Head hunt for candidates, and do it now! (UPDATED with Chinese Translation)

It is time the opposition looked outside the party. Party loyalists can revert to party un-loyalists if the price is right. So who cares about party loyalty when it comes with a price and loyalty can be bought and sold? I would look at those who have proven themselves as champions of the people rather than champions of the party -- the party that pays them the most money.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The policy was to contest every single seat, parliament as well as state. Barisan Nasional must never be allowed to win a single seat uncontested. No menang tanpa tanding (walk over) for Barisan Nasional. They would be given a fight even in constituencies where Barisan Nasional can easily win without any effort.

For example, in Gua Musang, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah would be able to win whether he contested as an Umno candidate, on an opposition ticket, or even as an independent. There was no way the opposition can dislodge Ku Li from his ‘kingdom’. Whomsoever contests in Gua Musang against Ku Li would be committing hara-kiri. It is a suicide mission and ‘sure death’.

Nevertheless, an opposition candidate would be fielded against Ku Li -- even though it was a futile exercise and ‘the Prince of Kelantan politics’ can retain his seat with both eyes closed and two hands tied behind his back. Someone would be ‘sent to his death’ in Gua Musang. He will be the sacrificial lamb, the kambing hitam to be slaughtered by Ku Li. Ku Li would definitely win and the opposition candidate would definitely be defeated, maybe even lose his deposit as well if the loss is that great. But a candidate will still be fielded against Ku Li, not with the possibility that he could win but just for the heck of it.

This strategy almost worked if not for the fact that some opposition candidates went MIA (missing in action). Something happened on the way to the office, the stand-up comedian would normally say. In this case, something happened on the way to the nomination centre. Some opposition candidates were paid off to disappear and to not turn up at the nomination centre. A few Barisan Nasional candidates did win uncontested after all when the opposition could not find their missing candidates.

When the nominations closed, Barisan Nasional got in with a few seats uncontested. However, except for these few, the majority of the seats were going to be contested. Barisan Nasional would win many more come polling day. A handful of the opposition candidates would win, of course, but a mere handful. Maybe Kelantan would remain opposition. The other states would remain Barisan Nasional. And Barisan Nasional would come in with a two-thirds majority in Parliament with, at best, 30 or 40 seats going to the opposition.

There are those who questioned the logic of contesting every single seat, knowing that the opposition could never win every single seat. Why not pick and choose only the ‘winnable’ seats to contest? Why contest those seats that you know you can’t win? After all, the opposition does not have enough candidates, or money needed to finance the many candidates. So why not just contest the seats the opposition can be assured of winning? Why also contest the seats you know you are going to lose, or spend all that money you do not have?

That was the other school of thought. And this was what people like Dr Chandra Muzaffar too believed, at the time when he was still an opposition leader of course. Select the winnable seats and contest only those seats. Forget about the seats that Barisan Nasional will never lose. It costs money to contest the general election. So why waste money you don’t have? And why field candidates in sure-lose seats when, in the first place, do you do not have enough candidates?

But no, the ego of the opposition would never allow Barisan Nasional to win any seat without a contest. Even if we lose we must still fight. We fight not only when we can be assured of winning. That is a coward’s strategy. We fight even if we know we are going to lose. That is what a ‘real man’ must do.

So it does not matter who the candidates are. After all, they are not going to win anyway. Send anyone. It does not matter who that person is. No need to choose our best man. We are going to lose that seat anyway. So why send our best man? We just want someone who is prepared to ‘die’, as he surely will. So why send our best man to die? Send someone not that good. We are sending him not to win but to be sacrificed.

That was the strategy. It was not a strategy to win. It was a strategy to make up the numbers. It was a strategy to send our best candidates to constituencies which we can win and the not so good to constituencies we can never win in a million years.

It was a good strategy. It was a good strategy if we are assured of winning a few seats and assured of losing many seats. The good candidates would be saved for the sure-win constituencies. And the not so good candidates would be sacrificed in the sure-lose constituencies.

It is not that easy to get good candidates anyway. Who would want to contest the general election on an opposition ticket? Who wants to make a fool of himself or herself by contesting the general election just to lose? Why contest when you are guaranteed of losing?

