It Ain't Over Til The Fat Lady Sings

There was a whole lot of speculation on the outcome of the cabinet line up.

But no one expected the fat lady to be elbowed out.

At least, I didn't.

Well, she certainly had a big mouth and an incredibly domineering personality to boot.

She appeared to take delight in telling her detractors exactly what she thought of them.

Thierry Rommel, (former EU envoy) has been dismissed as having an "attitude problem" and Michael Backman was told in no uncertain terms that she did not care about what he said.

Unsurprisingly, she did manage to gain the attention of foreign correspondents.

Perhaps the length of her service in the government had them thinking she was a permanent fixture in the parliament. Her departure obviously has them surprised.


Jonathan Head of BBC calls her tough-talking.


John Burton of Financial Times refers to her as old-guard.

I think we can all agree our corrupted AP Queen deserves to be retired to green pastures (and I'm being kind here) but I'm just wondering why Abdullah chose to drop her while maintaining Nazri Aziz and Muhammad Muhammad Taib, two buffoons known for their unrestrainable motor-mouths.

At least Rafidah Aziz, in spite of her blind advocacy of the NEP, was reasonably competent in her field, having both the knowledge and enthusiasm for trade & industry to bring Malaysia to the forefront.

As yet, there's no word from her.

Senator Penny Wong And Malaysia

While Malaysian newspapers went to town with Penny Wong's appointment as Minister for Climate Change and Water, I staunchly refused to join the fray.

But Senator Wong does deserve mention. And while I would love to be associated with her, I'm afraid there's nothing much that we have in common - being Malaysian the least of them.

Senator Wong is firmly an Australian citizen.

Penny Wong left Malaysia a LONG time ago and her success is probably attributed to the fact she did not languish under the Malaysian school education system, where facts are shoved down to be memorised and regurgitated for exams and NOTHING is to be questioned.

Thinking is certainly discouraged.

Criticising is a crime. Almost.

But back to Senator Wong.

Commenting on Prime Minister Rudd's new government in Australia, Michael Backman makes mention of her in his article, Rudd will bring us greater acceptance in Asia:

Another virtue of the incoming government with regards to Asia is the appointment of South Australian senator Penny Wong as Minister for Climate Change and Water. It's a serious and a technically complex role. Senator Wong is of Malaysian Chinese origin — she was born in Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of the Malaysia state of Sabah.

What chance would a person of white Australian ancestry have of being made a government minister in racially charged Malaysia? The answer is, of course, none. Senator Wong's appointment shows how race and ethnicity largely are irrelevancies in public life in Australia.

Throughout the election campaign, Senator Wong issued media releases condemning the then government for various things and the media reported those remarks. Had Senator Wong issued such statements in Malaysia, the media would have at best ignored her. At worst, she could be facing arrest. So, there will be many in Malaysia who will be utterly dumbfounded by Senator Wong's rise. Welcome to 2007.

Yes, it's universally known that we have no freedom of speech and no freedom of expression. After well-documented foreign-media evidence, there is no doubt about that at all.

Backman doesn't stop there. He also makes mention of our rotten eggs.

Certainly, getting rid of a good but long-serving government is no bad thing. The experience of Asia shows why. The coalition that rules Malaysia has been in power non-stop for 50 years. Several ministers are particularly long-serving. Samy Vellu has been Public Works Minister since 1995. Rafidah Aziz has been Trade and Industry Minister since 1987 — that's an extraordinary 20 years in the one portfolio.

Both these ministers are responsible for allocating millions in contracts each year. One can only imagine the relationships that emerge between contractors and ministers with such longevity. Change ministers and such relationships are reduced. Change governments and all relationships are swept away.

This is something I have always tried to explain.

The reason for the extent of our government corruption.

Being in power for so long, the ministers have begun to form relationships, know who they can trust to keep their peccadilloes a secret and gain courage to go beyond their limits.

There is always the temptation (even among the best of us) to succumb to corruption. But nipping it in the bud, through voting out governments are our best bet.

Something for us to think about before we hit the ballot boxes.

EU And Malaysian Ethnic Policies

I was revisiting some old issues which cropped up some months ago and I found some quotable quotes. :)

In Malaysian trade minister slams EU envoy's view on ethnic policies on EU business, Rafidah exhibits the foot-in-mouth disease.

EU ambassador Thierry Rommel had said Malaysia's attraction to foreign investment had weakened because of the education and economic policies favouring bumiputras at the expense of other groups.

Rafidah's responses:

"Mr Rommel doesn't know Malaysia or he has not bothered to find out."

And have you, ma'am?

"... He has always had this problem with his attitude," Rafidah told an audience of industry leaders and diplomats.

Now, now. Getting personal, are we? You seem to have quite a bit of an attitude problem yourself, ma'am.

"I would like to dismiss Mr Rommel's views. It is totally unwarranted. He really raised my blood pressure quite high," Rafidah said.

Blood pressure? I think we have more of an interest in the country's economy than in your blood pressure, ma'am. If you don't mind.

Trading Insults

And so the saga continues.

About a week ago in The Age, a columnist in the Business section, Michael Backman, criticised the Malaysian government for its wasteful spending and lack of accountability.

It was phenomenal. The column became the most emailed item on The Age's website for six days straight and it was replicated in dozens of blogs worldwide. Including that of yours truly, of course. :)

Eventually someone in the infamous Malaysian government got to hear about it.

And so, Mr Backman received an 'unperturbed' response from Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz.

Says she: "What do we care? Obviously, this person doesn't know Malaysia."

Umm. I hate to break it to you, Rafidah, but he's been getting much more feedback about Malaysia from Malaysians than you probably have or ever will.

"I don't really care about what others say – as long as it is not a Malaysian saying it."

Actually Ms Minister, I think about 600 Malaysians just spoke for themselves, judging by the staggering number of emails they sent him. It's just that YOU didn't hear them say it.

If you cared more about what a critic like Backman (who has spent most of his adult life analysing and writing about Asia) said, you wouldn't be in this humiliating position.

Oh, and by the way, someone who calls himself 'Barau' - along with his bunch of friends apparently agree with Backman. Barau and his posse are not alone in their opinions.

Though it appears Backman may have actually started a stampede to immigration.

Davina says, "yea, if we're going to be treated like second class citizens in our own land of birth we might as well go elsewhere and be given better civil liberties EVEN as second class citizens of our new countries."

If the Malaysian government does not represent the people, it is worthless and redundant - simply a white elephant waiting its time out.

Its ridiculous spending habits are legendary - from sending a Malaysian into space, to building the longest undersea cable in the world. It, collectively, has NO clue.

Where would the money be better spent?

Says Backman:

Education is the obvious answer. But not on school buildings, for it matters less in what children are educated than how. And how children are educated in Malaysia is a national disaster.

Learning is largely by rote. In an email to me last week, one Malaysian recalled her schooling as being in a system all about spoon-feeding, memory work and regurgitation.

Students are not encouraged to think for themselves and they become adults who swallow everything they're told.

Which is basically why very few Malaysians question their leaders, criticise their government or start riots.

Those who do think contribute to blogs. :)

But does the Malaysian Government want creative, critical thinkers? Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said to the ruling party's recent general assembly Malaysia needed to make students creative. But that means they must be questioning and thus critical; what hope is there of that when one of Abdullah's own ministers tells Malaysians that they cannot say the things that I can and hundreds of them write to me to complain because they don't feel that they can complain to their own Government?

You tell 'em, Backman. You tell 'em.