The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 19 Apr 2013 05:04 PM PDT
20 APRIL — Ketika Pakatan Rakyat sedang mara ke Putrajaya, Datuk Husam Musa pergi ke situ dulu seolah-olah dia menunggu dan menyambut ketibaan ekspidisi itu. Sebelum Husam, Naib Presiden PAS membuat tawaran untuk bertanding di Putrajaya, kota pentadbiran Malaysia itu dikira kubu BN dan ia adalah berayakan Tengku Adnan Mansor yang menjadi wakil rakyat di situ sejak tahun 2004. Tiada siapa berfikir Anwar Ibrahim akan meninggalkan kawasan Permatang Pauhnya dan Abdul Hadi Awang akan mengosongkan Marang untuk bertanding di Putrajaya. Lim Kit Siang yang suka mengejutkan berubah tempat bertanding pun tidak akan ke Putrajaya. Maka tempat itu seolah-olah selamat buat Tengku Adnan dan Umno. Bila Husam mula menyebut dia ingin bertanding di Putrajaya, reaksi Tengku Adnan begitu tenang, datanglah Husam kalau hendak menggali kubur. Husam bersungguh. Dia tahu Putrajaya bukanlah laluan yang mudah tetapi dia mahu mencuba, bukan sekadar mencuba, dalam suasana yang penuh cabaran dan serba kepayahan itu dia mahu ke situ juga, bukan untuk kalah bahkan untuk menang. Baginya kalah di situ adalah lebih senang dari menang. Tetapi dia mahu mencuba yang susah itu. Maka setelah disahkan Husam bertanding di situ, barulah Tengku Adnan, Umno dan seluruh jentera pilihanraya BN mengira ia adalah satu pertandingan yang hebat, dan Husam adalah sebaik calon yang boleh melucutkan pengaruh Tengku Adnan. Husam sebenarnya berkata kepada saya menjelang PRU 2004 dulu, dia ingin bertanding di Putrajaya. Masa itu saya Pesuruhjaya PAS Wilayah Persekutuan. Tetapi saya tidak memberi perhatian kepadanya. Hasrat Husam sudah berputik sejak itu dan sekarang kemahuannya itu bertambah kuat. Saham PAS dan Pakatan Rakyat melunjak apabila Husam disahkan sebagai calon di situ. Harapannya, walaupun payah, tetapi bagi kebanyakannya, dia adalah yang terbaik dari semua orang dalam PAS. Kalau Husam tidak boleh menang, orang lain lagi tidak boleh menang. Husam sedar dia bermula di belakang Tengku Adnan dan akan mengejarnya dengan harapan untuk memintasnya. Tawaran Husam itu adalah tawaran seorang panglima. Pakatan Rakyat telah nekad untuk merampas Putrajaya dari BN. Untuk menawan Putrajaya, kerusi Parliman Putrajaya tidak boleh dibiarkan di tangan orang lain. Mengambil kerusi Parlimen Putrajaya itu sama penting dan sama susahnya dengan menawan kuasa Putrajaya itu sendiri. Amat mustahak kerusi Putrajaya itu diambil serentak. Maka atas kepekaan itulah Husam mengambil risiko untuk bertanding di tempat yang mencabar itu dengan memberikan kerusi yang lebih selamat di Kelantan kepada orang lain. Mesti ada orang yang mesti ke depan untuk bekerja menggerakkan Putrajaya. Itulah dia datang menyerahkan jiwa raganya bagi membantu Pakatan dari dalam untuk mengambil kuasa Putrajaya. Apakah semua pegawai awam di Putrajaya itu pengundi di situ? Tidak semua. Mereka juga ada yang mengundi di tempat lain. Tetapi ramai dari pegawai itu adalah rakan seuniversiti denganya dulu. Dan semua orang di Putrajaya itu kenal Husam sama dengan mereka mengenal Tengku Adnan. Pebandingannya, Tengku Adnan adalah pekerja, tetapi dia bukan otak, tetapi Husam adalah otak yanag boleh menggerakkan tangan dan kaki. Tengku Adnan kiranya dikekalkan sebagai calon, baru bertemu dengan orang yang terbaik. Husam datang untuk menewaskannya bagi membuka pintu Putrajaya untuk dimasuki oleh ekspidisi Pakatan Rakyat. * Ini adalah pandangan peribadi penulis. | |
| Check these five albums out… NOW! Posted: 19 Apr 2013 04:53 PM PDT APRIL 20 — I think it's pretty much a given for any Malaysian that whenever we have a friend visiting from another country, the first thing we'd want them to sample is the many wonders of Malaysian food. If that friend is interested in music, we'd probably point them to acts that we think best represent Malaysia according to their musical tastes. Since I currently have a friend visiting from Indonesia who's interested in independent music, it got me thinking — which local independent albums would I recommend? By now I think everyone knows who Hujan, Yuna or Bunkface are