He may be under a cloud. He may be struggling to protect honour. His detractors may be waiting to see him fall. His political may be looking at alternatives in the event of his fall. But he isn’t one to be cowed down. He is a shrewd politician. A silent operator who keeps his cards close to the chest. Strikes when everyone is napping. Catches rivals unawares. Emerges stronger after every crisis. Lady Luck also favours him. Yes, we are talking about uur opposition leader brother anwar ibrahim Anwar-bashing has become a fad. Parties feel that by doing so they will please the rural Malay masses and win their votes. A truly mistaken notion. conclusion is that “good economics need not always mean good politics”. Simultaneously, while most of the world’s richest countries are democracies, democratic politics is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for growth and development, anwar adds.that power to the people is not a noble end in itself. On the contrary, there are many such desirables – female emancipation, gainful employment for the children of immigrants, religious tolerance – that I wish would be seen as ends in themselves, and not merely as a means to contain some other ‘worse’ evil – a population explosion or terrorism, respectively.
In this age of data imperialism, we might find that not every noble ‘end’ has a statistical justification, and then what? One day, the data may show that democracy worsened Egypt’s economics, but I don’t think that the people I watched weep and sing Friday night in Tahrir Square care.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is rather disingenuous to tell Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to refrain from using violence against protestors who are opposed to his rule.
He said, “We believe that he should not use violence. What is important for us is to take into account the aspirations of people... The system should be legitimate, it has to be based on support of people.”
Najib was speaking to AFP during his visit to Istanbul and said that the people in Arab and north African countries were giving “a clear sign of their demand for change and reform” and that those governments would have to acknowledge this.He said, “The constitutional and political reforms that would be effective should be able to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of people, particularly the young people”.
Najib stressed that change in the region should be peaceful.If only he would heed his own words.
When asked to comment about a possible uprising in Malaysia, Najib said that he was unperturbed as he had no concerns about a possible uprising happening in Malaysia as elections here were “quite free and fair” and that support for the government support was increasing.
Does Najib truly believe that vote-buying and rigging as well as manipulation of voters does not happen here?
A few days ago, the British press claimed that Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi threatened to unleash mob rule as he pledged to “cleanse Libya house by house” until he crushed the insurrection seeking to sweep him from power.In his most chilling speech of his 41 years in power, Gaddafi threatened death sentences against anyone who challenged his authority and in a diatribe lasting over 75 minutes, declared that “I will fight to the last drop of my blood”.Najib’s ludicrous statement to tell Gaddafi not to use violence against the protestors is a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.
At the 61st Umno General Assembly in October 2010, Najib asked the near-hysterical delegates, “Are we willing to hand our beloved Malaysia to the traitor of race and country?” They in turn responded with shouts of “No. No.”However, Najib’s most despicable statement then was, “Even if our bodies are crushed and our lives lost, brothers and sisters, whatever happens, we must defend Putrajaya.”His ensuing speech was riddled with hostility. It encouraged fear and apprehension. His words taught Malaysians all about envy and hatred.With his violent past, Najib has the gall to tell Gaddafi to refrain from using violence.Furthermore, how does he explain the police use of water cannons, chemical-laced sprays, police batons, tear gas, arrests, physical intimidation and assaults against peaceful protestors in his own homeland?
When we asked Najib about the government’s alleged purchase of small arms – pistols, sub-machine guns, stun-grenades and more – from underground sources in the overseas black markets, he kept quiet.
When we demanded to know if these arms would be used by Umno Youth, who are suddenly embarking on paramilitary training, he did not reply. (Khairy Jamaluddin has just completed his parachute training.)
When we questioned him about the need to recruit 2.6 million Rela volunteers by mid-year, he again maintained silence.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today the Barisan Nasional (BN) can retain the Kerdau and Merlimau state seats in the by-elections on March 6, but he wants the coalition to win with a bigger majority of votes.
He also said that the BN election machinery should not underestimate the capability of the opposition in the two by-elections.
PAS is taking on the BN in straight fights in the two by-elections.
In Kerdau, Kuala Krau Umno Division vice-head Syed Ibrahim Syed Ahmad, 44, of the BN is facing Pahang PAS information chief Hassanuddin Salim, 43, and in Merlimau, Jasin Umno Division committee member Roslan Ahmad, 44, is squaring off with Melaka PAS Youth deputy chief Yuhaizad Abdullah, 38.
“It is the desire of the leadership, especially our prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Razak), that we garner a bigger majority. However, we must not take it easy. We regard this as a big challenge.
“We must work very hard to achieve the desired victory,” Muhyiddin told reporters after the nomination for the Kerdau seat at the Tun Razak Hall of the Temerloh Municipal Council, here.
The Real Political Math In
WASHINGTON -- The real political math in Wisconsin isn't about the state budget or the collective-bargaining rights of public employees there. It is about which party controls governorships and, with them, the balance of power on the ground in the 2012 elections.
For all of the valid concern about reining in state spending -- a concern shared by politicians and voters of all labels -- the underlying strategic Wisconsin story is this: Gov. Scott Walker, a Tea Party-tinged Republican, is the advance guard of a new GOP push to dismantle public-sector unions as an electoral force.
Last fall, GOP operatives hoped and expected to take away as many as 20 governorships from the Democrats. They ended up nabbing 12.
What happened? Well, according to postgame analysis by GOP strategists and Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi -- who chaired the Republican Governors Association in 2010 -- the power and money of public-employee unions was the reason.
"We are never going to win most of these states until we can do something about those unions," one key operative said at a Washington dinner in November. "They have so much incentive to work hard politically because they are, in effect, electing their own bosses -- the Democrats who are going to pay them better and give them more benefits. And the Democrats have the incentive to be generous."
This is how top Republicans see the matter: a vicious cycle of union-to-Democrat-to-union power that they are determined to break.
And there is a lot of money and manpower involved. In the 2010 cycle, the American Federation of State, Country and Municipal Employees spent $87 million, making AFSCME the biggest single source of independent campaign spending last year -- bigger than Karl Rove's American Crossroads.
The manpower is even more important, though, especially that of AFSCME and the National Education Association. The public-employee troops are concentrated, in absolute numbers and by percentage, in 18 states. In California alone, there are 1.4 million government employees represented by unions, according to AFL-CIO numbers. In Illinois, it's more than 400,000; in New York, 1.1 million.
Last fall, Republicans took away governorships in four of these public union-heavy states: Ohio (where 46.2 percent of public employees are represented by unions), Michigan (51.7 percent) , Pennsylvania (53.4 percent) and Wisconsin (49.6 percent). It was an impressive Rust Belt sweep.
But the GOP had been hoping for much more in other such states. They thought they had good chances in California (with 59.6 percent unionized public employees), Minnesota (59.2 percent), Oregon (56.9 percent), Illinois (52.6 percent), Connecticut (66.4 percent), Massachusetts (64.4 percent), New Hampshire (50.3 percent) and Rhode Island (66.6 percent).
Republicans lost them all, though many quite narrowly.
The GOP strategic aim is simple enough. If they can abolish union collective-bargaining rights, they can undermine the automatic payment of dues to the public-employee union treasuries. Shrinking those treasuries and reducing the union structure and membership will make it harder for Democrats and their allies to communicate directly with workers.
And under the infamous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, unions -- like corporations -- are free to spend as much as they want directly advocating for a candidate. That makes the math even more urgent as the 2012 election season approaches
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