InfoQ Homepage News Is OAuth 2.0 Bad for the Web?
Composite Applications went from being a curiosity to mainstream in less than 5 years. One of the key architectural issues when building composite applications is the double authentication that is required to access a particular service and the corresponding authorization rules: in general we need to authenticate both the (composite) application invoking the service and the user of the composite application itself while having the ability to define the service access rules both for the application and the user. This is particularly difficult in a client/server middleware environment, including HTTP, which has been built for decades on the premise that the "client" represents a single identity: either a software client or a user but not both.
A typical composite application today uses popular APIs (such as Twitter, Facebook or Google) through which it requires access to user specific data. In the early days, composite application developers used to require the knowledge of the user credentials for each service in order to access their data to mash them up in a valuable way. Jeff Altwood once compared this process to asking the keys to someone's house just to be able to access the address book. In April 2007, a small group of people founded the OAuth project under the initiative of Blaine Cook, Chris Messina, Larry Halff and David Recordon.
OAuth is a protocol layered on top of HTTP and HTTP/S enables a user of both a composite application and a service to grant partial access to the service to the application. It is based on a three party trust federation: user-application, user-service and application-service. Very quickly, the group published the OAuth 1.0 specification which people started to use. OAuth 1.0 may have been published too quickly and was the target of criticisms. It was quickly followed by a competing proposal WRAP (Web Resource Authorization Protocol), which became a profile of OAuth after a rapid standardization effort. Since then, the OAuth working group has been working on OAuth 2.0.
Many web sites, such as iCodeBlog, provided tutorials to help developers quickly update their application. And, even though OAuth 2.0 is still a draft, it is already supported by Facebook which is to date the largest implementation of the OAuth protocol and a key stakeholder of the specification.
At the heart of the WRAP architecture is the requirement to remove any cryptography from the client side. The WRAP authors observed how developers struggled with OAuth 1.0 signatures and their conclusion was that the solution is to drop signatures completely. Instead, they decided to rely on a proven and widely available technology: HTTPS (or more accurately, SSL/TLS). Why bother with signatures if instead the developer can add a single character to their request (turning it from http:// to https://) and protect the secret from an eavesdropper. Much of the criticism that followed focused on the fact that WRAP does not actually require HTTPS. It simply makes it an option. This use of tokens without a secret or other verification mechanism is called a bearer token [which is very similar to a cookie]. Whoever holds the token gains access. If you are an attacker, you just need to get hold of this simple string and you are good to go. No signatures, calculations, reverse engineering, or other such efforts required.
The argument of the supporters of this model is as follows: since most services use a cookie-based authentication system, it would not be more secure to use additional mechanisms since an attacker would always target the weakest point. Actually, Eran's concerns are not about OAuth today, but the impact that this specification will have in five years when inherently more secure protocol will be needed. First, the argument will again be, since OAuth 2.0 is the weakest point, there is no need to implement stronger security mechanisms. Second, the reason why OAuth would work in today's environment is because all the APIs are fairly significant to the clients and most of the API endpoints are declared statically in the clients code or configuration while being thoroughly tested before the application is released. So overall, there is little risk that the token will be sent to an unfriendly destination.
If a client application sends a request to an erroneous address ("mail.exmple.org" instead of "mail.example.org"), the rogue server at "mail.exmple.com" now has the client access token and can access its mail. Of course, in the case of browsers, the browser developer is responsible for not leaking cookies by implementing the same origin policy. OAuth 2.0 client developers will share the same responsibility.
As soon as we try to introduce discovery or interoperable APIs across services, OAuth 2.0 fails. Because it lacks cryptographic protection of the tokens (there are no token secrets), the client has to figure out where it is safe to send tokens. OAuth reliance on the cookie model requires the same solution – making the client apply the security policy and figure out which servers to share its tokens with. The resource servers, of course, can ask for tokens issued by any authorization server. For example, a protected resource can claim that it requires an OAuth access token issued by Google when in fact, it has nothing to do with Google (ever though it might be a Google subdomain). The client will have to figure out if the server is authorized to see its Google access token. Cookies have rules regarding which cookie is shared with which server. But because these rules are enforced by the client, there is a long history of security failures due to incorrect sharing of cookies. The same applies to OAuth 2.0.
Any solution based on client side enforcement of a security policy is broken and will fail. OAuth 1.0 solves this by supporting signatures. If a client sends a request to the wrong server, nothing bad happens because the evil server has no way of using that misguided request to do anything else. If a client sends an OAuth 2.0 request to the wrong server (found via discovery), that server can now access the user's resources freely as long as the token is valid.
Without discovery, smaller companies will have a harder time getting their services accessible.
Composite Applications are rapidly becoming a key vector of innovation adding value to otherwise plain data like tasks, friends or TV guides. At the same time, OAuth is poised for a rapid adoption because it solves an acute problem and has gained some momentum in the industry with the support of Facebook, Twitter.... Like often in the standardization process, we are now at crossroads, and our industry has to choose one path or the other: do we support simpler security mechanisms to allow a larger group of developers to build these composite applications, or do we implement stronger ones that would allow other developers to build mores services that interoperate and compete with existing ones? Where do you stand?
Does the removal of signatures really mean less security?
We really need strength. It's taken a long time to get here so lets do it well.
If a programmer isn't up to it, find another. That's better than exposing everyone to the criminal layer with unsafe practices.
You should read my posts more carefully. I am not leaving the OAuth working group, and am determined to see signatures back in the core OAuth 2.0 specification. While I am moving away from open standards, I am planning to stay as involved and lead OAuth for a long time.
Also, its pretty sad I have to register for an account to post a comment.
Sorry, it was not completely clear from your post it seemed that you were just "working on the spec". I'll correct the post later today.
I examined the the impact of removing signatures on OAuth security here and as far as I can tell one can meet all relevant security requirements including replay attack resistance in discovery based scenarios using bearer tokens. So the assertion that we must trade off between ease of use and security does not appear to be true. At least for the attacks so far muted.
I would encourage interested readers to follow the OAuth Mailing List where the issue is now being discussed.


Ford Focus 2015 Factory Service Manual - New for 2015. Refreshed for 2015, the Ford Focus gains a revised exterior styling, standard rearview camera, and an updated Sync interface with Applink, which enables owners to use apps from their. Go further than you ever imagined in a new Ford vehicle, built just for you. See our full lineup.. The Ford Focus is a compact car (C-segment in Europe) manufactured by the Ford Motor Company and created under Alex Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worldwide.The original Focus was primarily designed by Ford of Europe's German and British teams. The Focus was released in July 1998 in Europe, succeeding the Ford.
View and Download Ford 2015 Escape owner's manual online. 2015 Escape Automobile pdf manual download.. View and Download Ford TRANSIT 2015 owner's manual online. TRANSIT 2015 Automobile pdf manual download.. In the U.S., however, all Focus STs prior to the 2015 refresh bucked the trend by coming factory-fitted with summer-only rubber, which apparently left a lot of northern buyers miffed about having.
