Sunday, May 27, 2007

The Show Must Go On...

There you have it. I've issued my clarification statement on the civil service, explained my concerns with the existing government policies towards the public sector and invited the Deputy UMNO Youth Chief to a gentlemen's debate on how to achieve civil service excellence.

Khairy Jamaluddin, disappointingly, has promptly turned down the invite to discuss the all-important issue of improving our civil service, but yet continued to insist that my initial statement on civil service was racially-biased.

The issue attracted decent coverage in The Star, Utusan Malaysia and Oriental Daily. The former two carried the reply from Khairy. Berita Harian however, didn't offer me the right of reply.

In The Star:
...Khairy said that he would not entertain Pua's challenge to a debate, adding that it was an attempt by the Opposition to divert the subject to something else.

[...]

“It is not about me or about debating the issues he has laid forward. He has made a statement that is degrading to the civil service which has irked many, such as the Cuepacs leader,” he said, maintaining his stand that Pua and the DAP ought to apologise.
Utusan juxtaposed our positions next to one another. My statement was reported here while his detailed response here:
...tindakan itu [cabaran debat] disifatkan tidak matang dan Pua dilihat cuba lari daripada bertanggungjawab atas kenyataan asalnya yang secara jelas melukakan hati banyak pihak khususnya orang Melayu.

‘‘Kenapa pula hendak berdebat dengan saya? Ini sudah menjadi sangat tidak relevan daripada kenyataan asalnya yang jelas menghina kakitangan perkhidmatan awam.

‘‘Kini terpulang kepada dia sama ada hendak meminta maaf. Kita sudah tidak kisah kerana sudah jelas nampak niat buruk beliau yang kini sudah terdedah,’’ ujar Khairy.

[...]

Khairy menyifatkan cabaran Pua itu sebagai permainan politik kotor. “Dia cuba menggunakan jalan pintas untuk melarikan diri daripada masalah yang sedang ditanggungnya,” kata beliau.
In summary, my invite for a "reasoned, collected and rational debate" on how to improve the civil service in Malaysia is:
  1. A diversion tactic
  2. Immature ("sifat tidak matang")
  3. Irrelevant ("tidak relevan")
  4. Of clear unscrupulous intent ("jelas nampak niat buruk")
  5. Dirty politics ("politik kotor")
Malaysians can decide for themselves if my statements and open invite to Khairy even remotely represent any of the above "allegations".

But there's only one thing I'll reiterate here, that is my constructive criticisms of the government's policies towards the civil service is not racial, nor is it an insult to civil servants.

While I'm happy for Utusan to have carried my views with little "cuts", I'm disappointed that the paper has decided to headline the issue as a challenge to the "integrity and capability of Malay civil servants (kewibaan dan keupayaan kakitangan awam Melayu)", which it clearly wasn't.

My initial statement was entitled "Record Pay Rise Solves Only Part of the Civil Service Problem". In particular, the Government must streamline the bloated civil service, which is among the largest, proportionate to the population it serves in Asia.

Irrespective to Khairy's unfortunate rejection to my invitation to a sensible debate, the forum on "Civil Service Excellence: Quality vs Quantity" will proceed as planned. Yes, the show will go on, and we will reserve a seat on stage for the UMNO Deputy Youth Chief providing him with the opportunity to change his mind at any point of time.
Topic: Civil Service Excellence: Quality vs Quantity
Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
Date: 30th May 2007 (Wednesday)
Time: 8.00 pm
Besides myself, several distinguished speakers, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, Nurul Izzah Anwar and Sdr Lim Kit Siang have confirmed their participation, while we are still awaiting confirmation from several other exciting speakers. It'll be updated here once they have confirmed attendance.

We look forward to seeing you there! ;)

47 comments:

123 said...

As with any politician, whether elected or appointed, accountability is of great essence. Thus far, I have yet to see any from Khairy Jamaluddin.

Anonymous said...

