butter issues.

What about us? History does not repeat itself directly, but it does rhyme. In 2018, half of Malaysians earned below RM2,000 per month -- thanks to the national policy to bring in cheap foreign labour.

Given that situation, was it politically wise for the Pakatan Harapan government to cut certain subsidies to the poor, who were mainly Malays? Especially, when Harapan got only about 20 percent of the rural Malay vote in the 2018 general elections?

While the reason for cutbacks was supposedly the high national debt, money was still found to pay RM4.7 billion in GST arrears to companies. (In fact, Lim Guan Eng now says the government should drop the “obsession with controlling the country's deficit” and borrow even more money to help companies save jobs and deal with the economic impact of Covid-19.) 

Could that RM4.7 billion have been repaid in instalments instead, to allow more subsidies for the B40 poor? And to fulfil the Harapan manifesto promise to defer PTPTN student loan repayments? Whose interests were more important? That of big companies? Or poorer folks?

Was it wise for Harapan to try and run Malaysia as an efficient company, rather than consolidating Malay support? While we may criticise the current backdoor government for many things, at least they know how to use goodies to bolster their voter base, as can be seen in the latest national budget.

And why is the Harapan Selangor menteri besar still hell-bent in 2020 on chopping down forests in Kuala Langat and Bukit Cherakah? How much influence do rich donors have over our politicians - from both sides? Why didn’t the Harapan Federal government reform political funding as they had promised in their manifesto?

Let’s return to Trump. How could Americans support a leader who lies non-stop, who had molested women and cheated a long list of people? It was his evil genius to recognise (and then exploit) all the pain and despair of the American working class, while Democrat politicians, including former President Obama, seemed “out of touch” as they spoke of bright futures.

Politicians (of both parties) had been legally bought over by rich campaign donors which is why no Wall Street boss was ever punished by Obama even though their greedy market manipulation had led to the 2008 global financial crash.

Ordinary Americans lost hope in the promises of pro-corporate “normal politicians” and The Establishment. So when Trump demonised “the system” -- including the mainstream media as “fake news” -- many believed him.

The man himself had been a multiple bankrupt and business failure but desperate Americans wanted to believe Trump had magical businessman “superpowers” as portrayed in reality TV show "The Apprentice". Angry voters trusted his promise to be The Saviour from “the swamp” of Washington politics that favoured the rich.

No other politician - Republican or Democrat - talked like he did. Trump successfully tapped into a deep seam of resentment and cynicism with the status quo, nevermind that he himself was a billionaire who was part of that same swamp. He rebranded himself as the “blue-collar billionaire” who drove trucks and wore miners’ hats.

The D in Donald also symbolises his mastery of The Art of Diversion and Distraction, especially to make most poor whites think that their “real enemies” are Muslims, blacks and Mexicans, rather than the big corporate bosses who had sent their jobs overseas.

Trump has some chilling parallels to Adolf Hitler, a man who also capitalised on economic devastation (of early-1930s Germany). Here was someone who promised to “Make Germany Great Again” and who blamed the country’s problems on the Jews.

As traditional politicians seemed helpless, people were willing to overlook Hitler jailing his opponents (just as many Americans were willing to overlook Trump advocating violence). Desperate people who see no other solution tend to flock to strongmen fascists who promise to “rescue” and “restore” the nation.

In Hitler’s case, he skillfully exploited fears of chaos (including a huge fire at the German Parliament suspected to have been set up by the Nazis themselves) to win 90 percent of a plebiscite vote in 1934 to become the ultimate leader - The Fuhrer.

So what lessons can be learnt for Malaysia? Just as Democrats are bewildered that so many Americans “still support” Trump, many Harapan supporters are exasperated that “they” (certain voters) still support a former prime minister who has been convicted, and sentenced to 12 years jail, for corruption.

And how could PAS, which claims to be “Islamic”, support such people? Maybe there are similarities with how Trump captured 75 percent of the votes of white (though not black) “born again” evangelical Christians.

Were these evangelicals more interested in white identity politics than the genuine Christian values of love thy neighbour, welcoming refugees, helping the poor and caring for the sick? Similarly, is PAS under Abdul Hadi Awang more into “Malay nationalism” than Islamic teachings of assabiyah that prohibit racism (which were highlighted by Tok Guru Nik Aziz)?

Many of the problems and poverty of Malaysians can be traced back to decades of corruption and money politics. But it is the evil genius of certain politicians to divert voters’ anger and frustration onto a certain non-halal race which their cyber troopers call “DAPig”.

Don’t look here! Look there! Yeah, sure we’ve been busy siphoning the system but it’s “them” who are your “real enemies”. We are your “saviours” and “protectors” -- even though we take a huge chunk for ourselves. Hey, maybe it’s “protection money” eh?

