By Calvin Sankaran
The only similar historical parallel of an alliance of previously sworn enemies that I can think of is the 1939 Molotov Ribbentrop pack between Nazi Germany and communist Soviet Union.
This treaty has been called as the Devil’s Alliance [which is] in many ways similar to the Protun and Dapster shotgun marriage of convenience.
Interestingly that treaty had secret clauses within that was not revealed to public. It involved Germany and Russia dividing large parts of Eastern Europe.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some similar arrangements exist between the Protuns and Pakatoons.
Calvin’s comment originally @ 2016/03/14 at 9:37 am
Ah Beng and Mamat get married
By Helen Ang
.
The strange bedfellows have gotten even freakier.
Needless to say, what you see is not what you get. It’s false advertising and the product being sold to suckers is never as good as it looks.
For one, the Dapster certainly does not look like a K-Pop star lah. He looks like the Guan Beng from Jinjang that he really is.
And as for the fraud masquerading as “little lady of the valley” in the ‘Wedding of the Century’ above … Well, despite ‘his’ cute anime appearances, the Dapster-Protun unholy alliance would actually be a case of Lelaki Kahwin Lelaki.
We really ought to hear from PAS’s Ustaz Tantawi objecting how the masquerading Protun siap bawa budaya songsang.
Continues:
Will Tun trip DAP or will DAP trip Tun first?
Helen Ang 
Hahahaha…how apt!
Perhaps we are witnessing a Sepet slash Muallaf moment here.
I wonder what would the name of child would be? Anak Malaysia? Bangsar? Rojak?
Indeed we are witnessing truly bizarre days.
Hahaha … Calvin could you get any more ridiculous than you already are? Tell us does Tun M. strike your imagination as a Nazi or a Commie? What is a shotgun marriage in your mind?
I am wondering the same about Protuns and Pakatoons. I only thought outrageous scripts / storyline, illogical dialogues, piss poor acting and ugly over-the-hill actors are only found in Tamil YV serials. But obviously I am wrong. In this story, like Tamil serials, there are no good guys only villains.
They desperately need a WOMAN OF FURY to nail their plots ones like Ummi Hafilda and Rewscastle Brown. Yang dok ada no substance semua sekadar parrots aje.
They should engage JKRowling. Can help with their fantasies and also bring more revenue for DAP Penang.
BTW drinho, HY dan kawan2.. what happened to the 90% Chinese, thats all they are worth isit?
Still hallucinating ke? Get back of reality la. Foreign investors takut nak masuk without support of UMNO Melayus ..kutip “hopping” exUMNOs pun depa tak berani tau.
Its been a long time since a “woman of substance” showed up like a storm in a tin kosong.
The Ribbentrop pack analogy is balderdash. Stretching the Nazi Germany and communist Soviet Union alliance to the Tun Dr Mahathir arrangement with Lim Kit Siang to get Najib resign or be replaced is ludicrous.
The World War II situation is completely out of proportion and context compared to the peace time anti-Najib movement in Malaysia It may be a war of sorts but only in words, peaceful assembly and citizens protest, no sabre rattling of any kind, no tanks rumbling on the streets and the like.
Fertility of imagination is no guarantee of wisdom. Or even plain common sense. But taken as a joke, it is ok. As indeed it is, judging from some of the comments up to to night.
Yes, they have been deemed unlikely partners. Yet whoever thought of Germany as a NATO partner in recent times? And able to contain Russian adventurism in Europe to a large extent. That analogy is apt when talking about unlikely partners. And the Mahathir-Kit Siang partnership may well get Najib resign or be replaced. The movement has just started.
“And the Mahathir-Kit Siang partnership may well get Najib resign or be replaced. The movement has just started.” — and shall I add, “and ended before it even begun”?
This pact, just like the aforementioned alliance, is a pack between two very strange bedfellows who is willing to sacrifice their principles (or rather the lack of it) for their strategy of “the enemy of my enemy is my buddy”. And we all know what had happened to those who followed this strategy right?
If you read the WW2 history, the pact between the Nazis and commies made their members mad. Many party members were furious with the sudden thaw in hostility and left their party in disgust. History might as well repeat here too….
No need to read WWarII history at a high level to know that the Ribbentrop pack analogy is balderdash.
But if by saying “Many party members were furious with the sudden thaw in hostility and left their party in disgust” you mean UMNO members were disgusted with Najib being the cause, I agree. Note that TDM had resigned from UMNO.
