Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Why zaid must be elected as PKR's no 2

There is a general euphoria that the next general election will be a momentous milestone for the opposition Pakatan Rakyat parties. Any one who has his or her pulse on the nation's heartbeat will surely know that Putrajaya is within sight of the opposition's grasp.

Only anything short of a miracle will prevent the opposition from taking power and control of Putrajaya and the inevitable decimation of the once mighty BN machinery. But like the glorious days of Rome before it collapsed under Nero the Mad Emperor, the next General election will witness the demise of the BN coalition.

The ushering in of a new era of governance by a previously untested entity certainly requires a lot of soul-searching. From the way the second sodomy trial of de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has been progressing, it is fait accompli that the government is hell bent on incarcerating the opposition leader before the 13th general election. That, of course, will be a fatal mistake of the BN government.

But taking out Anwar from the equation of being able to lead Pakatan after the capture of Putrajaya simply means some one has to fill the vacuum left by the departure of the de facto leader.

That explains why the person who fills in the position of deputy president of PKR is of vital importance because that person could, in most probability, become the next prime minister of our country.

Zaid has proved his mettle. He relinquished his ministerial post from the government on a matter of principle. His vision and articulations on national issues resonate with people of different race and religion.

On issues of vital importance he was not afraid to be vocal and candid. That is a mark of a great leader To deprive this man of serving this nation is not only a loss to PKR but a catastrophic loss to the nation at a time when our nation is in dire shortage of charismatic leaders.

I do not wish to disparage his opponent's ability to be a deputy president and I do not wish to undermine his ability to lead the nation if there are calls to do so. Azmin Ali's loyalty to Anwar and the party is without question. He is young and has tremendous energy to garner support from the grassroots but when it comes to articulation of national issues I cannot remember a single occasion when he has made a stand.

A leader who lacks the ability to articulate important issues publicly cannot be expected to lead. A person without vision cannot lead a nation because of his impairment to discern the path and route he has to take.

As a concerned citizen of this country, I humbly appeal to those who are empowered to elect the next deputy president of PKR to make your choice wisely because your choice could possibly determine the next elected prime minister of our country.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Malaysia Needs a kemal Ataturk

It is most gratifying to read professor Dr. Mohamad Tajuddin article entitled 'non-muslims in mosques:the prophet's practice' in Malaysiakini.

Gratifying because there are still good malay muslim religious scholars who are prepared to defend the gentle face of Islam despite the vehement onslaught of some islamist muftis who virtually crucified Y.B Teo Nie Ching for being present in a mosques.

How did Harussani the controversial Perak Mufti concluded that Teo's presence in the mosques was haram in accordance with islamic precepts? If a Mufti cannot even give the correct interpretation of a religious norm then its about time we start questioning his credential of his position as a mufti.

I salute Prof. Mohamad brave stand on this issue because he went on further to rebuke some malays by saying that ' my fellow muslims who are malays would stoop so low to policising Islam in this manner that put all muslims in a bad light'

Instead of showing leadership at a time when partisan poltics should be discarded in search for the truth, our leaders have joined in the fray to criticise Teo's presence in the mosques in order to use Islam for their political mileage. This only portrays the quality of leadership( we have) who would not hesitate to exact and compromise on their principles in order to obtain support from the malay community nothwithstanding whether the religious interpretation was correct or not.

What Malaysia needs today is someone in the mould of the great turkish statesman, Mustafa kemal Ataturk. He was a revolutionary statesman, writer and founder of the Republic of Turkey as well as its first President.(wikipedia).His transformation of the Ottoman empire was awe inspiring and till today after almost a century his legacy is still fiercely protected by the military. What distingush his transformation from many other muslim countries was his radical departure of ensuring that ' Islamic Law was clearly separated from the secular law of the nation and confined to its religious domain'

Can Malaysia and its leaders follow in the foot steps of this great muslim statesman:?The lack of charasmatic leaders in our midst sadly depicts our nation's fraility in any such transformatiom.

Instead, we have leaders who are unprincipled and dishonourable men who don the robes of piousness and give religious interpretations merely to suit their own political agendas.

It is thus fitting to quote Prof. Mohamad's words that 'islam is being racialised or 'melayunized' to rally support for private agendas of political leaders with questionable repute". Those words, I believe were spoken sincerely by a good muslim without fear or favour.

Thursday, September 02, 2010

EPF To Invest $4.88 billion in U.k properties

How could the govt in general and the finance ministry in particular allow the $4.88 billion of Malaysian funds from the EPF coffers be allowed to be invested in U.K properties at the time when FDIs are at a record low and the flght of local funds have contributed to a slowdown in our economic growth.?

It seems so contradictory that at a time when the govt is trying its level best to attract foreign investment in the country, it has by the same insane act allowed the flight of $4.88 billion of the country's wealth. We are not talking about private investment which the govt may not have any control over its decision to invest abroad but here is EPF funds which are directly under the finance ministry control exiting a substantial amount of money to be invested abroad. Needless to say such a phenomenal sum could easily be a stimulus package to help the U.K economy but the question is why was it not invested in Malaysian properties so that it will help to provide a stimulus to our own property market?

Any investment of public funds abroad should be viewed with utmost suspicions.Away from the glare of public local watch dogs, oversea investments have a tendency to mire in losses caused by dishonest schemes and dubious deals. It is not uncommon for most of these investments to end up in substantial losses.

Maybe it is not to late to reverse the EPF decision to invest abroad and to instead direct its investment locally. Failure to do this could predictably caused the EPF to lose a substantial amount of employees funds caused by the fiasco of a failed oversea investment.