The failure to fulfil crucial parts of the Harapan manifesto, slippery political frogs making governments fall, the more recent backroom deals by Anwar Ibrahim with Umno and the attempt to declare an emergency - all these make us distrust “the system” more and more.

The long-term danger is that people will become totally disillusioned with politicians from both sides. And then, when a major economic crisis hits us, people will run to a strongman fascist to “rescue” them - someone like Trump. - Andrew Sia,mk

Shamala Gopalan with daughters
Kamala and Maya in the 1960s...

IQ and TV3 - Berkeley bukan 'Bakery"

The last time I watched TV3 was in the 20th century, maybe around 1993. That was also about the last time I watched RTM. Here is some trivia. Until not too lately I would be invited to appear on Astro and RTM (and TV3 as well). But I never watched any of those shows where I had appeared so I cant recall in full what I said.

1. Anyway one day I was invited to talk on RTM. I cant recall the program either. Before the recording began they will powder you up and comb your hair etc. I was in the make-up room and I chit chatted with the make up girls. When I asked them about the program (which was being recorded) they said 'We dont know, we dont watch RTM'. I thought that was funny. 

2. Another time Super Moron came to launch a blogger association of which I was the inaugural president (for four years). The TV3 crew was also there. I was told that a TV3 anchor woman (a Chinese girl) wanted to interview me. Since I never watched TV3 I did not know who she was and missed her among the crowd.  Oops !

Well TV3 has apologised today for saying that Kamala Harris' mother was a PATI (Pendatang Asing Tanpa Izin) or illegal immigrant from India (pendatang asing tanpa izin dari India). The video clip has also been removed from YouTube?

The source of information about Kamala Devi Harris obviously must be from the US. Meaning the information MUST have come written in the English language. 

There is absolutely no way that the source material from the USA (in English) could have said that Kamala was the child of illegal immigrants. So how did whichever editor or translator in TV3 come up with PATI (Pendatang Asing Tanpa Izin)? Careless or maybe not really careless?  

Maybe it would be too onerous to decipher (for Low IQ viewers) that Kamala Harris' mother Shamala Gopalan, travelled to Berkeley from India in 1958 where she completed her PhD and became a professor and a renowned researcher in breast cancer. Her Jamaican father too earned his PhD at Berkeley and married Kamala's mother in 1963. 

VP-elect Kamala Harris...

Because there is no way that this information was not known to whichever news editor or translator who first received the source material from the US. Or they could not decipher Berkeley? Berkeley means University of California at Berkeley. 

Berkeley (ok-lah the University of California at Berkeley) has to date produced a whopping 110 Nobel Prize winners ! !  

"Among the 110 laureates, 82 are Nobel laureates in natural sciences; 34 are Berkeley alumni (graduates and attendees), and 42 have been long-term academic members of the Berkeley faculty or Berkeley-affiliated research organizations; and subject-wise, 34 laureates have won the Nobel Prize in Physics, more than any other subject." Ingat bukan 'bakery'  OK!!!. -  Syed Akbar Ali 

cheers.

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Pasai tu Din tak berani hadapi wartawan live...

Pasai tu Din tak berani hadapi wartawan live....

Buat bajet, tapi tak tahu semua..

Din ni memang tidak tahu apa-apa pun, dari speech nak rotan rakyat yang di tulis oleh 3 pembantu dia, bila dah sesak kira nak bubar parlimen. Lepas tak dapat cuba nak darurat pula. Sat lagi hilang dekat padang golf. Masuk dalam TV pakat baca doa. Sebab itu dia sebenarnya bukan tahu pun kalau di tanya pasal peruntukan Jasa 85 juta, itu semua di bawah kartel Azmin dan pudin dollah... 

Tengku Zafrul mangsa politik...

Anwar on Jasa funding: Just scrap it...

Opposition won’t support Budget 2021 

if concerns not addressed...

Ketua pembangkang, Anwar Ibrahim hari ini memperingatkan tanggapan bahawa Belanjawan 2021 akan mendapat sokongan penuh di parlimen, kecuali jika pindaan dibuat untuk membela kebajikan rakyat dengan lebih baik.

Dalam perbahasan Rang Undang-Undang Perbekalan (Belanjawan) 2021 hari ini, ahli Parlimen Port Dickson itu berkata demikian susulan ucapan Menteri Kewangan Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz pada Jumaat lalu yang tidak menyebut tuntutan dibuat oleh Pakatan Harapan, sebagai sebahagian daripada usaha awal untuk mendapatkan sokongan bipartisan. - Dr.Hakim

Anwar completed his speech after an hour and the half. His message is clear, this budget is being sold as Covid-19 budget but the revenue numbers are questionable and the expenditure numbers do not support a serious attempt to contain Covid-19.

