2009 : A Depressing Year

The year is ending, we shall be in the New Year of 2010 in a matter of days and every one is looking in full hope to be in a year of consolation and solace after the one whole year of bewilderment, incomprehension and incredulousness of this Year of the OX.

It has been a year of no joy and reminiscing 2009 only drives us all to feel in despair, desolation and anguish for the distasteful occurrences and happenings.

Malaysia has been trying to find every opportunity to find a consolation point to rest her laurels on as there has been series and list of failures and bad news in all turfs.

That was why winning a gold medal by our football team in Vientienne SEA Games was celebrated like we were winning the Word Cup for the first time.

The self inflicted goal by the Vietnamese player that gave us the win, was met by mirthful and joyously festive mood like we were winning over the English, Portugal, Brazil or the German team.

Corruptions and abuse of power and positions is even more chronic after the new PM ascended to the Premiership and situation is going from bad to worst and seems to worsen as time passes by.

The latest of awful event was the stealing of two F5E jet-fighter engines and to serious thinking and civil human being it is a REAL indication that our nation’s security is REAL leaky and porous; this happening is unpardonable and reprehensible.

The Minister-in-charge in the Defence Ministry when the stealing took place, is now the Prime Minister of the Nation and I am deadly sure it does not occur in his mind that ethically, morally and politically, resignation from all positions in the party and government is the only option he has.

He does not take the accountability other than promising the people that the culprit will be brought to task.

He is still there campaigning for his hollow 1Malaysia slogan in his effort to divert the Malaysian attention from uncovering the actual and the true problems he and his government are facing that dive Malaysia to he worst of situation that this country has ever experienced.

All component parties of BN in the West Malaysia are in grave state and we are still trying to get the glimpse of indication that these can be curable.

Everyone’s intuition says that the hope of amicable and agreeable solutions in MCA is zero possibility and so do for the rest of the BN problematic component parties.

Najib’s new administration fails to address the economic problems and he has only the poor rakyat as the source of money for the government to run by heavily taxing them indirectly through various means.

Apart from the heavy taxes the rakyat is made to accept the move by the administration to withdraw subsidies which they (rakyat) have enjoyed all the years and decades.

The grouses of the rakyat is numerous and to list it in this limited space and time is almost impossible.

The worse hit in this cursing economy is certainly the middle-class population. They don’t have the privilege of getting low cost house and they can’t get to reach houses that are built for the high class citizen.

The disparity between the rich and the poor is ever widening and among the rich and the wealthy the ones who are near to political masters or the politician themselves are the most privileged.

Economic opportunities are just for the few fortunate ones and this has been the sore point by both the Malays and the non-Malays.

The non-Malays have been taking that the Malays are all on easy plater to get things easily while in actuality the privileges were heavily abused as only the Malays with big names and decorations who are close to the ruling PM have all the benefits of looting the wealth at the expense of the ordinary Malays and rakyat.

Consequentially there now exists serious racial disharmony which I consider worse off than those days of pre ’69 black incidence.

This kind of political ambience has got to be addressed a soon as this will certainly dampen and dismantle the basic fabrics of civil life of the Malaysian which in turn would destroy this country as an independent state.

In the meanwhile the Malays especially the UMNO card carrying members are busy in the country promoting their leaders who deceive them and they are nothing more and nothing less than as one Malay sayings says, hanya menjadi dahan bengkok untuk kera-kera meniti, without knowing what they are actually doing.

BUT of late there are also heavy talks among the UMNO ranks that they are slowly realising that they have been enslaved by the leaders for their own personal gains and greed.

Many of them have already felt that insults and their mind have already opened for some kind of changes and have to be seen and done for the sake of this great but mismanaged nation.

The rakyat are slowly but surely watching the conduct of leaders and they are toiling their mind thinking as how to address these problems that their leaders are facing and failing to mitigate.

They are now finding solutions by themselves as how to get to the things that they wish to have and should be happening.

