Salt, Pepper ANd a little Kicap (SPAnK)

The MCA MRT Charade

2011-08-24T12:07:00.003+08:00

Aiyah... Thank you la MCA. You kinda helped me boost my ego again. Paiseh... Paiseh... And I can now confirm that I have a super forward vision, thanks to you guys. Thank you, thank you.

Or maybe not. Hmmmm... Come to think of it, the plot is just so obvious. Repeated a thousand times over and over again.

Plot - somebody somewhere try to harm some Chinese welfare, rice bowl etc. Make a big fuss out of it. Get the Chinese enraged. Then MCA-the-saviour comes to the rescue. Bosanlah... Lagi baru punya pattern takda meh?

There you go ladies and gentlemen, MCA once again 'rescued' the Chinese because of 'their influence and position in the BN government'. Good if it's true, but very naughty if MCA is the one who created the 'problem' for them to 'solve'. Yes, we are talking about the MRT taking over Jalan Sultan issue.

Whoa I tell you, MCA is now hero again loh. Saved the entire Chinatown man! The identity of Chinese in Malaysia. Without MCA, where got Chinatown anymore by end of 2011? MCA damn kau hero loh I tell you. They should have a parade of all MCA leaders at Chinatown, get special permission to light a 100m fire crackers, have 50 lions dancing tong-tong-cheng around. Special MCA buffet of hokkien char, wantan meen, watt tan hor, grilled fish, air mata kucing, mausang wong etc. Door gifts must be Loiue (sic) Vouitton Neverfull or (Malaysia's hottest) Hermis (sic) Birkin.

Na!!! (Double middle fingers up!) MCA... Na!!! (Double middle fingers up, again!)

I am sure many of you saw this coming. Come on, if I can, then surely thousands more did too. If you are one of those who think that the acquisition is so that some government crony get to buy the prime land at cheap prices later, then you are too simplistic in your strategies. It is elections time. Not everything is about money anymore. This is the time to show your relevance. Get back into office, then only you loot.

Any Tom, Dick and Ramasamy will tell you that you do not need to do the shoplot acquisitions in the very first place. The whole entire blardie idea of an underground tunnelling is to prevent any disturbance above ground level. If the acquisition is required, you might as well build on top of the acquired land. Architecture 101 I say. And constructing above ground level is too cheap. We are in Malaysia. We cannot afford to have cheap projects else nobody gets rich. I do not know the costs of the underground tunnelling works but logic dictates that it sure costs much more than a straight forward above ground construction.

Caveat: The reason I do not know the cost is not because I am lazy to go search. Ummm... actually, nobody knows the total cost of the MRT project loh. We are Malaysians. We do things differently here. So what if we are the only ones who manage a project without having a budget or costing. We can, ok! Malaysia... Boleh! RM50 billion or RM100 billion... small money dei... loose change...

And did anyone not realise that no acquisition prices for the shoplots have been bandied about? Of course cannot la. If you offer the shop owners, say, RM50 million per shoplot, you think they still go make noise meh. They would have happily signed the SPA 3 weeks ago la. So you must throw around some scary land acquisition act. Make some small government agencies look monstrous, then only can have hero Chua. Bugger, hero Chua man! Saviour of the Chinese, woohoo! (Fark him la...)

And now Bukit Bintang. Whoa! That landmark Mc-Ah-Nold also the MRT people want to tear down. Very scary lah this government people. Take land with ease. And probably pay the owners peanuts. Fear not Bukit Bintang. Hero Chua will come save the day. He will 'convince' the authorities to leave your shoplots alone. On top of that, MCA will make sure that works beneath will not affect your structure. With MCA you will not even feel a thing while they tunnel way below your arse.

See, MCA bagus! Who says MCA is irrelevant? (Me! Me!Me!)

Sandiwara saja banyaklah UMNO, MCA, MIC, Gerakan... Waste of everybody's time.

Doesn't it come as a surprise that both areas (Chinatown and Bukit Bintang) are Chinese areas? I hope these folks don't fall for the charade. And please remember that PR's representative with the likes of Tony Pua were there for you first.

And that folks, is the sign that the next elections is around the corner. MCA only gets busy when they need you. But if you don't need them, they will create something so that it looks like you need them. Like that also can! &$^@()@#!!!

Uncles and aunties, don't be surprised if Chua Soi Lek pops up at your house one of these days, asks to use the toilet and leaves his poop unflushed. (Actually he purposely broke the flushing system already one). But not to worry. He can with a snap of 2 fingers get Indah Water to repair your toilet in 5 minutes. I tell ah, imagine if Chua Soi Lek didn't decide to poop in your house that day. Silap silap your house stink with your own poop for weeks before IWK come clean the mess ah. Chua Soi Lek hou yeh! Now you see the importance of MCA and Chinese representation in the BN government.

You all think so easy is it to be a politician. Sit down and money fall on your lap? Very difficult one. You all dunno only...

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I Got Tear Gassed

2011-07-09T22:14:00.027+08:00

What a day! After all the pre-event nonsense by Najib & Gang, 9 July 2011 has finally arrived. You bet that I’ll be there.

Getting into KL city centre proved to be as nightmarish as I expected it to be. First I had to survive the massive road blockage at the Subang toll plaza along Federal Highway. (Had to take Federal Highway as NKVE was a no go). The police officers were just rubbish. How can they actually differentiate who’s going to the Bersih 2.0 rally and who’s not? Were they expecting us to be happily clad in yellow? It is clear that their intention is simply to cause inconvenience to the public. Most of the time, they just stand by the side and let the cars pass in a single file.

Traffic was crystal clear from then onwards. Then came another road block right after the Sunway exit. But kudos to Malaysians. Everyone was surprisingly very patient. No silly cutting in here, cutting in there like normal days. It seems that if you are on the road today, you are already mentally prepared for the slowdown.

Turned into NPE and we decided to change our meeting point from Times Square to the KTM KL Railway Station. Parked my car at the Petaling Komuter Station. When the train came… oh my oh my… the sardine packed coaches…

(Note: I’ve not hopped on our public train in a long long time. Hehe… Yah, kinda spoilt with the ‘own transport’ way of life).

Managed to get myself in with the coach door closing right at my butt. A large number of the passengers were on their way to the Bersih 2.0 rally too. Brilliant! People were openly exchanging latest news with each another.

I finally got into KL some 2.5 hours after I left home. I survived the blockages and hurdles! People, next time stop giving excuses, if you have the will you will get there. And I bet a huge score of people took a much longer time to get into KL. Think of the out-stationers. Hats off to them.

From the KTM Station, I followed the crowd who were walking towards Klang Bus Station/Pasar Seni LRT Station, then Jalan Sultan and then Kota Raya/Pudu Bus Station hotspot. And that’s when I first got into the ‘action’. The crowd had gathered in numbers. And PDRM greeted my arrival with shots of tear gas. How nice of them. Helter skelter ensued la. Took refuge at Hotel Ancasa entrance where I met up with fellow blog author, Neo.

It was about 2.00 pm and then the rain started. It was raining cats and dogs. Adui… Why la today… And the organizers got us moving towards Stadium Merdeka. Talk about soaked wet. Bersih 2.0 was turning into a wet t-shirt contest.

(Note: Ladies, next time please try to not come for an open rally in white. Malaysia is well known for heavy downpours. Not very decent when you are all soaked wet in white).

The rally was really multi-racial. Am very surprised. I did not expect to see the Chinese coming out in numbers. We know the spirited Malays are always up for it. The Indians too; as they have shown in the past. But the Chinese turnout was fantastic. Well done! It was a truly Bangsa Malaysia rally. And of all ages too. Countless aunties and uncles, makciks and pakciks. Am very heartened that the 20s and 30s took it upon them to leave the air-conds (as I did) and iPads (as I did) to jointly show the might of the rakyat. Najib & Gang, you guys seriously have to wake up. Malaysia is a little different today from 10 years ago.

(Note: Some parents thought it fit to make the rally a family event and brought along their little ones. The intention is good but I would advise against it. We are all very civilized and well behaved, but there is always 'them' who fire tear gas at us for no reason whatsoever. And it causes panic and a mad scramble for fresh air).

As we walked towards Stadium Merdeka, smaller groups joined us from junctions and the number just get larger and larger. I wouldn’t know how to put a figure to the headcount but it was a lot. (Definitely not 6,000 a certain figure-challenged IGP claim lor...)

Everything was in a very orderly manner. Why the surrounding shops shut business is beyond me. For heaven’s sake, what do you take us to be? We are not Perkasa’s thugs or Umno ‘Mat Rempit’ Youth. We are the very people you sell your goods to everyday. And you fear us now? There were some smart traders selling drinks and ice-creams and I bet you they all made a little fortune for themselves today. And the 7-11s too. Who dare steal even a bottle of mineral water? Do you know how many of us were out there on the streets? We can patrol ourselves better than the police will ever be. There wasn’t even any pushing or shoving around the stores and stalls. Yes, that is how civilize we are. Hidup rakyat!

Oh and the chants! Endless “Hidup Hidup”, Hidup Rakyat”, “Bersih Bersih” “Hidup Bersih”. Some got creative and even started singing Rasa Sayang, Jingling Nona… Soaked wet we may be, but our spirits were never dampen. The crowd just gets you going. There were simply so many ‘semangat’ fellas around, somebody will start something when things seem to slowdown.

Failing to get into Stadium Merdeka, we got moving to Central Market. It is fun when you move in numbers. You can really feel the power of the people. Sorry folks… It is non-describable. You can read, you can see the videos, but you’ll never feel it unless you are there. Nobody cares what colour your skin is. Nobody cares what your religion is. Nobody cares where you come from. We are simply... the rakyat.

When we got to the Central Market area, the police were already there waiting. We were just hanging around waiting for the next wave of marchers to join us. And then the barbarians started shooting tear gas at us. For what? We weren’t even doing anything.

At about 3.40pm, Wong Chin Huat decided to end our side of the rally. He climbed on an elevated structure and was trying to deliver the ending message to us and I was standing right in front of him. At this point, we were at the junction of Jalan Sultan and Jalan Hang Kasturi (where Klang Bus Station and Pasar Seni LRT Station are). Here we were, getting a "go home" message and the barbarians started shooting tear gas canisters at us again. Those blardie idiots! They don’t shoot into empty space to prevent you from moving forward. They shoot right into the crowd for god knows what sadistic reasons. I saw a canister flew past us into Level 1 of Klang Bus Station behind us. I turned around and saw a canister headed straight at us; leaving a comet like trail in its flying path. It landed a couple of metres from me. There was no mistake that I was at ground zero of a landed sting bomb. Stinging gas particles rapidly fought us head on for airspace. Martha-farking-bitch it hurts. We ran for fresh air. Oh it blardie hurts! I held my breath earlier but the throat burns. The mouth burns. Somehow the gas didn’t get my eyes (tear gas not hurting my eyes? hmmm…). The upper lips burns. The pain… Fark! Fark! Fark!

Some experienced rally-ers were handing out salt, took some and I felt better a while later. But the pain still lingers.

We were now pushed further back of the Pasar Seni LRT stop. Wong Chin Huat finally gave his thank you speech and ended with Negaraku. And the chantings of course. "Hidup Rakyat".

The crowd refused to leave. Everyone continued to linger under the Pasar Seni LRT station. Maybe we were expecting more. As we were ‘loitering’ beneath the LRT station, the darn coppers came charging at us. They started shooting rounds and rounds of tear gas at us… into the under-belly of the LRT stations. And they came charging trying to nab us. What the fark? Sudah bersurai lah. Cannot just hang around is it? There was no longer any chanting whatsoever. I would say that most people were just taking a rest or figuring out how to get home. We may be at an LRT station, but the trains are skipping the station. And they attacked us! Blardie idiots la the men in blue.

The group finally moved towards Sentral and dispersed.

We may not have been able to get all supporters at 1 place to show our united number and might. We may not have been able to hand over the petition to the DYMM Agong. But the objectives of Bersih 2.0 had already been achieved days ago. Najib & Gang were plain stupid to have fallen right into the pithole. We all knew that EC is never going to give a damn about whatever we are seeking. Bersih 2.0 has further shown the people how evil the BN government is and can be. Bersih 2.0 has convinced more people that a change in government is needed for this country. Scores of fence-sitters have now swung away from BN. Many of us are still not convinced by Pakatan Rakyat but more Malaysians now believe in the need for a 2 party system. And for that, the tyranny of BN has to end.

It's really funny that had Najib allowed for the Bersih 2.0 rally, the fence sitters would have given him a chance to proof his reforms and agendas. After all, he would have been seen to be democratic, moderate and fair. But he chose to suppress the rakyat in the most ungentlemanly behaviour full to the brim with untrustworthiness and indignity.

Isn't it ironic how Najib and his 'less than bright' cousin have main-casted their own downfalls.

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GLC Engrish So Good

2011-05-23T15:46:00.011+08:00

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Author's note:

Subsequent to the posting of this article, some readers have highlighted via the Comments Column that the site I was directed to is not TM's official site. I've checked further on that - and that's true. The www.unifi.com.co site is an agent's site. Or may be a scam site. But they don't ask for credit card details... Phew!

I also found out that ".co" is the internet country code for Colombia. ".co" is offered on some sites as the suffix for free site hosting.

My most sincere apologies to TM for whacking them. Kekeke... I'll make it up to TM by subscribing to UniFi when it reaches my area.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

How important is the English language today?

In Malaysia, this is a very sensitive question. All sorts of people will throw in all sorts of argument regardless of if it's an 'aye' for English or 'nay' for it. And it will not take too long for that simple question to deviate to racial issues, then to religion, then to social contract, then to 'you are a pendatang', then to 'please respect the Constitution', then to 'BN is corrupt' and what is and what not.

The Malays are divided on this question. So are the Chinese and the Indians. The urbanites are divided on this question. There is not going to be a simple answer - that's for sure.

To me, the English language is so-damn-blardie-kau important. Hey, that's my stand so no need to tell me yours. Am not going to defend my stand now because am writing to show something else.

English is a complicated language. No kidding it is. We Malaysians are used to the rojak version so most of us could not be bothered to improve ourselves. Besides, asalkan we can understand each another, cukup makan lah... So, that's us in our daily lives. Fine and dandy. But on official documents, official events, good to be proper a bit lah. And on GLC websites, please put in a bit of effort lah. It reflects badly on the GLC, the government and we Malaysians as a whole.

I was trying to get a Unifi subscription for my house. Apparently I get to register online. Googled it and this is what greeted me:

What the...?

"Great News!!"

Dude, what's with the double exclamation marks? Why 2? Why not 3 or 5 or 10? Satu cukup bro. Where did you learn to use 2 anyway?? See, isn't it weird when I use 2 question marks? Cikgu kat sekolah tak ajar such things anymore?

"All Streamyx user is allow to Upgrade to UniFi services, except previously Streamyx user who have Sign Free Notebook and PC bundle package is no allow to upgrade to UniFi

Now you can Upgrade your Streamyx to UniFi or Apply new installation through this web site."

I don't even know where to start on these sentences. The basic grammar is bertaburan, capital alphabet is used in the middle of the sentence, the sentences are just rubbish... Seriously, this is embarrassing. This is supposed to be a big corporation in the country. This website is meant to reach out to a lot of people. Is this the work of the Google Translate? You can't blame me for raising this question. We have precedents in the Teoh Beng Hock case and more recently the super large banner in Mandarin greeting Wen Jiabao when he visited us.

Wait! The nightmare does not end there. After I submitted my registration...

"Thanks for your registration! Your form have been submitted! We will contact you as soon as possible. Please check for the Installation Guide Video page so that you can more understand on the UniFi installation Process before the contractor come to install the UniFi Services for you.

For those applicants haven't upload photocopy IC during registration, you can use you Scanner or Phone Camera or Digital Camera to take your photocopy IC (both side) and email to Support@UniFi.com.co within 24 Hours. All the order will no be process until applicant IC have been received, If you have any enquiry or question, please don't hesitate to contact us at 010-7985600."

