SV will surely retain Sg Siput

The article below was reported in the Star today (Feb 15).

Even an army will not stop me, says Samy Vellu

KUALA LUMPUR: Even an army will not be able to stop MIC president Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu from defending his Sungai Siput seat.

"An army can come but I know how to fight it out," he said of reports that the Opposition could be fielding a candidate against him.

"I will defend woh foong (Cantonese for Sungai Siput)," said Samy Vellu, who has held the seat since 1974.

He said he had the full support of the various communities in Sungai Siput and that he had built Tamil, Chinese and Malay schools, hospitals and community colleges in the constituency.

"The people in Sungai Siput are with me. They are my strength. I have strived for them and served them.

"I have made Sungai Siput a very beautiful town. Not only that, I have solved every problem of the community. I have made Sungai Siput a really good place to live in," he said.

Samy Vellu was confident there would be no Indian vote swing away from the Barisan Nasional.

"The Indian voters are all at home and not in the streets," he said referring to the recent Hindraf protest.

On the Barisan supreme council meeting yesterday, he said president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi gave a lot of advice to members.

"We will abide by a policy which is unity in the coalition. The Barisan must be united to gain victory."

I have few problems with SV confident talk here, especially this particular paragraph:

"The people in Sungai Siput are with me. They are my strength. I have strived for them and served them."

Let’s look at the 2004 results for Sungai Siput:

• There were a total of 46,783 voters

• 19,029 voted for SV

• a combined figure of about 11,400 voted for the two opposition candidates

• and there were 927 spoilt votes

• on top of that only 30,806 people turned out to vote that day

That means, of a total of 46,783 voters in Sungai Siput, only 19,029 voters support SV. The remaining 27,754 (more than 50 percent) either didn’t support him or had no reason to turn up to vote for him! That does not make him a very popular MP at all.

OK lets leave that aside as it doesn’t matter at all. That’s why SV is so confident.

We now look at his voter breakdown.

Malays make 31.4 percent of the total voters here, followed by Chinese at 41.4 percent and Indians at 22.5 percent.

Let’s assume that after all that he had done to enrich the Malays, he gets the wholesome vote (translates to about 14,100 votes), which he always does.

His problem would be in getting in the Chinese votes and the Indian votes.

Looking at the Indian votes, they only constitute 22 percent of 47,000 – which means roughly about 12,000 voters. And Chinese votes stand at about 18,800.

That means SV would have to get the whole of Malay votes and at least 50 percent of the Chinese and the Indian votes respectively to win with a slight majority.

I am not sure about the Chinese votes. He might even get more than the 50 percent. After all he has brought development to the constituency. And the Chinese are NOT angry with MIC.

But the same can’t be said about the Indian voters. PSM, the party which might oppose SV, has done extensive grassroots work in Sungai Siput. Even if the entire Indian voters cast the votes for the PSM candidate, he would still fall short of beating SV.

Maybe SV is misreading that ground sentiment by openly saying that “the Indian voters are all at home and not in the streets.”

Even if that is not the case, the MIC president is not in a position to lose the election. Simply because he does not need the Indian votes to be retained.

All he has to do is take care of the Malay populace and the Chinese businesses, and he is on his way to the Parliament once again, most pleasantly on his 72^nd birthday.

As for the Indians, they can remain to be angry, but perhaps without being able to do anything concrete! However their protest vote would surely send the message across!

Such undisciplined lot

Actually this is a funny story about Kelantan female cops. But seriously I wonder why the police chief failed to chide off his male officers for similar offences? A case of gender bias?

Anyway, enjoy the story, as published in the Star today.

Policewomen ticked off for ‘misbehaviour’

KOTA BARU: Several policewomen were ticked off for colouring their hair unnaturally and being rude to the public.

Police chief Senior Asst Comm I Datuk Abd Rahim Hanafi said he knew of such behaviour through letters and verbal complaints about female officers misbehaving and lacking in communicative skills.

SAC Rahim cited a case where a woman officer was asked to remove her headscarf during undercover duties. Her fellow officers were shocked to see that she had dyed her hair, which is prohibited under police regulations.

Other cases involved a policewoman behaving suspiciously with her boyfriend in a car at a district police barracks. Other complaints were about policewomen being rude, while one complainant said a policewoman had married a man thrice her age.

SAC Rahim said he was also disturbed by the attire, such as tight jeans, worn by some off-duty policewomen.

Jawi is the new thing in KL

The KL City Hall is on a mission - it wants to encourage Middle Eastern tourists to the city.

Actually DBKL is on a double mission - it also wants to propagate the prime minister’s pet Islamic Hadhari concept in the capital city.

And how does the DBKL completes its missions?

Simple. It just replaces old road signs around the city with new ones that carry road names in Jawi.

So far, DBKL has completed its mission in Bandar Tun Razak, Taman Seputeh and Taman Tan Yew Lai. In the process now is Jinjang. Please note that the last three residential areas are predominantly Chinese.

Naturally few questions arise:

1. How many people can read Jawi, including the postmen?
2. How many Arab tourists are going to visit residential areas? And what attractions are there for them to see, apart from rows and rows of houses? I have never seen Arabs tourists in Jinjang!
3. And if it is to benefit the Arabs, why use Jawi and not Arabic?
4. Just for the sake of it, why not Chinese and Tamil languages as well?
5. Finally, what is Islam Hadhari? Is it something which alienates the rights of the non-Muslims in this country? The last I heard, it was supposed to be an all-embracing concept which promotes oneness and universal values!!

