A SHOPPING COMPLEX

A SHOPPING COMPLEX

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. I visited one of the newest shopping complexes in Kuala Lumpur.

2. I was impressed.

3. It is not a shopping complex.

4. It is a town, a fully air-conditioned town protected from the sun and rain.

5. There are streets lined with brand named shops, with products displayed beautifully.

6. There are restaurants and supermarkets.

7. Outside more streets, paved, lined by beautifully designed shops.

8. Then there are high rise condos.

9. It is a fantastic development and must have cost billions.

10. I toured the shopping area on a buggy. Too long to walk.

11. I am sure the project belong to Malaysian Chinese.

12. It is more grand than the shopping complexes in London, Tokyo or Seoul, Korea.

13. I feel proud.

14. Really the Malaysian Chinese have good ideas and the money to realisethese ideas.

15. Much of development in this country are by the Malaysian Chinese.

16. The Malays cannot do it.

17. They don’t have the money or the ideas.

18. Their shops are the stalls on the roadside, ramshackle affairs, with blue plastic roofs.

19. Yes, there are Malays who have made good, but there are so few of them.

20. The Malays accepted that the Chinese dominate the economy.

21. They are very good in business.

22. The Malays cannot compete against them.

23. But in the past the Malays dominate the political arena and the administration.

24. So there was a balance.

25. But not now. Now the Chinese are also politically powerful.

26. And they intend to be even more powerful.

27. If they dominate the political arena also, what is there left for the Malays.

28. Is it wrong for the Malays to try to regain a little of their former political dominance.

29. Yes, they are striving for Malay unity.

30. It is not against the Chinese.

31. For over 60 years the Malays dominated the Government.

32. But it was during that time that the Chinese of Malaysia greatly prospered.

33. If the Malays regains the political power, the Chinese would still be neededto prosper the nation.

34. The country would still be a Malay country. It had always been a Malay country.

35. The population may be multiracial.

36. But it does not mean that this country has ceased to be a Malay country.

37. In other countries where migrants settle, they become assimilated.

38. The Malays made a concession to accommodate Chinese and Indians migrants.

39. They need not be assimilated upon gaining citizenship.

40. But that does not mean that the identity of this country must change.

41. By all means make money in Malaysia.

42. Build your super shopping towns.

43. But do not deprive the Malays of their country and their history.

ACCOUNTING

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

** This article was published in THE EDGE DAILY , May 10, 2021

1. Business people know well that keeping accounts when doing business is essential. It is the only way to know whether you are profitable or losing money.

2. When I was a boy, I was familiar with Malay padi farmers. They were friends of my mother. Off and on I would go to stay with the farmer’s family in Teluk Chengai. I and my brother had to walk on the muddy track, crossing little creeks on bridges of coconut tree trunks.

3. At night we would set short fishing rods along the bunds. Then next morning some of the rods had fresh water fish struggling after having swallowed the bait of little frogs.

4. The family was very poor. They had only about an acre of land to grow paddy. When I asked them how much they made in one year, they were unable to tell me. They clearly did not know how much they made.

5. I did not ask but it became obvious to me that they kept no records of any kind. Certainly, they had no account of their padi business. They seem to think that the whole of their harvest was their profit. They did not know how much effort and money they had put in to get their harvest.

6. I believe that this is the weakness among Malays when they do business of any kind. They keep no record of their costs and the returns they get.

7. Maybe things have changed now. But I suspect that many Malay small businesses keep no record of what they spend and what they make from their business.

8. I would like to suggest that elementary accounting be taught at all levels in the schools. In fact, if we can, even at the kindergarten level.

9. They need not learn anything complex. All they need is to record their expenditure on their business and their incomes. They might also add the value of the labour they themselves contribute. The items which should be included in their record of expenditure must be detailed in the lessons. And of course, the money that they earn in the course of doing business must be recorded.

10. Every month they should record the balance so as to bear in mind how well they are doing. Obviously if the monthly record shows their expenditure is more than their income, they should try to find out why. If the money is diverted to other things unrelated to the business, they should stop the practice.

11. It is well known that new entrepreneurs who had borrowed money often spend a portion of the loan on cars and briefcases. Others spend the money on entertainments and treating friends. Sometimes as much as 50% of the loan is used for non-business affairs.

12. What this means is that the interest that has to be paid for the 50% invested would be doubled. Doing business with 50% of the loan, to make money to pay on 100% of the borrowed would be extremely difficult if not impossible. And so the business fails.

13. Many Malays are from families whose parents are wage earners. The children are given pocket money to spend. How the money is earned is of no concern to the children. The money is always there.

14. This develops in the children a comfortable feeling. Money will always be there. This attitude is not good in adult life when money needs to be earned. And invariably the amount earned is not enough when money is spent without caring about what is earned.

15. With this attitude invariably the amount spent would exceed the amount earned. This is when resort is made to borrowings including from Along. The end is well known.

16. But if a habit of recording the money earned and spent, the person would become aware when he is overspending. Then he would stop or think hard before spending beyond his means.

17. With this, there will be less problem with money and with the likes of Along.

ISLAMIC EDUCATION

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

** This article was published in THE EDGE DAILY , May 3, 2021

1. Islam is the official religion of Malaysia. But the Constitution provides for other religions which can be practised freely.