He proposed that the Covid 19 Fund allocation of RM17 billion be increased to around RM36 billion, by transferring RM19 billion of the Devex spending. With sufficient resources in the Covid-19 Fund, only then can we contain the Covid-19 threat to the economy. We need to allocate more money for cash flow to the people and companies, and not to mega projects for cronies. 

He concluded that if the govt refuses to tweak the budget allocations and seriously tackle the Covid-19 threat, PKR will have no choice but to reject the misguided budget.- Wong Chen,MP Subang

Apa Masalah Meletakkan Usul Undi Tidak Percaya,

 Kalau Benar Ada Sokongan Majoriti?

Does PN need RM85.5m 

to demonise the DAP?...

“It proves Jasa is effective in countering DAP’s claims and an effective machinery in disseminating information of the government of the day.” -  Ex- JASA DG and Umno MKT member Puad Zarkashi (July 2020) 

I have no idea why the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government needs to inject RM85 million (and change) into what sounds to me like a slush fund, to “disseminate information” to the rakyat. To be honest, propaganda in this country, more often than not, is not focused on policy, but rather the twin obsessions of the Malay establishment that is race and religion.

I always had a problem with the Special Affairs Department (Jasa). My problem was that it was so ineffective, that even when it was funded by Umno/BN it was flushing money down the toilet. Jasa obviously did nothing for former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's regime and when it was revived earlier this year, it did nothing for the PN regime.

When mainstream Malay politics is defined by the demonisation of the DAP (which Malay power structures view as a proxy for the Chinese community), you really do not need a propaganda arm. Propaganda is used in a hidden manner, not when the demonisation is in plain sight. This is why this sounds more like a slush fund than any real mechanism of the state.

This suspicion is made more concrete when Bersatu supreme council member Wan Saiful Wan Jan said, "The rest is for procuring the necessary technology", which is ludicrous because, as has been demonstrated by successful propagandists the world over, all you really need is a laptop and an internet connection and you could influence elections.

Wan Saiful casually brushes aside the designation of funds, but can you really trust a political operative who was part of a low-tech political coup that subverted the democratic will of the people?

I have not heard anything from preacher Zakir Naik of late, and one wonders if he is going to be a consultant with this outfit? This would make sense in a weird way because what Zakir excels in is sowing mistrust in diverse communities all under the guise of “inspiringly” preaching Islam.

Former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman believes that what we have to look forward to is a rain of cybertroopers. However, seeing how ineffective they were before, it remains to be seen if Jasa will really spread PN's messages, or is it just another slush fund for political operatives to fund their illegitimate affairs?

Of course, spending RM85 million to spread the word, when you have the entire mainstream media at your disposal, is pretty redundant. The rakyat is wondering how anti-DAP propaganda is going to benefit their lives and make life a little easier for those living on the margins in this pandemic. More importantly, could that RM85 million be used for something more tangible?

In fact, some DAP political operatives have no problem putting their feet in their mouths. This aids the far-right in its efforts to demonise the DAP. As what I've pointed out before, propaganda organs of the state turn the words of online DAP supporters back on them. My rule of thumb is, don't make it easier for propagandists by doing their work for them.

However, this should not detract from the reality that the DAP, the only secular and multi-racial alternative, is in the crosshairs of the far-right in a way which it was not before the historic May 9th win. Umno's Puad Zarkashi was transparent in his view that Jasa is needed to further anti-DAP propaganda.

The reason why the establishment gets so riled up about DAP is that sometimes the words and actions of the party resonate with Malay voters. Not many, but enough to cause instability. This is why Umno shuns working with DAP in a bipartisan way. Their propaganda diminishes when ordinary folk realise that DAP is not some sort of monster which would take away their special rights.

If anything, the attacks against DAP have become cruder, wallowing in the kind of easy racism and bigotry that should invite some sort of institutional response, but so far has been met by shrugs from the mainstream power brokers in this country.

Just look at what Umno’s Ahmad Maslan said about Muafakat National - "Kita tidak mahu DAP memerintah semula. Kekuatan DAP ini ialah kepada perpecahan Melayu. DAP tidak ada sebarang kekuatan jika Melayu berpadu dan Melayu ingin bersatu dalam MN."

(We don't want DAP to rule again. DAP's strength is in the disunity of the Malays. DAP has no strength if Malays unite and Malays must unite under MN.)

If Syed Saddiq believes there would be more cybertroopers, I think this would also mean more restrictions on free speech. As it is, folks are worried about making comments that would be deemed by the state as worthy of sanctions. I have no doubt in the coming days we will witness more people attempting to curtail discourse, all under the guise of protecting racial and religious sensitivities by hectoring online news portals to censor comments.

The propaganda coming out of PN has been an attempt to follow the Trumpian model, which consists of gaslighting and deflection. It really says something about the priorities of this government, when it threw RM85 million plus at a propaganda arm which was ineffective in defining the discourse around the Najib regime. Now, of course, the current prime minister is attempting to revive Jasa and to assuage the anxieties of certain folks who believed that the gravy train was slowing down.

