1. No matter how friendly or unfriendly we are, the passing away of a man you know well saddens you.

2. I cannot say I was a close friend of Kuan Yew. But still I feel sad at his demise.

3. Kuan Yew became well known at a young age. I was a student in Singapore when I read about his defence of labour unions.

4. I first met Kuan Yew when I was a member of Parliament in 1964 after Singapore joined Malaysia in 1963. We crossed swords many time during the debates. But there was no enmity, only differences in our views of what was good for the newborn nation. He included me among the ultra Malays who was responsible for the racial riots in Singapore. Actually I never went to Singapore to stir up trouble. Somebody else whom I would not name did.

5. The Tunku attended the inaugural meeting of the PAP and was quite friendly with Kuan Yew. He believed Kuan Yew was a bastion against Communism. But when the PAP contested in the Malaysian elections in 1964 with Malaysian Malaysia as its slogan, Tunku felt that the PAP’s presence in Malaysia was going to be disruptive for the country.

6. When I became PM in 1981, I paid a courtesy call on Kuan Yew. It was a friendly call and he immediately agreed to my proposal that the Malaysia and Singapore times which had always been the same should be advanced by half an hour. I explained that it would be easier adjusting our time when travelling as we would fall within the time zones fixed for the whole world at one hour intervals.

7. I am afraid on most other issues we could not agree.

Continue reading Kuan Yew and I →

1. At a forum in UKM recently, Dr Chandra Muzaffar raised the matter of sanctions in international affairs and suggested that sanction is war by other means. Therefore it should be made a crime and that the campaign to make war a crime should include sanctions.2. I fully agree with Dr Muzaffar that sanction is a crime.

3. In the past, during the numerous wars of the European nations, one of the most effective weapons was the siege. This consisted of cutting off communication of a city with the outside through positioning soldiers all round the city so that the citizens would be starved to death or surrender.

4. The concept has been “upgraded” so that whole country could be cut off from communication and trade with other countries. The effect is to starve and deprive the people of food and medicine until the country surrenders. It is another way of killing people as in war.

Continue reading SANCTIONS →

1. Marcellus in Shakespeare’s Hamlet remarked that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Perhaps from the complaints being made by Malaysians about Malaysia one might say there is something rotten in the state of Malaysia.

2. Many of these complaints reach me. I hope I am permitted to detail them here in my blog. People can decide whether things are rotten or not.

3. Some people complain that the Government seem unwilling to pay them for work done for the Government. There would always be a dispute whether the Government owes them anything at all. If the court decides that the Government has to pay there would be a dispute with regard to the amount.

Continue reading SOMETHING ROTTEN →

1. I am surprised at the report in The Star that some bloggers are attacking the critics of 1MDB. I am surprised not at the bloggers doing this. I have known about their activities for some time now.

2. These bloggers were once the critics of the Government. But for some greatly unknown reason they have changed. I had noticed this change.

3. But I accept their right to criticise me. I am therefore not surprised at their change of direction.

Continue reading DEMONISING →

1. We were poor before. In those days we talked of millions of Ringgit. Now we are much richer and we talk of billions of Ringgit. It is difficult to comprehend what billions of Ringgit mean. Even when a few millions are lost we hardly notice it.

2. I read in the paper someone suggesting that Government should have an external auditor so that there would be more credibility in the eyes of the public.

3. I think it is a good idea. But it should be extended to other Government agencies, including those which are not governed by Government General orders or Salary Scheme.

Continue reading WEALTH AUDIT →

1. I am against war. I am against killing people. I don’t think it is Islamic. So I join the French people in mourning the death of twelve members of the staff of Charlie Hebdo.

2. I condemn the killings. But I condemn also the killing of Iraqis, Afghans, Arabs etc. They did not do anything to harm the soldiers, or their families. At least the babies, the children, the sick and the old had done nothing to deserve being killed. But they were killed. Nobody demonstrated in sympathy with their families over their loss.

3. Are the Iraqis, the Afghans and the Palestine Arabs not of the human race? Is killing hundreds of thousands of them okay but not 12 Frenchmen? If they have a bad leader, should they be killed, their countries devastated and civil war unleashed upon them.

4. I do not ask for justice from those who are mighty. Might is always right. But don’t preach to us about human rights, about the right to insult people, about free speech and freedom of the press. Just go on killing the people you label as terrorists along with the hundreds of thousands collaterals. That is justice.

Continue reading WESTERN JUSTICE / PERKASA →

1. Saya amat tertarik dengan penjelasan oleh Mohd Puad Zarkashi bahawa tidak mungkin amalan atau budaya politik dinasti dalam UMNO mudah berlaku.

2. Sebabnya ialah undang-undang tubuh UMNO sudah dipinda supaya bukan perwakilan ke mesyuarat agong yang tidak ramai yang akan memilih, tetapi 146,000 perwakilan ke mesyuarat bahagian yang akan memilih.

3. Bahagian bukan sama besar. Ada yang sepuluh kali ganda lebih besar daripada yang lain.

Continue reading POLITIK KELUARGA →