2. Since Islam is the official religion, it is incumbent upon the Malaysian Government to provide Islamic religious education in schools. The idea is to make Muslims knowledgeable of their religion. For those who wish to become Islamic scholars special Islamic schools are provided right up to university level.

3. The curriculum for the religious classes are prepared by the religious scholars. Sometimes they become overzealous and want the students to have deep knowledge of Islam as if they are all going to be religious teachers and ulama’s.

4. Besides this they stress on the compulsory rituals that Muslims must follow. To this they add many rituals which are not compulsory. Some of these may not be in conformity with Islam.

5. The stress on the Islamic way of life is minimal. Yet Muslims like to point out that Islam is not just a religion but is also a way of life. This involve the dos and don’ts, the merit and demerit, the rights and wrongs, the permitted and the forbidden. Together they shape the way of life of the Muslims. If Muslims follow the way of life of Islam they should be successful in life.

6. But as we all know Muslims are not doing well. In Malaysia all Malays are Muslims but the majority of them are poor, not successful in business, and generally in life.

7. Malays are pious. They are seen to be performing their prayers, they fast, they pay zakat (tithes) and they perform the haj. They never neglect to affirm their faith in the one God (Allah) and that Muhammad is His Prophet (messenger).

8. But beyond that what they do in life is not in keeping with the teachings of Islam. If one reads the Quran in a language one understands, (Malay or English) one cannot help but notice that many of the injunctions are not followed by most Malays.

9. Enjoined to regard each other as brothers, we see them deeply divided. They are fond of accusing each other as not being Islamic, not being Muslims even. And politically they fight each other.

10. The Quran forbids Muslims from killing, especially of fellow Muslims. But Malays do get involve in wars fought in the Arab countries.

11. The Quran stresses repeatedly that when you judge you must uphold justice. But there are Malays who disregard justice when they propose that Muslims and non-Muslims be punished differently for the same crimes. For the crime of stealing, they prescribed chopping off the hand for Malays and two-month jail for non-Muslims. Is this just?

12. A woman who has been raped must produce four witnesses or she would be accused of false accusation and punished. Yet in the case of Yusuf and Zulaikha in the Quran, the fact that the shirt of Yusuf was torn at the back was accepted as evidence that it was Zulaikha who was chasing Yusuf even though there were no witnesses.

13. The Quran stresses that you must not cheat in business, that you must be good witness and uphold the truth and be trustworthy.

14. And there are many injunctions and advise in the Quran which would make Muslims good honest people who would be successful in life.

15. If the Malays are unsuccessful in life it is because they don’t follow the injunctions of the Quran. They don’t follow because they are not taught seriously to follow all the injunctions of the Quran or even some of them. They do not follow because normally their parents should teach them. But now both father and mother are working and have little time to raise their children the way advocated by Islam.

16. Since this is no longer possible, the schools must take over the task of instilling in Muslim children the value system of Islam which influences the way of life of Muslims.

17. It is therefore important for the educational authorities to re-examine the curriculum in schools. The best time to instill values is when the children are young. So the teaching of the Islamic values must begin in the kindergarten. Throughout school life the Muslim children must be taught and examined on Islamic values and the way of life of Muslims.

18. The teachers have to be retrained and new textbooks written based on the Quran and the verified hadiths.

19. Just as the early Muslims were able to build the great Islamic civilisation, so will modern Muslims achieve their renaissance and secure Islam, the Muslims, the Muslim nations from being insulted, oppressed and unable to protect themselves as enjoined in the Quran.

20. Malaysia has a chance to reform the teachings of Islam. We should do this now as we still have the capacity. We should teach Islamic values and the Islamic way of life as found in the Quran and the verified hadiths.

21. We must not leave the interpretation of Islam to the teachers alone. Even the great scholars are mere men, and they will be bias in keeping with the version of Islam in their communities.

22. There is only one Quran. It contains the messages of Allah to Muhammad for mankind. Although there are allegories which lend to different interpretations, most of the messages are direct and clear. We cannot go wrong if we follow the clear messages. Thus we cannot misunderstand the injunction for Muslims to regard each other as brothers, nor can we fail to understand that Islam forbids killing a man, be he a Muslim or a non-Muslims.

23. Having read the Quran many times in Malay and English, I feel sure that if Muslims follow the injunctions in the Quran they would uphold peace and brotherhood, avoid wars and be just in the governance of their countries.

TOURISM

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. Tourism is not doing well. How can it when the COVID-19 pandemic does not allow people to be close to each other; when the spread of the disease is due to people with early infection carry the disease to wherever they go.

2. I am glad that Malaysia has found a solution that will bring torrents of tourists to the country.

3. It is, I am told, by appointing a candidate who had lost in several elections and losing his deposit as well, to be a senator and making him a Deputy Minister for Tourism.

4. And we have no money. We have spent RM600 billion.

5. Congratulations.

TEACHING

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

** This article was published in THE EDGE DAILY , April 26, 2021

1. Teaching started orally. Then came writing and reading. Teaching became easier. This was followed by books written by experts.