Aiyoh... Painful, painful... This is not an Email between 2 friends la! On your Personal Term, nobody gives a damn! This is you reaching out to your Customers. And for crying out loud, this is not something some less-than-capable chap Emailed me on the spot!! The above are all programmed Webpages. Why can't somebody check on this before it goes live?? Is this done in-house by UniFi? If yes, isn't there proper Monitoring and Hierachy for approvals? If no, which means that it is Outsourced, doesn't anyone perform any check? Or is everyone involved just too Lazy?? It can't be everyone involved being Equally incompetent in the English Language!! Someone somewhere must have been able to Pick Up at least some of the Gibberish. (Ok... Ok... Sorry about the punctuation marks, question marks and caps... Am trying to proof a point. So darn irritating isn't it?)

The attitude people, the attitude. The couldn't care less attitude which is as bad as corruption, if you asked me. I have no idea what the majority of government and GLC officers are paid to do. I don't need to elaborate as we already know their ineptitude pretty well. If you don't then you should not call yourself a Malaysian. Where have you been all these while?

Shy lah when you see these things. It is not that my English is any fantastic. I've got some serious grammar issues too - I admit to that. But you've just got to know when proper sentences need to be formed. Look at the context of which the language is being used. It is bad enough with people like me rojak-ing the English language on blogs like this. Not a good practice but I guess this is still somewhat acceptable as this is quite informal. But not on proper websites la. Have not checked Petronas' website but I will be horrified if they are this bad. (Maybe Tun does a personal inspection since he is so hands-on).

You know those emails you get on out-of-this-world English used on signboards, restaurants, toilets etc. Those where the pictures are probably taken from China or some East European countries. Time to stop laughing at these emails people. Malaysia is right down there with them.

Oh! This sms just came in on my handphone:

Good day 2u, Xxx! UniFi Services haven't cover Xxx Xxx yet! When UniFi ready in your area, UniFi installer automatic cal you for installation! Thanks

More punctuation marks. More grammatical errors. Different mode of communication, same rubbish. Then this is no longer the web master's issue, this is a corporation issue.

By the way, they told me my area already got service one loh! Or else I bodoh-bodoh go register for what? I am not government or GLC officer who got a lot of time in hand ok.

Religious Overdose - Enough-lah...

2011-05-04T12:36:00.005+08:00

That's it people. I've just about had enough of all these religious talks going round this country.

Everyday. And I mean everyday we see headlines like these:

Muslim NGOs say Idris Jala bias in Alkitab row (The Malaysian Insider)

Islam under siege in Malaysia (MalaysiaKini)

The above 2 are what I've just picked up from the websites mentioned as I type this. Don't even need to scroll down the webpage or look for one. It's smack on your face like a cream pie.

It is always Islam this, Christians that. Islam that, Muslims this. Aiyoh... Don't you people have better things to do? All these religious NGOs and religious brotherhoods... Don't they need to earn a living? Don't they have a day job? Or a business to run? Where do they find so much time running here, calling press conferences there. No life ah?

Eh hello. Has anyone read any latest reports on youths embracing religion? It is at an all time low. No answers has been given on why this is happening but if you ask me, it has all to do with overdose and radicalism being practised. Bloody hell... Who will want to embrace any religion where fanatics run around town screaming they want this, they want that, heaven this, hell that. By the way ah, this is not a Muslim bashing session. This applies to the Christians as much. Imagine if we have the Jews in Malaysia. The circus will be complete.

(Am not taking sides. In fact I am not even a religious person. Nope, do not subscribe to any religion for the time being).

Look here Mr. Religious Fanatics, most of us Malaysians are having trouble putting rice on table. Many among us cannot afford to buy a roof to shelter our heads. We are having a serious livelihood problem here. Maybe you have found a secret formula to turn our polluted air into energy once they are taken into your lungs, but I have not. So, why don't you bugger off for the next 1000 years and let us live in peace. Funny, apparently religion helps you find inner peace, but our peace will have to come from getting rid of so-called religious people. How ironic!

What are you religious people so paranoid about anyway? Why is it that there is always someone trying to sabotage your religion? This is 2011 already lah. You think we are still living in medieval times? Where got knights in armor suits galloping across continents spreading religion and killing in the name of religion? Grow up lah! Nobody wants to sabo you or your beloved religion. Anyone with time in hand is better off chilling out at Starbucks or play Angry Birds on their iPad lah ok! WTF! TNS!

Oh! And can this non-religious person offer you so-called religious people a pointer. If you do bad things, then you are a bad person. Doing bad things to other people for 'the sake of your religion' does not make you a good person. No heaven for you, dummy. Taking money from some political scumbag to smear others in the name of 'feeding your family' makes you a bad person. No heaven for you too. Bad is bad. No excuses, no reasoning.

One more thing. What on earth is this craze about entering heaven? I shall not thread on the number one question of 'Is There A Heaven?'. Don't know. Don't care. But what I do know is you are alive NOW. If you do good, then bagus. If you do bad, then you are not a good person. Not being a religion expert (oh come on... I'd rather be typing this then read a religious script), I thought that the ultimate goal of religion is to make us better people. If you stick to this very simple idea of 'good person', you will be be able to interpret a whole lot of your scripts better. Let's put us into a little warpath of Religious vs Non-Religious. We non-religious people are laughing at you guys most of the times. (Hahahahaha... hahaha... ). Why? Because you guys are just so <Fill In The Blank>. Look at the way you interpret your scripts. Some of you can actually turn your religious script into Nightmare on Elm Street. Your scripts are good books. There is no bad element in it. And yet you can do bad, mind you some really bad stuffs, and say that your religion calls for it. Nonsense. Read my lips:

There is no bad religion. If you think or believe your religion promotes any form of negativity or evil or bad, you've read it wrongly!

Point to ponder before I pen off. (Or is that keyboard off? Sounds weird). Ever wonder why the Buddhists or the Hindus or the Sikhs of Malaysia don't make that much noise?

Now leave us alone! And go get a job.

The Real Deal Chinese Running Dog

2011-04-29T17:01:00.007+08:00

I cannot imagine how Chua Soi Lek can walk the streets of Malaysia without being showered in Chinese spit. This person is the ultimate traitor to all Malaysians of Chinese ancestry. A man who sells his kind just to please his political master, Dark Lord UMNO. The only reason that he is still dry must be that Malaysian Chinese have dropped that bad habit which is almost a national culture of mainland China.

Hey wait a minute. But I see plenty of spitting at bah kut teh outlets, hokkien mee stalls, kopitiams. So why is Chua Soi Lek not covered in spit? He deserves every milliliter of it.

What’s with the jibe at PKR to call for the removal of Malay special rights and privileges? Wait. Got to hold my thoughts first. Ummm… Why isn’t Chua Soi Lek detained under ISA for questioning the special rights and privileges of Malays in this country? The fact that he says that he is willing to vote PKR if PKR removes Malay rights and privileges means that he, Chua Soi Lek, is against Malays special rights and privileges right? Else why will he vote for a party who supports the move. Plus he outright calls (instigating, not?) for someone to take up the task to remove the rights and privileges of the Malays; and he will support that move. Hah! Kena tangkap basah! Sham… Tolong sign detention order. Kasi tangkap sama Cina ni. Kasi buang bahlul ni kat Kamunting.

Ok what was it that I was gonna say…

In his video (the MCA TV video that it, not the other one *wink* *wink*), he said (actually I read the sub-title) ‘so you can have your hope but the hope should be based on the political realities in the country’. What is Dr. (How-He-Got-His-Doctorate?) Chua Soi Lek trying to tell us? Is he saying that the hopes of changes that Pakatan Rakyat are giving to the Chinese of Malaysia cannot materialize because Malaysia is a Malay dominant country? He added that ‘no other race will cancel their rights and privileges’. He surely meant so.

My dear Malaysian Chinese, the man who is purported to be the leader of your voice in the BN government is telling you that you are a 2nd class citizen in this country and live with it. I am not sure what the true fights of MCA really are but improving your socio-economic standings isn’t on MCA’s to-do list because you have to accept ‘the political realities in the country’. So what is it that MCA is fighting for on behalf on the Malaysian Chinese? To preserve the status as 2nd class citizens and to prevent a fall down to a 3rd class level along with the localised Indonesian and Bangladeshis? Is that so Chua Soi Lek?

It is beginning to look clearer now as to why MCA has not done anything for Malaysian Chinese for the pass 54 years although they claim to be the champion of Chinese rights and the protector of Chinese interests in Malaysia. Alas, the truth is out. Malaysian Chinese should not harbour any hopes of being treated as equals in this country. You should not be asking for additional places in national universities more than what has been donated to you on the graciousness of the UMNO government. Please accept that you will forever not be able to obtain direct government contracts but by way of being sub-cons to Malay cronies of UMNO. And whatever other grouses you have, please shaft it up ‘there’, live a pent-up life, and take it to your grave. Or your little urn should your kins decide to have you cremated.

MCA says that this is the reality. Please don’t be fooled into believing that an improvement is at the end of the tunnel because it is all cakap-cakap tipu Anwar. Lies because the ‘reality’ does not allow for any form of changes he says.

Inikah kita panggil, apa nama, wakil rakyat? Ptoooi! Wakil UMNO more like it. Any Chinese who supports this scum of a human is guilty of this same crime as he. Any Chinese who works with this shame of a human is guilty of this same crime as he. Any Chinese who votes this man-who-sold-his-people or vote anyone who supports him or vote anyone who works with him is guilty of destroying the hopes of their ancestors and future of their descendants.

Chua Soi Lek, please don’t come out tomorrow and say you have been misquoted. You said it over MCA TV. This former Health Minister is obviously so pressured by his UMNO masters that he has lost his marbles. Let’s put some real world events to proof to this genius that he is talking ‘male chicken’. The United States of America has a black president voted in by whites, blacks and hispanics. This country called USA is apparently the most powerful nation in the world and yet its developments seem to bypass this ‘champion’ of ours. (Funny though, he actually mentioned Obama in name during that clip). Who would have thought that the whites of US will give up their ‘rights to appoint a white president’? Did you know where the blacks stood in the socio-politics and economics of the US just a few decades ago?

And what about the whites of South Africa. These whites of South Africa have been there for generations. They have controlled the country for centuries. Yet, they return power to the blacks. What's that all about? The whites of South Africa are not English or Dutch. They are South Africans, only white. So, who says 'no other race will cancel their rights and privileges'?

What nonsense is this Dr. Chua fella talking about? Doctorate konon. Beli kat internet punya ka? Does he not read his own The Star to keep up with the world? Or does The Star not report all these? Takkan The Star asyik report pasal Rosmah, Rosmah, Rosmah je… Maybe it’s about time he bookmarks Malaysia Today, The Malaysian Insider and MalaysiaKini.

There is one really funny aspect to this episode. That is with all these gibberish that this cretin is dishing out, he actually harbours hope of MCA winning more seats in the next general election. He should really look into what he had just said on ‘hope’ because he is obviously leaving on a mini-lala-land of his very own.

Don't challenge anyone to do anything. If you are true to the Malaysian Chinese, walk out of Barisan Nasional. You have already admitted that this BN government does not have future positives for Malaysian Chinese. Are you man enough? Or have you left your balls at that Batu Pahat hotel?

Incompetent PKR; Bungling Pakatan

2011-04-19T19:36:00.002+08:00

There is something seriously wrong with PKR.

The leaders of PKR are either the ultimate optimists or they are simply, born liars. How can anyone in PKR claim to have led a good campaign in Sarawak? They have just been slaughtered even with the changing political climate in Malaysia and yet they are pleased having ‘made in-roads’ into Sarawak and tripling their representation in the Dewan Negeri; increase from 1 to 3 seats. How laughable.

I would rather that they face the defeat like a real man. Come out and admit that PKR have under-estimated BN and that the rural Sarawakians have not warmed up to West Malaysian politics. At least this may wake a lot of their own people up from their slumber. And we do know that many Malaysians live in make-believe world where reality is but a perception of their little minds.

The less optimistic of the PKR members may say that the battle has been lost, but the chances of winning the war (i.e. GE 13) has increased with the ‘better’ performance seen in Sarawak. Another load of hot BS. Based on the Sarawak election, Pakatan Rakyat has ZERO chance of forming the next government. Wake up people, the chances are ZERO. Sarawak has 31 parliamentary seats and Sabah has 25. Based on the Sarawak elections, how many parliamentary seats can we honestly expect to win from the urban areas? 4? 5? How are we going to win 65% of all votes?

How are we rakyat going to win the GE13? If you have a decent brain, your guess is as good mine. If you have a non-functioning brain, you will be claiming that GE13 is a foregone conclusion with a PR win because UMNO and BN are evil and the rakyat will kick them out.

First and foremost, let us all ingrain in our minds that it is very difficult to oust BN because of gerrymandering and dirty politics along with collusion with EC. The shocking thing is that before any elections, anyone and everyone knows what BN is going to throw money and play dirty. BN is so open that they are playing poker with all 5 cards open on the table. And yet PR loses the game. Something is very wrong isn’t it? Are we thinking out of the box to counter BN? Isn’t something not right when the voter could have taken BN’s money but vote PR instead? Could it maybe be a case as simple as PR not being appealing to the voters in the very first place? At least with the rural voters.

We can see that informed voters have ‘spoken’. The urban Sarawakians of Kuching, Miri and Sibu have followed their urban counterparts in West Malaysia. We can safely say that the change in West Malaysia has blown to East Malaysia. But it is obvious that this wind is not going to cause any further changes. Why? I dare say that because the change that we are asking for is not what the rural voters want.

( I am a believer that DAP won the 12 seats not fully on merits of DAP or their candidates but simply as part of the wind of change by informed voters. Nevertheless, kudos to DAP for having a very well oiled machinery and early preparations.)

Is it a co-incidence that throughout Malaysia, the urbanites are generally leaning towards PR while the rural folks are still giving their support to BN? I choose to say no. I say this scenario is the result of wrong strategy applied by PR.

We urbanites are better informed. No arguments about that. We are better educated too. Some of us have also had the opportunity to see democracy elsewhere and are hence asking for betterment. We tackle social issues, government misdemeanours and so on and so forth. But how do these issues affect the rural folks? Remember, everyone is selfish – this is human nature (like it or not). And please admit to that. Key point is – how does that matter affect me?

To many rural folks, they could not be bothered about these social issues. Take it from me that some people just like the simple life. It is idiots like us who get all worked up over injustice, corruption etc. If that is so, then is the strategy that worked in urban areas going to be equally effective in the rural areas? The kampong folks have proven over and over that it does not work. And yet PR uses the same strategy.

Look at the results of past elections. I read in one of Sarawak elections report saying that BN won in a voting area which had never had water supply. Shocking! What did PR do or not do there? Logically, either those voters are morons or PR simply screwed up. Again I am reiterating that the voters could have taken BN’s money but vote PR. They did not. So, what did BN do right there?

Is PR going everywhere shouting Anwar and Reformasi? Do you think the rural folks care about the submarine that could not dive or the Prime Minister’s wife who took out pages congratulating herself in New York? Do you think the rural folks are bothered if petrol costs RM10 per litre or that Selangor gives RM10 free water? Do they even know who on earth Anwar is?

Point is – are the issues brought to the rural folks relevant to them? How many of us actually step into their shoes and see things from their point of view? Does electricity tariff affect me when my electricity is generated from the noisy generator (shared by my 10 other neighbours) behind my house? Does free water affect me when I get my water from the river 5 minutes walk away? Does rising cost of living affect me when I plant my own vegetables, catch my own fish and rare my own chicken? If I am not bothered about the above, somebody please tell me, why should I be bothered about that man who fell down from MACC’s office or why certain murderer never get charged in court. Or for the love of god, why would the deterioration in the education system affect my live when I have never been to school (nor do my 5 children) because the nearest school is 2 hours by boat away. If I have lived this old without education, why would my children’s children need education? Will going to school put food on the table tonight? Aren’t they better off picking fruits in the jungle nearby.

