So now there’s something called the “Selfie Olympics”!!! For the uninitiated, a ‘selfie’ is a photo of yourself shot by you. In a world that’s been so obsessed with the lives of others, it’s amusing and perhaps refreshing to see such an incredible focus on the self coming into play, at least amongst the tech savvy globally. Narcissism isn’t a healthy thing, and perhaps the over-the-top, sometimes dangerously shot ‘selfies’ are of concern, but in general sense, how very nice that people are learning to focus on themselves, pun intended! It’s said that your eyes are the windows to your soul, but a camera is a window to you. It’s your world, your reality, your expressions, your personality, your creativity, your reflections in a captured moment. The same way an X-ray tells you what’s happening physically, a ‘selfie’ shows you what’s really going on with you. I suggest you take ‘selfies’ regularly and study them. Zoom into your smile and your body language. Look deeply at it. Over the years we become jaded, cynical, and listless, our smiles get mechanical and eyes lose their sparkle. If you allowed yourself to get this way, you owe it to yourself to undo the damage. Let ‘selfies’ be your route to a transformation. Be spontaneous, think happy, naughty thoughts and do whatever it takes to put the zing back in those pictures because life is all about relationships and the most important one is your relationship with yourself.
The admonishments keep flowing in and suddenly it seems as if PKR that had fired so many imaginations can do nothing...right. And while it does seem that the party has made some grave errors, some of the arguments being made against it are a little unfair, and care needs to be taken to separate the party’s mistakes from some legitimate if unusual choices that it has made. The criticism that it is inappropriate for the CM of a state to go on a dharna has been widespread, and deserves some scrutiny. To argue that the act of governing carries with it an implicit decorum is another way of saying that rulers must embrace the surrounding aura of gravitas that has historically been associated with power. They must be seen to be spending time in acts of governance, and not be seen shouting slogans and confronting the police. Now while this is conventional wisdom, there is no intrinsic reason why this must be the case. Why is it all right for political leaders to spend time includes giving meaningless speeches, cutting ribbons and laying foundation stones and generally be so involved in the ceremony surrounding the act of administration and not acceptable if they agitate for what they believe in? A new political culture means that some old customs must give way to the new. Using the power of public opinion to agitate for a cause is an option available to everyone, the CM included. If anything, a protest like this, if held peacefully and for the right reason reinforces the idea that democratic persuasion is an on-going process and not a once-in-five-years phenomenon.
Asked if this would be a betrayal, he said: “No, the one who makes the decision is me. Stepping aside means you (as MB) cannot do (the job). I will accept that. Unless you want it fight it, but no, you don’t. You pack your bags and then … you have a lot of books to write.”
Having withstood pressure from within the party for five years, Abdul Khalid downplayed the latest escalation of events as “nothing abnormal”.
Group decision
He said that although it may appear that the whole party is against him, it is actually only “three or four” individuals who oppose him. This was why he chose to announce Anwar’s candidacy at a press conference this morning.
“You must show group decision. If you don’t, then how will you get the confidence of the people? You must!There are differences but when it comes down to it, you have to show group decision. And group decision means complying with that group decision,” he said.
Asked if he was forced into agreeing with the decision that Anwar should stand as a candidate in Kajang, he firmly said “No.”
“I have no power to stop (Anwar from contesting), no power to choose. You may want to ask this awkward question: Why don’t you stop Anwar from contesting because he may take your place as MB later?
“No. In the first place, as I see it, he can enter Kajang. Taking the MB’s post is a later question of whether it is necessary or not. At the moment, it is not necessary.”
He also said that the Kajang by-election will be part of a “programme” to bring unity to the warring factions within the party. “Well, there are internal disputes but you amalgamate these things into a programme. That is the way I see they plan things,” he said.
An MB for two terms to argue that he was representing his people is therefore problematic for as chief minister he represents and needs to uphold much more than the interests of his own narrow constituency. As things stand, every time when any of the diverse voices that make up PKR have to deal with questions outside their chosen script of corruption and the venality of other political parties, there is a real danger that they will fill up the gaps with their own individual prejudices and mistake their personal biases for the will of the people.
Abdul Khalid said that “volatility” within politics is to be expected, much more than when he was in the corporate sector. However, having expected such uncertainty, he is able to reduce stress and focus on more important things.
This includes succession planning as he settles into what he said was always intended to be his last term as MB.
Subscribing to the American tradition of two-term in office, Abdul Khalid said he is now putting things in place for a “team” of successors to continue with a legacy of a clean government.
This morning Anwar was announced as the candidate for the impending Kajang by-election, which follows the resignation of PKR’s Kajang assemblyperson Lee Chin Cheh (right).