Vehicle Overview. The Ford Focus is the automaker's compact offering in sedan and four-door hatchback forms. They range in styles from the high-volume four-cylinder S and SE, to the upscale. The Focus ST satisfies performance fanatics who can't afford the track-ready Focus RS or want more power and practicality than the terrific albeit tiny Ford Fiesta ST.. 2014 Chevy Malibu Factory Service Manual Complete Set Original Repair × ×.
2016 Cadillac ELR Factory Service Manuals All ELR Models Including Base Coupe & Performance Package | Complete Set Including Wiring Diagrams | General Motors Corporation Covering Specifications * Maintenance * In Vehicle Repairs * Component Removal * Disassembly * Reassembly * Installation * Schematics * Wiring Diagrams. Detailed trim-level price information and inventory for the 2018 Ford Focus. MSRP starts at $19,245. Learn more with TrueCar's review of the Ford Focus, specs, photos, and more.. The widest range of products, outstanding quality, and affordable prices are the three pillars on which CARiD bases its work. As a result, we provide an extensive selection of high quality Ford Focus repair parts manufactured to restore your vehicle to like new condition at the most attractive prices..
The 2018 Ford Focus is irony on wheels: it comes in a dizzying range of models, of which the SEL and ST are our picks. Find out why the 2018 Ford Focus is rated 6.2 by The Car Connection experts.. The Ford Mustang is an American car manufactured by Ford.It was originally based on the platform of the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. The original 1962 Ford Mustang I two-seater concept car had evolved into the 1963 Mustang II four-seater concept car which Ford used to pretest how the public would take interest in the first production Mustang..


Time to get silky smooth! Adding a pre-shaving oil into your bathroom routine might be just what you need to get the most comfortable, closest shave ever!
With nourishing carrier oils and skin-loving essential oils, you and your partner are going to love how soft and hydrated your skin feels after shaving.
Blend ingredients together. Put a few drops in the palm of your hand. Gently massage into skin prior to lathering and shaving.
Missing an oil and need to find a good substitution? Check out our Constituent Chart or our Fragrance Wheel to help you out!
And don't forget to check out the Safe Essential Oil Recipes group on facebook! So many recipes, so many ideas, and so much fun!
My husband is constantly looking for a pre shave oil. This will be the next one he tries. Very excited to make this and try it as well.
I can't wait to try this. I don't quite have all of the ingredients, but I'm sure I can find a substitution for kunzea, and I have been waiting to get grapeseed oil for a while now. Thanks a bunch for providing this recipe along with the extra links, I have some more reading to do!
So glad I found this! I have always had horrible problems with skin irritation after I shave!!
I didn't have kunzea so I swapped for eucalyptus, and swapped vetiver for cedarwood, and just used FCO. Love it so far! Keeps my legs nice and soft and not irritated after shaving!
Sounds like a great idea! Cannot wait to try the shave oils!
I love that you give us all these awesome recipes! I can't wait to try this!
This sounds wonderful! I'm so happy that you linked the constituent chart to help with subbing oils! Made it easy for me to find what I needed!
So excited to try this! I have everything at hand except for Kunzea but I will substitute Wood Spice to make some for my husband.
I have been looking for a recipe to use before or after shaving and this one is great! Thank you!!
Can't wait to try this diy. Love the conversion chart. Plant Therapy is great company. Quality products, good prices. So many helpful hints. Great customer service. I've got to say Plant Therapy has got a me as a customer for life.
I love that this recipe is simple! & thank you for linking the constituent chart, I don't have Kunzea, but I do have Balsam fir. Can't wait to try it!
Definitely going to try this on my sensitive skin. It sounds amazing!
I made this and was just able to try it out the last two times I shaved…AMAZING. Our water is so incredibly hard and coupled with the very dry winter air here, my skin suffers terribly this time of the year. This worked great as a pre-moisturizing method and my skin looks so much better after just 2 uses, about 4 days apart! Thanks for the great recipe!
I can't wait to have to shave again so that I can try this out. I love anything that leaves me feeling fresh and soft.
do you think this would clog the blades on the razor?
I am definitely going to have to try this! I get the red bumps on my legs after shaving- hoping this helps prevent them!
I can't wait to start making some pre-shaving oil. Just another way to get the most out of my EO's!
I will definitely be making this one! I had not heard of Kunzea before; I'll take any excuse to order a new oil hehe.
I'm redhead with sensitive skin so I'm excited to try this. I tend to get red bumps after shaving and I'm hopeful this can help.
This looks great! Also, thank you for linking the substitution charts! That's especially helpful since I won't be able to add tea tree due to an allergy in the home.
My wife just got Kunzea, and I know she's been looking for ways to use it. I'll have to send this blog to her.
I like the idea of using this as an after-shave treatment since I use an electric shaver. I can't wait to try it.
Can't wait to try this! Thanks as well for including the substitution chart & fragrance wheel links!
Can't wait to try this! I haven't used my Kunzea much so this will be good to try!!
A preshaving oil, that's super interesting!
Love this, I want to do more with diy products so I'm glad you're making articles about this !
I love these recipes! But I would like to see some explanation for ingredients in them, like why you chose both sunflower and grapeseed oil rather than just one? Do they have distinct properties for this application? I'd love to know more about the components of carrier oils and why you may chose one over another.
The chart is so helpful. Thank you for linking it here.
I think I'll make this blend into a sugar scrub! Thanks!
I didn't know there was a wheel and a chart..I'm so glad I stumbled upon this blog post!
This sounds like exactly what I've been needing!!! I don't have all of the oils, but I'm excited to use the wheel to see if I can make a substitution or two. I'm very excited to try this!!
I want to try this! It sounds great.
Ooh, can't wait to try this! Thanks for another great idea and recipe!
Both my husband and I suffer from sensitive skin, so you can tell when we just shaved. This blend seems like it would be a big help and reduce irritation, redness, etc. Super excited to try this out!
I'm just wondering, could you use different carrier oils with the same effect?
This recipe prompted me to find out more about kunzea! As it turns out this is an oil that I need to try! It seems perfect for what's been going on in my neck! Sure I'll also try it in the shave oil. I'm excited to have softer legs! But I'm most excited to be introduced to new oils through the recipes posted on this blog!
I have Sweet Almond oil as my carrier oil for essential oils. Can I use that in this recipe? Can I use what essential oils I already have?
Jennifer, you can use your Sweet Almond oil if you would like. The carrier oils chosen in this recipe are especially skin nourishing, but Sweet Almond is a suitable substitution. Also, if you are using only essential oils that you have I can't really guarantee the effectiveness, or even the overall outcome, of what you make, since I'm not sure what oils you already have 🙂 But please feel free to reach out to our team of aromatherapists at [email protected] if you need more guidance!
Can this be used as an aftershave skin conditioner?
I am really keen to try this and some great suggestions for substitutions. I am most excited about the discovery of the Frangrance Wheel, such a great way to see what I could swap out if there is an oil I don't have….yet! Just getting into EO so this will be a big help, thanks.
So excited to see this. My kids are swimmers and my 16 year old hasn't shaved her legs in months. She needs to shave in a few weeks for her championship meet, and I have all the ingredients for this. Yay!
Im SOOOOO excited to try this one!! Ive been trying to cut out store bought items with CRAZY words I cant even Pronounce & go a more natural way! This one is going on the top of my list once I can collect all the items!!