Not everyone has advanced. There is a huge number of population that has been left behind while the landscape of Kuala Lumpur continues to get filled up with skyscrapers. There are many people who simply do not ask for progress because they believe that progress is beyond them. Because they accept life as it is. And we are reaching out to them with issues like the corrupted UMNO leaders who enrich themselves? Or the police force who helps UMNO stay in power?

You get what I’m trying to say? Astro is part of our lives but a lot of these people do not even have a TV. We take many things we have for granted and we assume that everyone wants what we want. The truth is everyone has different needs. What is the point of Azmin Ali and gang going to kampongs telling the folks there what Azmin Ali and gang needs? What is the point of you feeding the cow the best fried chicken in the world?

Pakatan Rakyat and in particular, PKR, is going the wrong way. They have to wake up now and go back to the drawing board. These leaders that we hope will lead us to a better future are simply not good enough. No one is really thinking out of the box. (By the way, the Ubah mascot by DAP is brilliant!) And PKR seriously needs some talents leading their strategy team. I mean seriously, seriously, seriously. I don’t like the American style of politics but you have to accept that they are very good at what they do. Let it be fund raising or election strategies. Just for an idea, oh somebody please read some Jeffrey Archers. We are light years behind. An author can actually think better than our leaders.

Kalau saya Najib, saya bubarkan Dewan Rakyat esok!

I Told You So!

2010-11-05T01:04:00.009+08:00

Well well well... What much can be said except I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO!

See earlier posting: Anwar, Pack Up And Leave Batu Sapi

I tell you, many of you guys are just blindly supporting the opposition. Whatever they do, you think that they have it planned out, that they have hidden strategy blah blah blah... You fellas have got to use your brains. And Malaysians are seriously lacking it.

Yes, we want PR to win the next GE. But blindly supporting PR is not going to help them win the next GE. PR has to be told that they are wrong when they are plain wrong. Looking at the comments in not just this blog but the many blogs out there where the bloggers are not agreeable to the 'strategy' adopted by Anwar and goons, it is obvious that many Malaysians are just seeing everything that is good about PR. And sweep everything negative about PR under the carpet. Or simply unwilling to accept that the party they believe in is wrong at times. Why live in denial? It makes you feel good inside but that is not going to convince the fence sitters - the very people that we need in order to win the next GE.

PR will lose the next GE if PKR (in particular) does not wake up. The component parties are screwed up and yet there is very little effort to change - sounds like UMNO eh. And the supporters continue to live in denial, and worse, whack everyone else who criticise PR. How often do we see "Or else, vote for UMNO?", "However bad they are they are still better than UMNO" etc. I've said this many times, PR does not need to win you over to win the next GE. If you are reading this, chances are you have already been won over. PR does not need to win me over. They had me long ago.

But PR needs the fence sitter. PR needs the BN supporters to cross over. And nonsense that we are seeing now aren't going to win over anyone new. Faham?

After reading the above, there are still people out there who says BN won because of corruption. These are the very people who think that they are assets of PR. The truth is they are absolute liabilities to PR. Liabilities because these people are hindrance towards progress. Why should PKR, DAP or PAS change when there are cheers and support even when they call a cat a duck?

Back to the corruption. Hello, every Malaysian already knew that BN was gonna dish out cash and goodies. It is a known fact. The people at Batu Sapi were literally waiting for handouts and looking for goodies distribution centres. That has always been BN. You mean Anwar didn't know that? Or Anwar believe that the EC and MACC will act?

He knew all these. Every Ahmad, Ah Kow and Samy knew these. How did Anwar's strategy counter this? By splitting anti-BN votes? What the...? Goodies aside, a decent mind won't vote the opposition when it is clear that the anti-BNs are screwed up with nonsense election strategy. Where got confidence to vote them? Might as well take the money, take the zincs, take the rice. Bukan SAPP atau PKR boleh menang. You look down at the people who took the 100 bucks or 250 bucks. At those who happily accepted the zinc sheets. At the Sabahans who fought for the bags of rice. You don't know jack shit. These may be nothing to you. But it means the world to the many poor Sabahans. That money is going to last them the next 2-3 months. That zinc sheet is going to stop rain from flooding the bedroom that sleeps the whole family. That bag of rice is going to feed the family the next 2 weeks. Who in their right mind will reject these over some nonsense political games by some rubbish political 'strategies'?

What's the good thing from losing the Batu Sapi by-election? I don't know, man. I really don't know. Maybe Anwar should come out to explain his objectives for the Batu Sapi by-election. For sure I know winning the seat isn't the objective. Maybe it is to prove that PKR 'has made in-roads into Sabah'. That 'PKR is better than SAPP'. Please watch out for these 2 statements. Anyone who says this over the next few days is an absolute asshole.

Sigh... Dunno lah... Government is fucked up. Economy is fucked up. Education system is fucked up. Opposition also fucked up.

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Anwar, Pack Up And Leave Batu Sapi

2010-10-25T17:37:00.007+08:00

We rakyat are real suckers.

At least that's what most of our Malaysian politicians seem to think.

The entire Barisan Nasional politicians think that we are idiots who cannot think. (Ok... Truth is I actually know quite a few people out there who can't think. But... Some other time...)

Then we have our not-so-beloved-anymore PKR who thinks that we enjoy watching their year-round circus acts. Yup, definitely not so loved anymore. And I don't think I am an isolated case. We shall leave DAP and PAS out for now as they are not the subject of discussion here. But mind you, they have their own shit-load pile of dung too.

Now what's with the Batu Sapi fight? Isn't PKR the one who first brought DAP and PAS to the table to discuss how to prevent a 3-corner (or more) fight. Isn't the objective of the entire 'opposition' coalition that to fight the single common enemy i.e. BN? So what is PKR now blardie doing in the Batu Sapi fight?

Some of you may say that why can't SAPP not fight and let PKR field their candidate?

Or some of you may say that well SAPP is not part of the coalition, so why should PR even need to talk to them in the first place.

That will be to miss the whole point of the rakyat's fight. The rakyat is not fighting for Anwar (please imprint this in your mind, Anwar). The rakyat is not fighting for PKR or DAP or PAS. You will be dammed if you think that we really love you. What we want is CHANGE. And you political parties are nothing but our tool to get BN out of power. Well that's how things are. You guys are using us to get to power. So don't complain or call us ungrateful.

It doesn't matter to us if SAPP is fighting BN or PKR is fighting BN. As long as someone is there to fight BN, then we'll be on your side. But if you have PKR, SAPP and BN in the fight, what do you want us to do? To choose who we love more between SAPP and PKR? What are you guys trying to do? Eh wankers... The common enemy is BN. Let's keep it that simple.

Now that we have establish that line of thought, PKR or SAPP for Batu Sapi? SAPP la. Look at the name - Sabah Progressive Party. Sabah dei, Sabah... Let the Sabahans fight their fight. This is why East Malaysians do not like West Malaysians. The West Malaysians are always thinking that they are better and more superior than the East Malaysians. What on earth is PKR trying to do fighting the Sabahan fight? You don't see ~~UMNO~~ (Penang based) Gerakan fielding their candidate in Sabah or Sarawak do you?

Seriously, I cannot understand PKR's objective in the Sabah fight. Do you see Ford aggressively selling cars in Japan? No, they do not. They acquire Mazda and let Mazda do the fighting. The profits still ultimately land on their laps.

Anwar, similarly, you do not need to penetrate Sabah via PKR. Neither will the Sabahans accept that. Don't you get it? The East Malaysians do not trust us West Malaysians (seriously, can anyone blame them when we have been ripping them off since 1963?) Let the Sabahans fight their own battle. Let them keep their own state. But while at that, get them to work together with us to form the ultimate central government. I mean, can you imagine PBS recruiting a Wan Kelantan and field him as a candidate in Galas? Ridiculous isn't it. That's exactly what PKR is doing right now at Batu Sapi.

But Yong Teck Lee is not exactly the best of character, shouts PKR. Like any of you politicians are. Who among you has no garbage up your arse? Who among you is as clean as the Pope? Ummm... is the Pope clean? What about the Dalai Lama? Snap, snap... focus.

So, how will letting SAPP run the show benefit PKR? No it does not. Why should PKR be benefiting in any way at all. As long as the rakyat benefits, that is good enough. SAPP may not be a coalition partner. But they are no longer in BN. Anyone who is against BN is on our side. Keep them as an ally. To form the next federal government, we know we are short. SAPP has their advantages in Sabah. The time will come when PR and SAPP can sit down to talk (again) about a larger coalition.

Of course that will be another problem because PKR has their own Sabah leaders who want this and that while SAPP will want to be the Sabah Chief and so on and so forth. At the end of the day, it is about who gets the power and who benefits more. Dear fellow rakyats, no one really cares about us la. If Pakatan really does care they will be giving SAPP the mandate to represent PR in Sabah. Pull PKR and DAP out of Sabah. Let the support for anti-BN be concentrated. Don't split votes. It is hard enough to defeat BN/UMNO with their might and money.

If the 3-corner fight remains, no need to waste time and money campaigning la. 60% bumi votes; say BN takes 30%, PKR (sapu all opposition votes) takes 30% and SAPP none. 38% Chinese votes; say BN takes 19%, SAPP (sapu all opposition votes) takes 19% and PKR none. Final tally: BN 49%, PKR 30% and SAPP 19%. Anwar and Azmin can then go for their celebratory party at Hyatt KK's Shenanigan's for achieving whatever their objective in Batu Sapi is.

That's PKR folks. People like Azmin Ali can never shed their UMNO mentality. PKR is just another UMNO. Ok, a powerless version of UMNO. Everything else is the same. Their leaders have been hungry and poor for a long time waiting for Anwar to propel to the top. Everyone wants to get paid. Money, money, money. That's what PKR is all about. Justice? We should really stop bluffing ourselves.

And it is PKR leaders' lust for money and power that will cause us rakyat never to be able to kick BN out of office. I am not giving up yet on us winning the next GE. But UMNO must be sensing that the timing is now good. PKR of today is not capable of mounting the killer blow. Not with the rakyat doubting PKR. Not with the rakyat shaking their heads looking at PKR's production of Scenario The Movie Part 5 with Azmin Ali taking over from Saiful Apek.

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Malaysians Have "Paling Ramai Kawan" On Facebook, Friendster etc.

2010-10-12T10:20:00.005+08:00

Courtesy of fellow author, Gooster, who found this MOST enlightening article on BBC.

I bet you the largest contributors to our numero uno position are our government servants. Minimum wager of RM1,000 per bet for anything who thinks otherwise.

Super efficient Japs have the least "friends". By way of us having the most "friends", that will make us... ? Sigh...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11501625

Japanese have fewest digital friends on social networks

Malaysians have the most friends on their social networks, while Japanese users have the fewest.

This is one of the findings of a large-scale research project, looking at online behaviour around the globe.

It also found that digital sources are overtaking TV, radio and newspapers as the media channel of choice for 61% of the online population around the world.

The study, conducted by research firm TNS, interviewed 50,000 consumers in 46 countries for the study.

In Malaysia the average number of friends is 233, closely followed by 231 in Brazil and 217 in Norway.

This contrasts to an average of just 29 friends in Japan, and 68 in China.

The results could suggest "a culture that embraces fewer but closer friendships," thinks TNS's chief development officer Matthew Froggatt.

As well as having the most friends, Malaysians are also the heaviest users of social networking sites, spending an average of nine hours per week on them.

It is followed by Russia, where people spend an average 8.1 hours per week online and Turkey where 7.7 hours a week are spent on social networks.

Socially mobile

The study found that consumers are now spending more time on social networking sites than using e-mail.

This is fuelled in part by the rise in mobile net access.

In the US, a third of online consumers expect to be accessing social networks via their mobile phones over the next 12 months, compared to a quarter via a PC.

In Sweden, over half said they would access social networks via mobile and just a quarter cited the traditional PC.

National crisis

The importance of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter is being explored in a separate study at the University of East London.

Researchers are using three British cities - London, Birmingham and Carlisle, to study whether social networks could help save lives in the event of a national crisis.

"We are working on the premise that, as technological advances continue, the traditional mediums of television and radio may become usurped in their potency in terms of delivering important messages to society at large," said Professor John Preston, who is leading the project.

The TNS study, which the researchers hope will become an annual project, also found that countries newer to the digital world are embracing online activities at a faster rate to those in more mature markets.

In China four out of five users have written their own blog, compared to only 32% in the US.

"In rapid growth markets...users are embracing these new channels in much more active ways. The digital world is transforming how they live, develop and interact," said Mr Froggatt.

Spending Public Money - UMNO vs Pakatan

2010-10-08T17:17:00.003+08:00

So much is being bandied about in the internet, thanks to Malaysia Today, about how corruption has gone unchecked in this country. (MACC who?)

And of course we have been presented with how a certain poor former dentist turn super rich big hot shot spent the rakyat's money like it belongs to his grandfather (who must be turning in his grave).

Forget about all the wordy facts. Today, SPAnK will summed it for you. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So, here goes...

And there are Malaysians out there who do not know who to vote. Truly unbelievable!

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Where Are Mr. Smith and Watanabe San?

2010-09-02T15:18:00.006+08:00

Once upon a time, in a land not too far away, very nearby actually, funny accented white men and Watahisname San from Japan landed upon this not too far away land. They built factories, brought their machineries and got their material suppliers to set up the same at this new found land. The land… Malaysia.

The economy of Malaysia boomed as these foreigners tapped upon the domestic resources; one of the most important resources being that of the human capital.

Labour was cheap. Cheaper than in Japan or the United Kingdom or Germany or the United States. But cheap does not translate to slavery. It was cheap because the cost of living in Malaysia was cheaper than back home. But the employees were more often than not showered with employment benefits that made working for these foreigners attractive. And of course the foreigners had their ways of looking after the welfare of their employees and their families. Working for these foreigners were sort of a privilege to many. Excellent employer-employee relations were bonded. The Malaysian workforce reciprocated with consistency, loyalty and quality.

Everyone was happy.

That was the earlier years of this new born country called Malaysia. Times were tough and the rakyat understood the meaning of employment. You work, you get paid. You sit on your ass all day, you get the boot. I think this is what some people call “meritocracy”. I can’t confirm this definition because it is very alien to Malaysia today. I tried to google this word but apparently it has been censored by the powers that be.

Then just like all things good, it must come to an end. A whole lot of government bullshit came raining upon Malaysians. Some people need to work for their rice, while some others simply just had to extend their hands. Certain people extended their hands but were told to bugger off – certain preferential requirements not met.

And so, a new generation of Malaysians were created. Some of the population was brought up with the knowledge that they have to earn their dough. Certain others were given wheelchairs and crutches. Apparently, if you are destined, persevere and the man upstairs will feed you.

And then the education system was amended over and over again to make the stupid more stupid and clever closer to the stupid. Somewhat regressive, but stupid people usually don’t question too much. As such, another new generation of good-for-nothing was borne.

And here we are now living among this new generation.

Let us analyse them by separating them into the white and blue collars.

The white collars. Many employers say that this new generation is unemployable. Many educated school leavers (of all levels) are inadequately prepared for the working world. But is it their (lack of) skills? The government seems to think so. But no. I can tell you for one that the government has got it wrong. It is not their skills that we are worried about - that, the employers can train and impart upon them. It is the attitude. Where is the commitment to work? Where is the understanding of putting in effort to attain quality output? Hardwork is a scarcity. Maybe times have changed and granted, the style of work has evolved. But the output of quality and reliability should never be any lesser.

Let’s see how our blue collar jokers fare. Apparently, worse. Hmmm… let me clarify. Worse when compared to the private sector white collar. But public sector white collar vs blue collar, now that is a tough call. Seriously.

