DAP BIG 2007 CATCH – Tony Pua (a Genius) Gave Up Worldly Pursuits Changing for a BETTER Malaysia; Nothing More Stimulating, Worthy of Actualization

There is nothing more stimulating, more worthy of actualization, than the desire to change the world for the better. That is indeed each person's mission. You begin by working in that area of activity that is your own unique one, with your own life and activities. You can begin in the corner of an office, or on the assembly line, or in the advertising agency, or in the kitchen. You begin where you are.... When you fulfill your own abilities, when you express your personal idealism through acting it out to the best of your ability in your daily life, then you are changing the world for the better.

We are all given the gift of the gods; to create our reality according to our beliefs; ours is the creative energy that makes our WORLD; there are NO limitations to the self except those you BELIEVE in. If we believe we want a better Malaysia, then as conscious Malaysian fully aware of the current state of affairs of corruption and grabbings going on and the seemingly insurmountable problems of racial, political, financial and social in nature should rally behind this rising star - possibly our savior.
It is very essential to realize our beliefs can form a NEW reality in Malaysia. Our individual beliefs and our joint beliefs and the intensity of our beliefs are extremely important.
En masse, our beliefs bring about the Malaysian conditions that you want to know. Individually, they form your intimate daily life. What we believe IN can become real in our experience. There are no other answers. There is no area in your life to which this does not apply.
Currently we are not at the mercy of the unexplainable, that we are not at the mercy of events over which we have no control whether those events are psychological events or physical ones facing us. All our present problems, our lives, our experiences, are caused by our present beliefs on issues in Malaysia. Change our beliefs and our life changes.
Our experience in the world of physical matter flows outward from the center of our inner psyche. Then you perceive this experience of the unfairness of the NEP and the deliberate marginalization that is occurring now. Exterior events, circumstances and conditions are meant as a kind of 'living" feedback. Altering the state of the psyche automatically alters the physical circumstances. There is no other valid way of changing physical events. It might help if you imagine an inner living dimension within yourself, in which you create, in miniature psychic form, all the exterior conditions that you know. Simply put we should do exactly this.
Now with Tong Pua in the picture, we should give all our support for him to ensure and “prevent the system from getting worse “ as he put it. Officially he is holding the post of “economic advisor” he should also be appointed as the fund manger. With his business acumen, he can generate more funds to support the party’s cause by building a slew of “opposition” business (conscientious and honest, and made every effort for businessmen to invest not only to earn a reasonable return, but to achieve good things in life for the rakyat). We can have a culture of “Buy opposition” to support his effort.
He is a real genius and so is everyone except he is more connected in his own ways. Almost everyone is entering politics to grind their own axes and gained their fortunes by political pull, by having government grant those favors and franchises at the expense of their fellow-men.

But Tony is an exception. Perhaps he has got his enlightenment early and realized that

“All worldly pursuits end in sorrow; acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings in destruction; meetings in separation; births in death.
Knowing this, one should from the very first, renounce acquisition and heaping up and building, and meeting; and faithful to the commands of an eminent guru, set about realizing the Truth (which has no birth or death). That alone is the best path in life and most religious people have followed it”
But to toss one’s hat into DAP ring as a politician and fight for the injustices in Malaysia, a big hats off to you Tony, you deserved our greatest admiration and respect.

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Sunday February 18, 2007;

From cyber world to arena of politics; By JOCELINE TAN

Self-made millionaire Tony Pua is cute, likeable and was only 28 when he hit the headlines as a trailblazer and success story in the new economy. Now, seven years later, he is putting it all aside for politics – more specifically, opposition politics.