2. All this while teaching depends on teachers. They guide the students, explaining, questioning and answering.

3. But today we have the technology for recording and playback. The teachings by the best teachers can be recorded and played back repeatedly, the whole lesson or parts of it. These can be shown on the screen or on the wall for the whole class to see. Graphs and diagrams can be shown. The expert teacher can explain every part of the lesson. The class teacher can guide, stop the video, reverse it, listen to the expert teachers explaining repeatedly through the recording. The whole lesson can be shown repeatedly and the explanations listened to.

4. The graphs and illustrations would be explained by the recording teacher. The illustrations will be graphic and animated. The picture can be exploded (enlarged) so as to show the parts and how they are put together to form the whole product. The class teacher need not be answering question or explain the whole lesson.

5. With a good teacher recording the lessons on video with illustrations and animation, all the students from all the schools in the country will get the benefit of being taught by the same teachers.

6. This sort of instructions are already available on our computer. You can learn anything you may be interested in. You can learn how to cook anything you like – Malay, Chinese, Italian, Indian, Western recipes. You can produce wood carvings, assemble an engine, take it to pieces, build a house, or an airplane, or a drone etc. etc. You can learn any language, hear the correct pronunciations, hear video characters talking and even answering questions. The recording can be interactive. Like the text-books, the lessons will be prepared by the best teachers and every student will get the benefit.

7. It is about time we switch to recorded video lessons produced by the best teachers in the country and abroad (for English language, science and mathematics in English).

8. Teachers in classrooms would still be needed. But their task is to guide the students as they follow the lessons on the screen prepared by the best teachers. There would be no difference caused by the varying skills of the different teachers as we find now. In fact, as the class teacher guides the students, he himself or herself would learn more. The problems faced or the reaction of the students can be noted by the class teacher and conveyed to the expert teachers who had prepared the lessons. Improvements or corrections can be made. And all the corrections can be put into the lessons for the whole country to benefit.

9. As with the Youtube application, the particular subject can be accessed by typing the desired word. The search would be simple for anything the class wants to know. You do not have to search as in a library. All you have to do would be to type the word.

10. This system is especially useful for teaching languages. For English there is no longer a need to find good teachers. The English language course is available now. One can learn English by following the course. However, I must admit that reading books is still very important for learning the English language. The more books you read the more will you master the way English is spoken. It is not about stringing words together correctly. It is about knowing the phrases the English speakers use.

11. Thus instead of saying “It is raining heavily” the English would say, “It is raining cats and dogs”. Time is expressed by saying “Much water has flowed under the bridge”.

12. When reading a novel, you will come across these phrases. You don’t have to memorise them. If you read a lot you will come across the correct phrases often during your reading. And you will remember them because you are familiar with them.

13. We need to change the way we teach. The new technology will make teaching and learning much easier. I hope Malaysia would think about this idea. Remember the text books. They are written by the best teachers. They help the class teachers to understand and to teach. The electronically recorded lessons prepared by the best teachers are even better than books.

14. We accepted books when they were introduced. We should now accept electronically recorded lessons because they are even better than books.

15. Actually, most of these has somewhat been “forced” upon us due to the pandemic.

16. It had to a degree propelled us to a modern and contemporary way of teaching.

17. All we need to do is to explore and update our methods and keep abreast with the rapidly changing technology.

INDUSTRIALISATION

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

** This article was originally published in THE EDGE DAILY , April 19, 2021

1. We want to be a developed country. Industry, manufacturing industry will help us achieve this ambition. But we need to adopt a different strategy.

2. When we decided to industrialise, our objective was to give people some income. But we had no knowledge about manufacturing, no capital, no expertise in management and no knowledge of the market. So we decided on foreign direct investment.

3. It worked and we can say we have become an industrialised country. 80% of our exports now are made up of manufactured goods.

4. But we are still not a developed country. If we look at Japan, Korea and China, we will notice a difference. They industrialise through acquisition of technology and producing their own branded products to compete in the international market. And they succeeded. We now see Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba products from Japan. Hyundai, Kia, Samsung and LG from Korea. And now Huawei and all kinds of products from China.

5. We do not have Malaysian branded goods internationally except gloves although we produce sophisticated components for some of the best brands in the world.

6. It is time for us to change our strategy. We should produce not for the domestic market but for the world market. Currently we dominate the world in the production of rubber gloves.

7. We should be able to identify other products for the world market.

8. We are blessed with a lot of raw materials. We have rubber and palm oil of course. But we also have tin, silica sand, rare earth, bauxite and maybe other minerals. We should identify products using these raw materials. But if we do, we should aim for the world market. We should be big in the particular product.

9. There are thousands of products made from rubber. Malaysia should produce all the rubber tyres of the world – airplane tyres, tractor tyres, wheelbarrow and lawn mower tyres etc. Like rubber gloves we should be big in some of these products.

10. Rare earth is much needed for batteries. As we turn to electrification to reduce pollution with CO2, more and more batteries would be needed. Already motorcars can do 400km per charge. With research, the range would increase. And the millions of cars switching to EV would need huge numbers of batteries using Lithium-Ion magnets.

11. Power plants using gas would depend upon many components which we can manufacture. We may not have the raw materials. But we can import them. Already Malaysia can produce solar panels and turbines.

