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You think I have a cause to join them?

definetly, jeff. you have changed society via your blog.
take it one step further, and change the nation through the parliament.

sokong! sokong!

Instead of joining DAP, why not MCA and fight from within? Just a thought. Remember what Kit talked about "teh-o", about cooking the carrot, egg and teh-o. :-)

Hi,

Frankly I think you're popular now because you're independent.

To join the DAP will mean having to toe the party line. If you don't toe the party line why bother joining?

Joining DAP will alienate a lot of visitors - like me.

Most of visitors IMHO are not DAP supporters. Just because they're disgruntled does not mean they like DAP.
DAPs mistake all along - equating disgruntled citizens with support for them. This emboldens them to start thinking that they are god’s gift to disgruntled Malaysians.

The main problem with DAP is that they are rable rousers with no real platform to stand on - they have no policies only statements.

For DAP to change, they need to get rid of the old bunch and put in some Western educated leaders who don’t need to puff themselves up with self importance by announcing “manifestoes”. Manifestoes are distinctly archaic concepts like NEP - both hark back to the inefficiencies of Soviet Russia.

Regards

Hi Jeff,
I think you are very effective doing what you are doing right now - as an independent blogger exposing what is wrong without fear or favour.

I support DAP's role as a political party, but the moment you cast your lot with the politicians, then a lot of other partisan "tribal" considerations creep in.

We are close to a turning point. If the lead is not strong enough, we will go back to square one.

Jeff, you are the kind of leader we hope to see in the parliment.

But... if you are representing BN... you know la, I've really lost hope in BN already... I knew no matter how good a person is, they (Umno) can always gantung you... we will have a tough decision to make. I think that's why Tony chose to join the opposition.

patriotic1994, I don't think he want a casting role in the running dog movie.

Jeff,

You have my support as "an independent candidate"

purefaith

I think you will know better Jeff. My personal opinion is yes! You should join the DAP. Why? I am afraid there aren't any other good choice around. It has been fifty years and it is not hard to choose. Good luck!!!

Jeff, You should be impartial , taking part in the elections means taking sides. But this is your choice.

I think you should not join. Stay "apolitic" unless you can convince the rest that DAP is an ideal Malaysian political party. I'm sure there're time even DAP will make mistake and need your gentle rebuke.

Bad idea.

Joining DAP makes you lose credibility. All the DAP seems to do is to "grind their axes". Without a doubt, a useful counter-balance, but not terribly difficult to do.

Easy to throw stones, harder to come up with credible solutions. There is no "shadow cabinet" with the opposition to prove to all that they can govern the country "as well" as the present set of yahoos.

Better for you to join MCA and still run this blog site with the same intensity.

Then, your brand name will sky rocket. Who knows, "they" might just make you a Minister of something-or-other.

After that, you can go for the big bucks, big mansion, nice cars, trophy wife, and not have to "consult for a living" anymore.

Oh yes, but then, there's this little thing about the party whip that you have to contend with.

hey jeff I've been an avid follower of your blogs for some time now and its good to see the point of view of a person not attached to any particular party or having a particular agenda (realizing that none of us are actually neutral-even if we are not attach to any party)Seeing Tony Pua joining the party and you wondering if you should join them, I guess its up to you but just to ponder on..will being involved in politics as a politician(i know your are involved in politics now this being a very political blogs mostly) change who you are?Most politicians go in the game with good intentions but end up being robots or power-crazy. Just my thoughts.

OK, let me be serious about this.

I don't recommend Jeff to associate with any opposition party at the moment. There are still many people only read newspaper which are pro-BN and pro-UMNO. And it is a known fact that opposition parties and bloggers had been associated with threat to national security. Nobody on the street want trouble by reading blogs that carry threats!

For example, when I go to any IT mall which has the PC turned on as demo with Internet access, I will run the browser and go to Jeff's blog and keep it there. It is one of the way I promote people to visit Jeff's site. I can even tell the bypass people go read this blog if they haven't.

But I don't open Kit's blog on the public.

Look, whatever Kit said in his blog, even though it is for the good sake of the country on Good Governance, all had been silently ignored by the ignorant simply because it is considered as "political" blog.

But not Jeff's blog. Jeff is focusing on Good Governance. And Good Governance is not Politics.

I just hope Jeff's stay neutral to any political parties. Jeff can have friends from ANY parties. Good Governance is the focus.

Now we don't wonder anymore why najib suddenly said this was an islamic state; it was a cue to the home ministry.

But that's only one item in the whole menu of what's failing this country.

