4 May, 2009
Let’s see what the lembu Umno will do to the babi MCA. I bet RM1,000 they will just keep quiet and nothing will happen. Umno is not trying to defend Islam. It just wants DAP and PAS to fight even if MCA has to whack Islam to achieve this. Munafik!
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Star! Oh Star! At least be a smart party hack!
Lim Kit Siang
Yesterday, the MCA paper, the Star, gave prominent coverage to the challenge by MCA Vice President and Health Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, that I clearly state my stand on the Cabinet’s recent decision that minors follow the common religion of their parents at the time of marriage when one spouse opts to convert.
In the Star report headlined “State stand on religion ruling, DAP told”, Liow even said that I am at odds with the DAP National Chairman Karpal Singh over the matter on the ground that Karpal had clearly stated his support for the Cabinet’s decision, implying that I had opposed the Cabinet decision.
When I replied to Liow, Star just blacked out my response.
Reason? Because Liow would be shown to be a fool who does not understand simple English as I expressed support for the Cabinet decision in several statements on my blog.
Either Liow has a big problem with the English language, in which case he should undergo a quick refresher course so as not to disgrace the government and country when he appears in the official capacity as Health Minister whether inside or outside the country, or he is downright dumb.
If he is neither, and had been misled by untrustworthy aides to issue such a challenge, then he should know what to do to salvage the situation.
My offer to give Liow a free tutorial on the English language stands.
By blacking out my statement and refusing to accord me the right to respond to the irresponsible and baseless challenge from Liow, which it had given prominent coverage, the Star has gone against all canons of responsible and professional journalism and made a mockery of the World Press Freedom Day yesterday.
The overwhelming majority of the Star journalists are honourable, professional and self-respecting men and women who do not agree with such prostitution of sacred journalistic principles.
Let me advise those responsible for the blackout of my reply to Lai – at least be a smart party hack!
Some time around 1997 or thereabouts, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said something that made a lot of sense. Okay, there is quite a bit he said that makes sense. But when you hate the man, as many readers of Malaysia Today do, whatever the Tun says, even if it makes sense, is rejected outright merely because it is the man who is talking.
I know, I know……at this point, many are going to rush to the bottom of this page to post comments whacking me for being pro-Mahathir. Then, after the first comment, others are going to follow suit, like herd, and jump onto the bandwagon to heighten the anti-RPK-who-is-pro-Mahathir bashing.
And that is what today’s piece is all about -- the herd mentality. And that was what Tun Dr Mahathir said some time around 1997 or thereabouts -- that people are like a herd and that they have herd mentality.
In spite that it was Tun Dr Mahathir who said it and in spite of you hating the man like hell, is what he said wrong? Is this not also what George Soros said? And George Soros and Tun Dr Mahathir are arch-enemies. Yet they both agree on that point.
Okay, this piece is not about supporting Tun Dr Mahathir or about singing his praises. It is also not about how much of what the man says is sometimes true because most of you will never agree that what he says could probably be true if it comes from him. However, if it comes from someone you like or adore, then what he or she says is almost like a revelation from God. And if someone else also says the same thing, and then many others after that agree with what he or she says, then we will also agree that what was said is the Gospel.
That is what is meant as herd mentality.
After Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over as Prime Minister, everything that Tun Dr Mahathir said or did was wrong because he is no longer in power. The Crooked Bridge is wrong. The Italian motorcycle company, MV Agusta (http://www.mvagusta.it/_vti_g2_1.aspx), is wrong. Proton is wrong. You name it, as long as it has Tun Dr Mahathir’s dobby-mark on it, then it is wrong.
Why is it wrong? Because Tun Dr Mahathir is no longer the Prime Minister. And since the new Prime Minister says the old Prime Minister, who is no longer in power, is wrong, then the new Prime Minister, who is in power, must be right while the old Prime Minister, who no longer has any power, just has to be wrong.
That is the criteria we use in evaluating anything. And the second criteria would of course be herd mentality -- we follow the crowd even if the herd is falling off a cliff in a stampede a la Western Cowboy movie-style.
Today, the Crooked Bridge is on again. The Crooked Bridge, which was a stupid idea when Tun Dr Mahathir was out of favour, is now a fantastic idea. Did I hear Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak defend the Crooked Bridge back in 2006 when the Tun Abdullah Badawi government decided to shelve it? Najib was Tun Abdullah’s number two back in 2006. Did Najib agree with Tun Abdullah that the Crooked Bridge is a stupid idea and should be shelved or did he defend Tun Dr Mahathir’s Crooked Bridge and argue the merits of continuing with it?
Yes, even Najib suffers from herd mentality. When the then Prime Minister says cancel the Crooked Bridge, then the Cabinet, which Najib was a part of, agrees to cancel it. Now that Tun Abdullah is no longer in power and Tun Dr Mahathir is back in the driver’s seat, or at least sitting in the seat immediately behind the driver, then the Crooked Bridge is on again.
Have they forgotten the arithmetic worked out then? The cost to cancel the Crooked Bridge worked out higher than the cost to proceed with its construction. No one disagreed that the cost to cancel the project works out higher than the cost to build the bridge. But did anyone argue that the government might as well proceed with the project since it has already been started anyway and it works out cheaper to finish what you started?
And what about MV Agusta? It cost RM300 million or thereabouts to acquire the company. Then everyone argues that to retain the company would involve injecting another RM300 million or so to keep it afloat. So better get rid of it rather than send good money after bad. This is called cutting your loses.