12. We do not really have a glass industry. The demand for glassware can be met by our abundance of silica sand. We produce sheet glass but we export mainly silica sand with no added value. There are also industrial usage for glass which we can manufacture.

13. Our universities should train engineers. The capability of Malaysians is enormous. We had no knowledge about animation before. Now we produce a number of good animated films. There are no films involved. Everything is electronics now. Apart from entertainment, there are demands for animation in many industries.

14. Animation makes teaching easier. We can see how the inside of engines work. The parts can be illustrated individually, assembled through animation, sliced through to show how the parts work. We can see how the parts work with animation.

15. We are already producing composite parts of airplanes. We can do more. Precision engineering can be so precise that the products would perform faultlessly.

16. It is a mistake to limit ourselves to supplying the domestic market. Korea does not need ships as the land is continuous. But Korea decided to build ships for the world market. Today Korea builds most of the big ships in the world. Korea even built a gas liquefaction plant on a floating platform. Petronas has two of them.

17. South Korea builds cars and lithium-ion batteries for the world. And it is one of the two biggest producers of micro-chips for the world.

18. We are world beaters too. We have been the biggest canned pineapple producers, tin and rubber and palm oil producers in the world at one time. Now we are falling behind others in these fields. Yet we can be very big in manufacturing if we aim at the world market. We have the capacity. There should be a new policy to encourage the manufacture of products for the world market.

19. The Government should support big locally owned industries so that we can be fully industrialised. If we can give tax-free incentives to FDI, we should be able to do the same for our big industries to supply the world.

20. Now we are in the information age. This is a new power which lends itself to the invention of other products, to automation and robotics. Everything that we do today can be enhanced by artificial intelligence.

21. We don’t need labour intensive manufacturing i.e., dependence on foreign workers. We need to discourage such industries. We have to replace them with local engineers trained to handle robots and automated machines.

22. Our palm oil and rubber estates need workers. We should reduce acreage for these estates while depending on other kinds of agriculture. Modern agriculture depends more on technology than manual workers.

23. By changing our industries and agriculture to depend less on labour, we will be rid of our foreign workers. It would be painful. Those depending on foreign workers will scream. But the answer is not to increase the quota for foreign workers but to switch to other industries and automation.

MALAYSIAN AGRICULTURE

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. There is something wrong with agriculture in Malaysia. Even after independence we still have locals owning small uneconomic land holdings. The British were granted huge forest land to clear and grow rubber and later oil palm.

2. The great British companies developed huge estates of tens of thousands of acres. They were run by experienced estate managers. The labourers were imported from India. They did very well indeed.

3. Seeing their success the locals began to plant rubber and later oil palm. But their holdings were small, generally about two or three acres. They tended their small farms by themselves, confining themselves to only one crop.

4. Naturally they did not do well. With such small holdings and without professional managers, they could hardly make ends meet.

5. The Government responded with advice and subsidies. But the problems of the small holders remained.

6. What everyone should have noticed was that we needed large estates to do well. Small holdings cannot be efficient or economic. This is obvious. But we make no attempt to correct. Also we did not think of mix farming to mitigate down turns.

7. It is time that we acknowledge these mistakes and correct them. Firstly we need to make the holdings big. How do we do this. The obvious answer is to amalgamate the small holdings so as to have a big enough estate.

8. Landowners will not like it. But models of large estates of, say, a thousand acres should be developed by Mardi or some private enterprise. The thousand acres should be managed by trained farm managers with local labour.

9. Next identify a suitable main crop. e.g. rubber or oil palm. Only one third of the land should be planted with the main crop.

10. The rest of the land should be planted with vegetable, quick fruiting fruit trees such as melons etc, other fruit trees such as pineapple, durian, guava etc. A fish pond for tropical fresh water fish, goats and maybe two dozen heads of cattle.

11. At any one time there should be something to sell. The produce can be sold locally or an exporter can collect from all the farms the products for packaging and export.

12. The landowners should get a share equivalent to the size of their land from the profits made. They can choose to work or just enjoy the profits.

13. The universities should train farm managers. Once we have demonstrated the profitability of large farms and mix farming, the small holders would be more willing to have their small holdings amalgamated to form farms of a thousand acres or more.

14. Ownership of the land should remain with the land owners. They should retain their grants to assure them that they have not been expropriated.

15. There may be other ideas. But this proposal should be given a try. We import RM60 billion of vegetables a year. This project will not only secure our supply of vegetable but would save a lot of foreign exchange.

16. Today rural poverty is a fact of life. It is largely due to the wrong agricultural practice. It is time that we change. I am proposing this change.

** This article was originally published in THE EDGE DAILY , April 12, 2021

DUIT BUTA

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. Apa lebih sedap dari dapat duit buta.