While still on the matter of “stretching arguments”, let me say that the “thaw in hostility” between UMNO and DAP may even have begun from Najib declaring himself a Bugis rather than the standard practice of being proud to be a Malay, saying he was “also a pendatang”, abolished ISA and decided to scrap the Sedition Act, sidelined the NEP etc etc – all those that were championed by and that pleased the DAP.
At PRU13, he got weak knees by endearing references to him as Ah Jib Gor, got shocked by the Chinese tsunami yet continued to placate the DAP by such things as giving assistance to Chinese schools and scholarships to the community that has been the richest in the country for decades. The community that has their traditional system of mutual help and real “donations” by hundreds of millionaires such that UTAR refused a RM30 million scholarship etc donation by a Chinese engineer multi-millionaire some time back. Sorry Najib got wanked again by DAP this time – Lim Kit Siang wants him to resign or be replaced – maybe even more, though TDM just wants Najib to resign or be replaced, although in answer to press questions, he yes-ed the “suggestion” of going beyond that.
.
You might not realise it, but you just answered your own question.
You sound like a right-winger who is upset with Najib’s concessions to the Chinese. Perhaps you also a member of Perkasa?
While some of us (me included) think Najib’s actions are rather naïve, I am not upset with him trying to win the Chinese support. Unlike you, I am not holding it against him. He has the right and responsibility to win more votes for BN after all.
When a rabid right-winger has no qualms about working with the Chinese ultras of DAP, it is a foregone conclusion that this shotgun marriage wouldn’t last very long. You guys (Malay right-wingers and Chinese ultras)
have nothing in common except for your hatred for each other and Najib. If Najib is removed, the entire pact comes apart and the country will be in a civil war.
As such, most would rather stick with Najib than have two extreme factions destroy the country.
There you go again Calvin: Wrapped up in your self-affirming matrix of confounded socio-political perceptions. Would you have us believe that Dr. M is a racist right winger?
So you are saying it is merely my perception that Perkasa is right wing organization or that Tun was once their adviser and patron saint?
Dr. M was their advisor – the good doctor moderated their stance and viewpoints. But no one is aware he has been canonized as a saint.
Having disputed the more disagreeable part of your comment-turned-into-a-post, I was quite prepared to let the other part go.
But you used the words “rabid right-winger”. You are at liberty to call me a right winger but not rabid. That deserves a rebuttal. For your information, I’m not rabid but may at times be rigid. You’d not like it when I’m so on you.
Good that you admit that Najib is at least “naive”. The rest of what you said are all your opinions. Of course others’ opinions are better than yours.
Where no facts, data or valid arguments are produced, your belief that Najib will win the Chinese support in the face of the huge Chinese tsunami is fanatical, overzealous, and maniacal (synonyms of rabid).
i wouldnt say u r rabid but i think u need to tighten up yr rhetoric. it seem u r a bit lost if compare against the last time u put forward yr comment here, u was at least much more consistent. i am fine if one have totally diff view as mine, example a fella name ellese or even shamsul, as long as he is consistent.
I am inclined to “unrudely” call you “unsmart”. Accusing people not consistent but not pointing out specifically where, which and what.
I’ll tolerate your hideous English grammar but not the DAP kind of “wild, unsubstantiated and unjustified allegations.” Supporting Tun Dr Mahathir working with Lim Kit Sang to get Najib resign or be replaced does not necessarily make anyone lovey lovey with DAP.
Btw, do you know the meaning of “consistent”? Your grammar indicates you don’t.
I think you are losing the plot here, going off the handle. Get a grip of yourself. Take your medicines timely, didn’t your mother told you so>
Thinking others are losing the plot without explaining yourself usually tells your psychotic state of mind. Asking people to take medicines tells your experience with psychotic medicines that you must have taken on “timely” basis so you are relatively ok at times when you are able to tell others to do so. “Relatively ok” – because your grammar was still wanting when saying, “didn’t your mother told you so”.
Good on you for taking your medicines timely. Do keep it up. One can only imagine what it would be for you when you don’t. You sound not having your mother telling you to do so. That’s the more danger for you when you forget doing so. I hope you won’t. For the sake of decent conversation and discussion in here.
Gentlemen, we are going down a slippery slope … may I offer Buddha’s compassionate advice:
“On life’s journey
Faith is nourishment,
Virtuous deeds are a shelter,
Wisdom is the light by day and
Right mindfulness is the protection by night.
If a man lives a pure life nothing can destroy him;
If he has conquered greed nothing can limit his freedom.”