Both the Star (Feb 4) and The Sun (Feb 11) had carried stories about this new Jawi road signs, indicating that there are grouses from ground level.

Both stories had response from DBKL - yesterday’s Sun quoted an official saying that the new road signs offered “a chance for the non-Muslims to know and learn Jawi”. (see right)

How? By merely looking at the road signs? She must be out of her mind. But let’s not blame her.

It’s the problem of all government officials trying to bodek the PM by promoting his Islam Hadhari, whatever it means.

British-made Taliban fighters

This is really funny. Apparently, the RAF experts eavesdropped on radio traffic in Afghanistan — and heard Taliban fighters speaking in Brummie and Yorkshire accents.

Read the exclusive story by the sun here.

"I can't get anything done!"

Do we have too many public holidays?

Well, the business sector surely thinks so, based on an AFP report titled Malaysia's holiday bonanza no fun for business.

While the business folks blame the lost of income on the high number of public holidays, a political economist argues that holidays are an important stress buster for the overworked.

Meanwhile a lawyer laments, “I can't get anything done!”

Read for yourself the AFP article and tell me what do you think (excerpts):

“Malaysia, Southeast Asia's third-largest economy, has 16 national holidays when the stock market, banks, schools and businesses are closed.

In addition, each state has its own set of holidays, so residents of central Selangor state which governs much of the capital Kuala Lumpur are generally entitled to four or five additional holidays.

As if that weren't enough, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last month declared the colourful Hindu festival of Thaipusam a public holiday just a few days beforehand, sending people scrambling to shift functions and events.

There are no figures on the costs involved, but in February last year exports shrank 14.41 percent to 41.1 billion ringgit (4.24 billion dollars) compared with the previous month due to "shorter working days and festivities", according to government data.

"On the stock market millions of ringgit in business transactions are lost and we miss the opportunity to make money. This could affect our market's performance," said businessman Michael Chiam.”

The fun is about to start

The 12th general election is definitely around the corner. Many pundits believe it could be held on March 8 (Sat), though there are also others who think it could be the following week, March 15.

Well, the signs are here now. The PM says he has found his inspiration. He cleared the air that it would not be called during the Chinese New Year period (so surely not in February).

He is also talking to the BN leaders and members via the media, asking them to “listen to the people” and “do what is right”.

He is also talking about himself, protecting his legacy, saying that he has been working hard and had not “benefited one sen from anyone”.

Well now. Who knows who sort of accusations and allegations that would be made during election campaigns. It would be smart to be prepared...it makes complete sense.

Anyway, lets see when will he dissolve the parliament. Perhaps we should be watching the Istana Negara gates to look out for the PM’s official car!!!

However it looks like the PM has yet to clear some of the issues relating to his component partners.

There are various talks of seat swaps. Similarly there are also talks of how the BN can counter the dwindling Indian support. And how about the MIC factor? Who to contest? Will Subra be given a seat? Will Samy be asked to go?

All will become clear in the coming weeks, I am sure. At the moment, there are so many unconfirmed news making its rounds out there, released by people with own interests. And this is not just for MIC.

Hmm, let the fun begin.

Time to go people...

Check out this list. It is not exhaustive.

• Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu - MIC president and cabinet minister for 29 years
• Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz - MP for 30 years, minister 28 years
• Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik - Gerakan veteran and cabinet minister for 26 years
• Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang - de facto DAP leader since 1969, 39 years
• DAP chairman Karpal Singh - active in politics for 34 years
• Sarawak CM Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud - cabinet minister in 1972, CM for 27 years
• Pas strongman Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat - elected representative for the past 40 years

NST’s editor says today:

“THE ages of Malaysia's 31 cabinet ministers add up to a whopping 1,830 years... this works out to a ripe average of 59, which is three years above the official retirement age in the civil service.”

And adds:

“...if the coming election is held on March 8 as speculated, it would fall on Samy Vellu's 72nd birthday. He is the eldest member of the cabinet and would be 77 by the time the next election is due.”

And finally:

“...it has to be noted that one-third of the present cabinet is 64 and above. Some of the ministers, it is said, do not even know how to retrieve an email or send a text message.

...so many of them - some sickly, some way over the hill- are going around "offering", sometimes pleading, to be chosen again because of their "services and sacrifices".”

I don’t see these veterans giving way voluntarily. Their parties should just have the guts to drop them.

In fact the PM should have dropped the veteran cabinet members during his first cabinet reshuffle in 2004.

And if they are still chosen, voters should just ignore their candidacy? Would they do that?

(Read the NST article - Learn the art of the graceful exit - here)

The old priest...

(You might have read this joke somewhere. It has been making its rounds in the net recently.)

The old priest lay dying in the hospital.

For years he had faithfully served the people of the nation's capital. He motioned for his nurse to come near.

"Yes, Father?" said the nurse.

"I would really like to see Khairy and Samy Velu before I die", whispered the priest.

"I'll see what I can do, Father" replied the nurse.

The nurse sent the request to them and waited for a response. Soon the word arrived. Khairy and Samy would be delighted to visit the priest.

As they went to the hospital, Khairy commented to Samy "I don't know why the old priest wants to see us, but it will certainly help our images."

Samy couldn't help but agree.

When they arrived at the priest's room, the priest took Samy's hand in his right hand and Khairy's hand in his left. There was silence and a look of serenity on the old priest's face.

Finally Samy spoke. "Father, of all the people you could have chosen, why did you choose us to be with you as you near the end?"

The old priest slowly replied "I have always tried to pattern my life after our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

The old priest continued..."He died between two lying thieves. I would like to do the same."