Thursday 25 December 2014

From Perth to Hawaii - Is Najib heading in Pak Lah's direction?

Our Prime Minister Najib in pink, in the background 
HONOLULU — President Obama has generally refrained from mixing business and pleasure on the golf course. On vacation here in Hawaii, he has mostly hit the links with the same circle of longtime friends and White House aides he usually pals around with. Until Wednesday, when a newbie joined the First Foursome — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The White House said Najib, along with aides Joe Paulsen and Mike Brush, was playing with the president on the course at the Marine Corps base at Kanehoe Bay. Turns out Najib was in town on his own getaway, and it is not unprecedented for Obama to do a golf summit with a world leader. Last year in Hawaii, he played with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. (In 2011, Obama famously played a round with House Speaker John A. Boehner at Andrews Air Force Base that did not exactly lead to a good working relationship off the course.)

Obama has established perhaps a better working relationship with Najib, after making the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Malaysia in nearly half a century last spring. It was unlikely they had an in-depth discussion of their foreign policy agendas on the course, however, but perhaps focusing instead on trying to avoid the sand traps.

In a statement, the White House said: "The two leaders took the opportunity to discuss the growing and warming relationship between the United States and Malaysia. The president said he looked forward to working with Prime Minister Najib in 2015, during Malaysia's chair year of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations."

On the 18th hole, reporters were allowed onto the course briefly. Obama missed a putt to the left off the hole, then tried to tap in but "picked the ball up before it missed again," according to a pool report. Najib also missed a second putt, but Obama consoled him with a pat on the shoulder. 
- WASHINGTON POST

Newbie in a foursome, avoiding sand traps and about being consoled by none other than the US President certainly makes a good read. 

If you take golf out of the equation then the whole paragraph above would send different signals to different people. Painting a perception, in most instances, is vital. 

Ok, don't underestimate the perception when our Prime Minister is engaged in a foursome with Supreme Commander of the US Military, the most powerful war machine in the world. 

Obama 'looking forward to working with Najib in 2015' paints a perception that the Malaysian PM will most probably remain in his seat despite the growing uneasiness to his lame, flip-flop leadership. 

The possibility of Obama and Najib focusing on how to avoid sand traps would certainly be useful for both leaders. Obama has his problems too, from Russians to the Republicans. 

Najib in the meantime could probably use the 'how to avoid sand traps' manual to handle the 1MDB saga. I see Najib's strategists, advisors and all those bangangs are still busy shooting messengers. 
  
Oh ya, don't worry Najib Tun Razak with the fact that more than 100,000 people have been displaced in Malaysia due to floods and at least one or two states may opt to declare a state of emergency if the situation worsens. 

The fact that the Prime Minister is away on holiday while the country is wrecked by disaster is nothing new. Jangan mudah lupa. 

Najib is certainly heading in Pak Lah's direction. 

Nasi Kandar (banjir) dah bungkus will lead you to Nasi (Kandar Perth) dah bungkus

In December2006/January2007 when Johor experienced its worst floods in a hundred years, Pak Lah was on holiday in Perth. Jangan mudah lupa. We, the pro-government guys had hit out at him.

If its the same set of rules, start counting. 

p/s I wonder if Obama and Najib also discussed Anwar Ibrahim. I really wonder.


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19 comments:

Anonymous said...

We have to be realistic and understand that PM's role is not to direct flood effort nor to wade through flood waters to carry victims to safety. He is better served monitoring the situation and approve allocations.
Let it be!!
Our PM just practicing a healthy lifestyle.

Anonymous said...

I think we are the ones who are being insensitive to PM and FLOM need to butt up Mr and Mrs Obama.

Anonymous said...

As long as if north korea plansto attack the US, they do not divert to us.

Petoi Boga said...

PM is thousands of miles away. DPM is in town. He should be overseeing the rescue efforts. The ministers are on the ground. Everything is being done to help the victims. Let them do the job.

zainal abidin awang kechik said...

Saya yakin..YAB PM bertugas untuk negara
Saya Yakin ada yang perkara pelting di bincang bersama

Anonymous said...