I had expected KJ to decline your invite to a debate on the bloated civil service matter, the coward and sham intellect that he is. He is afraid of making a fool of himelf in full view of all present.
Khairy should be the one to make an apology, to all Chinese Malaysians for saying that the Chinese would exploit divisions among the Malays and within UMNO, now that the truth of the May 13 incident is out.

Anonymous said...

Khairy Jamaluddin, sorry, should be Chicken Run Jamaluddin is an arrogant hooligan with no essence and moral value. He only knows how to behave like a stupid hero using the Mat Rempit method to gain support from idiots. How could such Mat Rempit chick win the debate over our intelletual Tony Pua? Sure this chick is afraid of Tony Pua and thus runs away and cry in front of his mum now. What a shame to UMNO Youth to have such a coward leader!! Long Live Tony Pua!

Anonymous said...

Dear Tony, Chicken Run Jamaluddin has lost miserably on this episode. We are so proud of you! Keep up the good work. Don't let this thug enter our parliment house.

Anonymous said...

KJ got small khram, thats why se scared to face TP with powerful khram!

Anonymous said...

If KJ has any balls, he should take up the challenge on the debate. It only goes to show that he is not man enough to take his own stand in public knowing too well that what TP said is true, nothing but the truth.

Darren said...

It's simple to handle stupid people and get them to do things. Suggest the opposite and they will just do it. For eg, to avoid him seeking a debate with you, challenge him to a debate. Get the idea of dealing with stupid ppl?

Anonymous said...

Tony Pua, I hope that you will vie for parliamentary seat in Subang Jaya. Getting fed up with the present representatives.
Will vote and campaign for you!

Anonymous said...

KJ's decision is expected as his basis is pure racial slant and is not supported by facts. He is smart enough to decline the challenge and in the process obviate the possibility of being strip naked by you in the debate for the nation to see what sort of a politician is he.
good luck and god bless you as you embark on this difficult journey to serve the people.

Anonymous said...

Tony, you have been a gentleman all this while in this stupid game with Chicken Khairy. It's time to take your gloves off. Chicken Khairy wants to play dirty, you can play dirty. I dont see any reason why you should be gentlemanly with him. He wants an apology, we have one apology - NUTS (In the battle of the Bulge, Germans demanded a surrender from the Allied forces. The Allied forces reply was simple - NUTS) Only the MCA gerakan, and MIC will play to his tune, apologise and kow-tow. DAP and you dont have to play this game. Chickey Khairy - NUTS to you. You have been insulting everyone's intelligence for far too long. You think you can ride roughshod over everyone just because you are the SIL and an Oxford graduate. My friend, dont play this game ever so often, because you have become so stale that everybody has no respect for you.

Anonymous said...

Khairy, i have one thousand and one dirty words to describe you, but out of respect for Tony and because I am a very educated person, I control myself. But please don't overstep the line. I know a lot of your Umno compatriots are waiting for you to slip and stumble. And many are eagerly waiting for that day. Chicken Khairy, you time will come and when that time comes, I can bet my last dollar many will celebrate. You have gone too far. NUTS to you.

Anonymous said...

Tony welldone, you have got the despicable SIL by his ball (one only), hahaha.

I still remember how the bugger threaten to sue the Kelantan MB and............hahaha.

Anonymous said...

On my point, KJ knows the whole statement but he also knows that the majority will never find Tony's page at the same time. He use such technique(dirty politics)to confuse those that follow blindly, for example, look at those who response to your comment after KJ complained. He succeed at first, but he did not expect Tony to counter back. Now he is silent and can never fight back and he will only use the racial issue to safe his prestige. Tony did win, but he did not lose all, some less intelligent people will still support him. He is so pathetic. Not responsible for bringing the racial issue, look around us, we all live in harmony.

I really doubt which major he took during his time in Oxford.

Simon Wee said...

It is a Malaysian fact that those who harp on racial issues went on to become the country's leaders. So it is not surprising for any Malay aspiring for leadership to embark on such a path. Time has change so this time around let us ensure that they won't succeed.

Who am I? said...