TONY Pua literally sprinted out of the lift with his notebook computer and a newspaper tucked under his arm. The self-made Internet millionaire looked incredibly boyish for a 35-year-old and has all the exuberance reminiscent of those advertisements for energy drinks. “Not so young anymore, actually,” he said, dipping his head to show the shock of greying hair around his crown. The road to success has apparently not been without sleepless nights and tonnes of worrying. Pua is a well-known name in the e-commerce business where he has earned a dizzying string of inscriptions – dotcom success story, pioneer in e-business consulting and, perhaps the most satisfying of all, youngest founder-CEO to have listed a company in the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Tony Pua, Oxford graduate and boy wonder of e-business is throwing it all aside for opposition politics. The Oxford University graduate is the founder of Cyber Village Sdn Bhd and until recently its CEO. Pua has sold his stake in the company and, after settling debts and commitments, is still left with a tidy sum of a couple of million ringgit. But it is the reason for his divestment that has drawn the limelight onto Pua again. The Netpreneur is leaving the business world for the arena of politics – opposition politics to be exact, and with the DAP. “I'm going in with my eyes wide open,” he said. The decision surprised some of his friends and even a number of business partners and associates. There is no shortage of businessmen in politics but the reality is that very few truly successful ones go into opposition politics. It does make him rather an exception. So what did it take to persuade this Oxford graduate and Internet whiz kid to put it all aside for the hurly burly of opposition politics?

Pua has actually been inspired by the national leadership transition in 2003. “There was a real hope for change in the air and I saw a determined group whom I believed wanted to make things better,” he said. Like many people then, he was swept along by the euphoria of the 2004 general election and felt more hopeful for the future than he had ever been in his life. He even began to entertain the idea of being part of the change from within. But, as they say, that is the trouble when expectations are way too high. Pua said that disappointment crept in with the post-election Cabinet formation. But, he said, it was the Cabinet reshuffle of February 2006 with its overwhelming number of faces from the previous administration that truly dampened his hopes. “I felt it would not be worth my while to change things from within. I hope there'll be people who are pro-establishment and who will continue to work from within but it's not going to be me. “When things are not right, it's important to add a voice to sum up the issues and for constructive discussion so that people will know what's happening and push for remedy. “I'm very realistic, I'm not talking about changing the system; if one can prevent the system from getting worse, that itself would be an achievement, he said

Strong views

Pua had humble beginnings, which makes his success story even more poignant. The eldest of four siblings, he grew up on the outskirts of Batu Pahat where his father, a body-builder who happens to be a former Mr Asia and a two-time Mr Malaysia, ran a small poultry farm. His father would drive him to school and Pua sometimes helped deliver eggs to the shops in town. Pua left home when he was 13 to do his secondary schooling in Singapore on an Asean scholarship from the Singapore government.

From there, it was on to Oxford where he read PPE (philosophy, politics and economics) at Keble College, Oxford University, on a Malaysian Tobacco Corporation scholarship. He did well in his studies but he was too involved in extracurricular activities to be a straight A's student. He played a variety of games, enjoyed art and joined a string of societies from history and geography to the choir. Even now, he is the sort of guy who reads fiction (Harry Potter books, Stephen King, Jeffrey Archer, Wilbur Smith), plays computer games to relax and has bought Victoria Secrets lingerie online for his wife.

Friends from his Oxford days remember his “rather socialist” views. “He had strong political views. He was critical of the NEP and we were at opposite ends of the political spectrum,” said Omar Mustapha, a contemporary of Pua's at Oxford. But Pua's sentiments were not unusual for many Chinese of his generation; the product of the sweat and tears of families who had to fall back on a combination of ingenuity and life savings to educate their children. His own education experience has spawned an interest in education issues, hence the rather serious and intellectual blog (educationmalaysia) he has with his friend Ong Kian Ming. Pua likes to say that his lawyer wife, who has a small practice specialising in intellectual property law, knew from day one that he would be going down the political road eventually.

