Why did Najib throw·a·way his first lovely wife and go for the waterbarrel It’s an age-old question, pondered by both moody adolescents and adults in the throes of midlife crises:

“Few things are as annoying as the pot calling the kettle black.

TERRENCE NETTO

HERE

THIS QUOTE IS APT

CURRENTLY

CONSIDERING THAT

“STATUTORY RAPE”

WAS ADJUDGED

NOT CRIMINAL

AND THE COMPLAINANTS

WERE PUNISHED!

+++++

I read some many years ago on how an eastern European community punished a town rapist*. After ravaging the teen orphan he killed her. The town council kept the body of the victim in the morgue until the rapist was apprehended. He was after a week. He was strapped to a pole in a nearby forest. The ravaged victim was tied to him face to face. He died raving mad probably when decomposition set in and his cries jarred the still nights for two weeks. When the night cries ceased, the village elders went to the scene they found the murdered rape victim still in her funeral clothes curiously unblemished and no signs of decomposition. They buried her but left the rapist still tied to the pole. Months later the village elders went to the execution site but found no signs of skeletal parts except pieces of clothing. Months later some town folks found skeletal parts scattered over a vast area of the forest….probably the work of night scavenging carrions. Never again did a rape occur in that township. Lessons unlearned are lessons repeated. Lessons can be learned, yah?

The most recent act by UMNO to try and kill off Anwar with a lowly sex video moved me to write this article.

Because it increasingly feels like we are living in a country run by GANGSTERS.

What characterizes gangsters?

Is there any difference between what GANGSTERS do and what UMNO is doing?

Use of force, fear, bribes, threats, violence, deceit, unchallengeable positions, indulgence, and parasitic existence and not worrying about appearances would be a reasonable answer to the first question.

To answer the second question “Is there any difference?”

I will examine how UMNO performs in many of these dimensions to answer that question.

1. Force –The Police, the Attorney General’s office, the Courts (I will call them the Unholy Trio from now on) are the instruments of force of UMNO.
   
   You see them figuring prominently in all occasions where UMNO’s lawlessness are questioned.
   
   Being involved with Hindraf Makkal Sakthi, I can tell you that, without batting an eyelid– our people are constantly threatened with detention under ISA, or with charges of sedition, or are charged with being involved in an illegal organization after UMNO unconstitutionally and unlawfully outlawed Hindraf.
   
   The form of force used and the way it is administered may vary in specifics between the gangsters and UMNO but in essence they are the same – UMNO and the gangsters equally resort to force because that is the sole source of their power.
   
   UMNO has lost its moral legitimacy in its claim for power and hangs on to power only because of the control of the instruments of force – the Unholy Trio being the prime instruments.
   
   The gangsters never had moral or legitimate basis for claims to power, their claim to power hinges only on one thing – the use of raw and brutal force.
2. Fear – UMNO so readily instills fear just like the local gangsters.
   
   UMNO uses the Unholy Trio along with the Media, and when necessary the underworld members to achieve this. The Police have a special unit the Special Branch just for this – the Malaysian Gestapo.
   
   Every so often we see battalions of the Light Strike Force or the Federal Reserve Units to disallow, to disrupt, to frighten off citizen’s gatherings.
   
   You should have seen the hundreds at the anti –Interlok forums throughout the country and the thousands at KLCC for Hindraf’s Solidarity March against UMNO’s racism.
   
   This is exactly what the local gang boss. Putting in the fear of god they say.What the gang boss does is what UMNO is doing.
3. Threats – The laws enacted by UMNO – ISA, Publishing and Printing Presses Act, Official Secrets Act, Seditions Act, Police Act and even the MACC are all actually devices crafted by UMNO that threaten all those that dare cross the line.
   
   This is the primary purpose of these acts and organizations, though more noble intentions are proffered to legitimize them. But the true intentions of these are to act as a sword over the heads of any that dare.
   
   The Media for its part carries statements from time to time from the Ministers, from the IGP, from the Attorney General,from UMNO stalwarts, from Right wing Perkasa or carries images and reports of the Police overpowering any attempts to challenge them or of right wing demonstrations threatening the rest.
   
   But the purpose is one – to pre-empt potential trouble makers.
   
   The gang bosses just use outright threats, they do not need these more sophisticated devices.
   
   As the saying goes, cut the throat of one chicken in front of all the monkeys so the monkeys will behave themselves. In that sense the devices of threatening may be different but both UMNO and Gangsters use threats to remain in power.
4. Violence – What happened in Kampung Medan in 2005 is a clear example of the workings of the Unholy Trio, the Media and the underworld in the meting out violence whenever they see a need.
   
   A little further back we had the May 13th riots and May 13th is still a keyword for violence . Hundreds of police killing and maiming continue till today in UMNO’s Police Stations.
   