Level of confidence in DPM is at an all time high. PM can go on a longer holiday. Saya pun yakin PM sedang bertugas sambil bermain golf di Hawaii. Mungkin mempelajari cara - cara mengawal banjir dari pulau perangian itu atau bagaimana kerajaan America menangani bencana di New Orlean. Apa pun PM Najib amat akrab dengann Obama dan Amerika Syarikat. Saperti coretan saudara Apanama says tertanya akan kemungkinan Amerika mahu melepaskan Anuar Ibrahim. Mungkin itu perkara penting dibincang ketika negara di landa bencana paling teruk dalam sejarah.
Persidangan kabinet selepas ini harus membincangkan secara serius kemungkinan Dato Najib dilantik menjadi Duta Malaysia ke Amerika Syarikat bertaraf Menteri Kanan dan diberikan anugerah Tan Sri. Kerja-kerja yang kurang penting dalam negara seperti masalah tanah runtuh, banjir, masalah ekonomi, masalah antara agama,bangsa dan selainnya boleh lah ditugaskan kepada Timbalan Perdana Menteri yang seharusnya memangku jawatan Perdana Menteri.
Dato Mustapa Mohamad yang sedang menunaikan Umrah di Tanah Suci telah bergegas kembali ketanah air untuk membantu dan memimpin rakyat dikala negara di landa bencana.
Bukan Tok Pa di harap mengangkut beras atau gula tetapi dikala dan waktu begini lah nawaitu jelas serta kepimpinan pemimpin amat diperlukan.
Ingat, Jawatan Perdana Menteri itu menagih tanggungjawab serta tahap displin yang tinggi.
Kami menyokong cadangan agar TPM mengambilalih tugas PM.

Apanama said...

From kak adibah Abdullah

Bismillah.

Sekarang generator sudah kehabisan minyak. Seluruh hospital bergelap, lampu kecemasan menyala di sesetengah bilik. Tadi kami intubate baby dalam gelap...SpO2 drop sampai 18, bradycardia, Anaest specialist sendiri datang menyelamatkn keadaan. Pesakit icu dan ccu bernafas dengan mesin yang dijana kuasa bateri. Kalau bekalan tak pulih, kami akan bergilir2 manual bagging ...sampai..?

Minyak diesel utk generator dijanjikan sampai pkul 8.30 malam. Akan dihantar dengan helikopter. Masalah yg sedang dibincangkan; kami gelap gelita, flare gun tak ada, we need lights to show them where we are.

Kuala Krai has become a huge river, and our hospital is one of the few islands, which unfortunately doesnt glow in the dark.

Petang tadi kami semua excited. Helikopter datang with all the pomp, flair and machismo of Hollywood action movies. Everyone - who could make it, were out in the parking lot, waving, taking photos, wiping tears of joy, finally we were going to be saved. But were we? NO.

They weren't able to land. No space wide enough. No heli pad (duh of course). The rotor whirled so hard water splashed from the flooded area, debris flew up, and they said the roofs would detach if the heli came closer. The only way to rescue patients is by hoisting them up, airlift them - like in the movies. From the boats, or from a clearing very near the water edge.

We're talking about ill patients here. Yang bernafas dengan mesin, bayi2 baru lahir, orang tua patah tulang.

Mereka pergi. They departed and left us wondering. Kami terpinga2.

Kemudian kami diarahkan utk bersedia semula utk evacuation. Able bodied patients, those few who are well enough to do a Schwarzenegger up a helicopter, were rounded up. Kami keluar ramai2 dan menunggu - tak tahu tunggu apa.

Helikopter berlegar2...dan tidak menghantar apa2. Kenderaan amfibia milik bomba datang. Kemudian ia pergi semula. Matron mengumumkan "tak jadi pindah, sila pulang ke wad masing2." Dan kerana lif tidak berfungsi (menggunakan lif dalam keadaan elektrik on-off begini pun adalah tindakan amat bahaya), pesakit2 ini beramai2 mengheret badan menaiki tangga.

Kami kecewa. Kecewa, dan takut.

Seorang kanak2 bertanya bapanya, as he saw the amphibian vehicle left us..deserted us.

"Abah, bakpo diorg datang?"

Entah. Kenapa kalian datang? Pusing2, tengok2 keadaan, kemudian bye bye good luck?

Kami dengar khabar ada pasukan bantuan di Pejabat Tanah, di Wisma. Kami dengar khabar kanak2 yg berlindung di SMKSYP tak ada makanan. Kami dengar khabar kampung2 masih terpisah drpd bantuan kerana 'arus deras, tak cukup bot, bahaya'.