For some reason, the movie "Goodnight, and Goodluck" keeps on playing in my mind...

Here's a clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N3WJXK2PAM

Anonymous said...

Instead of a healthy debate to resolve issues, Chicken Khairy has decided to resort to stirring racial shit. this is a sad reflection of Barisan's philosophy of spreading lies at every opportunity to create a climate of fear among the people to perpetuate their iron grip. For the Barisan, it's a right to rule, rather than privilege. The Nazis and Fascists would have been very proud of them. Tony, this has only strengthened our resolve to struggle against lies, idiocy, hypocrisy, bigotry, racism. This is Malaysia's struggle, and we owe it to our grandchildren to continue our struggle.

What A Lulu said...

if you go read utusan, and follow the discussions on the kmu forum, you'd learn that they are painting quite an ugly picture of tony. i hope that all these tp penyokongs, if you hear your friends or colleagues who are utusan only readers talk about it, you would take the effort to explain what the actual statement was.

having said that, khairy didn't come out smelling like a bed of roses either.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Take a leaf from us. =)

Ask Khairy to justify your call to debate as:

A diversion tactic
Immature ("sifat tidak matang")

Irrelevant ("tidak relevan")

Of clear unscrupulous intent ("jelas nampak niat buruk")

Dirty politics ("politik kotor")

If he cannot do it, sue him for deframation.

Anonymous said...

Hi Tony
While I am most pleased to see that a person of your calibre has given up your lucrative job as the CEO of a public listed company to try and make a difference in Malaysian politics, I think that you have so far continued in the sinocentric tradition of the DAP. As in this issue of the civil service, you have exhibited a lack of sensitivity to the Malay community when you make your statement. Even if your comment was supposed to talk about improving the civil service, even if you are pointing out what the government clearly refuses to see, the way you go about it has left yourself open to criticism of racism (even if you are not racist). I don't think I should be able to tell DAP what to do, but so long as DAP politicians continue to make comments like these, DAP will not be able to shed its sinocentric image in the eyes of the Malays. And they in turn, will never see DAP as a viable alternative to BN, no matter how inept and corrupt it is.

A Malaysian student in NUS

Anonymous said...

Gali Jambanludin be wiser, next time picked those cowards from MCA , Gerakan and the likes for apology and you sure will get it, but not DAP or PAS.

Anonymous said...

too bad khiry is a coward & he has no balls. Basically the whole BN is afraid of debating, coz they will get humiliated badly.

Simon Wee said...

I refer to the posting of “A Malaysian Student in NUS” labeling Tony as a sinocentric, just like the DAP. For a Malaysian to hold such a view speaks volume of the success of the Malay leadership in institutionalized the concept of Malay Supremacy in Malaysia. According to Dr Kua and other likeminded, they managed to do it by unleashing May 13. (Talking of May 13, the recent expo’se highlights an issue in which the Malays, as represented by the Deputy Prime Minister, want the sad chapter of the country history to be forgotten, which people like Dr Kua want the truth to be acknowledged. The solution? Acknowledge the truth and then forget about it.)

Practically anything “New” in Malaysia spells the exclusion of others in favour of the Malays. Be it the New Education Policy, New Economic Policy or even the New Straits Times, all Malaysians except the Malays have been adversely affected. I am sure Tony would be able to acquire enough documentary evidence to prove it. If those affected start to clamour for fairness and justice and to right the wrongs perpetrated against them are accused of being “sinocentric”, then a great disservice has been done to them. Of course what were done to the disadvantage Malays before May 13 could be termed as unfair and unjustified. By the same token what have been done to the non-Malays after May 13 could also be termed as unfair and unjustified.

Malaysia belongs to all Malaysians and as such we must find common grounds to get by. If a call by the non-Malays for a review of the New Economic Policy after more than 40 years of implementation is termed as racist or sinocentric, then racially such a name-calling misses the point.