RM85 million is a steep price to pay when you are a morally and intellectually bankrupt government.- S.Thayaparan,mk

cheers.

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Hang ingat rakyat ni bodoh macam PNyamunkah...

Hang ingat rakyat ni bodoh macam PNyamunkah....

Nak dengar rintihan rakyat pun telan kos RM85.5 juta??? Rintihan rakyat disalurkan melalui wakil rakyat bukan melalui pegawai JASA. JASA adalah unit haram! dihidupkan kembali kerajaan PNkhianat dengan cara salahguna kuasa dan salahguna wang Rakyat! 

Adakah wakil2 rakyat dan ahli2 parlimen masih tak boleh mendengar rintihan dan melihat kesusahan rakyat? 

Apa punya celaka kerajaan PN.. kat frontliners cuma bagi sorg RM500... sedangkan JASA yg ada 52 orang kakitangan saja dapat sampai RM82 juta... 

Sekirannya pimpinan kerajaan memerlukan jentera 80 juta setahun untuk dengar rintihan rakyat, lebih baik bersara sahaja... - Dr.Hakim

Helikopter terhempas berhampiran Taman Melawati...

Bye-bye Trump...

Joe Biden adalah Presiden baru Amerika bersama Kamala Harris VP wanita pertama yg terpilih secara undian. Ini demokrasi matang, Joe Biden mengajak semua rakyat Amerika bersatu memperbaiki Amerika dan menghentikan sengketa politik. Perkara2 mcm ni tidak boleh dihadam oleh PNyamun, pedagang agama, macai dan walaun di Malaysia ni.

Thn 2018 bila PH menang dan diangkat jadi kerajaan mereka tidak boleh menerima kenyataan itu dan akhirnya berpakat dgn PNkhianat utk jatuhkan PH. Jika lebai dan PNyamun ada moral dan matang berpolitik mereka sepatutnya tidak melayan PNkhianatan oleh Moodin dan Azmin sambil membiarkan PH menyelesaikan krisis kepimpinannya utk mengangkat Anwar menggantikan PT95 yg khianat itu.

Rakyat Amerika telah mengenepikan kebencian agama dan perkauman sempit yg digunakan Trump dgn menolak beliau. Politik nilai dan isu atau "Issue Based Politics" mengatasi sebahgian dari mereka yg rasis dan Islamophobia. Meskipun ramai yg benci atau tidak suka kpd Amerika kita mesti akui, amalan demokrasi mereka jauh mengatasi Malaysia yg masih terjerut dgn politik dunia ketiga. Saya percaya Anwar akan berjaya membawa perubahan jika diberikan peluang di masa akan datang. - Zus Din

Tweet on Kamala Harris backfires on Azmin’s daughter...

Lessons for Malaysia from US 2020 election...

Joseph Biden has been elected the president of the United States, with Kamala Harris – the first African American/South Asian woman elected to the office of vice president. 

Biden won the presidency with 74 million votes – the highest in US history and over four million more than his opponent – and secured the votes from the Electoral College in close counts in multiple states, notably Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin. In the latter state, it is noteworthy that Muslim voters were decisive in the blue outcome.

Biden will face formidable obstacles ahead governing a divided country, dealing with a serious pandemic in which a quarter-million Americans have died from Covid-19 and economic depression with 25 million out of work. An embittered loser in Donald Trump has yet to give up his narcissistic delusion that he can hold on to power when the electorate has spoken, and this will evolve in the next few weeks. 

While the United States will be inward-looking, the world needs greater cooperation and decency in the White House to guide it through the difficult times ahead – the Biden/Harris leadership team offers needed hope and healing. Fortunately for Malaysia at least Biden knows where the country is and appreciates Southeast Asia as a region in its own right.

Vice President elect Kamala Harris...

The US election offers important lessons for the challenges facing Malaysia. The election was not just about the players and American society but represented one of many ongoing battles for the soul of a nation and a struggle to sustain democracy in our time. The Biden victory represented the largest mobilisation of voters in US history and was especially empowering for African Americans and women whose participation was decisive in the outcome.

Malaysia had similar positive signs in 2018. The large turnout and minority participation especially in Sabah and Sarawak helped bring about the country’s first change in federal government. Female support was a critical part of the Pakatan Harapan victory. 

Events since May 2018 – an underperforming Harapan government, increased political use of racialised fear and insecurity, a backdoor takeover, political instability in a fragmented coalition system, weak legitimacy and lacklustre governance have showcased many of the struggles Malaysia faces as it wrestles with its own democracy. 