Blue collar. Where do we start? Actually we don’t have to. There is nothing to comment upon. There is no Malaysian on the blue collar category. You see, Malaysians cannot toil under the sun and neither can they be seen along the conveyor belt as it is boring. Better just lepak at coffee shops or earn some money from a motorcycle race or 2. Working is just too tough. And standing all day at the supermarket is so tiring. The feet hurt… badly.

And so, we have imported Indonesians, Bangladeshis, Myanmarese and Vietnamese earning their livings at our construction sites, factories, coffee shops, stalls… basically everywhere. Why? They are cheap but that is not necessarily the factor. Of more importance is that they are reliable. At least they turn up for work. They may not be skilled, but they can be taught. These people need money for their families back home. Some are so trusted that they are left to run stalls on their own.

So, if the Mat Sallehs and the Jepuns have to scratch their heads so hard with the unending labour issue in Malaysia to the extent they have to resort to paying work permits, levies and insurances to bring these foreign workers into Malaysia, give me a reason why they should not simply relocate their operations to Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, or Myanmar? After all, they are here for the abundance of labour in the very first place. And hence, the Mat Sallehs and Jappies do exactly what they should logically be doing; pack up and move.

We have lost our competitiveness. Our government has lost sight on what made us attractive in the 1st place. And we aren’t exactly very interesting taxes wise either. In fact, many a time, we are taking the foreigners for a ride when in comes to taxing the ass out of them.

I honestly cannot understand why the government cannot understand the negative Foreign Direct Investment position we are in now. Some say the government does but the ministers are ill advised. But whatever it is, all the government does is to come up with excuses to cover the issue. Face it - we have nothing to offer that benefits the foreigners. Believe it.

There is no point in introducing gimmicks to draw these investors, they are not stupid. You people at the government agencies are. Forget minor tax incentives. Forget expedient work permit approval for expatriates. These will not solve their ultimate operational headache – that we don’t have a good enough labour force for them.

Caveat: There are of course good employees of the new generation. What I am saying is that they are a little off the norm grid! No offense to these good guys – keep it up!

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Merdeka? Where Got...

2010-08-30T12:33:00.005+08:00

Much has been bandied about this 31 August date being a certain Merdeka Day. Intrigue by this foreign word, I searched a little, googled a little, and found that merdeka means “independence”.

Eh cannot la... Wikipedia salah kot! Malaysians where got gain independence? The piece of land that we Malaysians stand on gained independence from the Brits, but Malaysians continued to be ruled by another entity what! Where got independent? Damn no respect for UMNO. You think UMNO is dead and buried?

I got thinking. By the same logic of UMNO “freeing” Malaysians from the Brits and so much so that 31 August is to be celebrated, then we should be observing all these dates (and declaring them public holidays) as well:

1. 24 August - In 1511, the Portuguese “freed” Melaka from a kingdom started by an Indonesian prince. Come on... This Parameswara fella must be treated as a foreigner since he is from Palembang, Indonesia. Why he is referred to as ‘founder’ in history books is beyond me. This foreign guy basically took a boat, landed here, proclaimed himself the ruler of the land, and the hapless indigenous locals gave in. How can he be a founder? He literally gasak the land as he wished; probably got a bunch of big sized gangsters by his sides too. By the way, did he come on a sampan? Must be a woozy ride.

Simon was thinking… Why did our Malaysian history start with Melaka? It is not exactly the 1st dynasty in the Malayan Peninsular. The northern states were already in the control of the Siamese Kingdom. And the Lembah Bujangs and what not? Isn’t it? I heard that someone tries to portray Islam as the earliest religion in town. But that is wrong. That Param guy is a Sriwijayan prince. And Sriwijaya is a Hindu Kingdom. So that chap is a Hindu. Again, why Melaka? Why not Lembah Bujang? Oh, so confusing!

2. Some date I can’t find in 1641 - The Dutch “freed” Melaka from Portuguese.

3. Some date I am too lazy to find in 1824 - The Brits “freed” Melaka from the Dutch via the British-Dutch Treaty.

4. 11 August - In 1786, the Brits “freed” Penang from… oh, the Kedah Sultanate. Maybe this doesn’t count as it is anti-Merdeka. Or if this is the case of another the Kedah Sultanate being another “Parameswara” then it may count. But we will never know la. Our history has been re-written to suit UMNO.

The point I am trying to make is 31 August is nothing special. It is just a day when a new force takes control of us rakyat from another force.

What is the difference? The Portuguese and Dutch needed Melaka to control the straits and boom their trading businesses. They enslaved the locals, had “fun” with our girls, made money out of us etc. The Brits needed to control the region to protect their investments and the East India Company, they salivated over our tin mines etc.

Then came UMNO. Malaya was 1^st ruled by a rather decent prince. Then he was forcibly dethroned by Maharaja Abdul Razak I who came from Indonesia. He was then succeeded by his brother in law, Maharaja Hussein Onn. His short lived reign of power was then cunningly plotted into the hands of Maharaja Gila Kuasa Mahathir, whose origin traces back to India. After holding on to power for a tat too long, Maharaha GK Mahathir was replaced by Maharaja Badawi. His lack of capability and leadership, but not necessarily wealth, then saw Maharaja Badawi having to relinquish power to Maharaja Abdul Razak II, who proclaimed himself Maharaja Rosmah The Big.

UMNO is just like the previous others. Forcing the people into slavery (although times have changed, and the method and appearance has differ), sucking the natural resources dry (read petroleum, the new era gold), bullying the royalties and appeasing them with some wealth (eh… macam sama ngan Raja-Raja Melayu dahulu kala je…) etc. As for the rakyat of the land, same shit, difference arseholes of origin la. No point going over UMNO's endless nasty acts – it has already been well documented.

Oh and meanwhile the tussle for power in UMNO continues with Maharaja GK Mahathir plotting to install his son as Maharaja Mahathir II against the forces of the son in law of Maharaja Badawi, whom I doubt will want to adopt the name Maharaja Badawi II. (I wouldn’t.) There is also a man who wants to see himself as Maharaja Hussein II but his dreams are better realities.

So, what is the fuss of this 31 August thingy? If we really have to celebrate some sort of Independence Day, the closest I can get myself related to is that version starring Will Smith. My version is slightly different though. Remember that scene where the alien ship shot the line of light onto the White House and blasted it into a godzillion pieces? Kasi replace with Bangunan UMNO, wah shiok!

So, Merdeka Day, my ass! The history of this land is we continue to jump out of a hot wok straight into the frying pan. What Merdeka? Stop fucking bluffing me la…

***** ***** *****

Simon’s take on Ramadhan:

The fasting adopted by the majority of Muslims in major towns, especially those in Klang Valley, is absolute nonsense. Nobody seems to understand the concept. As far as I know, Islam tells her believers to fast to understand the hardship faced by those who have less; identify with the difficulties of life of the others who are less fortunate.

But look around. Everyone who is fasting seems to talk about nothing other than food for buka puasa. Every buka puasa is a feast. A lust of gluttony. Splashing of cash to show power and wealth. Everyone seems to want to outdo one another when it comes to the daily feast. Seriously, I think these people actually gain weight during Ramadhan! And the way the fasting is carried out, I fear for the body. No food, no drinks… and then you shock the body with a huge amount of carbo, protein, fats and liquid. What the…

How common is it that we hear some of these Muslims complaining of being broke during Ramadhan. On normal days, it is 3 meals a day. During puasa month, it should be simply 2; buka puasa and sahur. But no. So much more is spent on the 2 meals during the holy-keep-it-simple-be-moderate month than that that is spent every day on other months. If this is not sesat, I don’t know what is…

I don’t know how the kampong folks are doing this month, but with the little purchasing power they possess, I doubt if Ramadhan is any different from the other months, Syawal inclusive.

TNB On Another GLC Scam?

2010-06-02T12:57:00.006+08:00

On and off we'll find some complains in the papers on how TNB has wrongly charged us for our electricity consumption. Most of the time, I could not even be bothered to read them. I think there was a massive wrong charge in Perak earlier this year or was it last year? See, I didn't even bother.

But I had a huge bill for the last month and this got the missus unhappy.

We use about RM300 bucks a month. Yeah, that's quite a bit for 2 people but this is a hot country. Plus the UMNO goons are always getting the blood boiling.

Anyways, back to the TNB bill. The bill for last month came to RM670 bucks! Shocking!

I compared the latest bill against that of the previous month and here are my findings...

March 2010 meter reading: Dahulu 42539 Semasa 43420 (Usage 881 kwh)

April 2010 meter reading: Dahulu 42539 Semasa 44499 (Usage 1960 kwh)

Hey! Why does both Dahulu start on 42539. That means I have been double charged for usage of 881 kwh! And on top of that, I will be paying a bulk of the usage in April on higher tariffs. Am I getting rip-off right under my nose? And to top it up, the March bill somehow came via normal post! That's highly suspicious if you ask me.

Then I looked at the unit charges.

For March, the tariffs are RM0.286 (500 kwh), RM0.378 (100 kwh), RM0.387 (100 kwh), RM0.397 (100 kwh) and RM0.417 (81 kwh).

For April, the tariffs are RM0.286 (1,000 kwh), RM0.378 (200 kwh), RM0.387 (200 kwh), RM0.397 (200 kwh), RM0.417 (200 kwh) and RM0.446 (kwh).

Ok so they have increased the usage band for April. I worked it out on an Excl worksheet and it does not look like I had been significantly overcharged.

But how then can I still be paying close to RM1,000 for 2 months' usage when my monthly bill is RM300. This doesn't add up!

I looked at the bill again and then it dawn upon me. The bill has gone up to RM670 because TNB had increased by deposit by another RM300. I initially already had RM300 paid to TNB. TNB's practice is to have deposits collected as close as possible to monthly consumption.

With their dubious practice, they have now increased my deposit with them to RM600 i.e. 2 months by average consumption.

I know I am not an isolated case.

Look, TNB is not stupid. I initially thought that they are trying to jack up their revenue by wrongly charging us consumers. But that would be a very short term move as when you find out, the reversal will be made the following month and their revenue will go back to square 1.

But with what I have just experienced, TNB had just increased their cash collection. Hmmm... Why the cash? Is the government really that dry that TNB's subsidies are being held back? Is the government that dry that TNB has to find other means to pay their suppliers such as the IPPs?

I checked TNB's quarterly announcements to Bursa. Consumer deposits have increased steadily over the past 1 year plus:

As at 28 Feb 2009: RM2,634,300,000
As at 31 May 2009: RM2,673,100,000 (increase of RM38.8 million)
As at 31 Aug 2009: RM2,717,300,000 (increase of RM44.2 million)
As at 30 Nov 2009: RM2,752,600,000 (increase of RM35.3 million)
As at 28 Feb 2010: RM2,795,500,000 (increase of RM42.9 million)

How much of the increase is actually from installations of new meters? I guess we will never know. But TNB has increased it consumer deposits by RM161,200,000 in the past 12 months. It may not seem like a big movement in their enormous balance sheet, but that sure is a lot of money. I can't think of 50 PLCs in Malaysia who earn that kind of money in a year. And these are free money mind you - interest free loans from you and me. Can you imagine this - RM2.8 billion of interest free loan from the public. And it is increasing everyday. What a wonderful business! No wonder TNB is looking for ways to increase the deposits.

I am inclined to think that TNB is implementing a a systematic application of this tactic to unscrupulously increase their consumer deposits. A lot of rakyat had been hit with this earlier, I got hit know, and I think it is quite likely that all of you will experience this someday in the near future (if you have already not been victimised). So, look out for your next TNB bill.

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Bankrupt, bankrupt la...

2010-05-29T12:41:00.004+08:00

BN is on a mission to spread a certain propaganda on bankruptcy. Ummm... actually it's UMNO - MCA and MIC are powerless as they themselves claim. So, I correct myself. UMNO is on a mission to spread a certain propaganda on bankruptcy. And they are as always, on another mission to scare the shit out of us.

I say "kasi bankrap sajalah".

We all pay taxes; rich or poor. Most people have a simplified mindset that tax means the payment you made out of your monthly gaji and post submission of Borang B/BE. And most also know that corporates pay tax. But what about the 5% government tax you pay at McDonald's and Pizza Hut. What about the duties you paid for your Perodua Viva and Proton Persona? Or what about the hidden taxes paid by the manufacturers who passed the costs onwards to you thus causing you to be paying a higher amount for your goods and services - these are indirect and unseen by you. But you still pay the taxes. So everyone pays taxes. Yes, even you who earn below RM2,500 and do not qualify for the IRB's PCB. Even you who sell karipap at the roadside.

Now these taxes that WE ALL PAID, is meant to improve our lives as citizens of this country. Call it subsidy or call it whatever you want. As long as the money is spent to enhance the livelihood of the citizens of Malaysia, then it is money well spent. If our money is used to reduce the prices we pay for petrol then so be it.

I am not a believer that the rich must be made to pay for everything is the country. It is true that there must be a balance on the elementary notion that the rich must help out the less fortunate. No arguments about that. But to pass on everything to the wealthier ones is also not right. They are citizens too. Anyway, this is way too complicated for many of you (as I have already learnt from experience).

The bottom line is as long as our tax money is wisely spent on the people than it is well spent.

But if our money is used to enhance the wealth of those who are supposed to be guardians of our money, then fuck already la. This country is corrupted to the core. And because the fucking government is corrupted and cheat and steal our hard earn money, they are now trying to scare us into believing that "giving back to us" will cause the country to go bankrupt. Duh? So, we continue to pay you taxes to keep your personal bank accounts getting fatter is it? Soh hai government!

I would rather see this country going bankrupt than to fall for your propaganda to let you keep "your share of the pie" at the expense of cheaper products for us. Hello, you ministers are already on a fixed salary and various allowances. Taking our money is not a given perk or benefit!

We've made the biggest mistake of the nation's history when Tun M propagated the intended intervention of IMF as "going back to being colonialised". That's bullshit la. South Korea today has never been better. Indonesia is way more democratic than we are and they managed to get Suharto and goons out.

Malaysia on the other hand has been climbing the rankings of the world's most corrupted nation. Our economy is failing. Foreign investors are running away to the likes of Indonesia and Vietnam. Elections continue to be rigged. UMNO gets stronger and richer.

Sometimes, to salvage a country, you have to really go all the way down. Down so bad that a forced reform is the only way out. We are at the end of our wits to get UMNO out of office. And it is getting more difficult by the looks of things. We need to fuck the economy up so badly that UMNO no longer wants it.

So bankrupt the country la. As long as UMNO is in power, they will never stop taking our money. The more taxes we give them, the more money they take. They are not interested in our welfare. These wankers don't live the kind of life we live. They have no idea how difficult things are for us trying to put rice and bread on the table. Rosmah will not even look at roti kaya from the coffee shop. I suspect she lives on half a cow every morning. (Scientifically, that is the only explanation on how she maintains her size).

Yes, kasi bankrupt ini negara. Personally, I can live with that. When there is nothing left, UMNO will wash their hands of her. IMF or Anwar or not, without UMNO reforms will take place. We RAKYAT MALAYSIA still have our hands and legs. And with some brains and plenty of hardwork we can rebuild this nation. We are close to the equator; the weather will always allow us the opportunity to tap on the flora and fauna. We are surrounded by water. The maritime industry will always be there for us. And we have oil. Believe you me, we still have much out there. Just hope that UMNO never finds them.

If we need to rebuild the country, then so be it. Singapore was an island of nothing when they were kicked out of Malaysia. Look at them today. If that little island can do it with sheer hardwork, brains and dedication, so can we. As long as we can find a way to end big time corruption in this country, we can move forward.

So, say TAK NAK to ending subsidies. It came from our money and there is nothing wrong on spending our money on ourselves.

Meanwhile you UMNO wankers, go sweat and shed some blood to earn your own money.

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We Are Dead!

2010-05-05T13:46:00.005+08:00

Wow! We are going to have a nuclear plant.

If we were still in school, this will be 'like super cool, man!'. It's 'like so futuristic'. And so advance.

