Another Mr Nice Guy falls from grace

noreply@blogspirit.com (Bishopnose) — Sun, 10 Jul 2005 23:45:00 +0800

'A good boss, attentive and careful spender'; in other words, a Mr NiceGuy. That quote from Datuk Asrie Kadir, of his ex-bossDatuk Osu Sukam, the former Sabah Chief Minister who has fallen fromgrace for failing to pay a RM7 million gambling debt owed to a Londoncasino, made it to the headlines on page 12 of today's Prime News of theNew Sunday Times (picture) as if on cue. (See post below) It is one coincidencewhich I'm not happy at all because a lot of people who know Osu, know himto be a "really nice guy"! He is an "exemplary"Muslim: Soft spoken, demure, never quick to anger, patient, and, yes,attentive, and always willing to listen. He mixes well with people of all racesand from all walks of life. He is able to accept other people's differences.Yet for all these good qualities, he is certainly a lousy politician becausehe's not given to bigotry. And he spent 11 years as a federal minister, as a"yes-Minister", under former Premier Tun Mahathir Mohamad. Of course, hisdetractors pointed out, only a "yes-man" could survive under Mahathir. Osu wassaid to be Mahathir's blue-eyed boy, and as the story goes, he wassupposedly his first choice to become the Sabah Chief Minister in December 1994shorty after Umno took control of Sabah. But while Osu was on the flight hometo Kota Kinabalu, expecting to take up the chief ministership, the Sabahgovernor, the late Tun Mohd Said Keruak, expediently swore-in his sonSalleh as the new chief minister on a two-year rotation. Meanwhile, Osu waitedpatiently for almost five years while the Malay, the Chinese and the Kadazanparty leaders played musical chairs with the most important post in the Sabahgovernment, before he became Sabah's 11th chief minister on 14 March 1999. Tothe Chinese, the number 14 is a bad omen. Ever wonder why there isn't a14th floor in most hotels in Malaysia and Hong Kong? Fourteen is ahomophone of another Chinese word in the Cantonese dialect that means"tetap mati" in Malay or "condemned to death" in English or "sure die one" inMalaysian weblog English (Manglish). (Please give me time, and I'm sure I'llsound like suanie or minishorts in time to come. I'm a green-horn at blogging.I realise that it isn't easy to speak or write Manglish which I nowaccept as a legitimate language!)

Bishopnose - gambling

Another Mr Nice Guy falls from grace