So the opposition lacked the ability to attract good candidates. And this was quite understandable. Those with any brains would never back a loser. Only brainless losers back losers. And the opposition is far from being the winner. The 2004 general election proved this. In 2004, many opposition candidates not only lost the election but lost their deposits as well. That was how disastrous it was in 2004. And why should 2008 be any different?

But the unexpected happened. What no one thought would happen did happen. The opposition won the seats they never expected to win. And lo and behold, they had fielded their ‘Grade B’ candidates in these seats. Some were not even ‘Grade B’ but ‘Grade C’. These are seats they thought they were never going to win in a million years. But these are seats they did win in 2008.

The opposition was caught with its pants down. It won many seats in 2008. And many of these seats were seats it did not think it could win but did win. And the candidates in these seats were not their best candidates. They were candidates who were supposed to lose. They were candidates sent out to ‘die’. They were candidates selected as sacrificial lambs, to be eaten by the Barisan Nasional lions.

But the lions did not eat the sacrificial lambs. Instead, the sacrificial lambs ate the lions. And the opposition ended up with many seats it never figured it would end up with. And the people now holding those seats are people the opposition would rather do without.

It was a good strategy. Field the best candidates in the winnable seats. Simply field anyone in the non-winnable seats. Pick whomsoever happened to be around that day and slot them in the seats you know you are going to be massacred. Just give an appearance of challenging Barisan Nasional in every constituency. It is only an appearance. You are not really giving Barisan Nasional a fight since you did not field your best candidates in those seats.

Yes, it was a good strategy. But it was a strategy that went wrong. You ended up with more seats than you thought you would end up with. And you ended up with more state assemblypersons and parliamentarians than you thought you would end up with. But not all are people whom you would have liked to have as state assemblypersons and parliamentarians. They were supposed to have lost the elections, the sacrificial lambs to be slaughtered by Barisan Nasional.

And now that strategy gone wrong has come home to roost. The opposition is seeing these candidates leave for greener pastures. They were not supposed to have won in the first place. They were supposed to have lost. But they did win. And now that they have won they want to leave the opposition to join Barisan Nasional where the pickings are better.

This is both good and bad. It is good in the sense that the opposition has now learned not to take things lightly. Don’t contest half-heartedly what you thought were non-winnable seats by fielding the worst candidates in those constituencies. You never know. You might end up winning those seats instead.

It is bad in that Barisan Nasional has also learned its lesson. If they can get enough opposition parliamentarians to cross over to Barisan Nasional then they will regain their two-thirds majority in parliament where they can redraw the election boundaries so that 2008 can never be repeated.

The opposition can, again, win 50% of the votes in the next general election. But the opposition’s share of 50% of the votes would translate to less than one-third of the seats in parliament while Barisan Nasional’s 50% will give them two-thirds. This is what they can do if they can get enough opposition parliamentarians to cross over before the next election.

Fine, looking at what happened in 2004, no one can blame the opposition for thinking that 2008 would be no better. However, against all odds, it was better. And this is why we are seeing the current exodus of crossovers. It is because of a good strategy that backfired, which means it was not that good a strategy after all.

Who do we blame for this? On hindsight, the opposition is to be blamed. But it is always easy to be an expert on hindsight. What about on foresight? If we feel that the opposition made a mistake in fielding bad candidates, whose fault is it? The opposition was begging for potential candidates to come forward and offer themselves as candidates. But not many were prepared to offer themselves as candidates. So the opposition was forced to select those not worthy of being candidates to field in the election.

Next time around, those of calibre must come forward to offer themselves as candidates. And the opposition must, on its part, be prepared to select people from outside the party. Never mind if they are not party people. Never mind if they are from the NGOs, civil society movements, activists, academicians, writers, Bloggers, or whatnot. Select them as candidates even if they have no party track record but are qualified and capable. This is what must happen the next time around, if there is a next time.

Head hunt for candidates for the next general election. And do it now rather than later. Identify good potential candidates and start talking to them now. And if the government suddenly holds a snap election you will not be caught off-guard. You will have your list of potential candidates ready. Then you won’t scramble to fill in the slots and be forced to field half-past-six people as candidates like last time.