Getting him has been a real coup for the DAP and a great deal of the courtship, it seemed, was done by DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng. (BELOW)

Pua made his first speaking appearance at a DAP forum about three months ago. “I told Guan Eng, this (is the) kind of guy we should quickly recruit and groom,” said Selangor DAP politician Ronnie Liu.(BELOW)

“Of course, Guan Eng was way ahead of me.” Pua is clearly on the DAP line-up for the general election. Party people are also impressed that he has been willing to let go of a successful enterprise in the name of politics. “When I heard he had sold his company, I thought it was a big sacrifice given that it will not be easy to go back to business after opposition politics. That's what I call biting the bullet,” said Liu. Still, it is hard to see someone like Pua take to life as an opposition politician.

Demonstrating at toll booths? Being handcuffed and taken to the lock-up? “If one has to be taken to the lock-up, it should be for a worthwhile cause. You won't find me standing in front of an FRU truck, asking to be arrested. But if the cause is that of speaking the truth and if the authorities have to use harsh measures, I will have to face the consequences,” Pua said. Even as early as 1999, when he had just started making the news as a boy wonder in the then new economy, his CV had listed his aspiration as: To contribute back to society. Politics, he said, is one way of doing just that.

= = = = = = BELIEVE it or NOT; but how to “entangle” the disputed 30% share

February 17, 2007 23:19 PM NEP Is Only To Assist - PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 (Bernama) -- While the New Economic Policy (NEP) is intended to address the economic imbalance between the ethnic groups in the country, it would not be a permanent feature in Malaysia's economic policy,

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said. He said the policy will only be implemented until the country had achieved the policy's objectives and there was no reason for the continuation of the policy once the objectives were met. "When the objectives are met there is no reason for the continuation of the policy because the policy is anchored to that objective, and the faster we get to that objective the faster we will be able to throw away the crutch," he said in an interview with cable news channel Al-Jazeera. The NEP, introduced in the 1970's, aimed to address the ethnic economic imbalance and to close the gap between the indigenous and non-indigenous people which Malaysia aimed to achieve before 2020.

Acknowledging that the vision would not be easily achieved, the Prime Minister said this was especially in ensuring that the indigenous people, who previously had only two percent of the economic cake, obtained up to 30 percent of the share. "At the same time, it is to create a situation where the indigenous people can now also be actively involved in business and industry. That's not easily done," he said to questions fielded by host Teymoor Nibili in the 25-minute interview.

= = == almost 3 monthd ago , STAR reported

Sunday November 26, 2006; Cyberspace talent search

The DAP’s search for new faces as candidates in the next general election has extended into cyberspace and these may range from an Oxford graduate to a well-known blogger, writes JOCELINE TAN. LIM Kit Siang is reportedly the first politician to have his own website. Last year, on no less than Merdeka day, he started his own blog. More than 100 comments flooded in within 24 hours, a number of them asking whether it was really him blogging. He replied in his typically stylised way: “For folks who asked whether I am I, yes I am.”

YOUNG BLOOD: The Sarawak election was an eye-opener for the DAP on what fresh, new faces could do for the party.

ABOVE: From right, Ting Tze Fui, Chong Chieng Jen and Violet Yong are new additions to the Sarawak Legislative Assembly. Lim is what his party colleague and Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai calls “a political astronaut in cyberspace.” He spends much of his time glued to his computer. Cyberspace has been a boon to tech-savvy politicians like Lim, allowing them unfettered freedom to air their views and reach a new category of people. But over the last year, bloggers – especially those who are politically inclined – have also become a potential source of new talent or even general election candidates. One of them, said DAP sources, is none other than Jeff Ooi, who is touted as “Malaysia’s most influential blogger” and whose “Screenshots” blog is now in its sixth year. The effervescent Ooi was one of the speakers at a DAP forum dissecting the three-year-old administration of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

All the panellists – Ooi, Sharizal Shaarani, Tony Pua, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad and Lim Kit Siang – were bloggers. The only exception was Khoo Kay Peng, who is a political analyst. Ooi: Will the famous blogger join the line-up? The gathering was a statement of how bloggers have become the new voices for political discourse. “The force is with the bloggers,” a member of the audience, presumably of the Star Wars generation, later commented. And it says a lot about the opposition party’s creativity in taking their politics to the Internet and the community of political bloggers. But Ooi is not the only blogger being courted by DAP leaders. Pua, 34, whose blog carries intelligent opinions on education issues, is also on their radar screen. On top of that, he is an Oxford graduate and CEO of a public-listed company. He is what one would call “a real catch” in the game of courtship. And he is said to be willing and ready.

