1. Kit Siang is going to contest in Gelang Patah.
2. Why Gelang Patah?
3. Obviously it is because Gelang Patah has a Chinese majority.
LAHAD DATU
1. I visited Lahad Datu on March 17, to see the members of our security forces and get a short briefing as to what was happening.
2. I was surprised to learn that the Felda palm oil plantation there is as big as the state of Melaka. There is a good-sized port at Lahad Datu equipped with modern cranes. I had expected to see forests there but the whole area has been opened up and Felda settlers live in large houses built by them. They are obviously well-off.
3. The security boys are in good spirit and seem prepared to do their duty despite the real danger of their being killed or wounded by the Kiram terrorists.
4. The situation there is very complex. The Felda settlers are Malaysian citizens of many tribal origins including Suluk. But there are also non-citizen Suluk living in the villages in the area.
5. The non-citizens seem to have been allowed to cultivate oil palms. However, at least one of them was very aggressive and insisted that he owned the part of the Felda estate next to his. Apparently, he collected the fruits and sold them for high profits as the palm oil prices were very high. Nobody dared to take any action against him.
SUBANG
1. I was sad when Subang International airport was replaced by the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang. I landed at Subang in a Government jet and saw the place deserted and quiet. No aircrafts were parked, taxiing, taking off or landing. Subang was a busy place from 1964 to 1998. But after the opening of KLIA at Sepang, Subang seemed to have been abandoned.
2. That was 1998. I despaired that it would ever be busy again; that it would regain its place as a major airport.
3. Well, it hasn’t. But Subang did not close down completely. Today Subang is once again busy. Today Subang is actually expanding.
GUERRILLA WAR
1. When in 1990 I first met Nelson Mandela upon his release, the first thing he asked was how Malaysia defeated the guerrillas. He said when he was being trained in Yugoslavia and Libya he was told that guerrillas could not be defeated. So how did Malaysia defeat the guerrillas?
2. I explained that two things helped in the defeat of the Malaysian guerrillas.
3. Firstly was the decision to move out all the people living at the fringe of the thick Malaysian jungle and located them in protected new villages. Secondly was the campaign to win the hearts and minds of the people.
A CITIZEN’S RIGHT
1. It would seem that some people are unhappy over my continued involvement in politics. As a retiree I should just retire.
2. I did in fact plan to retire in 1998. But events at that time forced me to defer. When the conditions in Malaysia had been stabilised after the currency crisis, I announced my retirement in 2002. But I gave the assurance that I would continue to support the party at all times as my elevation to the highest office in the country was due to the support of the party. To me it is payback time.
3. Unfortunately, under the policy and practices of the Government which followed, the healthy growth of the country was hampered. The effect is still felt today. More seriously the attempts to reduce the economic disparities between the races have been neglected. Although the election of 2004 resulted in overwhelming victory of the governing BN party, there were clear signs that the popularity of the Party was deteriorating after the 2004 elections.
HUMPTY DUMPTY
1. I don’t know whether our schools today acquaint the children with Humpty-Dumpty but I am sure older Malaysians are familiar with the character, and know the following ditty
“Humpty-Dumpty sat on the wall
Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall”
2. For those who are not acquainted with this ditty I would like to explain that Humpty-Dumpty is an egg, a great big imaginary egg and it sat on a wall.
3. Then this great egg had a fall.
XENOPHON
1. Among the comments in my blog is a reference to Malaysia’s ban against the visit of the Australian Senator Xenophon.
2. I agree with this comment that despite my nasty comments on the US and Britain, I was never banned from visiting those countries. However, I would like to relate an incident in which a friend of mine, now deceased, who was handcuffed and taken away in a truck full of common criminals and even his request to have his diabetic injection was rejected. The reason for this treatment was because the immigration officers at the airport in New York did not like his answers to their questions. He was subsequently released.
3. It is well-known that hundreds of people have been arrested and detained without trial in the US and a few were subsequently released without explanation. At the detention place there are reports of torture and humiliation of the detainees.
FITNAH
1. Anwar Ibrahim menuduh saya, sebagai penasihat Petronas telah terlibat dalam pemberian kontrak Petronas kepada anak saya.
2. Bagi Anwar inilah yang biasa dilakukan olehnya jika ia berkuasa. Semasa menjadi Timbalan Perdana Menteri dan Menteri Kewangan memang pun banyak kontrak diberi olehnya kepada penyokong politiknya dan keluarganya.
3. Kementerian telah pamerkan semasa mesyuarat agong UMNO senarai orang yang mendapat kontrak semasa ia berkuasa. Terdapat dalam senarai nama-nama penyokongnya dan keluarganya. Tidak ada satupun dari anak saya yang tersenarai.
THE INTERNAL SECURITY ACT
1. We have now abolished the ISA on the grounds that it is not right to detain a person without trial. This is an injustice and a violation of human rights.
2. The opposition is particularly strong on this issue. They are very concerned that we respect human rights and principles of justice. They believe that we should accept the liberal views of the great western civilisations particularly the United States of America.
3. In war of course you can kill anyone you designate as the enemy. The war against terrorism which many countries led by the US is fighting is not a war against any country. It is a war against terrorists.
THE ALTERNATIVE MEDIA
1. In the days of the print and electronic media Governments were able to exercise some control through licensing and laws. Liberal people condemn these controls because they deny freedom of the press. Freedom of the press is one of the fundamentals of democracy.
2. Then came the alternative media via the Internet. Governments not only find themselves almost incapable of controlling but the belief now rejects any attempt at control by the authorities. Actually there was always control by the owners, editors and even sub-editors.
3. In the alternative media just about anyone can put anything they like to say on the internet directly, with no managers, editors or sub-editors changing any of the contents. The freedom is almost total. This is the essence of democracy?