Change yourself, change the world
Buddhists understand that you can hardly help another before you help yourself. But this isn’t referring to gaining power or wealth before you can help others, or living in a way such that you ignore others.
We are all interconnected, so by you helping yourself to improve you create a positive effect on the rest of the world. Don’t believe that it’s “either me or them”. You also don’t need to drag yourself through mud to help those around you. If you do this, you might well hamper your ability to create a positive impact.
At the deepest level of understanding, by making yourself wholesome you’re also making others whole because there’s no separating “i” and “them”. Live for the well-being and happiness of others and you will inspire others to do the same. Thank you.
I can’t recall when I did claim that Najib will win the Chinese support. I never thought he would succeed and that he was wasting his time. Anyone who has been following Helen would know this.
Perhaps it is something conjured up by your fevered imagination?
As for being a rabid right-winger, you don’t have to walk around foaming at mouth to be one. You rants and raves about the Chinese and Najib’s overtures towards them highlights your intentions and mind-set perfectly well.
The description of you by “none the wiser | March 15, 2016 at 10:40 a” fits you well –
“Wrapped up in your self-affirming matrix of confounded socio-political perceptions.”
Having called people “a rabid right-winger” and got whacked for that until “foaming at mouth” – to use your own words – serves you right, innit?
Mahathir has breathed life into the statutory age of senility (retirement) from its metaphor (usually dead) to a resurrection which the Tun will symbolically acknowledge by participating in the easter sunday march (or am I mistaking it for a palm sunday ritual)?
As for the DAP, its always the bridesmaid never the bride. Too old for anyone to take their hand in marriage.
Even if they do, the next day, they will file for divorce.
Typical behaviour of DAP yet many suitors fall for it, even nonagenarians
Remember when the DAP took the PAS bride. Talak.
Well, let us how long the ProTun’s menage a trois with Anwar and DAP will last. The next election is still years away. The ProTun affair will be as quick as a one night stand.
Deklarasi Rakyat = nikah mut’ah
Bride = buah dah ranum dok gantung atas pokok. Nak petik terlalu masak dah lembek sangat. Mai angin ketegaq nak loghoh sendiri.
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/03/14/edge-confirms-losses-tmi/
“The closure of TMI should serve as a reminder to those of us in the media industry as well as the public at large that good journalism cannot be sustained without commercial support. When good journalism stops, society is the loser,” he said.
Good journalism? Really.
As in the New Straits Times & Utusan Malaysia? Exemplars of “good journalism”? Really?
I suppose, by your standards, you would be very reluctant to label The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Sydney Morning Herald or the Singapore Straits Times as examples of “good journalism”, would you?
“giants” versus “dwarves”, wouldn’t you say?
All media platforms serve the vested interests of their owners. As long as their owners are willing to fund them they shall continue to exist. Good journalism is an oxymoron. You want to play the media game ? You invest big money. Too bad TMI’s owners lack the means to fund it so it has to close down. The NST and Utusan have the least to worry about because they have big money behind them.
re, All media platforms serve the vested interests of their owner .
‘The star’ is said to be own by MCA , but they say it served the DAP ,sometimes I wounder .
The MCA is in cahoots with the DAP didn’t anyone tell you ?
The Singapore Straits Times? Seriously?? Which planet have you been living by the way? Have you actually read the paper or just surfed the net looking for I1MDB story and stumbled on the ST website?
I would place the ST in the illustrious company of the Pravda and the China’s The People’s Daily instead.
Outside of Harakah, Suara Keadilan and the Rocket, the ST would be my choice of the newspaper with least credibility. Heck, even our own the Star aka Gunting has more creds.
Talking abt credibility, hv you got any by the way…?
Did you drop off from a flying saucer by any chance? Are you sure you are taking you daily medicine diligently ? What is my credibility got to do with this issue?
by your standards, i think utusan pun patut close shop laa…
ntah berapa kali dah kena saman pasal fitnah
There was another case of an “alliance of previously sworn enemies” that conspired to grab power, and it happened not so far away like Europe and not too long ago. It happened in Sabah in 1985. The protagonists in this farce were USNO, Berjaya, PBS.
Sabah State Elections 1985
1) the enemies were Berjaya led by Haris Salleh (incumbent) and USNO led by Tun Mustapha. Berjaya had toppled the USNO government in 1976 sending it to the opposition.
2) also contesting was a newly formed party PBS led by Pairin
3) USNO & PBS were allies in the fight to topple Berjaya government
4) Result of this election : Berjaya =6, USNO=16, PBS = 25
5) USNO then teamed up with enemy Berjaya: 16+6 + 6 bonus seats = 28 > 25, = majority
6) They forced the Yang di Pertua to swear in Mustapha as CM at 5.20am.
