RED SHIRT RALLY - PERHIMPUNAN RAKYAT BERSATU

PERHIMPUNAN RAKYAT BERSATU

The 'Red Shirt' rally, the same colour being chosen by the pro Thaksin demonstrators in Thailand, or "Perhimpunan Rakyat Bersatu'' will take place today 16.09.2015. The sponsorship appears to be of BR1M orientation, and more Indonesian than Thai inspired, although the 'donations' for today's event, despite not being of Arab origin, is more generous.The name of the rally is deceptive as the 'rakyat' or the people implies all the races in Malaysia whereas this 'Red Shirt' rally is limited to only a few Malays, not inclusive of all Bumputras, and more so limited to a certain type of UMNO members.

I have not posted this article earlier as I know it is futile to join in the chorus to try and stop the event. It is big business and profitable to some. I am sure the police will know whom to arrest when something wrong happens.

The police, as in those earlier years would have got the list of those sponsors and trouble makers. They should however not spare the VIPs if involved. Especially when such arrests need not be with the consent of the newly appointed Attorney General.

 

This is a 'meaningful' gathering as it is an attempt to portray MELAYU BERSATU (Malay Unity) and not RAKYAT BERSATU (Unity of the People); it is a confession that the Malays are now split or 'Tidak bersatu padu'.

Even UMNO itself is not united. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah is said to be having a separate event on this same day with all participants wearing white. Being royal Ku Li would have chosen yellow had DAP not used the colour for their BERSIH rally. I have also seen photos of red shirts with the slogan 'Undur Najib' calling for the Prime Minister to step down. I hope it is not used today.

In fact the Malays, not to mention the other races, are already politically split for a long time since independence. We now have UMNO, PAS, PKR, PAN and PERKASA. Some Malays are in DAP and some, who should be in MIC, such as the late Tan Sri Ubaidullah, are now manipulating in UMNO.

The leader of the National Federation of Silat Association (Pesaka) have said that he would cancel the rally on Padang Merbok if the City Hall of DBKL does not allow them to have the rally in that place. It must have been an unpleasant surprise for him when DBKL gave the permission.

Tan Sri Mohd Ali Rustam had a personal grudge against his Chinese friend when he lost in the last General Election. Tan Sri had helped in funding and facilitating him in building a Chinese School, a Temple and other development projects in the constituency. He unexpectedly turned against Tan sri and supported the opposition as he believed that the Pakatan Rakyat would form the next government of Malacca after the last General Election. He explained, when asked, that he would not like, as a businessman, to associate with the future opposition, which he assumed was going to be the Barisan Nasional.

Tan Sri Ali, who is usually a pleasant personality, would be a suitable candidate for the Governor of Malacca when the present Governor retires very soon. His racialist stance in the current rally might joepurdise or enhance his chances.

I do not think the Chinese fear the traditional marshal art of the Malays. It is only meant for self defense just as the Chinese and Indian marshal arts. You cannot win wars in this modern technological age with marshal arts. The Samurais and the Ninjas gave up feeling dominant after the Meiji Restoration of 1868 when modern weapons were introduced into Japan.

 

However, a gathering of a few thousand (expected 300,000) Malays, Chinese or Indians in Malaysia does not portray unity or 'perpaduan' of any particular race. Certainly not unity of the people or 'rakyat' as the rally tries to portray. The Bersih rallies were also not symbolic of Chinese unity as well. The UMNO membership is supposed to be 3 million. Even if the impossible happens, with all UMNO members voting for UMNO and the Barisan Nasional coalition, it is not enough to win an election without the support of non members, whether Malays, Chinese or Indians.

 

Just as Barisan Nasional, led by UMNO, has survived with non Malay support, the dominantly Chinese based party the DAP also performed well during the two previous elections with the non Chinese support.

We are divinely destined, by historical process, to need each other.

The Bersih 1, 2 and 3 were straightforward with a mission to reform the electoral processes.

THEME OF BERSIH 4 RALLY

The Bersih 4 rally became sensational because it demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister Dato' Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak. Although not many Malays were present the presence of one prominent Malay, Tun Dr. Mahathir was enough to strike the balance. Had Tun Dr. Mahathir announced his intention to attend the Bersih 4 rally it would have been a mammoth rally without the necessity of BR1M like donations as incentives.

The 2 appearances of Tun Dr. Mahathir at the Bersih 4 rally gave him the rare opportunity of appealing to the members and supporters of the opposition to support the Barisan Nasional government after Dato' Seri Najib left the stage. Even the age old opposition leader Lim Kit Siang did not oppose such an appeal in the national interest.

