dear moderator - re malaysian elections, page-13

Very good questions, OM. And also very good effort by rastus in responding to them.

Just as some posters' unshakeable confidence that BN will win the GE13 does concern rastus, similarly a couple of unaddressed issues keep surfacing and these bother me.

The first is the assumption by in some posts that the majority of Malaysians are so sick and tired of the perceived corruption pervading BN that they are prepared to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We need to bear in mind that the seemingly lack of good fit between the opposition parties as raised by OM are serious matters indeed for a society in which the sensitivities of, and tensions between, race, religion, political power and economical power are entrenched in their national psyche. I am not passing judgement, just commenting from personal experience. On what premise do we conclude that the majority of Malaysians will take the risk of exchanging perceived corruption for a number of political uncertainties, amongst which include that the perceived corruption might still remain; and further complicated by a new set of overarching religious values and potential political instability? That's exchanging one negative for three possible negatives. A big gamble indeed.

The second is the assumption that, if the opposition did win the GE13, then the next PM would be so economically inept as not to understand that one doesn't kill the economic goose that lays the golden egg. Even in just creating enough bureaucratic difficulties to cause LYC to become unsustainable is akin to killing the economic goose. As Jack Lifton had clearly impressed upon his Malaysian audience about a year ago, the LAMP is Malaysia's gateway into the 21st century. That visionary message would have been received loud and clear by the powers-that-be over there. There is a clear distinction between political cunning and stupidity. To me, Fuzzie was stupid, as was Wong Tat; mere political stooges. Anwar and the PAS leaders are politically astute.

I know that it is hard to keep to the straight and narrow in an environment of uncertainty, share market manipulation and fear-mongering. Regretfully, the LT FAs have only two investment options available to us: either continue to have faith in our FA skills or accept the fear, sell and move on. Whichever the decision, it is still ours to own. Good luck, people.