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Malaysia - TRULY ASIA! Posted: 31 Dec 2013 09:39 AM PST What a way to usher the New Year! Rowdy protesters rammed and romped Dataran Merdeka and other places, tearing down police barricades, interrupted New Year's concert and threw bottles and other things at the security forces and the crowd. Hooligans, real hooligans! The broke their own promise - that it would be a peaceful gathering to voice out their dissatisfaction at 'barang naik'. It ended up with most of them 'naik angin', 'wrestled' the police and provoked them. (I pity PM Najib who has done his best to keep the price low. However, most rakyat did not (or refuse to) understand why the price of some goods and commodities must go up in tandem with global market and economic movement).  KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 31, 2013): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak today pledged to minimise the impact of the rising cost of living on the people, saying he fully understands and sympathises with them. "Where necessary, we will fine-tune government programmes so that the effect on household incomes is not too great," he said in his New Year message on his blog, www.1Malaysia.com.my. Najib said he believes 2014 will be a year of great opportunity, and the economy, which has weathered the storm of the financial crisis, is predicted to grow by 5.5%. "Yet, behind these headline figures, I know some people are concerned about 2014, worried that as we seek to balance the national budget, household budgets will come under pressure. "I understand and sympathise with these concerns. Hard-working people will feel the impact of rising costs. And when the media is full of red numbers and price rises, it can seem as though 2014 will bring pain without gain," he said. The prime minister pledged that the government will put in place mechanisms to cushion people from the increase in electricity tariff and toll fares. But Najib, who is also finance minister, said he is determined to do the right thing for the country and the people. Ooh...and of course, they were over-inspired by a few opposition leaders who joined the rally. Most of them are college and university students who took the cue from their counterparts in Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and other countries. Student power...my foot (sorry for the harsh word... by I am really disappointed with the opposition who much earlier gave the assurance that the rally would be peaceful and only meant at protesting the price hike... but some were shouting 'jatuhkan kerajaan' (topple the government!). How advanced our students are. I remember the massive and ugly student protest in South Korea during the late 80s and early 90s; many life were lost. However, it stopped just at mid-90s when the country began to show significant economic progress and sustainable development. No more students' riot in Pusan and throughout South Korea. 'Student power' in Indonesia peaked in the late 90s while in the Philippines, it almost got out of control in early 00s. It also cost some life on both sides. We are also looking at Thailand where almost 2 million students joined the massive street demonstration to ousted the legitimate government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The same group that threw undivided support for her about two years ago are now trying to dispose her! Our protesters were probably inspired by similar events in other Asian countries. In India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, they went a little too far by using guns and hand grenades to fight the police and army. They couldn't care less about fatality, what's important is to bring down the government. Perhaps our students were also looking at Tiananmen Square in Beijing (picture above) where about 2,000 people lost their life in a bloody demonstration sometimes in mid-1989. I was there four days after the tragedy (June 8) and the first thing that crossed my mind then was, 'what if it happens in Malaysia?' But it looks like Tiananmen massacre could occur in this country if the authority fails to take necessary action to avoid it. Who knows, in a few years to come, we would 'fare better' then Tiananmen Square. That's how excited our students are about street demonstrations. It provides the student leaders a space to cheap 'fame'; they enjoy the publicity given by the media and found themselves matching with the opposition and anti-government NGOs. Where else? Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen? I don't think our students have reached that 'class' yet. Compared to the Arabs, ours are just a bunch of cowards - takut mati, just like the opposition leaders who only bark here and there without substance! By the way, this is also Visit Malaysia Year (Tahun Melawat Malaysia). TRULY ASIA has been our motto over the past decade to lure foreign tourists to the country. And what a coincidence that the theme also fits well into our students' rising resistance against the government! So, Happy New Year everyone! To the opposition - make it better next time... at least kill a few people for worldwide coverage!

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