7) This was subsequently dishonoured and PBS was sworn-in the following evening.
8) Tun Mustapha later took his case to court but lost.
Note: Berjaya & USNO are members of the BN coalition.
Read about the farce here :
https://news.google.com/newspapers?
nid=x8G803Bi31IC&dat=19850423&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
http://thecontroversialfiles.com/articles/places/32-sabah-s-untold-history
http://www.skrine.com/publications/legal-insights/711-bargaining-in-a-bazaar
oops url got spliced, should be:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=x8G803Bi31IC&dat=19850423&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
This pact brings to mind what my Arab friend told me shortly after the May 2013 general election that the DAP eventually seek to strike a deal with UMNO, whereby the DAP would replace the MCA as teh representative of the Chinese in Barisan Nasional in return for UMNO granting more consessions to the Chinese, which the MCA has failed to do. He said that this would come about because the DAP realises that it cannot gain any concessions for the majority of Chinese who voted for it as long as it remains in opposition, so the practical course of action is to make a pact with UMNO in return for the granting of certain concessions for the Chinese. In short, the DAP would become the “new MCA”.
Whilst that has not worked out exactly as my friend said back then, still what we have here is a pact between the DAP and a faction within UMNO against the head of another faction and if this pact manages to defeat the ruling faction, then DAP could be able to play a role as part of the new ruling coalition.
When I raised this point previously, you disagrred with me that it could happen but now it looks closer to happening, if not exactly as earlier predicted, since my friend is no clairvoyant who can see the future exactly and the development in circumstances leading to it.
Whether or not this pact achieves its objectives and if it has the mass public support to succeed at the ballot box is still left to be seen.
I am merely an impartial observer of developments in Malaysia’s current sordid political scene.
re: “what we have here is a pact between the DAP and a faction within Umno”
The Mahathir faction is being eliminated from Umno.
(1) Tun has quit the party and so he’s an outsider now
(2) Muhyiddin has been suspended and is going to be sacked for his ‘crime’ of langgar boss
(3) Mukhriz is going to be sacked for his prominent role in the Mahathir Declaration
re: “against the head of another faction”
Najib does not represent a mere faction of Umno. He’s the head of the body politic.
re: “and if this pact manages to defeat the ruling faction”
The ruling faction has got more than three-quarters of the Umno division chiefs solidly behind it.
re: “then DAP could be able to play a role as part of the new ruling coalition”
DAP is anti-Islam. With PAS now thawing towards the ruling coalition, BN will opt for political Islam to remain relevant rather than work with an enemy of Islam.
Furthermore, PAS has signalled that it’s going to be a Third Force in GE14. They intend to contest against the DAP. Such an arrangement will split the opposition votes.
re: “When I raised this point previously, you disagreed with me that it could happen”
I still disagree that the Umno-led BN will ever accept the DAP.
(1) DAP is too much of a taiko wannabe and aggressively challenging Umno’s preeminence. BN is not big enough to accommodate the DAP’s huge ego sneakily trying to dislodge the existing Big Brother
(2) Between co-opting DAP and co-opting PAS, better the latter. Perpaduan ummah is a reasonable excuse to explain the parti Melayu and parti Islam holding hands
(3) Unlike the DAP, PAS does not pose an overt threat to Malay interests. An Umno-PAS cooperation has a shared and acceptable objective, i.e. memartabatkan Islam. With DAP in the seat of power, the drive for Christianization will gain impetus – this is unacceptable
re: “but now it looks closer to happening, if not exactly as earlier predicted”
Only if the Mahathir splinter can prevail over the Najib-led Umno. It will not. Deklarasi Mahathir silap langkah.
The reaction from Tun’s own previously staunchest fans is like Big Dog’s. The sight of Tun supping with the devil (DAP) makes BD feel faint and wanna puke.
re: “Whether or not this pact achieves its objectives”
The sole aim that signatories of the pact can all agree on is the removal of Najib.
re: “and if it has the mass public support to succeed at the ballot box is still left to be seen”
In the process, the DAP is ratcheting up the hate and hypocrisy to intolerable levels. Umno will retaliate.
You can see that Najib-Umno has already retaliated against the DPM, against a party vice president and against a state MB.
Now Najib-Umno is retaliating against Tun.
