NIZAR GO FOR BROKE : ANOTHER SAD PERAK STORY

1. I have tried not to be bothered with what is happening in Perak, the coup d'état , then counter coup, then courts judgement, then overruled by the other judge and it seems the state executive's issue will linger on and on and on... Pity to Perak people. The failure of the system is undermining their livelihood.
   
   
2. Today, on the first day of his tenure as a Member of Parliament after winning the Bukit Gantang by-election seat recently, Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin opted to use that moment to show his anger and determination to protest to the federal government. Immediately after he ended his oath swearing, he put on a scarf on his songkok that clearly shows words of protest. He demanded the Perak state assembly to be dissolved. He's action was supported by 6 other opposition MPs namely, Datuk Ngeh Khoo Ham (DAP-Beruas), Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping), Datuk Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena), Dr Hatta Ramali (PAS-Kuala Krai), Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (PAS-Kuala Selangor) dan N Gobalakrishnan (PKR-Padang Serai).
   
   
3. As I said earlier, I have tried my best to ignore all this nonsense political issues. When it is appear on the TV, I switch to HBO. When I saw in the paper, I just read the headlines. When I hear people discussing it, I just listen and allowed my mind to go elsewhere.
   
   
4. To me, all this are stupid.
   
   
5. I assume you know what is happening in Kamunting since last week. It wasn't reported that much in the mainstream media. I think it was for obvious reason, so the incident would be preferred to be mild down. When it involves Malay and Indian community, you better treat it with extra cautious. But what you read in the Internet is outrageous. I can deny it never happened like that. At least, the incident didn't get to the level of Kg Medan fiasco. Not yet, I hope.
   
   
6. Well, I think the disturbances there is attributed to the failure of the political system. I can tell you it was a merely stupid kampung gangster feud started with name callings by the youths at a cybercafe. Both sides think they are stronger than each other and the stupid incident escalated to a use of parang. Then the police came in, then we heard the other group called for `an assistant' from their families even up to Negeri Sembilan. That forced the police to put up a road block to all the main entrance to Taiping. Any car with peculiar characters were stopped and searched. Luckily, we still have a strong police force to maintain the peace and order. I know what happened there, I was in Kamunting last week - in fact very much in the midst of the situation.
   
   
7. I didn't go there to cover the event. Hell no. It's my in-laws hometown. Apparently the incident occurred on Monday. I arrived on Tuesday. That evening, together with one fellow media man who also a neighbour to my in-law, Munir (an editor) of Harian Metro - we had a teh tarik at the Kamunting bus station. We were catching up the old times. Though we work in KL but we only managed to speak through phones and hardly able to meet. During the course of our `nonchalant' conversation, we observe a very strong police presence, not seen since the last by-election (hahaha...). There were patrol cars - deliberately switch on its lights, policeman on a bike (many many of them), then the romantic-unmarked van doing it routinely twice circling in front of the kedai mamak where a group of Malay chaps were staring back at them... The road blocks were still there when I left on Friday.
   
   
8. My point here is : if there is a strong government in the state of Perak, such stupid youth feud won't escalated to this level. There is a BN government now but you can't say it a strong one. And the same goes to Pakatan Rakyat when they held the helm. Nizar didn't know how to balance his act. When he try to pacify the non-Malays, he's action was (and still is) considered as a traitor. Thus the political chaos in Perak. Nizar is a very adamant politician. He dare to go against the Sultan, he dare to show his contempt to the Dewan Rakyat. This is what our politician has become today. Power is everything.
   
   
9. When I finish with this babbling of words, I shall again... switch off the TV when the Perak fiasco appear, look away when the news printed in the papers.
   
   
10. I just want to live and enjoy my life and don't want to get entangled with all this nonsense. Free me!