Saturday, October 15, 2011

KUDOS SELANGOR!

Am I not proud to be a rakyat of the state of Selangor? I can boastfully say that I am extremely proud to be one. I am from Kampung Sg. Serai, Ulu Langat, Selangor, born 67 years ago during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. I was too little then to know the atrocities carried out by the Japanese soldiers upon my kampong folks; only to hear some horrific stories of the Japanese occupation related to me by my parents. One story has it that in order to solicit information from a person, the Japanese would bloat a person’s tummy with soap water and when the tummy is filled; a wooden plank is placed on the person’s tummy to be stepped upon vigorously until the person vomits. This was then repeated several times until the Japanese gets what they wanted from the person.

Then came the First Malayan Emergency and I was a bit older. As a child, seeing soldiers roaming the jungle behind my grandmother’s house excites me. The soldiers were of mixed nationalities i.e. British, Africans, Gurkhas and some others from the Commonwealth countries. There were also some Malay soldiers though, and I can still remember the soldiers were from 6th Battalion Royal Malay Regiment that was camped at Batu 9, Cheras-Ulu Langat road junction. This was the battalion that I first served upon being commissioned as a military officer in 1966.

I have seen dead communist terrorist (CT) being carried out ‘unceremoniously’ from the jungle areas. Lining up the road and showing a ‘thumbs up’ at passing British soldiers will get us a few imported English manufactured chocolates and biscuits. I also know of a number of my village elders that had gone missing; and their bodies never to be found till this day. They were believed to have been kidnapped by CTs and killed, supposedly for being an agent of the British government. I do not know if the British have ever rewarded these missing persons or claimed that they were their agents. I don’t think so, and I am yet to hear anything being said about them and the truth about their disappearance. If indeed, they died because they were deemed a British informant/sympathizer, are their families not granted a similar privilege accorded to former soldiers, policemen and auxiliary police that served the British during the First Malayan Emergency for a one-off RM3000 handout as ‘decreed’ by PM Najib recently?

I read the writings of Noaz Nair in an article titled ‘ Khalid: Better than all past UMNO MB’s combined, but can he retain Selangor’, posted in the Malaysia Chronicle dated Saturday, 15 October 2011. I am even more proud now having read the article when it says that Selangor is the most prosperous and developed state in the country, with the highest GDP. Not only has Selangor done well economically, but the four opposition-held states i.e. Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan collectively accounts for 53% of the country’s FDI at RM25 billion of the total RM47.2 billion. If the four opposition-held states can come with such startling achievement, why can’t the other states perform well too? And don’t tell me they (BN controlled states) require another 54 years to come to level the achievement of the four opposition-held states.

And this reminds me of a statement made by a friend recently when he said, “Just look at Singapore; a state void of any natural resources can achieve tremendous economic achievement; but Malaysia endowed with numerous natural resource is way off its mark – why is this so?” The only answer that I can think of is what I have been saying all along – CORRUPTION, INCOMPETENT LEADERS AND ADMINISTRATORS and my crusade against corruption will continue for as long as I can think and write.


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION

13 comments:

bruno said...

Dato,the states doing the best under PR are Selangor and Penang.And when these two states were under BN,they were doing many times worse because of widespread corruption and cronism.Although nothing much can be said about Kedah,it is none the less doing better than when it was under BN.

All said,Selangor is vulnerable of falling back to Umno.And it is not because of MB Khalid.It is because of the power struggle within PKR.It is Anwar's blue eyed boy Azmin.His faction has been sabotaging and undermining Khalid's leadership since day one.And it has made Khalid look like a weakling.

Just look at the Hulu Selangor by-election.What looks like a sure win ended up in defeat.And contraversies like the raiding of convenient stores selling beer and the raid of churche's under the noses of the PR's administration tells that.And both these incidents have the backing of the PAS MP.If this PAS MP is not a trojan than why is he always on the wrong side of the divide.

mask topeng said...

Salam Dato'. Dato', talking about the Brits, Japs and the CTs, the Brits were here to "suck out" all the natural resources and building their empire back home. The Japs were here to widen their empire all over Asia and the CTs initially known as MPAJA fighting the Japs. (Correct me if my Geography is in correct.) So, there were a multinational forces in Malaya then fighting for the Brits including the locals. These forces were paid by the Brits for fighting for them (including the locals, tak kira mereka dari Federation Regiment atau pun The Famous Royal Malay Regiment). In modern day these forces are called "Mercenaries". Now my question is about our Pahlawan Negara Lt Adnan Saidi, is Lt Adnan Saidi really a Pahlawan Negara or just a Mercenary who was paid by the Brits for their our interest. Lt Adnan Saidi fought against the Japs for the Brits and these event happen before Malaya got its independence. Just curious.

maurice said...