When Najib-Umno retaliates against the DAP, then the 95 percent rabid oppo supporters will be collateral damage.
re: “I am merely an impartial observer of developments in Malaysia’s current sordid political scene.”
There will be a new order as a direct consequence of the DAP’s unhinged assault on the pillars (Malay & Islam) of state.
In the peninsula, we will revert to Tanah Melayu. Overall, we will be bumi Islam. The call for perpaduan ummah is resonating with the Malay polity, hence PAS’s present trajectory.
As an impartial observer of developments, you have the capacity to realise that my appraisal is correct. The delusional Chinese are so blinded by hate as to swallow their own propaganda. It’s dangerous when one begins to believe one’s own propaganda to the exclusion of reality.
Dr M had been absolutely right when he said in The Malay Dilemma:
CLARIFY:
“the 95 percent CHINESE rabid oppo supporters will be collateral damage”
You have raised many valid points regarding the impossibility of the DAP playing the role of a “new MCA” within the BN or a new coalition something like it.
I see the coming together of the DAP with a splinter from UMNO, PKR and some NGOs against Najib as being a move somewhat in that direction, though where it actually will go, I do not know.
Whilst Najib has the support of 75% of UMNO division chiefs, there still exist competing factions within UMNO, including a what I call a “Najib faction”. However, I’m sure that Zahid, Hishamuddin, Khairi, etc. have their own respective groups of loyalists, not to forget Mahathir, Mukhriz and Muhyiddin loyalists amongst the rank and file who will still be there even after Mahathir has left and even if Mukhriz and Muhyiddin are expelled.
Yes, I must admit that I had not factored in the new role of PAS as a Third Force which could split the vote, especially in rural and semi-rural constituencies.
However, we are debating here based upon what we can see between political parties and prominent politicians or simply put based upon macro-level observations.
However, what is hard to know or is unknown to me at least, is the sentiment of voters on the ground across the country and how they feel, especially with the rising cost of living, the effects of the GST, the level of unemployment – especially graduate unemployment, ethnic and religious issues and so forth.
The “noise and thunder” over 1MDB and the RM2.6 bil into Najib’s personal account, which has caught up comfortably well off urban middle class voters in a frenzy, but may not mean as much to voters struggling for survival but a rising cost of living, unemployment, higher costs of running a business due to the GST, etc. would move such voters to turn against the ruling party which they have so far supported.
It is such economic-related issues which have swung many Americans frustrated with what mainstream Republican and Democrat presidencies, representatives and governance have done for them, their livelihoods and their country, towards a candidate like Donald Trump who promise to proverbially take the bull by its horns and sort matters out for the benefit of the American people, its economy, industries and society in a no nonsense manner.
Trump basically has struck a chord in American voters, especially white, working class and small businessperson American voters, who have been starving for relief from the effects of globalisation, the outsourcing of well paying industrial jobs to lower wage countries, the TPP, the endless wars which the United States has been engaged in, especially in the Middle East, foreign policy, foreign relations, illegal immigration, Islamophobia and so forth.
On the left, there is Bernie Sanders, though he does not appear to have garnered as much support compared to Trump in the recent primaries.
If Hillary Clinton becomes president of the US, she could well lead the country into more wars and even into World War III, and I would not be surprised that with the US under Hillary, more American imperialist funds will flow towards financing more interference in the internal affairs of Malaysia through domestically-based groups.
Anyway, back to Malaysia, it is especially these economic issues which will influence voters on the ground in which party or candidate they vote for or to abstain from voting.
And as you have previously analysed with regards Selangor, it is how rural and semi-rural voters vote which delivers the seats in parliament to the party which wins general elections.
With that in consideration, it would seem that this pact between Mahathir, DAP, PKR and the NGOs against Najib will not have any significant effect on rural and semi-rural voters who have more pressing concerns, primarily over their economic survival.
Such issues may electrify urban, educated, English-literate, tech-savvy voters with full belies and plenty of time to spend sitting on their backsides behind a computer screens but these are given a much lower priority, if no priority amongst rural and semi-rural voters.
Anyway, we will only really know when the results of the next elections roll in and the results of the upcoming Sarawak State elections will be an interesting barometer to watch.
re: “the sentiment of voters on the ground across the country and how they feel, especially with the rising cost of living, the effects of the GST”
Probably Najib has a better gauge. The SB will report to the police will report to the NSC will report to the PM.
re: “urban, educated, English-literate, tech-savvy voters with full belies and plenty of time to spend sitting on their backsides behind a computer screens”
Delusional. Let’s watch how they adjust themselves to Tanah Melayu, Bumi Islam nanti. Hope they’re not colour blind will be able to pick out the yellow trollies that they’re supposed to push in the supermarkets kelak.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was a real-political manouvre by the Soviet Union to counter the attempt by the western powers to pit Nazi Germany to go to war with the Soviet Union and it bought the latter some precious time to build up its defences.