2. Itulah ajaran Cikgu Najib.

3. Tak payah kerja, cuma pangkah saja, dapat duit.

4. Lompat – lagi banyak duit. Rakyat pilih Kerajaan. Penyangak beli wakil pilihan rakyat.

5. More duit buta. Belum jadi wakil rakyat tak ada harga.

6. Oleh itu bertanding dalam PRU. Menang. Parti pun menang. Jadi Kerajaan.

7. Harga wakil rakyat Kerajaan naik melambung.

8. Fikir. Dari seorang yang tak ada seduit pun ditawar lima million Ringgit jika sanggup lompat.

9. Bodohlah kalau tak lompat. Sesungguhnya politik lebih cepat kaya dari berniaga.

10. Boleh jadi sampai Perdana Menteri.

11. Pendapatan naik, peluang rasuah – banyak duit lagi.

12. Apa jadi pada maruah. Itu biar kepada orang lain.

13. Biar mereka bersyarah, biar mereka mengeluh.

14. Datang PRU – mereka pun jual undi. Jadi wakil rakyat jual bangsa, jual negara, jual agama.

15. Politik lebih untung dari berniaga.

16. Tak payah buat apa. Duit buta datang bercurah.

17. Sedap sungguh duit buta.

CASH IS KING

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 
1. Kenapakah Cash (tunai) itu King (Raja). Cash is King. Kerana cash berkuasa.

2. Demikian kalau bagi cash, sanggup bunuh orang pun boleh. Apatah lagi cuma untuk lompat parti.

3. Dinding tinggi pun lepas. Kalau nak bertanding dalam PRU, guna cash tetap menang punya.

4. Tak cukup cash, curi la.

5. Nanti kena tangkap. Tak, hulur cash, tak jadi tangkap.

6. Kalau milik billion-billion tetap menang PRU.

7. Curi depan mata pun tak apa. Menang PRU, selamat dari dicekup, dibicara.

8. Cash boleh selamat – penyangak pun.

9. Apa nak takut, curi depan mata banyak-banyak, sogok banyak-banyak cash – Lepaih, tak kena hukum.

10. Kalau hukum, hukuman tak jalan. Okaylah.

11. Ayuh semua orang, guna cash. Kamu selamat.

12. Kata IGP penjenayah ditolong oleh orang termasuk polis supaya lari. Selamat diri.

13. Kuasa cash la tu! Ada cash semua boleh. Malaysia boleh – Boleh apa? Boleh buat apa sahaja jika ada cash – termasuk menyamun.

14. Tak cukup cash – dengan kuasa yang dikurnia oleh rakyat yang dapat cash, tubuh syarikat, pinjam duit, curi duit cukup untuk selamat diri dan menang PRU.

15. Fikirlah. Tak pernah ada duit tiba-tiba diberi lima million.

16. Bodohlah kalau tak balaih.

17. Hilang negara pun tak apa. Bangsa dipelekeh pun tak apa.

18. Aku sekarang millionaire.

19. Apa kata kalau kita jual negara? How much? Right price – pay in cash, tax free, okay.

20. Jangan dengaq orang itu. Dia pun balaih. Cuma tak ada bukti. Tak akan jadi Perdana Menteri 20 tahun tak balaih. Tentu balaih punya.

21. Pedulikan.

POLITIK NEGARA

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. Darurat masih ada, Perdana Menteri boleh buat apa sahaja.

2. Orang biasa 10 hari, Menteri 3 hari…COVID tentu kenal siapa dia?

3. Lompat menjadi-jadi. Dua, tiga lompat masuk Parti Kerajaan. Belum tentu Muhyiddin dapat majoriti. Lompat keluar tak tahu?

4. Sebab lompat? Heh, Heh, Heh. Kita tahu la. Cash is king.

5. Katanya ada tawaran lagi kepada parti lawan. Bisnes politik lebih untung dari bisnes-bisnes.

6. Berita palsu – ciptaan Dato Seri Najib dibatal oleh Pakatan Harapan (PH).

7. Dibawa balik oleh Muhyiddin. Kenyataan Muhyiddin setaraf kelulusan Parlimen. Sebut sahaja, jadi undang-undang.

8. Apa perlu Parlimen? Apa perlu pilihan raya? Habis masa, habis duit.

9. Beli orang, panggil mereka wakil rakyat, Kerajaan tertubuh – selamat berbillion Ringgit.

10. Tak cukup duit, naik denda.

11. Tak bayar 10,000 pakai baju oren, masuk dalam.

12. Salah satu billion okay. Dapat eskot polis.

13. Boleh jadi ahli Parlimen. Nasihat Kerajaan.

14. Malaysia boleh. Darurat semua boleh. Syabas Malaysia.

BUKIT MALUT

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. Saya ikuti dengan teliti perkembangan berkenaan situasi penempatan di Bukit Malut, Langkawi.

2. Isu ini sudah berlarutan agak lama, juga semasa saya menjadi Perdana Menteri.

3. Penyelesaian isu ini memerlukan tindakan pro-aktif Kerajaan Persekutuan. Ini kerana sebahagian besar masalah yang perlu diselesaikan melibatkan agensi-agensi Kerajaan Persekutuan.

4. Pembangunan penempatan untuk menampung jumlah penduduk yang akan dipindahkan akan melibat peruntukan yang besar.

5. Ini hanya boleh didapati dengan bantuan kewangan Kerajaan Persekutuan.

6. Kerajaan Negeri Kedah tidak mungkin mampu untuk sediakan peruntukan yang sebegitu besar untuk bangunkan penempatan baru, tetapi perlu memain peranan untuk selesaikan perkara-perkara berkaitan yang melibatkan kuasa negeri.