Can't wait to try this- my husbands store bought one finished up and would love to see how this compares!
This'll be a great addition to shaving in the winter! My skin is always so dry and shaving can be really irritating. Hopefully this will help!
Eye excited to try this out especially on winter dry legs.
So if I don't have Kunzea, any of the oils in the same category on the constituents chart would be an equal substitution? The same number of drops?
Megan, the choices in that category are close to Kunzea in terms of a primary constituent, but not necessarily an "equal" substitution as each essential oil has their own unique quality. If you are missing Kunzea, you can either just not use anything in place of it or use one of the oils listed. I looked through each of those in the section with Kunzea (Balsam Fir, Cypress, Frankincense Carteri, Juniper Berry, etc.) and they are fine to use at the same number of drops. Nutmeg cuts it close as it is a 0.8% dilution, but 4 drops in an ounce of carrier is a safe amount 🙂 I hope this helps!
Oh, I never through about doing a shaving oil, definitely going to have to give it a shot. Also very excited about the fragrance wheel!
Can't wait to try this. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Ok, I'm definitely going to try this!! But I don't have vetiver so i will have to substitute that… or order it lol! Thank you!
This sounds great! Just added the oils I don't have to my never-ending wish list!!
My husband is in the Navy and has to shave every day, so this is perfect. I can't wait to try this out and see how he likes it.
What if I don't have Kunzea? Can I substitute it with another oil? Or can i leave it out?
Looking forward to trying this out. I always get super dry legs after shaving. I have coarse hair and it is never smooth after. Hope this helps even a little bit. Thanks!
Can I use this in place of shave gel? Also wondering if it would make my shower floor slippery?
Can you substitute the grapeseed carrier oil for fractionated coconut oil? I already have that on hand and want to make this!
Oooooo! I bet this helps prevent my post-shaving dryness! Can't wait to try this, thanks!
That is great! Do you think it would be a good sugar scrub for legs?


text:
Two Scenes from the Finnish Diaspora: Maria Takolander and Niina Pollari
By Erik Kennedy
I AM NOT an expert on Finland. I have never been to the country or eaten at a Finnish restaurant or danced the Finnish tango. My connection with Finland extends to having a grudging respect for Formula One driver Kimi Räikkönen and an ungrudging respect for composer Jean Sibelius. But two recent books of poems by Maria Takolander and Niina Pollari have prompted me to think about the country and its people — especially when country and people have been separated.
In the popular consciousness, modern diaspora wears the face of the desperate migrants cast adrift by people-smugglers in the Mediterranean or in the sea lanes leading to Australia. According to the United Nations, in 2014 there were 19 million refugees and asylum seekers who had fled conflict zones in their countries and gone abroad. But these worst cases represent only a fraction of the 232 million people in the world today who live outside their country of origin (to say nothing of second-generation immigrants). Dislocation and diaspora have countless, unguessable guises.
It is easy to think of people who have emigrated recently from Western Europe as part of a "soft" diaspora. These migrants have probably left willingly (if reluctantly). Perhaps they had what people in their destination countries would consider "enough money." These are people that no one is going to pity, nor do they expect pity. But this does not mean that there is not a sadness stamped on these emigrants like a visa in a passport. And what if they write? Can one write of a lost home without sadness? What can we discover from the writings of first- and second-generation Finns in the Anglosphere who write, sometimes, about the old country?
Maria Takolander is Melbourne-born, of Finnish parents. She alludes to her Finnishness frequently in both poems and essays, including in her new book, The End of the World (Giramondo, 2014). Niina Pollari is Finnish-born but long resident in the United States. Finnishness is not a common subject in her debut volume of poems, Dead Horse (Birds, LLC, 2015) (although it is necessarily present in her translation of Tytti Heikkinen's selected poems, Täytetyn eläimen lämpö or The Warmth of the Taxidermied Animal [Action Books, 2014]).
Takolander has written of her sense of not quite belonging in the land where she actually grew up. Comparing herself to the main character of Diego Marani's novel New Finnish Grammar, she writes:
Like Karjalainen, I had been cast adrift in a new world — although in my case it was Australia rather than Finland. Like Karjalainen, I had been compelled to learn a new language and fit into a new culture. My nostalgic parents had bestowed on me a sense of having lost a homeland that was integral to my identity. Like Karjalainen, I too had been inspired to recapture a lost source of identity bound up with Finland.
In Marani's novel, a battered, amnesiac sailor is (mistakenly) assumed to be Finnish because a nametag sewn into his coat bears a Finnish name: Karjalainen. Takolander, growing up in Australia, has the opposite experience. Her parents have essentially sewn a "Takolander" tag onto her, but no one is reading the tag. As she describes it, she is mistaken for Australian, against her will.
In her essay "The Turn to Diaspora," Lily Cho writes of diaspora:
Diaspora is not a function of socio-historical and disciplinary phenomena, but emerges from deeply subjective processes of racial memory, of grieving for losses which cannot always be articulated and longings which hang at the edge of possibility. It is constituted in the spectrality of sorrow and the pleasures of "obscure miracles of connection."
This may not always be true. The sober, hard-nosed reader can certainly imagine arguments for the intuitive position that, actually, diaspora is a function of socio-historical phenomena. But Cho's mournful proposition — that you're as diasporic as you feel — accurately describes Takolander's poetics.
The poem "Mushrooms," from the new book The End of the World, illustrates both Takolander's investment in her ancestral homeland and her staid, tightly controlled style. This is the best of a half a dozen or so poems in the middle of the volume that deal with Finland by alloying memory and history like copper and tin to produce a poetry that is both attractive and hard-wearing.
In the poem, she reports on a trip to Finland to visit family still living there. She and her uncle and her little cousin are taking a woodland walk, for which walk "My uncle / wears gumboots and carries a bucket for mushrooms." In other words, it's a trip into a swamp. The poem begins:
Trailing after my elderly uncle and his grandson,
through the pagan tangle of forest and mosquitoes,
the sky glowering with an endless twilight,
the path clammy with grass, my uncle stops
and waits for me, just a tourist really. He points
out the suo — the bog — behind the murk of trees.
It is a sump layered with moss and looks solid.
This is to be an unsparing look at the country she feels is hers but knows isn't. It can't have been easy for Takolander to write the words "just a tourist really," but she did it. Using a Finnish word, suo, immediately after this admission is an understandable coping mechanism, a reassertion of expertise that tells the English-speaking reader: "See, I know the language of this place. The people here may not accept me as one of them, but you will accept that I could be, because I have ancestral knowledge." A bog, of course, is a place that preserves the past while also constantly recycling portions of it into new materials. The bogs of Finland may not be as famous as those of Ireland or Denmark for producing the bodies of kings or treasure, but this does not mean that they are not full of old secrets. In this case, it is hoped that they will yield mushrooms, decomposers masquerading as food.
As the poem continues, Takolander reveals details about her uncle's character. He is apparently "soft," or nassuja, and a problem drinker. The third and fourth stanzas suggest that he has psychic or moral objections to violence and thus is at odds with the hard-man world he comes from:
There was midsummer's night, when he raised the flag
of the country defended by his father, who had killed so many
men resembling his brothers and sons. My mother always said
that my grandfather resurrected his enemies with a bottle,
loosing its sad genies into my grandmother's kitchen
during winter, when the iconic sun was in hiding
and the lakes in that land of mirrors sheeted with cold.