Likewise, the subsequent fall out between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and the latter’s alliance with imperial powers Britain and the United States against Nazi Germany also was for the national survival of the Soviet Union.
Many Soviet communists and Nazi Germans may have been too idealistic about their respective principles and ideologies to be able to understand the pragmatic reasons for such realpolitik. Such persons see their respective ideologies as cast in stone, like religious scripture, rather than a dynamic and fluid political, economic or military strategy relevant to a given time under given real-world circumstances at the given time, in order to defeat a common enemy and to survive.
It is believed that the Nazis managed to come to power and remain in power in Germany because the German communists refused to collaborate with the Social Democrats against the Nazis due to an ultra-leftist policy ofthe Comintern (Third International) against the reformist policies of the Social Democrats (formerly Second International) which they split from during World War 1 and which they denounced as “social fascist”.
This policy was reversed by the Comintern in 1934 and replaced by a startegy of building a popular front of all persons and groups opposed the Nazis but this was too late, since the Nazis who came to power in Germany in 1933 had already annihilated the German communists in 1934, before the Commintern revised its policy.
Likewise, the Chinese communists and the Kuomintang made a truce between themselves to fight the Japanese occupiers and the MPAJA, a front organisation of the Communist Party of Malaya maintained peace with the British-backed resistance forces such as Force 136 to fight the Japanese invaders during World War II.
Today, even ideological enemies such as Stalinists, Trotskyites, Anarchists, liberals, social demicrats and even far rightists have come together in marches to protest issues such as imperialist war or the Trans Pacific Partnership which they oppose in common.
Whilst I personally am pretty ambivalent about the conflict between this pact between Mahathir, the DAP, factions within PKR and the NED and Soros funded civil society groups on the one hand and Najib on the other, still I do not find such strategic alliances to be unusual.
You got the WW2 and other historical context correctly.
However I must say that this pact is not really a strategic alliance but merely, as I put it before, a shotgun marriage of convenience.
The difference is that in a strategic alliance, the goals are long term and there exists some sort of alignment and agreement in the principles, goals, approach, etc.
However, in a shotgun marriage, principles and alignment do not matter. Everything is sacrificed to achieve a very short term goal without thinking the consequences, principles, etc.
This is no strategic alliance – it is a shotgun marriage borne out of desperation. A sort of last kopek action from two over the hill pensioners.
OK. It’s wrong to call it an “alliance”, since an alliance, whether strategic or tactical, involves mutual agreements and collaboration between parties on common policies and directions but this pack is very much single issue – i.e. to topple Najib.
You’re right that it’s a shotgun marriage, like those accounts about some parts of the the Middle East where a man and a prostitute are married so they can have sex, then they divorce the next morning.
“However, in a shotgun marriage, principles and alignment do not matter. Everything is sacrificed to achieve a very short term goal without thinking the consequences, principles, etc.”
What you said is quite typical of many Malaysians.
On another note, SUARAM advisor Dr. Kua Kia Soong and the Anything But UMNO Party of Malaysia With Socialist Branding (ABUPMWSB) both oppose this shotgun marriage and especially leaders of Soros or NED financed and supported NGOs and an NGO coalition whom the ABUPMWSB has sucked up to and glorified so much.
In a statement on this matter, the ABUPMWSB denounced both the Mahathir and Najib administrations for implementing neo-liberal policies but say nothing about neo-liberalism amongst the Pakatan parties, especially PKR and DAP, and the implementation of any non-neo-liberal policies by the Pakatan state governments in Penang and Selangor. I mean like how much has the Penang or Selangor state governments done to provide affordable housing for the lower income group or to re-introduce rent control.
If I were in charge, I would have the government alienate certain parcels of land for public housing and rent or sell them at controlled prices below the market price and buyers of such properties will also have to sell them to a qualified buyer at an approved price irrespective of the market price.
Penang under the Gerakan has set up Free Trade Zones, now how about Penang and Selangor under the Pakatan setting up Market Prices Free Zones.
In early 2012, I attended a protest against the Free Trade Agreement between the US an Malaysia organised by the ABUPMWSB and collaborating NGOs.