Many people are now having their own brainstorming like among themselves as they have less trust of their leaders’ capacity to address and correct the current sickly situations.

I have heard a lot of these discussion down the street and some or many educated group now have even proposed for the nation to start anew.

They want to see new facet of Malaysian politics with new environments as well as new group of leaders who is more experienced and hands on leaders to deal with problems faced by the nation.

The current policies and system just cannot go ahead any further and some thing new has got to prevail.

The current institutions cannot withstand the demands for a change and leaders who spend all their time for personal politicking have got to go.

Judiciary, the police and other enforcement institutions are not seen to be independent as the cancerous corruption is already malignantly spreading.

These important institutions are suffering from distrust by the suspicious public.

Can Malaysian public make these changes? Can parliamentarians have the guts and energy to execute these changes?

OR in the first place do these leaders really feel the risky future if nothing is done to address the massive problems we currently face?

I pray that nature would come in with Divine Intervention.

In conclusion I wish each and every Malaysian Happy New Year and the very best of luck and hope that all of us live in the best of sanctuary within this beautiful country as from now on…..of course after perfecting the badly needed changes after some one else takes the mantle.


Thanks……………………………………………………Aspan Alias

BTN should be disbanded Part 2

The meeting between the PM Najib with 30 senior officers of BTN on Tuesday was an initial step towards effort to revamp the department which involve the curriculum of the courses to be conducted.

Honestly BTN has a good set of curriculum but what was wrong was the implementation of the courses which deviated wayward by propping individual leaders and more or less smearing others who had different view and perception on certain issues.

There were not much of elements of racist in BTN but more perilous was the element of building up resentment among Malay leaders instead of uniting the Malay leaders in the line up.

In short BTN was made used by some leaders to impede others whom they feel would be a competitors in the struggle for power climbing.

In 1981 Mahathir succeeded Hussein Onn as PM and Mahathir was very obvious siding Musa in the fight for the Deputy President and subsequently Musa won the contest, certainly due to Mahathir’s open support for him (Musa).

Musa won the contest but his winning was not genuine support for him as it was Mahathir who brought him the votes.

Musa realised that he was not sitting and standing on firm footing in UMNO. Tengku Razaleigh despite losing was still supported by UMNO because he has been the Vice President of UMNO even earlier than Dr Mahathir.

TR’s personal record couldn't be erased as his personal profile was unmatched by any leader of those days and even by the current leaders.

BTN played very crucial role to prop up Musa and the man in charge of BTN at that time was non other than our 'great' Pak Lah who was then the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s department.

BTN was all out admonishing TR and never a word was said to recognise TR as the most in illustrious leader of the day just because the frightful feeling felt by some leaders of that time.
BTN never recognise that TR was the only person outside US to be the Chairman of the World Bank, IMF, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank.

The fact that TR was heading 4 international Financial giants with 4 different functions was a real and great achievement for any son of Malaysian Soil.

When I asked the training moderator about the outstanding achievement of the Kelantan Prince I was answered in a very cynical manner and I was an irritant to the moderators of the day.

Many other leaders who were friends of TR could not escape the admonishment of BTN and every effort was made to find what Musa has done for the nation in order to prop him.

BTN was for Musa and gang and after few years Mahathir was also victimised as Musa was already planning a stage against Mahathir in a very subtle manner.

BTN interfered in choosing candidates for any election and its feelers was already in every UMNO Division and they played not a small role in determining who to lead and who to be dropped as leaders in UMNO divisions.

Not many would dare to say this as many UMNO members are not struggling for the Malays anymore but for their personal ambitions and glories.

UMNO leaders from then on only walk on their stomach and that culture is now becoming accepted culture until today and the party is now facing an acute immune deficiency syndrome or popular with acronym AIDS.

We should now have to accept that UMNO is now suffering from lack of immune system which may put the party in demise if any other disease comes near it.

I may be alone in giving this opinion but that is okay with me. I am conclusive that BTN should be disbanded and by doing so this could save the country a lot of money from unnecessary expenses.