While Covid-19 realities should stop election momentum, there remains the view that new elections will "solve" the country’s political impasse and "resolve" issues. The US 2020 election provides important reminders and cautions for Malaysia. The problems go much deeper, and elections are a reflection of these issues rather than a solution.

Political polarisation does not go away easily. The US – like Malaysia – is a deeply divided country. It has been so for decades and the divisions have hardened. Confrontation, demonisation of opponents and "others" and righteousness combine into a cocktail of intolerance across America’s political parties. 

The close results in key states, painstaking counts and emotions around the outcome are testimony to these divisions. Importantly, even in a pandemic and crisis when one would think that divisions would be put aside for common sense leadership, only a few states "turned" from red to blue.

Malaysia should not underestimate its own divisions, which also have persisted and hardened. Less than 10 percent share of voters "switched" sides in 2018. We saw similar division in Sabah’s polls in September – the vote count remained split, with GRS picking up victory largely through the new seats and the losses of one party, Upko. 

Malaysia’s electorate has sharply different outlooks over race, religion and reform, which in turn shape voting preferences and views of governance. Behind cordial quotidian interactions lies cauldrons of intolerance, misunderstanding and trauma.

Trump may no longer be president after Jan 20 next year, but Trumpism remains alive and kicking – literally. The anger, frustration and hatred are being fueled by social conditions and political opportunistic leadership that use these emotions of fear, insecurity and displacement for political power. Trump has already declared himself as a candidate for 2024, and there are others in his shadow waiting to assume the same destructive polarising mantle of Trumpism.

The US election illustrates the importance of reforms to address the social conditions that allow divided politics to flourish. There is a pressing need for proactive policies to address economic fears of high unemployment, low wages and economic insecurity and provide the tools for people to advance with education systems that provide for social mobility and include curriculum that teaches critical thinking and problem-solving. 

Social safety nets need to be strengthened. Correctives also involve addressing the vacuum in moral leadership in society and within religious institutions who stood aside to cheer on (and in some cases abet) wrongdoing, often ignoring the dehumanisation of the suffering of others. The "with us or against us" lens of political polarisation cannot shift without shifts in thinking about each other and the shared causes that are driving division – from each of us. - Bridget Welsh

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, perhaps unsurprisingly, has alleged fraud in the Nov 3 presidential election, without offering what anyone would consider real evidence, other than the fact that votes for his democratic challenger, Joe Biden, keep turning up in states where Trump initially led in the count.

The president has already announced that he intends to take the election to the Supreme Court, despite the fact that at the time of his statement, millions of votes in numerous states were still to be counted.

Yet, Trump’s fraud claim could be part of a psychological strategy, deftly executed by a master manipulator. If so, the president may be paving the way to persuading large numbers of Americans to reject the legitimacy of his defeat.- fmt

cheers.

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Bajet Gomen Pintu Belakang aka Tebuk Atap...

Bajet Gomen Pintu Belakang aka Tebuk Atap....

Apa yang nak dikata..Belanjawan Sampah.. Takda langsung tindakan dan inisiatif persediaan dalam pakej Belanjawan untuk rangsang Ekonomi.. terutama menyentuh perusahaan Mikro dan PKS yang akan teruk terjejas...sedangkan depa penyumbang terbesar cukai dan peluang pekerjaan..sampai takda idea langsung..

Ini bukan masa cerita pasal nasib Makcik Kiah..Pak Mat Tempe depa dapat BPN atau BPR.. ini masa bagaimana nak selamatkan ekonomi dan sektor pekerjaan..cipta kitaran dan aliran dalam Ekonomi..Maka tunggu jer lah..Tahun depan teruk lah Ekonomi kita ni.. 

Anwar gesa semua MP hadir bajet 2021,

Speaker akhirnya menalah...

Dari cara perlaksanaan pengeluaran akaun 1 KWSP pulak..nampak sangat Kerajaan dah tak dak duit..Tanda2 Ekonomi kita akan merudum tak lama lagi....tu sebab depa amat perlukan darurat.. - Ahmad Muslim Badawi  

Peruntukan untuk Cybertroopers gomen pintu belakang.

Bandingkan peruntukkan di atas dengan di bawah ni,

hampir 2 kali ganda...mana lebih bermanafaat pada rakyat??

Immediate reactions: very, very optimistic budget in terms of revenue projections and growth.

Nothing much here in terms of seriously tackling Covid-19, just RM17 billion..for wage subsidy, social support. I thought this was suppose to be a budget focusing on the Covid-19 issues, therefore I had expected the govt to allocate around RM40 to RM50 billion of Covid Fund for 2021.

 

But no, the bulk of the spending seems to be business as usual. Big Opex and big Devex. Relatively, small Covid-19 Fund. The MoF has largely in terms of money allocated, ignored the bulk of Pakatan Harapan's 6 key recommendations. Is this sayonara to the Unity Budget idea? 