The flagpole on midsummer's night was planted (somehow)
on a granite rise, and my uncle could not stand by it for long.
This evening, though, he is sturdy and rational,
like the youth I imagined walking out of Karelia
with his parents and siblings when the Russians came,
their house burned down to the grave snow so that,
no matter what happened, their enemies would not find a home.
The drinking has been passed down the generations — a worrying inheritance. Especially for men: alcohol is actually the leading killer of Finnish men aged 15 to 64. And it's not just from the grandfather to the uncle. The poem "Missing in Action," also in this book, lists causes of death for Takolander's family members. Out of eight entries, two begin "My youngest uncle: alcohol" and "My cousin (and his wife): alcohol." And the afterthought in "Three other uncles: heart attacks — possibly euphemistic" strongly suggests further booze-related fates. It is not pleasant to admit that alcoholism, too, constitutes Finnishness.
It is implied that breaking down in the end, even though you're "sturdy and rational," is part of the psychic cost of being steadfast. Takolander elsewhere identifies this as "a quality they call 'sisu,'" which is "strength and stoicism and endurance and determination. And it is this quality of sisu that gave Finns the edge in the Winter War, in that battle against Soviet Russia." (I could quote some Adrienne Rich lines here which would work as an amazing punch line to Takolander's poem: "I've walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don't be fooled / this isn't a Russian poem.") Burning your own house down to make sure no one else can have it: now that's sisu.
The poem ends on a surprisingly muffled note:
My uncle picks up manure — that of an elk — for me to inspect
and the glowing orb of a cloudberry, which disappears
into the silver-haired boy's mouth. Finally, he stoops beside
a growth of mushrooms, wart-like, sallow as the sky.
His grandson kneels too, exposing his pale neck.
The butterfly net is cast aside, and soon the mushrooms
are filling the bucket, with a soft but steady sound.
It is a willful, unimaginative reading to insist that the soft but steady sound of mushrooms hitting bucket signifies the tread of Death approaching, and that the kneeling grandson is "exposing his pale neck" as to an executioner's blade. But what is a good reading then? Surely it is that the collaborative work and living by a family persists in spite of the specter of death haunting everyday life. The sound of thunking mushrooms in the last line was originally described as "soft but certain" when the poem was first published; it was changed to "soft but steady" in the book. Nevertheless, a ghost of that certainty remains. And for Takolander what remains, perhaps barely detectable, is vital and expressed my Marani:
Finland is what remains of something else: take away the Slavs, the Scandinavians, the Orthodox, the Catholics, the sea salt, the birch forests, scrape off a few hundred thousand tons of granite and what you are left with is Finland. If you were once Finnish, at some point or other you will find all this with you, because all this is stored in your memory, it cannot be mislaid. It is in your blood, your guts.
Niina Pollari's debut collection of poems, Dead Horse, situates us where the guts meet the economy: two of the book's sections are called "Bones" and "Blood," and the other is called "Money." But before these three sections there is a prefatory poem called "I Am Skinless in a Limo."
It begins this way (I quote the whole thing in order, with some breaks):
A little bit of context:
I am skinless in a limo
But I have like a dress on
It's a green dress like a bird from a very green place
Because I have no skin
I am afraid of touching the sour door handle
I'm very vulnerable
I can't really leave
So far, so graphic — but it's an unmoored metaphor. Why is the (presumably) psychic pain the speaker is feeling being literalized in this way? This becomes clearer as Pollari continues:
But my friend
When I think about you
I am having a hard time understanding
You see
We lost touch
When we were children in a faraway country:
Orange-tan and happy
I was eating tiny fried fish at the square
Grinding up their mini-mini skeletons
Chewing their soft spines
With my teeth
It was such a sunny day
The sun was petting us
I didn't have to lick you
I didn't have to do anything I didn't want
But that was back when I had skin
It should be obvious that the "faraway country" is Finland, if only for reasons of biography. And another thing points to Finland, as well: the fish made, it seems, entirely of bones. Until reading these lines I'd forgotten that I once strongly connected bony fish and Finland in my mind, possibly because of a story my father used to tell about when he traveled to Scandinavia for work in the '70s. (It involved choking.) Pollari's childhood Finland in this poem is Exhibit A of the L. P. Hartley maxim "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."
It definitely is, and they definitely do. I should return to Lily Cho at this point, because a word about the skin in the essay I quoted earlier made me think about Pollari's poem in the first place. It made this essay possible. Cho says:
To live in diaspora is to be haunted by histories that sit uncomfortably out of joint, ambivalently ahead of their time and yet behind it too. It is to feel a small tingle on the skin at the back of your neck and know that something is not quite right about where you are now, but to know also that you cannot leave. To be un-homed is a process. To be unhomely is a state of diasporic consciousness.
Imagine that you sort of feel that tingle on the skin, but not in the ordinary way. Because imagine that you're in the process of being un-homed, and that you don't have that skin on the back of your neck anymore. Pollari literalizes this idea of homelessness as skinlessness. For Pollari, anything that you could imagine might be different between now and then is different, in the diasporic consciousness way. "It's raining now? Well, it was sunny then." "I was orange-tan then? Well, that was lovely; I don't even have skin now, motherfucker!" She concludes:
Now I'm sad and nasty
Grafting on to the seat
Wetly in a long car
As outside it rains,
And is also
A twister
If I went into the rainstorm now
All of me would wash off except my dress
Which would be ruined
The green fluff turning to soggy brown
Covered with the red of my body
It's so good knowing
Your inevitability
The skin is the largest organ in the body
It breathes and eats on its own
And it's very talkative,
And I miss it
In the quiet car
But there is no changing the present,
And there is no fucking with what happened
So here is a statement of the facts:
My friend is somewhere else
And I am skinless in a limo
And we are headed down
It is as if the transportation of her body from one place to another damaged it irrevocably, as if it was entrusted to those dodgy movers who advertise on lampposts. (And no cargo is as likely to be damaged in transit as the human body.) Nothing can ever be the way it was. In her essay "Diasporic Subjects and Migration," Sandra Ponzanesi writes about the female body as it is constituted by diaspora theory:
Various theories of nomadism and cosmopolitanism have tried to encapsulate the notion of the migrant as an embodiment of the contemporary condition of dislocation, not only in spatial terms but as crossing existing categories, of gender restrictions and bodily limitations. Notions such as diaspora (Brah, Hall, Gilroy, Smadar, Swedenborg, Barkan), borderlands (Anzaldua), edges (hooks), eccentric subject (De Lauretis), margins (Spivak), in-betweenness (Bhabha), rhizome (Deleuze), exile (Said), nomadic subject (Braidotti), cyborg (Haraway), transversal politics (Yuval-Davies), borders (Balibar), [and] multiple geographies (Stanford-Freeman) all emphasize theories of space as a way of describing the postmodern condition as encapsulating multiple variables of female subjectivity.