Although UMNO, not the Malays, was more united when Bersih 1, 2 and 3 were held, there was no counter demonstrations. In other words the Malays who are demonstrating on 16.09.2015 were not against the demand for a reform of the electoral processes.

It is the attack on the Prime Minister Dato' Seri Najib, in Bersih 4 demonstration, which is now translated as questioning Malay Unity and Integrity. As if the Prime Minister Dato' Seri Najib represents Malay Unity and Malay Integrity. He certainly is not.

AVOIDING THE REAL ISSUE

Actually this 16th September rally, just as all other organized functions, since the 1MDB scandal surfaced, is nothing more than an effort at avoiding the real problem currently facing the nation; it is another very 'red herring', to blur the people's memory on the real issue.

We are aware that all the supporters who are, implicitly, pro 1MDB loan scandal and the questionable 'donation' by a mysterious Arab, for unconvincing reasons, are hoping that the Malays, known for having short memory, will eventually forget the issues with a lengthy and prolonged PR exercise before the next General Election.

The fact that the 'patriots of Malaysia' knows of this scheme, it will therefore not work.

Misuse of the massive RM42 billion (borrowed in US$ when the value of the dollar was lower) plus all the accrued interests which cannot be paid or serviced or being serviced by more loans, must be screened off by racial issues and circuslike performances in the name of Malay unity and the fear of the Chinese takeover of the country, will not be forgotten.

Dato' Seri Najib should not bank on that.    

The 16th September rally should not be based on the illusion that the demand for Dato' Seri Najib's resignation, as being an attack on Malay Unity and Honour (Perpaduan dan Maruah Melayu).

It has to do with Malay honour for being questioned due to the mishandling of the 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion so called 'donation' to UMNO which has been credited into the Prime Minister's personal account after a small part of it was given to UMNO divisional leaders and some used during the GE 13 and a big chunk of the balance being transferred back to the Prime Minister's personal account in Singapore.

Trying to reinstate Malay integrity is synonymous to asking the Prime Minister to vacate his post.

We certainly need a leader with greater respect from the people and the international community to do the job of uniting the nation. We are now disunited because of our leader's honor being suspect and questioned.

These two main issues, the loan and the donation, besides the burden of GST, the slide in the value of the ringgit, the fall in the stock market, unemployment, adverse effects on the economy, are meant to be forgotten.

Certainly questioning the RM42 billion loan's investments and the validity and use of the RM2.6 billion 'donation' is not an act of disuniting the Malays. And UMNO is not just Malays but also Bumiputras inclusive of the non Muslim members in Sabah.

MALAY'S INTEGRITY

The slogan of the rally is 'Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu' or 'The Rise of Malay Honour.' I will use the word integrity for honour because we have an institution for instilling integrity. Nothing is honorable without integrity.

On the subject of 'integrity' or 'honour' I would agree with the slogan of the rally, i.e. 'Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu'. But this cannot be done by only one rally. It involves the integrity of the Prime Minister who was even questioned by our guests at the ACIC in Kuala Lumpur recently. The integrity of our institutions which are now suspect in their ability to uphold the integrity of their respective institutions.
 

It is true that the integrity of the Malays or 'Maruah Melayu' sudah tercemar, atau 'badly damaged' because the leaders of all the current non-performing institutions are headed by Malays.

Even Malays are asking, as some foreigners do, whether the systems that we have would find it easier to punish a corrupt official if he is a non Malay than if he is a Malay.

Our integrity was effected when:

1. Our institution investigates the person who makes a report on a scandal without appearing to investigate what is reported. They might have done it but there is no evidence after such a long time.

2. We lied in Parliament.

3a. When surplus funds are used by rich nations in forming Sovereign Wealth Funds for discreet investments in profitable ventures for the benefit of their nations, we emulate by forming our version of Sovereign Wealth Funds, more correctly Sovereign Debt Funds, to borrow money through a broker paying exorbitant commission, to banks paying exorbitant interest rates with full government guarantees for the loans.

3b. Our Sovereign Debt Funds in turn invest the high interest borrowings in unprofitable and doubtful ventures and the returns are unable to service the loans.

3c. We invest in companies which we would not have if due diligence have been done, as is being done by Sovereign Wealth Funds of other countries.

3d. After buying Independent Power Plants (IPPs), whose licenses are soon expiring, at exorbitant prices we go around the country priding ourselves that all the electricity in the nation is provided by 1MDB when those facilities were provided even before the existence of 1MDB without having to pay GST and without IMDB burdening itself with loans and interests.

