X'mas merry making with an UMNO political touch!

Stays in Melaka blessed with lots of good food and great people, had never been a disappointment The “Sleepy Hollow” tag had been shed off long ago and this city is now bustling with activities during holidays and weekends.

It had been sometime since I last set foot in historical city of Melaka. The long X’mas weekend provides me the opportunity to experience the splendor of this small city only to realise that I had add further complications to the choke-a-block narrow streets of the UNESCO Heritage Historical City last weekend. Traffic was reduced to a crawl almost daily.

Very interestingly, the traffic jams are concentrated in the heritage belt of Jalan Laksamana, Jalan Bunga Raya, Jonker Walk, Dataran Pahlawan and Taman Melaka Raya where all the action is. This had resulted in Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam in an almost immediate re-action to request from Federal Government added funds to build coastal roads to reduce traffic congestion here.

Hotels made brisk business on sale of rooms and with the Malaysia Savings Sale going on, shoppers took the opportunity to shop at leisure.

I received an SMS from a friend looking for accommodation in Melaka on 26 December for 2 days which I bluntly replied “go online and book direct with hotel”. Hotel had closed out the dates almost 2-3 weeks ago and last minute room requirement is near impossible during this weekend. Lucky for me, I always have readily accommodation whenever I get into the state.

During the stay, I headed to Serkam (for ikan bakar) through Padang Temu when I noticed that UMNO had organized a party assembly in Melaka during X’mas with party flags majestically hung on the lamp posts along Jalan Ujong Pasir.

Those flags mushroomed overnight and I was thinking again, whether this was another blatant UMNO manouvre of disrespect to other race and religion as they had done during last year’s Deepavali celebrations.

Further probing, I found out that Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and a host of other VIPs are attending the National Level X’mas Day Open House celebrations in Portuguese Settlement on December 27. Whatever the intentions were to hang those party flags to coincide with the celebrations is utterly disgusting and deserved condemnation!

A elderly Melaka Malay lady I met at the roti canai stall along Jalan Ujong Pasir, quoted “UMNO Melayu dah hilang adat!” It was a sensible comment that political party flags should not be hung since the event will be attended by foreign tourists, dignitaries, 43 Miss International Tourism contestants and 50 foreign journalists.

Monies to organize this event came from the Government coffers and belong to the public which rightfully is a public event. This is where the inability to differentiate between party and government events is always a problem for UMNO which eventually led to abuse of public funds.

“Hilang adat satu tapi yang lagi teruk, UMNO dah tak tahu bezakan baik sama buruk.” added a local Malay gentleman.

“Chong sama si Joseph ni (referring to his buddies with him), kita dah berapa tahun duduk gerai ni makan sama-sama, tak pun kita rasa benci antara satu sama lain tapi kerajaan mau kaga-lagakan kita. Mana boleh!” he added with his Chinese and Eurasian friends in their late-fifties nodded in agreement.

Joseph added in a mixture of English and Bahasa Melayu which have been a norm in Melaka “In my years living in Malaysia (Malaya those days), I rasa, 4-5 tahun kebelakangan ni yang paling buruk.”

The sentiment echoed those of people in Kelantan and Terengganu whom I met recently, which would safely conclude that they have rejected UMNO style of politics after 50 years in power. The Kuala Terengganu Parliamentary seat by-election this coming January ’09 would possibly prove disastrous for UMNO and perhaps the only state in Malaysia with “2 Menteri Besar”.

Had UMNO lost its plot in differentiating a public event with a political event??

Shame on you UMNO!

Monsoon Cup - Hello KK and Bye Terengganu

Is there anything new about present batch of Government leaders making a cohesive decision before announcing?

Afraid not and reflects the weak leadership besides the "Ketuanan Melayu" mentality of the majority UMNO represented leaders in the Malaysian Government whom are turning the country into their "self-owned" country instead of representing the rakyat.

The latest being the announcement by Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, Minister of Tourism, who had got herself into a real mess and adding futher confusion to announce that Monsoon Cup may be held in Kota Kinabalu (KK) instead of the traditional location of Kuala Terengganu.

Is this a punishment to the present "renegade" Terengganu State leadership for
(a) not agreeing to Idris Jusoh to continue as Menteri Besar,
(b) purchase of the Mercedes fleet as official cars for the State Excos and subsequent expose of
the high maintenance costs,
(c) the request for petroleum royalties to be managed by the state and
(d) taking over of the Islamic theme park from Patrick Lim led group?

It takes another few days prior to the the announcement for the Prime Minister to quote "Terengganu Go­­vern­­­ment and organisers of the Monsoon Cup should bring the event to greater heights" which could literally translate as goodbye Terengganu and hello KK.

To critics and analysts, this move seems appropriate now that the PM does not have any deemed vested interest in the projects around Pulau Duyung including Crystal Mosque and Taman Tamadun Islam which had all been taken over by the State Government.

With the headlines screaming "Monsoon Cup set to go places" and "Uncertainty Over Monsoon Cup", people of Terengganu can safely bud farewell to the sailing sport which PM Abdullah loves the most albeit the made in Turkey luxury yatch which he had intended to park among the elites whom had purchased properties in Pulau Duyung.

People of Terengganu with many still living in poverty and retaining their decade old passed down activity as fishermen, had till today wonder what benefits or entertainment had they really derived from the hosting the event. The fact that Pulau Duyung was "grabbed" as the event location reflects the "couldn't care" attitude of the previous Government in cohort with Abdullah led Federal Government.

Isn't this bullying?

Or imagine what the RM4million minimum cost used to organised this event by the State Government with more financing coming from Federal Government or rather tax payers money could have been put into better use since it's inception.

With KK hosting the event, it would at least help bring the East Malaysian people and state closer to the Federal Government. In addition, it would be seen as an easier route to manage such events without State interference or objections as one may see with the Terengganu Government today.

Whatever it is, the writings are on the wall and waiting for the actuality to take place. Be informed.