Win like Obama, behave like Bush.
(1)
Change had indeed come to the US on the 4th November Presidential Election. It was historic and among the most decisive outcome in electing the US President. If I were an American voter, I would also endorse President Barrack Hussein Obama as the 44th US Presidents.
“Arrogance” is the most striking legacy of President George William Bush, and the Republican party eventually succumbed to the injuries it had brought to the party. George Bush to the US Republican was Khir Toyo to Selangor BN.
Will change come the world with the election of Obama as the President of the most powerful nation on this planet? Many are crossing their fingers as the clock ticks. As the old saying wisely put it, “everything, just like a coin, comes with double-side faces. Very seldom that you gonna like both.” Surely, in any coin tossing deal, we could bet to win only on either side, not both.
The first official offer for political appointee goes to Chicago based politician, Rahn Emmanual, a Democrat from Illinois for the position of the Chief of Staff in the White House. Mr. Emmanuel was a senior advisor to President Bill Clinton, is a Jewish very close to Israel, and is known for his bluntness and single minded determination. His father is a right wing Israeli and was an Argun (a Jewish terrorist organization) activist. A Chief of Staff would have strong access to the President. He manages the President’s schedules, decides appointments, and filters what kind of information reach the Presidents.
John Kerry is also rumored to take up the Secretary of The State, the third person in command after the President and the Vice President. The State Secretary would handle most of the US foreign affairs. The office of John Kerry has so far denied this. I opine, John Kerry would be a nice choice for the position though. Foreign affairs are the biggest liability in the current US administration. I have only one advice to the US administration that “this world would be much happier place to live without Israel.”
OK… I know…I know …Obama is NOT listening to me!
(2)
I detest those politicians still playing the racial cards. Racism is sharing the fate of dinosaurs, the once big and powerful creatures that failed to live up with times. Indeed, racism is big and powerful in our political landscape. It has been over half a century that our national politics been cooked on racial recipe. All major policies have been drawn along racial lines.
Unfortunately, racism in Malaysia has largely be associated to the Malays. Are Malays more racist than other races in Malaysia? I certainly doubt. But, we are the ones who take most of the blames whenever the ugly face of racism surfaces.
One way out to this racial polarity, I believe, is by creating Malaysia as a truly multilingual society. One significant thing that I notice during my encounter with multilingual persons is – a multilingual person is normally very well conversant with his or her own mother tongue language. Also, a multilingual is largely more tolerant and understanding towards the needs of others. Thus, by promoting the creation multilingual society, we are actually upgrading our appreciation towards mastering languages, indirectly strengthening our mother tongues as well.
Malaysia is the only nation on Earth that is well positioned for being truly multilingual countries. Imagine if Malaysians can all speak Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin, Arabic and Tamil, interchangeably and fluently, regardless of their races, religions, and origins. What a great nation could we be?
(3)
Reading through Turkish internet media during these last couple weeks, I find interesting turns have occurred in Turkey’s politics. First, Tayyip Erdogan and his AK Party has been portrayed quite negatively even by dailies known to be closed to him such as Today’s Zaman and Yeni Safak. Fehmi Koru, a columnist known for his close relationship with Erdogan blasted Erdogan rather harshly. He wrote in his column, “Erdogan won like Obama, but is now behaving like Bush”. Some other columnists even suggested that the beginning of the end of AK Party has just begun.
Many political observers notice that Erdogan and AK Party have been increasingly “hawkish” in their handling of domestic issues. Erdogan has also faced harsh criticism from his own supporters for being rather submissive towards Turkish Military Elites, while distancing himself even more from the southeastern Kurds population who had delivered his party huge votes in the crucial Parliament Election in July last year. These are viewed as major reversal from the reforms he pledged in 2002 when he took power.
There are many theories coined by friends and foes for this new development in AK Party and Turkey in general. Many believe, with Abdullah Gul safely stuck in the Presidential Palace, Erdogan has been rather single minded in the way he runs the government and party affairs. With the absence of Abdullah Gul from the ruling party’s high echelon, there has been lack of credible second opinion within the party. Even worse, AK Party has been deemed as loosing its dynamism to produce effective policies to counter increasing attacks directed towards the ruling party and government.
Others opined that Erdogan is simply burnt out. He has exhausted all his energy and ideas to bring AK Party and Turkey to this current level and there is nobody from his line-ups capable enough to received the baton from him and make a new run with renewed stamina.
There is also opinion suggesting that the Constitutional Court’s ruling to cancel legislation passed by parliament to allow headscarves in Turkey’s universities had effectively put Erdogan and AK Party reform agenda to the dead end. The precedence set by this ruling is truly damaging for the government because the parliament is no longer able to pass new legislation or amend constitution without the approval of the Turkey’s Constitutional Court. By right, the Constitutional Courts can on cancel legislation passed by parliament on procedural ground only, but not on the content. In the above case, the courts cancelled the legislation based on the content and sparked serious constitutional crisis in Turkey.
Thus, some believe that Erdogan is actually buying more time until the President Gul has ample opportunity to change the compositions of the Constitutional Court’s judges and finally reverse this damaging ruling before embarking on the new course of reform agenda. In the mean time, he makes efforts to pacify the secular elites and creates calm among them until time is right to make his next moves. Will the right time ever come for him? Allah knows best.