But we are no longer in school. And we know the ugly truth about Malaysia. Verdict: We Are Dead!

We are talking about the very realistic Malaysia that you and me know. The Malaysia that cannot even efficiently maintain the mini Tenaga sub-stations at our housing areas. We are talking about the Malaysia who cannot provide clean water to the people even when easy and efficient technology is in use. The Malaysia who cannot even dispose off our garbage in a manner that is not harmful to the environment. The Malaysia who even with computers and technology assistance cannot get trains to arrive and depart on time.

And yet we are going to have a matha-farking nuclear plant!

I hope that the plant is built far away. Maybe Sabah or Sarawak. Sorry folks, I need the South China Sea to act as a barrier.

Hmmm... Maybe they can build it in Sabah near the coal-fired plant. If we are talking about environmental damage and loss of human life, we might as well reduce the area and bring down the headcount. Better that than everyone dying, ain't it? (I was told that it is human nature to be selfish. I was also told that I can't beat the government.)

A nuclear plant? What the...?

What the hell to we need a nuclear plant for? We are a kuchi-rat country with 28 million jokers leaving in it. How much efficient energy do we consume? How desperate is our need for such enormous amount of energy? How many energy zapping factories do we have in this country? Dude, this is no Command & Conquer. This is real life death-threatening technology we are talking about. Plus, to be managed by some dumb-wits.

I tell you, this has all got to do with blardie money again. I think UMNO has gone too far this time. The thing with UMNO is they are getting extremely greedy. They are no longer satisfied with reaping money on the smaller scale by the millions and tens of millions per project. Everything nowadays has got to benefit them in terms of hundreds of millions or billions. But to put the life of every Malaysian at risk just to satisfy their lust for money?

Eh come on lah, stop fucking around with people's lives.

Even that they want to do it on a larger scale. Previously, the Malaysian government is happy killing the people (mostly Indians it would seem) on a small scale of a couple of thousand per year. Nowadays, they are talking about killing the mass population. What's with this apa nama UMNO? They got possessed by the Satan is it? Have they gone fucking nuts?

Allow me to frighten you a little with some Chernobyl stats. Did you know that the Chernobyl disaster released 400 times more radioactive material than the Hiroshima atomic bombing? Did you know that the contamination of the Chernobyl accident was felt up to more than 1,000 km away?

Let's put that to perspective. Peninsular Malaysia from the tip of Perlis to the bottom end of Johor is approximately 750 km. Simply put it, wherever this nuclear thing is built in Peninsular Malaysia, you are fried the moment a very likely Malaysian style disaster takes place at the said plant.

You may not die if you are further away. But you will quite likely die of some kind of cancer. That's if you don't already decide to kill yourself when your nervous system involuntarily makes you shout out Rosmah's name every exact 38 seconds. And of course, be assured that your newborn baby will look very adorable with her 3 eyes and a limb sticking out of her chest.

This is so brilliant. By the way, I wage 50 bucks that by the time the plant is in operation, 20,000 folks leaving nearby would have already have taugehs growing from the top of their heads. And another 1,000 may have grown a second dick. Failed tests. Drums of radioactives 'accidentally' falling into the nearby river. Accidents of trucks ferrying radioactive materials on their way to the plant. The usual stuffs. But of course you won't read these in the papers. Shhhhh...

Malaysia is so boleh! Damn I love this country.

Note to Singaporeans: Hey, you guys are pretty nearby I last checked.

Tony Leung & Eason Chan To Campaign For Zaid Ibrahim

2010-04-20T13:39:00.005+08:00

Now we have only Zaid vs Nathan. It is hardly surprising that the 2 independents who would have pulled BN's votes pulled out at the very last minute. Dirty coalition made up of dirty parties full of dirty politicians usually have a lot of dirty tactics. So dirty.

Initially I had reservations for ZI being the candidate. Palanivel would have been a difficult fight. Had it been Mat Taib, there wouldn't even be a fight. It would have been another by-elections ala Isa Samad. But with this Nathan bloke, the story is different. What more with 2 BN jokers fighting for Nathan's votes. Now that some votes have swung back to BN (from the "independents"), the race could be slightly tougher now. Nevertheless, I am still optimistic on ZI capturing the seat, but the PR campaign will need to be upped, tweaked and played out smartly.

The votes for the Malays is now played on a smear campaign, as expected. ZI is an urban chap. What is "acceptable" in urban areas are not norms for the semi-urban or rural folks. Try the same tactics at Damansara or Bangsar and nobody would give a damn. So, PAS needs to get their machinery rolling for ZI.

The Indians are unpredictable. They don't like MIC. And MIC is so obviously being stepped all over by UMNO. But Nathan is Indian. Tricky... tricky...

And then we have the Chinese. If you count on them because they gave you their votes last GE, then you are doomed. Rule No. 1 - never rely on the Chinese to deliver by doing nothing. You never know what they are up to. You've got to bodek them. You've got to woo them. And they definitely have no interest in if ZI is a drinker or if Nathan is gay.

I happen to watch on Astro Channel 322 on Sunday night a good movie, I Corrupt All Cops (ICAC). The show is about Hong Kong's fight against uncontrollable corruption within their police force back in the 60s and 70s. And of course the introduction of Hong Kong's world renown anti-graft unit. Watch the movie and you can relate right away what you see in the movie to Malaysia today. The corruption. The briberies - money, women, power. The thuggeries of the coppers. The involvement of top cops in illegal activities. It is all so real.

And because the movie is so real, and because the movie features the likes of Tony Leung, Eason Chan, Anthony Wong, Bowie Lam and Kate Tsui among others, you will have the Chinese drawn to the movie. And that got me thinking.

Forget about Anwar or Lim Kit Siang shouting their lungs out over the rostrum. Forget organising seafood dinners. Why don't you just show the movie at the Ulu Yam town, KKB, Serendah and where else the Chinese are. Most would not have seen this movie at the theatres last year. And most would not have seen it on Astro as you've got to pay extra for Celestial Movies (Channel 322). Go get some DVDs (originals please), rent some TVs and DVD players, and blast it at all kopitiams. Set up projector screens and beam the movie up at night at the padang. It's free movie. Throw in some sodas and kuaci. And Mamee for the kids. (Twisties are expensive, we understand) And we have ourselves a healthy family activity on a breezy night. Let the emotions and reality of the movie sink into the hearts and minds of the voters. I heard that many Malays are fans of Cantonese movies too.

But no political talks please. You bring the politicians, and the coppers will shut down the screening on permit matters. The only potential problem could be the copyrights issue of public broadcasting. Somehow, I don't think BN will allow for that to happen. Because if that happens, then good. Movie cancelled. People cheesed off. Anger at BN. Movie turns into reality right before their eyes. Zaid wins.

I am no expert in Chinese history. But I've watched my fair share of Cantonese movies and series. And I can tell you that in the past, Chinese opera is no mere entertainment. It carries messages to the people. And many uprising centred around Chinese operas. Times have changed and if you try the same today, nobody is going to turn up to watch some painted faces singing at screeching pitches. But the modus operandi is still relevant. Everyone loves to be entertained. And if along the way we can put ideas in their minds, then...

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Don't Get Drunk

2010-04-19T17:56:00.006+08:00

This is a re-post of an article I posted on 9 September 2009 titled "Hishammuddin Loves His Beer and Women'.

It is very relevant to the topic of the day.

********** ********** ********** ********** **********

Someone emailed me these pictures.

I am unsure of the authenticity of the pictures or if they have been doctored.

Interesting pictures though...

Sham sure looked like he enjoyed his beer... That's an Anchor, right?

So many chicks! Looks like a cool hippy partie... And hey, that's Sham again!

Anchor? What's with the blacked out eyes anyway? These are key witnessess eh... There he is again!

I was told that this is Tengku Marsila, Sham's wife. Somebody's tipsy...

Anwar, Kit & Hadi for Malaysian Idol

2010-04-06T17:45:00.008+08:00

Forget about whatever that is being said about APCO. What is important is the fact that Najib's men are good at their job. They have embarked upon a massive public relations exercise of concept and branding focusing on his image and all that is (supposedly) good about him. And you have to give it to his boys.

This is real politics play. They are doing what a politician should be doing to win him votes and support. And you may have been affected by it without even realising. Some of the exercises are very direct such as, the obvious, 1Malaysia. (Understand it or not, every Malaysian knows this catch phrase - 1Malaysia. That itself speaks of success). Some are less obvious but seeks to plant thoughts in your minds such as the daily feature of Rosmah's picture in The Star. Others are even less direct but its effects are tremendous such as having Najib putting the Malaysian brand in the world map via Lotus in the Formula One.

What about Pakatan Rakyat?

Nothing much yet unfortunately.

DAP and PAS are very old school. They believe that their fight will be seen by the people. They believe that by being honest in running their states, they will be appreciated by the people. PKR on the other hand is just something else altogether of which I have no interest to talk about today.

Some of these seasoned politicians may turn techie with their blogs and tweets and all. But that is not good enough. The target audience is very limited. Ever wonder why most of us prefer Coke or Pepsi over some other 'nameless' sodas? Why McDonald's for burger? Why Budweiser? And notice that they are all Americans? That's because the Americans are the best in the world when it comes to advertising and branding. These PR gurus put things in our minds without us even realising it. And that is the power of branding.

And why is Pakatan not on it?

Speak to the older generation out there about voting the opposition. Chances are you will have them start talking in a low tone. Some even whispers. Apparently it is one of those things you don't talk about; or the government will find out. And I won't be surprised if even many of the younger generation practice this.

That got me thinking. Why is that so?

The very word "opposition". To the Chinese, the term "opposition" is almost that of a "rebel". The first thing that comes to mind will be the uprising of the rebels in China that caused the downfall of the emperors and dynasties. And China has a long history of such incidences. So, not many people would really like to come out in public to be called a "rebel" symphatiser. And closer to home, we have Chin Peng and his gang. Being with opposition makes it sound like you are with the commies. And you know how the Chinese have been labelled commie sympathisers. So such a thing sticks.

What about the party colours? PAS is green. DAP is red based. Green is fine. But look at this:

What impression does it give you? Personally, I get the feeling of old school, radical and (sorry) very Muslim. You can wear the trendiest shirt around but if you carry this flag with you, you are going to get labelled.

I seriously think that PAS should work on their logo. Give the green a new zest. A lift. (Oh, spare us the highlighter green please). The moon is fine because that is what they stand for. What about giving the green something less imposing? Besides, the non-Malay public will accept PAS better if they see PAS making an effort to change.

Lets take a look at DAP.

This is so scary. A rocket! How offensive can you get? How more radical can you get? And the red! Oh my... That's so... so... communist? (Commie's are fine. It is just another political ideology. But the Americans have made it into a bad word. So, you wouldn't want to get associated with it, right?) It again brings out the Chinese-Supports-Communists ideology again. This logo is a serious big no-no. Even some Chinese get shit scared just by looking at it. And you want to attract the Malays? Again, rocket? Who are you going to kill? Are you waging a war, mate? Cina nak cabar Melayu? No wonder UMNO is having a field day.

Some of you will think that this is all nonsense. But not everyone is as smart as you eh. And not everyone understands the policies and political fights. There are many Malaysians without internet too. Why don't you try talking politics, and the submarines, and the Perkasas to your granny. See if she comprehends. And it is not only granny. There are many out there who don't give a shit about politics and we want to convince these people to come out to vote. But if we allow the government to scare the shit out of them for voting "rebels", it is going to be darn hard for us to have a new government.

Remember, the battle for votes is not over your vote or mine. That is no battle at all - we have already decided. We need to convince the undecided and the I-don't-give-a damn. And when it comes to these people, you have got to really put in the effort. All aspects count. And I can bet you that a psyche war is very much one of the major determinant factors.

Back to the logo. Have a look at BN. They have a rather good one. Blue is a good colour. And they have a blue that gives you a certain level of calmness which suggests peace. And it gives you a stable impression. The dacing logo is also very... balanced. Think of this. Now think of the rocket. If I were a know nothing or don't want to know anything rakyat (and that's a huge number believe you me), I will vote this logo. It simply makes me feel better.

I know politics should not be down to who has the nicer logo or flag, but this is the real world. Ever wondered why BN via the EC is so protective over the use of logos? We are talking about millions of humans here. And each one has a character of their own. The mind game wins wars. That has been proven over and over again in the history of mankind.

Ok. Done with the logo. Changing that alone is not going to be enough to be acceptable by the people. A PR exercise is massive. And you've got a lot of individuals to win over. But what is key is that the voter must be made comfortable to vote PKR, DAP or PAS. No more voting and shutting up like you've committed a big sin. If we can get the general public to openly discuss about them voting Pakatan, then we are on the right track. So, Malaysians must be made very comfortable with the 3 parties. As comfortable as you are in your pajamas. Pakatan is not going to get any help from the medias. But something has to be done. I don't expect people walking around town wearing a PKR t-shirt the way they happily don a Man U jersey (see, that's another brilliant branding), but if we can get that, wow... so excellent. But something to that effect.

And the street posters. Why must all posters related to politicians and politics be so boring? Many are in fact ugly. I dare say that most of our politically linked posters are an eye sore. Better just let the tree be on its own. And leave the lamp post alone too. Who gets attracted to boring and ugly posters anyway? And the portraits. You would have though that with all the photography talents in this country one good guy with a decent camera and computer can do our heroes some good appealing shots. Instead all of them queue for their turn at Kedai Gambar Subra. According to the popular Mr. Subra, his prized possession is a photo portrait of Parameswara taken using his Nikon (of course). You can find the picture hanging on the left wall of his front entrance.

So branding mate, branding. Image. The human mind is a funny thing. It has to be tweaked. And the good news is it can be tweaked. It is a matter of whether the people concerned are smart enough to do it. And to have the know-how to do it right. But you know, I suspect that dinosaurs still run wild in this country. For many, time stood still a long time ago; so something as modern and trendy as a Public Relations Team or branding or image may be seen as some young farts worshipping Starbucks while the best coffee in town is that at Kedai Kopi Meng Hin.

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Anwar "Trojan Horse" Ibrahim

2010-03-03T18:07:00.004+08:00

Another defection today. Regardless of how expected this defection is, still no action was taken although Pakatan knows that this is imminent.

PKR is truly out-smarted by UMNO. Or is what we are seeing now the plan after all?

Let us talk conspiracy theory. Yup. Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory.

And my theory is that there is a big trojan horse in Pakatan. And that trojan horse is none other than Anwar Ibrahim himself. (Ooooo... I can sense the heat of boiling blood out there already).

And you know what, if I were to write this 6 months ago, there will be not much of me left. But today, I actually think that there will be quite a bit of you out there who buy this.

But before we move any further, let’s address 2 common myths popular among Anwaristas.

First is that Najib and his aides are stupid and bumble their way through. The truth is they are not. Najib is a decently smart person. And his aides are definitely no idiots. These guys are way smarter than the average Joes we have out there. Chances are any of Najib boys are smarter than you. I don’t think too many of you score that high on MENSA or graduate from Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, MIT or Yale. Well most of them are. Every step taken would have been calculated with the next 5 in mind.

Myth number 2 is that Anwar is god’s gift to mankind. The truth is again a resounding no. Anwar is a politician. And last I checked, politicians are not very good people. Anwar is on a personal vendetta. And he is on a personal mission to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia. You are nothing but pawns that get him there.

Back to our conspiracy theory.

Look. Anwar in on trial for Sodomy II. If I were Anwar, I'd swear never to get back to prison again - at whatever cost. And I think that is his stand. Who do you think he is? Jesus? Remember how he ran for his life to the Turkish Embassy when news of Sodomy II first crept up? This guy fears the jail cell; and rightly so too.

Put yourself in Anwar's shoes. Do you go ahead with the trial knowing that anything can be done to convict you, wait for Pakatan to form government and then release you (a risky route) or do you strike a deal with UMNO to keep your ass out of prison (the guaranteed safe route)? Life is tough in there. The jail cell is no kids’ playground. If convicted, chances are Anwar will have to spend the last days of his life in there. With a really bad back. I would rather commit suicide eh. I sincerely doubt if Anwar can take even 3 months is jail.