In other words, as Ponzanesi says further along, "from a feminist standpoint, the migrant trope helps to envision the intersection of sex, class, race, age and lifestyle as fundamental axes of differentiation." As Pollari is both a woman and a migrant, she is "differentiated" along at least two axes.
On this reading, the specifically female "Bones" and "Blood" of the rest of the book are first exposed by the traumatic wrenching-away from a homeland alluded to in this poem. But this mention of her lost Finnish home is just that, a passing allusion, the superhero's origin story briefly sketched. Pollari's poetic interests lie elsewhere. As reviewer Carleen Tibbetts puts it, Pollari primarily interrogates "the female body — what is it supposed to do, how is it supposed to feel, what are its shortcomings, and how do they affect a woman's sense of self?" But the compulsion to explain where it all started, by placing that body back in its country of origin in a poem, cannot be entirely resisted.
For both Takolander and Pollari, the loss they feel is due a changed relationship not just with national borders, but with their own histories. After all, neither of them seems to wish she was back in Finland. ("But there is no changing the present, / And there is no fucking with what happened.") Their quarrel is with decisions made in the past, not with obstacles that exist in the present. They both presumably recognize their circumstances now for what they are: comfortable. They have no "right" to complain, but they need to — viscerally — anyway. This makes the pain of their dislocation, which is already unassuageable, seem doubly unhelpful. But they have probably done the calculations and accept that it's worth it to ruminate on a lost Finland of the mind in poems, even if the only result will be more poems. A struggle can be futile even if you fight with "strength and stoicism and endurance and determination."
Erik Kennedy is the poetry editor of Queen Mob's Teahouse. He lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.
By Maria Takolander
Giramondo
By Niina Pollari
Birds, LLC
Un Coup d'idées: A New Translation of Mallarmé's "A Roll of the Dice"
By Jeremy Glazier
Locked in Translation: Burmese Poets and the Silence of Witness
By Jerome Murphy
A Conversation with Forrest Gander and Raúl Zurita About "Pinholes in the Night: Essential Poems from Latin America"
By Magdalena Edwards

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Posts Tagged 'Selangor
The reason why BN lost Selangor
Categories: Elections and Politics
Tags: GE14, Selangor
This is the reason BN lost S'gor – MB's office answers ex-MB
Former Selangor menteri besar Muhammad Muhammad Taib has been saddled with a puzzling question regarding Umno and BN losing the state in the 2008 general election.
Muhammad said while BN had won in backward states, which do not even have water supply, it, however, lost in a developed state like Selangor, which has ports, airports, roads and various facilities.
This evening, the office of his successor, Azmin Ali, provided the answer.
Former Selangor menteri besar Muhammad Muhammad Taib was saddled with a puzzling question regarding Umno and BN losing the state in the 2008 general election.
He said while BN had won in backward states, which do not even have water supply, it, however, lost in a developed state like Selangor, which has ports, airports, roads and various facilities.
This evening, his successor Azmin Ali's office provided the answer.
Referring to Muhammad as a "recycled politician", the Menteri Besar Office's strategic communications director Yin Shao Loong claimed that the answer is common knowledge.
"By March 2008, Umno and BN had become irrelevant, even distasteful, to the voters of Selangor because the people were fed up with decades of corruption, wastage and mismanagement," Yin said.
He said it was not a case of the people of Selangor suddenly becoming ungrateful for the roads, infrastructure, water and electricity supply.
"They were fed up that these basic amenities should have to be delivered via fat contracts to politically-connected cronies.
"They were fed up that the politicians approving these projects could swagger in and out of the country clutching suitcases stuffed with money," he added.
This was an obvious reference to Muhammad's arrest at the Brisbane airport in 1997, carrying Singaporean, Malaysian and New Zealand bank notes worth US$1 million.
24 Nov 2017 – malaysiakini
The curious case of Khalid Ibrahim
COMMENT Like many Selangorians, before the 13th general elections last year, I found myself cheerleading a little for Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, the incumbent Selangor menteri besar. This was a man who is not a regular politician, he is not a good orator, doesn't convey his opinions eloquently, but nevertheless is someone who "does work".
He is someone who is honest, professional, works, and does not find time to speak ill about another politician. He is too busy doing work that he does not have time to retort back at political enemies. Back then, his main political rival was PKR deputy president Azmin Ali. Now, compare Khalid's conduct in that realm of rivalry with Azmin's often open and indiscreet criticism of Khalid, then you know Khalid was the better person.
Or so he wants us to believe. I will be the first to admit that my opinion of Khalid had stuttered and stagnated over the past few months, owing in large to his policies and his now famous lack of communication with people who work under him, and people from his own party.
This is by no means an endorsement of PKR's decision to replace Khalid with Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, or the merit with which PKR felt fit to sack Khalid from the party without ensuring a smooth exit for him before making such a drastic decision. These are political considerations that respective parties involved should make.
But coming to the case of Khalid himself, how did he fall from grace so badly that public opinion, that has often backed him, is now starting to stutter?
Did Khalid Ibrahim change? Did the people change? Is he a victim of circumstance?
Or maybe, Khalid is neither the man we think he is right now, nor the man we thought he was back then. He did not change. Not a bit. The fact is, Khalid Ibrahim is a very good politician despite affirmation from his supporters claiming otherwise.
In politics, perception is reality and truth is negotiable. Khalid knew that. And for six long years, he mastered that. He might have lacked the persona and skills that politicians like Anwar Ibrahim had, but he more than made up for it by picking a strategy and sticking to it. The strategy was simple – selling the image to the public that he was a honest, simple man who does not get his gloves dirty on the boxing ring.
He was a fresh breath of air, he didn't "play" politics, we perceived, but he was "managing" that perception all along.
People did not find a reason to hate him because he had a track record, albeit it is almost always about the amount of state reserves he amassed. He did not burn bridges with anyone by slandering them and throwing political jibes. He was just an ordinary man, and you would not know what was going on in his mind.
The uncombed hair and the messy outlook was all part of that perception – this man didn't care for appearances, but more on substance. When the Selangor menteri besar crisis came to a head, suddenly Khalid was able to be tidy, dressed to the hilt, and look genuinely happy.
Aug 12, 2014 – Malaysiakini
by Ram Anand
Legitimacy as Selangor MB over
Legitimacy as Selangor MB over, Husam tells Khalid
Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim's legitimacy as Selangor menteri besar is over, PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa wrote in an open letter to the embattled leader today, although the Islamist party has yet to make an official stand on the issue.
Husam said that Khalid's hope to get another Selangor lawmaker to join his side has ended after Batu Tiga assemblywoman Rodziah Ismail quit as state executive councillor to join her PKR colleagues in repudiating the menteri besar's leadership.
"What more when two PAS assemblymen took their personal step to reject Tan Sri as a menteri besar openly," he said in the open letter made available to The Malaysian Insider.
Khalid is running the Selangor government with the help of four PAS executive councillors and support from the 12 Barisan Nasional (BN) assemblymen in the 56-seat state legislature.
PAS has 15 assemblymen in the legislature, but two have now joined the 13 PKR lawmakers and 15 DAP lawmakers to support PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the new menteri besar for the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact.
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had openly backed Khalid to remain as menteri besar but the party's central working committee will only meet this Sunday to finalise its decision, which must be ratified by the party's Shura council.