LETAK JAWATAN - Penjelasan

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. Tommy Thomas dalam bukunya “My Story – Justice in the Wilderness” berpendapat bahawa peletakan jawatan Perdana Menteri sebagai surrender of power, penyerahan balik kuasa yang sukar difaham.

2. Saya pula tidak faham kenapa peletakan jawatan itu sukar difaham. Parti Pribumi Bersatu yang saya menjadi Pengerusi telah tolak nasihat saya supaya tidak tergesa-gesa keluar dari Pakatan Harapan (PH). Ini bermakna parti saya tidak lagi mempunyai kepercayaan (confidence) kepada saya. Mereka menyokong Muhyiddin dan memutus untuk keluar dari Pakatan Harapan dengan serta merta.

3. Apabila saya tidak lagi memiliki kepercayaan dari parti saya, saya tidak lagi dapat menjadi Pengerusi parti. Saya buat keputusan untuk letak jawatan sebagai Pengerusi Bersatu.

4. Saya dilantik jadi Perdana Menteri (PM) kerana saya Pengerusi Bersatu. Apabila saya tidak lagi jadi Pengerusi Bersatu, saya tidak lagi layak jadi Perdana Menteri. Maka saya pun terpaksa letak jawatan sebagai Perdana Menteri.

5. Walaupun saya minta supaya Bersatu tangguh keputusan keluar dari PH, tetapi pada malam 23 Februari 2020 (Ahad) Bersatu telah ada majlis makan malam bersama PAS dan UMNO, iaitu gabungan parti-parti yang dirancang oleh Muhyiddin untuk menjadi Kerajaan apabila PH jatuh.

6. Saya jatuh bersama dengan kejatuhan PH. Tidak munasabah saya terus jadi Perdana Menteri apabila PH tidak lagi jadi Kerajaan.

7. Kit Siang berpendapat Kerajaan PH jatuh kerana saya letak jawatan. Jika PH masih ada majoriti, ia tidak akan jatuh. PH boleh pilih ahli Dewan Rakyat lain untuk jadi Perdana Menteri.

8. Anwar Ibrahim memang berminat untuk jadi Perdana Menteri. Tetapi kerana PH hilang majoriti di waktu saya letak jawatan, Anwar tidak dapat ganti saya.

9. Kemudian semua 222 wakil rakyat diberi peluang oleh Yang di-Pertuan Agong untuk cadang calon mereka untuk jadi Perdana Menteri.

10. PH yang sepatutnya cadang saya, telah cadang Anwar konon kerana ia mendapat cukup bilang disebabkan sokongan dari Sabah dan Sarawak.

11. Tetapi Anwar hanya dapat 92 pencalonan dari PH sahaja. Sabah dan Sarawak tolak Anwar.

12. Saya dapat 62 pencalonan kerana PH tolak saya.

13. Jika PH calon saya seperti yang saya berhak dapat, saya akan dapat 154 undi. Saya sanggup kembali sebagai Perdana Menteri walaupun Bersatu tolak saya.

14. Setelah pencalonan depan Yang di-Pertuan Agong gagal menentukan PM baru, pemimpin PH termasuk Anwar datang jumpa saya dengan cadangan memilih saya sebagai PM. Saya letak syarat nama Anwar sebagai Timbalan Perdana Menteri tidak disebut. Pada hari esok syarat saya dipersetujui.

15. PH berjaya mendapat 114 wakil rakyat yang menyertai kumpulan baru ini. Tetapi sebelum dapat dikemukakan kepada Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Muhyiddin sudah dipilih oleh Agong.

16. Yang jelas ialah tidak mungkin Muhyiddin mempunyai majoriti kerana 114 dari wakil rakyat tidak bersama dengan beliau. Tetapi apabila dilantik sebagai Perdana Menteri beberapa penyokong kumpulan PH ditawar jadi Menteri, oleh Muhyiddin. Maka ia pun memperoleh majoriti.

17. Kit Siang tentu tidak akan mengaku kejatuhan PH bukan kerana saya letak jawatan. Yang benar-benar menjatuh PH ialah pemilihan Anwar untuk jadi Perdana Menteri semasa membuat pengakuan kepada Agong. Jika PH menamakan saya, segala-gala yang berlaku sekarang tidak akan berlaku.

TAKUT

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. Kami cuba dapat ramai orang untuk memberi pendapat berkenaan darurat. Ramai mereka yang berpendapat darurat tidak perlu. Mereka sebut beberapa sebab mereka berpendapat demikian.

2. Mereka jelaskan tetapi ternampak mereka dalam ketakutan. Mereka rendah suara sambil memandang sekeliling mereka. Dan mereka pun pesan jangan bagi tahu sesiapa berkenaan pendapat mereka.

3. Kata mereka, mereka takut kerana Kerajaan penuh kuasa dan boleh buat apa sahaja kepada mereka. Denda sebanyak 5 juta dan penjara 10 tahun. Tidak boleh dapat perlindungan undang-undang.

