12
speak up!
Unsavoury games
» Scene: Dome, KLCC
Mohan: I say what’s this lah? Almost
one year after the general election
and things are still unsettled. I am
beginning to be fed up with our politi-
cians. We have elected our federal
government. We have elected our
state governments. So what’s the
fuss all about? Fed up lah!
Azman: I agree with you. First,
there was this uneasiness and a WhatTheySay
little tension caused by Datuk Seri
Anwar Ibrahim declaring that his by Zainon Ahmad
group, the Pakatan Rakyat, is going
to capture the federal government from the
Barisan Nasional. And having captured five state
governments, Pakatan Rakyat is preparing to
capture Sarawak.
Mohan: Can ah? Tough ma.
Azman: And then Perak, always rumbling.
Suddenly one BN state assemblyman crossed to
PKR, Anwar’s party. And then there was the drama
about the two PKR assemblymen. And then one
DAP assemblyman was not heard from for a few
hours amid talk all three were joining the BN. This
prompted a DAP high official to give a directive
that no party rep can go incommunicado for 24
hours.
Chong: You forget the part about the state
assembly speaker saying that the two PKR reps
had resigned their seats. The two came out to say
no they had not resigned.
Azman: And then you have Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi saying that
several Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen are joining
the BN. And he said they are welcomed.
Mohan: Don’t you think he should stay above
the horse trading?
Zain: How can he when he is also Umno
president. After all isn’t it good for the BN if it is that separate the two coalitions. Before the Umno
numerically strengthened from crossovers from
other parties.
Mohan: He is PM ma.
Azman: He is encouraging crossovers now. No
different from Anwar.
Zain: What’s good for the goose is good for
the gander.
Chong: Mohan, you can be sure that not only
you are fed up. Many others are fed up too. That’s
why in some mature democracies voter turnout is
often low. Fed up with their politicians. In the US
for instance, there was a year when the turnout
was only 51%.
Chong: I am sure voters in Perak are fed up
too. Turned off by what is happening and disil-
TELLING IT AS IT IS
Acting Editor-in-Chief: Chong Cheng Hai
Consultant Editor: Zainon Ahmad
Executive Editor: Lee Boon Siew
Deputy Editor: Patrick Choo (Production),
Editor: R. Nadeswaran (Special Reporting)
lusioned with their politicians. Don’t
you think so Cikgu?
Zain: Absolutely.
Mohan: Why is this happening
lah? It’s so unsettling. In the past
after each general election it was
back to business as usual. Not now.
Chong: If your law firm is affected
what about my company? Those of
us in business have to cope with the
fallouts from the game our politicians
are playing while at the same time
deal with the economic slowdown.
Mohan: What fallout?
Zain: There is no doubt we are
going to suffer when the economy slows down
still further. But our politicians can think of ways
to mitigate our suffering. So their playing games
causes us to be left unattended. Looking after us
is why we elected them in the first place.
Azman: They have forgotten.
Zain: Indeed they have!
Azman: They want power and more power.
And they want it quickly. They don’t want to wait
for the next general election.
Chong: For them three or four years is an
eternity. Those in PR want to rule the country.
They are unsure that the momentum that carried
them to rule five states and to deny the BN its
two-thirds majority may still remain just as strong
in two or three years. So their argument is why
not do it now. Meanwhile, those in BN are also
impatient. Why wait for the next general election
to get back the states they lost if they can win
them back now. And so they play these games.
Mohan: How exciting.
Zain: I am sure you may have noticed that
in these games, Perak seems a little bit more
vulnerable than the rest of the states ruled by
the PR because of the narrow margin of seats
fellow crossed the floor, the PR had 31 seats and
BN 28. And you mustn’t forget that the PR parties
– PKR (eight seats), DAP (18 seats) and PAS (six
seats) – also play games among themselves. And
they are not friendly games.
Azman: I suppose all this support Tun
Dr Mahathir’s thesis that the federal government
must always be strong and dominant. It must
control at least two thirds of the seats in the
powerful Dewan Rakyat. It will be unchallenged
and there will be stability. And only few players
dare to play games.
Zain: In the games being played in Perak there
are also other players. They are not mentioned be-
cause most of the time they are in the shadows.
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Unease in the land of plenty
THE image of the police is
taking a beating like never
before, anti-graft officers
are accused of beating up
politicians and people’s
representatives in Perak
are playing hide-and-seek
with the voters’ trust.
It’s only February and
already there is enough
drama to last us well into
next year. Somehow, one Down2Earth
wonders if all these is just
some cleverly scripted play by Terence Fernandez
to take our attention away
from the economy which has been all
but shot to hell.
Manufacturing plants are cutting
back on man-hours to save cost, the
price of essentials is escalating and
utility rates may see an upward trend.
The good news though is that interest
rates are going down and hare-brained
ideas such as an airport in Labu which
will eventually dig into public funds,
have been shelved.
The government’s recent announce-
ment of a RM7 billion stimulus package
‘Global also helps to allay fears but just a little.
