Malaysia's veteran leader Mahathir wins shock election victory

[bendejo]

6 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I get it. So you think the good he represents overrides his rabid antisemitism. Your call. The truth is that Malaysia is one of the most Jew hating nations on the planet and weirdly has almost no Jews living there. Go figure. 

 

Once chit-chatting with a local in a cafe in KL, the guy told me W Bush was Jewish.

One of the sickly funny things about anti-semitism is those people don't even know what a jew is.

 

[bendejo]

Just to set a few things straight, seems history is being re-written.  Most of what I say in this post is counter to stuff I've been coming across in the news.

 

MM did not anoint Najib as PM, his "hand picked" (term used at the time) successor was Badawi.  I kind of liked him, he had ideas of turning Malaysia into a more modern society, including a modern Islam.  Didn't go over too well, and I think this is what triggered the rise of the religious right party (PAS),  and I suspect part of MM's antisemitic statements may be to pander to them.  Najib was Badawi's 2nd in command, and, as far as I could tell, it was Najib running the gov't.  I was living there in the early Badawi years, and it seemed he was always off visiting somewhere or other in the country, while Najib ran the store.

Najib's father was himself PM, 2nd PM of the country.  I had the impression MM never had much liking for young Najib.

 

Since the time he stepped down as PM, MM issued public statements as if he was still PM.  Wasn't unusual to see stuff in the newspaper like "would someone please tell MM he is no longer PM?"  For the past 15 years MM was regularly quitting, then re-joining, UMNO (the political party).

 

My favorite Najib story: Chinese New Year 2013.  Remember the "horse dance" by the Korean guy Psy?  Well, for a big political rally disguised as a CNY celebration Najib hired Psy; who was supposedly touring South America at the time and they lured him with a million USD.  I think this was in Penang.  So, Psy shows up, and Najib does the intro, working up the crowd.

"Are you ready for Psy?"

"Yaaaayyyyy!," the crowd cheers.

"Are you ready for UMNO?"

"Noooooooooooo!"

whoops!

Psy and company take the stage, when the show is over Najib comes on stage and Psy refuses to shake his hand.

 

 

Edited May 11, 2018 by bendejo

[mfd101]

19 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I get it. So you think the good he represents overrides his rabid antisemitism. Your call. The truth is that Malaysia is one of the most Jew hating nations on the planet and weirdly has almost no Jews living there. Go figure. 

You don't need Jews to be antisemitic, as Poland demonstrated with its anti-Jewish pogroms in 1945 & 1946 (when there were about 5000 Jews still surviving in Poland from a pre-war total of over 3,000,000). Visit Poland today, or Hungary, and you'll see that nothing much has changed by way of those sentiments ...

[jayboy]

You don't need Jews to be antisemitic, as Poland demonstrated with its anti-Jewish pogroms in 1945 & 1946 (when there were about 5000 Jews still surviving in Poland from a pre-war total of over 3,000,000). Visit Poland today, or Hungary, and you'll see that nothing much has changed by way of those sentiments ...

With respect it’s not a very intelligent comparison or one rooted in historical understanding.The history of anti Semitism in Poland is a long - many centuries- and dreadful one entangled in cultural values and customs.It was not likely to disappear after most of Poland’s Jews had been exterminated.

Mahathir and Malaysia are completely different.Very few Jews and no history of anti Semitism.The bile that Mahathir came out with can unfortunately be found in much of the Islamic world - a potpourri of paranoia, jealousy,hatred of Israel and theological atavism.

I strongly suspect that Mahathir doesn’t take it all that seriously.He’s an intelligent man but also an obstinate one.He’s not going to start apologising now.




Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[mfd101]

2 hours ago, jayboy said:

 

With respect it’s not a very intelligent comparison or one rooted in historical understanding.The history of anti Semitism in Poland is a long - many centuries- and dreadful one entangled in cultural values and customs.It was not likely to disappear after most of Poland’s Jews had been exterminated.