already. Any Tom, Dick and Harry would've recommended them, which then led me to come up with this list of recent but slightly off-the-(mainstream) radar local independent releases. My only criterion is that the album has to be independently produced, lacks the proper or usual distribution channels, and of course it has to be good. Furniture — They Made Me Out Of Dreams You've Forgotten Out of all the quite recently released local indie albums, this second album by Furniture is my personal pick for the best of them all. An album full of songs that average at least around five minutes per song is not what you'd normally call a "commercial" album, but if you actually listened to this, you'll be astonished by how melodic all of them are. Brilliantly merging their start as a post-rock band with their latter tendencies towards indie pop songwriting (and calling their music "snap crackle pop"), the first single False Start, at 7:25 minutes long, exemplifies everything you need to know about the current (and brilliant) incarnation of Furniture. Criminally overlooked when it was released in 2011, this wonderful album deserves to be heard more. The Garrison — Subversion Another 2011 release, this brilliant debut album practically got lost in the shuffle by virtue of it being made by a bunch of kids (and released by a label) from the local DIY punk scene. A truly world-class punk rock album which will make fans of The Clash jump with joy. Despite more or less being ignored at home, this little 14-song CD has managed to win rave reviews in the international DIY punk scene, including the notoriously hard to please Maximum Rock N Roll fanzine which gave it a glowing review. If you have any love for 70s punk bands like Stiff Little Fingers, Buzzcocks and The Rich Kids, you'll find it unreal how great and authentic the songs in this album are. Plague Of Happiness — Kawan It might be a little bit of a stretch to call Plague Of Happiness underrated or overlooked if you consider the frenzied reaction that they never fail to inspire at each of their "live" shows and their reputation as Malaysia's premier ska punk band, but despite having an undoubtedly large cult following, not many people outside the local independent scene have heard of them. And this despite the fact that they released a well-recorded and well-produced album chock full of gloriously catchy Malay tunes almost six years ago. In a better world, songs like Malam and Konspirasi would've been automatic radio hits. OJ Law — Yesterday Is A Distant Dream OJ Law took the Malaysian hipster/alternative media by storm in 2011 and 2012 with this self-recorded album, which was full of potential radio hits like first single Rooftop, his already quite heavily rotated (on the now defunct XFM) duet with Liyana Fizi Fantastic Adventure and my personal favourite (and his usual gig opener) Lovers' Tiff. While the singles may be very Weezer-inspired, the rest of the album is a wonderfully confident blend of indie pop and disco (a la Tahiti 80), which may be why it hasn't caught on with the listening masses the way it should have. But judging by how steadily poppier his albums have grown with each release, maybe the next one will finally break him big? Pop Shuvit — Amped & Dangerous If calling Plague Of Happiness underrated or overlooked is a bit of a stretch, then how to justify calling a Pop Shuvit album one? Out of all the big names in the independent music scene, it's quite a common consensus that Pop Shuvit is probably one of those with the least street-cred among them by virtue of the genre they chose to play — rap rock. But like I wrote earlier, my criteria is simple, and this album fulfils all of them — it's independently produced, self distributed, and it's bloody damn good. Link-in Park and Limp Bizkit may be embarrassingly lame in the rap rock stakes, but in choosing to go with Rage Against The Machine in this album, Pop Shuvit has made an absolute winner of an album. With this one, they've let the music do the talking. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. |
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