For the 2010 budget our operational and development expenses is cut by 17% and 30% respectively.

By disbanding BTN the amount of money allocated for this department can be spent on some other pressing needs.

The money can be given to MARA which has not received any allocation for the needy and deserving Malays to further their studies local and abroad. MARA is already malfunctioning as an agency to develop the Malays in professional educations.

We should also be reminded that during the 1993 constitutional crisis, BTN played a major role in indoctrinating the people that Royal Institution was of no relevance anymore.

Obviously BTN followed through their taukehs attempt to suppress the already small power that the the constitution provides for The Malay Rulers.

So, why hesitate to disband the department like BTN?


Thanks……………………………………Aspan Alias

BTN should have been disbanded Part 1

BTN (Biro Tata Negara) has been the hottest of all hot topics of the week and months. This issue has been stretched too far and has now staged an ostentatious confrontation and hostilities between Mahathir and his former Cabinet Member Nazri Aziz who is still a member in the current Cabinet lineup.

Over this issue, it reflects the real and true line of divide within the leadership. There are always two sides of a coin. Throwing punches from the either side of the deep divide is still going on and it is going to contribute greatly in the process administrative disaster in the government.

The latest of the punches was when Nazri went further by calling Mahathir the Father of Racist while he was at the helm of power for 22 year. Mahathir replied by asking Nazri to leave UMNO as UMNO is really a racist party; just like MCA and MIC, they are all racist parties.

Now, where does Nazri stand? He has to tell everyone off his position. If he is not racist, why is he still in UMNO? At least Dr Mahathir is honest enough to admit that he is a member of one of the most racist parties that is UMNO.

DAP is multi-racial but it is a Chinese dominated party and so do GERAKAN. Like UMNO, PAS is a Malay dominated party with Islamic flavor.

I am not interested to take any personal affiliation between Mahathir and Nazri as both were together in enjoying the fruits of existence of BTN. I am not impressed by both. In actuality they are in one set.

Now let us be aware of what BTN is and why this department was set up. Once we understand the original purposes of its existence and do a bit of study on how the department implements its course and curriculum contents we should see why BTN becomes a big and unrestrained issue of the day.

That is why I fail to understand why Nazri is so rude and uncivil in ridiculing Mahathir only now as the curriculum of BTN has been like what is now since its inception.

BUT to many others who know Nazri fairly well, say that Nazri is not serious in any name calling on Mahathir.

He is just making a personal political stunt to impress and amuse Najib and to tell the confused Prime Minister that he is around still brave and strong to defend him in any revolting challenges against him (Najib) in the future.

He chose to rebuke Mahathir as Mahathir is no more in power but repeatedly giving uncalled for comments on the present government.

To be precise, Nazri is like the Sanusi of Mahahir’s administration.

BTN was formed with noble intentions. After Tun Abdul Razak took over from The Tunku after the '69 incident when New Economic Policy (NEP) was launched with the only intention of creating a national unity among Malaysian through multi-prong strategies among which was to uplift the Malays and the Bumiputra economic cake and so on and so forth (I have written at length in my early articles).

I personally participated in the courses and in those few courses that that I attended the content of the courses were proper.

The courses moderators had clear intentions and they did their job with full integrity and sincerity and the participants were taking and absorbing the courses with pride at the highest level.

BTN was purely in its intentions and was all for the support of the NEP. It was meant to train the Malays how to cope with the needs of the race to be of valuable of its existence:-

1. To love the nation and its Constitutions.
2. To tell the participants the importance of unity within the Malays in order to enhance the race to be a race this earns recognitions from other races. Parallel to that the participants were encouraged to co-exist in harmony with other races that are part and parcel of our Malaysian society.
3. To train and guide the government servants to responsible implementers in order to achieve what NEP as planned.
4. To prepare overseas bound student their mental alertness that they were sent abroad to study to return home as responsible citizen and to play viable role in the nation building. While studying abroad BTN trained them to behave and study hard and achieve excellence in life.

