TRANSFORMATION TEAM: BN’s campaign will be built around Najib and his team of young, experienced and proven leaders
Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani one with the impression that he is a man with a great vision and a lot of ideas He spoke impressively, eloquently and animatedly, often using colloquial expressions like “boss”, about how we need to change the political structure of our people ,he spoke impressively, eloquently and animatedly, often using colloquial expressions like “boss”, about how we need to change the political structure of our people.What will be his main message to the voters? Najib’s dominant theme will be: “Now is not the time to experiment and put it at risk.” “Don’t make the wrong decision.” Otherwise the nation’s economy will be ruined and the livelihoods of millions of Malaysians will be in jeopardy.
Datuk Johari Abdul Ghan is treading the path with abundant caution, knowing well the inertia he is up against, and trying to learn from the past mistakes . Whatsoever be the case, UMNO is pinning hopes on Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani he needs to be a lot more visible, a lot more interactive, a lot more clear on specific issues that confront the country, and demonstrate the changes that have been brought about.
Indeed our lot is as much to wonder why as it is to do and die! As humans with a critical reasoning faculty, we have an insatiable intellectual curiosity that needs to be indulged. It would have been disastrous if Newton had accepted that apples fall off trees and never wondered why! Or if man had accepted that birds can fly and not wondered why he can’t! It would truly be a pity to believe the false compliments of a tricky person and be unprepared for the hurt that follows.
Many times, people say “I vote for the candidate, not the party.” Some take pride in assessing individuals of both parties, and then voting for the more personally impressive candidate. The rationale for this is that the personalities come first into consideration before they cast their votes. It is also based on the need for the country to have decision-makers who are capable of delivering results and, generally, boosting their living standards economically.the most crucial thing to do now is to exercise your vote because each vote counts. The 13th GE is definitely a different battleground compared with the previous election. This time around, a great number of new faces in the politics are well expected Certainly, the quality of candidates can enhance the trust of voters. However, elections are not all about selecting between sets of constituencies. Most importantly, it is about choosing, more or less of policy choices. So, make your vote and your voice count.
You are perfectly average, quips the happy-go-lucky voter to the uptight in. Understandably, he doesn’t known how to respond! To be average is anathema, but to be perfect at anything is considered wonderful — even if it is perfection at being average!
Why does perfection need to be a punishing routine, leading to obsessive, rigid behaviour? Why should it rely heavily on judgement, and exclude normal life? Obviously, it isn’t meant to be a human trait. Human beings are designed to have flaws; perfection is meant for the Gods. I believe in 1 Malaysia. As far as I am concerned, 1 Malaysia is not just a concept or an ideal. It is something that I practise in my everyday life.
You see, I am the managing director and a major shareholder of a public listed company. The chief executive officer of the company is an Indian. The director of sales is a Chinese, so is the head of finance, the head of production is Indian, and the various heads of department are a mix of Malaysians, born and bred in this country of ours. I recognise and reward talents and performance when I see it. I live in 1 Malaysia.
The quest for perfection actually is a search for certainty, for a sense of control. Anything that stays within specified limits is under our control. The moment shapes shift and take on a life of their own, we lose control and hence, power. We force ourselves to conform to set practices and standards to the extent we forget our true selves in the quest to be “perfect.” Here then is a new look at perfection. Let’s call it the perfectly imperfect! Perfectly normal. A letting go of rigidity, of fastidiousness, the obsession of being the best. To achieve perfection is not to be obsessive and punishing; it is a letting go and allowing natural flaws to be as they are. It is perfectly fine to be perfectly average! Imperfection is fluid, perfection is cast in stone. Progress requires imperfection. Cultures around the world have embraced the concept of the perfect imperfect, often introducing deliberate flaws in works of art, either for religious or aesthetic reasons. The world famous Amish quilt makers deliberately leave an imperfection in their quilts because God alone can be perfect. Turkish shipbuilders and carpet weavers reportedly do the same to remind themselves that perfection is the sole prerogative of Allah. One of the central principles of Islamic art is not to compete with God for perfection.
* Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani is the acting chief of Titiwangsa Umno division.
THE race is on. The general election, the pivotal moment in our democracy, is upon us. After the two-week official campaign, which kicked off yesterday, voters will cast their votes on May 5 to elect the party that they can trust most in running the country.
Simply, it is a choice between the experienced and the inexperienced. The proven and the unproven. The tested and the untried.
Even before the start of this campaign, there were already deep cracks in the Opposition
Najib’s message to voters is clear: Between Najib and Hadi Awang, whom they can trust to be their prime minister? The leader who can deliver his promises and tackle the hard issues facing the country will win the vote from the rakyat. In four years as Prime Minister, Najib has proven he can deliver.
side, stemming from the infighting, walkouts and protests that caused anxieties even among the most ardent opposition supporters.
The record number of candidates contesting as bebas, or independents, has revealed the huge dissent within the ranks of Pakatan Rakyat.
The truth – the real truth – will become well established…. is that is untrustworthy as a friend. Even Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang … dangerous. ,The new P word resulted in verbal incontinence, with everyone jumping in to empty his blather. PKR went on a fast ostensibly to atone but actually to tone down electoral damage. That pressure will ease, but the non-newsmaking fact will remain:PAS urinating at PKR,
The tone of the Barisan Nasional campaign was set by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak when he launched a comprehensive BN manifesto a fortnight ago and unveiled the candidates well ahead of yesterday’s nominations.