I have my own list of some possible candidates. There are of course many more. These are not party people. In fact, some may have even been critical of the opposition, and even more critical of Barisan Nasional. These are people with qualifications and calibre. These are people with integrity and commitment. These are people who could become rich if they went into Barisan Nasional but choose not to even if they remain poor. These are people who not only know how to serve the country but also can never be made to change sides even if millions were at stake.

Is the opposition ready to break away from tradition? Is the opposition ready to abolish cronyism, the very thing they accuse Barisan Nasional of but which exists in the opposition as well? Has what is going on of late taught the opposition the lesson it dire needs?

I hope to see at least, say, 20 candidates for parliament and, say, 50 candidates for the state seats come from the ranks of the NGOs, civil society movements, activists, academicians, writers, Bloggers, or whatnot. That is only 10% or so of the total number of seats. Is 10% too much to ask? Is it not better to ‘lose’ 10% of the seats to these types of ‘non-party people’ rather than lose ‘party candidates’ to Barisan Nasional due to crossovers?

The ball is now at the feet of the opposition. I just hope they know which direction the goalpost is. I can forgive the opposition for its disaster in choosing candidates in the 2008 general election because I know why that happened. But there is no excuse or forgiving if it happens again after we now know what must be done. If they do this again even I might leave the opposition in disgust and go into retirement.

Translated into Chinese at: http://ccliew.blogspot.com/2010/03/blog-post_02.html

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Comments (36) Add Comment

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written by DPG, March 04, 2010 00:16:34

Fully agree with RPK. Forget party members who may rave and rant because they were not selected as candidates. These members are not of the right calibre if they rave and rant, like Nallakaruppan who left PKR and cursed Anwar just because he was not selected as a candidate in a by-election. It is good that these people show themselves early for what they are. Head hunt now. Look at good people, people who are already fighting for a just cause and sacrificing their time, money, and risk being arrested for their believes and cause.

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written by Prince Yuva, March 03, 2010 09:21:11

Lamb slaughter the lions?
He he he he smilies/grin.gif

Who can forget how Semi Value was defeated...
Not a batalion of army that defeated him but the power of people....
Lets prove 2008 is not the best we can do....
Next election we will performing even BETTER smilies/cheesy.gif

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written by freerpk, March 03, 2010 08:18:46

Yes, I whole heartedly agree with YM RPK that PR must get candidates who are honorable & willing to work for the people and not make the mistake of choosing those, who when elected, are only interested in putting up RM2/= company to get state contracts. smilies/angry.gif

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written by Aduh, March 02, 2010 23:53:08

Motherchell,

I like his headgear. It suits well on him. He is the funniest clown I have ever seen. !!! If I am a circus operator I will certainly engage him.

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written by Sabahfan, March 02, 2010 20:57:38

This is another well written and thought of article for the counrty from the man being hunted by the corrupted UMNO regime. no wonder they are trying hard to get him. However, I would like to add more proposals to make RPKs plan and idea work.
WE HAVE how many million population in MALAYSIAL? common on, dont tell me just one percent is NOT qualified and the next YB including his willingness to drop whatever he is doing now and go into politics. There will always be a LONG queue if we open up the YB candidate post for application. So the important step should be all those party members queueing up to be candidates MUST be willing to be scrutinised just like a future President of the United States is put to scrutiny. Meaning HIS total background checked. No mistress, no ugly loans no drinking habits no gambling habits

Education what sorts of ideology he was subjected to in the past, such as IF Uitm graduates, either screen him/her for the rascist indoctrination OR maybe if possible first offload from his brain all the rascist indoctrination from Uitm etc.

Check family background, even check wifes background becos they are all influences in life. Candidates should even be disqualified if they have a fat greedy mama tagging along.

After all these are done, the candidate must be fit with some kind of homing devices so that he knows his where abouts is tracked for the next 5 years after winning It is not just about mistrusting him as YB but also as a form of protection in case he is kidnapped bu UMNO regime. and lastly all chosen candidate should be informed that if he is the first to jump, the penalty is ASSISNATION.

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written by Democrats, March 02, 2010 19:48:21

I nominate Haris Ibrahim, Bernard Khoo and Dr Rafick to contest.

I support them 100%.....

