Something is not so right here.
"The big problem that we have is that nobody trusts each other anymore," he said.
"There’s a working relationship, a very strong working relationship at the top level of society, but at every other level of society it just doesn’t work.
"That’s the problem, this administration needs to understand that it has created a monster."
Stability is the key.
At the moment, Malaysia is in a rare state of instability.
Moron - This is how I understand the meaning of the word from the 4th highest-ranking officer in Umno.
He is the Umno secretary-general Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, the man with no-holds barred, hence the public spat between them being made known to the public.
Yesterday, NST published an interview with him by Farrah Naz Karim which clearly shows the absurdity level of a senior figure in the Umno and the Cabinet, hence immediately putting him at the similar level among the likes of Nazri Aziz and Zainuddin Maidin.
Q: It is obvious that you feel that Shahidan should be out. Who would you want to be the replacement?
A: (Datuk Seri) Azmi Khalid. He’s got a young wife.
Q: What has that got to do with anything?
A: She can promote Perlis well.
Q: Datuk Seri Azmi has also come out openly to comment on Perlis. Is there any reason to suggest that you and him are a tag-team against the MB?
A: We were childhood friends and classmates 55 years ago, we understand each other.
Q: It seems that your endorsement of Datuk Seri Azmi as the best candidate for Perlis MB is due to very personal reasons?
A: What better reason is there than to pick a friend whose capabilities you know so well.
Blogger Rocky couldn’t help but to conclude that Jean Danker, the wife of PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is not young enough to promote Malaysia well?
Click here to read the full speech and download the article in PDF here.
Today marks the first weekend of Year 2008 and I think it’s going to be a great weekend for you to really enjoy your sleep.
Chua Soi Lek has another latest confession.
On top on the existing keywords, he decided to add something new today.
"I have been stripped bare of everything, but they (detractors) want to see me completely destroyed," he told Malaysiakini when contacted today.
Destroyer.
Who?
The Star’s SMS alert at 5:08pm.
PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has appointed MCA president and Housing and Local Govt Minister Ong Ka Ting as Acting Health Minister.
I’m just assuming that, if Ong Ka Ting or his brother Ong Ka Chuan or whoever from his camp is to helm the Health Ministry, it’d be interesting to observe if the curse at the Hell Ministry as confessed by Chua Soi Lek continues to be the case or someone is going to break the jinx?
Either way, it’s going to be an interesting watch to check whether OKT is going to risk being labeled as practising nepotism by endorsing his elder brother Ka Chuan as a full minister?
It’s only 2 days after the departure of Chua Soi Lek from our domestic political mainstream, together with all rumors of political sabotage and various accusations of internal plot against Dr. Chua, there is a female deputy minister within the MCA camp who stands out and speaks of the "apparent absurdity" of her theory?
She is Wanita MCA chief Ng Yen Yen.
Check the literal translation below for the benefit of non-Mandarin readers.
Wanita MCA chief Ng Yen Yen believes it’s OK for men to show disloyalty to own wife’s or having sexual intercourse with others, as long as you seek permission from the wife prior to that.
That’s the Wanita MCA chief for you, the wing created to uplift women’s status and fulfill gender equality.
It’s insane, absurd, surreal, and unethical, hence I’d like to conclude that, it’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.
That’s my advice to any future wannabes.
Chua Soi Lek is a rare gentleman in Malaysia’s political arena.
He admitted his misdemeanor without further scrutiny and the next day, he resigned on his own accord, at least it looks like one though.
As what Dr. Chua said, he wouldn’t want to speculate whether it’s a political sabotage to topple him from the political scene, however there is a response from him during his last press conference that intrigues me.
Q: Was it politically motivated?
A: I have said before I would not like to speculate. I have received no less than 200 SMSes condemning certain party leaders of which I will not go into it. Because the moment I go into it, I do not like to see my party split. And I hope the party leadership under YB Ong Ka Ting, who I am sure if he is practising real healthy political culture, will look into this. Healthy political culture embraces no corruption, no moral lapses of judgement. A healthy political culture should not just be confined to just term of office. That is easy. Anyone can fulfil it. The terms of office are the easiest to fulfil. Three terms, two terms. Healthy political culture is good but it should be all embracing and not just term of office. What is more important and what is hoped for and demanded by Malaysians is to be clean from the aspect of no corruption and also in the question of no moral and ethical weaknesses. To me, this is more important and more difficult to achieve.
Read between the lines: Healthy political culture, three terms 9 years, no corruption, no more lapses of judgement, no moral and ethical weakness.
Those are the keywords.
What about the frequently-mentioned "holier than thou"? Ulama? Lesson to other leaders, whether from the MCA or any other component party? Anyone who has made a mistake or has certain weaknesses, then he has to be responsible as a leader?
Food for thought.
[UPDATED VERSION] Malaysiakini’s SMS alert 3:37pm
Sex scandal: Health Minister Chua Soi Lek announced that he is resigning from all party and government posts effective immediately.
The Star has a story here.
[UPDATED VERSION at 10:35am, 2 January 2008] The Star’s SMS alert at 10:30am
MCA Presidential council to meet today at 5pm to decide the fate of Health Minister Chua Soi Lek who is embroiled in sex scandal
[ORIGINAL VERSION at 4:37pm, 1 January 2008] Health Minister Chua Soi Lek admits he is the politician in the sex DVD circulating in Johor and that girl is his personal friend, hence confirmed earlier speculation of the "alleged national senior politician" caught in the video.
He apologised to the Malaysian public, supporters and his colleagues.
Thats about it? To say that a simple apologize is going to put an end to the case, it seems to oversimplify the circumstance. Be it internal or external pressures, his political career is as good as over.
So, barring any unforeseen intervention from the top, what’s his next step?
Is he going to resign? No! He said he will let Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to decide his fate.
Is the party MCA he is now representing will take punitive measure and removes him from the power seat to deter bad fanfare? Unlikely, MCA president Ong Ka Ting wants to be seen as a good guy and he is expected to get PM as the chairman of the ruling coalition to make a decision on behalf of him.
Is the act going to create negative repercussion on how MCA is really going to fare in this coming General Election, given the party’s already tarnished reputation among the Chinese community which is predicted to lose a few seats to the Opposition parties?
Either way, it’s a lose-lose situation to both MCA and Barisan Nasional. The damage is done and there is only a way out for Chua, which is to step down from both the party and the cabinet before more negative publicity made their way to the people, especially Chinese communities who is always extra-sensitive towards such a disgraceful behavior.
However, the focus is now on Pak Lah, let’s see how swift he is going to make the call, otherwise a protract decision on this matter or a no-go decision for Chua is not going to go down well with the rest of Barisan component parties, which I believe is going to allow Opposition camps to have an additional issue to harp on his poor judgement and leadership.
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