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We call that "GIFT OF THE GAP" my friend :-)

Pak Lah does and continue to listen but does he respond positively to what he heard? I think the job as PM of Malaysia is too big for Pak Lah, and he even appointed a super jumbo size cabinet and look what has the BN government achieved for the last 3 years? Considering this is the biggest cabinet ever appointed to govern this country, performance wise is mediocre, really really bad.

"Work with me, not for me"

Hmm, love and hate affair. I wish the meaning of the sentence itself can be larger than the whole manifesto!

"Work with me, not for me"

Hmm, love and hate affair. How I wish the meaning of the sentence itself can be larger than the whole manifesto!

Pak Lah,

You promised us, the rakyat that you will continue to actively seek our views on important issues, as you have done by holding open forums to seek public feedback on important social issues, BUT instead you chose to order to stop all discussion on Article 11 and allowed mob rule that disrupted the event.

We want to work with you, but do you work for us?

yadda yadda?

There is always lies, damned lies and .....

and MORE LIES!!!

LOL

Coz we can't handle the truth. Let there be more and more layers of onions to peel.

Jeff,
Very good piece.The whole country, the 92% who voted for the present Govt, was taken for a long ride and we, the people of this country are real"suckers". This is what the previous Govt. of 22 years did and we fell for the same trick again and again.The most abused word by our Govt."rayaat" but the interest of the rayaat is the last thing on their minds. We will still fall for the trick again, come the next general election.
Until and unless our people of various races,religions, communities begin to think and act as one people,the same wayang kulit will continue.It is my considered view that the Malays have to take a lead in this change of mindset for a variety of reasons .I am of course excluding UMNO and PAS Malays from the group I have in mind.I am referring to the Malays who are fair,reasonable, responsible and have the well being of this multiracial, multireligious nation in mind. It has been driven into the Malays psyche, brainwashed, that it is necessary to continue the discriminatory policies for the Malays to progress.It is a totally wrong concept and I am sure the matured Malays realise what I am talking about.Properly managed, without corruption, cronyism, with leaders of calibre,integrity,capability well educated and with the right vision,this blessed country of our's has enough for all to share.It is not necessary to rob Paul to pay Peter deny anyone their his or her legitimate rights.
The country's future and well being lies in the hands of men and women with qualities I mentioned above.There has never been such leaders for the last 25 years in our political leadership.Is it a dream that such a leadership emerge in the future for the sake of Malaysia.
KSN

Thanks Jeff, for the reminder; unlikely that our leaders will be reminded via your website though. The internet is seen by them as the stop sign that prevents them from further plundering Malaysia.

But this is politics. Everywhere in the world, promises are made to secure a win.

How many times have we heard and seen nothing done to election promises?

On a smaller but just as silly scale, how many times have Malaysian sports leaders said "I will resign if we don't win"? Yet they are still in the same places earning (not) their keep.

Corruption:
This WAS a big cornerstone of the early AAB administration. To date, one minister of an almost recluse ministry is all I remember of the big scoop.

And I was there when a scribe asked the PM, days before the election, when he went on air to secure youth votes. At the end of the radio interview, he was asked as he walked to his car: "So what are developments on your bribery campaign?".

AAB said in a huff, "You tunggulah! Ala kamu ni...", then he was whisked away into the cocoon of his large limousine.

Is there anyone out there that knows of any current concerted effort to rid the administration of such acts, please tell us.

PUBLIC VIEWS:
Listening and acting on what is heard are two different things. So we can't say they have erred. They have listened at times. They didn't say they would listen ALL the time. Neither did they say they would listed AND make adjustments accordingly.

Almost 50 years of independence, and what we have is this.

This is Malaysian leadership guys, this is IT.

Promises that will remain a promise, never converted into a reality.

Words are cheap. Cheaper it seems, than the future of this country.

Eh? I do not think 92% of the country voted for BN. They might have won 92% of the seats but probably just about 70% voted for them.

With the first-past-the-post system and gerrymandering, it is possible to hold 90+% of the seats with only 60+% of the popular votes. See Singapore.

How about proportional representation like some European countries? I am dreaming, of course.