I believe that everyone has a strong element of self-centredness within them (not too sure about Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa; but am sure there are more than meets the eye with them). As such, I say that Anwar chose the latter of the above 2 options. How else can you explain the inaction by PKR on the frogs? That Anwar is sincere in cleaning up PKR for the next GE so much so that it is best to know who the bad blood are? Or that he is really hapless with all that is happenning? Or that he is too caught up with his court case? It takes a really naive person to believe that. It is easy to see that all is too smooth sailing for UMNO now. Way too smooth. It just looks too plain easy. No fight, no nothing.

And how does Najib fit into the picture above. Well we know that Najib is close to the end of his premiership if nothing is done. He has all to lose if he doesn't gamble big. Maybe to Muhyiddin or maybe to Anwar. So, why not go “all-in” and “convince” Anwar to play ball.

If Anwar plays ball and helps Najib, then Najib will let him go. If Anwar does not play ball, then lets take it to the wire. What more has Najib got to lose? Meanwhile, Anwar will be suffering like no tomorrow in jail. And will probably decide to pull his spine out with his fingers after 3 months.

So, I do not think that Anwar is going to jail.

Here’s the deal. Anwar allows for Najib to strengthen his position within UMNO. The crossovers will appease UMNO who is growing impatient with Najib. With UMNO now back as the driving force, the Muhyiddin problem is sorted out.

The 2/3 parliament majority is not important. If BN gets it, well the next GE will be a non-event with the gerrymandering as RPK wrote.

If BN does not get the 2/3 majority now, well all is still fine. When Najib frees Anwar, the war has already been won.

One, the international media will hail Najib as a true reformer and saviour of the new Malaysia. A complete departure from the style of his politicial guru, Tun M. And Najib gets to move away from his Tun M prodigy tag.

Two, the judiciary system gets an overnight thorough cleaning and starts afresh with renewed integrity. We know that is not true, but the perception of the court will be changed. With a perceived fair court, even RPK will lose credit for not coming home.

Three, Najib's image gets a new jest. Enough fence-sitting voters would have been won over to give him another chance in reforming the country. And these fence sitters are whom the vote fighting is all about. On top of that, Malays who have deserted UMNO and BN will be having second thoughts about voting Pakatan.

So all Najib needs to do is to convince Anwar that he cannot survive another jail term. Fight and get jailed or lose the fight and enjoy your freedom? Anwar cannot fight the system. We know and he knows that the system is controlled. BN has proven to be capable of showering themselves with mud so as to win and they are capable of doing it again. And Najib is at the end of his wits, mind you.

Oh and what about Anwar’s personal sexual preferences? I do not know if Anwar has a certain likeness to certain parts of the male anatomy but you can never ever discount that. Who are you to say that he is no Adam Lambert? There is also always the MCKK factor. And don't we all know of MCKK's dark little 'backyard' secret. But gay or bi or not, Anwar will go to jail if UMNO wants him to.

So, has Anwar sold us out?

Will Anwar go to jail?

My bet is that you will not see Anwar in jail. I am quite confident of that. And that is not because his lawyers will win him Sodomy II.
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Food Fight! You Ready To Get Dirty?

2010-03-02T17:48:00.005+08:00

Lousy politicians. That's what Pakatan politicians are. No, not the inexperienced but the seasoned ones. The inexperienced ones are still trying to grapple what is going on.

I can comprehend RPK's points in his article "Head hunt for candidates, and do it now!". People like Tan Tee Beng are Gerakan discards who was not going to be fielded by BN in GE 12. He badly needed to survive in politics, PR needed a candidate and they gave him a life line. It was a win-win situation for both sides. But with no dough pouring in ala BN style politics, it is not a wonder that he left.

MPs and YBs are leaving. Leaving with Pakatan's seats. And the seats are way more important that the person himself or herself. We don't care about the personalities but we care about the seats. Our seats, actually.

What has Pakatan done to prevent these people from leaving? From what we can see, not much. All we are getting are 'good riddance' statements. But that is not good enough, is it? To Pakatan, PR is like a hotel. We welcome you to stay at all times; but lousy guests can walk through the front door any time.

A hotel guest is a hotel guest, good or bad. A person who needs a hotel and does not stay at your hotel will stay at your competitor's hotel. Similarly, an MP is an MP. A YB is a YB. They are better of on your side than on the other.

Sometimes you have really horrendous guests. But do you allow the guest to leave the hotel and carry along with them the beds, the lamps and the toilet sinks?

If the Hees, Tans and Zahrains want to leave, by all means do. But they will have to quit not only the party but also the seats they have won. I can hear thousands of you shouting 'Yeah right. Like it's so easy!'. Nope, it is not easy. But I didn't say we have to use the word 'please'.

This is politics!

Politics is not clean. It has never been and it will never be. You simply do not survive politics being Mr. Nice Guy or Ms. Pretty Honest. If being a little cunning is too much to ask for, then quit politics and go be a school teacher. If being manipulative is deemed morally not acceptable by you, then quit politics and again, go be a school teacher. Make that a kindergarten teacher.

I am surprised that no shit has been thrown at the frogs. Literally and laterally.

Read this: everyone has shit in them. Yes, even the Dalai Lama. And we all know that the frogs have a lot of shit. A lot. What did we make of them? Nothing but some press statements that they have shit and that UMNO is buying them. Dude, that's not gonna work. You are painting them as bad asses, but we already know that they are bad asses. We are not stupid and blind.

You've got to make a great deal super big heck of a fuss out of it my dear Pakatan leaders. You've got to pressure them into making it hard for them to leave with the seats. All I know is we have no professional psychologist within Pakatan. Nobody within Pakatan understands the human mind. It's time you guys move with time. Have you seen the type of doctors and what is and what not they have at the grounds of Manchester United and Chelsea - all for some school dropouts who kick a ball around?

You've got to understand the psychological warfare game. You've got to play with the minds. Anwar is so good in hypnotising the audience with his speech but he is not capable of toying with the minds of the people who work for him.

I am not saying you take a watch and dangle it in front of the frogs. But you've got to know how to pressure them. Heck, if they end up committing suicide with the excessive pressure, I can live with that. The frogs are not selling just their body, mind and soul to the devil. They are not selling out just PKR or DAP or PAS or even Pakatan Rakyat. They are selling out the rakyat! They are selling out the future of the rakyat! They are selling out your children's future! And we should still be nice to them? I'll be damned if the answer is an audible yes.

We Malaysians are desperate. If we do not do it in GE 13, we will not get to do it in our present lifetime. And you will forever owe your descendants a better future. And these frogs are jeopardising our fight. They are forcing us into thinking of leaving our home and our country for the sake of our next generation. And we should be soft with them?

What the hell is wrong with Pakatan? Too much conscience? Why is there no hundreds and thousands of people camping outside Zahrain's house forcing him to quit his MP position? You guys enjoy organising thousands and thousands of people to protest outside parliament, around KL city centre and outside the King's palace but you cannot do the same to your own scumbags? Why no demonstrations outside the homes of papa frog, mama frog, sister frog, brother frog, auntie frog, uncle frog and whoever else related to them. No, we don't drag people's family into these? Fuck you. The frogs are toying with my family's livelihood and future and I cannot pressure their family? (Double middle fingers up! Nah!)

Scoop up all their wrongdoings. All. Gather information from everyone they know. And you cannot even find a tax evasion of RM1? Get the evidence. Make a big hoohah. RPK will be more than glad to do the honour I am sure. Lodge police reports. Lodge reports with MACC. Again make a big hoohah when you do so. Put the police under pressure. Put MACC under pressure. Charge them.

And Pakatan even get brownie points out of doing so. Pakatan is so clean that they even lodge reports against their own members. Brilliant dei... brilliant!

And if UMNO helps with one report, throw in another 2. If the wrong-doings never end, UMNO cannot take the person. Even UMNO will change their target. And if the person finally gets convicted, we have a by-election. Hooray!

There can be a whole lot more we can think off. These are coming off my head as I type. Think out of the box, Pakatan. If they are not with us, they are against us. If you can drag Najib through all the mud you guys are throwing at him, you can do the same to the frogs. Are they all not the same? Actually the frogs are worse than Najib because Najib never pretended to be on our side.

We must be given the power to take the seats we have given the frogs. And without you actually knowing it, the power is in our very own mouths and hands. Remember when Hee Yit Frog's family was refused by the pasar aunties to sell them vegetables at the market? And the jibes and whispers that her family got. You've got to understand the human mind. And the Asian 'face' and family name. All this happened after she jumped. I doubt if she would have decided the same had 'work' been done prior to her jumping. The pressure people, the pressure. 24/7 pressure from party, pressure from the crowd outside your house and the pressure from within your family. Your kids will be having nightmares. Your spouse will crack. Your parents have already cracked. Your relatives shouting at your face to warn you. Your brother threatening to disown you. Faces of everyone known to you is splashed all over the internet and emails. The pressure people, the pressure.

But Pakatan did nothing. They are politicians with conscience, konon. God's ultimate gift to mankind. Pious PAS thinks that God will reward their patience one day. PKR believes that Anwar is the second coming. Lim Guan Eng thinks that heaven owes it to him to form the next government because he got jailed for fighting evil.

Wake up you Pakatan idiots. You are giving our future away, you hopeless fools.

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Yesterday In History

2010-02-24T17:08:00.005+08:00

The Star is a joke. Why I still read it on a daily basis is as much an unresolved mystery to me as to why rich and all powerful Najib is unable to get a better looking wife. (Ok you feminist out there, so I am being a sexist here, sue me!)

Yesterday's paper was another day of reporting on Malaysia and her nonsense.

From the front page:

Power supply for 95% of Sarawak by 2012

KUCHING: Ninety-five percent of Sarawak will be connected with electricity supply and 90% of the state’s households will enjoy treated water by 2012, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said the RM3.4bil allocation for infrastructure projects in Sarawak under the 10th Malaysia Plan and National Key Results Areas (NKRAs) was testimony to the close ties between the Federal Government and the state.

“This is our commitment to Sarawak. We have forged a good understanding that development projects be implemented smoothly, not only in the rural area but throughout the state,” Najib said at the launch of the rural electrification scheme at Rumah Juliana, Saratok, some 350km from here yesterday.

There are 3 ways to react to the headline grabber above.

If you do not have a brain and is a die hard BN supporter, this report will only strengthen your belief that BN is god's gift to man. In times when the country is suffering economically and bleeding financially, the PM has squeezed some money to the tune of RM3.4 billion to help the poor in Sarawak. Long live PM Najib!

If you are a fed-up Malaysian and has Anwar's poster in your bedroom, you will see this as scumbag Najib bribing his way into retaining Sarawak. And you swear that with such a move, the Sarawak state elections cannot be more than 6 months away.

Now if you are of sound mind and rational, you will be asking 'What the fuck?! You mean in Malaysia still got many people with no electricity and water ah? Sarawak not the richest state in the country meh? They have so banyak oil and timber you know. Are the Sarawakians stupid or do they enjoy pretending to be stupid to be buggered left, right and centre? '

Mr. PM is so proud that he is bringing basic living necessities to these poor bastards (of whom some are still clothed in nothing but loin cloths). Any other decent human will be so ashamed to have neglected this part of the country that he will be getting them Sarawakians the facilities in super hush hush manner. And yet this shameless queen-controlled freak of the nature is strutting his belly all over town pretending to be the people's saviour. Had I been a headhunter, I would have had my field day!

Sarawakians are supposed to be rich. The Sabahans are supposed to be rich. Yet they are poor beyond recognition. And they are not even an ordinary state to Malaysia. They are a partner to the Malaysian 'coalition'. Why the Sarawakians and Sabahans never revolted to get themselves out is another mystery in life. To me, it ranks pretty much high up there with Atlantis, UFOs and Yetis. (And again, Rosmah).

I also found this article sending the blood pressure meter a tick higher too.

Get CP 500 notice cancelled if you don’t earn extra income

PETALING JAYA: If you receive a notice of instalment payment (CP 500) from the Inland Revenue Board, do not panic!

The notice, which states the amount, due date and number of instalments, is meant for taxpayers with earnings other than monthly salaries such as income from business and rentals as well as commissions from multi-level marketing or insurance.

Those with a fixed salary, but without other earnings, should go to the branch handling their income tax files to have the notice cancelled.

IRB public relations officer Masrun Maslin admitted that IRB had received many complaints from taxpayers without side income who were issued with such notices.

“Do not panic. If you do not have any other means of income other than your monthly salary, just go to the branch handling your file for the notice to be cancelled immediately,” he said. However, he said taxpayers would still have to provide supporting documents such as the EA form to show that they did not have income other than their monthly salaries.

Masrun said taxpayers without side income were being issued with such notices due to possible errors in their income tax return forms. “For instance, they must have wrongly put dividends, bonuses or pensions in the other earnings column instead of the salary column.

“The system automatically captures the data on the other earnings and thus, the taxpayers will be issued the CP 500 notices.”

He said previously, the IRB would look at the list of those eligible for the tax liability on other earnings before issuing the notice.

A complainant who declined to be identified said he was upset upon receiving the notice.

He said he contacted the IRB branch handling his file and was advised to ignore it.

However, he was asked to call the branch again next month to check whether he would still have to settle the instalment payments.

“The officer told me that he had been receiving a lot of queries and complaints pertaining to the notice,” he added.

I can tell you for sure that IRB screwed up on this. And yet they have the guts to come out and say that the taxpayers 'could have filled up the forms wrongly'. Fuck you! Is it that difficult to simply say 'we messed up'. Is it that difficult? Instead of apologising, you turn it around and blame us. 'Us' because I receive the similar form too.

I could not even be bothered about the form when I received it. Simply put it, it is somewhere in the rubbish truck already. And to be really honest with you people, I didn't even open the form packed in a plastic envelope. I know what a CP500 is and I am not even interested in knowing how much they want me to fork out each month for god knows what reason they cook up.

I am not going to pay. Period. So why bother opening or calling for clarification.

And now IRB wants me to drive to their office, get a number, wait my turn and proof to their officers that I should not be getting the form of which they screwed up? You stupid dumb arses of the world! You messed it up, you clean in up. Don't involve me, please. Just fuck off and leave me alone.

So ladies and gentlemen, these are some of the latest development in Malaysia; summarised and explained. Enjoy your continued stay in Malaysia.

Note: I am not cheesed off as I was writing this. Choice of language is a very personal thing - quite difficult to explain. Besides, I think certain words drive messages through more effectively. Come on... we all are all grown ups. A little PG 13 won't hurt you. And we all know that no kids are reading these boring political sites la ok.

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No Helium Balloon Flies Forever

2010-02-23T16:24:00.010+08:00

During Chinese New Year, just like any other festivities, you meet up with friends and relatives. Lots of them. You chat about money, you gamble, chat about money again and then more gambling. Politics usually take a back seat - doesn't seem like an appropriate topic. Too much fire in it I guess.

What do people do with their money nowadays? My small sampling says buying properties - commercial and residential. Everyone seems to be into it. And we are not talking about about 1 or 2 units anymore nowadays.

I like properties. Capital appreciation could be in significant amounts. Or had you done your homework, someone else will be paying your monthly instalments via rentals. All you need is some downpayment (which in some cases has been brought down to negligible amounts by the developers) and a decent payslip to qualify for never before seen super low interest rates.

What we have now, particularly in the Klang Valley, are recipes for a property bubble that is getting out of hand. The bubble has been growing in size for the past few years with the KLCC area taking the lead. The super charged KLCC area is now a little dampen with the targeted foreigners affected by this never ending financial turmoil or 2008, 2009 and now 2010 (of which we have not seen the worse yet - I am confident).