Another vice-president Salahuddin Ayub yesterday said the Islamist party has delayed its decision as changing a state menteri besar is not as simple as replacing a village chief.
But PKR had signalled to its PR allies PAS and DAP on July 23 that it wanted to replace Khalid. The PR leadership meeting on that day agreed that PKR can keep the MB post and that the allies would consider Dr Wan Azizah's candidature for the post.
DAP has agreed to Dr Wan Azizah taking over the post in the country's wealthiest state but PAS has objected, although saying it went beyond the issue of gender.
Husam said that given current circumstances, Khalid must know his limits when it comes to riding on PAS support. The party should not be dragged any further into this controversy for his own survival.
"He can get sympathy, temporary protection and support from PAS in the spirit of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition and PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had also extended the olive branch to him.
"But that episode is over."
Husam said PAS should not be in limbo with Khalid and sacrifice its principles or the good name it holds within the Pakatan coalition as mandated by the people of Selangor.
He added that after being sacked from PKR and not being accepted into any of the coalition parties, Khalid did not represent Pakatan anymore.
"The Selangor government is a PR government, not the government of Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim."
He also said Khalid's actions in sacking PKR and DAP exco members and his other moves had implicated PAS when the party never knew what he had planned to do.
These actions, he said, can cause Pakatan to break up, given the impression that PAS continued to support an illegitimate menteri besar.
He added that when Khalid decided to sack the PKR and DAP exco members but retained the PAS four, the matter should have been discussed with the Islamist party's central committee. He should have also obtained the approval of its coalition partners.
He said that as far as he was aware, the PAS central committee never discussed that move and that it never gave the mandate to anyone to arrive at that decision.
"By doing this, Tan Sri is involving PAS in his survival as menteri besar and also compromises the party's good name in the eyes of the people of Selangor.
BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
15 August 2014 – TMI
One vote for Khalid is one vote for Umno
One vote for Khalid is one vote for Umno – Sherilyn Goh
At the height of the menteri besar crisis, Selangor Umno chairperson Noh Omar, being the opportunist that he is, has so excitedly jumped on the bandwagon of condemning PKR by claiming to have known of Khalid's wrongdoings all along.
Ironically, just after his master subsequently issued commands for all of Umno's assemblypersons to throw their unconditional support behind Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim should a vote of no-confidence against the now independent MB be called for in the state legislative assembly, Noh Omar deferentially obliged, of course.
Same goes for their MCA colleagues who are ready to call for a press conference to censure PKR and Pakatan for Khalid's wrongdoings on the very same day the commands were issued. They have no choice but to relent on an opportunity to score political brownie points. Poor MCA somehow has to remain irrelevant and bow down to their political masters as always, and like their Umno counterparts, to speak and act against their conscience.
From both incidents, it is clear that BN knew very well of Khalid's dirt all along and was ready to play the offensive and strike should the time call for it – somehow they backtracked only when they realised that something better was in store for them, which was the opportunity to wrest the Selangor state administration from the now embattled Pakatan government, following the sacking of 5 executive councillors (excos) from DAP and PKR respectively.
Hence, if it is not clear enough, the explanation for how Umno changed overnight to become the number one proponent of Khalid, with Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin pledging support and the mainstream media giving the MB an unprecedented coverage not enjoyed by any Pakatan politicians before.
Does Umno's endorsement of Khalid, for one, not send chills down your spine already?
It remains to be seen if Khalid will blatantly replace the sacked excos with Umno assemblypersons in the days to come, but should that happen, DAP and PKR will lose hold of their now volatile share in the Selangor state administration, which, should that be the case, will be an outrageous disregard to the people's mandate, and may even be another constitutional crisis in the making.
Even detractors of Khalid have to give it to him now for being the political beast that he is capable of becoming when all else failed for him.
The extent to which Khalid would go to in order to cling on to power is, in fact, undignified, with no regard to the fact that two-thirds of Selangorians voted for a Pakatan government in the past 13th general elections.
It is no longer a matter of PKR's internal turmoil here, but a betrayal of the voices of Selangorians who have spoken and all-out rejected Barisan Nasional rule. What seems to be the case now is that Selangor is at the brink of falling back into BN's grasp, the party which stands to gain the most in this fiasco.
The destiny of the people of Selangor is being held at ransom.
PAS's silence in the outbreak of such series of events over the past few days is at best deafening. August 17 is now the longest wait. So will PAS assemblypersons, for once, please speak up, defy and have your voices truly counted where and when it matters?
As for my fellow Selangorians, if you are all for accountable governance, then show that you have the same audacity when it is against a politician from the very party you support. If Umno's corruption is detestable, then show that you will not tolerate any hocus-pocus even when it comes to the politician that you have voted into office. If Khalid is betraying the hopes and aspirations of the people by having his integrity compromised, then it is time, too, for him to go.
When you take to the streets with Bersih, it is a war-cry against corruption as a whole. When you ride on the wave of change it is not mere romanticism against Umno – the reality extends far beyond that. If you are truly in the spirit of change, then have the audacity to show that the same applies no matter which side of the political divide you are aligned with.
If a party is not allowed to right its wrong and you are blissfully tolerating status quo, do not cling to the benefit of hindsight another three or four years down the road when Selangor is lost and wish that the party had done otherwise. Because change has never been convenient, because change requires the courage to own up to your mistake and quickly take actions to rectify it.
My fellow Selangorians, it is about time we stopped punishing PKR for owning up to its mistakes and stand in solidarity with one common enemy again, for one vote for Khalid is now one vote for Umno to reclaim Selangor.
Let us not allow the excruciating lessons of history to repeat themselves. – August 14, 2014.
Khalid must resign and stop the drama in Selangor
Khalid must resign and stop the drama in Selangor – Tan Eng Bee
With the sacking of Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim from PKR and the sultan's consent to allow him to continue as menteri besar in the short term, the stage is set for a showdown in the state political arena which will affect directly the state of Selangor and indirectly the nation.
Though the decision to sack Khalid will pave the way for his eventual resignation, Khalid is adamant in not wanting to resign and leave gracefully.
Selangor is once again a battleground for political greats wanting their respective objectives fulfilled.
Assessing this tense and nerve-racking political situation in Selangor, Khalid believes he still commands the respect and the support of the majority in the state assembly to continue as menteri besar. By all counts, based on his assertion and belief, Khalid believes he has the support of the state assembly but the numbers do not support his claim or add up to his advantage.
In the first place, it is advisable that Khalid tender his resignation in the light of his sacking from PKR, which makes him "partyless" regardless of whether it was fairly decided or not as the welfare of the state and people are paramount compared to his position as menteri besar.
There is no way of trying to manoeuvre through the troubled political waters as the odds are against Khalid, and it will not look good for him since he has lost the support and confidence of his political party which supported him as menteri besar in the aftermath of GE13.
Therefore, it is incomprehensible and indecipherable as to why Khalid is adamant in not wanting to relinquish his position, which would speak well of his stature and strength, instead of trying to hold on to his weakened position.
Bear in mind that one's political appointment is at the sole discretion of one's political party. When it is expedient that one should surrender one's position for whatever reason, one should not be ungrateful and unmindful by trying to hold on to one's position when it is time to go.