I would not bitch and moan about the dark clouds over the horizon that are threatening the internet bloggers - at least not yet. I would wait and see what this silly government has in mind. If Pak Lah says he is concerned about untruths being spread on the internet that may create racial unrest, I don't see anything wrong with that. I lived in an area badly shaken during May 13 1969, so perhaps I am more afraid than most. Then again Pak Lah may have other dislikes, like people criticising the government's economic or other policies. Now that is stupid and I hope he will soon realise that. I can understand the discomfort of people who started their blogs but I hope the authorities will realise that it is impractical to expect them to monitor the inputs by commentators.

I feel KSN's comments are very interesting. There is no true multi-racial political party in Malaysia. Even the DAP and Gerakan are dominated by one sector of the population. And I believe the time is ripe for a multi-racial party but are there non-UMNO or non-PAS Malays?

Flashback to Sarawak. BN 62 and lost 9. I counted 6 marginally or very closely won (some less than 100 votes). So, if given more time and strategic moves by Opposition coupled with current situation, BN would have lost total 15 seats making 21% to Non-BN. Now we’re talking about BN stronghold or rather stranglehold area of Sarawak. Fast forward to next year or 2008, and to hostile Green and Red areas, I’ll say BN lucky to get 70% of seats. If more bad news like petrol (warning liao here), water (also warning sounded by minister), electricity and the lot naik lagi then the statistics for sure drop from 70% to 60% to 50% down to ….. Media is the key to maintaining/correcting the slide. Hence, the warning shot was fired ….. early

I agree with KSN except...., if we continue to say Malay, Indian, Chinese, Lain-lain, and a whole lot of other races, we will never be united enough to save this country we so love from heading into the pits. Why can't we all just say, bangsa saya Bangsa Malaysia. Why do we need to be classified by race or religion. Until the day we Bangsa Malaysia can stand united as one, this country will forever remain in the doldrums of what it is today. I remember a line from the movie Independence Day..." we cannot be consumed by our petty differences any longer...Today we celebrate our Independence Day" i look forward to the day when we Malaysians will truly be independent and free.

If we examine the Manifesto closely, we can't really fault the Pak Lah administration for not delivering on the promises, as most of the promises don't amount to much. Only some are specific enough for the voters to pin down. The rest are just clever sophistry. Let's look at some of the "promises".

1) Continue the all-out campagain against corruption.

Yes, can hold them to this. Clear failure this one.

Conclusion: Promise not kept.

2) Seek a higher level of performance and integrity.

How high? Not specified. How honest? What integrity? Very subjective. Cannot pin it on Pak Lah.

Conclusion: What promise?

3) Set performance targets for good governmance.

They have done so for some GLCs. Again, how tough are the KPIs? And so what if none of the GLCs meet any of the KPIs? The promise was to set KPI targets. Nothing was said about how realistic those targets are. And nothing about failing to meet them.

Conclusion: Promise was kept - targets were set.

4) Reduce bureaucracy and increase transparency.

Again, no specific targets given. Regarding transparency, it can be argued that they kept their promise - more cans of worms of the previous administration are opened, more Tajudins are squealing, more official papers are declassified.

Conclusion: Promise can be considered as kept.

5) Establishing a Special Commission on the Police Force...

This on and off affair is also non specfic. Even if the Commission is set up, feedback obtained - so what? They never promised anything about acting on those suggestions.

Conclusion: no promise to be kept.

6) Prudent and responsible financial management.

No targets mentioned. One man's prudence is another's recklessness.

Conclusion: Can't fault the promise.

7) Sustainable management of our natural resources.

For how many years or generations? How long can the oil reserve last? Don't know. Timber? Don't know. On the other hand, stopping sale of sand - ah, that is keeping the promise.

Conclusion: Promised kept.

So, overall, Pak Lah has kept his promises. We can only really fault him on the first bullet point. The rest are so loosely worded that they are not worth the paper it is printed on.

I can sincerely seek your views on important issues. Whether I take them into consideration when coming up with polices is a separate matter.

Assalamualaikum Pak Lah,

Evernight I watch the evening news, I see either at least one murder or rape case being reported happening in this country.

I believe you noticed this as well and trying your best to address this matter.

As a citizen of Malaysia, peace and harmony will be the two main factors I pray we can achieve in this country. Tackle this first and hopefully the rest will follow suit.

I wish you all the best.

"Don't ask what your country can complain about you, but what you can complain about your country"

When you said "key points", you just highlight one point, and half of it in fact. I know it's human trait to only focus what you have vested interest only, but you also forget the forums to be called for also involve rape and road accidents, which is important, but if you did not have any close and related experience to it, you don't even care about that. "Holding open forums" does not mean blogging or internet, but a properly mediated controlled atmosphere, e.g. the police scandal just had so many false facts by having it mentioned on blogs and comments.

