Nak jadi kah atau hanya mimpi dan retorik?

Saya baca ucapan TPM semalam:-

"... kita mesti mengubah cara UMNO menentukan pemimpin termasuklah sistem kuota. Kita perlu memberikan hak memilih ke tangan kumpulan yang lebih besar. Sekarang ini, sebagai contoh pemilih bagi perhimpunan Agung UMNO hanya di kalangan hampir 2,600 orang yang terdiri daripada perwakilan dari 191 bahagian.

Sudah tentu keputusan yang dibuat oleh perwakilan sejumlah itu tidak mencerminkan sepenuhnya hasrat lebih tiga juta ahli UMNO di peringkat akar umbi di seluruh negara. Pada hemat saya, telah tiba masanya untuk kita mengkaji semula perlembagaan UMNO daripada aspek ini agar proses pemilihan kepimpinan UMNO dapat disertai oleh lebih ramai ahli dari semua peringkat.

Inilah jalan yang akan dapat membendung masalah politik wang dan salah guna kuasa. Inilah juga jalan, jika kita ingin parti ini terus kekal kuat dengan sewajarnya mengembalikan semula mandat pemilih kepada akar umbi."

Teringat cadangan dari tahun lepas ... yang dah diilhamkan dari tahun 2000 lagi ...
http://kayown.blogspot.com/2008/04/cadangan-usul-umno-merubah-sistem.html

Nak jadi ka?

Well they completely don't get it ....

I was laughing my head off at the barber yesterday while reading this at The Star. Got a few raised eyebrows from the other patrons. Shared the article with another guy sitting next to me, and he laughed as well. Well shows me that that I am not the only one that found this funny.

I’ll reproduce this just in case the link gets deleted after 7 days.

“Sunday November 9, 2008
Don’t get carried away with Obama, says Annuar

KOTA BARU: Kelantan Umno liaison chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa has urged Malaysians not to get carried away with Barrack Obama, as “we have our own leaders to admire and our issues to resolve”.

“I see people wearing Obama T-shirts. While it is good, let us not get carried away with what happened in other nations.

“I also prefer if people could wear T-shirts bearing Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, soon to be our next Prime Minister and Umno president,” he said at the opening of the Ketereh Umno division delegates meeting yesterday.

Annuar, who was returned unopposed as the division head, said Najib had displayed traits of nationalism of Umno founder Tun Onn Jaafar and the long-term foresight of his late father, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein.”

C’mon, go ahead … laugh your head off. I did … just barely managed to put my head back on after that serious laugh.

Oh puhleeez, it’s not just because I am one of those possibly tagged as “carried away by Obama”, which I may be, that I found that statement funny. But it just points out the fact that Annuar completely lost the point, as he often does. It’s one of those statements that imply if we have more interest in politics of other countries we cease to be patriotic. This is one of those self-righteous crap often yelled at us that really throws us off the local politicos.

To most I’ve talked to, what fascinates us about this year’s Presidential race is due to a couple of possibilities.

Maybe the fact that the United States actually chose whomever they want as President irrespective of “the colour if his skin, but the content of his character” (to paraphrase Martin Luther King). Maybe to some the ‘novelty’ of actually selecting the leader of your country as opposed to someone some party selects as the one to be your leader, is much more attractive and therefore attracts more attention. Maybe due to the fact that the person in question did not have to resort to making money on commissions and kickbacks from contracts to build his ‘war chest’ to campaign for this position, but just from getting ordinary people to believe in him (ultimately to be proven rightly or otherwise). Maybe its due to the fact that what impressed them in the fact that in making this choice, they actually felt good about making that choice, as opposed to making a choice simply because we need to punish the one in power like what we did in March 2008. Maybe it’s due to the fact that banal “support at all cost”, stupid statements are ridiculed over there as opposed to being carried on Page 1 in most mainstreams down here.

Whatever the reason, the biggest mistake UMNO is making is belittling the ‘interest’. In not recognising what is good in a successful campaign, it closes its eyes to what is needed by the citizen of a State. It shuts out what people are really hungry for. Basically, they simply are asking for a chance to make a difference in their lives. Something unfortunately the present leadership (if you can call it that) completely do not understand.

31st August or 16 September ... Why does it matter?

All these talk raised by the recently annointed leader of the PR and the debate that arises ... actually makes my blood rise, and the food that I ate during 'sahur' rise up as well.

On 31st August 1957 the Federated States of Malaya was formed. 11 states in all. We didn't have Sabah, Sarawak, Wilayah Persekutuan (KL, Labuan or Putrajaya) then. Neither did we (or we eventually) have Singapore. But that was the beginning of this independent country and the parliament and the government that forms this country of ours.

Now it can be argued (and incessantly argued until I feel like throwing up...) that Malaysia was not formed until 16 September 1963. Well actually there are other issues as well, the Malaysia that was formed on that date didn't last past 1965 when Singapore left. So do we celebrate the date that Singapore left as the date that Malaysia is truly formed. But what about Wilayah Persekutuan? It wasn't created until 1 February 1970. The citizens of Wilayah would cry foul then. What about WP Labuan and Putrajaya ... don't they count?

The above just demonstrate how silly this argument is. To the leader of the PR, the much looked upon (by you!) united States of America (note the uncapitalised 'u') was declared on 4th July 1776. But there was a war of Independence that went on until 1785 (and actually was started in 1775, when the revolutionaries seized control of these states from the British). Then. there were only 13 colonies (states) that went to form "these united States of America". The other states (some from France, Mexico, Spain) formed the union of 50 states by joining in one by one until the last one on August 21st, 1959 (after Malaysia was independent). That state being the former Republic of Hawaii. Maybe the leader of PR might consider asking his good friend to make 21/8 the National Day of USA.

The operative word in our celebration on 31 August is that it is the National Day / Hari Kebangsaan. Not Independence Day. Why can't we celebrate that day as all our National Day ... irrespective of actual time. It is after all a symbol?

The leader of PR has better things to do than this ... it reeks too much of political grandstanding for votes. Get to work, man!

Guts .... some do have it

Looking at what UMNO cawangan Sungai Buloh Country Resort, Bhg Kuala Selangor, approved during their last AGM, I was proud to see that there are UMNO members (at the grassroots level) that have more guts than all of the Majlis Tertinggi put together.

I guess this level of courage is likely to be rare, as most of ahli UMNO prefer jadi lembu dari jadi orang. Especially among the heads of Bahagian and some of the cawangan. It is a pity.

I would ask all those ahli UMNO yang parents nya dulu UMNO, to ask themselves, would their parents, grandparents, great grandparents approve of what they have done to UMNO and the Malay race? How would they answer this question?

Can they sleep well knowing they just condemn this race to mediocrity once again?

Unfortunately for most of us, they can. And we ... nonUMNO members and non political party members suffer greatly for the actions of these bunch of leeches and traitors to the dreams of our Fathers and Mothers.