   The Police in the fore and the Armed Forces at the back are nothing more than UMNO’s killing machines.
   
   The threat of violence that UMNO can unleash, should it decide to, is what holds much of the opposition back. Violence is the bread and butter of gangsters and it is the bread and butter of UMNO.
   
   UMNO and the gangsters understand this very well.
5. Bribes – When expediency requires and it is wiser, then UMNO bribes to clear their way of trouble makers.
   
   They buy up leaders of groups outside their circle of influence. They make “mafia offers”. They use skeletons in cupboards to assist them, as we see regularly happening in buying up of the opposition members of the legislature. Other forms of bribe, we see at election times.
   
   There is a free flow of gifts, goodies and promises. These are tidbits used to corrupt and remove obstacles or create perceptions while UMNO walks away with the loot – to UMNO these bribes are nothing more than the cost of doing business.
   
   Gangsters for their part use bribes to share their bounty when attempting to get at very large bounties. It is a cost of doing business for them too.
6. Unchallengeable positions – UMNO’s positions on issues are unchallengeable, just like it is with the local gangster. You challenge at the risk of losing everything.
   
   When you challenge they fight tooth and nail so you do not get what you seek, on the contrary they make you lose further with intense vindictiveness. Case in point is the Interlok novel. The book remains in the curriculum and the rest who voiced dissatisfaction get beaten up and charged in courts for speaking up, but the book remains in the curriculum.
   
   Another clear case in point is what UMNO is doing to Anwar Ibrahim. He gets all kinds of s*** thrown at him and with increasing frequency just because he dares to challenge the UMNOPutras.
   
   Challenge at great personal risk – they will ruin you if they can. Their position must not be challenged. This is very clearly the ways of gangsters too.
   
   The hallmark of a gangleader is one who has overcome all those who have challenged him and anyone who challenges the leader must lose or the leader loses his basis to continue as a leader. Exactly the case with Najib –ala UMNO and UMNO ala the people.
7. Deceit – “Biji setelor, rio sekampung” as the Malay proverb goes. UMNO throws a tid bit here, a tidbit there and the media steps in and creates perceptions of a totally benevolent and caring UMNO.
   
   UMNO holds the reins of the media tight. UMNO is able to manufacture perceptions in people that are so far removed from the truth that the lies are more real the reality itself. You speak the truth and no one listens to you, for they think you distort, for personal advantage.
   
   UMNO has established monopoly over their minds and UMNO will do with it what they want. They deceive the people and leave the rest of us biting the mud.
   
   UMNO caught between getting the non-Malay votes and increasing their appeal to the Malays use their outsource vehicle,
   
   Perkasa to create a perception of the Malays losing out to the non-Malays because the Malays are split.
   
   The reality is both the Malay And non-Malay people are losing out to the UMNO leaders and their Non-Malay elite accomplices as they use this perception to delude the people and walk off with the loot. No one really listens to this truth, they think it is distorted for personal use. This is a very refined deceit-making machine that we are up against.
   
   On this count UMNO has improved over the gangsters, recognizing they have to operate within a community of nations and have to be seen to be in accord with norms of civilization. They worry about how they will be perceived, they need to legitimize their position, the gangster does not have to.

So, except for this last point there is really not much difference between gangsters running this country and UMNO running this country.

UMNO is nothing short of being dignified gangsters. This truth may look far- fetched, but you think about what I have said, deeply. Just think about it.

If you agree, then do not be the person UMNO, the gangster wants you to be, the meek and powerless person. Look at what is happening in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.

When all the people get together, the empire crumbles, because the true sovereign is the people united. We have to move out and into the light, to a future based on competence, not on force.

The people have to get out from the grips of gangsters.

It’s an age-old question, pondered by both moody adolescents and adults in the throes of midlife crises: Am I normal?

THIS IS ANOTHER BIG JOKE OF THE CENTURY. THESE CLOWNS DO NOT FEAR GOD SO WHY WOULD THEY FEAR TAKING AN OATH IN THE MOSQUE?

After all, all their adult life they have spent insulting Islam by doing all the despicable things that they have been and are still doing. So I don’t think anyone really gives a damn that just because you take an oath at the mosque, it means you are telling the truth.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today that everybody has the right to perform a sumpah laknat oath but the government will not interfere by encouraging or deterring the act.

The prime minister was referring to the sumpah laknat oath taken by Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah today by swearing in God’s name that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is the man featured in a sex video that was recently shown to journalists.

Najib (picture), who is also the Umno president, stressed that individuals and political parties should take the same approach as the government.

He added that it would not matter if Shazryl or Anwar wants to perform the oath because in the end the public will evaluate the sincerity of the individuals.

