vox populi big thumbnail ‘Stick to your promises before the election. If you keep dancing to Umno's music and break the Pakatan Rakyat, then there will no PAS after the next GE.'

On PAS-Umno talks prelude to snap polls?

Theeee: First of all, the behind-the-scene ‘negotiations' by Umno and PAS show that Umno is really power-crazy, and that they will do anything to stay on in power.

At the same time, PAS's action is a betrayal. PAS must remember that the majority of their MPs and Aduns won on non-Malay votes. Now one group is power-crazy and the other is traitor. Is this what we want after 50 years of independence?

I wonder, what is the relevancy on the Malay unity and politics? Are they trying to say all the Malays must have same thought and ideology?

If one has different thoughts, then he is dis-uniting the Malays? Come on, be mature people. Why can't they talk to PKR, which also has Malay MPs?

The fact is, we Malaysians are united, regardless of race, but the politicians are the ones using the racial card for own benefit. Do we want these kind of politicians and political parties?

Anyhow, if PAS keeps dancing to Umno's music and break the Pakatan Rakyat, then there will no PAS after the next GE. A stern reminder for PAS - non-Malays voted for you for a positive change, not a negative change.

God will not forgive you. Stick to your promises before the election.

Jeremy:

When it was reported that Sapp of Sabah was secretly meeting up with the PKR/PR's de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, presumably over the political interest of Sabahans, most of the BN component parties, in particular Umno, were quick to condemn Sapp over their action.

PBS of Sabah went to the extent of its deputy president Maximus Ongkili calling Sapp a ‘political bitch' for flirting with opposition while remaining in BN.

Now that it is open secret that Umno - lead by none other than its president Pak Lah and ex-MB of Selangor Khir Toyo - had secret talks with the opposition PAS on the pretext of Malay unity, but clearly more so for Umno political hold over Selangor.

I wonder who would PBS' Maximus Ongkili call 'a ‘political bitch' for flirting with the opposition while remaining in BN' this time around? Obviously he would rather lose his tongue than lose his job (in the government).

Dian Abdullah: Umno and PAS to merge. So now they want to unite all the Malays. This is well and good, just do it quickly and stop all the discussion.

In the meantime, MCA, Gerakan and DAP can band together to form the all-Chinese group, leaving MIC and the rest to form the Indian group.

We'll end the year with three race-based parties. So this is what the present government hopes to achieve in the future.

Has anyone with brains thought of what we the people want and how the futures of those with mixed parentage fit into all of this? What is so special about race? Are we not born here and do we not have blood relations with other races?

Take my children, for example. They are descended from all religions and races in this world. So do I want to isolate them into the Malay group?

Do they not have Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean, American, etc blood in them?

My children have always maintained they are Malaysian and are of Muslim faith. They have never considered themselves Malay or bumiputera. It is the government that insists on branding us.

So if those in government think they are so smart, maybe they can consider this - the Chinese will definitely join hands with the Indians and other races.

No wonder many Westerners still believe we live in the jungle.

On Mahfuz: Sorry for the lie over PAS-Umno meetings

Abdul Aziz Aznan: I'm truly sad about the PAS leaders who are power-crazy and are jeopardising Muslim interests.

Don't they see what Umno leaders have done to the Malays? Umno is a party that is not worth saving - they don't have good leaders.

PAS must learn from the past when Muslims lost because of greed. These power-crazy party leaders did not respect Nik Aziz as highest PAS leader.

That was a very bad example that these PAS leaders have shown. That shows how vulnerable PAS is to deception.

They should resign. Don't worry about the Malays. They know when the time for change is. Don't spoil the Malay dream.

Only Umno must go. Umno ideology must go. Umno beliefs must go. Let them come back and be true Malay Muslims again.

On Should PAS be allowed to remain in Pakatan?

Muzaffar Abu Bakar: Well, it seems like Karpal Singh has made a ridiculous remark on PAS integrity. Before the GE, it was only a PAS-PKR platform, without DAP in the pact.

It was DAP that was really in the mood to join the pact, which then formed Pakatan Rakyat.

It was DAP that was in dire straights to join the pact, as the swing was really unfavourable to Umno/BN. Has PAS ever questioned your participation, even after the election?

Has PAS ever questioned DAP over your retreat from the Barisan Alternatif coalition in the 10th and 11th GE?

Karpal Singh, who are you to question PAS' integrity and participation in Pakatan?

DAP withdrew from Barisan Alternatif just to preserve political mileage. PAS would never leave PKR, and all along, PAS has been a very supportive partner of PKR without DAP.

It seems like Karpal Singh has his personal agenda which is against PAS. Your remark was irresponsible, ill-mannered and ridiculous.

On MCA chief - who is likely to win?

Good Citizen: I have repeatedly said that no matter who becomes the chief, MCA will not change. It is the 50 years of rotten culture that keeps this party under Umno's shadow.

Their leaders always believe in sweeping issues under the carpet, especially those relating to the Chinese community, or in playing a low tune.