There is no shame doing the right thing but obviously it will look bad for Khalid if he does the wrong things. Greed and power craziness may be the driving force as to why Khalid does not want to vacate and leave the political scene.
Or he may feel he is the best or right man for the job and there is no cogent reason to resign at this juncture.
A number of scenarios could happen in the light of current political developments. Based on previous case laws involving some misfitted menteris besar, I have no doubt the odds are against Khalid. It is just a matter of time before the "right thing" will happen.
I foresee Pakatan Rakyat will remain intact despite PAS throwing its weight behind Khalid to maintain his position, reason being that the three partners, PKR, DAP and PAS, have invested considerable time and energy in their endeavour to be what they are today. I am sure the three parties do not want Pakatan Rakyat to disintegrate and fade away in the wilderness.
It is unlikely that PAS will walk alongside Umno in support of Khalid to continue as menteri besar as their political ideology is totally alien to one another. Mistrust, apprehension and suspicion are real issues between these two Malay-based political heavyweights. It is nearly impossible for them to cooperate in the political arena at this juncture.
REJECT Khalid's arrogance, Umno & PAS duplicity
ARISE SELANGORIANS: Show your wrath at Khalid's arrogance, Umno & PAS duplicity
Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim's latest move to sack all six Exco members (three from the DAP and three from PKR) is against the mandate of the people of Selangor.
We, Selangorians, have voted for Pakatan, which comprised of PAS, PKR and DAP. The Excos are in the State Administration, because of this same mandate given to Pakatan as a whole.
Even if PAS chooses to leave the coalition this Sunday, it cannot deny the fact that people had indeed voted them overwhelmingly because of the coalition; therefore, PAS (if they still have any sense of self-respect) should honour the mandate given to Pakatan, instead of playing to the tune of UMNO.
In Selangor, in particular, over 60 percent of the voters had voted against UMNO and Barisan Nasional; therefore, for PAS to even now suggest Khalid form a unity government with UMNO is simply boisterous and unthinkable. It is against the wishes of the people of Selangor.
Umno's invisible hand
We have already seen how the "invisible hand" of UMNO and its cronies have been playing up issues one after another to try to destabilise the Pakatan Government in Selangor before and after 2013. The water issue is a good example, followed by the KIDEX Highway (which will benefit a former Chief Justice), and JAIS' raid on the Bible Society of Malaysia, another issue which remains unresolved till today.
Malaysians, in general, are also fed up with the dirty politics being played by various groups aligned to Barisan Nasional, and mainly with UMNO. The other component parties in BN are just playing second fiddle roles in BN after 57 years in power.
This is one reason why in Selangor we have rejected UMNO overwhelmingly. When I use the pronoun "we", I mean also the Malay voters who are now more enlightened with the current development in Selangor. UMNO should know that, with a figure like over 60%, it certainly cannot comprise only of the non-Malays.
Ungrateful of PAS to 'take & run'
PAS, in Paya Jeras, for example, won the constituency for the first time in the history of Paya Jeras. This was not without the help of many non-PAS members who worked hard and get their friends to vote for the new State Assemblyman, Mohd Khairuddin Othman, despite the poor perception of PAS by non-Malays in the past due to UMNO-linked media playing on a number of issues (Memali and the likes).
I cannot imagine how PAS can seek to for a unity government with UMNO, but then again, in politics, anything is possible. Even Hindraf was prepared to sign an agreement with Prime Minister, Najib Abdul Razak before the 13th General Election and the Church in East Malaysia was prepared to be pacified with a 10-point agreement just before the Sarawak state election. Both groups have realised, but it is too late.
Therefore, as an independent Menteri Besar, Khalid should realise what the people of Selangor want. For him to sack all six Pakatan exco with immediate effect, Khalid is going against the spirit of Pakatan (of which he is no longer a member) and against the mandate given by the people to Pakatan which, in principle, is still a mandate against UMNO and Barisan Nasional.
In S'gor crisis, Hadi & PAS defeat the meaning of 'Islamic'
Forming a Unity Government with UMNO should not even cross Khalid's mind despite him now being an independent MB. It is simply not right, unless his intentions are to sell out Selangor. Sometimes, Khalid's actions make me wonder if he is part of the UMNO's "Capture Selangor at all cost" campaign announced by Najib.
Khalid has to be upfront with his action plan, so that the people understand what he is trying to achieve at the end of the day. Simply wanting to remain as MB, when he no longer enjoys the confidence of the people and his own Exco, Khalid will not be able to hold the State together – definitely, not as a Lone Ranger or with his four Tontos. I hope Khalid will see the advice the people of Selangor are now giving him.
Whatever it is, sanity must prevail at the end of the day if Malaysia wants to see good economic growth. Whatever happens in Selangor will eventually affect the nation as a whole. – MAILBAG
Written by Stephen Ng
13 August 2014 – Malaysia Chronicle
Why Khalid must go
PKR has sacked the menteri besar of Selangor, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, from the party.
This has caused a great deal of shock to many.
Everybody – whether it was my relatives over Hari Raya, constituents at mamak stalls or my friends over WhatsApp – wanted to know why we wanted him out.
Quite a number were critical and this was not surprising.
Having known and worked with Khalid for some time, I personally found the deterioration of his relationship with the party and his removal very sad.
Nevertheless, PKR has made the right decision.
Khalid had to be removed from the party.
He must also be made to leave the MB's position.
It is true that many leaders in PKR were not willing to replace him after the 2013 general elections. While there were grumblings, there was a sense was that we could get by if the status quo prevailed.
This year however, serious question marks appeared over what was before seen as his strongest suit – his personal integrity. One can read in detail the party's dossier and supporting evidence of this.
I would encourage Malaysians – particularly residents of Selangor – to read it and decide on this matter themselves. I am confident that this document will bring them to the same conclusion as the party.
I am only highlighting the most worrying issues raised in it.
Khalid and his supporters have been very adroit in crafting an image of him as a disinterested technocrat.
He is supposedly "above politics" and "puts the people first". However, the document highlights some very disturbing lapses in this regard.
Chief among this was his controversial settlement of his RM59.5 million debt with Bank Islam. Despite repeated court judgements in the past that went against him, Khalid in February 2014 was able to obtain an out-of-court settlement for far less than the sum in question.
The fact that one Rashid Manaf apparently brokered the deal heightened the party's suspicion. Rashid – as the record shows – is closely linked to Umno. Indeed, Khalid had repeatedly refused to clarify the debt issue despite being given the opportunity by the party to do so. He cannot claim that this was purely a private matter.
As an elected official, his debts are a public issue as he could have been disqualified for office had he been declared bankrupt as a result of them. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that after the settlement was agreed to, EcoWorld Berhad – a company Rashid is a director of – was then rewarded with land contracts by the Selangor state government worth hundreds of millions of ringgit.
Indeed, Khalid has made the Selangor state government party to two very controversial land deals involving Ecoworld.
On March 19, 2014, Tropicana Corporation Berhad announced the sale of 308.72 hectares of land it had bought from Selangor to Ecoworld Berhad in April 2013. The initial sale to Tropicana was controversial because it was done after state assembly had been dissolved to pave the way for the 13th general elections.