“This is a personal issue and the matter does not concern Umno or the government. Whoever feels that they want to sumpah laknat then that is up to them. We don’t encourage and we won’t stop them.

“I think everybody must have the same attitude. Political parties should take attitude that this is a personal matter,” he told reporters after chairing Umno supreme council meeting here.

Shazryl, together with former Malacca Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik and Perkasa treasurer-general Datuk Shuib Lazim, arrived at Masjid Amru Al-As earlier today amid heavy security.

The three appeared to be wearing bullet-proof vests beneath their traditional baju Melayu.

Shazryl took the oath on behalf of “Datuk T”, the nickname the trio behind the latest sex scandal had adopted.

“I swear today that I and Anwar Ibrahim were in the video on February 21, 2011 and Anwar is the actor (in the video).

“If what I said today is false, then may Allah curse me,” he said to a witnessing imam while holding the Quran.

Najib also criticised PKR supporters that tried to sabotage the oath-taking for disrespecting the sanctity of the mosque.

“We must safeguard the sanctity of the mosque. In the mosque, nobody can threaten anybody as long as the mosque management allows it,” he said.

In Malaysia-today’s latest article “Whitest Kid Redneck Christopher Badeaux of New Yor...“,master spinner Raja Petra Kamaruddin says:

There is a book called ‘100 DALIL MENGAPA NAJIB TAK BOLEH JADI PM’ (100 reasons why Najib cannot be PM) that Malaysia Today has received from an anonymous source. Of course, the party that gave us this book wants Malaysia Today to publish it, maybe a dalil a day for 100 days. We are still studying the contents of this book to assess whether the 100 dalils are mere innuendoes and insinuations or are really points of substance. No, contrary to what the government says, Malaysia Today does not publish innuendoes and insinuations.

Those close to the Deputy Prime Minister are not being spared either. Malaysia Today was given the name of the ex-Minister who has been accused of molesting the cigar girl in the Havana Club in a five-start hotel in KL Sentral. Malaysia Today’s initial investigation points to a smearing campaign aimed at bringing down all those close to the Deputy Prime Minister and it seems the incident has been denied by the girl concerned.

On Sunday, Najib sealed a secret pact with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Yes, Najib has thrown his forces behind Abdullah and has sworn to sink or swim with his boss. This has riled the Team B forces and they now want Najib and his boys brought down as fast as possible so that Abdullah can be isolated and brought down as well in due time. And this is probably the reason for the smear campaign that suddenly intensified the last few days.

Hmm, I am wondering if the postponement of the Altantuya’s case has anything to do with Najib’s sealed secret pact with Abdullah? Since everyone’s spinning, I may as well spin along? Is the Altantuya’s controversy one of the 100 reasons why Najib cannot be PM?

The postponement is to drag Najib further through the mud. If Najib is to be given a smooth transition of power, wouldn’t he be cleared completely of the case? And to be cleared completely of the case, it means that we will by now have a verdict, wouldn’t we? A verdict that would be completely ‘pleasant’ to Najib, whose directly and professionally related to the three accused in the case.

Well, questions and more questions only. But Malaysia-Today, I wouldn’t mind reading one dalil per day. Beats the blues. And while waiting for the Altantuya’s trial to resume (its been postponed again till May), her dad can also kill sometime relishing the ‘inuendoes and insinuations’ purported in the book.

Najib after all has Altantuya’s ’blood’ on his hands, whether figuratively or metaphorically.  

Najib defended newspapers for reporting the leaked sex video on broadcasting site Youtube.

“This is not a new matter. News of sex video has been reported way before this. Of course a newspaper has to report when it involves a leader but it has nothing to do with Umno,” he said.

He also ridiculed Anwar for attacking reporters when asked about the Omega watch and hinted that the opposition leader has something to hide.

“The question is why he does not want to answer? The people can conclude the reasons why he does not want to answer,” he said.

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Datuk T claimed that they were in possession of an Omega watch left behind by Anwar in the sex video and has handed it to the police for further investigation.

Earlier, emotions ran high as PKR supporters waited for Shazryl’s arrival at the mosque after Friday prayers.

Hundreds crowded in an enclosed praying area circling Federal Territory Islamic Department (Jawi) officials sitting on the floor in front of the iman’s mimbar (rostrum).

The crowd began shouting “Liar”, “arrest him” and “Allah is great” while some began kicking the sitting officials, who included the Jawi director.

PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin told the crowd that swearing in God’s name was unIslamic while holding a booklet on the Qazaf — the Islamic ordinance on false accusations — in one hand.

“This is not the way. We want the Jawi director to read about Qazaf in this book.

“We want Qazaf!” he said to the roaring crowd.

The situation grew heated when plainclothes police officers tried to pull PKR supporters away, resulting in a shoving match.