Looks like it, but I will need the whole weekend to go thru the documents, slightly less than 1,000 pages combined, more carefully with my officers, intern and volunteers. I am mentally exhausted and gonna take a break now. I feel like I am cramming for an exam! - Wong Chen,MP Subang

Verdict - Wajib tolak belanjawan ini...

On The Brink Of Losing,Trump Filed 

Lawsuits Claiming Fraud and Irregularities...

China’s stock markets – Shanghai Composite Index, Shenzhen Component Index and tech-heavy ChiNext index – have all gained significantly on Thursday as Democrat Joe Biden appears to be winning the 2020 Presidential Election. Biden is perceived to be less confrontational than Trump in his foreign policy with China, something which is celebrated in Wall Street as well.

 

News about the U.S. election has been trending on Chinese social media Weibo for days, with “#US Presidential Election” attracting around 6.77 billion reads. Although votes counting is still ongoing, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said Beijing hopes the “new U.S. administration” will adopt non-conflict, non-confrontation, and win-win cooperation in China-U.S. relations.

 

After the victory in Wisconsin and Michigan, Joe Biden has in his pocket 264 Electoral College votes, just 6 away from the White House. Reclaiming a key part of the “blue wall” that slipped away from Democrats 4 years ago, Biden tweeted – “I’m confident that we will emerge victorious. But this will not be my victory alone. It will be a victory for the American people.”

Biden Cuts Into Trump's Lead In Pennsylvania...

Officially, however, no winner has been declared yet. A candidate needs to win 270 Electoral College votes (50% plus one) to win the election. In every state except two – Maine and Nebraska – the candidate that gets the most votes wins all of the state’s Electoral College votes in the “winner takes all” contest. This means a candidate can win the election without getting the most votes at the national level. 

Associated Press (AP) would “call” the winner in a state when they determine that the trailing candidate has no path to victory. According to AP’s latest results, Biden has 264 against Trump’s 214 Electoral College votes. Unlike in 2016 where Trump won a majority of Electoral College votes, although more people voted for Hillary Clinton across the U.S., so far Biden captures more votes.

 

Biden has so far won 72,185,970 (50.4%) votes, while Trump captured only 68,691,132 (48%). Tactically, Trump’s best route to win the 270 milestone is to win Florida (29 electoral college votes) and Pennsylvania (20 votes) while holding on to North Carolina (15 votes) and Arizona (11 votes, which he narrowly won in 2016). He must also win Georgia (16 votes) and Ohio (18 votes).

Trump has won Florida, Texas, Ohio and Iowa. However, the state of Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania are still in the balance. Worse, the AP has called Arizona’s 11 votes for Biden while other news organizations regard the race as still too close to call (surprisingly, there is no centralized federal election system like an Election Commission in other countries).

Of course, Trump campaign disagrees with the AP’s verdict on Arizona – a state that hasn’t backed a Democratic presidential candidate since 1996. Besides flipping Arizona, Biden also flips Michigan and Wisconsin, two states which Trump flipped in 2016. Trump also flipped Pennsylvania in 2016 by a margin of only 0.7%, turning it Republican for the first time since 1992.

While Trump is leading Georgia, North Carolina, Alaska and Pennsylvania, the margins are razor-thin. If Biden wins Nevada (6 votes), which he is leading, he would cross the finish line for the 270 magic number. But President Donald Trump has no intention of giving up without a fight. His campaign had filed lawsuits to challenge vote counts in key states of Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

As Trump alleged fraud and demanded recounts, about 200 of his supporters – some armed with rifles and handguns – gathered outside a vote-counting centre in Arizona, following rumours that votes were not being counted. Without Arizona, which AP awarded to Biden, the current scoreboard would be Biden 253 vs. Trump 214, giving hope that Trump could snatch the 11 Electoral College votes.

Elsewhere in Michigan and Pennsylvania, Trump supporters have called for vote counts to be halted. Trump campaign has filed suit in an attempt to stop the count after the Associated Press declared early Wednesday evening that Biden won Michigan. Apparently, Biden won Michigan by about 70,500 votes this round, the same state which Trump won by some 10,704 votes in 2016.

Even though Biden has won the crucial battleground state of Wisconsin, which comes with 10 votes, the margin of victory is razor-thin small – 0.624% of nearly 3.3 million ballots. This has prompted Trump to challenge the result of the state that he won over Hillary Clinton by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016 (Wisconsin had voted for Democrats in every Presidential election since 1988).

As both Trump and Biden each claim to be ahead (Trump has actually claimed victory), the 2020 Presidential Election was projected to be the highest in 120 years at 66.9%. Joe Biden had actually won the most votes by any presidential candidate. But again, Trump’s strategy of attacking the integrity of the voting process in states where the results show his defeat would make this election very messy indeed. - FT

cheers.