4.  Loans for 1MDB was brokered by a Jewish Goldman Sachs with exorbitant commission and interest rate. Using part of this loan for sending thousands of Malays on sponsored pilgrimages to Mecca does not make 1MDB Islamic. Especially when the loan is burdened by 'riba' and obtained through an anti Islamic Jews financial institution. The demand on every Muslim to perform the Hajj is only once in a life time and it is obligatory only if he or she is financially and physically capable in undertaking the ritual. Sending these sponsored pilgrims to Mecca involve the cutting of cues of those who have accumulated their funds for many years who had to delay their turn for many more years to accommodate those who go on 'donations' provided by 1MDB.

5. Banks in Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong have frozen the accounts of companies connected to 1MDB which involves billions of dollars. While these funds are frozen, interests on the loans borrowed will continue to be charged and all these loans are guaranteed by the Malaysian government.

6. The request by our national police for an individual British citizen Clare Rewcastle-Brown, the Founder and Editor of the UK-based Sarawak Report to put her name on 'Red Alert list' for arrest, was rejected by Interpol and a circular to this effect was circulated to its 190 member nations. Clare was just reporting on the 1MDB scandal but was accused under section 124B of the Penal Code, on activities detrimental to Parliamentary Democracy and section 124I of the Penal Code for producing false reports. Most Malaysian on the other hand was more interested in whether what she wrote was true as nobody believes that false reports can bring down a democratically elected government of Malaysia.  

RED SHIRT RALLY IS BIG BUSINESS
 

I am also informed that the 16.09.2015 rally is big business.

A minister claimed that the Bersih 4 rally was good for tourism. No wonder more rallies are being held!!
 

But no business for the Chinese in the city.

Millions will be spent to marshal the crowd..

It appears to be like a BR1M exercise; but in this case a receiver is expected to walk and shout as loud as possible especially if the TV Camera is focused on you or when  within sight of a big shot. It is also important to say some provocative words to the media with angry looking faces and insulting gestures. The Malays are no more leading by example but learning all this from the DAP.

The DAP is now their teacher.

But the DAP demonstrated because they are in the opposition and they are demanding the government to do something which they cannot do.

Need supporters of the government demonstrate to get something done our own government? Such as fighting corruption, eradicating mismanagement and abuse of power and stopping lavish spending. This would improve our image. I would think that we should just govern well and with integrity.  The Malays must unite to improve themselves but not to exhibit the existence of unity when all sensible citizens know that it is fictitious.

Although Bersih 4 was peaceful the highlighted facts is of that of someone stepping on photographs of the Prime Minister and the President of PAS Hj. Hadi Awang. But I thought UMNO members have retaliated by stepping on photographs of the opposition leaders. If they have not than they can do it without having a big crowd to witness.  It is costly when they can retaliate without cost by just making known to the media.

But the world is watching us.

If our Parliament cannot provide an answer for each and every question asked on 1MDB, if our Prime Minister's supporters keep on rationalizing the 'donation' from the Arabs to fund UMNO's and BN's battle against the so called Jewish backed DAP when 1MDB is itself 'assisted' by the Jewish bankers to get the loans, and benefit from them. It is insane to believe that the Jews were helping the DAP to fight Dato' Sri Najib who have many friends among the Jews besides those in Goldman Sachs.

Will investors come to our country when they are unsure of our respect for the law despite the rhetoric.

If we have a society's act which differentiates between friendly and political organizations and forbids foreign funding for the latter, now that we have legitimize 'donations' from the Arabs, would it be right if tycoons from China, Taiwan and Singapore, or their governments, decide to donate some funds to the DAP or any other political party?

Will investors feel safe in our country where sensational murders continue to took place. Is it acceptable to us to just identify a murderer and forget the motive for his committing the crime? Would it be satisfactory if the victim is one of our relatives.

Is there a clear definition between commissions, incentives, corruptions and donations.
 

Bersih 1, 2, and 3 were organized by Pakatan Rakyat. Lim Kit Siang, Dato' Hadi Awang and Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim used to be the leaders with Sasterawan Negara A Samad Said adding flavor to the course. Now that PAS is out of Pakatan Rakyat and Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahimis imprisoned, it appears that it is a DAP affair, and therefore carry a racial branding - A Chinese affair.

But, we should not forget that however much the intra-coalition struggle within the Pakatan Rakyat they have one factor that unites them all and that is ABU - Asal Bukan Umno. They hate Umno not because of Umno itself but because of its leaders

However much we try to make the people forget the 1MDB scandal and the RM2.6 billion loan the interest on the scandalous loans will continue to accumulate and the adverse effect on the economy will not go away. The underground process is going on to hide the facts of the scandal and to tap on other resources to manage the loan because, much as we forget, I know, as a former banker, the banks will not forget its borrowers.

The banks will not forget the RM42 billion loans given to 1MDB and the interests which must be paid.

Goldman Sachs would likely remind, 'You may have more rallies if you like, but keep on paying what is due to us, promptly.'