...And Let Loose The Dogs of War!!!

The candidates are ready, all parties have geared up, all pkr supporters disguised as pas supporters have gathered their weapons, and we are set to go.

The two by-elections, one state and the other parliamentary will be hotly contested.

In Sabah, the parliamentary seat of Batu Sapi pits 3 candidates, 1 from Barisan Nasional and 2 from Pakatan Anwar. BN fielded Datin Linda Tsen Thau Lin, of Parti Bersatu Sabah, who is also the widow of the late MP for Batu Sapi. Datuk Edmund Chong Ket Wah.

PKR has placed Ansari Abdullah, one of their lawyers as their candidate while Datuk Yong Teck Lee from SUPP is the 2nd candidate from Pakatan.

The Galas DUN meanwhile will witness a straight fight between Tengku Razaleigh and Nik Ajis via their candidates, the secretary for UMNO Gua Musang, Encik Abdul Aziz Yusof, a local boy while pas fields Dr Zulkefli Mohamad, a medical practitioner.

We understand that, despite Ku Li's pledge to have the campaigning process to go smoothly, mudslinging and personal attacks have begun. Well, what's new with pas?

Anyway, I am more attracted to the situation in Batu Sapi. It seems that PKR supporters were "upset" with anwar for selecting Ansari instead of the more popular Thamrin Zaini. There were complaints of Ansari being too proud and arrogant, but I don't know, I never met da guy. As a result, 3/4 of the audience who were at Anwar's announcement left the hall.

Really? With anwar, one cannot take things straight, always try to read between the lines. We know anwar needs more of a win in Sabah as a headway to gain Putrajaya. Yong Teck Lee is just a device to split the Chinese and non-Muslim majority, and his blue eyed boy cum lawyer is to collect its spoils. Isn't it strange that everytime there is a by-election, there seems to be a tiff within the pakatan leaders? This bollywood scenario has been played over and over again, and I'm sure by now, people are so aware of it.

Yes yes, I don't touch a lot on by-elections, and I really don't intend to much. However, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish the BN candidates all the best and also to the candidates of pakatan, you can take the 1All-Seeing-Eye and stick it to where it shouldn't belong.

Update:
Say, looks like the factions in PKR who are not satisfied with Anwar's choice are really going at it, with reports coming in about scuffles between Thamrin and Ansari supporters banging heads. Well, looks like PKR might be ready to change its name to World Wrestling Entertainment. But beware, the fights in WWE is always carefully rehearsed too.

Voices Up North : Whispers In The Wind

Well, those pakatan twerps are still doing the work of 3 people: Larry, Curly and Moe. They were seen a few days ago placing banners of themselves on the road to parliament, in protest of an UMNO banner which was

placed somewhere there as well. It's nice to see the Malays of pas and pkr hanging up the posters and banners of dap and pas, while the Chinese and Indians also hanging up the dap materials. It's amusing to see the Chinese and Indian pakatan members not even touching pas posters and banners, not even with a 10 foot stick. I am still wondering why. Maybe that's why they still worship Anwar's 1-All-Seeing-Eye.

Anyway, let's leave the red monkeys flying banners and posters up their respective... ummm... wherever they want to stick it and return up north. Since last year, there were whispers of a new Ketua Perhubungan Negeri for UMNO Kedah to replace the present Shafiee Afdal. But all of the rumors seem to die down after time. Every few months, you'll hear this again and again, and the UMNO warlords had to go all out to put out this fire. Alas, nowadays, the whispers are not whispering anymore, it's getting louder. And the wind carrying the whispers seem to blow faster and faster and you can almost smell the whiff of fear permeating in the air, mostly coming from the camps of the old UMNO warlords.

At this moment, nobody can attest to the authencity of this new Ketua Perhubungan Negeri. Even at that, in so many places, one name has been cropping up, and that will be Mukhriz Mahathir. I wouldn't be scratching my head if Jerlun and/or Kubang Pasu talks of him, but to have areas such as Baling, Sungai Petani and even Jerai? Now that's a name that spells change for Kedah and the state UMNO.