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written by lynn, March 02, 2010 19:09:35

PR must produce a list - start working on it now - whereby potential candidates must be vetted for their stand on corruption, their views on various issues (endless list), whether they had been to pross-es, things like 'are you a paedophile' (melaka candidates, hahaha), have u been to jail, have you ever borrowed from Ah Long, anyone in your family borrowed from Ah Long, do you gamble, do you drink, do you fcuk around, are you gay or lesbie, do you have financial troubles, etc. If a candidate has too many 'weaknesses', he/she may be liable to be 'contained' by bn.... commenters can help compile this list. Let us start working hard now.... all of us here, to help PR to control Parliament.

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written by lynn, March 02, 2010 19:05:15

Alright, shit floats. That's how these froggies are ...... faeces that float across to bn.

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written by lynn, March 02, 2010 19:02:56

RPK,
As suggested earlier, sorry to repeat, but all candidates standing under PR ticket must sign a Statutory Declaration on their own free will and accord that they will not leave PR thru' inducements via cash or via threats. If anyone wants to leave PR for any reason after he/she won in GE13 under PR's banner, he or she must automatically step down & call for by-election.

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written by lynn, March 02, 2010 18:59:49

RPK, your presence during the run-up to GE12 really swayed the voters to swing to PR. When news got out you will be at SS2, my gawd, the crowds just kept swelling and swelling by the tens of thousands. I was there, the people came and came & kept coming, inspite of the rain.

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written by panca, March 02, 2010 18:58:22

This brings me back to a true life story of my school days, three of my classmates, one that fought with the other two or to be exact two guys whacked the shit out of him(one guy). This happened right after the school bell went off and the next day the one guy would have bruises and wound over him and every other day he would shout at the two guys to take him on but he ended up beaten up but those two guys had a hard time with him. This continued for a long time until the two guys surrendered because they just could not defeat him even he was beaten in each fight ( but they had their fair share of punches too). You could hear shout and commotion of fights between these three guys actually we called one guys whacked two guys that put up their hands. That was the story of one with a fighting spirit - 'a no walk-over'. But many years after that we went separate ways to work and the last I heard of this one guy was he was involved in a gang fight and was slashed on the face where part of the face skin came off a lil bit and lying in the hospital bed, the mother was crying. He told his mother not to cry as he was not dead yet and he retorted, "that soon I would be out of here(hospital) and those guys out there would be in here".

So this a man who would not be defeated. Nope, I am not promoting violence but you just could not break such a guy's fighting spirit. With salute I would for him.

This is in line with the favorite saying I pick up that is "It is not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog that matters". I mean a real dog fight (not mca or mic fight), has anyone seen a real dog, ferocious dog fight in the street(fighter)? See them roll and roll with their fangs but not to much stray dogs these days because some vietnamese already helped clean up perhaps.

No walk over remember! The wind of change is here when you prepare to fight with real good people as candidates for your next victory, the like when you simply fielded ayam itik and won in the last election and turned out to be frogs. Pakatan Pact get the drift.....

I have one indeed, a well like and respected banker, I hope he offer himself when opportunity knocks!

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written by lynn, March 02, 2010 18:57:40

When I saw Nurul in Brickfields prior to March 8, people of all races rushed forward to take a look at her. The people loved her. And she is Anwar's daughter. You really believe so many people hate Anwar? I don't think so. Nurul was a like a celebrity. PR must field her in a difficult constituency. She is one fantastic gal!

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written by minime, March 02, 2010 18:25:21

Anwar...choose me for Kulim....i'm a registered voter there.and i'm a indian convert to muslim...
this way, u have both the malay and indians votes..since Paya Besar is under Kulim, u bet to
have the indians' support

i'm not a member of any political part...but i bet u my honour cannot be bought by any!

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written by capricorn, March 02, 2010 17:02:37

Yes RPK. PLease forward your list to Pakatan. Candidates must be those with integrity and cannot be bought over, no matter how much BN/UMNO offered them. I believe Pakatan esp Keadilan have learnt their lessons well. During the last GE not many epxected the opposition to win, and so this was the cause for a lack of quality candidates. But no more, anyone selected by the opposition stands a realsitic chance, as long as it is not in the fixed deposit states, which should be the next challenge for Pakatan. So for now, never mind the frogs jumping over. It is better to chop off the rot now..