4. Saya cuba jelas Kerajaan tidak boleh buat begitu. Tetapi mereka tidak berasa senang.

5. Disuruh tandatangan surat rayuan supaya darurat ditarik balik – mereka tolak.

COVID-19

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. Baru-baru ini seorang dari keluarga saya dijangkiti COVID-19. Dia tidak dapat dimasuk hospital kerana tidak teruk. Sebaliknya ia diarah kuarantin di rumahnya.

2. Tetapi semasa di rumah keadaannya menjadi teruk sehingga tidak dapat bernafas. Maka dia pun dimasuk ke hospital.

3. Masalahnya semasa dia berada di rumah, penyakitnya dijangkit kepada ahli di rumah. Saya percaya ia tidak dapat dimasuk hospital awal kerana jumlah yang dijangkiti terlalu ramai. Tiap hari 4000 dikesan.

4. Namun demikian, jika pesakit berada di rumah, ahli keluarga akan dijangkiti. Maka lebih ramailah yang terjangkit. Sepatutnya mereka dimasuk ke dalam kuarantin berasingan dari keluarga.

5. Jika selepas sekian lama pesakit mungkin sembuh atau perlu dirawat dalam hospital. Setelah didapati tidak ada jangkitan maka bolehlah balik ke rumah.

6. Sudah tentu tempat kuarantin hendaklah sesuai. Dari gambar yang diperolehi katil-katil terlalu dekat dan apabila ada lawatan pembesar pesakit akan berkumpul. Ini akan menyebabkan jangkitan merebak.

7. Sesungguhnya ada banyak cara dan amalan yang boleh kurangkan jumlah jangkitan. Diharap doktor-doktor pakar dapat berbincang dengan pegawai Kerajaan.

8. Khidmat Ketua Pengarah Kesihatan amat dihargai. Tetapi wabak ini agak terlalu besar untuk ditangani oleh seorang sahaja.

THE PROCLAMATION

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. I hesitate to comment on the Proclamation of a State of Emergency for fear that I am motivated by a desire to become Prime Minister again.

2. But now I find that doctors and lawyers are commenting adversely on the promulgation of a state of emergency due to COVID-19. Also, on the management of the pandemic. And so I feel I have a right to comment.

3. My view is that emergency powers are not necessary in dealing with the pandemic. The Government has ample power and Malaysians have obeyed whatever orders or directives issued by the Government in dealing with COVID-19. They raise no objection. We are not like liberal western countries where the people openly disobeyed Government directives claiming that their rights and freedoms have been ignored.

4. But the Proclamation of a State of Emergency removes the last vestige of democratic rights of the people. It is worthwhile to note: –

i. This Government is not the Government they elected. It is a back door Government.

ii. This Government has now lost its majority and therefore the right to rule.

iii. Through the proclamation this minority Government has now gained absolute power to rule.

5. This is enunciated in article 11 of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021 which reads:-

“For so long as the emergency is in force –

a) the Prime Minister and the Cabinet existing immediately prior to the issuance of the Proclamation of Emergency on 11 January 2021 who have been conferred the executive functions shall continue to exercise the executive authority of the Federation and such other persons who have been conferred the executive functions by law shall continue to exercise such functions;

Additionally in para (4) of 12;

For the avoidance of doubt, for so long as the emergency is in force, Clause (3) of Article 55 of the Federal Constitution shall have effect as if the words “for five years from the date of its first meeting and shall then stand dissolved” have been deleted.

Parliament sitting

14. (1) For so long as the emergency is in force –

(a) the provisions relating to the summoning, proroguing and dissolution of Parliament in the Federal Constitution shall not have effect; and

(2) Any Meeting of the Parliament which has been summoned before the coming into operation of this Ordinance but has not been held is cancelled.

6. Clearly with the Proclamation of a State of Emergency the Parliament elected by the people has lost its role in the governance of this country. The Prime Minister now has full authority to rule the country on his own.

7. The excuse for this seizure of power is said to be the massive increase in the COVID-19 pandemic.

8. What is there that the Prime Minister with his absolute power can do to solve this health crisis? One has to remember that its was his decision to seize power in Sabah that was followed with the four digit increase in the number of new cases. Before that the new cases had dwindled to single digit.

9. The best brains in the world are finding it difficult to stem the numbers of new cases. Can the Prime Minister with his power to jail people for up to 10 years and impose a fine of five million Ringgit reduce the number of cases.

10. We appreciate the work of the Director – General of Health for his management of the pandemic. But now the numbers are very big.

11. The problems are not the same. The frontline workers who dealt with the first phase have now to deal with thousands more cases daily. Still the COVID-19 numbers are increasing. Positive cases cannot be admitted, increasing their exposure to members of their families and others.

12. The workers, foreign and local, are posing massive problems as they stay in crowded rooms and cannot maintain social spacing when working.

13. Total lockdown cannot be imposed as the economy would be affected and poor people cannot earn money to buy food even.

14. The problem caused by the pandemic are very many and do not lead to easy solutions. Can the enhanced power of the Prime Minister tackle these problems?

15. What kind of advise can he give to the King that will reduce the numbers of those getting infected, those having to be hospitalised, those who will die.