If it is true, if Mukhriz is the UMNO Kedah's Ketua Perhubungan Negeri, then finally the grassroots, instead of their state leaders, will finally get what they have always wanted, and that's maybe the first time since pak lah. Some people did declare that they did wish Najib would listen to the grassroots instead of the Ketua Cawangan or Bahagian. If this happens, maybe he did. And if he did, it's about time. Kedahans are sick and tired of the dundering blockheads...no, not mahfuz, that have been running the state from one disaster to another, to which the water problem sees no solution. It doesn't matter what pas supporters say because, all their defenses will still give no water to those affected areas. And of course, we are also sick to the stomach with old umno humpty dumptys (the warlords), who are scrambling to get positions for themselves, and most of Najib's men could never put all these humpty dumptys together again.

It must also be said that it will not be an easy road for Mukhriz if the rumors are right. He will have to work hard to establish his own footing, away from the shadows of his father in Kedah. Support from grassroots might not be much of a problem but he still needs to prove his worth. To achieve all of these might prove to be a road full of treachery for him, as we have seen what happened to his father in Kubang Pasu in the nomination to be a delegate last time. Most treacheries might be from within the state, and there might be one or two from somewhere in-between the country's capital and it's southern neighbor. Mukhriz might also find that the son of his father's closest neighbor in Kedah to be such a noisy fly. Well, it will be more noisy with the MB's chair up for grabs in a few years.

The hesitant icon of Kedah shall return? Will we see drastic measures of change sweeping up UMNO Kedah? It is about time those useless UMNO warlords find the exits waiting for them. While waiting for this, I'll just brush up on this nice 70s song by a group called Steam called Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye...


Ok, altogether now, "nanana, nanana, hey hey hey goodbye..."

And once we're done, let's recap at Kedah Sejahtera (?)

From GAP: A Good Video To View

Courtesy of GAP, I present to you, in the true spirit of World Wrestling...oops, Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the incident that took place during the PKR Kota Raja elections.

For me, it's not something surprising. Pas has been complaining about PKR members dressing up as Pas supporters to create havoc and pandemonium, this is just another day under their All-Seeing-Eye.

Just to get into the spirit...IF YOU SMELLLLLLLL......WHAT ANWAR'S CROCK IS COOKING??!!!

KJ's Crap Here, Crap There, Crap, Crap Crap!!!

We could've had the soft spoken, charismatic and iconic Mukhriz Mahathir, we could've had the out-spoken, experienced but slightly condescending Khir Toyo, but no....they had to climb into kj's cave of gold. In the end, Khairy Jamaluddin is the UMNO Youth Chief, and UMNO Youth crumbled in spirits, guts spilled and gored. Not dead, but in the painful limbo, between life and death. To all who fancies the supernatural, here's an example of how, ever since KJ's victory as UMNO Youth Chief, not to believe too much on the subject of life after death. As you can see, with KJ leading the Umno Youth, there is not much life before death itself.

It's amazing to see kj on TV last night, delivering a speech to a crowd of 98% sleeping (or least listening to MP3 or playing games on their hand phones), to which the crowd erupted to a few seconds of silence and a handful of sarcastic clapping. what was stranger to me was his claim that they (The UMNO Youth) are a group who wants to no position in party and government. I might be getting old, but the memory of KJ lobbying for ministerial post via his Pemuda cronies hasn't really dissolved away from my mind.

Of course, his speech was much praised and well liked. And of course it has...what? Who praised it? Oh yes, I forgot...who else, but his father in law, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Please allow me to reiterate: Pak Lah

 has always been an icon of a sleeping...no, not giant, just a sleeping fellow. The internet is rich of his pictures depicting him sleeping at almost every government function, rivaled only by Kedah's MB, Azizan. The question remains: was he actually awake to see his beloved son in law delivering the sleepy speech? The mystery deepens.

