Why can't UMNO get along with Everybody Else? Why does PERKASA have to play childish games of holier-than-thou, been-here-longer-than-thee, got-more-political-clout-than-you, nyeh-nyeh-nyeh-nyeh-nyeh... and my songkok much bigger than yours, heh heh heh?
55 years after 13 May 1969, let's grow up, people! Stop kicking that race and religion shit around... you'll only end up with Stink-Foot and lose all your friends. It's time we grow up and realize that hooliganism and violence are the most dimwitted way to deal with differences of opinion; that hiding under the skirts of established institutions and traditions keeps our mindsets locked in the past; and that the way to the future lies in embracing the necessary changes and integrating the foreign with the familiar.
It's time we understood that the primary prerequisite of making it through the gates of paradise isn't how much big your mansion is... or how good you are at fooling others... or how much fear you can instil in others... or how long your listing is in the Who's Who... but simply how open-hearted and honest you can be.
Those who cling to power because they fear the consequences of their past misdeeds are already the living dead, they are without souls... they are zombies disguised as humans... they are the condemned... and the only way they can be released from a hideous damnation of their own making is to seek forgiveness from those they have wronged... and then throw themselves at the mercy of heaven.
But would you trust him with RM5 billion of your hard-earned pension funds... after he made RM30 billion disappear into thin air?
Like his former boss Daim Zainuddin, he stays clear of the spotlight, preferring to work quietly behind the scenes. As Mahathir's financial advisor in the 1980s Nor Mohamed Yakcop was implicated in a series of colossal disasters and largely responsible for the shocking loss of RM30 billion of the rakyat's money in forex speculation that ended in abysmal failure. Instead of losing his job, he gets promoted to Second Finance Minister. Only in Bolehland!
It now transpires that Daim Zainuddin, then finance minister, had in 1992 authorized Nor Mohamed Yakcop to gamble with our money in the forex casino, with the acquiescence of Bank Negara governor Jaffar Hussein and prime minister Mahathir Mohamed. They probably agreed to split the profits, if any - but any losses incurred would be quietly foisted on the public. Nice guys, huh?
From Malaysiakini(Vox Populi | 26 July 2008): "Recent developments have shown that Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop indeed played a pivotal role in Bank Negara's forex scandal between 1992 to 1994. It would now be embarrassing to Pak Lah's administration if he continues to serve as Malaysia's second finance minister after being responsible for such a colossal loss of up to RM30 billion of the people's money. The most honourable thing for him to do would be to step down and come clean on the enormous forex losses as a result of speculation in the international currency markets in the 90s."
The forex scandal is ‘plunder’ of the highest order. Pak Lah must not close one eye to this gross offence of misappropriation of funds, which had allegedly occurred. Pak Lah who serves under the BN government must carry through his pledge to clean up the country. The best way to do that is to start with all the alleged abuses and misappropriation of funds over the last 20 years of the BN rule. The Sabah immigration scandal, Perwaja, MAS, Miti share allocations and the use of the people’s EPF money. Until he does this and investigate the losses, BN will forever be haunted by the ghosts of the past. The people will not rest until we see the culprits brought to justice, and if not, BN must be held responsible.
A murky and embarrassing case is closed, hiding top government officials’ involvement
Sometime over the next few days, a court in Kuala Lumpur will put the finishing touches to an agreement that allows Tajudin Ramli, the former head of Malaysian Airline System, not only to walk away from charges that he had allegedly looted the airline of tens of millions of US dollars but with an RM580 million (US$293.2 million) out-of-court settlement from the government.
It appears to be a settlement that the government would rather keep to itself. At the heart of the agreement with Tajudin is a convoluted story that began as long ago as the 1980s when Malaysia’s central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, at the urging of then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, began speculating aggressively in global foreign exchange markets, at one time running up exposure rumored to be in the region of RM270 billion -- three times the country’s gross domestic product and more than five times its foreign reserves at the time.
Eventually, playing with the big boys came home to roost. In 1992 and 1993, Mahathir became convinced he could make billions of ringgit by taking advantage of a British recession, rising unemployment and a decision by the British government to float the pound sterling free of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
Crocodile tears
Mahathir ordered Bank Negara to buy vast amounts of pounds sterling on the theory that the British currency would appreciate once it floated. However, in what has been described as the greatest currency trade ever made, the financier and currency wizard George Soros’s Quantum hedge fund established short positions borrowing in pounds and investing in Deutschemark-denominated assets as well as using options and futures positions.
In all, Soros’s positions alone accounted for a gargantuan US$10 billion. Many other investors, sensing Quantum was in for the kill, soon followed, putting strenuous downward pressure on the pound. The collapse was inevitable. Quantum walked away with US$1 billion in a single day, earning Mahathir’s eternal enmity and earning Soros the title “the man who broke the Bank of England.”
There is a great deal we in Malaysia can learn from monitoring the economic and political flux in America - and no one better qualified to inspire us in the right direction than the magnificent Swami Beyondananda aka Steve Bhaerman...
By Steve Bhaerman With Obama AWOL, the Evolutionary Up-Wising Must Proceed Without Him
“For the past generation, the Republicans have been playing hardball … and the Democrats have been playing hardly-have-balls.” ~ Swami Beyondananda
Well, what do you know? It’s happened again. The hopium has worn off, and in the sober light of morning we see that the white knight we hoped would save us (albeit a slightly darker white knight) has left us bereft. And our wallet is missing.
