Thursday, January 8, 2009

WAS IT REALLY NECESSARY TUN?

Wan Ahmad Farid


CHOICES, CHOICES.....

Within 24 hours before Nomination Day in Kuala Terengganu, Tun Dr Mahathir dropped a bombshell by stating that Wan Ahmad Farid was “a very bad choice” to stand as the BN candidate. I’d like to state that the perception that Wan Farid is a proxy and is “someone to be used later if Najib becomes Prime Minister", as was stated in, http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/95821, is weak as Najib will be in a strong position to neutralize Wan Farid when the time comes.

Tun Dr Mahathir had 80% of his men in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s Cabinet as well as the UMNO Supreme Council. As brilliant as he is, was he successful in using any of them from the outside when he needed them?

Wan Farid may not have a likeable face and his smile may seem like a fake but he is the choice of the Kuala Terengganu Division which is 103 branches strong.

One of the major mistakes the federal leadership made during the last General Elections was to pick outsiders and little known personalities who were Putrajaya’s stooges in the divisions instead of picking proven and more deserving leaders in the same. We even saw wishful thinking UMNO Supreme Councilors who were aliens and didn’t hold any of the top three positions in their divisions standing as candidates there. Naturally most of the branches in these respective divisions preferred not to open their operation centers and even decided to sabotage the campaign.

Now let me take you back to Kuala Terengganu. It needs to be said how strong Wan Farid is in this division. He won easily as the Division Chief and his elder brother beat the late Dato’ Razali Ismail for Division Vice-Chief. The latter was the Member of Parliament for Kuala Terengganu and Deputy Minister for Education at the time. It is very rare if not unimaginable for someone with such a position to fail in his bid for only the third highest position in the Division. But it happened as Wan Farid and his brother were the flavour of the day for the Kuala Terengganu UMNO Division. As regards to how they managed that, can be debated at another time.

The late Dato Razali on the other hand was generally popular in his own right with the mass (which included non UMNO members and teachers) in KT but in his absence today, we cannot afford to antagonize the 103 UMNO branches in the division by appointing someone who isn’t their choice. Only the homeboys know how to tackle the locals and although there are many outsiders manning their own operation centers evenly spread across Kuala Terengganu, they are still considered outsiders and at best are only able to compliment the effort made by the local campaigners. In other words, we need the 103 branches and operation centers to seal the deal. I was there for several days recently until the day of nomination. I witnessed how hard the UMNO machinery from the whole nation including Sabah were labouring for a much needed win. They are evidently not there for a holiday in the East Coast. Dato’ Sri Najib too is working double-time. They are there to win it for UMNO and Barisan.Nasional. As a past leader and until now at least, a revered Statesman, Tun Dr Mahathir should give UMNO and BN his full support and not undermine their efforts just because of his lapse in judgment 5 years ago. Whether bad choice or good, wrong or right, Wan Ahmad Farid is our best possible candidate to win at this time.

Under the leadership of the new Menteri Besar of Terengganu, with the oil royalty firmly back in the hands of the Rakyat, with the careful and watchful eyes of the much respected and loved Sultan, Terengganu should see rapid development under Barisan Nasional in the future. Being the Capital of Terengganu, Kuala Terengganu would naturally be enjoying the lion’s share. Barisan Nasional’s win in this by-election should smoothen and accelerate this process. I’m sure the voters are bright enough to do the right thing.

After pondering over Tun Dr Mahathir’s statement these last few days, I wonder if this “very bad choice” in Kuala Terengganu is as damaging as the one he made 5 years ago to succeed him as Prime Minister. He may be right in his comments on the economy and the development of the country, but he is definitely out of his league to comment on political candidates. History has shown that he made three wrong choices for Deputy Prime Minister and one for Prime Minister. Tun should capitalize on his strength and not dabble with this weakness lest people will soon pay less attention to his comments.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

My dear Patriot,
Gd morning.I stumbled into your blog and you got me curious
especially since you are a patriot.

i agree that Mahathir made many mistakes during his time but at
least the country moved forward.the malays that would have
been poor now are more confident of themselves.they can travel and
see the world and some came back
with new ideas and are as good as
any race.