16. But the declaration of emergency has given the Government tremendous powers.

17. Everything that is done is in the name of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. They cannot be questioned. Nor can they be brought before Parliament as all sittings have been cancelled.

18. Effectively the rule of law has been abolished. We are assured that the intention is good. But when absolute authority is given, breaches and abuses will happen.

19. Whither Malaysia.

EXPLORING SPACE

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. I must congratulate the United States Space Agency (NASA) for successfully landing a space craft and collecting samples of the soil on a meteorite situated so far away in space. Read here.

2. It is a fantastic achievement as it took the space vehicle more than 3 years to reach the meteorite, land on it, pick up some soil and then took off to ‘fly’ back to earth. It should take 3 years to return to earth.

3. It is a great feat. But we cannot know what the meteorite soil contains. We assume it would be of some elements that is found on earth.

4. But it could also be some matter that is harmful to us on earth.

5. Remember the atom bomb. The scientists thought it would just explode and kill the people of Hiroshima the same way that other bombs do.

6. But later we found it was lethal in other ways also. It produced radiation which killed people beyond the site of the explosion. Now we know that if we use this weapon in war the whole world will be affected. They will suffer from radiation disease and they may be killed.

7. And so we prohibit the use of nuclear weapons.

8. Now we have COVID-19. Again it is something we knew nothing about. We were not prepared to deal with this virus. And millions have been infected and more than one million have died. And more will die before we develop an effective vaccine.

9. So, what if the soil we bring back from the meteorite is totally new. What if it is an element which can poison the air we breathe, or the sea, or our soil. Are we sure that all the elements in the universe are like the elements we find on this earth? Can there not be something that is not in our planet. Can it be poisonous to life on our planet?

10. H.G. Wells told us the alien who attacked our planet were killed by our bacteria. But what if the material as creatures are different and lethal to life on earth, the whole world can be destroyed.

11. Already, right here on earth, a virus has made its appearance which can wipe out human life on earth. Yes, we are combating it. We may be successful. But we can also fail.

12. The people in America too must be familiar with invasive elements. We read about invasive predator fishes, the snakeheads, found in lakes and waterways in the US, most originating from parts of Asia and decimating the local fish populace.

13. That is within the context of invasive elements from merely other parts of the world.

14. So be careful about this soil from this meteorite in outer space.

CORONAVIRUS

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. The great powers of the world have spent trillions of dollars to develop sophisticated weapons with improved killing power. They are sure that in a war they would be able to kill more of their enemies than their own warriors.

2. But as they produce newer and better weapons, their enemies come up with better defensive and offensive weapons. And more billions had to be spent to overcome the defence while new offensive weapons are invented, produced and deployed.

3. Already they are overjoyed with their capacities to wipe out whole cities and their inhabitants, including the babies who might grow up to become warriors.

4. The array of weapons is impressive. On the ground there would be tanks and armoured vehicles, rocket launchers and guided missiles of different ranges, radars and lasers and many others yet undisclosed.

5. In the air there would be a variety of war planes, some invisible to radar, equipped with rockets and missiles, manned and unmanned, drones, capable of taking out individuals or reducing to ashes whole towns. Satellites high above have eyes to detect ants moving on the ground, recognise faces with fantastic cameras.

6. At sea, new battleship carry all kinds of rockets, surface to surface, surface to air, short range, long range, invisible to radar, floating and submerged, manned and unmanned, nuclear powered and nuclear armed etc. etc.

7. They, the great powers are still researching, developing, training and arming, glorifying in their capacities to destroy their enemies and other collaterals.

8. More and more funds are allocated for upgrading the capacity to make this world uninhabitable by living creature. Each of these powers would be beating their chests like gorillas, roaring in their destructive and killing power. And still they would spend.

9. Then the enemy struck. The enemy had no weapons of any kind. But so powerful is the enemy that Kings and Presidents, Generals and strategists ran helter-skelter for refuge in their homes. They dare not come out.

10. All those powerful weapons afford them no protection. They are totally useless to protect their lives, their health and their wealth. Nowhere in the world can they be safe. They cannot even be near each other. They have to hide their beautiful faces behind masks. The ugly ones rejoiced.

11. And the enemy, which defeated these great powers cannot even be seen. They are so small that they can only be seen through a microscope. Yet, they can send the most powerful people shivering with fear.

12. That is the Nouvelle Coronavirus. It is capable of wiping out all humans in the world. The only defensive weapons are soap and water, gloves and mask, social distances, and stopping work and stopping making money. Many will starve to death as access to food is cut off.

13. The great civilisation we have built, the fantastic technologies we have developed, the great wealth of individuals, the luxurious life-style of private yachts and private planes, the palaces and holiday homes, the speed of travel, the connectivity, all these would change if not disappear.

14. A new life will develop, a life constrained by the fear of pandemics, the sudden painful death, the limitation on travel and holiday will replace the norm. In everything there will be new normals.

15. The enemy is microscopic but the effect is massive, more than the wars of the world. The great powers will be helpless before these microscopic creatures. Power no longer belongs to the rich and the developed. All those weapons of mass destruction cannot match the destruction by these microscopic creatures.

16. There is definitely a lesson to be learnt here. What the lesson will be is left to each and everyone of us.