The Malaysian Insider

Saturday November 21, 2009

Opinion

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From hopeful to hopeless, this could be the week for Reds

NOV 21 — If there is one thing that Rafa Benitez has learnt over the past two years, it is recognising the missing link in his Liverpool squad. Prior to the start of last season, he bought Robbie Keane with a purpose.

Keane was to be at the end of a formation which included Gareth Barry in midfield. Unfortunately, as Benitez revealed recently, when Barry failed to arrive, the whole Keane purchase also turned pear-shaped with the striker just not fitting into the alternative style of play.

Umno’s politics of engagement

NOV 21 — “If I were Chinese, I, too, would not support the MCA.”

Those words will ring in the ear of every single MCA member for a long time as the crudest statement uttered by a component party member.

The fact that the statement came from the Deputy Prime Minister and Umno’s Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has made it even more compelling.

It signals a major shift in the sacred policy of non-interference among the Barisan Nasional component parties.

The Apprentice: MCA

Nov 21 — In last week’s episode of The Apprentice: MCA, things got even worse for the Third Force as Datuk Seri Ong Trump Keat fired Youth chief Datuk Wee Cartier and Wanita chief Datin Paduka Chew Mango from the presidential council along with six other henchmen.

The dismissal was controversial as the eight seemed to have been dismissed for their refusal to endorse products from a main sponsor of the show.

Trump said he had no choice as “We can ill-afford to have leaders who are against the GAP. Twenty-nine central committee plans back GAP, after all.”

We need to talk about Robert Enke

NOV 21 — A few years ago, when Robbie Williams* declared that he was suffering from depression, the general media and public reaction was mixed. Here was a guy who, having quit one of the most successful boybands of the time, then made a name for himself on both sides of the Atlantic ocean, had a bevy of beauties on his arm every other night, had a mansion in Los Angeles… he was depressed?

Surely this was too much, some said. Depression was if you were Tommy and Gina** trying to make a living as jobs dwindled on the docks. He was rich, he was famous… how could he not be happy?

NOV 21 — Alan Hansen: former Liverpool defender and captain, now television pundit. Mark Hughes: former Manchester United striker, now Manchester City manager.

The pair clashed on many occasions on the pitch as Hughes’ emergence in the United front-line coincided with the tail-end of Hansen’s glittering career; now they’re at loggerheads again.

This time, they got it right

NOV 21 — When I first read about the decision in Tan Boon Wah’s case, I almost teared up. I rarely get emotional over events in the news, but human rights are something close to my heart. One of the most important purposes of the courts and Parliament is to protect the rights of individual citizens from encroachment by the government. For far too long, our courts have been used to protect the government from its citizens, and it is a very welcome change to see our judiciary doing its job once more.

Making a stink over durian

NOV 20 — Khalwat and durians are a steady presence in my new short story collection, "Velvet and Cinder Blocks." In one story, a KL taxi driver recalls an overbearing father who threw durians at him as a form of punishment, or sometimes just for the heck of it.

Elsewhere a chef-turned-journalist-turned-chef again invents a durian-based fish-head curry that wows the critics. In a draft of the closing novella, “The Guesthouse”, a young Malay woman and expat bond alone over a durian in the jungle.

A happy childhood, free to dream

NOV 20 — Children embody our hopes. We seek for them brighter futures than we visualise for ourselves. Mothers and fathers are willing to sacrifice their own needs for those of their children. Only the most cold-hearted among us can witness a child suffering and feel no pain.

Fifty years ago, on Nov 20, 1959, the United Nations General Assembly (Unga) – the forum where all states sit as equals – adopted the Declaration on the Rights of the Child. Affirming their faith in fundamental human rights, and in the dignity and worth of the human person, they set out, in principle, the rights of children so that all children could “have a happy childhood” and enjoy rights and freedoms.

Enemies of the state

NOV 19 — India, apparently is a country which has made the "mistake of being too democratic". And, "democracy can be a hindrance to progress because you spend so much time politicking that you don’t have time to develop your country. In China, there’s not much politics. So, they can spend more time developing their country.”

Those are statements attributed to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in a IANS report as quoted by Malaysia Today on Tuesday.

Najib and shadows

NOV 19 — Despite the deep political divides in the country being perfect for Machiavellian rule (Don’t you wish you could make a comeback Dr M?), not many will bet on the strength of the Najib administration or its longevity. He remains largely vulnerable.

It is difficult to pinpoint Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Achilles Heel, and in the blizzard of negatives directed at him one is more than likely to be distracted in the analysis.

I struggle aplenty in putting it in cogent thought but my uncouth summary would be he is not his own man.

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