Al-Fatihah untuk anak Manja

Salam. Anak kepada sahabat saya Datuk Manja Ismail kembali kerahmatullah awal pagi ini. Moga-moga rohnya dicucuri rahmat. Saya mendapat sms ini dari Manja kira-kira pukul 2.50pagi."Anakanda kami, Mohd Ikhwanul Ashraf, pulang ke rahmatullah kerana nahas awal pagi ini. Harap maklum."

Will MCA election resolved crisis?

SALAM! Who will lead the MCA after the party election on March 28? But my bigger question is whether the MCA crisis will be resolved after the election? The factions in the MCA seems to be deep-rooted. Ong Tee Keat is the incumbent and he's being attacked from all corners. Even his predeccesor Ong Ka Ting has announced his bid to wrest the presidency from OTK. As do Dr Chua Soi Lek. This can be a potentially explosive election. Friends in the MCA say the 2,400 delegates already know who they want to lead the party. But it won't easy and certainly not a walk in the park for the contestants. In recent days, we hear comments from supporters of the three contenders that their candidate has got the endorsement of the PM and his deputy. This kind of campaigning is to be expected. But delegates won't be influenced by this. Whatever the outcome of the election, all MCA leaders must next do the honourable thing - to respect the voice of the delegates and accept whoever is picked to lead the party. MCA have wasted enough time already.

Fairuz (dulu PKR, kini Umno) perlu hati2

SALAM! Saya menemubual mantan Timbalan Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang 1, Mohd Fairuz Khairuddin, dalam program Soal Jawab di TV3 Isnin lalu. Temubual secara langsung itu mendapat pelbagai reaksi sesetengah penonton. Ada yang mengirim email, ada yang menghantar SMS, dan ada juga yang menalipon. Sebahagian besar reaksi memberi markah tinggi kepada Fairuz, yang selama ini dilihat sebagai orang PKR yang cukup setia pada ketua dan partinya. Ada yang melihat Fairuz sebagai pemimpin muda yang boleh diberi tanggungjawab yang jauh lebih besar. Beberapa orang yang kenal beliau berkata Fairuz dilihat sebagai antara pemimpin pelapis PKR yang banyak potensi. Tetapi ada rakan-rakan dari parti komponen pakatan itu yang melihat Fairuz sebagai orang yang boleh merosakkan rancangan mereka untuk mentadbir negeri mengikut kehendak dan selera yang sukar diterima pengundi Melayu di Pulau Mutiara itu. Namun, ada juga yang berpendapat bahawa Fairuz tidak berkesan sebagai ADUN Penanti dan pemergiannya dari PKR tidak merugikan mereka.

Zulkifli is better as independent MP

I HAD told PKR MP for Kulim Bandar Baru, Zulkifli Noordin, that it looked like he was waiting to be sacked from his party. The way he was taking them to task for various breaches, it seemed to me that he was baiting his party bosses to give him the kick. Today, he got it. At around 6.00PM today, he called several people saying he's ready to tell all at a Press Conference. I had told him that the sack was bound to come sooner or later. Now that he's sacked, Zulkifli is free to speak against anyone and on anything. Seems to me that he's got few, if any, allies in the party. Perhaps he should focus on being an independent MP and serve his constituents full time, the way the famous Cikgu Jabar did for Batu Laut in Selangor. The late Cikgu Jabar stayed as an independent Wakil Rakyat for several terms in Batu Laut with the voters backing him at every poll. He died many years ago.