Jalan di Terengganu Diperbesar Untuk Mercedes Benz

Jalan-jalan kampung di Terengganu bakal diperbesar bagi memuatkan kereta-kereta Mercedes yang baru dibeli pentadbiran eksekutif negeri itu. Jalan dan lorong-lorong kampung di Terengganu, yang rata-ratanya sempit dan penuh lubang, tidak lagi sesuai untuk digunakan setelah Menteri Besar Ahmad Said menggantikan kereta Proton Perdana kepada Mercedes Benz E200 Kompressor. Peruntukan juga bakal dibuat bagi kerja-kerja memperbesar pagar dan halaman rumah yang selama ini hanya dapat memuatkan Perodua Kancil ataupun seekor lembu korban, supaya Menteri Besar dapatlah akhirnya melawat penduduk kampung. Ini bertepatan dengan hasrat kerajaan negeri untuk menampilkan imej prihatin kepada golongan paling miskin di negeri kaya minyak itu.

Seorang penduduk di Banggol Peradong, Nordin Atan, menyatakan rasa gembira ke atas khabar angin pembesaran jalan itu. “Kita di kampung sudah 10 tahun lamanya menunggu pembaikan jalan. Dengan pembelian kereta Mercedes berjumlah RM3.43 juta ini, kita berharaplah kerajaan negeri akan membelanjakan sedikit duit membaiki jalan di Banggol Peradong ni”. Setiausaha Persatuan Penjual Keropok Lekor Terengganu, Halimah Saad, menaruh harapan pembesaran jalan itu secara tidak langsung akan dapat melariskan jualan keropok lekor di tepi jalan. “Saya bersyukur Ahmad Said* telah dilantik sebagai Menteri Besar, kalau tidak ini semua mungkin tidak akan berlaku”, ujarnya sambil mencicah keropok lekornya dengan sos cili Maggi.

*Ahmad Said telah dilantik sebagai Menteri Besar oleh Sultan Terengganu menggantikan Idris Jusoh yang dipilih Perdana Menteri Abdullah Badawi dalam Pilihanraya Umum 2008.

Ihsan TakdaNama, agensi berita tidak rasmi Malaysia

Are We Really A Nation Of Unthinkers?

Terengganu Menteri Besar Idris Jusoh has declared his willingness to accept any decision of the Umno leadership that is deemed best for the rakyat, including forgoing the Menteri Besar’s post. He was also prepared to apologise to the Sultan of Terengganu if he “had done anything wrong”. Not that we are especially fond of Idris Jusoh, but we are extremely disappointed that he has chosen to play the role of the stereotypical subservient Malay subject and not uphold his position, simply on the basis that it is “in the interests of the rakyat”. The Sultan’s displeasure is his own. It does not necessarily reflect the general feeling of the people of Terengganu. If the electorate was unsatisfied with the Umno government, they would have easily voted the administration out of office, a concept not at all unfamiliar in this state once ruled by Pas.

Why is Idris Jusoh apologizing for an offense he’s not even sure of? We seem to be living in a world where people are increasingly saying sorry not because they are actually sorry, but just in case they have offended some people. We should not be sorry “if”, we should be sorry “because”. In a foolishly opportunistic move that betrays its rebellious roots, PKR, led by party national youth deputy head Faris Musa, lodged a police report against PM Abdullah Badawi, DPM Najib Razak and the 23 Terengganu assemblymen for showing disrespect to the Terengganu Palace. “The palace institution must be respected and all subjects must show loyalty,” declared Faris. “The actions of those involved were blatant disregard of loyalty to the Rulers”.

Have we really become a nation of such slavish unthinkers that loyalty to the monarchy now precedes intelligent debate and common sense? Why is it that we are expected to prostrate with unquestioning subservience to mortals when even God Himself demands our scrutiny? We are blessed by a system where the monarchy no longer presides over executive rule, where we are “subjects” only by name and empowered to determine the direction of this country as we see fit, not according to the whims and fancies of the palace. We Malaysians, rightly or wrongly, ask for no accountability from the royal families in return for their role as merely ceremonial figureheads. It is in view of this, that such blatant display of unthinking subservience by both Idris Jusoh and PKR deserve even more condemnation.

Royal Rumble Packs a Punch in Terengganu

The still talked-about general election has created political fault lines not just between the Opposition-led West Coast and the BN-led East, but also between the separation of executive power between the government and the monarchy. Undoubtedly due to the unprecedented outcome of the elections, we have seen the Sultans of Selangor and Perak and the Raja of Perlis being dragged into politics and now the Sultan of Terengganu looks set to continue this worrying trend.

The appointment of a Menteri Besar should remain the prerogative of the government elected by the people. The Umno administration has been returned to power by the people of Terengganu and it should be allowed to elect its state leader, just as the Opposition coalition should be given the freedom to appoint its Menteris Besar, having been given the mandate to do so. The people of Terengganu have been impoverished for decades under both Pas and Umno, without any protest from the monarchy. Therefore we find the claim that the Sultan’s decision to appoint Ahmad Said was in the interest of the people a bit hard to stomach.

We at kampunghouse are not anti-monarchy, but we have been disappointed by the royal families and their lackluster reputation in championing the rights and privileges of the people. The monarchy prefers to assert its influence by dishing out hundreds of Datuk- and Tan Sri-ships like worthless bags of keropok, while the rest of us are subjected to the obnoxious demands of many an undeserving Datuk and his Datin. It would be better for the monarchy, and for the rest of us, if it continues in its role as national symbols, or as exemplified by the royal families of Negri Sembilan and Pahang, to simply grace the social pages of Malaysia Tatler and Le Prestige.