UMNO lost because Anwar Ibrahim
outmanoevred them.He understood the
voters needs(issue based)and feed
the solution.

UMNO must stop playing their ketuanan melayu and islam issue.their leaders and systems
bergelumang dengan rasuah,maksiat,
kezaliman,pembunuhan and penyelewengan..how to feel that
they can bela nasib bangsa and
ugama?

UMNO must get rid of perception
of 'jijik'that the people feel of
them.

TPJ said...

Dear Anonymous,

Firstly, thank you for stumbling into my blog and making the effort to post a comment. From my deduction, you chose not to finish reading the whole article before making your statement.

I agree with you that Dr Mahathir had done much good for the Nation and I am deeply greatful for the 22years that we had him as Prime Minister. I merely pressed on the fact that picking a suitable candidate as his successor is not exactly his cup of tea. He failed 4times, the last bringing almost irreprabale damage to Barisan Nasional. Therefore he should refrain from giving us lessons on how and who to pick as political candidates.

Secondly, as a whole, UMNO didn't lose in the General Election, but we lost some ground due to bad leadership, not because of Anwar. If you had read carefully my entire posting, I amplified the fact that people who had no business being BN Candidates in the last GE were given the nomination by the Prime Minister. Naturally, they were rejected and sabotaged by the supporters of the more deserving candidates from UMNO. Again, it was not because they like the way Anwar was flirting with them.

Thirdly, UMNO doesn't play with the Ketuanan Melayu or issues relating to Islam, but we defend it. I don't know about you, but we do not play dead when the matter is brought up or questioned indiscriminately by other races trying to act smart.

As far as maksiat and penyelewengan is concerned, need I remind you that we have been proven to show transparency and have suspended our top leaders from holding any office if a case is brought upon them in a court of law. Please bear witness today that barely 8 months into power, office bearers from the opposition who have been charged with corruption and proven to accept sexual favours are still holding their high positions in the State government.

When it is the Barisan Nasional, we are guilty until proven innocent (and when we are proven innocent, we are still not reintstated to their original government positions), but when it is the Pakatan Rakyat, they are innocent until proven guilty.

Reflect on it and see if this your nausea you are suffering from is correctly attributed to UMNO.

Within months after taking the State of Selangor, the Pakatan (with PAS in it) leadership endorses the building of the biggest swine farm in South East Asia located in a Malay/Muslim dominated area. Could you see this party as being the true Defender of the Faith and Race? Could it be any more revolting than this?

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope I have straightened out your curiousity on my patriotism.

Anonymous said...

wow..tq for responding.i was just flirting with my thoughts.i m no fan of politicians.they are all about power.

i learnt that to solve a problem is first to acknowledge there is one.secondly,the cause of it.lastly
how to solve it.

there is a problem.BN lost 5 states plus wilayah.secondly,the cause is Anwar Ibrahim.Imagine if he is not around,wouldnt BN still control the 5 states plus wilayah
too?to solve it is not to COMPARE but to OUTMANOUEVRE pakatan.Anyone
in BN that can do that?

i graduated an engineer and worked for IBM.i owe it to UMNO.I am thankful to the party.

me not clever or into details.the
story is everyone hates UMNO and
everyone loves Anwar.

my partner from Sarawak flew back
thousands of miles to have dinner tommorow with'the future'in Kuching tommorow.

How?

Copperhead
Wharton.

Unknown said...

I happened to had an opportunity to have a case with Wan Farid at the KT Sessions Court a few years ago, when he was a practising lawyer.

Have to say that he is an amicable kind of person and not antagonising at all (like some other Terengganu guys I know).

I wish him luck in his bid for the P036 seat. May the best man win.

TPJ said...

Dear Anonymous,

Perhaps I didn’t express myself with much clarity. BN didn’t lose the 5 States because of Anwar. Candidates who had no business being candidates in the General Elections were nominated by the Prime Minister disregarding the nominees who were thoroughly screened, presented by the State Chiefs and generally accepted by the respective constituents. Naturally the locals including UMNO members rejected them out of spite for the leadership, not out of love or infatuation for Anwar. Granted, being a rabble rouser he managed to chalk up some points given the circumstances, not unlike scoring the ninth or tenth goal in a 10-0 victory, which isn’t a very significant achievement if you know football.