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Ulama pewaris nabi tak mencaci agama lain...

Ulama pewaris nabi tak mencaci agama lain....

Nik Zawawi mohon maaf pada penganut Kristian

Betoi tu lebai ooi...

America Votes...

cheers.

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Parlimen macam pasar borong Selayang...

Parlimen macam pasar borong Selayang....

Rupanya PM pintu belakang masih tidak putus asa.. Masih mengharapkan darurat dilaksanakan.. kononnya dengan cara itu PRK Batu Sapi dan PRN Sarawak dapat ditangguhkan...Din cukup risau PRK Batu Sapi tak boleh tangguh kecuali darurat! Darurat bukan saja akan memusatkan kuasa dan keputusan kepada PM pintu belakang.. 

Not only have Muhyiddin Yassin, Azmin Ali, Hamzah Zainudin and Rais Yatim mocked the wisdom of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, but also committed sedition by insulting the intelligence of the eight Malay Rulers who had advised the Agong not to agree to the desire of the PM for absolute power...

Soalnya belanjawan 2021 ini bakal diluluskan atau tidak? Ekonomi kita akan tetap meleset..  Kalu tidak pada sesi belanjawan. Kerajaan pintu belakang ini akan tetap tumbang..Sama ada PM pintu belakang akan bubar Parlimen jadi tanda tanya.. - TS

Oppose the budget Yes or No?...

Some of my constituents are asking should the opposition support the budget? The answer is both a yes, and a no.  To contain the Covid-19 pandemic situation, we have a duty to ensure that the civil service has all the financial resources it needs for 2021. But should this budget vote support from the opposition, be used to prop up this ineffective cabinet, to enable them to continue to govern us through the Covid-19 pandemic? After the Sabah election fiasco and the Emergency Move, the answer to that is a clear no. 

In this posting, I will contextualize the issues regarding the budget vote and make some suggestions on how to move forward on the matter. I would suggest that the PH leadership consider using the budget vote to trade for much needed democratic reforms.

First, let us look at the political context. Not less than 3 days ago, the same prime minister had attempted to shackle Parliament with the Emergency Move. Fortunately, the rulers in their collective wisdom rejected the move and saved democracy. So isn’t it just a little bit bonkers to rush to offer a budget vote olive branch to the same prime minister immediately after his failed Emergency Move? People are rightly confused by these knee jerk reactions of politicians. Moreover, yesterday UMNO has chosen to continue to support the prime minister, therefore restoring PN’s slim majority to pass the budget. If UMNO is true to their words, PN no longer need opposition votes for the budget.

But then, Malaysian politics is full of surprises and deceits. Maybe UMNO will retract their support next week? Maybe there are many wolves in sheep’s clothing in the opposition side too? The fact of the matter is the prime minister’s tenure is extremely weakened after the royal rebuke, and those rushing to support him are finally showing their true cards. People are watching with disbelief and confusion. 

Now let’s move to the legal and constitutional context of the budget vote. Parliamentary convention demands that if a government is defeated in a money bill, it has no choice but to resign. The budget vote is the mother of all money bills. If the prime minister loses this vote, he has to resign and his government will collapse. According to the current Speaker (most of us disagree with his legal interpretation), a no confidence vote can only happen in Parliament with the support of the law minister from the government! The chance of it snowing in KL is higher than getting support of the law minister to topple his own government. 

So the budget vote then becomes the one and only silver bullet the opposition has to test the legitimacy of government. Therefore, we can’t simply surrender this silver bullet to the prime minister for free. Instead, we must consider using this as an all important bargaining chip, to obtain some much needed reforms to save democracy.  

Now, let us consider the issue of timing. Is there sufficient time to negotiate? The budget will only be tabled on the 6th of November and the very first policy stage vote on the budget will only take place in the 23rd of November. Subsequently committee votes will take place for each and every ministry until the 10th of December. So there is ample time of more than one month, for us to make demands and for the prime minister to fulfill these demands, before the final budget vote on the 10th of December. 

Lastly, what are the reforms that we should bargain for? 

On the very top of my list of democratic reforms is to give an unfettered right to the opposition to table a vote of no confidence motion in Parliament. I am sure most reform minded UMNO MPs, like YB Tengku Razaleigh will be most supportive of such a demand. This reform will allow Parliament to check the legitimacy of the prime minister and to prevent a dictatorship. 

Second is a signed undertaking by the cabinet to pass the Parliamentary Services Act in the March 2021 session to make Parliament financially and administratively independent from executive control. 

There are hundreds of things that need reform, but I urge the PH leadership to start negotiating with these two basic democratic terms. 

Bottomline, can we continue to trust this hapless cabinet to continue to manage the Covid-19 pandemic?  Using words such as “reconciliation”, “engagement”, “depoliticise”, means nothing if the government is not sincere about democratic reforms. And after the failed Emergency Move, the agenda for democratic reforms become even more urgent than ever. 