If it was me, I would just focus on the natural resources. Just say straightforward that you just want the IRF.

CSH,

Your are right - BN won with 69% of the popular vote.

Where did I get this info?
From Wikipedia

Why did I not get this info from the Malaysian Elections Commision's website?

Because the latest election report it carries is the 1995 report.

Sigh ...

I am more concerned for the fact that MONEY can do alot of things and with so many corruptions cases not solved you think the next GE will be a clean fight? We hv heard of votes buying. After that we the rakyat hv to rely on the intergrity of the vote counters to ensure a fair count and hankypanky. With so little or NONE at all of any prosecution of any corruption cases in the past, I think we WILL lose the battle again. MOney is power. You see that's why everyone is trying to gain a piece of the cake now.

Let us look into a positive note...
AAB promises a university in Terengganu and the last couple of days, the university ground breaking ceremony was held for Universiti Darul Iman...
However, no mention of what happens to the "royalty money" that has been revoked by the federal govt during the previous PAS administration.
And what about the second bridge to Penang plus the monorail? Does it counts as the election promises?
Weighing that against the rest, I thinks that the present govt needs to do much more, if they were really serious in winning the hearts of the masses (like u and me).
Till then...G'nite M'sia, wherever u are...

I am not going to comment on the promises of Barisan Nasional but focus more on the leader, DS Abdullah Badawi.

Pak Lah spoiled the greatest chance of saving Malaysia.

I don't know what had happened to the man i believed to be the one that would somehow save Malaysia.

Trengganu was promised a U as a reward for voting in the BN. That to me is pure blatant politicisation of education. While I am happy that the state finally has a University of its own, the fact that it is a "reward" stinks.

What if PAS was voted in instead? Based on current practices, no U. What if PAS is voted in again? Demolish the buildings?

No, I think the way politics is played out in the country has not changed one bit.

Continuation in believing in a political party who keeps stealing from the cookie jar and expect a change of leadership will clean its own house in a short period of time is a bit naive.

It seems there is always a need for a strong opposition party to keep the government in check.

Remember:

"A democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding on what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the results of the decision." - Benjamin Franklin

And currently, we are the sheep.

Are they even worried about keeping promises at all? No. They are still very confident indeed. Read more about it: http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=211965

You know there's a very thin fine line between arrogance and over-confidence...

Question:

Are we giving Pak Lah a 'get out of jail free' card?
Are we lowering the bar of what is consider acceptable by the people of Malaysia?

To mount a credible front that will erode the hold of the BN in the next elections, the opposition parties must put aside their differences and seek a common objective.

Whatever is targeted has to be raised by at least another twenty percent because they will use vote-buying, gerrymandering, electoral re-delineation and plain media blockage again.

The general target should be to reduce their seats so that a stronger opposition platform can be built for the election AFTER the forthcoming one.

You need to brand the entire resistance. One brand, one thrust, one strategy and throw the full weight of all opposition parties and concerned interests behind it.

Many posts back i had suggested do everything one month before the poll. People have asked why. I can answer now: one, even when pooled, the opposition won't have enough financial and people muscle to play an extended game, and it is too important to hit the climax by sheer momentum right up to minutes before polling day. Two, people forget fast, and seducements of the key cohort - the rural malays - can be expected to be ramped up by Umno, so make sure they remember as fast as they're coaxed to forget. One month seems a good game period.

And three, you need a one-identity tool. A booklet/pamphlet/cd/audio-tape, video recording that will contain all the 22 questions, all the other 17 questions, the full list of all the governmental misdemeanours - with numbers, assignees, places, dates, pictures, and so on, that can be disseminated to each kampung, byway, shoplot under a common banner comprising ALL the opposition parties. Choose the language well, make it a well-crafted, eye-catching, ear-ringing, heart-wrenching document, written with the ANSWERS to all the rebuttals that will surely follow the distribution.

Swing all concerned websites and blogs to just one portal and let the pictures and figures say it all. Let them try to close it; be ready with legal support.

Develop now a full profile of the rural Malay; understand and tackle their hot buttons that recur; make them see how much money has been siphoned that would have translated to how much they would otherwise have received, and the nation progressed more, than what they will be given for their measly votes. Play to them an ad showing they putting the ballot paper in, and how in the years after that, things crumble all around the world that is Malaysia.