This means that the state government at the time was only a caretaker and it was hence improper for it to have agreed to such a deal.
Tropicana furthermore was granted extremely unusual and generous terms, including only being required to pay an RM50 million deposit and having to pay the remaining RM537 million over 12 years. The political bureau raised the matter but it was very difficult to get clarity over what was going on when he rarely attended the bureau's meetings.
The second deal, signed on March 25, 2014 awarded EcoWorld a contract to build 2,400 affordable apartments for the state government worth RM591 million. This contract was awarded without open tender. This goes very much against the principle of transparency and accountability which Khalid's administration was supposedly championing.
Shortly after that incident as well, Khalid signed a MoU over Selangor's water resources with the federal government. As he himself admitted, this was done without PKR and Pakatan's input. Indeed, it was presented as a fait accompli of sorts to the Selangor state exco.
This MoU – as has been argued elsewhere – is manifestly unfavourable to the interests of the people of Selangor, principally because it forced the state government to accept the controversial Langat 2 dam project without any legal obligations on the part of the federal government.
In August 2014, Khalid again acted on his own by signing a Heads of Agreement deal with the federal government. Again, he did this without consulting PKR or any of the other parties in Pakatan. It was not even brought up to his exco prior to the signing.
Despite his earlier resolve, Khalid gradually softened his stand on the water issue. Indeed, the MoU that was signed with the federal government was almost wholly favourable to the concessionaires. It basically left all the cards in the hands of the federal government and the concessionaires without guaranteeing the state government the ability to realistically restructure Selangor's water assets.
Then of course we have the controversy over the proposed Kidex Highway. Residents of Petaling Jaya from all ethnic groups and walks of life have come out against the project, which is of doubtful utility and linked to pro-Umno corporate interests. At the same time, the creation of a new toll road goes against Pakatan's principle of gradually eliminating such concessions to reduce the burden on the people.
The chronology of these events also raises concerns.
Many of the above-mentioned controversial actions occurred shortly after Khalid got wind of the "Kajang Move", which was essentially to strengthen the state government by replacing him.
Doesn't it seem suspicious that Khalid suddenly chose to become so accommodating with the federal government just after it was made clear to him that the party felt he needed to be replaced?
The interesting thing is that Khalid and his camp have never denied the substance of the allegations against him. They have never taken legal action against the many people who have spoken out over these issues.
Indeed, the only thing they did was to basically impinge the integrity of their critics – suggesting that these have political motives or designs on Selangor's exchequer.
But these are serious shortcomings on Khalid's part from an administrative standpoint – whatever one's political standpoint is.
Khalid's actions are not of a disinterested public servant. Indeed, it is hard to see how anyone could benefit from these actions except himself and the vested interests enabling him.
Party politics aside, his actions over Selangor's land and water have damaged the same public interest he claims to be upholding.
We understand that many voters will be confused and angry by all that has transpired. Many efforts were made for a smooth transition to avoid the long-drawn episode Selangor is in today.
For someone who was there when he signed up for the party and served him loyally as his political secretary, this is a doubly sad ending.
But what we did was for the greater good of Selangor.
We had no other option.
Nik Nazmi


text:
Three reasons why you should switch to Veganism?
The Troubled Facebook Libra Cryptocurrency
Top 9 Online Casinos for Pakistan
Top Auction Houses of The World
Mining Gold, Copper & Iron in Space
Home/Pakistan/Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan: Age, Husband, Education, Family, Political Parties, Contact, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan: Age, Husband, Education, Family, Political Parties, Contact, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Hassaan Malik Follow on Twitter November 7, 2017
Dr Firdous ashiq awan is a famous Pakistani physician and a very bold politician from Sialkot in the province of Punjab. She had her Diploma in Hospital Management (DHM) from South Atlantic University USA, and after that she returned to Pakistan and continued her education in medical sciences and got her MBBS from Fatima Jinnah Medical College (FJMC). She started practicing as a doctor in Sir ganga Ram Hospital Lahore and also started taking part in social work.
Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan is also a social worker and during her house job in Ganga Ram Hospital she founded an organization, Society for Health And Development Exchange (SHADE), main task for this organization was to ensure work for public relief in health department
Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Political Parties
She started her political career in 2002 when she was elected as a Member of National Assembly (MNA) on the reserved seat for women from PML (Q) in the tenure of former president General Pervaiz Musharraf. During this period she was appointed as a parliamentary secretary and she started to work towards the development of her village in the city of Sialkot. In 2007 she left PML (Q) and joined Pakistan people's Party (PPP) and in 2008 general elections she defeated a very strong candidate Chaudhry Ameer Hussain from her constituency NA-111 Sialkot II. This was a big upset in 2008 elections as he was a very strong candidate who also served as a Speaker of National Assembly from 2002-2008. Dr Awan was appointed as Minister for Population welfare and later on she became the information minister under the flag of PPP. And recently she joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) on May 30th 2017.
Age of Firdous Ashiq Awan
Dr Firdous Awan was born in January 11th 1970 in Sialkot and she was one of the youngest Member of Parliament at the age of 32.
Dr Firdous Awan Husdband and children
Dr Awan is married to business man and politician Malik Amjad awan and they have a daughter and a son from this marriage.
Contacting Firdous Ashiq Awan
You can contact her on any of her Social media profile
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrFirdousPTI
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dr_firdouspti
Local Address: House No.8, Minister Enclave, Ibd
Permanent Address: Vill. Koubey Chak, Tehsil & District Sialkot
Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Pictures
Here are some pictures of one of Pakistan's bold and outspoken female politician. I hope you enjoyed this blog post and please don't forget to share!
Katrina Kaif : Age, Education, Family, Siblings, Boyfriend, Contact, Facebook, & Instagram
Deepika Padukone : Age, Education, Family, Sister, Boyfriend, Contact, Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
Priyanka Chopra : Age, Education, Family, Brother, Contact, Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
Shahrukh Khan : Age, Education, Family, Sister, IPL Team Owner, Contact, Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
Hiba Bukhari (Qadri): Age, Marriage, Dramas, Education, Family, Contact, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Faysal Qureshi: Age, Daughter, Wives, Mother, Pictures, Children, Family, Contact, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Daewoo Bus Ticket Price (Fare) From Lahore & Contact Number
Daewoo Bus Ticket Price (Fare) From Karachi & Contact Number
Adnan Siddiqi: Age, Early Life, Hobbies, Dramas, Career, Wife, Marriage, Children, Contact, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Asim iqbal
Meray pass 29/01/2020 Karachi to Sialkot 2 tickets hai, and...
Sarfraz Ahmad
i need to open courier franchise, please tell me about proce...
M. Junaid
I need format of offer share...
What about driving course..?...
Sajid Amin
18th January schedule of Rawalpindi to sahiwal please...
Don't miss …
Tipu Sharif: Age, Dramas, Education, Career, Family, Nationality, Films, Songs, Marriage, Wife, Films, Pictures, Contact, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Seemi Pasha: Age, Marriage, Children, Husband Education, Dramas, Career, House, Parents, Contact, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
© Copyright Content.PK 2020, All Rights Reserved
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Viber