To add salt to the wound, an UMNO Youth delegate from Kedah actually criticized KJ. No, not asking KJ to resign like everybody wanted, but to "politely" scold him for not coming to Kedah often. For the record, KJ only came to Kedah twice...and that's already too much. To that delegate from Kedah, somebody should get a galah and tolong jolokkan...no, we're not going to ask anwar ibrahim to that either. Who in their right mind wants kj to come to Kedah? The frivolous harbinger of doom, here? Why not ask Tun Abdullah to be economic advisor to Kedah while you're at it?

The time had come for Pemuda UMNO to stop this ass-worshiping attitude and get on with what the youths actually want: kick KJ out; out of the youth movement and out of UMNO. To the delegates, ketua bahagian and cawangan, remember that the more you stick with an unwanted rogue for a leader, the more grassroots’ support you lose. But still, we know that you'll never hear what we say, you can hear of tinkling sounds from the top. Not that there'll be any candle-light vigil when Pemuda is dead, but close, since it's already in an ICU state, just like UMNO Kedah's old warlords. Just like Kedah, Pemuda UMNO must dare to change before it's too late, before The Apprentice takes an even bolder step.

Update 24th October 2010:

I read an article in a Malay daily yesterday where KJ criticized those leaders who are in a category known as "Syok Sendiri." Ok, so I might agree to that statement as it actually describes the UMNO Kedah's old warlords...yes, yes, opposition too, but we're not talking about mahfuz today.

What I find most amusing is that KJ's statement seems to run off the back of him and his bunch of cronies. Not true, you say? Let's see: winning suspiciously after a more than 5 hours of ballot counting of less than 1000 votes. Claims that the whole UMNO Youth supports him but actually non-existent when looked from the grassroots' point of view. Hmmm...he goes everywhere with his own personal people to greet and show, at least, a crowd, KJ is doubt a pariah of his own design. The way things are going, UMNO Youth at the moment, will remain without balls till the day the rightful challenger kicks him out of UMNO forever. At the moment, he can go and syok sendiri...maybe along with the old warlords of UMNO Kedah.

CLEARING THE GARBAGE..Rubbish!!! It's Anwar's Thrash

My my!!! What a blow up. Again, another part of the truth is laid out in the open. Such that anwar and cohorts had to send thugs to gag his former aide, Rahimi Osman from talking to the media. How scared can one get into having to hide behind rough-assed mobs?

News today quoted that Latheefa Koya, PKR's information chief rubbished the whole allegation made by Rahimi. Fancy that, rubbish trying to call others rubbish. I must say that this allegation by anwar's ex-aide is not something new and not even the least surprising.

While the lawyers for anwar and the coy latheefa demand an apology from Rahimi, and while we wait for more bombshells of truth heading our way, let's look into a past case that those lawyers should be taking action.

Back in February this year, anti-anwar/pakatan blogs have been abuzz about the actual identity of a teenage girl, allegedly to be of anwar and shamsidar's. Among the articles, one of the examples can be seen here, at The Unspinners:
http://theunspinners.blogspot.com/2009/12/mystery-lagi-mengenai-afifa-anak-anwar.html

Looking at the way it was written, I don't think it's an allegation anymore but a downright accusation. I wonder where in the world are anwar and his team of decrepit lawyers on this issue? Shouldn't they be suing these bloggers for slander, and finally, dismiss this entire tarnishing debacle? They say Anwar used azmin's eldest daughter's DNA, falsifying the results to show that Afifa is not anwar's daughter.

I say enough of this monstrosity, anwar and get your lawyers the task of cleaning you up, anytime like, right now. Is it a wonder that people everywhere are wondering why you favor the odious azmin so much and why he's been directed to be winning everywhere?

At the same time, I'll be wondering whether you'll be taking any action on matters that concern you most at all, rather than peddling yourself to be next President of the Republic of Malaysia...