Flanked by leaders of BN component parties, Najib introduced his team as the “transformation team” that not only reflected the aspirations of the people but also set the foundation for his new cabinet team post-GE.PAS is proving that they are still not a strong coalition despite the fact that a good majority of people supporting them. Clash between partners is a disappointment for their supporters which in turn will be disastrous for them.
It’s said “to err is human, to forgive, divine”. We feel benevolent and “bigger” when we forgive others for their mistakes and consider ourselves “better for it”. But when it comes to atrocities we have committed to others or mistakes we have inflicted onto ourselves, we rarely look within and ask for forgiveness from ourselves. It’s so damn hard to acknowledge we are responsible for the misery of others and ourselves. So many of us give up love for an arranged marriage because the “financials” of it were better, or perhaps because we were “pressured” into it. We berate our fate and blame others for it, when in truth it was our lack of resolve and strength to do what was truly best for us. We let ourselves down repeatedly with our choices and actions and then blame the world for it. It’s okay to say “I made a mistake”, it’s okay to say “I want to change realities”. It’s okay to apologise, especially to yourself. If you can do it, you can undo it. Whether it’s life, love, career or any other choices… just remember, it’s okay to make bad decisions, it’s not okay to live with them.
Any politician who gets elected thanks to the worst financial crisis since America’s Great Depression in 1929, and needs the most violent hurricane in a century to get re-elected , obviously has the vote of the Almighty. Many Americans remain convinced that the divine benevolence Barack Hussein Obama enjoys is from a God called Allah, rather than the bearded old man of Christian iconography . Barack is not an English word, let alone an American one; it derives from the Arabic baraka,meaning blessing. Others, and Donald Trump comes to mind, ask their Lord why, if Obama had to be born at all, he was born in America.
Obama faced three potentially fatal obstacles, two of them snake-pits : race and religion. Certainty about his colour, and uncertainty about his faith, cemented the outraged determination of conservatives to limit America’s first black President to one term. The third hurdle, the economy, was colour neutral in theory, but whites reacted more negatively than other voters. Obama lost the white vote in every category: 45 to 51 among those between 18-29 ; 38 to 59 among the 39-44 group; 38 to 61 among the middle-aged , 45-64 ; and 44 to 65 in the old. But you can also see a new America emerging from this barren chrysalis. Obama’s vote increases as the voter gets younger. The future is with him. Overall, Obama got 60% of young support as compared to only 37% for Mitt Romney.
Romney was straight from Republican central casting: wellbrushed hair, a moderate public voice, a mean private discourse, all things to all people, and a business CV straight from a tax consultant’s manual. What he did not have was sufficient population. The white electorate in America has dropped from 84% in 1984 to 72%, and will dip to 69% by 2016 as the demographic easel continues to mix colours. Romney invested in geography, as a look at any results graphic will confirm. Obama placed his bet on demography, and sliced Romney along the jugular.
Leadership is the art of extracting diamonds out of a coal mine. In a remarkable display of reverse engineering, with advice from that professor emeritus of American politics Bill Clinton, Obama mobilized the margins through positive discrimination, from rights for children of illegal immigrants to support for same-sex marriage and unprecedented health care for the impoverished, mainly blacks. Every vote he got was obtained by commitment and craftwork through his term in office.
Obama could depend on the insular and insensitive Republican right to rescue him when he needed help most, as when the argument seemed to be fading from his grasp. One American satirist, Andy Borowitz , described the Republican message with less exaggeration than humour normally demands: ‘We’re strongly opposed to FEMA and health care but basically OK with rape… When God wants to create a hurricane or make a woman pregnant, big government should get out of the way.’
The antediluvian Republican challenge to abortion helped Obama cleave enough of the white women’s vote to ensure that 2% margin which made his election safe. Any disappointment with Obama was not enough to dissolve their fear of the ruthless anti-abortion lobby.
Obama rearranged his base into a sparkling coalition of minorities, till the sum became greater than its parts. It is entirely consistent that white liberals, women and men, who voted for Obama were also a minority within their demographic.
But no engineering has ever been reversed as adeptly as Obama’s repositioning of a still convalescent economy. He tried to display some green shoots: IMF has projected that the American economy will grow at 3% next year; 900,000 jobs a month were being lost in 2004, today 170,000 are being added. But they were lost in the incandescent rage of election advertising. Obama deftly turned the argument into a contest between the possessed and the dispossessed. Obama remains in the White House because of support from who suffered most in a faltering economy, the poor, the deprived and those struggling toenter the middle class.
Obama united the differences of America and inspired the collective to rise above snake-pits to claim a new centre. He has reset politics on a fulcrum that just might send Republicans into oblivion. In 2016 Democrats will have a white candidate sailing in the breeze of economic recovery, and anchored in the grateful commitment of diverse minorities . Republicans were once the party of Abraham Lincoln, guardians of national unity and uplift. Obama is Lincoln’s child now, and Democrats the Lincoln vehicle. If Republicans do not change they will be forgotten like the Whigs of Lincoln’s time.
A sigh of relief was audible across the world when Obama won. There was sullen anger in only three places: Republican America; Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office; and drone-peppered Pakistan. But that is a thought for another day.