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written by Sunshine1, March 02, 2010 16:48:35

Really we cannot do anything about this gerrymandering thingee nor can we do much about froggies and fraud of phantom voters. However apart from vetting for more principled candidates via head hunting for GE13 which is the job of PR with advices from RPK and other well intention bloogers or NGOs, we the Rakyat can do more than just casting our precious vote for PR. We should do our own " VOTER GET VOTERS" campaign by personalising our email signature. i.e sign off with this " VOTER GET VOTERS" campaign for a FREE & BETTER Malaysia ( auto generated) . This is what we all can do personally without much efforts. Another idea to raise political awareness is to ask MT or other bloggers to print T-shirts and car stickers with those words and sell to us readers. Please vote me up if you are receptive to this ideas and willing to buy this POLITICAL ACTIVIST awareness items so that we can persuade MT Admin to do it for fund raising too. I am willing to buy 10 T-shirts and 20 car stickers or pin buttons, give to my friends and MOST important is to wear them. Any1 of you support my ( actually it was RPK New Year wishes of all Malaysian of " VOTER GET VOTERS" campaign. Please do vote me up to send a message to MT to print n sell this products. TQ

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written by LC Teh, March 02, 2010 15:14:59

Dear RPK,

So far UMNO has confidently or rather, arrogantly and blatantly ignored all pleas to clean up their house and take action on those found guilty of corruption. Instead they have even become openly racist in spite of the 1Malaysia slogan shouting which makes them sound so hollow. Don't you think UMNO will aim to make use of the precedent to get the King to appoint their own PM even if the opposition wins the next elections?

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written by gindow, March 02, 2010 12:37:31

Calling all head of PR....DAP,PKR & PAS.....
PLEASE heed what RPK has suggested,or else its goodbye to PR in the next GE13!!!
Get the ball rolling now before its too late.
I do hope that we will never see Frogs & Toads jumping ship after being elected,
a real menace to the society!!!!

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written by Sashi Nair, March 02, 2010 10:28:22

The quality of candidates represent the quality of members in the party, s before talking about candidates, maybe PKR should reach out to more 'quality' members, for example the NGO type's who have been working for years without much funding or support, lets put ppl form tenaganita, SIS, Ceupacs, Suaram, Aliran and MTUC on the ticket. Put your $ where you mouth is, DSAI and awaken civil society............

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written by Aria, March 02, 2010 10:15:35

The opposition has only one more chance and it is the next elections. Therefore they better forget about their traditions, or become unemployed. This is about Malaysia and not about Pakatan, because the people who voted in 2008 voted for change and again in 2013 the voters will be voting for change. If the rakyat see’s a party (Pakatan) who are just waiting to have their turn to loot the country then why vote? Bring in your cronies then you will only have to restrict the media and control the government departments before looting the country…….So why vote Pakatan?

There are hundreds of thousands of candidates to choose from. If Pakatan puts up an advertisement in the newspaper for candidates, there will be thousands of people responding. The people that respond should be qualified, such as having a Masters, PHD, Doc etc. and have experience in leadership and cares for the country more then about self-riches. There is no excuse for not having the best candidate. This is just like our national hockey or football team, the best people are not chosen because of race, religion and knowing the right person. Every candidate of Pakatan this time must be the very best and anyone currently who does not meet this requirement must step down. The rakyat are not interested if the candidates were not previously a party loyalist, but rather that they are clever people who will do good for Malaysia.

The Paktan party is only a symbol for candidates who are going to serve Malaysia. The Pakatan party better break its tradition or it is just going to be another UMNO. As RPK said “Don’t wait till the next elections before looking for candidates”. This will also show the rakyat that Pakatan has learnt its lesson and is going to be an even better party come next elections.

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written by Old Man, March 02, 2010 06:58:51

Sir RPK, I do agree with your ideas and strategies.
Candidates should not think that they fighting for the future of their children or grandchildren BUT for the RAKYAT.
What's is the use of accumulating so much wealth when their great grandchildren will not even know the names their great grandfathers!
Candidates should not be intimidated by those racist NGOs, MCC or whatever shit. If you want peace and dignity for our Country, you've to be prepared for war against those parasites of our Country! After all, everybody has to die sooner or later. Sir RPK, we shall march with you! Thank you...