By knowing the weakness of this group of so-called Chinese partners, Umno capitalises on them and keeps their mouths shut.

What MCA preaches is not what they practice. We must not be misled by Ka Ting's rather vocal comments after the March elections, as all these came too late.

If only he dared to speak like that during his tenure of office, or in cabinet.

MCA must have radical change with total reform to meet new expectations. But if you look at the current leaders in the party, we can hardly see a politically awakened person like that existing. Somebody outstanding must emerge to lead MCA. Can anyone name one?

Jeremy:

It is amusing to note that the top leaders of MCA didn't seem to receive any message from the rakyat over the last GE.

The Chinese community has clearly abandoned the MCA and Gerakan (and the Indian community, the MIC) in droves simply because these parties claimed to be representing them but were seemed to be subservient to their political master, Umno. In another words, these political parties were of no use to them.

Recent events, especially the secret maneuvering by Umno with Pas, without considering the sensitivity of MCA, Gerakan and MIC over such an issue, has further enhanced the ‘dummy' status of these political parties within BN.

Those in MCA in particular, who once heavily criticised DAP for working with PAS during the last few GE, now find themselves with their feet in their mouth.

Without speaking up against (Ong Ka Chuan even said it was all right) such an intended secret pact between Umno and PAS in Selangor, as well as in Perak, MCA has again reassured the Chinese community that they did the right thing in the last GE.

Going by the rate MCA is handling itself within the BN, it is beyond anyone's doubt where MCA will find itself come next GE, if it is still in BN.

Then, what difference does it make who will be the top leaders in MCA, a party that has absolutely no support from its own community?

On MCA hypocrisy revealed for all

RM: Several decades ago, Lee Kuan Yew referred to the MCA leadership as ‘political serfs'.

In the years immediately following Singapore's ejection from Malaysia when Umno and the world were thinking that the city state was finished, Lee declared that Singapore unlike many Third World countries of that time, would never be like an ‘organ grinder' to the West, abjectly gathering up the coins thrown to his monkey.

She would take her place among the council of nations with dignity. Even after learning that Umno and PAS had been attempting a power-sharing arrangement to take over the state of Selangor behind its back, MCA continues to justify its membership in the BN coalition where only Umno calls the shots.

I can only conclude that the organ grinder's monkey has more self-respect than the MCA

On Indian groups fed up with Pakatan gov'ts

K Gan: Prof P Ramasamy, deputy chief minister of Penang, has said that Indians must lose their ethnic mindset and he is perfectly right. Demanding state Indian councils is not the way to go to uplift Indians. Will Chinese, Malays, Sikhs and Orang Asli demand their own state councils then?

Demanding affirmative action based on race is a trap which leads right back to the racial politics of Barisan Nasional. What different is this from MIC, MCA and Umno fighting for their own communities?

If these parties are replaced by other names, I can assure you that nothing will change; the dominant race will still get the most just like what we are having now.

Furthermore, affirmative action based on anything but need as the sole criteria always gets hijacked by those in a position to grab them.

Mixing in another criteria like race is a receipt for abuse. Don't be surprised if many scholarships allocated for Indians end up being taken by well-connected Indians.

Our fight should be issue-based instead of race-based. If we want to fight poverty then tackle poverty irrespective of race. If Indians are the poorest then they will be helped the most.

Indians must also get rid their mindset that only Indians can work for Indians. This is a mental prison that has been nurtured by 50 years of race-based parties playing race-based politics and has worked well to keep BN in power.

On Sell off the cars, build clinics

Simon:

It interests me why Abdullah allows Terengganu to have its way with the Mercedeses. I can only think of one, that he is again trapped by the threat of losing control over the government.

He cannot afford to push them too much. After all, these cars are goodies for them.

If he takes them away, what will happen then? Lose another state. Lose his post as PM. He is smart to play along.

The joke is where the issue lead us. Corruption lies within. Look, it is already pointing towards the ‘high maintenance costs of the vehicle' issue.

This now leads us to how much info Abdullah will gain from the ACA investigation. Yes, Abdullah will definitely gain here for if he has these few fellows' cases on file.

He then controls them. Look at our DPM and the Ms Mongolia file. Another ‘X-Files'. Why has Sapp in Sabah suddenly changed direction? Someone was under the ACA investigation, right?

Anonymous:

I do not agree that my tax money be used to buy Mercedesses for the state exco, members whom, I am told, are exempt from government tax.

On the other hand, when I buy a car I have to pay all the high taxes.

And to rub salt in the would, when the MB retires in four years time, the exco members are allowed to buy them at nominal cost. Is this true ?

Rossim:

All the state authorities need to do is to sell the cars back to the suppliers. There will be an initial loss but it is worth absorbing that loss.

Mercs are being sold after being used as showroom and test vehicles for six months and sold at a discount of RM50,000.

This is for a tax-paid vehicle; it would be much less for an untaxed car and barely used.