Mahathir and Malaysia are completely different.Very few Jews and no history of anti Semitism.The bile that Mahathir came out with can unfortunately be found in much of the Islamic world - a potpourri of paranoia, jealousy,hatred of Israel and theological atavism.

I strongly suspect that Mahathir doesn’t take it all that seriously.He’s an intelligent man but also an obstinate one.He’s not going to start apologising now.




Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

I don't think we're disagreeing. My point is that, everywhere in the world, antisemitism - whether of the East European variety or the Middle Eastern or the kind of Upper Crusty condescension I noticed in my Kiwi/UK MIL many decades ago - occurs mostly quite independently of the local presence or absence of any actual flesh'nblood Jews. It has become - perhaps by different processes in different places over different periods - a deep prejudice in many people's psyches, bearing of course no relation to any reality one could could poke a stick at. Mahatir's venting on the subject seems no different from just about any other case one can think of. The fact that he is manifestly a highly intelligent man simply makes it all the weirder & the nastier in his particular case.

[dabhand]

Ooops, looks like the new boss might just be going back on at least one of his pre-election promises. That being to 'abolish or cancel' the new fake news law.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44104879 

 

Wonder what other 'promises' he might renege on?

[ALFREDO]

On 5/10/2018 at 9:41 AM, Get Real said:

92 years old! Talk about the choice of the dinosaur.

@ALFREDO. Yes, of course you choose a primeminister out of how good he promote racing sport. 

You can believe me, that venue is good for Malaysia its people the Tourism and the economy.

Is a money earner for many and the country since 1999 ?

 

https://www.sepangcircuit.com

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepang_International_Circuit

 

 

Edited May 24, 2018 by ALFREDO

[ALFREDO]

On 5/11/2018 at 7:27 AM, geriatrickid said:

And for those who like their trains to run on time, they have their hero, Il Duce, Mussolini. Great reason to  idolize someone. You are  aware that the Formula 1 is considered to be one of the most corrupt of events right along there with the football world cup and and the selection of Olympic host cities.  One doesn't get an F1 race without applying a bit of grease, does one?

If somebody makes something positive, it cannot be mentioned? Your opinion ?

 

You can believe me, that venue is good for Malaysia its people the Tourism and the economy.

Is a money earner for many and the country since 1999 ?

 

F1 ?  I never saw one live, not interesting enough to spend so much money to attending for me, anyway the last F 1 race in Sepang was 2017, no more planned in the moment. 

 

https://www.sepangcircuit.com

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepang_International_Circuit

 

AND,

I not care your opinion lol -

 I like also Newin Chidchob for what he does to bring Buriram forward, similar but on smaller scale then Mahatir made in Malaysia for years. 

 

Sure where sun, there is also shadow, but mostly both did good for their countrymen or province inhabitants. ?

 

Edited May 24, 2018 by ALFREDO

[StreetCowboy]

On 5/15/2018 at 12:47 AM, dabhand said:

Ooops, looks like the new boss might just be going back on at least one of his pre-election promises. That being to 'abolish or cancel' the new fake news law.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44104879 

 

Wonder what other 'promises' he might renege on?

GST will be zero from the start of June, I think.

Anwar is out.

Najib has been prevented from leaving the country

 

Edit: "Out" as in 'released from prison'

Edited May 24, 2018 by StreetCowboy

[dabhand]

22 minutes ago, StreetCowboy said:

GST will be zero from the start of June, I think.

Anwar is out.

Najib has been prevented from leaving the country

 

Edit: "Out" as in 'released from prison'

I was thinking more of those where he had a personal interest. In particular him stepping aside to allow Anwar to become PM. But it may be that Father Time will have a say in when or if that happens.

 

The other possibility being that he attempts to bring one of his sons (Mukhriz) into play, as his blocking at the UMNO top table may have been the prime reason for turning against Najib, rather than his Road to Damascus moment on corruption activities.