PKR Youth has already said this will pave the path for Anwar to replace Abdul Khalid as MB. The official line from party leaders is that Anwar is contesting Kajang to set the momentum for Pakatan before heading to the Sarawak polls and then the 14th general election, which can be called as early as 2016.
Lee’s resignation came following widening fissures between the MB and Selangor PKR chief Azmin Ali, prompting critics to slam PKR for triggering a by-election to solve internal conflict
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The trouble with PKR is that while it is fired by a powerful idea, that of revitalising democracy by ‘cleaning up’ politics, it lacks the ideological filling that converts ideas into coherent and sustainable practice. The position it has taken against the political establishments wins for it many adherents, all of them extremely passionate but most equally vague about how to convert an inspiring idea into an on-going reality. ‘Cleaning up politics’ and ‘listening to the voice of the people’ are not ideas but hand waves, expansive gestures rich with intent but lacking in substantive content. The people who come together under this banner have little in common by way of worldview, and in the absence of ideology, the ‘how to’ part of the equation creates big problems for this new outfit. It is relatively easier to learn the ropes of administration but ideology steeped in a larger worldview is not that easy to acquire through experience. the Congress has the opposite problem. It has a surfeit of mouldy ideological filling without an idea to wrap around it. It knows the grammar of power, but has lost the ability to create meaning. In some ways, the UMNO under Najib is managing both- it has a larger idea, even if it is not ambitious as that of UMNO as well as enough ideological filling for it to navigate the everyday questions of ruling the country without having to consult a rule book.Najib, the party has been careful to keep its ideological filling from overwhelming the idea it is peddling today- that of strong leadership that has a plan for the country..
Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani for his sacrifice to UMNO his great achievementas through great effort, skill, perseverance, and couraget won the Member of Parliament forP119Titiwangsa, Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani
UMNO must be wise in evaluating the changing demographics and make adjustments to its policies to prevent the party from being rejected by the people of Sarawak,Sarawak is the only state in Malaysia where Umno has not established any presence. Within Sarawak itself, the talk is not so much if, but when Umno will make a grand entry, as it did in Sabah.
Now, the conditions seem riper than ever before for Umno’s foray into that vast eastern state on the northern shores of the Borneo Island, as Sarawak is on the verge of plunging into a leadership vacuum.The PM may have had his compulsions, having strong political base, and yet to lead a party where he was unsure of the actual support within, he carried on his task. I will not doubt his selection for a suitable successor, for in a democracy you do not differentiate on caste or measly economic backgrounds, you also do not differentiate against those with silver spoons. A more apt remark, a bit more ambivalent and democratic-sounding, would have won his succeeding entrant, much more of public appeal. The real strategy for Najib is to delink further propaganda from lineage. Let him be seen as his own man.
An enduring literary myth is that Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is the ultimate starcrossed tragedy of true love. Wrong. It is merely a tragedy of true impatience. Romeo, proving once again that men are the stupid sex, kills himself because he assumes Juliet is dead, when all she has done is taken a helpful sleeping sedative, very useful indeed at moments of high stress. Juliet is then forced into her grave by a playwright in search of a highvoltage ending. If Romeo had been patient, he would have aged into a toothless tease in Verona while Juliet washed her grandchildren’s nappies. Nice, but no story.
It is impatience which ends in tears.
Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, the Federal Territories Minister said "We want to impose the increase to only those who can afford it,"He said that the new pricing policy will most probably take effect in May or June.
Politics includes its share of theatre. Every politician knows that. Love is not a political word, so relationships are based on mutual benefit. The dalliance between Tengku Adnan and Mahathir’s
men augured well precisely because it was not high morality: the two planned to use each other
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak needs to change his ways and start doing the right things to ease the burden of the people, otherwise BN will risk losing the next general election, former journalist and prominent blogger Abdul Kadir Jasin said in his latest blogpost.Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor Ku Nan says that petrol subsidy will be abolished, voters has to pay if they want najib to be their PM..his controversial remarks that subsidised RON 95 fuel "No... no... no... I did not imply nor hint that the subsidy was going to be abolished"Najib a responsible leader. Najibcan not choose to be populist and not make certain decisions but we can't do that and make decisions to be popular,"Tengku Adnan had drawn flak from from Najib.
Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor must avoid more silly statements prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has instructed for his ministers to go for mandatory media training.This is to avoid further missteps that have made his administration a laughing stock among the people, the media and the international arena. According to sources, Najib wants to stop more ‘foolish’ remarks made byTengku Adnan who have made statements that have indirectly ‘spoiled’ Najib ’s image and is not what Najib wants, according to the source Read more
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