How the RM7 billion will be distributed
crisis must also be detailed for the people.
punches It has been often uttered by many
big hole Malaysians, from the hallowed halls
of Parliament to the Long Bar in the
in Aussie Royal Selangor Club and kopitiams in
budget’ Old Town – that Malaysia is so rich in
pg 12 resources that the people may not have
to even pay taxes if the nation’s wealth
is managed well.
Unfortunately, in the name of
“wealth-sharing”, the cost of doing
business in this country is on the
upward trend partly due to negotiated
contracts, with many decision-makers
not in favour of an open and transparent
tender process.
Due to this preference, one cannot
blame the people for guessing that
the cost of many projects has been
inflated to cover rent-seeking exercises
in disguise as bona fide procurement
schemes. A flip through the annual audi-
tor-general’s report will tell you that all’s in the industry such as Media Prima and
not right.
Don’t get me wrong. It is good that
the government is taking steps to coun-
ter the global financial meltdown but if
the encumbrances that haunt the man-
aging of our money are not arrested,
any economic stimulus package will not
be worth the paper it is printed on as
they only benefit a select few and not
the masses they were intended for.
***************************
ON a more positive tone, a little known
local awards show passed without
much fanfare two weeks ago. The first
Commuter hell in the making
letter
letters@thesundaily.com
TRANSIT (The Association for the Improve-
ment of Mass Transit) is dismayed that the KL
Sentral bus hub will be closed for development.
KL Sentral’s design does not provide for buses
as a viable and interchangeable mode of public
transport.
Even before the planned closure of the bus
terminal, bus users had to endure harsh waiting
conditions during the evening rush-hour along
Jalan Tun Sambanthan. With the closing of the
stage bus terminal and detour of walking paths
between KL Sentral and Jalan Tun Sambanthan,
bus users will face more difficulties switching
between different modes of public transport.
Transit has forwarded proposals to vari-
ous government bodies and agencies on the
importance of establishing integrated public
transport gateways for KL with direct, unob-
structed access of expressway buses (dubbed
as Expressway Rapid Transit or ERT) to rapid
travel corridors such as the Maju Expressway,
Akleh, Duke and NKVE/Sprint. With the planned
theSun | TUESDAY FEBRUARY 3 2009
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Voize Independent Music
Awards (VIMA) may be
small in comparison with
its bigger siblings, but its
significance is that the
local music industry which
has been trampled by the
larger recording boys finally
has an avenue to recognise
hidden talents.
It does not take a gen-
ius to tell you that where
mainstream music is con-
cerned, image, more than
music takes centre stage.
However, with the explosion of the in-
dependent underground, there seems
to be an attempt at showing the middle
finger to the mainstream recording
industry which seemed to have all but
put talent and quality in the backseat
in favour of manufactured artistes and
marketing gimmicks.
In a day where visual artistry is held
in higher regard than fundamentals
– such as songwriting and singing ability
– Voize tries to give a platform to bands
and musicians with great prospects but
lack the connections to launch them
onto radio and the shelves of record
stores.
Apart from recognising hidden tal-
ents with trophies, Voize also gave out
grants to struggling artistes to record
their first single. “The money may not
be much, but it’s a start,” said the brains
behind Voize, Siva Chandra.
What many bands can tell you is
that it costs a lot of money to record
an album – about RM1,000 a song. And
this does not include studio fees and
equipment rental.
This is why a common complaint
among the music fraternity is who you
know rather than talent which decides
how far you can go.
Siva wants to arrest this “rape” of
the music industry and restore the art to
its purest form and provide a platform
to people who love their craft and who
want to share it with others. Thus, it was
heartening to see some of the big boys
8TV chief Ahmad Izham Omar lend their
support to the initiative.
Voize is organising the first Asian
Voize Independent Music Awards
(AVIMA) on March 28. The host city
has been shortlisted to Kuala Lumpur,
Bangkok, Manila and Beijing.
Kudos to Siva for his efforts at
reclaiming music for those who appreci-
ate it for its truest and purest form.
Terence regrets not learning to play the
guitar. He is deputy editor (special re-
ports & investigations) and is reachable
at terence@thesundaily.com
commercialisation of the only vacant areas
left around KL Sentral, there will be no space
nearby left for the extension of the existing bus
transit hub that allows convenient transfer from
express, trunk and city buses to other modes of
public transport. Without a proper terminal for
buses, it will be impossible for the integrated
public transport hub to be truly effective in serv-
ing the vast commuting population east of KL.
If we can share our resources to build
sidewalks, streetlamps and streets, why is it
hard for us to get the same allocation to build
public transport infrastructure that can better
use our scarce urban spaces to solve traffic
congestion and serve urban mobility needs ef-
fectively. We don’t have to worry about beating
each other for the scarce road space we’ve
left. Private transport guzzles more fuel, eats
bigger road space, emits more pollution and
has higher capital and operational expenditure
per passenger mile than public transport. We
must question our present approach in solving
urban congestion woes, and move our mass
transit forward.
M. Zulkarnain Hamzah
Shah Alam