Properties surrounding KLCC have dropped by some 30% to 40% since 2008 and have yet to recover. Many are betting that the prices will rebound as Singapore and Hong Kong have. I beg to differ. We will revisit this a little later.

But out of the KLCC area, favoured areas have not seen any slide in prices at all! Look at the hot areas of Puchong, Mont' Kiara, Mutiara Damansara, Bandar Utama, Setia Alam and Desa Park City; just to name a few. The IOIs, Gamudas, Sunrises, See Hoy Chans and SP Setias are coming up with all tricks in the book to keep their pockets fat. And the tricks are working darn well for them.

Developers are throwing offers, consumers (Klang Valley at least) are cash rich, home loans are dirt cheap, new launches are getting more and more expensive. This is heaven for property lovers! There is simply none better to do with your money with the stock market being too uncertain and the FD rates being close to being negligible.

Take the success story of SP Setia's Setia Alam. Did you know that they need not push for sale and neither do they need to spend vast amount of advertising money? All launches are sold out before it is actually launched. Yup. Snapped up like pisang goreng. Houses in the area have appreciated by at least 50% in the past 2 years. (And I am being conservative with the figure). I know of a buyer of a bungalow plot at Eco Park who paid RM55 per sq ft 5 years ago and had recently been offered RM145 per sq ft. He does not even know the exact location of his land. That is close to 200% profit in 5 years. Where else can you make such money?

Everyone is going nuts. Buy at launches and sell upon completion. The developers will ensure you make money as they push the prices of their new launches up. You pay RM25,000 downpayment for a RM500,000 house. The developer bears the legal and related costs. You pay nothing else as the bank pays the progress billings. You sell your unit at completion for RM750,000. And make RM250,000 with only RM25,000. So what if the government taxes me. Have you seen my returns vs cash outlay?

But if everyone is buying new launches, who's buying completed units? Take a tour of Setia Alam. The area is still rather quiet; okay it's new. But why aren't the completed units being filled up if the demand for the properties are truly that great? Simple. There are not enough people to fill up these premium locations. We have 27 million people but how many of them are located at Klang Valley? Property is being sold out because people are buying a few units each - all for property speculation. Bulk of these buyers don't intend to stay there. Okay some of them have a few mistresses but let's not go there. Everyone is making profits - but unrealised profits.

And what is truly scary is the perception of the property prices in Klang Valley. Buyers live on the herd mentality. Everyone is chasing this area so I have better get one too. Never mind if the prices are already high. People who bought the same area 5 years ago have doubled their value. So and so area is even more expensive.

Hang on. That is not how a property should be valued. What have happened to fundamentals? Down the drain. What we have now is a typical bubble. The bubble will grow larger and larger. But all bubblegums will burst at one stage when it is no longer sustainable. The Klang Valley property market is close to that.

Let us take a back seat and see the larger picture. Don't compare. But look at the properties individually. 22 x 75 terrace houses in Bandar Utama are going for RM700,000, intermediate unit. That's not a lot of space. And you definitely have to park your extra cars outside your house. 22 x 75 terrace houses in Desa Parkcity is going for above RM1,000,000. That's Kepong not too long ago.

These are terrace houses. Intermediate units. Not semi-ds or bungalows. Not all of them are even nice to look at. But in what way are the prices justifiable? Do you know what is the average Malaysian's household income? Did you know that most Malaysians do not earn RM10,000 a month?

How do these people pay their monthly instalments? And you are telling me that this is sustainable? That the property prices will continue to appreciate? It sure looks like Malaysians are incapable of taking a step back and look at the situation. What I find astonishing is that Malaysians actually believe the pitchings of the sales guy and property agent. It is like saying you believe that our used car dealers refurbish their used units prior to selling to you.

Semi-ds in Setia Eco Park are going for RM1,200,000. And the buyers quietly tell you that 'it is not even that big'. Yeah. Exactly my point. But then they tell you that it is cheaper than Bandar Utama or Desa Parkcity.

If this is not a bubble I don't know what is. Have you even heard of stories about commercial properties?

We are not Singapore. Neither are we Hong Kong. I am not saying this because they are advanced economy while we are not. I am saying this because they are blardie islands for crying out loud. They don't really have that much land you know. We on the other hand have a whole lot of land. When the developers are done with Puchong, they move to Semenyih. When those in Setia Alam are done, they move to Rawang. The Bandar Utama fellas probably already got their Sungai Buloh land ready. We have a lot of land and very little people. The Singaporeans and Hongkies have a lot of people but very little land. That is certainly not apple to apple.

Property prices must be supported by fundamentals. The market must be in equilibrium of demand and supply. Speculative trading will not last. Low interest rates will not last. I hope many of you realise that when the property bubble bursts and your houses are worth 60% of your loan, the banks will not give you a 40% discount. Neither will they help you to extend your loan tenure to 100 years because you have 5 properties to pay for.

A little gambling is good. I love it actually. I was heavy into property a few years back but I've trimmed them down the past few years because I think we have breached the fundamentals. Where is the balance of risks? My view is that our property market is too risky now. High risk, high gain - yes, that's true. But irrational risks puts you back 10 to 20 years when the bubble bursts. Why risk all that you have worked for in the past 10 to 20 years just to increase your pool by another 50%? Is it worth it?

Is Malaysia still what she is 10 years ago when we were the darling of trades? Will there be a sub-prime 2? Will the sovereign debt defaults escalate?

Lets assume that the bubble continues to grow for the next year or 2. Then comes GE 13. If Pakatan wins, our Malaysian economy will fall into a hundred pieces. Make no mistake about this. No FDIs love a political unstable country. In fact foreign funds will flow out. Our stock market will crash. The economy will slow down to a halt. But I am prepared for this. We want a new government and so for that we must be prepared to start afresh from ground zero. If Pakatan does win, expect us to take a while to climb up. Maybe 5 years if we are lucky. Maybe 10.

And this is what I told my friends last week. Here I am calling for a change in government. And people are telling me that I must invest in properties. And if I do and then Pakatan wins, I may lose say RM500,000 in property value. So, do I fight for what I truly want to fight for so that I get the ultimate chance to lose half a million bucks in money I do not have and then repay the bank for the rest of my live? I must be the ultimate masochist to be doing that!

PR Needs A Theme For GE 13; The War For Votes Starts Now

2010-02-10T18:51:00.008+08:00

Today is not 31 August. But I have to talk about 31 August 1957. That date, ladies and gentlemen, is the day God decides to punish all Malayans. Am not sure why God did it, but maybe some of these people were beggars and prostitutes in their previous lives and they had to pay for their sins in the present. I don't know.

What I do know is that the Brits left and in came new lords to rule over Malayans.

In 12 years time from 1957, the people will be instigated to kill each another. And that dark event will forever be held as a threat by certain factions of the Malaysian society to rule over the minorities with fear. And in 50 odd years time the country failed.

Why must the Brits leave? We now know that the Brits were dead broke after World War II. Why can't the Brits been more entrepreneurial with Malaya? They didn't leave Hong Kong. And they 'came back' to Singapore. (I hope they curse their luck when oil was found in the 70s.)

Damn Brits. And all they left us was a lousy piece of constitution. What is so sacred about this constitution thing anyway? What does it mean? What is the point of us even having this scroll or book or whatever you want to call it. Our constitution holds no meaning. It does not protect the people. What is the point of us being taught Keluhuran Perlembagaan when in reality it is all bullshit. And what is with the rest of the Rukun Negara. We shout Kepercayaan Kepada Tuhan but Tuhan is used against us. We shout Kesetiaan Kepada Raja dan Negara but our raja sold us out. We shout Kedaulatan Undang-Undang but undang-undang is used against us when we fight for ourselves. We shout Kesopanan dan Kesusilaan but our leaders call us beggars and prostitutes.

Look at us Malaysians. Orphans unloved by our government. Political pawns of our rulers and government. Our lives are but statistics in the eye of the very people entrusted by us to govern our nation. We have no basic human rights. We have no rights to defend ourselves. We have no rights to choose our leaders. We have no rights to speak or write. Every such notion presented to us are but wayang kulit shows. In the eye of our government, it is best that we eat, sleep and shit. (Actually about 60% of the population is on that routine already. The remaining 40% are considered rebels; communists!)

This is not an article of pointless ramblings. I want to remind all you readers that yes, the Brits left us to die. Yes, UMNO violate us in every possible way. Yes, they can take whatever they want from us even when we refuse to give it to them. But we the rakyat of Malaysia will not back down.

I know many of you are feeling tired. I know many of you have been dispirited when we have been pushing, pushing and pushing for the past 2-3 years (at least) only to see our efforts being taken apart by UMNO, MCA, MIC, MACC, PDRM and the fucking judges. But we the rakyat of Malaysia will not back down.

We will fight! And we will fight harder than ever. We will push for PR to be better. We will continue to criticise PR. We will continue to push for garbage to be kicked out of PKR, PAS and DAP. Our fight for the next general elections starts now.

In GE 12, the rakyat's theme was simple - anyone but BN. Place a dog next to BN and the rakyat will place a cross on the dog. But the same strategy will not work again in GE 13. In true advertising, people want something new and fresh. New concepts. And this is what the central working committee of PR has to start working on.

And I believe that keeping it simple and going back to basics always work - PR must be the capable alternative.

The people will not buy 'BN is so bad that we will definitely be better than them' anymore. If PR truly believe in this, we are doomed. Come GE 13, PR must show the people that it has quality to govern. So far, PR has failed in this aspect in all states it captured in 2009. Everywhere you go, people are frustrated with this serious flaw in PR. It is natural for humans to be impatient. The people are not stupid. Furthermore, it is human nature that people do not favour changes. If BN is fucked-up and so is the alternative PR, then why change from Fucked-Up No. 1 to Fucked-Up No. 2?

PR must now present the people with a true reason to vote for her. Sympathy votes will not take you to Putrajaya. Remember this.

Talking about the Perak frogs may win you the state but not the parliament. Talking about Teoh Beng Hock may win you cheers and claps but will not win you the federal government. Talking about Anwar being framed will get the crowd chanting 'reformasi' but again it will not take the PR chief into Seri Perdana.

The people must see credible personalities emerging from PR. This is a lengthy mindset changing process. There must be credible people who are capable of being appointed ministers. And the rakyat must be familiar with these candidates. They must be household names way before GE 13. PR must start to bring these people to the surface. Do you seriously expect the people to put Tian Chua or Jeff Ooi to be a minister? Zulkifli Nordin for Minister of Education?

Pakatan must show us rakyat that you are serious in running for the government. You cannot expect to be given the parliament only for you to look for suitable MPs after that. The people have gone against rationalities once. It will not be done again. Politics affect the well-being of the people and you do not get them toying with their livelihood too many times in their short lifetime.

Get cracked up, get working. And get Ku Li.

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Where's My Rice?

2010-02-05T17:07:00.005+08:00

Mark these words: Sovereign Default

Not many people are exposed to these words (ummm... ok, me at least). But this will be the catch phrase for 2010. Forget 'sub-prime'. The new lingo is sovereign default. And this 2 big words will bring the entire world down to it's knees.

I am a believer that there will be a double dip in the world recession simply because I do not believe that the current pump priming of economies globally is going to be able to pull us out of the on-going financial crisis. Apparently the world economy is on some kind of a rebound now. Green shoots sprouting everywhere. Is it? Personally I don't think so.

The Dubai fiasco had started the double dip. US$50 to $60 billion may seem like chicken feet compared to what the US government had to deal with (read: hundreds of billions). But is the Dubai case isolated? That will be the most important question.

What are the unfolding effects? For starters, we are now being told that a large portion of the Dubai debts is owned by British banks. The Brits are at the end of their wits and this will not go down well with their already very ill economy. And if the Brits get kicked, the Frenchies will get their knickers twisted. And the Germans then hammered. You get what I mean.

And amidst all this, a new form of disaster has emerged. Sovereign debt. The Greeks are, pardon my language; in deep shit. Sort of knee high. So that's quite a lot of shit. Their government is unable to repay their bonds. Sovereign bonds are government bonds which are issued and denominated in foreign currency. So upon maturity, the issuing government will have to repay the bond holders in the denominated foreign currency. If the said government is unable to purchase the said foreign currency for repayment of debt, they are screwed.

And this is what we are facing now. We in Malaysia are not getting a lot of coverage on this, yet. Just like the beginning of the sub-prime crisis in the States. We are after all frogs living under coconut shells.

Your next question will be: Greece? So what? Not that big economy aren't they? And it is such questions which show the naivety of Malaysians. It is only in Malaysia where we 'live on our very own island'. Everyone else in the world live dependently upon one another.

The Greeks' default will pull with them their business partners and the European Union. Portugal is already on the radar right now and all is not well with Christiano-Ronaldo-land. Their credit default risk has just reached the ceiling. Not very good signs if you ask me. So, who else are going down? One by one, other related nations will get pulled down together - and drown.

What is causing this mayhem? Budget deficit. Government pump priming their nation out of the credit crisis started by Wall Street. A budget deficit means that the nation budgeted expenditure exceeds its income. In our lay man term, spending in excess of your means. When we need to spend more than our paycheck, we have the credit card(s). For governments, they issue bonds. Get the dough now, pay in the future. The Greeks and Portuguese are in their 'future' now, and they don't have money to pay. So, that's the basics of it - at least from my understanding.

So, if this default disease proves more lethal than AH1N1, guess where the virus is going to spread to? Everywhere. Including the Americans who are borrowing money from their descendants of 2098. Will this spark another round of major credit crisis when the 1st of 2 years ago is still not solved yet. The likely answer is a yes. And this time there will be no more trillion dollars printed to rescue the Americans. Not that their money printing machine is broken, they simply do not have the means to do it anymore. So, come the double dip, the Americans will perish. Millions of Americans will be living on streets or huddling up under flyovers.

And the same shit is going to hit Malaysia this time. There is not going to be any money for Najib to spend his way out this time around. PNB can't even sell a quarter of its recent RM10 billion bond. The country is already as dry as a salted fish.

And rumours have it that Singapore is high on the potential sovereign default list. Their budget deficit is also crazy ass high. This is very worrying. Everytime Singapore sneezes, we shit in our pants. We do trade with them, like, a lot. Really really a lot. Back in the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, Thailand brought the entire South East Asia down with it. And we aren't even that economically active with them as compared to Singapore. And to make matters worse, Singapore is a mini US. Only geographically distanced. If the Americans die, the Singaporeans die. If the Singaporeans die, we die!

So folks, pray that the world does not end on 10 December 2012. Pray Nibiru comes quicker, much quicker. At least we don't have to see Najib and gang make life a living hell for us ordinary Malaysians in the coming very desperate times. Plus we know they are not smart enough to prepare Malaysia for rainy days.

The world is crumbling and all Malaysia is concerned of is who buggered whom. Dumb fucks!

.

Fed-Up

2010-01-22T18:02:00.006+08:00

Sorry for being snail pace slow in writing recently.

Truth is I am losing it a bit. Not the mental state but the spirit to fight for this country. Yeah, that's pretty selfish but with all the recent happenings and ultimate dumbness of our government, I'm quite fed-up. And PR doesn't seem to have the fire that we freedom fighters seem to have and demand of them. That kinda make it doubly or triply worse.

So, here I am. Looking at Malaysia; cursing and cussing. Too sick to write.

And apparently, RPK is pulling his hair out as well. You must have read RPK's latest on Anwar. Much of what he said have been addressed here much earlier here. Check out the followings:

The De-Facto Menteri Besar of Selangor

A Structure for PR

I'll be back pretty soon. Just not this few days.

.

Do Not Drop The A Word From The Bible

2010-01-12T16:34:00.003+08:00

Stupid country!

I didn't say that. I am merely quoting what people elsewhere are saying. International medias have (naturally) reported the churches attacks. Read the comments left by their online readers and you will know how people who bothered to read anything about this tiny-country-who-thinks-way-too-highly-of-themselves think of us.