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written by Better My, March 02, 2010 05:38:46

Re".....prepared to select people from outside the party. Never mind if they are not party people. Never mind if they are from the NGOs, civil society movements, activists, academicians, writers, Bloggers, or whatnot."

Agree. These people have full of passion. Give them a crush course on opposition system. then you have a potentially great group of candidates. Ought to be tried out more.

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written by educationist, March 02, 2010 04:26:33

Yes, a very good suggestion indeed!!
But the problem may be that there are many qualified candidates like u in 2008 who may not want to contest on a opposition ticket.
Well,we cannot complain then, can we/
We get the government we deserve.!!

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written by Semuaok, March 02, 2010 02:18:08

RPK should be the candidate for Pekan. Make Najis pee in his pants

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written by Aduh, March 02, 2010 01:15:35

No matter how badly a party needs to field a non-party candidate, the person MUST NOT BE ibrahim ali . Look what the frog has done to PAS who was kind enough to allow him to contest under PAS ticket.

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written by rocky, March 02, 2010 01:13:31

well said. time to start the head hunting. also learn a few best pratices from within PR. PAS seems to able to retain its MPs/Adun. DAP has done well minus the hooker. PKR got a whole lot of learning to do. and Sabah and Sarawak is another ball game. So PR folks,. listen to RPK..time to start was yesterday. smilies/wink.gif

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written by Motherchell, March 02, 2010 01:11:19

My Dear Storm62, Well said!!
This headgear was personally chosen for the new 76 Battalions of the UMNO Malay warriors by Najib himself to threaten the "instability" of the Country and the World --- to frighten the "enemy" to switch sides and to make it more earthquake proof---they tested the headgear in Washington recently --and found that it hit OBAMA's stomach muscles . These Warriors including the "Anti Communist" from Penang have sneaked back to their motherland SAS commando style. They are on R&R now.

cheers !

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written by storm62, March 02, 2010 00:27:58

Dear Motherchell,

that's a nice piece of picture...hi hi hi.

is that the new "head gear" of the "ketuanan melayu umno" warriors ???

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written by flyer168, March 01, 2010 23:19:51

Dear Pet,

You have finally said it for PKR & PR (Enough is enough...after giving them the Barisan Rayaat support & the benefit of doubt) & this is their last chance for what its worth....

To support your 2nd last paragraph, Party Loyalist can contribute just so much.....but "Fresh Talents" are required to move the party forward with "New & not Recycled" Strategies/Programmes.

Could it all be a case of "The 080308 Dream" with so many candidates "Roped in as Accidental Politicians" & who are now falling by the wayside one by one...

Two years have passed, when we could have helped them with the formation of the 3rd Front and/or helped them to get a good number of "Honourable Established & Dedicated Professionals/ Technocrats" within that "Timeframe" to fill up their 2nd Line Echelon Pool & to move the party forward...whilst they were busy fighting the "fires around them"....

As a matter of fact, I had suggested the above to YB Nurul Izzah & YB Khalid Samad at one gathering sometime last year, but they were too busy fighting the fires I suppose....

"All the PR Leaders needed to do, was to call for an AGM/EGM to get the "Mandate" to recruit & accept these group as Party "Associate members" for a period of 1 year, 3 years or 5 years before being absorbed as full members based on their performance.

Well, it might be a little late now....with so many branch Leaders/members disillusioned & "Jumping Ship"...

To quote you: "But there is no excuse or forgiving if it happens again after we now know what must be done. If they do this again even I might leave the opposition in disgust and go into retirement." Unquote.

Yes, I will join you in retirement too, Pet.

Cheers & take care.

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written by cheekhiaw, March 01, 2010 23:14:14

The problem with any election is if there are enough idiots around any thief can win. And that's what those thieves had managed to do in the last few decades - creating enough idiots.

xxx

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written by Motherchell, March 01, 2010 23:09:52

And for GODS sake ,DO NOT select a candidate who would run away after selling his
1) Constituency and Country,
2) Culture,
3)expect Rm15K/month,
4)expect us, the tax payers to pay for his luxury cars, (Porche,Benzes,etc)
5)moonlight with his own business
6)Have tens of mistresses, a kaki botol and gambler and run away on taxpayers foreign trips with some UMNOPUTRAS,
Etc, Etc. Let that candidate not bring shame to the Party and to the people of Malaysia by making the whole World laugh at us as this minion you see here!