Fractured: Not All That Quiet On The Northern Front

Alhamdulillah, all blessings be to Allah; Tun Mahathir has been discharged from the hospital in Australia and is currently resting at a hotel. This news might just frustrate Azmin and many pas supporters who had throughout the years, failed to inflict any negative impact on Tun, politically and religiously. Even N.ajis feels safe making potshots from the safety of his chambers.

Anyway, these past few months, we have traveled to many places, attending many functions by all parties and observing the political scenarios of the time. All I can say so far is, by far, it's not pretty...well, so's mahfuz.

Kedah has so far been very lucky when Pas took over the state government in 2008 by installing Azizan as the Menteri Besar. Azizan was more of an accidental choice as he was never that aspiring. The actual aspirant was the king-sized bean by the name of Mahfuz, who had been eyeing the seat since the 1999 elections. He did lobby for a state seat but the state pas committee was wise to give him parliamentary.

Hey, it's mahfuz we're talking about. Who can ever forget his noise-making in the parliament during the Budget 1998, live on TV, challenging the legality of Tun Mahathir's position of Finance Minister? And who can EVER forget on that same transmission, 15 - 20 minutes later, a camera shot of Mahfuz dozing peacefully during the session. Well, at least now we know how much understanding he has about anything on that particular budget.

A lot has been said about Azizan's hatred towards Anwar and cohorts, and news has leaked out that Azizan will not be returning as MB if pas wins the next general election, and we can see the contest is heating up. This is not something new: the Kota Seputeh seat issue is still undecided by the courts, but the battle within pas members has been long running for more than a year already because everybody in there wants to be a YB. Each faction wants their respective candidates.

With an open view and non-conformance to Nik Ajis' rules and Pakatan's standards, Azizan's seat is being vied by 2 other factions within pas. Leading the way is mahfuz', in cohorts with the secular minded and support of PKR and DAP. Why anwar would choose mahfuz for this faction, I have no idea, but Kedahans might just shiver at the very notion that a clown-sized clunk like mahfuz might be the next Menteri Besar of Kedah. But he might just get it with Anwar and Husam pulling the strings of puppetry. Although this faction is quite huge in size, the number is usually comprised of PKR members wearing pas headbands and banners to cause riots.

Talking about mahfuz, he was so vocal back in 2006/7 when he led the people to the MBAS over the issue of uncollected garbage in Kedah. Now that he's in power, the garbage collection is still messed up, where the hell is he? Shall we collect all the garbage in our houses and take it to his? But this might be redundant as his words have always been thrash.

What made the situation a bit messier is now that Azizan's loyal "deputy" is in the fray by jumping into another faction. Well, formally we know that Kedah has no Deputy Menteri Besar, but this "professional" has carried out task after task without question since Azizan's installment as MB, only to find out that Azizan is grooming somebody else as his replacement. Although he seems very very out of place, I guess N.ajis' faction is the only way for him to go, as he's not exactly eye-to eye with Mahfuz...and perchance to wrest Azizan's seat away. The N.ajis' faction in pas has been widely known for having their own religion...or mostly deviations from Islam. Yes, the religion is known as...pas. Maybe you should try reading Na.jis' hadiths and judge it yourself. For example, letting a non-muslim like Nga use the Al-Qur'an to divide Muslims and Malays in order to bring down an Islamic state government is considered Halal by Pas. Of course, to these people, whatever N.ajis says is such a revelation for them.

Believe it or not, there is another faction which has been keeping to themselves. They are much feared and loathed by the Anwar's and N.ajis' factions. You might have guessed it: it is Hadi & Nasharudin Mat Isa's group, or famously known as the unity government faction who are still negotiating terms with the Federal government. Sure, sure, anwar made contradicting statements of them, but who's going to believe anwar? The jews lost faith in him for disappointing them after years of aid and assistance, the west is starting to kick him in the butt around, and the list grows.