In the past people couldn't articulate what they think were wrong. Letters to the media were sanitized; by the look of things, they still are to a large extent. And if you go to your local assemblyman, it's too often a case of after-event. Heck, even the editor of a mainstream can't get the assemblywoman to make sure a road he travels on is tarred - after thanking her in advance, and two years now.

Some people may ask why bother. If we don't bother, things will get worse. What if we didn't bother about APs? They will happily continue their NEP and people will still have to fork out a thousand bucks to wind down their windows. And if we hadn't bothered about toll agreements, they would have happily continued to replicate the same terms for the next new tolls under the 9MP; even the state of Trengganu will be hit.

Blogs provide an easy and breezy alternative platform for people to write out their thoughts and grievances. Blog content can ride in tandem with mainstream content to complement each other and reach for the truth.

Without truth, we get falsehood. With falsehood, we get ripped off.

For instance, the NEP target was reached some time back, according to one analysis. Yet it was half-bakedly rebutted with some official 'analysis' that raised more questions than supply cogent answers; goalposts were shifted, large tracts of corporate equities were omitted; even the bumi holdings of trust funds and state resource corporations were made more invisible than the Predator's light-bending technology.

If the rakyat don't get a chance to question why and how things are done, how will they have sufficient understanding of the way this country is being run? Some will say run to the ground.

Right now you don't get many rebuttals from officialdom. If X is posted, then they should post Y to say why they think what was said wasn't exactly true. It's as simple as that. What we have seen, as in the case of the emigration numbers for instance, they can even get their records wrong. That is indeed unhelpful - because people will now suspect the numbers are off by an order of magnitude.

The same defensiveness and craven fear of telling the truth in simple ways we have already seen in another matter - the defiance of the immigration dept by not turning up to report the actual numbers of immigrants given citizenship in East Malaysia. Today, we also read about the fear of the MOH that many of the foreign workers there have not been medically examined. How come?

If you're a citizen of the country, wouldn't you be a bit worried about what the hell is going on in this country? And if you yourself are like the civil servant himself who clocks in and out, and works the stretch of eight hours a day, how would you be able to find time and means to register your concern about country and society in the same day that the issue has come before you? Wait until the next public holiday? When all counters will be closed? When the police stations can refuse to accept your report, like in the way embassies can refuse to accept memoranda of protests? (any switchblade around?)

Not many people can muster themselves under the guise of a political party to go banging down the door of another party, an associate to boot, just because someone raised a query in parliament aka the abbatoir about the preponderant focus of one 'civilisation' over the others in history books. So, what do you Mr Government want the rakyat to do about what goes into their minds? ZZZZZzzzz?

If we want to be a developed state by the next two dozen years, start now by being more candid about facts and more open about choices. Learn to recognize that blogging is but a biting manifestation by concerned and inteligent citizens against the billboards of government corruption and political shenanigans. How else do you want the bloggers to write? Like a Jane Austen or a Paddy Bowie?

Blogging is not just about what has happened. People also write about what could be happening. Take the toll collections again. The MRR2 toll went up by 60 sen from a ringgit; how much of that sixty percent increase went to pay for the remedial works that was said to be paid by the contractors? Take the same toll gate. When you pass by a single-counter gate and pay, you get a receipt. You can hear it being printed for you. How do you know that if you don't ask for a receipt, what is collected actually goes in full to the concessionaire to be counted as revenue against target in the agreement so as to obviate the need for extension of the toll period by the government later on? Especially when the toll bars are up along those lanes with 2 counters? And you don't hear the receipts being printed in those cases. Does Mr Vellu audit on behalf of motorists any audit of toll collections? Where do we find the reports of the audits, and audits of the audits?

Let's take another case; you get something in your email. It says there's a pizza chain which discriminates by race of the customer who will be charged the service tax on the bill; in one case, it's not in; in all others, it's included; there's a code. Now, you may be surprised there are still some citizens who can't afford to patronize pizza restaurants these days to find out if that is true, but if they can post it somewhere, say in a blog, then others may find out whether it is true or actually some mischief against the chain, and that's important enough for it to be risked being called 'slanderous' because if it is true, woe betide the restaurant management.

You want racial sensitivity? Have a pizza first. And while at it, start comparing the university offers between one race and the others.

Now this thing about religion. The principle is again simple. I may believe in God but my belief in God does not have to include the interpretations by religious teachers as to what He wants of me, for if it includes them, then I will have to say others who believe (or don't) in Him but (and) don't want those interpretations are wrong about Him. If it starts with my belief, how would i know that they are wrong? And if it doesn't start with my belief, but starts with some societal norm, who audits those norms to be relevant to me, today? Why not just ram it in and oil us all as you would unthinking machines?