As the crowd tried to diffuse the situation, Shamsul and his followers began praying nearby.

Then, the management of the mosque announced through the loudspeakers that the oath-taking ceremony has been cancelled and asked everybody to disperse.

Datuk T arrived two hours later through the back entrance of the mosque compound for Shazryl to perform the oath taking.

Najib Razak did the same for the Altantuya Shaariibuu case but we know that he was somehow involved as he was the only person high enough who can make immigration records disappear. Talking an oath in the mosque does not make you innocent. I think that the religious leaders should make a decree to stop people from using the holy places of worship to make an oath for something like this. This is politicising places of worship. Eskay, what can the ulama do and what more can your swearing in the mosque prove? You claim that you’re not religious then why bring religion into this.

What happened to your gang? Why is it only you are going to the mosque to swear? How to trust you? Jangan tipu lagi, okay. Enough is enough.

Anwar Ibrahim should sue Shazryl Eskay Abdullah for defamation. It’s a joke to swear on the Quran. What can Eskay swear – that he was the one filming Anwar doing it? There’s no need for Anwar to swear on the Quran, especially if he is innocent.

How would Eskay know he’ll be charged next week if he hasn’t been extended due courtesy by the police? The police, by the way, took his DNA for no apparent reason, and played politics on wanting to expose the actor, also for no logical reason, since being an actor per se is not a crime.

Conclusion – this episode smells like a big farce.

Eskay, you should only swear that you are not a sinner. You should not accuse another person for being a sinner since this swearing is between you and God. So don’t make a mockery of the swearing – pointing fault at others is tantamount to ‘swearing’ and this is a sin in the first place.

Working mother Chrisanna Northrup, a screenwriter (Silver) and private banking associate, asked herself that same question when, after over a decade of marriage, she decided to separate from her husband and move out of the home they shared with their three kids in 2008.

“We needed to take a step back from our relationship because the…normal we created wasn’t what I wanted any longer,” she told the Huffington Post recently.

Counseling proved unsuccessful, and Northup filed for a separation, but the questions lingered: What is “normal”? How do you gauge “normal” when it comes to love, sex, marriage, raising kids?

She looked to her friends for answers. Unsatisfied, she turned to self-help books, university data, and the media.

“Some people seem pretty happy in their relationships and others seem to be getting a divorce,” she concluded. “The happy ones—how are they doing it? What are they doing differently that I’m not?”

So began The Normal Bar, an ambitious project she initiated to answer the questions she—and millions of others—have about happiness, commitment, and relationships.

Together with Dr. Pepper Schwartz, the author of numerous bestselling books on relationships and sexuality, and a regular on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and sociologist Dr. James Witte, Director of the Center for Social Science Research at George Mason University, Northrup developed a large-scale interactive survey. Launching April 29, the survey asks people all over the world to answer questions about the most personal details of their lives. The aim: to determine whether what you believe to be “normal” differs from what others perceive it to be, and illustrate that perhaps the concept itself is flawed.

“I’m not an advocate for being normal,” Northrup added. “But what does it look like? And how can we learn from people who have a certain ‘normal?’”

The Normal Bar asks users dozens of questions in 17 content areas including Sex, Money, Children, and Happiness which, taken together, assess their daily life and relationships. Throughout each sub-survey, users will be able to see how their “normal” stacks up against other peoples’ throughout the world in real time. Northrup estimates that at least 500,000 people will participate.

The Normal Bar partnered with five media organizations, including Huffington Post Divorce, to generate specific questions based on their respective areas of interest. (Click on the Trust, Infidelity & Temptations, Children, and Break Up? Or Stay? sections to find out what questions we asked). AOL Healthy Living—another media partner—asked questions in the Health, Fitness & Nutrition, and Self-Image categories.

Confused? Here’s how the survey works: Users are first asked general questions about their age, employment, and relationship status. Their responses in that core questionnaire—specifically whether users are in a relationship or single—will shape their path throughout the rest of the survey.

Next, users can take more specific surveys in a variety of topics: Communication, Romance, Daily Life, Addiction, and others. The queries within each section are deeply personal. Examples include “Do you think your partner is good in bed?,” “Have you ever pursued somebody who was already married?,” and “Do you find somebody more attractive if he/she is rich?”

The entire questionnaire can be completed in around 30 minutes, Northrup estimates, though users will be given a personalized link if they choose to respond to the surveys in separate sittings.

Northrup, whose findings will be published by Random House in 2012, plans to utilize the data collected from the interactive surveys to create tools to help people “create healthier, happier, more fulfilling ‘normals.’”

“You don’t need to have a ‘normal’ that you’re not happy with and you’re not fulfilled in. It can be changed,” Northrup said. “What can we learn from our current norms to create a better one for ourselves?”

Want to take the survey? Click here