Khabarnya minyak diesel utk generator akan sampai sekejap lagi. Kami menunggu. Khabarnya persediaan sedang dibuat utk memindahkan pesakit, for real this time. Kami menunggu.
Seorang doktor tentera (SATU-SATUNYA PIHAK LUAR YANG BARU SAMPAI SETAKAT INI) baru tiba, dan kami harap ketibaannya will mean a difference.

Kami menunggu.

Mak ayah dan adik2 saya masih terperangkap entah atas bukit mana di Kuala Nal. Orang2 kampung Kuala Nal bertarung nyawa dengan arus deras, rumah2 telah hanyut. Bagaimana dengan orang Kampung Bahagia, orang2 di kampung2 seberang Sg Kelantan? Saya tak tahu apa nak dibuat.

Khabarnya pagi tadi tv menyiarkan isu perkahwinan semasa banjir.

SHAME ON YOU, MALAYSIA. SHAME ON YOU.

Kami menunggu.

Kelmarin diKuala Krai

Note : This was forwarded via whatsapp and checks showed it was a real life situation. Those in the hospital were eventually evacuated to safer ground.

Anonymous said...

Leave Najib be. He is better off there than the flood zone. Hang ni tak ada orang lain nak kutuk ka?

Anonymous said...

I see you've been attacked by the PMO drones.

Fact remains:

By time our friend was packing his pink shirt and golf clubs, over 65,000 people had already been evacuated (at that stage), and he sneaked off quietly without even addressing the public on what had already been a days-old emergency.

That does not sound like responsible leadership to me.

Anonymous said...

Same shit. So what you take out Ah Jib Gor? Pak Lah is already an indication why it pays to be a politician. Songlap duit rakyat pun you get to live happily with a big expensive house in Perth. Get Tunship. While the poor gets 6 months in jail for stealing a tin of milk powder to feed her hungry baby. Some justice.

Just saying.

Muhd

Apanama said...

Anon - Muhd

I don't think there is any concrete evidence of the 'songlap duit rakyat' part. If there is any then please do the necessary, if not we just stick to what we know for sure.

Anonymous said...

The unfortunate thing is that some of us seriously wonder if his presence would make any difference to the rescue operations.

Anonymous said...

Kalau lelaki asyik ikut cakap pompuan, kemungkinan besar satu hari dia akan ikut cakap syaitan. Akan padah lah dia nanti.

Anonymous said...

Anyone holding public office or even holding high position in other people's companies, and discharging his duty honestly to the best of his ability will not have urge and the time to amass fortunes. Many of our public officers have fortunes well beyond their total remuneration. Unless they are shrewd and brilliant investors, those fortune will have to be given by someone.

Proving corrupt practice is very difficult.l, but they will have to answer to Allah one day.

Anonymous said...

@ Saturday, December 27, 2014 11:04:00 am

Indeed, but the debate is several decades old. I can recall with great clarity the moment that Tun Dr Mahathir caused Zahid an acute moment of embarrassment in Parliament by asking him to account for his large bungalow and several luxury vehicles, all well beyond his means.

Things have worsened since then.

Anonymous said...

The pm is capital c in terms of the c plus unt at the back. This loser is acting like its the goddamn 20's? One would have to be a complete imbecile to think that people would swallow his "twitterdrama" hook line and sinker? Najib is ill and im not joking. They say you cant cure stupid and that is the case here. What a nutjob this guy became. An abomination of the malays.

zainal abidin awang kechik said...

Kita sebagai rakyat perlu memberi dan membina keyakinan bahawa kita punyai YAB PM yang berjiwa besar.. Jangan kita punyai pandangan yang mana semua BN BUAT Adalah salah dan berdosa.. Dan PEMBANKANG SEMUA MEREKA BETUL DAN MAKSUM

Anonymous said...

Jiwa besar atau bini besar?

Anonymous said...

En Zainal, tak payah pembangkang, kami ahli umno dari sepelusuk negara nemang da benci ngan kangkung, menteri2nya serta ketua cawangan, ketua bahagian dan segala macam ketua dlm umno skrg. Bukan siapa melayu tanpa umno macam kangkung tu dok sebut tapi SIAPA UMNO TANPA MELAYU...???