Change had indeed come to the US on the 4th November Presidential Election. It was historic and among the most decisive outcome in electing the US President. If I were an American voter, I would also endorse President Barrack Hussein Obama as the 44th US Presidents.
“Arrogance” is the most striking legacy of President George William Bush, and the Republican party eventually succumbed to the injuries it had brought to the party. George Bush to the US Republican was Khir Toyo to Selangor BN.
Will change come the world with the election of Obama as the President of the most powerful nation on this planet? Many are crossing their fingers as the clock ticks. As the old saying wisely put it, “everything, just like a coin, comes with double-side faces. Very seldom that you gonna like both.” Surely, in any coin tossing deal, we could bet to win only on either side, not both.
The first official offer for political appointee goes to Chicago based politician, Rahn Emmanual, a Democrat from Illinois for the position of the Chief of Staff in the White House. Mr. Emmanuel was a senior advisor to President Bill Clinton, is a Jewish very close to Israel, and is known for his bluntness and single minded determination. His father is a right wing Israeli and was an Argun (a Jewish terrorist organization) activist. A Chief of Staff would have strong access to the President. He manages the President’s schedules, decides appointments, and filters what kind of information reach the Presidents.
John Kerry is also rumored to take up the Secretary of The State, the third person in command after the President and the Vice President. The State Secretary would handle most of the US foreign affairs. The office of John Kerry has so far denied this. I opine, John Kerry would be a nice choice for the position though. Foreign affairs are the biggest liability in the current US administration. I have only one advice to the US administration that “this world would be much happier place to live without Israel.”
OK… I know…I know …Obama is NOT listening to me!
(2)
I detest those politicians still playing the racial cards. Racism is sharing the fate of dinosaurs, the once big and powerful creatures that failed to live up with times. Indeed, racism is big and powerful in our political landscape. It has been over half a century that our national politics been cooked on racial recipe. All major policies have been drawn along racial lines.
Unfortunately, racism in Malaysia has largely be associated to the Malays. Are Malays more racist than other races in Malaysia? I certainly doubt. But, we are the ones who take most of the blames whenever the ugly face of racism surfaces.
One way out to this racial polarity, I believe, is by creating Malaysia as a truly multilingual society. One significant thing that I notice during my encounter with multilingual persons is – a multilingual person is normally very well conversant with his or her own mother tongue language. Also, a multilingual is largely more tolerant and understanding towards the needs of others. Thus, by promoting the creation multilingual society, we are actually upgrading our appreciation towards mastering languages, indirectly strengthening our mother tongues as well.
Malaysia is the only nation on Earth that is well positioned for being truly multilingual countries. Imagine if Malaysians can all speak Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin, Arabic and Tamil, interchangeably and fluently, regardless of their races, religions, and origins. What a great nation could we be?
(3)
Reading through Turkish internet media during these last couple weeks, I find interesting turns have occurred in Turkey’s politics. First, Tayyip Erdogan and his AK Party has been portrayed quite negatively even by dailies known to be closed to him such as Today’s Zaman and Yeni Safak. Fehmi Koru, a columnist known for his close relationship with Erdogan blasted Erdogan rather harshly. He wrote in his column, “Erdogan won like Obama, but is now behaving like Bush”. Some other columnists even suggested that the beginning of the end of AK Party has just begun.
Many political observers notice that Erdogan and AK Party have been increasingly “hawkish” in their handling of domestic issues. Erdogan has also faced harsh criticism from his own supporters for being rather submissive towards Turkish Military Elites, while distancing himself even more from the southeastern Kurds population who had delivered his party huge votes in the crucial Parliament Election in July last year. These are viewed as major reversal from the reforms he pledged in 2002 when he took power.
There are many theories coined by friends and foes for this new development in AK Party and Turkey in general. Many believe, with Abdullah Gul safely stuck in the Presidential Palace, Erdogan has been rather single minded in the way he runs the government and party affairs. With the absence of Abdullah Gul from the ruling party’s high echelon, there has been lack of credible second opinion within the party. Even worse, AK Party has been deemed as loosing its dynamism to produce effective policies to counter increasing attacks directed towards the ruling party and government.
Others opined that Erdogan is simply burnt out. He has exhausted all his energy and ideas to bring AK Party and Turkey to this current level and there is nobody from his line-ups capable enough to received the baton from him and make a new run with renewed stamina.
There is also opinion suggesting that the Constitutional Court’s ruling to cancel legislation passed by parliament to allow headscarves in Turkey’s universities had effectively put Erdogan and AK Party reform agenda to the dead end. The precedence set by this ruling is truly damaging for the government because the parliament is no longer able to pass new legislation or amend constitution without the approval of the Turkey’s Constitutional Court. By right, the Constitutional Courts can on cancel legislation passed by parliament on procedural ground only, but not on the content. In the above case, the courts cancelled the legislation based on the content and sparked serious constitutional crisis in Turkey.
Thus, some believe that Erdogan is actually buying more time until the President Gul has ample opportunity to change the compositions of the Constitutional Court’s judges and finally reverse this damaging ruling before embarking on the new course of reform agenda. In the mean time, he makes efforts to pacify the secular elites and creates calm among them until time is right to make his next moves. Will the right time ever come for him? Allah knows best.
posted by Jamna at
12:28 PM
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