The Kuala Lumpur Traveler

Zahar Hashim…. yet another casualty of ‘you criticize me, I kick you out’ unwritten policy of UMNO Baru.
This rare, brave UMNO Baru spesies had alleged that there were discrepancies in the recent Eurocopter deal (so obvious isn’t it?), and criticised both Pak Lah and Najib over the same issue. As expected, Zahar Hashim was subsequently suspended as division leader within UMNO Baru shortly after that but this man is not taking it lying down.
The retired army captain had submitted his application to join PAS and had been reported to be joining the PR in the upcoming Kuala Terengganu by-election campaigns.
Poor …read more

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After his failure to deliver September 16 promises, Anwar Ibrahim is still Anwar Ibrahim he used to, but who can blame him? Now he is talking about renewed interest to take over the BN Government this time through Sarawak. For his failure to deliver the anticipated and much talked about September 16 takeover, Anwar just had this to say…
[...]admitted his plan to sign up defecting lawmakers had been a “headache”.
[...]“It is not easy to explain why we couldn’t form the government as there are some matters that I still cannot talk about,” he said.
Source: Malaysiakini
Wait… did he say he has …read more

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It may not be completely fair to compare Najib and Obama for obvious reasons, but the following differences should be interesting enough for Malaysians to ponder although it is very much insignificant to the Americans.

Obama will report for duty in Jan 2009 while Najib will assume the premiership post in March 2009.
Obama won the presidential candidate fights in both within his own party as well as between Democrat and Republican while Najib sort of inherited the prime minister post given to him on a silver platter…. virtually un-challenged within his party by virtue of being the no 2 man in …read more

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“UMNO is already over 61 years old and is experiencing ‘penyakit tua’ (old age sickness) which cannot be remedied by senior citizens but rather the younger generations with new ideas”
Musa Hitam, 22nd October 2008
Musa is wrong when he says UMNO is over 61. He has forgotten (Mahathir was right when he said ‘Melayu mudah lupa’) that UMNO had ‘died’ of ‘not’ old age but sudden ’stroke’ and ‘heart attack’ at a rather not-so-old age. That was in 1987 when UMNO was declared illegal (thanks to Mahathir of course) by the court. Without going into detail of what had taken place, …read more

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A veteran Umno leader today said he had been asked to pay for votes in an upcoming contest for top posts, and warned that money politics would destroy the organisation.
Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said “the majority” of Umno members were more interested in making money out of the election than in voting for the right person.
suhakam religion culture conference 090906 rais yatim speak”The majority of Umno people want to look for money and not for good leaders,” said Rais, a member of Umno’s decision-making committee who is vying for the vice-presidency.
“We have been approached under the cloak of assistance and …read more

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Malaysakini’s report, Mahathir may return to center stage, is quite scary to say the least.
Even a foreign diplomat has his reservation…. the same report quoted:
“Mr Najib is a carbon copy of Dr Mahathir and we fear in his rise to power a possible return of iron-fisted rule and intolerance for dissent and curbs on he political opposition,” said a diplomat with a European mission, on condition of anonymity.
On the local front, only Zaid Ibrahim had the gut to speak his mind:
“Najib is smart and articulate but to change the course of Umno, he has to be brave and why …read more

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So UMNO top guns are happy now that the transition plan is earlier than what was originally proposed by Pak Lah. Come March next year, Pak Lah is supposed to transfer power to… of all person, Najib.
Now, have UMNO members forgotten that Najib is also a major part of the problem? Have UMNO members overlooked one of the main issues as part of the overall transition plan… that is who the replacement should be? Najib name comes up because he is now the Deputy Prime Minister and 2nd man in UMNO top echelon… but brothers and sisters in UMNO… do …read more

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How obvious. Sending RPK to Kamunting when his habeas corpus application is about to he heard is yet another desperate act by Pak Lah and his increasingly obselete and irrelevant government.
This is clearly another proof that the ISA is in fact an ‘Ikut Suka Aku’ act continually being misused by the power that be to surpress dissenting views among the opposition parties and their supporters.
Anwar Ibrahim now not only owes it to the Malaysian people to make the new Pakatan Rakyat Government a reality as soon possible, but also to RPK, one of his supporters that had fought tirelessly for …read more

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On August 20th 200, I asked myself, is Sheih next blogger to be arrested? Today, 17th September 2008, the question is duly answered, affirmative. Sheih had been arrested under Sedition Act, the same fearful law that was used to nab Bakaq a.k.a Penarik Beca.
For the uninitiated, Sheih is well known as an anti-establishment blogger for a long time, but his trouble only began when he started a blog campaign to fly the Malaysian flag upside down, giving the power that be a ‘good’ excuse to come down hard on Sheih and Sedition Act seems just perfect for that.
In the meantime, …read more

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Zaid Ibrahim did the right thing by quitting. He should have done it much earlier when his agenda for judiciary reform didn’t get the support from the top BN officials. But like the saying goes, better late than never. I, for one, had lost my confidence and respect for Zaid, known as one of many in UMNO that can be considered gemstone among pebbles, for his failure to pursue the much needed reform of the tainted Malaysian judiciary.
Now that Zaid has confirmed his stand on his resignation, thus his disagreement over the use of ISA against the civilians, we …read more

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