Expect manoeuvers to create negative perceptions and cast cheap aspersions on opposition candidates. Preempt them with ready answers in standard format.

Understand what's happening now; Badawi-Mahathir is not the same as Mahathir-Anwar; whether the difference is Najib remains to be seen.

Politics in Malaysia is downright pestilential. The rakyat shouldn't have to bend to their level of those who've been running this country to the ground but if it takes these measures to deliver some changes, so be it. Enough is enough.

All the time, I see the government as a black hole and is fathomless. You won't get much color for better understanding upon many incidents especially of political field. I used to get much better understanding of who is who was playing game; who is who was really doing for the nation ..., all thank to the criticisms coming from netizens as well as news contributors.

Every one of us, faces moments of criticism. Being criticized is not a problem if one develop a positive way of dealing with it. Old Ma was roundly criticized in his day just because people want him to be in allegiance to nation. Just as most of our public figures are today. It takes a person of great courage to forge ahead and do what he honestly believes to be right when critics are pouring against him.

What I think is, Pak Lah was not doted upon his warning to bloggers. May be he was coiling up with too much of critics or may be the cogent reason was a wrong-taking of other's doses? Anyway I hope Pak Lah can see the visual percept of a region of Internet.

Why are you people making so much noise? Everyone knows that election promises are made to be broken.

Folks

UMNO politicians are masters in reading the minds of Malaysians:

a) Malaysian voters especially the non Malay voters have short memory span. At best, one month after election

b) Malaysians are suckers to political promises, which themselves know the politicians will deliver but will vote them back into govt again and again

c)Malaysians are too self-indulgent and too sure of themselves that they are easily pulled by their noses during election time.

d) They are suckers to race-based intimidation, fear of the political unknown, and will always stay safe with the devil they know.

e) They, especially the non Malay voters, will prefer to gamble their money inthe casino than to gamble the political stake of the country

f) Most just talk, but will not go to vote, and they are the biggest noise makers about the politics in the country.

g) Most don't care, especially the intellectuals, the professionals, because they already hold PR in other countries, but stayed back in Malaysia as a temporary stopover due to business or continue to rigged the immigration loopholes of their adopted countries.

MCA and MIC encourage Malaysians to adopt above attitude and behaviour so they can remain in Govt by default, rather than by choice of their constituents they are supposed to represent.

Given the above, Pak Lah is just following Malaysian tradition, politically speaking.

Folks

error in (b)in previous email
read as

Malaysians are suckers to political promises, which themselves know the politicians will NOT deliver but will vote them back into govt again and again

To be fair, abstain is part of voting. Some people do feel they are not well informed to cast a vote.

Aiyo.. Why you folks have such a good memory one... I would have thought that you all had forgotten our promises oredy.

Think of it, I really hate this INTERNET thing and the collaboration among those blog readers.. Also what they termed as "Collective Intelligence"..

In those good old days, those manifesto paper would had been used as "kacang puteh" wrapper long time ago. I really hate this Internet thing. I wonder can we try the old scare tricks or tactics, say, detain ALL the bloggers and ALL the blog readers. If not then try the Harry Lee's tactic of suing the bloggers and readers to bankruptcy.

If I would have to rate the performance of Pak Lah and his team, BN, well rating will be 3 out of 10, woth 10 being an excellent score.

Pak Lah has not delivered what he has promised.

well 92% seats when to BN. Not sure that will be true now.

at the end of the day, we kena Temberang lloking back ta the manifesto!!!

agree with Darth Haiza.

Does anyone know that Thailand's prime minister Thaksin is actually a Hakka Chinese?

But what i know is most of us know him as a Thai. not chinese Thai or whatever.

There has been a lot, a lot, a lot of things done by all races, to preserve/maintain their uniqueness...

which stopped from unity.

this is actually what all races in Malaysia should think about.

I know it's painful. But, think about it.

my bad, Thaksin is a Hakka Chinese descendant - he was not born in China.

you guys talk and talk only maa...sure most of you is ex-bn voters, never learn of your mistake or too coward to change the goverment.

you just too stupid to think of what to do and too coward to vote for opp.

no point talk so much if vote pun tak boleh, easy maa, just pangkah saja.

you vote for monkey then you got monkey treatment laa, stupid voters!!!

luckily i never vote for bn in my life even though i'm registered umno member.

listening only to the 4th floor perhaps?