I noticed representatives a delegation from one or more trade union there, I think it was the NUBE and activists from an NGO of HIV-positive persons but no Pakatan politicians I know or can recognise.
So I asked the ABUPMWSB member of parliament for Sungai Siput as to why Pakatan people were not there and he said, “Many Pakatan politicians are neo-liberal and tend to support such agreements such as this FTA. In fact, there is more opposition to the FTA from UMNO supporters and members, even though for the wrong reasons”. (or should I say “wrong” reasons).
There you have it from the horses mouth but whilst posing itself as a great opponent of neo-liberalism, the ABUPMWSB is selective in the neo-liberals it chooses to condemn and here it chooses to condemn neo-liberal policies introduced by former and present prime ministers who came or come from UMNO but conveniently ignores the even worse neo-liberalism of Pakatan parties and state governments, their party members and supporters.
That is why I have dubbed this eclectic rojak of Marxism, Anarchism, Trotskyiteism, Gene Sharpism, Canvasism, NGOism, and so forth isms as the Anything But UMNO PARTY of Malaysia With Socialist Branding.
re: the “ABUPMWSB” party
Hahaha.
re: “this eclectic rojak of Marxism, Anarchism, Trotskyiteism, Gene Sharpism, Canvasism, NGOism”
Don’t forget Saul Alinsky’s influence too.
I support the opinion of not finding “such strategic alliances to be unusual.”
Whether it is a “strategic” (long-term) or “tactical” (short-term) alliance matters not. What is important is the goal or solution to the problem, the specific end of the alliance. In this case, it’s getting Najib to resign or be replaced in ways that don’t contradict the laws.
All this hoo haa of “shotgun marriage of convenience” has been bandied about since time immemorial, even of Marcus Brutus and Caius Cassius of Julius Caesar’s time.
The same about “principles and alignment” which had not been the hallmark of politicians since Machiavellian times or even earlier among the wise ancient Greeks.
What “principles and alignment” are there concerning 1MDB and RM2.6 billion?
re: “the specific end of the alliance. In this case, it’s getting Najib to resign”
What’s in it for the DAP?
(1) According to the Protun argument, without Najib Umno would be stronger. Why should DAP cooperate in a move that will strengthen Umno?
(2) According to the Protun argument, with Najib remaining as BN chairman, the ruling party will lose GE14. Why should DAP cooperate to help BN retain Putrajaya?
(3) According to the Protun argument, replacing Najib with some other better leader will save Umno from self-destructing. Why should DAP cooperate to emplace another more popular (acceptable to the public) Umno man when such a popular/well-received leader will be harder for the opposition to beat?
If you were DAP, wouldn’t it be more tactical to help Najib remain Umno boss for just two more years so that come 2018, a weakened Umno under Najib can be easily swept away in the general election?
See. You argue well Helen. I also don’t quite understand how the protuns think. In their crooked thinking (like a crooked bridge Mahathir insisted on having), the DAP will cooperate to remove Najib only. But like you said, how the bloody hell DAP would cooperate to strengthen UMNO? LOL, just laugh at people like this Akim thinks. No wonder after more than 1 year – since Mahathir’s declaration in August 2014 that he no longer supports Najib – they cannot dislodge Najib.
Mahathir and his people are not that smart really. What they can do is spewing hatred and fitnahs. It is fitting that they quit UMNO. UMNO certainly does not need people like them. Good riddance.
For every laugh you think you get of the Protuns, others get two or more laughs of you Projibs. Suggesting that from the date Tun said he no longer supported Najib one year is enough to remove Najib – who has and uses all the power at his disposal.(the list on that is endless – is idiocy.
Accusing people of spewing hatred and fitnahs is also a tiring old line. Yet the many questions raised by the public until they reach parliament have not been answered – the Auditor General’s findings or opinions on the audit of 1MDB even classified and the questions are going to go on even after this parliamentary sitting.
Answering by saying such things as the SR, WSJ and NYT quote unknown sources and are therefore not worth answering is also foolhardy.
Psst, I haven’t used such rude words as stupid, innit?
“No wonder after more than 1 year – since Mahathir’s declaration in August 2014 that he no longer supports Najib – they cannot dislodge Najib. Mahathir and his people are not that smart really. What they can do is spewing hatred and fitnahs.”
Najib cannot be dislodged because Najib has dislodged several of the nation’s institutions and nullified the integrity of several others in order to secure his own position. Some people are smart while others are cunning.
ZAck,
They still cant dislodge Najib( and more importantly UMNO).
many of my friends mocked me when I told them (just before the last election) that UMNO will prevail. They said I was being nostalgic.
