HAZY DAYS Ahead - Malaysia Dealing with a TRIPLE WHAMMY!

POLITICS - Column: " from THE fringes "

by Amirul HM

F.T of Kuala Lumpur, Selangor & PULAU PINANG, MALAYSIA

Tuesday, 15th September 2015 

HAZY DAYS Ahead for MALAYSIA !!!

TRIPLE WHAMMY 

of Political  INSTABILITY, Economic UNCERTAINTY 

& Environmentally UNHEALTHY

 ( "Hazy" komTAR - a Productive Asset, White Elephant or an Eyesore? )

* view from the Ferry in PP, looking back at the Pinang Island.

( Generations, Wondering what will happen to Malaysia. 

The picture though is much brighter and more positive if one is to look ahead )

* view from the Ferry in PP, looking ahead towards the Mainland.

This week's article is derived from a motley crew of;- 

- a Motor Club (whose members are predominantly based in KL and Selangor);
- a DBA/MBA preview (who had attendees coming not just from KL/Selangor, not only come from Johor and Pulau Pinang but also from Thailand, Myanmar and a few African countries);

- a Co-operative first AGM (whose members came from Perak, Pahang, NS, Melaka, Johor in addition to Selangor and the Federal Territories of KL and Putrajaya);

- agents and staff of a financial planning outfit;

Also, people met along the way from KL to Pulau Pinang and back, not forgetting the media corps who attended the 9/9 post-UMNO Supreme Council meeting PC.

(Article to follow)
...but first, a 25 seconds clip of the post-UMNO Supreme Council Meeting media conference attended by The ASEAN 500.

( Scrutinise the faces of the UMNO leaders on stage )

The "Muka Ketat" (Tight-faced) of those seated on the stage during the PC says it all.
It's obvious that nobody got what they wanted. When Ku Nan (UMNO's Secretary General) ended the PC after the third question, many looked at each other. Even before the PC begun, word filtered down an hour or so earlier that its status quo.

Despite many leaders being seen in Putrajaya in the run-up to the Supreme Council meeting and an alleged list of leaders being dropped, nobody significant was expelled. Thus, despite initial confidence of certain factions being able to push through their agenda it can be concluded that the President and forces aligned to him don't have the numbers, yet! An unofficial truce may have been called, respite for both sides to contemplate which card(s) is(are) to be used next and to retrieve casualties littered on many fronts. Things may definitely change though in the run up to December's UMNO assembly.

As for now, the only party growing stronger is PAS. The dissidents had voluntarily purged themselves save for Husam and a few insignificant others. Bersih 4.0 proved that newpolpat(new political party) PAN are unable to ensure a substantial turnout of Malays as opposed to a PAS' directive. As a result of this miscalculation, DAP and the majority Chinese crowd in Bersih 4.0 are again seen as power grabbers which PM Najib and his merrymakers will definitely capitalise on in the coming weeks if not days.

While the soon to be launched Parti Amanah Negara (PAN) may have some support in the Klang Valley, a survey done over the weekend in Pulau Pinang indicated a low exodus of members from PAS to the party much accused of being DAP-funded and evangelical (it was previously doing the rounds as Gerakan Harapan Baru(GHB) or,  translated means the evangelical sounding "New Hope Movement"). Even those who had joined PAN or Amanah in the initial euphoria are privately having doubts. A message I received from a PAS supporter working in the government says it all -

" Look at how long Ku Li and Semangat lasted;

and Sabu is not even half the man Ku Li was.

Go do the maths! "

One can call PKR a lot of things but they are no definitely no idiots in trying to maintain their grip on power in Selangor. The disastrous "Langkah Kajang" caused many neutrals to shy away from them having seen the terribly ugly side of PKR thirst for power at the expense of respected Tan Sri Khalid who also had backing from the palace. Many would have sounded the alarm bells of the existence of a purported Islamic and amicable PAN which is easier for DAP and its supporters to swallow but which in essence is actually a more Islamic PKR chasing after perhaps the same pool of supporters. When PKR's President Wan Azizah and MB Azmin announced they will still talk to PAS, the power preservation game is still in play.

Though a far-fetched scenario, a weakened UMNO and a stronger PAS could realistically form many state governments if snap elections were called. Then again in the "100 days of Madness" starting from the day an UMNO Deputy President and the second-ranked Vice-President being dropped in a cabinet reshuffle, stranger things have happenened and I dare say will continue to happen!

( This week's column is based on surveys conducted in KL(Bukit Kiara, PWTC and TTDI), Selangor (Kelana Jaya, R&R Awan Besar and Shah Alam) and Pulau Pinang (both Island and Mainland). The writer was totally exhausted after the trip to Pulau Pinang only finishing the column a few minutes before the publication dead-line.)