And, just like herd, we all jumped in and agreed that this was a wise decision. Sell it and save RM300 million of the taxpayers’ money. Why waste another RM300 million after already blowing RM300 million?
Good argument -- except that when they spent RM300 million to buy over the company they already knew they would need to pump another RM300 million into it. So, actually, the plan was to spend RM600 million on the company. That was anticipated. That was no accident. It is not that they bought the company for RM300 million and then discovered later, oops, they now need to pump in another RM300 million which they did not realise at the time they bought the company.
The spin was that ‘someone’ boo-booed. ‘Someone’ spent RM300 million to buy a motorcycle company without realising that, after they buy the company, they would need to spend another RM300 million to keep it afloat. No, that ‘someone’ knew bloody well that they would be spending RM600 million -- RM300 million to buy the company and another RM300 million in capital injection.
Okay, now we can pop that RM600 million question: is it worth spending RM600 million to acquire an Italian motorcycle company? Honestly, I don’t know. It all depends on what you expect from that RM600 million investment. Even if it is merely RM60 million instead of RM600 million, but if we are not getting any ROI (returns on investment), then I would say it is a bad deal.
The issue is not RM6 million, RM60 million, RM600 million or even RM6 billion. The issue is: what will we see in terms of profit, benefit, etc., for that investment of ours? No one talked about this. No one was interested to know. They were only concerned about the fact that the ex-Prime Minister made this decision and the current Prime Minister wants to reverse that decision so our vote is with the current Prime Minister and not with the ex-Prime Minister, for obvious reasons.
Herd mentality.
And one even more crucial question that no one bothered to ask in all that euphoria to run down Tun Dr Mahathir and show support to Tun Abdullah Badawi is: who was MV Agusta sold to and why for only RM4? We buy a company at a cost of RM300 million and sell it off for merely RM4 after a very short space of time. And the company that bought MV Agusta for merely RM4 is a newly registered company that was formed specifically for the purpose of buying over MV Agusta. But the owners of that company are phantoms. We do not know who they are.
Why did no one ask this question, not even Najib Tun Razak? Herd mentality.
Let’s look at another herd mentality scenario. Someone in PAS said they want to contest the Penanti by-election. Someone then says PAS can’t be trusted. Someone else says PAS wants to merge with Umno to form a new Malay political party. Then everyone jumps onto the bandwagon and, like the typical herd mentality, whack PAS to kingdom come. And when people like me put in a word of support for PAS, we get whacked and are accused of being PAS apologists.
Then the top leaders of PAS publicly declare that Penanti is a PKR seat and PAS does not intend to contest that seat. Then the person who made so much noise asking PAS to contest the seat resigns. Do we hear anything from all those who had earlier whacked PAS and said that PAS is a traitor and turncoat who is preparing to merge with Umno to form a new Malay political party?
Some even posted comments in Malaysia Today challenging me personally to say something about the matter. “Aha, gotcha, PAS has sold us out. Now what do you have to say, Raja Petra bin Raja Kamarudin, you PAS lover?”
Nothing. I have absolutely nothing to say. I have already said what I wanted to say a long time ago -- just like I already said what I wanted to say about the Crooked Bridge and MV Agusta back in 2006. The only thing is, back in 2006, I swam against the current. Everyone was swimming downstream while I swam upstream. Now, I am resting on the riverbank and watching with great amusement everyone doing a U-turn and swimming back upstream. And that is because of herd mentality. That is because Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is no longer Prime Minister so we have to quickly swim in the opposite direction.
Okay, forget about Tun Dr Mahathir. I know most of you hate hearing his name. Let’s instead talk about PAS. PAS is not contesting Penanti. The faggot who made so much noise about the issue has resigned. So, what now?
Melayu mudah lupa. No, not Melayu, all Malaysians mudah lupa. I wrote some time back about Trojan Horses in Pakatan Rakyat. Remember that article? And do you know what Trojan Horses do for a living? And do you also know why, from time to time, issues are raised that tests the solidarity of Pakatan Rakyat to the limit?
If you don’t get what I am trying to say then you are just too dumb and I need no longer waste my time trying to educate you. Believe what you want to believe. Believe the world is flat and the moon is made from green cheese if that makes you happy. After all, as they say, ignorance is bliss.
Oh, and I almost forgot. Read the statement by Lim Kit Siang above. What do you see? The stupid readers can stop reading at this point because this is going to be too taxing on your brain and you may get a headache if you try to figure this one out.
What? You see MCA trying to provoke DAP to make them fight with PAS? That would be what those not so smart and what the herd mentality types would see. What I see is MCA demonstrating its hostility towards Islam.
It’s simple, really. MCA does not want to make any statement considered negative towards Islam as that might antagonise Umno. So they are provoking DAP to do that instead. What I now want to know is: what is Umno and all those so-called Muslim NGOs going to do about it? Are they going to make police reports and organise anti-MCA demonstrations in front of Wisma MCA in Jalan Ampang?
Hello…..Umno…….NGO-NGO Islam……..MCA cabar Islam lah. You orang buat apa? Kayu ke? Takde batu ke? Podah! Islam konon!
Let’s see what the lembu Umno do to the babi MCA. I bet RM1,000 they will just keep quiet and nothing will happen. Umno is not trying to defend Islam. It just wants DAP and PAS to fight even if MCA has to whack Islam to achieve this. Munafik!
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