There were few other noble motives which I personally consider as a very good curriculum just fit for the Malays to achieve competitiveness with other brothers from other races.

To my simple mind it does not have any detrimental element and it was all done for the sake of expediting process of achieving national unity.

BTN believes that the earlier the Malays changed to be abreast with the need of time the earlier we can see what we intent to achieve would be realized; that is National Unity.

BUT human is human and politics is politics. BTN slowly but surely was made used by weak and irresponsible leaders within UMNO and the new guys in BTN were polluted by some leaders and this agency changed and never came back to why it was set up.

I have been writing endlessly that for a nation to survive well no leaders with personal problems and weaknesses should even have any intention to be leaders of this grand nation.

We have proven to the world that weak and ill-intended leaders would only bring disaster to the nation and contributes greatly to corruption and the erosion of institutions like judiciary and other enforcement institutions like what we are facing now.

In this issue BTN was greatly responsible for the split among leaders within UMNO. BUT BTN will never admit it. It’s okay to me as long as they admit it quietly to themselves and hope they would live in repentance while waiting for the one way ticket to the next world.

No one can be trusted anymore and in this situation, it is only the unethical and distorted politicking that makes leaders survive…just for their personal selves and nothing for the people and the nation.

So sorry to ask; why is Nazri still there…I mean in the Cabinet?

I shall write this part of this article in a day or two. Just wait.


Thanks…………………………………………………………………………….Aspan Alias

Rasuah & Yang Berkuasa : Ibarat Aur Dengan Tebing

Rasuah adalah isu terkini yang menjadi bualan ramai di setiap pelusuk negara.

Sebenarnya isu rasuah ini memang sudah menjadi bualan di mana-mana sejak 20 tahun dahulu apabila konsep penswastaan dan runding terus diamalkan oleh kerajaan.

Hanya pucuk pimpinan semasa itu tidak serius untuk membendungnya dari awal kerana takut kepada bahana politik yang mungkin hinggap kepada mereka.

Sekarang rasuah sudah menjadi barah yang tidak dapat diubati lagi. Rasuah sudah menguasai setiap penghidupan masyarakat khususnya bagi orang-orang yang berniaga dengan pemimpin-pemimpin yang berkuasa dalam kerajaan.

Yang terakhir yang disebut ialah mengenai Setiausaha Politik seorang Menteri Kanan Kerajaan yang telah membina kekayaan yang begitu banyak dalam waktu yang sangat singkat.

Tentunya ia hasil daripada usaha membantu ahli-ahli perniagaan mendapat kemudahan dan kelulusan projek yang besar-besar yang melibatkan ratusan dan ribuan juta dari Kementerian yang sangat berpengaruh itu.

Tidak hairanlah negara kita telah jatuh ke tempat ke-56 dari tempat yang ke-47 di sisi pandangan Corruption Perception Index Antarabangsa (CPI) dalam kegiatan rasuah.

Rasuah merupakan penyakit yang sudah tidak dapat diubati lagi dan ianya adalah lebih buruk dan merbahaya daripada ketagihan dadah.

Saya telah menulis puluhan kali tentang isu in tetapi kadangkala saya dimaki hamun oleh beberapa orang semata-mata kerana yang saya katakan rasuah itu terdiri daripada pemimpin kerajaan dan pemimpin kerajaan itu adalah pemimpin UMNO atau pemimpin-pemimpin dari komponen BN.

Hanya kekuatan yang Tuhan berikan kepada saya untuk memberanikan diri untuk terus menulis dan menulis tentang korupsi yang akan menyungkurkan negara ke lembah keaiban sebagai sebuah negara yang dikatakan merdeka ini.

Jelas situasi yang kita lihat pada hari ini membuktikan bahawa kita masih belum lagi merdeka. Kita masih terjajah dengan rasuah, musuh yang lebih ganas daripada semua bentuk penjajahan.