Faced with this quagmire, it would therefore be so easy for me to give you a link to Chistopher Hitchen's 100-page book 'God is not great'..but in my own individual heart, i have decided not to because my sense of responsibility for your greater welfare holds me back. In another manner of speaking, it is my choice. Heck, even the Transformers know about choice. "What is the boy's choice (for the yellow car to stay)?" We're not magatrons, are we?

Do you know what is coming out these days? The worm of double standards. Remember how blogging had hit a peak during those days before the last election? A lot of blogging was against the manifesto of PAS'islamic state. We should ask Najib, Hishammudin, Khairy Jamaluddin and Umno Youth now - why the deafening silence against bloggers then? And why the deafening bellow against them now?

Surely, a 'developed' state with 'glocal' Malays building a 'great' civilisation can't be founded on the shifting sands of double standards? Shave off that javanese pencil moustache, look me in the face, and say it can't.

If you want to talk about racial sensitivity, why not arrest the whole bunch in the last Umno GA and the KJs of the land for racial insensitivity, or is it now Animal Farm in abbatoir land - we are equal but some are more equal than others?

(psst: do you also want a link to Orwell?)

All these things are coming out and can be said because an open-minded society allows it to be debated intelligently but how can the officials know that it will be debated intelligently if they try to clamp it down on the flimsy ground that they know best - when what is being debated is the very issue that they know worst?

You know, it cuts two ways. No one will deny the govt its right to say or rebut what it wants in the same way that everyone expects the govt to allow people who had elected them to say or rebut what the govt channels have said. To rephrase Messr Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire: "I don't agree with what you say but i will defend to the bloody frigging stupid end your idiotic moronic right to say it." Or, something like that, if memory still serves me. Bonjour?

In three years time, this country will be a net oil importer; expect prices of everything to go up, and cost of production to make us discompetitive, let alone the prevailing shortage of right-skilled people and the tepid FDI. Salaries will go down and your life savings will evaporate. Najib even spoke about urbanizing more malays above 67%; does he have a solution for the worst-case scenario if those malays are out of jobs in the cities come 2011? Bang the concrete floors to plant potatos?

Those smart-asses who are so quick on the draw to ask others to "shut up", "stupid", "racist", "islamic state" and "racial and religious sensitivity" should instead provide their most intelligent suggestions how to take this country out of impending doom for everyone. Shiny things today will lose their sheen tomorrow if you don't wax 'em well now. Where's the wax?

They seem to be the ones causing all the trouble and mayhem, wouldn't you think so?

Racial and religious sensitivity? If people can read and write in blogs, they are too intelligent for the bourgeoise to understand that there are more intelligent and perceptive people than them to know what is right, what is wrong, what is reasonable and what is crap that will ruffle racial and religious sensitivity. Or is the govt too 'stupid' to understand even this? Just quoting...no offense.

It remains to say this post is for the jeffooi's, rockybru's, rajapetra's, limteckghee's and nat-tan's of this country. May your efforts gain some higher Blessing some day, for He has said:

Let there be Light.

ranger, this one's for you.

Thanks, folks, for reading the ramblings of an old man. I am supposed to be doing something else right now but mind-block has cased my arthritic joint.

Independent?

Jeff, aren't you a Gerakan?

Personally Jeff, no. Even if you want to run for politics there is also the platform as an independent.

You have your own view and though party politics may provide leverage, what confront us seems to be deeper than that.

You can articulate it better among your peers and draws others attention to the issues at hand better this way, being independent.

Regards

There's a lot of Chuck Palahniuk in the above comment....

However, back to Jeff's post.

I would not think it wise to join any side, because I think both sides would force you to give up some of your principles (hopefully).

So I'm going to suggest you go indie.

Jeff:

If you're gonna run, run as an independent.

Otherwise, your actions in Parliament will be bound by party politics.

Sovind - if something is wrong with the DAP, why are we discouraging people from trying to fix it? The DAP needs more people like Tony and Jeff - and hopefully more Malays as well.

It's a bit funny, if you ask me, to say in one breath that the opposition has no ideas and in the next to discourage those with ideas from joining the opposition.

Jeff

Don't go near DAP even with a 10-foot pole.

1) Firstly, it is a party that is NOT interested in winning Govt

2) Its mandate is for all Malaysians, but its outlook is still chauvinistic.. and too Chinese-outward looking

3)It has little interest in attracting Malay and Indian members

4)It does VERY WELL in rabble rousing and clap-trap media stances in and outside Parliament

5) It is good if you want to know how to organise street demonstrations... DAP is expert... and also Seminars where only one-sided panelists are invited.