Ooi, who is actually a Gerakan member, seems neither as willing nor as ready. He insisted “it’s too premature at this point.”

The party is also keen on lawyer Nik Nazmi but he is, to borrow another term of courtship, spoken for. He is said to be inclined towards Parti Keadilan Rakyat. “These people improve the level of political debate. You can see it in the way they argue out things, the quality of their views,” said DAP central executive committee member Ronnie Liu. Of course, the DAP would love to have Khoo on their list but he prefers the role of an independent observer. In fact, Khoo is already seen as an emerging intellectual, someone who articulates public issues in an honest and impartial way.

POOL OF NEW BLOOD But cyberspace talent-spotting is only one side of the DAP preparations for the polls.

ABOVE: Pua: The Oxford graduate is a real catch. It has also been quietly grooming a discernible group of young people over the past few years. It is said that secretary-general Lim Guan Eng is entrusted with the task. “The country will be 50 next year. It’s time the new generation takes up the challenge,” he said. The next general election will also be his first since serving his prison term. It will be a test of his leadership as secretary-general and of his popularity on the ground. Given that, he will want a credible line-up that will help boost the number of DAP wakil rakyat as well as move the quality of representation to a new level. A number among their pool of young talent are already working part-time or full-time for the party.

One of them is Liew Chin Tong, 29, a graduate of the Australian National University. “People around my age, in their late 20s and early 30s, are referred to as the cyber generation. We’re not satisfied with just sitting there and letting things pass by. We want to make a difference,” said Liew, who is currently a visiting fellow at the Institute of South-East Asian Studies, Singapore. According to Anthony Loke, 29, a first-term assemblyman for Lobak in Negri Sembilan, the DAP has about 20% new faces every general election. “It’s not just about age. The leadership looks for people who have a point of view and who are committed to political ideals,” he said.

Said Cheras MP Tan: “Many of them join us because they are fed-up with the way the country’s affairs are being handled. We tell them that if they want to change things, it is most effective done from the inside.” The May state polls in Sarawak was an eye-opener for the DAP on what fresh, new faces could do for the party. It was evident that given the right ground sentiments, voters were willing to give new blood a chance, and more so if they had respectable educational credentials. Two fresh-faced women lawyers won despite their inexperience. Earlier on, in the 2004 parliamentary polls, lawyer Chong Chieng Jen had led the way when he took the prestigious Bandar Kuching seat. Chong’s parents were staunch DAP supporters and he has a winning smile, but he also holds double degrees in economics and law from an Australian university. There has been concern over the way the Government has handled social and political issues, and a great deal of dissatisfaction with cost-of-living issues. The racial rhetoric at the Umno general assembly has not helped. The DAP will be the main beneficiary of the discontent in urban constituencies, hence the effort to headhunt new talent. The push to impress with a highly qualified line-up is likely to manifest in Penang, which has re-emerged as the frontline state for the DAP after dismal results in the last two general elections. Everyone is talking about the younger Lim moving from his Malacca base to Penang to lead the charge. Or to borrow a line from the favourite Hokkien song of DAP supporters in Penang, it will be a case of “ai pia jia ay nyia” (you have to go all out to win). The English-speaking political bloggers have their own rallying song, as evident from the clip that Sharizal posted on You Tube: it played with the catchy song “You can get it if you really want” by Jimmy Cliff. Lim Jr has, naturally, denied any move to Penang. He claimed it was Gerakan propaganda to make their own party members work harder. But can there be smoke without fire? “The Gerakan people are doing the smoking, not us,” he quipped. Despite the smoke, it is clear the next general election will see the DAP “pia” (go all out) with a line-up that includes well-qualified and interesting faces.