When the leadership changes its guards and a more sensible leader takes over, everything will fall back into its place. No outmaneuvering is necessary in this respect.

I congratulate you for being an engineer working in IBM, and it is very noble of you to remember UMNO’s contribution to that effect.

Need I remind you that Anwar and his party is sitting on the opposition’s side of the aisle in Parliament which means that the storyteller must have been very convincing to have fooled an engineer working in a once established American firm.

I wish your partner from Sarawak all the very best of luck having dinner with “the future” in Kuching tomorrow. I’m sure he/ she still believes in the September 16 lie. As the saying goes, “there’s one born every minute”.

I thank you for your comments.

TPJ said...

Dear VersedAnggerik,

Yes indeed, gentlemen from the East Coast are generally known to be soft yet able to father many children.

I hope he wins too. Most importantly though, I hope he will be a good representative serving the rakyat well if he wins. For now, all the benefits Kuala Terengganu is getting is coming from the government. What the people need after this is his presence and personal touch.

BoyHjJamil said...

Salam TPJ, i would like to comment on MR IBM statement saying that everyone hates UMNO and everyone loves Anwar.. The statement proved that he is truly Anwar supporter despite saying that he is not a fan of politicians.As we grow older from the March 8 episode, we can see that more and more issues come from Pakatan Rakyat ruling states.. especially in Perak and Selangor. And again i want to stress that not all UMNO leaders are penyeleweng, penerima rasuah and pembunuh like what Mr IBM said.. its only segelintir and not all inside the party. Janganlah kerana nila setitik, rosak susu sebelanga.. Insya Allah UMNO have already learn from the March 8 lesson and all the blame to UMNO is totally rubbish bcoz like what TPJ have said earlier, we are not the loser, it is other component party who did not perform..

To Mr IBM, Anwar Ibrahim only contribute 20% for the Pakatan Rakyat success and the rest come from BN failure kerana memandang rendah keupayaan opposition.. Bukan kerana rakyat suka kat Anwar, tapi rakyat tiada pilihan memandangkan pucuk pimpinan negara yg diterajui oleh Pak Lah terlalu lemah dan perlu ditukar..

Anonymous said...

bro,
didnt mean to be holier or cleverer bro...consider my comment
an outsider's view and as they say
in Wharton..constructive criticism.
no emotion please..after all,you
know what samuel johnson says of
patriotism.

philadelphia.

sfso@pulaijb said...

Assalamualaikum TPJ,

At a glance tengok topic you ni mula2 rasa macam nak marah jugak since I adore Tun Mahathir tapi bila dah baca posting sampai habis,I have to agree that it was not necessary for Tun to make this comment.It's like giving a penalty to the opposition in a football match.His comments comes about because Wan Farid is seen as a proxy to Pak Lah.

Anyway I was quite amused on the statement that"Wan Farid may not have a likeable face and his smile may seem like a fake" as I also have the same thought.It reminds me of Khalid Nordin.I don't know why but when I see his face in paper in TV or paper mcm ada something missing and tak kena.Maybe aura or karisma.Anyway I think it's fair that we give this guy a chance since he is also the division chief of KT.Tak lah senario masa PRU berulang where our current PM letak calon sesuka hati.

It should be a trend from now onwards that BN should put the chief,deputy or vice chief as candidate for the respective seat.The chances to win will be better and party people will work harder to ensure victory.Takdalah sabotaj here and there.One more thing that shouldn't be ignore is that BN and UMNO khususnya should go to the ground more often to explain to the people about what the government is doing to the people,counter lies and allegations and etc.Janganlah bila dah nak election baru nak nampak muka.If u look at parti2 under PR they always hold ceramah and people ni kalau dengar lies dan story yang sama over and over again,lama2 masuk jugak kat kepala.That's one of the reason why opposition supporters makin bertambah and vocal.We should take this issue seriously.

