Political simpletons need to be taught some sense

By Faiq Khalifa

I think I’ve been silent long enough. Well apart from being cynical and taking some pot shots at PH and BN dipsticks and all that, it’s time to kick some senses into those thick skulls of uneducated political simpletons we have now parading around with slogans “Kita menang!”, “Malaysia baru!”, “oksigen kini lebih fresh!”, “Let’s crowd fund the national debt!”

Those funny to laugh at yet worrying kind of stupid crap when you realise that they really mean them. Well don’t blame me, it’s Mahathir himself who was divinely inspired to label his people as uneducated, probably after realising that there are many things that he can’t do or be forced to do, due to the Pakatan’s election manifesto and the number of seats won by other Pakatan parties that are forcing his hands now, vis-a-vis his own. I just sugar coat it.

Now that Mahathir announced that the HSR is cancelled and the ECRL is probably going to face the same fate – if Daim couldn’t get it his way to jack up the price and pocket some 11 bil for himself and those in cahoot it seems – it’s time for me to tell my friends and those who voted for that sly old fox that it’s not funny anymore. This has to be the straw that brakes the camel’s back.

Ok, first thing first. How on earth that you can just turn a blind eye on Lim Guan Eng being made the Finance Minister when he is being tried with not just one but TWO counts of corruption charges? Even Mahathir himself at first said that Guan Eng has to clear his name first and only God knows what changed his mind later on. Will you accept it if it was some BN dimwit who is being accused with corruption, though denying it as politically motivated, be made a minister let alone Finance Minister? And when he has the gall to announce that he is trying to get the soon to be picked AG to drop the charges, that doesn’t bother you in the slightest?

Then we have the Finance Minister going merry go round on the government’s debt, from 1 trillion to 600 billion to 800 billion to again 1 trillion then back to 600 billion – the exact figures given by the previous government, and confirmed earlier by Tan Sri Zeti – only to scare off our foreign investors and LOSE ALL profits made since January this year, almost 3 billion ringgit pulled out by anxious investors, so now our stock is falling while others are gaining, we are suddenly the worst performer in the region. Don’t tell me that these do not concern you at all. By the way, do you really not know the difference between government debt and government liabilities? Do you even know what constitutes a country’s external debt?

What about the 10% SST to be reintroduced? Now we suddenly are not burdened by tax? 6% is killing us but 10% is a-okay? 160 countries have implemented the more efficient tax system that is GST/VAT including oil rich countries, and we are THE ONLY country on earth that has reverted back to the old SST, a system where businesses are known to have been manipulating for their own benefit. Did you miss the news when Mahathir, a few days after the election complained that “certain businessmen” were forced to pay extra tax by the previous government? Is it a coincidence that Vincent Tan’s Berjaya Corp was complaining that they are making losses for the third quarter in a row, and they are blaming GST as a reason for that? So, for who’s benefit the scrapping of GST and reintroducing of SST, actually is?

And now this. The ECRL and the HSR. You guys are truly talented in doing this incredible mental acrobatics when trying your best to justify the decisions of the government or what the ministers are now saying, doing the mental leaps and jumps, and land in a completely different conclusion from what you were saying to the same thing said by BN ministers previously.

How come you say nothing when Daim said the actual cost for the ECRL is 66 Billion, citing that the extra 11 billion is for the second phase when it was announced way before Pakatan took over that the 55 billion cost is inclusive of the second phase? Where did that extra 11 billion come from? Didn’t Nurul Izzah once say that PH would be able to do the MRT much cheaper than BN? So why now when they announced that it has to be more expensive, it doesn’t sound dubious to you? As for the HSR, when I read those comments supporting Mahathir, you guys never cease to amaze me.

Please, there has to be a point somewhere for you to see that those people you’re supporting are no angels. They are indeed the same kind of politicians whose interest is to keep their career as long as they can. So be critical. Do not believe everything they want you to believe. Stop trying to justify stupid things done by the people you’re supporting only to make yourself look like the type of Malaysian Mahathir was whining about.

* The above commentary is taken from a Facebook posting by Faiq Khalifa with his permission. Views expressed herein are entirely his own and bear no relation to The Malayan in any way.