Its 2010, the fight is already on. Pas members feel that now pas stands a lot of chances to win seats and even establishing a state government, so it's not surprising to see a lot of back-stabbings and arguments between members who would like to stand as candidates in by-elections and perhaps, the coming General Elections in 2013. Both factions have 2 1/2 years to complete this tomoi championship.

Let us hope that these 2 factions keep in mind that whatever their fate is, or whichever faction between the two (Hadi's faction excluded) that they choose, they have one destiny. Maybe they forgot that everything in Pakatan Rakyat is being and will always be controlled by Anwar Ibrahim, the self-claimed (cue Lord of the Rings soundtrack here) "One ring to rule them all, and in darkness, bind them."

Gee, all that, and we haven't even included Umno into the fray. And we can see how hardworking the Kedah Umno warlords are at the moment...zzzzzz....okay, so at least, if Kedah Umno wants to be in the fray for 2013, they really really have to buck up. The old warlords? Well, incarceration might not be a good idea. Kedah Umno needs fresh faces and new leaders, and while Kedahans have an iconic leader at Federal, they should go and lure him back. If the next lineup consists of the same old faces and/or their clones, Umno can kiss goodbye to Kedah as anwar ibrahim will be the supreme ruler of the state, over whoever he designed to be the MB.

Voices Up North: Slippery When Wet…and Dry

Kedah is a land of contrasts...that might sound nice if it were an advertisement for Tourism Malaysia, but considering how jam packed it was at the Juru (Penang) Toll Plaza, Penang Bridge Toll Plaza and the (yawn) close to smattering of vehicles coming out from the highway to the Alor Setar Selatan Toll Plaza, it actually shows how popular Alor Setar itself. The disturbing banner of Mr. Bean...no, not that Mr. Bean, this is the useless but accidentally funny Mahfuz after the toll plaza is really not helping Alor Setar as a tourist destination. 
Somehow there are some people who seems to link that banner and the reason of why cars passing by seems to move even faster to Bukit Kayu Hitam, but never mind.

Don't get me wrong, mahfuz is the type of guy who does not know the meaning of the word "Fear." We did try giving him a Thesaurus, but he doesn't know the meaning of that either.

Historically, Kedah has been long established as the rice bowl of Malaysia. Yes, Mahfuz too, but he's more of a swinging bowl (mangkuk hayun) of Pas...hey, not my call! You really should go to pas members' kenduris, that where they always make fun of mahfuz. Anyway, back to the history lesson, Kedah padi season recognizes the hot dry spells of draught and rainy season at the end of the year. After Malaysia's Independence in 1957, the Federal government and Kedah state embarked on a beneficial project known as Pedu Dam in Padang Terap. The completion of this project spawned Muda Dam and Muda Irrigation Program or Rancangan Pengairan Muda. This project has ensured that no padi fields in their program suffer the destruction of their crops by drought ever again. That reminded me of last year's news where padi farmers complained of their crops destroyed by drought, and how MB's secretary replied that it was caused by draught. As those farmers were in the Muda Program, and since water levels at Pedu and Muda didn't even budge, his remarks were met with riotous laughter at restaurants and coffee-shops in Kedah. Sensing that, he gave another remark of how the past government is at fault. Maybe Azizan should try hiring an actual Kedahan as his secretary.

Kedah has been naturally rich in water and despite what we see on TV, mahfuz' "Mr-Bean" condition has no bearing whatsoever with the waters of Kedah. Kedah supplies Perlis and Penang with raw water, and both states enjoyed it free of charge. Perlis is a small state and its consumption is quite average. Kedah's water to Penang, on the other hand, supports Penang's industrial, tourism and so many aspects in the development of the island.

It's quite strange how Pihak Bekalan Air (PBA) once claimed that there is no such thing as water coming from Kedah. Their claim is Sungai Muda is in no-man's land (borderline) of Kedah-Penang and the water is free to be claimed. That's a nice take on it, but if they actually learn how to read the map at Pejabat Tanah, they will notice that the border of the land they call Butterworth/Penang starts right on the riverbank on their side, minus the river. The river and the riverbank on the other side belong to Kedah. But, as a friend of mine from Penang says, "The epitome of Penangites: What's mine is mine, what's yours is mine." Hopefully, one day, Kedah might reroute the river to cover other padi fields within the state that is not covered by the Muda Program.