Progressives are bewailing the betrayal of progressive principles, but it’s worse than that. From the very first appointments – or should we say, disappointments – the Obama Administration installed more of the usual suspects instead of the unusual ones we had hoped for. The economic elites in power simply switched uniforms from red to blue. Bottom line, Obama bailed out Wall Street and bailed on Main Street.
True, the bail out was put in place by the Bush Administration. But it was given legitimacy by Obama, and in that one move Obama lost the independent voters who saw a glimmer of hope, a possibility that the unmitigated rule by the power of money could be counterbalanced, if not overcome.
He coulda been a contender. Instead, Obama took an apparent dive – and a bought us all a one-way ticket to palookaville. As to the “why,” take your choice. There is a really excellent article in the September, 2010 Vanity Fair that attributes Obama’s plight to a “broken Washington.” It’s a pretty inside-the-matrix analysis, but it’s valuable in showing the relationship between the American Devolution and the influence of money. In 2009, the article says, lobbyists spent $3.5 billion to leverage legislation. As an indication of how things have changed in just one “degeneration,” here is a quote from the article: “In the 1974 congressional elections, total spending on Senate and House races came to only $77 million. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, by 2008 the figure was $1.36 billion, with lobbyists providing a significant amount.”
In other words, Congressional campaigns cost seventeen times as much as they did 35 years ago. No wonder the Democrats have devolved into “Republican Lite.” They have felt obliged to follow the money instead of lead the conversation. As Ralph Nader wrote recently, “… the Democrats do not have a progressive philosophy.”
Other analyses are less forgiving, and portray Barack Obama as a Manchurian candidate riding the Trojan horse of “change” into the White House. A fact sheet distributed by St. Pete for Peace offers as much evidence as anyone needs to indicate that Obama’s prime allegiance is not to we the people but to the corporate state.
So … who or what is the real Obama? Is he an Aquarian visionary hamstrung by a dysfunctional system, or an inside player whose purpose all along was to low-jack progressivism on behalf of the corporate state?
And the answer is … it doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t matter because nothing could, would or will change without an independent political movement of “we the people.” Even Obama hinted at that during his campaign, telling the American people, “It’s about you.”
And now, nearly two years after the election, and more than a year-and-a-half since the inauguration, there is no independent citizens movement. We have the same third and fourth parties limping along, and the truth is we don’t need a new third party in America.
We need a new first party.
To have that, we must give up hopium, and end the dope addiction (i.e., our addiction to electing dopes who don’t really represent our true interests) that has so severely weakened the body politic that we the people have become a non-factor in governance, diverted from the real issues by bipolar politics and a media side-show.
Here is my declaration, prayer and intention:
May the 2010 mid-term election be the last bullshit election held in America.
May it be the last election, where “mosque-debating” obfuscates the real issues of who’s in charge, and who’s in charge of who’s in charge.
May it be the last election where people’s hard-earned money – not to mention the hardly-earned money spent by the economic elites – is used to perpetrate lies, distortions and manipulative misinformation.
May it be the last election where the mainstream corporate media calls the shots of what gets covered.
May it be the last election where only money talks, and where “free speech” is free – unless of course, you want it to be broadcast widely, in which case it costs lots and lots of money.
And the Good News Is…?
There is good news, folks … but only if WE make it.
You'll be much too stressed to service your voracious wife.
She'll soon be sending for some toy boys...
Isn't this a much nicer and healthier option? You have enough cash stashed away to live in the lap of luxury the rest of your lives... far, far from your political foes in Malaysia!
Would you trust him with RM5 billion of your hard-earned pension funds?
He stays clear of the spotlight, preferring to work quietly behind the scenes. As Mahathir's financial advisor in the 1980s Nor Mohamed Yakcop was implicated in a series of colossal disasters and largely responsible for the shocking loss of RM30 billion of the rakyat's money in forex speculation that ended in abysmal failure. Instead of losing his job, he gets promoted to Second Finance Minister. Only in Bolehland!
From Malaysiakini(Vox Populi | 26 July 2008): "Recent developments have shown that Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop indeed played a pivotal role in Bank Negara's forex scandal between 1992 to 1994. It would now be embarrassing to Pak Lah's administration if he continues to serve as Malaysia's second finance minister after being responsible for such a colossal loss of up to RM30 billion of the people's money. The most honourable thing for him to do would be to step down and come clean on the enormous forex losses as a result of speculation in the international currency markets in the 90s."
The forex scandal is ‘plunder’ of the highest order. Pak Lah must not close one eye to this gross offence of misappropriation of funds, which had allegedly occurred. Pak Lah who serves under the BN government must carry through his pledge to clean up the country. The best way to do that is to start with all the alleged abuses and misappropriation of funds over the last 20 years of the BN rule. The Sabah immigration scandal, Perwaja, MAS, Miti share allocations and the use of the people’s EPF money. Until he does this and investigate the losses, BN will forever be haunted by the ghosts of the past. The people will not rest until we see the culprits brought to justice, and if not, BN must be held responsible.
