"Umno on his mind"

[sirgalahad2010]

Leslie Lopez wrote a good commentary in the Spore Sunday Times today on the Umno annual meeting this week and the challenges facing Pak Lah therein.

Lopez makes the point that if Pak Lah "panders to the narrow interests of Umno" (reviving the patronage machine through govt projects and contracts, threats against Islam), there would be serious economic consequences for the country:

>> slowing foreign investment in Msia in the face of increasing competition from Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam "where pro-business policies and large domestic markets have attracted strong international investor interest" (in this context, MITI must surely have taken note of Intel's decision to set up a US$300 million chip assembly and testing plant in Vietnam, with projected investment anticipated to reach around US$1 billion and the proposed Intel-Micron JV to set up a US$3 billion plant in Spore for manufacturing advanced chips).

Umno bigwigs are fixated on the ethnic division of riches and "preoccupied with the distribution of wealth among themselves and their supporters and not its creation."

Lopez makes the stark conclusion that Msia needs to realise that it's state-directed capitalism has reached it's limits and that the country "needs to liberalise it's economy or risk being ignored by the international investing community."

Can Pak Lah convince Umno to put the interests of the country first? Will the Umno assembly give him the chance "to seize the political initiative" and confound his critics who claim that he has lost focus and is merely trumpeting reformist tunes without delivering on them? :(

[saml]

I think that out beloved leader is living in a world shielded by the lackeys and opportunists who make him believe that everything is all right. Shades of the emperors new clothes. Like him or loath him but TDM at least had the balls to change things if they are not going right. He realised that with proton and that was why vw was brought in but after going in one big circle it is going back to vw and this time round proton is in a much weaker bargaining position.

[sirgalahad2010]

Pak Lah: "I will not run. I am here to stay...I have a long-term plan".

Pak Lah: "Those who wish to cast stones can do so. But I will not be distracted as I know the direction I need to take to achieve my goals."

(from his Utusan Malaysia interview)

Ooi Kee Beng: "Half a term is more than enough time to provide people with a direction of where you're heading but Abdullah's goals have been at best fuzzy....The constant politicking is crippling; it has created a systemic problem within Umno in which various compromises...have to be reached before anything can move forward. Abdullah is too busy trying to please one camp or another at the expense of getting real work done that things come out, well, 'half-past six'."

(from the Spore TODAY newspaper, Nov 13, http://www.todayonline.com)

[xaviers]

I guess, He needs Umno to stay in power.

Anyway... hang on tight guys.. we are all in for a rough ride.

[birdy]

Pak Lah: "I will not run. I am here to stay...I have a long-term plan".

Pak Lah: "Those who wish to cast stones can do so. But I will not be distracted as I know the direction I need to take to achieve my goals."

(from his Utusan Malaysia interview)
Guess he is trying to tell the victims that please trust me another term... I have long term plan to victimize more people ;)

He wants to follow TDM footsteps in putting M'sia into the world map but unfortunately he is doing the wrong way... putting M'sia in a shameful position...don't u think so?

[Teeque]

the 'systemic problem' started with the NEP and perfected during TDM's tenure. its probably so endemic that if Pak Lah pulls the plug now, it will result in terminal failure for the ruling elite. he now leaves it to the beneficiaries to pull the plug themselves but nobody will want to take up his offer. old habits die hard, they say...