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written by Bullchick, March 01, 2010 23:00:37

Also, do not overlook the fact the the UMNO /BN leeches and parasites, especially the older leaders are already desperate and most of them are clutching at straws to stay afloat! Their arrogance and continued state of denial and their desperation will render them clumsy and careless and this is where PR can capitalise on. Be sure to pick sincere and reliable candidates who have the rakyat's welfare uppermost in their minds. Go for the jugular, PR!

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written by hellosunshine, March 01, 2010 22:59:01

Damn! If BN were to carry out GE13 now, the opposition will surely be caught with their pants down. RPK is right on why PR must get their act together and start screening, short listing, training and grooming selected candidates for GE13. Having said that, we all know how difficult it is to get really honest to goodness politicians in Malaysia. It's like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Think and look outside the box. Better get cracking, PR. Pronto!

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written by Bullchick, March 01, 2010 22:37:14

The scum is starting to float to the surface and it is time for PR to start skimming off these slimeballs and throw them away. The separation of the scum from the clean water below is most likely aided by the monetary attractions offered by Jibby and his cohorts. PR must recognise this and take this opportunity to clean up their backyards, even if may appear to be cruel and heartless to the suspected scumbags. Surely their actions over the past 2 years would have revealed their true characters! This is particularly so in PKR! DSAI has got to be smarter than that. DSAI, you have the likes of Zaid Ibrahim, Chua Jui Meng, Tan Yee Kew, Tan Tee Kwong and many others to help you in the task of housecleaning! Start weeding your garden, otherwise you will find your crops and flowers overcome by these undesirable weed.

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written by sahabat, March 01, 2010 22:28:35

I was amongt the firsts to join PKR. I worked so hard until now. But sadly I was nearly left out as the candidate in GE12 and to be replaced by somone who had done nothing at all to the party let alone to the people. If this person was selected and won for certain he would jump to BN because he did not know anything what PKR is all about.

Loyalty to the party and understanding the true struggle of the party are the most required elements to be a candiadte and not based on who you know in the party leadership.

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written by fireduck, March 01, 2010 22:21:56

The new Year of the Tiger is starting off great for Pakatan. All these unprincipled individuals should have been swept out long ago. What took them so long? I hope more will leave PKR as the leadership took in too many opportunists in the scramble to field candidates for the last election. So this is really good and positive developments for us. Keep it going. Clean house now before the next GE.

DAP has an image problem, unfairly smeared upon it as a Chinese chauvinist party. PAS has an equally big problem as many people are put off by the mix of religion & politics. PKR was supposed to be middle-of-the-road party and because of that was able to harness a lot of energy from very many dedicated and positive people. Alas, it is also the party that, in its earnest drive to political centrestage, it forgo the need for careful vetting of candidates and membership. Now it is the component party that seems to be breaking apart or riddled with holes in the face of the onslaught by UMNO's divide-and-rule tactics.

In the event Anwar is taken down by Najib in the Sodomy2 case, and PKR is left too riddled with holes left by the frogs, may I suggest a Plan B be readied. There are many quality and sincere reps and members in PKR who believe in, and work courageously for those changes for the better but are unfortunately caught in this cesspool of dirty politics played by UMNO against the Pakatan. We should not let them lose their hopes and aspirations, and should allow them the opportunity to see their efforts come into fruition.

If they are dragged down by PKR the party, Plan B should be initiated, and a new party, led by Zaid Ibrahim (or even Tengku Razaleigh) should immediately be formed, to allow these people to join and continue the struggle. Understandably, many may not be able to contribute via the other two parties, DAP & PAS, for one reason or another, so a new party that champions the People's Declaration, etc, should be set up.

And hopefully, this time around, the membership criteria is more stringent.

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written by eloofk, March 01, 2010 22:19:26

Who would have thought that Anwar's daughter Nurul who has never been in politics, could slaughter the arrogant Minister for Women, Family and Community Development?