Jika dalam peperangan kita menggunakan senjata yang canggih-canggih untuk memerangi musuh, tetapi dalam memerangi rasuah tiada teknologi lagi yang mampu menghapuskannya.

Rocky's Bru telah menyebut Setiausaha Politik kepada Nor Mohammad Yaakob yang dimaksudkan oleh media massa sekarang ini sebagai perasuah sedang disoalsiasat oleh MACC.

Setiausaha Politik itu dikatakan mempunyai rumah-rumah besar dan 4 kereta mewah yang sudah pasti tidak boleh didapati tanpa melakukan kegiatan rasuah.

Orang ramai bercakap di mana-mana, yang rasuah ini bukan sahaja dilakukan oleh Setiusaha Politik Nor Mohammad Yaakob tetapi juga melibatkan pegawai-pegawai dan pembantu Perdana Menteri dan yang lain-lain di Kementerian yang lain.

Rasuah Pak Menteri macam mana? Rasuah pegawai tinggi kerajaan macam mana nak dihapuskan? Malahan di mana-mana rakyat bercerita tentang rasuah seolah-olah rasuah itu sudah menjadi aktiviti halal dan tidak lagi dianggap kegiatan yang hina dan memalukan.

Malahan kegiatan rasuah ini sudah menjadi amalan yang tidak dipandang hina oleh masyarakat sedangkan rasuahlah merupakan punca kemusnahan tamadun dan kerajaan-kerajaan dalam banyak rintitan sejarah dunia.

Untuk memerangi rasuah bukanlah suatu tugasan mudah. Itulah sebabnya di negara yang maju dalam mana kegiatan rasuah itu berkurangan adalah disebabkan pelaksanaan undang-undang dan etika kepimpinan yang tinggi yang dapat membantu mengubati penyakit yang kronik ini.

Undang-undang dan etika mestilah berjalan secara serentak. Undang-undang sahaja tidak akan mampu membanterasnya jika budaya dan etika tidak diberikan perhatian.
Bagaimana etika dapat membantu melenyapkan rasuah?

Saya bukan seorang yang scholarlic untuk memberikan gambaran yang tepat tetapi saya ingin membawa semua kepada contoh-contoh yang nyata berlaku yang sangat baik untuk diterima pakai.

Lama dahulu seorang ahli Jemaah Kabinet Jerman (saya terlupa nama dan waktunya) telah hilang jawatan semata-mata kesilapannya membeli cokelat untuk cucunya dengan menggunakan kad kredit kerajaan.

Pada awal 90-an Menteri Dalam Negeri Korea meletakkan jawatan kerana 4 orang banduan telah terlepas lari dari penjara. Walaupun Ketua Penjara itu bertanggung jawab ke atas banduan-banduan itu tetapi Menterinya mengambil accountability ke atas kejadian itu dan terus meletakkan jawatan.

Tindakan Menterinya meletakkan jawatan ialah untuk mengambil accountability tadi kerana beliau menerima jawatan itu dengan tanggungjawab maka jika berlaku perkara seperti itu ianya merupakan kegagalan pihaknya sebagai Menteri kepada Kementerian itu.

Mereka menerima jawatan Menteri itu bukan kerana hendak cari makan tetapi untuk mebuktikan bahawa dia boleh melaksanakan tanggungjawab kepada negara dengan baik.

Itulah sebabnya jika terdapat di kalangan Kementerian beliau yang rasuah dan melakukan perkara-perkara yang hina, meraka merasa malu dan terus meletakkan jawatan. Begitulah tingginya etika yang mereka pakai dalam hal kepimpinan negara dan rakyat.

Malahan banyak lagi contoh dalam mana pemimpin meletakkan jawatan kerana menjaga maruah sebagai pemimpin. Harga diri dan maruah mereka tidak dapat dijualbeli.

Rakyat ramai sedang memerhatikan apa kesudahan isu ini.

Jika kegiatan membabitkan rasuah yang kecil seperti yang dilakukan oleh ADUN Selangor pun mudah didapatkan bukti masakan rasuah yang sebegini besar tidak dapat dibuktikan.