We all know that the Malaysian civil service is 90% dominated by the Malays. Because of such set-up whichever way it is criticized the element of race is inherent. If any blame is to be apportioned UMNO would be the main culprit. ”Malaysian Student” ‘s alluded to DAP being unacceptable to the Malays because of its sinocentric approach. Let me say that UMNO’s approach is dangerous even to the Malays themselves because one fine day when the situation is untenable anymore, the situation like that in Iraq could be the order of the day. Now is the time to rectify the situation and the finding of common grounds is of immediate importance.

Yours Truly
Simon Wee

Anonymous said...

KHAIRY PENGECUT!!!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Simon Wee said...

Those hiding behind the cloak of "anonymous" are also coward. Stand up and be counted for the sake of a just Malaysia.

Yours Truly
Simon Wee

Anonymous said...

Simon boy, why not you let known your residential address , telephone number and post a pic of yourself in your blog so that you are absolutely no anonymous?

Simon Wee said...

Dear Anonymous,

Thanks for the invitation.

Please go to simonscwee@blogspot.com for all the information and then please stand up and be counted for a just Malaysia.

Regards

Simon Wee, always your friend.

Simon Wee said...

Sorry the blogspot should read:
simonscwee.blogspot.com.
rgds Simon

Who am I? said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Who am I? said...

If DAP is so "sino-centric", then do you think that trimming down the government would benefit ONLY the chinese?

I think SOMEONE miss the point?

Anonymous said...

Dear Tony,

I am beginning to wonder about Khairy's education background.
What was his caliber as a student at Oxford?

Seems like he is quick to incite baseless allegations. What did he really learn at Oxford and how did he cope in the diverse environment of his alma mater?

I'm certain that his professors would be thoroughly disappointed in knowing that he is stirring up a ruckus back in his home country - even so, after pursuing Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE).

Could someone provide some background information on Khairy's education?
For those who studied with him, what was he like in college?

Anonymous said...

But trimming down the government will lead to 500,000 employeds. Perhaps Tony should suggest what the government should do with these people.

Simon Wee please note that I'm no anonymous. I'm male. I involve in sales. I'm a salesman. I live in malaysia. I used to work at Jusco. Ex-market researcher for Frank Small Associates. If you are not satisfy that I'm not anonymous, I can create a blog with the same information.

Anonymous said...

.. i meant, unemployeds.

Anonymous said...

Malaysian Student in NUS,

I think Tony is sensitive enough to mention the 30,000 absorbed by the government consists of Malays and non-Malays. If he says the gov is a dumping ground, it is a dumping ground for the Malays as well as non-malays. If he meant those malays are not as competent, the non-malays that are part of the unemployeds are not as competent as well. The only problem is when someone is hyper sensitive, does not accept truths, ignorant, over protective, doesn't wish to improve, perhaps he wished his peers couldn't improve so he can always be their hero?

stevie said...

Good luck, Tony.

I did what I could to publicize your showdown.

Anonymous said...

People , I think the reason the SSIL (silly son-in-law ) is so pissed off with
Tony is that the idiot (KJ) is an unemployable unemployed too!!!

Therefore the imbecile concluded that Tony had personally
attacked him .

Simon Wee said...

Thanks Alan.
rgds
Simon Wee, always a friend.

Anonymous said...

remember the nursery rhyme?

" cluck! cluck! cluck!" cried the poor little chicken

Remember its the little chicken who thought the sky is falling down!
hehe

Anonymous said...

I would like to clarify that I am all for a Malaysian Malaysia and I respect the sacrifices made by DAP politicians to achieve this end. I count among my close friends very urbane, informed Malays with whom I can discuss politics openly. They are opposed to the idea of Malay supremacy and who regard the nepostism and corruption of UMNO with disgust. Yet they could not bring themselves to accept DAP as a viable alternative. The question then is, why is this so, if DAP is in fact the multiracial party it claims itself to be? How many issues that adversely affect the Malays per se are taken up by DAP (one comes to mind -Islamic Family Law Bill 2005)? How in touch is the DAP with the Malay community? When I say that the DAP is sinocentric, I mean exactly that - it still focuses on the issues that affect the Chinese community (please do not equate 'sinocentrism' with 'racism'), often times to the neglect of issues important to other communities.