As an opening gambit to demonstrate sincerity on the part of the government, I urge the cabinet to present a full budget briefing to all opposition MPs on the 2nd of November when Parliament resumes. After that, let the budget vote for reform negotiations start , for the sake of the people, democracy and the nation. - Wong Chen,MP Subang

Rupanya Din nak pakai  duit KWSP buat bajet 2021. 

Tuu duit simpanan rakyat bukan duit mak bapak kau...

Will Budget 2021 be passed?...

Would any MP dare to not support Budget 2021? Yes, said James Chin, who is director of the Asia Institute, University of Tasmania, Australia. “An MP can vote against the budget by casting an absentee vote or by simply not being in the hall when the budget is being passed, ” he pointed out.

However, Chin is confident the budget Bill will not be defeated in Parliament. “There’s no way that (a majority of) the MPs will bring the budget down. People forget that between the first and final reading of the budget, the government can make changes to it, ” he said.

“So if there are any blocs of MPs or individual MPs who are unhappy with certain parts of the budget, the government can fine-tune it or provide an additional fund to meet the requirement of the MPs. So the budget will be passed.”

Political analyst Azmi Hassan doesn’t doubt that the budget will be passed – “Lest those who oppose the Bill are labelled as self-serving MPs who put party agenda above the rakyat’s needs, ” he said. Azmi foresees that Budget 2021 will be voted on along partisan lines. Most probably, he said, the opposition would abstain from voting as an implicit signal of no confidence in Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

“By convention, the opposition usually will vote against the Bill. But it is a special time so the warring parties will want to demonstrate that they have the rakyat as the priority, ” he said.

As for Umno, Azmi said the party’s statement, issued after its supreme council met on Thursday night, put to rest that some of their MPs might not support the Bill. Umno declared that it would ensure that Budget 2021 was passed.

“But on a personal note, I wish the MPs would debate the Bill’s contents and not use the time simply to show displeasure for Muhyiddin. Debate to make the Bill better for the rakyat, ” he said.

Tomorrow, Parliament convenes and Budget 2021 will be tabled on Friday. It will see debates and ministerial replies at the policy stage followed by voting by MPs on Nov 23. If a majority of MPs vote for it, it goes to the committee stage where MPs will vote on the specific measures in the budget. For the record, the government has 113 MPs and the opposition 108 MPs. There are rumblings that some government MPs could turn rogue and not support the Bill.

On Oct 28, for the third time in five days, the King advised all MPs, regardless of party lines, to stop the political squabbling and support Budget 2021 for the well-being of the people at a time when the nation is facing various crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic and economic slowdown.

However, for some politicians, politicking is like breathing. There are those who are plotting to bring down Muhyiddin’s government so that they can have their choice of prime minister or form a unity government.

What are the consequences if Budget 2021 is not passed?

Azmi said all 2021 expenses, including the budget for civil servants’ emoluments and development, would be in limbo. The Bill, he said, no doubt would be enhanced compared to the previous Covid-19 pandemic packages.

“Without this budget, hands would be tied in confronting the effects of the pandemic, especially on our economy. This situation has never happened in our history and we will be going into uncharted territory, ” he said.

However, Azmi said he is “pretty sure our representatives will act more responsibly unlike their counterparts in the American Congress who used the (Covid-19) stimulus package as a means of political brinkmanship.”

If the budget Bill is defeated, Chin said it would be the “nuclear scenario”. The prime minister, according to Westminster convention, must resign, he said. “But remember this is not written down in law. It is a political convention. Some people say that Malaysia should not follow Westminster convention. But, generally speaking, the consensus among experts is this convention does apply to Malaysia because our Parliament is basically based on the British system, ” he said.

If Budget 2021 is passed, what are the political consequences? 

Does it mean that Muhyiddin has “won”? Or will there be more politicking? Azmi said the opposition and Umno would want to demonstrate that their support of the Bill or that refraining from voting on it does not mean that they support the Prime Minister. This perception, he said, is critical to ensure that the legislation goes through. “I think not only Muhyiddin understands this but the rakyat too, ” he said.

Therefore, Azmi said, the political consequence would be that nothing much has changed about whether Muhyiddin has majority support. The status quo remains, with the opposition still on their quest for a new prime minister and Umno only supporting Muhyiddin till the next general election, he said.

“No doubt there will be more politicking, not immediately after the Bill is passed perhaps, but most probably after the Sabah pandemic issue is under control, ” he said. Umno, in its latest statement, has stated that GE15 should be held once the Covid-19 pandemic is under control. Passing Budget 2021 is just a ceasefire from politicking. A snap election seems inevitable.- Philips Golingai,Star

cheers.

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