Since 2008, people of Kedah experienced a new government which they elected out of anger, and sadly the replacement could never bring the state any notches up at all. Despite boasting that they cut down costs deemed excessive for the development and up keeping the water storage and treatment plants, water pressure dropped tremendously, causing many areas without water. This, in a state that has been naturally blessed with water. Certain places in Sik, Jeniang, Pendang and even several villages in Pedu endured months and years waking up early in the morning just to get water for the household. It is not a secret but pas and pakatan pro-bloggers did try to suppress this issue, and when it popped up right on their noses, they placed the blame on the previous state government. That usually serves as a good cover-up from getting their asses kicked.

It was bad enough with having many parts of Kedah celebrating Eid-ul-Fitri last year and this year without the necessary supply of water, the Menteri Besar, Azizan took another step forward (depending on which side you look from) by increasing the water tariff between 22 - 45%. Of course, we will have twerps like Det Khalid calling foul, but was brushed off by Azizan stating that it is not his fault but Federal's. If Det Khalid actually looks into a microscope of that issue, he could've rephrased into another way of blaming the state government, such as "how did it come up to this resolution?", "why and who requested Federal aid?", "why did the Federal require structuring of debt?"...but no, well, I guess he didn’t want to ask about how that debt gets there in the first place either. But ultimately, the state government has the absolute jurisdiction on whether to increase the water rates or not. Say, Azizan, did you try taxing Penang and Perlis for the consumption of Kedah's water first? Even Kulim Hi-Tech Park never had a supply of quality water compared to what Penang is getting.

Since early this year, we saw Lim Guan Eng trying to raise the water rates in Penang under the pretense of "avoiding wastage of water." What was that all about? Your water is free, and free-flowing, unlike Kedah, Penang doesn't have to do a huge maintenance of a few dams and one huge dam whereby a mini-submarine is needed. Anyway, we're not talking about Emperor 
Lim and his singaporized Penang. The quality of water is also in question. In many areas, people still long for clear fresh water instead of water corroded with muck and rust. I remember a friend of mine complaining that he now has to change his water filter every one to two months. This might be good to regenerate economy of the state with increase in demand for water filters, but why not find something that doesn't actually force people into doing it?

Pakatan supporters did try to attack this truth. They claim that they have been enjoying high quality and abundance of water supply in their house. On one hand, that is good for them, but nobody is talking about them. What about those people who are not getting water?

The water problem caused a lot of problems whereby it affected religious ceremonies, kenduris and so much more.

Wait a minute...where are the Umno Kedah warlords? Yes, so Det Khalid did open his empty mouth but that's about it, then it's all quiet on the northern front. Where's the over-talking Tajuddin Kentucky? Or the regal Tajul Urus? I think I saw Ajis Rempit doing maximum impact out of here...

Kedahans are getting fed-up with the state government while pro-pakatan bloggers are still busy pulling fairy tales out of their asses for people to see. The gutless Umno Kedah and their toothless UMB team are like the quality of water Kedahans are getting: slow and rusty. 
Perhaps it is time to change, Kedahans must dare to change. With so many problems with the state, it's no surprise to see that whenever pas representatives drop by any kampung area to indirectly force people to attend their ceramah, children usually run to the kitchen and tell their mum this, which is equivalent to what European children shouted when Nazi supporters come around: Mutter, der Mann mit großen Lügen hier, translation? Here's a nice PG13 translation:

Mak, tukang karut dah mai.

Hey. that's a nice PG13 translation, it could've been worse. Yes, they could've said, "Mak, Mahfuz mai" which might just cause pandemonium and riot...and the circus might have to leave town and look elsewhere to make some money.