Friday, May 23, 2008

What about the thorn in the rakyat's flesh?

EVERYONRE is talking about the thorn in the flesh. This started when Tun Musa Hitam, one time Deputy Prime Minister, described his former boss, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, as a thorn in the flesh. The umno flesh that is.

This prompted Dr Mahathir to counter by referring Musa as also a thorn in the flesh before he quit his post as Deputy Umno President and Deputy Prime Minuster in the mid '80s. Dr Mahathir made this reference in his blog, chedet.com.

I saw a brief item on the TV 8pm news last night that Musa had responded to Dr Mahathir's reference.

Dr Mahathir also reminded Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abd Samad that he (Shahrir) too had left Umno and stood as an Independent candidate in Johore many years ago.

Shahrir then responded, on the same TV news slot, that he had not quit Umno, but that he did not return to Umno after its de-registration and subsequent registration in 1988. Shahrir maintained that he never quit Umno.

Will there be a rejoinder from Dr Mahathir in all this? Will there be other Ministers, leaders, small-time or big-time politicians joining the fray? Who will call who what? What next?

My simple, everyday question is this - what happen to the thorn in the rakyat's flesh? In all the drama being staged in the Malaysian political scene, is there no one who can take out this painful thorn in the rakyat's flesh? It's causing too much hurt, and we are bleeding.

Examples you ask? Food prices have gone up. Food prices are still rising. You name it, and they are all rising at some point or other. Go to the market and you'll see what I mean. Go to the restaurant and you see the menu with new price list of food items.

The average Malaysian is bleeding from all this my Dear Tuns, Tan Sris, Datuk Seris, Datos and Datuks and what have you. Take a walk in the shopping walls and you see plastic money being used to buy clothes, food, and everything else. Yes, and petrol too.

If the powers-that-be can stop for a while and start helping the bleeding rakyats on how to make ends meet, then I say that the votes have been justified. If, after almost three months of the general election and we are still stuck with calling each other names and trading political punches, then what and where is our future?

Let's take five on this 'name-calling, I'm right-You're wrong' game and start paying attention to the issues of the day. Let's have some real leadership and take us out of this tunnel and point us to a clear direction for once.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

tuan; saya masih ingat 1985 di lapangan terbang sultan abdul aziz subang; sdra pahit manis bersama rakan-rakan dari media menunggu kepulangan tun mahathir dari luar negara. tun musa, tan sri megat junid, lain-lain kenamaan berada di situ.bermula saja sidang media, pahit manis mula langkah menanyakan perdana menteri apakah beliau selesa dengan beberapa tindakan yang diambil oleh timbalan beliau semasa ketiadaan beliau. senyum simpul tun musa bila tun mahathir penuh bangga dengan keputusan-keputusan beliau ambil. tidak tahu pula saya samada media apparatus tun musa sudah rundingkan dahulu soalan itu bersama pahit manis; tetapi begitulah putaran politik melayu.musa bersama mahathir tidak sekata selepas itu dan walaupun mereka ada pertemuan selama ini, mereka nampaknya kurang mesra; apakah sebenarnya yang dimaksudkan oleh tun musa dengan duri terkeluar dari daging? apakah selama-lama ini dr mahathir duri? termasuk pada tahun 1981 semasa mereka mesra? tentu sekali tidak; saya ingin cadangkan tun musa perjelaskan supaya tidak terlalu keruh keadaan kita ni. pendapat pahit manis?

Anonymous said...

An excellent piece Datuk! Someone had to say this and i see you have been the one to bell the cat once again !

I concur with you that our leaders need to "get to work" quickly!

The first 100 days after the GE is fast approaching and we need some quick "out-of-the-box" thinking on moving forward. Saying I "got work to do" is not enough. Who doesn't?

As the late Peter Drucker once said, "its not enough to do things right, but one must find the right things to do first".

Kudos to you sir !

Cheers

Single Malt

A KADIR JASIN said...

Sdr Datuk Mat,

Kalau Tun Dr Mahathir duri dalam daging, si yang berkata-kata itu apa pula?

Penawar?
Jarum beracun?
Air Zam Zam?
Pekung?
Panau?
Sopak?
Fine wine?
Champagne?
Toddy?

Siapa sabotaj Tengku Razaleigh pada tahun 1987?

Tentunya bukan Dr Mahathir.

Siapa duri dalam daging, gunting dalam lipatan yang mencalar-balarkan Ku Li pada tahun 1987?

Terima kasih.

Anonymous said...

Tun Dr M blasted back at Tun Musa for saying he (Dr M) was a thorn in the flesh, with a quote ` a pot calling the kettle black', of which both are black.

Black in this contact is `not good' and by being called a black kettle by a pot which is also black, means that both the kettle and the pot are both `not good' due to its colour which is black.

In plain English, Mahathir is black and Musa is also black!!! Both are `not good'.


Ramli Mohd Yunus
Alor Star.

Zainal A. Kasim said...

Datuk,

Seruan yang kena pada masanya. Tak sudah2 dengan politik.

CaptainCaveman said...

Dear Datuk,

I am as disappointed as you with our politicians and the political dramas in Malaysia. Both BN and PR politicians are the same, they only care about their political survival but not the Rakyat and Malaysia.

Surely they know what is happening to the world now. I am just an ordinary Malaysian and i am already very concerned of our basic needs.

Why is that in Malaysia when something really bad happened only then the Government act? Prevention is always better than cure