Tq for your reading my comment and can I add that we lose the last PRU solely because of Pak Lah factor.Don't be arrogant and put the interest of rakyat first.I can tell you that they just want to test the water in the last PRU.I hope BN workextra hard to gain people's confidence and trust. Show some class and solidarity guys..

Good luck to Wan Farid and UMNO

TPJ said...

Anonymous,

When Samuel Johnson said " Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel ", he must have seen the future and was referring to the Bush Administration.

Stick around Phili. I'm not emotional, in fact I'm beginning to enjoy your company and our exchange of views.

Please continue to contribute with your comments and regardless of how you may feel, I do appreciate and welcome your loud thoughts.

Anonymous said...

Dear Patriot,

I cant stand dealing with malaysian local graduates these days.they sound so backwards and
not very smart.do you agree?

I also feel sad that i do not
know any malaysian football stars
these days.I used to.do you?your
views if you have one?

What is going on in MSC and
what is going there in Cyberjaya?

cheers

TPJ said...

BoyHjJamil,

Salam bro! Anwar has a tendency to attract the professionals and those who seem affluent because he is very good at grandstanding and showboating which these people can identify with.

Other normal politicians prefer not to be stage actors and drama queens but prefer to do their best to serve the people and that doesn't get much recognition these days because it just doesn't sell.

Character assasination sells, gossip and badmouthing is the order of the day because people prefer to believe in lies and scandals of high profile figures. How else can you explain people's blind following of a man who promised a change of government who missed the dateline big time but still commands their loyalty?

If Anwar is really hot, why then did he have to waste one seat by replacing his wife when she could have been spared if he stood in another constituency where one of his colleagues was holding two seats, ie the Parliament as well as the State seat? That way, instead of losing one personality, Pakatan could have had an additional one.

IBM (It Beats Me!)

TPJ said...

Sfso@pulaijb,

Salam. Don't worry bro, I too am a great fan of the Tun but if I see that something isn't right about him that would affect our political health, I must say my piece.

It is true that the top three leaders in any division should be given priority over the rest because all three have served well enough to be elected by the divisional delegates to lead them.

If an non-entity in the division is picked, then it wouldn't be entirely wrong to suspect that the person is a stooge or a proxy of the decider.

TPJ said...

Anonymous, generally, the local graduates have fallen in their standards compared to those students from ITM in the 70s and 80s.

Having said that, I can't say there is much difference between the local graduates and most Malaysians who graduated from abroad.

I know many who've returned with fair and good grades but still couldn't communicate sensibly. Most of them are good in paper examinations but have problems constructing proper sentences in English.

Surprisingly on several occasions I've transacted with local graduates who speak in a thick American accent but in actual fact have never been abroad. This is because they are exposed to American programs on television and have made efforts to improve themselves while the ones I've seen while I was studying abroad used to create their own colony (a kampung Melayu)on campus soil keeping only to themselves not interacting with the locals unless
absolutely necessary.

Once in business school on the final semester, we had to make an oral presentation which was equivelant to 25% of the whole final grade, one student from the East Coast made his and none of the Americans nor Malaysians (not even his homeboys) in the class could understand a word he was saying. The Professor was left shaking his head in amazement which meant either he was extremely good or undeniably ungradeable.

Most of the local graduates are smart. It's just that they are not very competative.

I don't know any National football players by name. I started getting sick of them when they started behaving like Beckham off the field while playing like the Pussycat Dolls wearing national colours on the pitch.

I'm not up to speed with the MSC and Cyberjaya to be honest. It seems like not much emphasis is given to them since the departure of Tun Dr Mahathir from the mainframe.

Anonymous said...

Assalamualaikum Mr TPJ

Interesting comments you got here Sir, from politic to football..nice..

I grew up with Tun Dr Mahathir as the Prime Minister...
From the moment i started to know the country's leader, it was Tun, the one and only.
Although i came from the 'hottest' state in Malaysia's politic history, i always adore Tun but yet our rationality is essential although emotion and liking people are very synonym.
I agree that it was not necessary for him to say that..