Bruno, is good to hear that PKR is doing well in Penang and Selangor for we need honest and capable party to rule the country.Maybe they might do well also if given the opportunity in states like Sarawak, Sabah etc..However I have a nagging doubt about PKR's ability at the national level.For example I have yet to see or hear any PKR politician articulating his/her idea/view on how National Defence should be organized if they come to power. Without such vision how could we trust them to govern the country?

Mej. A R Ramachandran (Retired) said...

Dato',
I am surprised at your impression of Selangor. Yesterday, the DPM described Selangor as almost going bankrupt, traders unable to carry on with business etc.etc. I wonder how he can come to these conclusions and also get away with comments undermining a state. When LGE commented, everyone jumped!
@ mask topeng, I like your typical Malaysian Army Officer's expression "my geography may be wrong". I wonder if others caught it?

Malaysian said...

Dato

This is an article about the police and army forces joint patrol on our street. May I know what is your opinion on the Army patroling the street? I felt it's unnecessary for the army to patrol the street since we're not invaded by foreign power or terrorist. I felt the police force and government are not doing any research on what causes the increase of crime rates.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/10/15/nation/20111015183504&sec=nation


Salam

Mohd Arshad Raji said...

Dear Rama,

The traders that the DPM is referring to are the UMNO traders. Yes, I am fully aware about the difficulties placed upon businessman in Selangor. I just spoke to a PKR businessman and he said that he too have to 'line up' like others to do business. No special favors please, he says.

Mohd Arshad Raji said...

Dea Malaysian,

They call this the 'Blue Ocean Strategy' and you can guess what it means. If you ask my personal view, I do not see any justification in the militray doing a street policing role. Ask any military officer if they are taught to perform such a role in peacetime.

maurice said...

Please do not be afraid of changes such as seeing the Army taking a new role of helping the police in policing duties.After all they are helping to protect public security and safety.So why the hue and cry?

The public should instead appreciate the MAF, such a versatile force that could be relied to undertake unending list of tasks for the country.

matsingkong said...

The word 'policing' itself is self explanatory. If army involved, would it be 'armicing'?

maurice said...

Dear Matsingkong,

You are afraid the society will be militarized just because the Army is helping the Police in their beats round?

Please look on the positive side.The Army's presence shows their commitment in helping the Police to reduce street crimes.

Have you not heard of ladies losing their lives, permanent physical injuries, fear and trauma caused by snatch thieves and robberies?

Have you not heard stories of ladies in distress being robbed in daylight at traffic junctions but no one coming to their aid?

So what is wrong for the Army to help the Police to create public awareness that we need to work together to help the Police to counter the threats posed ny these street criminals?

We should accept changes that bring direct benefit to our communities.

mask topeng said...

Well Dato', this is my personal opinion. I don't see any harm in Soldiers doing Policing task. The combat units are involve in operational task, what about the others, buncitkan perut? At least by doing this, the soldiers, i mean the armed forces can get back the due respect back. Just put a General and a police constable on the street, nobody is bothered about the General and that General will be ignored. But the Police constable, orang akan sekurang2nya angkat tangan kat Police Constable, and even some Chinaman will call them Datuk. Thats the fact Dato'. Just look at the soldiers, what are they doing, fitik sini... fitik sana.. pasang khemah kat rumah some politician.. Every time the "Top" change, the policies will change and the new policies will be written in english ataupun with some bombastic english terminology. Lepas tu, semua confuse dari atas sampai bawah, no one knows what is written. That is the fact, terimalah hakikatnya. People kat "Top" are working to impress the politician, nak jaga periok nasi and pocket sendiri. Even at Brigade and COs level. Sorry lah Dato', just my personal view.

mitchell said...

Dear Maurice,
You mentioned so many new crimes that occur everyday in all states and that the army can help out the police force. This is so typical of Malaysians today, know the problem but instead of rectifing it, enlist another organisation which is more disipline to join together not take over but just join together hoping to resolve the crimes. In the end its not PDRM that will become more efficent but MAF will turn out to be corrupt.The source of the problem is the corrupt and inefficent PDRM, change the management, make them independent not teach them to change tyres for ladies in distress!!!

komando said...

How come BLUE Ocean ?

Why not GREEN for the Army's Sake!

Just wondering!