6) DAP distrusts others because the leaders think ONLY they have the answers to Malaysia's problems, knowing full well that the only way to effect change is to win Govt and to win Govt you need to find a compromise to work with other Malay-based parties.

DAP's Rocket logo is shooting upwards without a target.

DAP lost its way since separation from the parent PAP.

SAD!!

Jeff

MCA? Don't even think about!

If you are thinking about MCA, then go see a doctor and become a eunuch!

Jeff, All this while I thought you were my kind of person. You do not have your own mind. You are throwing this question to gauge public opinion. Whatever your column writes I am taking it with a pinch of salt. You want my frank opinion. Here's my 2 sens worth. Stay the course, stay the fifth column(whatever) honest, straight and narrow. Forget the lofty dreams.

Jeff

My humble advice.

Stay where you are right now.

But if you really want to join a political party, try this:

Call Husam Musa and see whether PAS allows you to become a member without becoming a Muslim.

If he agrees, then PAS has made a landmark decision and you will be the path-breaker in Malaysian history.

After all, you don't get to have the reputation as " Malaysia's most influential blogger" , given by none other than Malaysiakkini.

Of course, now you have to contend with people like RPK.

There are also other Malaysian influential blogger-wannabees, but whose marbles shrink and they scramble into dark corners each time UMNO coughs out loud and the spits hit on bloggers.

No need to join any party, don't even need to toe any party line. You can shoot anyone be it MCA, DAP or even your friend Musa from PAS if anyone of those mentioned did something stupid. Jeffooi.com is too big for these party, no need to join them, let these party come and court you for your support.

I'm sad, shocked and quite surprised that there is so many people against the DAP.

It is damn difficult to win the hearts of people when all the mainstream media portray you in the worst light all the time. Of course they are 'rabble-rousers' and 'axe-grinders', because that is exactly how the powers that be would like them to be perceived.

I can only conclude that there are some here who would just criticize everything and anyone without putting themselves in the other shoes and seeing how difficult it would be to be in the opposition.

Errr... hmmm... run as an Independent and do what exactly? Look around you people. Look at the state this country is in. Get real. Get political. How many here are so quick to give advice but when push comes to shove, they won't even sign a petition which requires them to include their IC numbers. Most Malaysians won't even attend a forum for fear of havign their photo snapped by the SB. People, wake up. This country is going down the toilet, so stop dishing out advice like you're qualified. Instead get out there and do something about it before it's too late.

Do it if you don't feel like to be taken seriously anymore.

Andrew

Don't be sad and shocked and surprised.

DAP leaders are becoming ancient history... they can't think out of the box and the new chaps are being cloned like the old leaders.

DAP is good at making motherhood statements about the state of the country.

DAP can only be a real political party if it aims to win govt. Otherwise it is an eternal Opposition Party. To voters, it is useless. You stay in Opposition is because you FAILED to win Govt. To be in Opposition because you don't want to be in Govt is being irresponsible.

As for voters who are disgruntled with MCA Gerakan or BN in general, DAP is not worth the vote since it does not aim to win Govt.

DAP's rocket logo should face downwards.

I agree with Frank&Honest, call Husam Musa and join PAS.

That would be awesome.

Do what you've got to do, and your conscience will guide you along. Jeff, you've been doing a great job so far. And in this land which is getting darker in view of what's going on, you're shining your light to where there are suspicious goings on. Otherwise many of us won't see it, being blinded by all the bling-blings displayed before our eyes by a self-serving bunch of people we voted into place because we had no other choice. Keep at it, man. You're more effective where you are.

The biggest problem with DAP is image, image & image. Two things that come to my mind:

1) DAP image (to me) is a Chinese party. I dont think Malay would like to vote for a Chinese party. This may sound racist, but but I am just stating the obvious.

2) Lim Kiat Siang - how long was he at helm until he retired (to become chairman). And to whom did he pass the baton?

3) DAP may good at opposition, but it doesn't say the same thing about ruling. To cut things short, ruling is more difficult then critizing because it carries responsibilities etc - you can figure it out yourself.

Seriously no opposition leader is good enough in this country. Even Anwar Ibrahim lately has been tainted with quite a few not so nice stories.

What can be done is to simply lessen the vote for BN and when it happened, both sides (ruling & opposition) will improvise themselves, and we will be able to judge them fairer in the subsequent Election!