For the record, I come from a family of staunch DAP supporters. I am familiar with the rhetoric of 'a just Malaysia for all regardless of race' that is championed by the DAP (which is admittedly, my hopes and dreams also). But when DAP make statements like this (even if it is 'supported by facts'), it shows clearly that it fails to feel the pulse of the Malay community, and hurt their sensitivity.

This is my 2 sens' worth. As I do not wish to turn this forum into a debate on this issue, this will be my last comment for this post.

A Malaysian student in NUS

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

I think I can swallow the recent comment by the student in NUS. DAP, what is your take?

Happen to come across a view of another malaysian student abroad (Australia) by accident, http://drjazzi.blogspot.com/search/label/Lim%20Kit%20Siang

I also think it is almost impossible to change the what the malays think of DAP, don't even talk about the malays voting for DAP. Can Tony turn it around? My question would be - does he intend to change the malays' perception against DAP?

I wish to bring to the attention of Tony that eventhough he has "won" the debate challenge, the winner, as far as the malays are concerned, whether it is you, Tony, have to ask the malays. I dare not say that here, some could support you but I have a feeling most of them does not like your statement, albeit it is for the good of the country.

Talking about trimming down the government, something comes to my mind about how a corporate head would do in trimming down a company in order to save a company. They pay out reasonable compensations. Sometimes they have Voluntary Separation Scheme. Can this apply to the government department as well? Rather than just say trimming down the government, that would normally trigger some fear of jobless situation or hurtful feelings, perhaps Tony, you could've suggested to the government to offer compensation for volunteers or unlucky ones? All you need to know is money works like a miracle sometimes.

I would say DAP did a good job in pressuring the government to have salary increment for police and civil servants. That, I strongly believe, does have a small impact on the malays perception against DAP.

Tony, I know you didn't do anything wrong. I do support you man, but on the other hand I worried if you can go far beyond the malays thoughts. Will they walk with you? I certainly hope one day, they will.

And I certainly hope, one day, DAP does not have to focus on malaysian chinese areas to win votes.

Simon Wee said...

Good opinion Alan. Now you are counted.

With reference to the " Malaysian in NUS", it is apparant that he will no hesitate to nit-pick on DAP for its "Malaysian Malaysia" concept but fell silent on UNMO's institutionalising the concept of Malay Privileges.

Without passing judgment whether he is right or wrong, let me advise him to look at the situation in Iraq. The Sunnis were the privilaged race in Iraq during Saddam Hussine reign. The geopolitical balance can be easily unbalanced by interested foreign forces. As such let me plead with all factions to solve any problems in Malaysia the Malaysian ways without instigations from foreign fources be it American, China, India, Indonesia or Singapore.

LOng live Malaysians.

Simon Wee

Anonymous said...

dang, Tony, you made a wrong move. You've allowed them to gain the upper hand, KJ got more support, and DAP is further away from garnering anything good from the Malay community as ever.

To generalised govt servants= malay, is too simplistic. As it is to allow your opponents to paint a picture of you saying, govt sevants= malay- unproductive-under-achieved-local uni grads.

Here's a thought, under-achievers are everywhere of every creed and colour.
just too bad you're not in a position to MOTIVATE them, or really change them for the better.


But you have done your part. Do not despair, at least you have balls to bring up stuffs like that.

next time, think a few more moves ahead alrite?

Anonymous said...

Yeah Tony you paint yourself as a very prejudiced man.

Anonymous said...

Tony.
that KJ fella probably bought his Oxford lah.... better for him to continue sleeping like his FIL, make his people lost in battle of Pirate of the Carribean psp game!
ignore him as his existence will only waste your energy and time. given time, say another 365 days, that fella will gone with the wind, drown among other Pirates. don't they aplenty in motherland?

Anonymous said...

I agree on FIL sleeping ,better to sleep and not do anything rather than do and sell it out to migrants