current rumblings

the situation in the country is very troubling these days. the air seems to be thick with apprehension and everyone seems to be consumed by conspiracy theories.

no matter what it does, there seems to be a general feeling of mistrust among the rakyat against the government. there is a deep sense of mistrust no matter what the government is trying to do.

i believe this sense of mistrust stemmed from the way Tun Salleh was removed from his office. since then, law and order and the justice system took a beating from which they have not recovered.

it is seen as the executive wielding too much controls on the pulse of the nation. silencing critics through operation lalang added to this apprehension. the government lost the confidence of the urban rakyat.

instead of finding ways to rectify the situation, the executive built up more power to consolidate his position. the police force was seen as coming under the control and dictation of the executive who was also the minister in charge of the force.

the professionalism and excellence displayed by the judiciary and the police began to be questioned and those who walked the corridors of power pretended that everything was under control.

once the rot set in, it became impossible to repair. is it the rakyat's fault that the mistrust of the government should continue and spread over to the rural areas?

i am reminded of the cassette revolution that brought down the rule of the Shah of Iran. in our country, it is the Internet with you tube that will do the work.

i really wonder why is the government being too reckless in its conduct these days? was it necessary to impose road blocks and cause massive jams throughout the city for a demonstration that was not planned? and the bravado of the minister in claiming that the police action was successful in thwarting the demonstration - does one cry or laugh at such ludicrous statements?

then we see the action against Anwar - arresting him before the appointed hour he was to present himself to the police. the reason for such action - he did not follow the route the police believed he should take. hey, maybe he wanted to use the toilet, freshen himself up and take some decent food before subjecting himself to the police. who knows when he can see a clean toilet or decent food, given his valuable lessons of before.

given the power struggle in UMNO, i really wonder if some ministers are trying to undermine Pak Lah. otherwise how does one explain such amateurish actions as displayed by the people in the corridors of power?

the Najib has just made a request to treat Anwar with respect and decorum after Anwar claimed to have been stripped and his vital statistics measured during medical examination while he was just detained. Najib says this will make the rakyat be assured that the police is acting in the appropriate manner.

dear Najib - there is no way the rakyat will be assured of the police's appropriate manner of action given the sorry state of track record over the past years. the perception is that the police is under the thump of the ruling elites.

you want to change the rakyat's perception? be bold enough to kick in serious reforms like fighting corruption without fear or favor and restoring the respectability and trust in the judiciary by ensuring that only persons of highest integrity and honesty are seated on the bench. those under investigation should be asked at least to go on leave so that there is no hint of the power of incumbency tainting investigations.

i dare say that under current scenario, if elections are called now, we will find the BN on the opposite side of the chambers in parliament.

one can only hope and pray that those who are calling the shots in shaping this nation are blessed with wisdom, honor, integrity, righteousness and the simple virtue of understanding the feelings of the common men and women on the streets.

may God save the country.

the story goes like this...

in a remote town, there was a trader who sold only one product - eggs. all the town's people went to him for their supply of eggs. they would normally buy for their weekly needs as this was convenient for them.

the trader, realizing that he had a monopoly on the eggs trade, decided to increase the price of eggs slightly. the town folks did not mind as the difference was not much. they still kept buying their weekly needs.

the trader seeing that his profits were growing, decided to stock up more eggs and increased the price even higher. now the people paused and looked at the trader's action carefully. they realized that their silence over the first price increase had prompted the trader to further hike up the price.

being simple people, they decided to take a simple action to teach the trader a lesson. they did not boycott the trader as they needed eggs. so what they did was instead of buying their weekly supply, they decided to buy on a daily need basis.

this resulted in the trader having to carry a higher stock of eggs. if he did not sell them off on time the eggs would go bad. as his stock of eggs piled up, he had only one option to clear his stock before all the eggs went bad. he had to lower the price.

the trader learned his lesson and reverted to the original price.

now why can't you and i fill up our fuel tanks for what we need on a daily basis? yes this will be inconvenient but think what this will do - the petrol stations will be sitting on high stock. they will be sending out their replenishment orders much slower that they presently do. the refineries will be holding too much stock - probably not enough storage tanks. there will be a glut of petrol. the price has to come down.

the profiteers, futures traders who are the prime culprits for the price escalation will be punished just like the egg trader.

the egg story is something that i read in an e mail some time back. the simple logic of this story stuck in my mind. just ponder what if the world over, people just filled up according to their daily needs instead of filling up the tank, what would be the effect on oil prices?

cheers.