Gee...I heard someone say that Jeff's a Gerakan man...hmmm...I must have heard wrong. :-)
The problem with joining a political party is that you are no longer neutral.
Say if you smell a rat in DAP, would you be willing to expose it? Or would you keep quiet for the sake of the Party? Or if you disagree with the Party's stand on an issue -- would you say it out and 'disobey'? You could find yourself in a situation that your integrity could be compromised. I say this because I believe no Party is clean nor are its intentions all sincere. But that's just cynical me.
Personally I think that bloggers who chase the political stories would fare better without any party membership because you should remain objective. One may of course sympathise with a particular party, but join it and credibility suffers.
But you have freedom of choice. :-)

Whether or not you know it, JO, you are already our proxy for a (new)candidate in the upcoming GE. An open and transparent one, and I daresay, truth revealer. The Internet.

Post by anusa: "Whether or not you know it, JO, you are already our proxy for a (new)candidate in the upcoming GE. An open and transparent one, and I daresay, truth revealer. The Internet."

I say! Wonder if there's any possibility of another party -- "Parti Bebas Internet"

(joke lah eh...)

That sounds like a jolly good idea to me. Jeff is well qualified to be a MP. He is young, articulate, multi-lingual and above all, a progressive man of integrity. One just needs to do some clicking on the past postings of his blog over the years to find out on this.

After 50 years of Independence, I think we really need to migrate or upgrade the existing “two third majority” of BN led government to a more keenly contested government. As results or past performance show, many of the existing bunch of BN MPs are just too arrogant to be responsive to do anything good or useful to the people. Without a doubt, those ultra-selfish and greedy who are in deep love with their existing power and vested interests will from now onwards, find all sort of reasons to stop the successful election of new MPs of caliber.

With the successful election of new MPs like Jeff and others in the coming election, I think they will definitely and “infinity+1” be better than that particular bunch of monkeys MPs who apparently only know how to shout and yell in our Parliament. I think many many (i.e. “infinity+1” again) Malaysians are really and truly fxcking pissed off with them. And hence the coming election is the golden opportunity that we really get serious and get involved so that we elect the bunch of new MPs that deserve our sacred votes. If Jeff is really filed as a candidate, you can count me in as one of your election campaign volunteer workers.

Well, some people will disagree with anything that walks. Wonder they been there done that??? I must admit I personally felt DAP should have more Malays members to reflect the party as truly multi-racial one. The reasons why DAP is still a Chinese dominated party is quite obvious, but to say that DAP discourages Malay from joining the party one must show proves to back up that claim as DAP did have Malay members, are these Malays Chinese Chauvinist then? DAP is definitely an option for Jeff as the party's vision of Malaysian First is the right and ideal one for all Malaysians. Now those who think DAP sucks, the next time BN shove something up your ass you better take it like a man. The one who sucks we call'em suckers, but the one who made you suckers what do you call'em?

Hi Sovind,

Perhaps you can have a deeper look into the party (http://www.dapmalaysia.org/newenglish/au_vm_pp.htm)

I certainly do not understand what kind of questions you are raising about DAP's lacks of policies.

Policies of the DAP are all outlined, just as a ready-built railway track. What is also needed is a driver and some persons to build the locomotive. Without the driver and the locomotive, the train will not be there to move, and you will move to nowhere.

You can't say that just because people are too often talking about the driver's driving skill and how the locomotive should be built that they are forgetting about the railway track, which has been laid on the ground.

Before joining any party, please come out of Gerakan first. Those who has been thrashing DAP, think you all never went thru the hardship they went thru. You sit at your comfy chair giving comments without having an ounce of feeling what they have fought for.

Dear Jeff,
Your blog was my first ever encounter and subsequent addiction to bloggosphere !
Your blog will and still is the first one I visit when I am on the net. As to whether joining a political party is a wise decision I will leave it to you.
Being neutral and seen as neutral has it advantages as a blogger and your motto of 'thinking aloud and thinking allowed' goes I will allow my thinking on this issue to however remain silent.
Best of luck to whatever you do decide as its the basis of democracy isn't it ?
Cheers

Plus one more thing. I bet most of you didnt know Jeff is in Gerakan. But does it make a difference? Jeff has been outspoken and speak his mind drilling matters to its core. So just because someone is affliated to a certain political party, he/she will be alienated and people will stop visting his/her blog? Look and judge a person from what he/she does and say and not from where he/she comes from.

Hi Jeff,

I have been an avid reader of your blog for a long time now. It one of must do "rituals" when i turn on my laptop in the morning...

As many before have commented and i am also of th view that, the reason you have been popular or at least in my opnion.. is because you spoke from an independent and neutral viewpoint.

A person with your influence joining any political party will definently bring its challenges.. i wish you well in your future endeavours and may your heart stay true to the ground.

Life may well have a grander purpose for you. God Bless.