THey ignored one glaring fact in last election. That no Muslim who is not guilty will refuse to accept challenge to swear. Refusal to accept challenge to swear to Muslims is admission of guilt.
Anwar ibrahim will no longer be the issue in next election. Until today many of my friends still unable to accept the fact that though many malays are not not happy with Najib, UMNO, they hate DAP more.
The equation has changed . With PAS kicked out of PR, the much needed Malay support to DAP is gone. That is the reason why DAP is willing to share the same stage with Tun.
I agree with 1-2 of your points. But mine is not to reason why. Mine is to support the move to get them place Najib on the fry.
Note that people have so many interpretations. Even on the Constitution. The final say rests only with the Federal Court Judges. Meanwhile, let the Sedition Act rule for a bit, protecting the sensitive Articles of the Constitution. And if Najib tries to discard the Sedition Act again, having done so to ISA and protested to the last time he tried to do away with the SA, I’m quite sure UMNO will discard him.
DAP’s methods are akin to the communists. Say as much and as often as you can against the gomen, some will believe you. If they can wobble Najib’s knees before PRU14, won’t it be easier to detach the legs and make him crawl at the grand finale?
But I believe Tun, Zaid and others would not let them go beyond making him resign or be replaced. The risk that they would? Well, the situation is so bad now that one may be willing to take the risk.
Well said!
It makes no sense whatsoever for this idiotic declaration.
Tun wants Najib out and if he succeeds he will install himself or Muyhiddin as the PM. Dapsters hate Muyhiddin for his “Malay First” declaration and Tun for his scandals, imprisonment of Anwar, support of Perkasa and dictatorial rule. In short, replacing Najib will result in a PM who would be even more unacceptable to DAP and the NGOs.
From DAP perspective, they want to destroy UMNO/BN by removing Najib and jailing the BN leaders and freeing Anwar. They will also want to remove Islam as the official religion and abolish Malay special rights. There is no one they would like to see residing at Hilton Sg Besi than Tun himself. By removing Najib, Tun destroy UMNO, splitting it into two and driving away BN’s Sabah and Sarawak partners. Thus the removal of Najib will effective means laying down a red carpet and give the keys to Putra Jaya to DAP.
…..If you were DAP, wouldn’t it be more tactical to help Najib remain Umno boss for just two more years so that come 2018, a weakened Umno under Najib can be easily swept away in the general election?…..
Must shake hands fast with Protuns, cannot wait la!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarawak_state_election,_2016
http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/12/08/sarawak-expects-18-per-cent-increase-in-revenue-this-year/
Politicians never been held up as icons of morality and principles. They have been cutting deals and doing political horse trading since the recorded human history. That politics the 2nd oldest profession is seen as even lower than the oldest profession is well-earned accolade.
Politicians might be willing to sell their grannies for votes but even they baulk when it comes to abandoning their long held principles to join the sworn enemies and dance the Kumbaya.. That’s why the Molotov and Ribbentrop Pact shocked not just the world but also the party members of Nazis and Commies who had been at each others throat for decades in a blood fued.
The case of Sabah parties joining hand is nothing since such switching of loyalties and party hopping is common in the state’s history.
So that’s why I have likened the Protun & Dapster alliance as the shotgun marriage of convenience.
BTW what 1MDB and Rm2.6B got to do with principles and alignment ?
Plainly asking “what 1MDB and Rm2.6B got to do with principles and alignment” is ignorance, to say the least, otherwise, idiocy.
At this stage such a foolish question needs not be answered but a short one is provided to show the ignorance and/or idiocy:
Surely there is the principle of respecting the relevant laws, rules and regulations – written or otherwise. If not one, the other, or more than one of the following:
1. Bank Negara Malaysia laws on foreign remittances
2. UMNO rules and regulations pertaining to information on monies received as donations or whatever
3. Registrar of Societies rules and regulations pertaining to declaration of assets of UMNO in its annual financial statement
4. Election Commission rules pertaining to amounts spent in general elections
5. Giving satisfactory and reasonably early answers to the public when the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion exploded as major scandals in the country
6. Summary dismissal of the previous Attorney General
7. Sudden transfers of senior PDRM and SPRM Officers involved in the investigations
8. Applying the Official Secrets Act on the comments of the Auditor General to the audit of 1MDB done by his staff
9. Repeated postponements of the PAC presentation of its report to Parliament – funds received in 2013 and the report not tabled to parliament until March 2016