Bleak Outlook for the Rakyat

After hours of March 8th 2008, a certain gloom ascended on the shores of my country Malaysia as the Federal Government lost the Federal Territory of KL, the states of Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor not including Kelantan which will forever be in the grasp of PAS.

Congratulation to the Alternative Front and in particular to its de facto leader Dato Seri Anuar Ibrahim and his coalition shadow government.

After witnessing the mud slinging, slander, lies, cover-up and anything that is imaginable in Malaysian politics, the conclusion is mind blogging as half of Malaysia is in opposition's control.

I enjoyed the Youtube, Wtv8, PasTv and any imaginable form of alternative media to fight the cause and won handsdowm by the oppossition and the negligence of Barisan National in its wake but the sad truth remains that the RAKYAT will suffer in the short term and the future is uncertain in many aspects.

To date, we have yet to see anything concrete from the oppossition front besides the normal grab for position and power and the failure of the Barisan led government to address lest solve the faith of state government formation in its own back yard i.e. Trengganu and the fiaso in Perlis and in short - politics in Malaysia has gone to the dogs with the royalty getting involved again i.e. deja vu all over again, pre-Tun Mahathir's reign.

In Penang we see some positive development and also in Selangor, which augurs well for citizens and we can only hope that changes will bring prosperity unlike the fate of Perakians.

With this backdrop and the "still in denial" attitude of the BN to move the economy forward and the big question mark of all, "why the BN coalition lost is still being debated", albeit that I still have 40 years left in my life span and I sincerely hope by then, will real BN please stand up.

Economic woes are obviously global admist the USA sub-prime rates affecting Europe and Asia as a whole and this has slowly snow balled into the local domestic economy, amist rising prices of essential goods and fuel will definately lead to the destruction of our economy, aside the comforting words from our second Finance Minister and for your information, another land mind in AFTA by 2010.

Reasons of this pending disaster are simple, whilst the horse trading gets into motion on who control the state legislature and exco portfolio, the state economy and the rakyat will suffer :

1. Non payment of outstanding Local Order due to

@ Shaddy Deals
@ Overpriced Quotation
@ Inferior workmanship
@ To many sub-sub contractors involved
@ Nepotism
@ Workdone out of the scope of LO
@ Non existent work but LO issued

like a bank which deals only with documents and no physical monitoring of goods or workdone since no detailed records exists or shaddy to say the least, the so called new state government will with hold all payments pending audit, declaration and all that sundries from registered contractors and suppliers.

Again the new state government will have to prove the critics wrong and have to do due diligence plus carry out their election manifesto.

Do not forget also the towkay balak and land scavengers who had paid off many ali baba personalities for a slice of timber concession and land banks pending final approval and signature or stamp of approval by former powers to be, are also affected.

All in all, whether in good faith or in bad faith, the good guys and the bad ones, consumers, pensioners and every man on the street will suffer in silence as no money means the cash cycle which oils the local economy cannot be realised thus prompting a self induced slow down especially for the state of Perak (compared with other opposition held states) whom for the past 30 years has yet to see light at the end of the tunnel, since having such incompetent Menteri Besar's who does not hold the vision of progress or self sufficient.

With no revenue from FDI or LDI, Perak's fate is sealed since the abolishment (no support or encouragement from the previous state government) of many industries in the state i.e. tin mining, mineral mining, quarry, kaolin, marine sand mining, sand mining, river sand mining etc. An ironic phase was coined and promoted and launched, "From Mines to Mind Industry", by the former state government to promote highly trained and qualified personnel for various high end industries which seems to fall flat on their faces, remains to be seen and severely critical by most of us the silent technocrats.

It hurts and it pains me to see my home state of Perak, being devoided of development in terms of credible infrastructures, public transportation ie. buses,trains,buses and taxis which still mirror the 70's and most of all a fully intergrated development plan spanning 15 years and some former leaders dare to claim the developed state status by 2015 and with the latest political development from being in a no hope situation, the state is now in the twilight zone and uncertainty is admist and the doomsday count down has begun, will the new opposition front save us from this pending amageddon.

Where does all these so called selected leaders go to school or their tertiary qulification should warrants some special attention as it all seems fake and the institutions are so blind that they award such degrees to misfits.

As the BN government is still unstable as infighting is rampant in UMNO and other coalition partners, and if they still cannot get their act together and hold the bulls by the horn, all of us will be in for a roller coaster ride of our lives never seen in history.

FDI's and potential investors and fund managers has already sounded the alarm and warning and we all still live in a fantasy world of "self denial" which goes to show how thick the government of the day is - in terms of brain matter.

The nagging question persist, " Would such a senario happen in times of Tun Mahathir", one would wonder and contemplate what might have been and the old english adage remains true, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely".

As I see it, the year 2008 has already ended, and all of us are looking to the heaven's for a sign of salvation which is not forthcoming and if God would answer our prayers he would have this advise, "you will reap what you sow my son".