Anatomy of an obsequious Hand-Kisser

"Kiss his hand? When did I kiss his hand? Show me where I did that!" ~ Kamalanathan, BN's candidate for Hulu Selangor

Kamalanathan loses cool over criticisms
By Clara Chooi | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA KUBU BARU, April 21 — As a public relations manager, P. Kamalanathan hardly loses his cool.

The calm exterior of the 44-year-old finally cracked yesterday when he was made to answer to allegations that his bid to win this Sunday’s Hulu Selangor by-election would be at the cost of his pride and identity as a member of the Indian community.

The Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate was asked to comment about his overdependence on Umno leaders to win the by-election race and how he was seemingly willing to sacrifice the community’s struggles by kowtowing to his Muslim leaders.

This, Kamalanathan was told, was illustrated once when he kissed the hand of Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and when he promised to deliver Hulu Selangor as a “gift” to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Since being named as a candidate, he has also defended Malay rights group Perkasa, a move that earned him plenty of criticism.

A shocked-looking Kamalanathan immediately replaced his smile with a frown and quickly defended his move.

“Kiss his hand? When did I kiss his hand? Show me where I did that,” he exclaimed, looking miffed when asked at an unplanned press conference in Ladang Kerling near here.

He said that even if he had indeed kissed Muhyiddin’s hand, it was not a wrongful act but was merely a depiction of Malaysian culture.

When asked about how the act might show signs that he was willing to sacrifice Indian pride for the sake of winning the by-election, Kamalanathan looked further agitated.

“Oh my God! This is culture we are talking about. If someone can say that culture is selling pride then I do not know what they are talking about.

“I am shocked that people can compare culture to pride,” he said.

The MIC information chief insisted that it was in Malaysian culture to show such acts of respect to the elders.

“Every child is taught to respect their elders. I was taught the same thing,” he said.

Kamalanathan was also queried on Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) occasional reference to how he, as a first-time candidate, had to hide behind the Umno top guns like Muhyiddin and Najib in order to win himself support.

Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had pointed out yesterday how the by-election was really an Umno show in view of the large number of banners containing Najib’s face instead of Kamalanathan.

[Read the rest here.]

Kamalanathan wasn't lying. A close analysis of the photo above reveals that he was actually kissing his own hand. However, for public relations purposes, he wanted his gesture to look like subservience to the arrogant mud-faced Umno warlord....

Ah... Malaysian politics!

Madhatter's Letter to Malaysiakini

DREAM TEAM OR NIGHTMARE TEAM?
Madhatter | Mar 27, 09 4:55pm

I refer to the Malaysiakini report Najib has got himself a formidable team.

I don't agree with Ong Kian Ming's assertion that Najib has got himself a formidable team.

He must be joking. A formidable team for what?

None of the people including Najib Abdul Razak himself make much of a team let alone a formidable one. For a commentator who has the habit of getting things wrong, the writer is wrong again this time and if he thinks they will achieve any more than the previous team he is sadly mistaken. At least he is right in conceding he does not think they are a 'dream team.'

It is more likely this team is a 'nightmare team' that will cause more havoc.

When will Malaysians and commentators stop believing in myths? Did not Malaysians believe that Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was 'Mr Clean"? Yet this man lied through his teeth and insiders will tell you he ain't so nice and clean as his public image conveys. All you have to do is read his swan song speech and note the sarcasm and innuendos not to forget the crocodile tears.

‘I thank Dr Mahathir ..." For what? For his early retirement? There are those who will knife you in the front and there are those who will betray you with a kiss. 'Mr Clean' will do both so please spare us the myth.

The writer wrote of Muhyiddin: ‘Significantly, his own image, which is that of an Umno leader who is relatively clean can be put into good use if Najib is willing to walk the reform talk in his speech to the Youth, Wanita and Puteri wings.’ What utter rubbish! What is relatively clean? The difference of a couple of hundred million ringgit? Please spare us the character references.

And please stop dreaming that Najib will walk the talk. Don’t Malaysians ever learn? Still hoping that there will be reform it seems... if pigs can fly!

What those in the team lack which the writer failed to mention is credibility of character. They are the architects and builders of Umno's state of gloom and doom and why Umno is at the lowest ebb of its entire history.

Courtesy of the Korea Times

For the first time, Malaysia has a scandal-ridden cabinet team. The supreme leader is allegedly linked to a gruesome murder, another is a traitor to his former boss, one is a racist opportunist, another has been found guilty of money politics which is corruption and the only thing formidable about them all is their threat to the rule of law and the future of democracy in the country. Not the people you could expect to carry out reforms.

None of them who have been ministers has excelled in his portfolio and education is in a terrible mess.

Hishamuddin Hussein continues to be a keris-kisser. It is always easy for a scoundrel to hide behind the skirts of race because they have nothing else to boast about, that is why racist supremacists try to drag in their race by championing some racist cause. Leopards don't change their spots.

Khairy Jamaluddin was the one who was the de facto prime minister with his Fourth Floor formidable team or don't we remember? Ask Mahathir. Wasn't it a condition of Abdullah's political demise that his son-in-law stayed? How could anyone not see this when Ali Rustam was barred and the favoured son-in law got a reprieve to stand in these elections?

Muhyiddin and Ahmad Zahidi are not real leaders but opportunists who know how to back the winners. Malaysia will be in for a nightmare because this so-called ‘formidable’ team is really a ‘B Team’.

How can you trust those who did not win their posts fair and square, when the system is corrupt and skewed, and Umno members themselves have no respect for the winners? ‘Rasuah!’ they chanted and the writer would have us believe these guys won fair and square and are the cream of Umno?

Malaysia is able to have a real ‘dream team’ to lead the country but as long as you have these Umno-types who use every dirty trick in the book to stop the opposition and the rakyat from exposing their scams and corrupt ways, they will have to live with the nightmare.

So please spare us the hype. Even a dwarf will stand tall like a giant when you force everyone else to lie down and crawl on their bellies. Prepare for more formidable repression because this team has all the credentials of the destroyers of democracy.

Indeed, a formidable team against democracy, against reform, against decent governance - that I agree.

UMNO (1946-1988)