I am a local graduate (UiTM to be precise) and it is kinda insulting to have read the statement from Mr IBM about local graduates. a little too harsh perhaps but i consider that as a constructive criticism..

People don't hate UMNO, people just don't agree and don't trust the candidates.
Homeboys also won't make any good if he just believe in getting the power.

Mr TPJ, I am not a politician, an employee of a company like IBM. I am just an associate in one audit firm in KL but i am a Malaysian... peace...

Anonymous said...

patriot and friends,

English is important.The world today demands it.I have had local
graduates(a top Chinese student)
draft a legal document(she is a lawyer)and my 10 year old writes
better!

In sports,we need to have that
interhouse(red,yellow n green house..remember?)games,get chosen to play for school,then district,then States then the National team..isnt that how Mokhtarb and Santokh was discovered?

In MSC,we aint no Silicon Valley.Its a failed model.Let's use the cyber buildings for somethingelse.Heck!Not evenan Islamic or Chinese based killer app!

Chinoz $pm today.

Anonymous said...

UMNO's perennial problem as alwasy is candidates are selected on party needs and not voters preference.

UMNO evolve and mature to be able to distinguish between party position and national leadership as in what is practise in many mature democrasies.

Someone suitable for party may need meant to be suitabkle for teh voters and nation.

We could solve personality issues through this manner.

TPJ said...

Anonymous 6:40am,

Yes English is improtant as the universal language.

MSC may be a failed model because the creator's successor didn't continue to give it enough attention.

Failure = not finishing what we started.

This is not because we are incapable. It is because "someone" is a stubborn ox.

TPJ said...

Anonymous 12:48


How would we know who the voters prefer unless we put them to the test?

In UMNO we know clearly who they want as we have elections every 3 years or so. The 20,000 odd members decide whom they want and for the Malay candidates in BN, they are most likely to be picked among the highest ranked member in the division. When in doubt in a general election, most often than not, if they stick to this doctrine, BN will come out tops.

I ask you right now. If Wan Farid is not the preferred choice of Kuala Terengganu from the BN, within 10 seconds from reading this, can you name an alternative candidate off hand? I think not because we can't really tell for sure who the 90,000 voters really prefer now can we?

Anonymous said...

TPJ

Just read your reply.

Your answer is defensive and still reflect an UMNO in denial and making up shallow excuses.

It a great answer for the deaf and blind OKU.

Good luck UMNO for PUR13. YOu don;t have to worry. Johor will remain but be relegated as Museum of UMNO

In 5 seconds, I tell you Wan Farid is clearly not the choice of anyone in KT except cronies. His public perception is just bad.

Its not difficult at all to do a survey, and perception indicator, if UMNO used some amount of brain. Problem is UMNO doesn't know how to do all that. Too lazy and dependent on Government machinery, SB and not party effort.

In my last 2 second, I'll give you Zuber Embong as a sure candidate to win. He is one of the 5 in the shortlist.

Anon 12:48

TPJ said...

Anon 12:48

Stick to the facts. I gave you figures and our rationale for picking Wan Farid while you just responded with a hunch from a list of five which any tramp on the street can venture with.

As far as Zubir Embong is concerned. From what I've heard from the folks in KT, he is a bird of the same feather with Wan Farid. The only difference between them is that Wan Farid is the UMNO Division Chief and Zubir isn't. Now given those circumstances, even those whom you so disrespectfully mentioned as OKU wouldn't find it difficult to choose.

BN is offering development to KT. Wan Farid is not important as he is just the messenger. Delivering the goods to the people of Terengganu is whats important. He doesn't have to do it with a smile as long as the delivery is made. He's not out there to win anyone's hand in marriage. He's there to serve.

Now what can Pakatan give besides a smile and a handshake?

On Saturday, the people will decide. They can do the smart thing or they can choose to be foolish and sentimental. Bottomline, they will deserve whom they choose as their representative.

budak-kom said...

when palestin love him we all hate him very much..so sad to hear that...

TPJ said...

Budak-kom,

We don't hate Dr Mahathir. We love him, but just the same, if he is not entirely right, it is incumbent upon us tyo correct him.