Seandainya Pegawai kepada Menteri ini didapati bersalah ia wajib dihukum dan Menterinya harus meletakkan jawatan jika kita ambil dari sudut accountability Menteri itu tadi.

Kerajaan BN nampaknya sudah sinonim dengan rasuah, seolah-olah rasuah dan UMNO/BN itu seperti aur dengan tebing; sandar menyandar di antara satu dengan lain.

Tanpa UMNO/BN, rasuah tidak akan hidup atau tanpa rasuah UMNO/BN tidak mampu untuk bergerak.

Kita sekarang sudah tidak lagi dapat mengenali siapa yang jujur tanpa rasuah dan siapa yang rasuah.

Rakyat tidak lagi mampu untuk memberikan kepercayaan kepada sesiapa yang memimpin kerana pada mereka tidak ada siapa boleh diyakini lagi.

Malahan sekarang ramai pemimpin yang dianggap rasuah bercakap tentang isu penghapusan rasuah dan ada individu rasuah yang ditugaskan untuk memantau kegiatan rasuah oleh pucuk pimpinan yang juga tidak terlepas daripada pandangan negatif rakyat terhadapnya.

Setiap hari ada sahaja isu tentang rasuah. Rasuah bak kata Dr Mahathir sudah sampai ke ususnya, tetapi beliau tidak mahu mengaku kegiatan ini bermula dengan kadar yang besar di bawah kepimpinan beliau.

Rasuah..rasuah..rasuah! Yang memimpin rasuah dan yang dipimpin rasuah. Yang nak hapuskan rasuah juga dipandang rakyat sebagai perasuah.

Yang bilis-bilis tertangkap, yang paus-pausnya terlepas. Banyak antara rasuah tidak dapat diketengahkan kerana ada undang-undang yang melindunginya seperti Akta Rahsia Rasmi (OSA).

Oleh kerana keadaan seperti ini rakyat sudah mual dengan mana pemimpin-pemimpin yang bercakap tentang keburukan rasuah. Rasuah tidak juga terhapus.

Bagi saya seorang, saya tidak yakin pimpinan hari ini mampu untuk membendung kegiatan yang hina ini.

“Kita terpaksa menerima cara hidup yang rasuah; kalau tidak kita akan dipencilkan. Kalau kita menentang kita akan dimaki hamun oleh pemimpin dan penyokong-penyokongnya,” sindir seorang rakan saya yang tidak pernah berjaya mendapatkan apa-apa perniagaan melalui kerajaan kerana tidak mampu untuk memberi rasuah.

Rakyat berkeyakinan bahawarasuah bukan sahaja dilakukan oleh Setiausaha Politik Menteri yang disebutkan tadi tetapi kegiatan ini berlaku di mana-mana.

Di depan kita nampak rasuah, di belakang kita terjumpa dengan rasuah di kiri dan di kanan kita dengar rasuah.

Rasuah di mana-mana. Bagi kita yang di bawah ini hanya duduk diam; ada telinga kita dengar dan ada mulut kita diam.

Kalau kita cuba untuk memerangi rasuah berkemungkinan kita akan menjadi mangsa. Salah langkah kita ditembak dari belakang.

Penolakan rakyat kepada pimpinan mungkin jalan yang dipilih rakyat dan jika itu berlaku maka akan terlihat oleh kita insiden yang tidak pernah kita lihat dalam siasah negara selama 52 tahun kita merdeka.

Kita mesti ingat kepada kata-kata bidalan, ‘masakan bangkai gajah boleh ditutup dengan nyiru’.

Agama kita juga ada mengingatkan kita, ‘memakan rasuah itu adalah sama seperti memakan daging saudara kita sendiri’.

Jangan kita ambil mudah tentang isu rasuah ini kerana lama kelamaan ia akan menghancurkan kita dan negara kita yang telah dibina oleh datuk nenek kita.


Sekian……………………………………………………………….Aspan Alias