We are now close to being labeled a terrorist nation. Or have we not? The west have always suspected that we are a terrorist-harbouring-nation with endless supply of terrorist wannabes. After all, our past records of Malaysians linked with the likes of Jemaah Islamiah, Abu Sayyaf, Bali bombing and what-is-and what-not along with a company of the son of a certain former prime minister who helped shipped nuclear weapon parts aren't exactly traits of an angel nation. And now this.

The damage has been done. How are we going to move forward? Honestly, I do not know. The elections are still far away. Anger is burning. Malaysians are living in disbelief yet helpless and desperate for a change. Bite the bullet for now I say.

UMNO (and Zaid Ibrahim) want to have some interfaith dialogue. A dialogue as far as I know means discussion or conversation between 2 parties or more. But our Malaysian version is always 1 party telling the others what to do. That is not called a dialogue. As such, what is being proposed by UMNO is an UMNO Briefing.

We know what UMNO is going to do. You Christians - for the 'sake of the nation' and 'in the spirit of preserving the harmony and god-knows-what-other-bullshit built by our fore-fathers' - drop the demand for use of that A word. Many ignorant and chicken shit Malaysians are asking for this as well. But why should anyone give in?

First, we do not negotiate with terrorists. Yup! Picked up a thing or two from the many American movies I watched. If the Christians give in to the demands of UMNO, then whenever some other 'hot' matters come up, the minorities in this country will always be bullied into submitting to the whims and fancies of the majority. This is not harmonious living. This is living at the mercy of someone else. This is 2010. Days of tyranny and ruling by fear should have ended with King Henry VIII. We rakyat Malaysia should learn to fight for what is right and reject what is wrong.

Second, accepting that the Malaysian version of Islam having the absolute rights to the A word is a violation of the human rights of Christians in Malaysia - and in particular, the Malay speaking Christians.

We have Peninsular Christians asking that the Sabahan and Sarawakian Christians to drop the use of the A word. But these Peninsular Christians are living in a cocoon. Your Bible in the Peninsular is in English (and some Chinese). (Got Tamil version?) You speak English (or Chinese). So, you are very comfortable with English (or Chinese). But the Sabahans and Sarawakians speak Malay. The Malay language is the lingua franca to many of them. And that A word is the word that they have been brought up with. Why should they drop the use of it when no one in this world can claim the absolute use of any word in this world?

The Malays do not have copyright to this A word. It is not even a Malay word to begin with. It is an Arabic word. Why don't the Arabs come resolve this matter. Lets ask the Arabs what their Christians call their god. If you are surprise that there are Christians in the Middle East, then get out of your blardie cocoon.

Does it not surprise you that the major Islamic nations in the world have never made any noise on this issue? Indonesia has more than 200 million Muslims. And yet they have no problems with the A word printed all over the Bible written in Bahasa Indonesia. China has more Muslims than Malaysia. And the Chinese Muslims have no issue with that. Why? Because they understand that the A word means god. It does not mean the Muslim version of god. It is not even the name of god. Jesus is a name. Abdullah is a name. Ishmael is a name. Abraham is a name. But Allah is not a name. It is a reference to god - in Arabic! Just like 'god' is the reference to god in English.

Claiming absolute right to use of a word is as foolish as it gets. Are we then expecting that the Portuguese demand that the word 'bola' be dropped from the Malay language. 'Agama' is Sanskrit. 'Almari' is Tamil. And a whole lot of words borrowed from the Chinese, Persians, English, Dutch etc. Is this A word brouhaha not a joke? It definitely is anywhere out of Malaysia.

Today, UMNO wants the Christians to stop using the A word. Tomorrow the Chinese will have to stop eating pork. Next week, UMNO will demand that the Indians sell only halal beef. Are we going to submit to these nonsense? Are we going to set a precedent today and send UMNO a message that they can scare us into anything they want? Are we telling UMNO that human rights exist only in the western world we watch in the movies?

Do not set a precedent. Do not give in. Your actions today will dictate the lives of your following generations. Choose to secure your selfish motives today and your descendents will curse you when they are forced to live in fear and mercy of the government.

.

Oh Lord, Are You Confused Too?

2010-01-06T13:25:00.004+08:00

Aiyoh... Am so sick and tired of this 'Allah' issue; of which is actually a non-issue in the very first place. So sick that I have hardly read any articles on this matter. What is the deal with this anyway?

We ALL know that this is nothing but an UMNO propaganda. But why is it that UMNO must always make the Malays look stupid and weak?

How many Malays actually share the sentiments that having some other religion use a word that appears in the Quran will actually cause Muslims to convert out of Islam?

How may Malays actually share the sentiments that having some other religion use a word that appears in the Quran will actually cause Muslims to get confused about their religion and their god?

The way UMNO puts it, Malaysian Muslims must be the only Muslims in the world who has this constant fear of other religions trying to get them out of Islam. Eh hello, have some faith in Islam la. It is a good religion and people who truly understand Islam love Islam for what it is. No wonder so many Malays and Muslims hate UMNO. To UMNO, for the sake of serving their own stupid political ideology, all Malay Muslims are made to look stupid, weak and vulnerable.

By the way ah, what is so confusing about someone else sharing the same word, in this case 'Allah'? It's just the language la idiots.

You don't see Christians shouting their lungs out of their nostrils when the Hindus call their deities LORD Ganesha or LORD Vishnu. Lord is lord la. It's just a word. The word 'lord' is all over the bible you know.

Nobody made noise when the word 'lord' is freely used like in Lord of the Ring or Lord of the Flies. Any Christians go crazy? Any Hindus gone mad? No, tak ada seorang pun. Try calling it A***h of the Ring. Die! Sure mengamuk gila one. Sigh...

But sometimes you have to give it to UMNO. They are quite capable of stirring up the people. Something as simple as the use of a word can cause uproar throughout the country. Pandai pun diorang ni. This is something PR must learn - not the trouble causing part of course, but the part on stirring the people up. (Actually I wouldn't mind if PR start causing some trouble hehe...) And when I mentioned 'the people', I am not referring to the hardcore PR supporters because they are on permanent stir-up pills. PR needs to stir up the 'fence sitters' and the 'I-could-not-be-bothered's.

I tell you, UMNO is giving Islam a very bad name. Wouldn't all this make Islam look like a very shallow religion? Wouldn't all this again make Muslims look like extremists? What a disservice to Islam. All these while the true Muslims work their socks off trying to rebuild Islam's reputation.

Sigh... politics and religions. This 2 have gone hand in hand for centuries. I can never understand what is there to fight over Jerusalem. How holy can a land be where millions of people have died killing one another just to rule that land? Ironic isn't it?

And the Palestinians and Israelis. What are they fighting about? And I remember one of the PR speakers at Teoh Beng Hock's rally at the Kelana Jaya Stadium last year whacking the BN government for having relations with Israel. I so wanted to stand up and shout 'So what?'. Come on la, what is so wrong about Israel? Let's be honest about it; Malaysia is siding with the Palestinians because of the religious element. Why should all Malaysians be made to be anti-Semitic just because of that? Like as though the Palestinians are all angels.

Back to the sacred word.

I hope the Muslims in this country can be rational about this matter. Don't be fooled into insecurity by the trouble makers of UMNO. Yes, 'rational' is the correct word. Chuck aside the emotions that UMNO is trying to stir up inside you. Be logical. Clear your thoughts and ask yourself this, "What is there to be worked up with this 'use of word' in the very first place?".

The problem is UMNO says the word 'amok' is synonymous with Malays. And 'amok' and 'rational' seem worlds apart.

Is it any wonder why the non-Malays in Malaysia see the Malays as less than intelligent? After all, it that not the objectives of UMNO to make the Malays stupid and incapable?

.

Malaysian Government Pays You Cash To Stay At Home

2009-12-23T19:03:00.004+08:00

Please quit your private sector job today. You no longer need to work for money. The government is giving free monthly handouts of cold hard cash.

Yes. This is Malaysia. Everything is possible. Previously, to receive this free handout, you needed to sign an employment letter with the Government of Malaysia and appear at the office, sometimes. With the introduction of the Works Ministry's work-from-home scheme, you need not even appear at the office!

Brilliant. Previously, government officers had to bore themselves at the office because 10 people had to do the work of 1. Many such officers had resorted to money wasting teh tariks. The thrifty ones just had to made do with gossips and Drama Minggu Ini debates. All in the name of being in the office.

Now you can watch TV at home, look after your 7 kids at home, iron your clothes at home, wake up at 10 am, or even catch the late morning screening of Avatar at the cinema nearest to your home. All these during office hours and the government will still pay you.

And best of all, no need to go through jams to and fro work. No need to spend 3 to 4 hours in the traffic jams or public transports. Leave that to the private sector idiots.

What a way of life! Excellent for government officers.

Not for us private sector dummies though.

Somewhere in the near future, you receive an investigation letter from the IRB requiring you to call a certain Pn. Norita.

The phone rings for 18 times. No answer. Hang up. Check the phone number printed on the letter. Correct. Hit redial. On the 9th ring...

IRB Hotline Receiver: Jabatan Hasil.

You: Boleh saya cakap dengan Pn. Norita?

IRB: Bahagian?

You: Penyiasatan.

IRB: Bukan nombor ini. Sila dail 03-4289xxxx

And you call 03-4289xxxx. The phone rings, and rings and rings and finally got cut off. Double check the number you wrote down. Call 03-4289xxxx again. After the 12th ring...

IRB: ...

You: ...

IRB: ...

You: Hello?

IRB: Ya?

You: Boleh saya cakap dengan Pn. Norita, Bahagian Penyiasa...

The line got passed.

Receiver: ...

You: Boleh saya cakap dengan Pn. Norita?

Receiver: Pn. Norita takde di office hari ini?

You: Dia cuti?

Receiver: Tak. Dia bekerja. Tapi dia takde di office hari ini. You talipon balik esok.

The next day, you call Pn. Norita again. After the usual ding dong, the line got passed to her.

Pn. Norita: Norita di sini.

You: Puan, name saya Xxxxx. Saya telefon pasal surat puan bertarikh xx.xx.20xx.

Pn. Norita: Ya, saya ingat kes you. Kenapa tak talipon awal-awal?

You: Saya talipon semalam Puan. Tapi Puan tak ada di pejabat.

Pn. Norita: Oh ya. Semalam saya bekerja dari rumah. Fail you pun saya bawa balik rumah untuk tengok.

You: Ha? Bukankah fail saya peribadi?

Pn. Norita: Memang lah peribadi. Tapi kalau tak bawa balik, macam mana saya nak kerja?

You: Jadi kes saya macam mana sekarang Puan? Saya tak faham sangat dengan masalah teknikal ni.

Pn. Norita: Saya memang pelupa lah. Tertinggal fail you kat rumah. Saya kena tengok balik fail. You talipon balik esok.

You: Esok Puan kerja dari rumah atau office?

Pn. Norita: Esok saya ada di office.

The next day, you call Pn. Norita as planned.

You: Boleh saya cakap dengan Pn. Norita?

Receiver: Pn. Norita tak ada di pejabat.

You: Tapi semalam dia kata dia kerja di office hari ini.

Receiver: Dia memang dijadualkan bekerja di pejabat hari ini. Tapi kucing dia mati.

.

Our Future Is Not That Bright

2009-12-14T14:30:00.006+08:00

I wish to be an optimist. I really do. But sometimes, I cannot help but to remain pessimistic about what is in store for us in this country we call Bolehland.

Like others, we all look forward to the next General Elections (GE), where the rakyat can teach UMNO-BN a lesson they would never forget (because they seem to have forgotten how much a trashing they got in the March 2008 GE). We all can't wait for Pakatan Rakyat to take over the helm and bring back glory to this beloved country of ours. Pakatan is like the saviour that we all have been waiting for and they will bring with them equality and transparency that we all crave for so much.

Lately, I do not share that hope anymore. Not that I have given up on Pakatan (they have their flaws), but I do not have hope anymore because of UMNO-BN. Why is that? Well, let's think about it for a moment. Come next GE, beyond our wildest imaginations and against all odds, Pakatan managed to form the next federal government, we celebrate with joy a new era for the country. The country is finally back in the hands of the people... or so it seems.

I hate to rain on everyone's parade but reality is that UMNO-BN would be totally angry by this, like how they felt when Penang, Selangor, Kedah, and Perak had gone to Pakatan... along with Kelantan. From then on UMNO-BN had been plotting to get back the states that they lost. They managed to take back Perak by illegitimate means. They are creating all sorts of havoc in the other states to discredit the state governments so the people would be totally fed up with them and wished that UMNO-BN would take over the states again. Mark my words, if Pakatan does take over the Federal Government, UMNO-BN will not sit by and let it be. They will do whatever means to either discredit the new government through the manipulation of the police, judiciary, election commission, or MACC.

Would you think the Police, the judiciary, election commission or the MACC would pledge their impartiality and remain independent despite a change in government? Hell no! These jokers have been on the UMNO-BN payroll for years and we are talking big bucks here. Do you think these jokers would sit still and see their 'income' cut off by the Pakatan government? Nope! They would want things to be status quo, because they have tasted the forbidden fruit and loved it. Ever wonder how does an ex-deputy IGP own estates worth RM47 million? By being a good cop? Yea right!

If UMNO-BN is willing to trample on constitution like what they did in Perak, what makes you think that UMNO-BN will not resort to even more dirty tricks to discredit the new government and when Pakatan takes over? So what can Pakatan do? Get rid of every senior cop, MACC, election commission, and judges? What about the people in civil service? We all know that they can easily sabotage state governments by working slowly, cocking-up here and there, flip-flop on enforcements here and there, enough to piss off the people who would wish then that UMNO-BN is back in power again. Imagine SYABAS conveniently taking their sweet time in their supply and maintenance, or Indah Water being a little slow in processing sewerage, or Alam Flora being inconsistent in they solid waste collection.

There's too much at stake and the big guns would stand to lose huge sums of money. And they won't allow that to happen. UMNO-BN will do whatever it takes to get back the country. They have too much to lose, and they would get it back by manipulating the Police, Judiciary, Election Commissions, the civil service and the MACC.

Do you think they care about every one's rights? March 2008 was supposed to teach them a lesson. Seems that they remain as arrogant as ever judging by what we have been seeing this year. I won't celebrate too much when Pakatan takes over... because then it would be crunch time for this country of ours.

Our future is not that bright.

Najib The Ponzi Scheme Master

2009-12-11T14:26:00.005+08:00

Malaysia is close to bankruptcy.

The government has no more money. 2009 must have been a horrible year with little corporate taxes collected (and expected to be collected) due to the economic slowdown. Foreign investments have also slowed to a halt.

And yet Najib's government is trying to spend their way out of the economy. Honestly, if carried out well, government spending is a key component in driving the economy up. But not in Malaysia. The leakages are too large. As a result, the expected multiplier effects do not maximise. The money disbursed end up in the pockets of those who least deserve it instead.

2009 must go on record as the year with the largest amount of government bonds issued. Amanah Saham this and Amanah Saham that. I don't have the statistics but I doubt 2009 will be too far off the numero uno spot even if it does not take the top spot. All sorts of bond were raised and for the first time, take-up quotas drawn along the usual racial lines have been removed.

What does that mean? The government is simply desperate for money. The amount that they could raise from the protected and preferred Malay race have simply maxed up. That left Najib with no choice but to loan from the desperate Chinese and Indians on the pretext of equality and sharing of wealth with all in the country. And at lower rates of returns too.

Malaysians are not well read people. And I bet you that most people do not understand what a bond is apart from it being an investment opportunity that generates interest income higher than that offered by FDs. Bonds are actually IOUs. It is a loan. When you buy a bond, you are actually lending money to the bond issuer and you get paid back upon maturity.

Upon maturity, paying back of bond money is an issue should the bond issuer (in this case the government of Malaysia) has no money to pay. But as the government, this can be solved via a few simple strategies at the expense of the rakyat.

The government may raise new bonds to pay-off the earlier bonds. And this can be done over and over again. The bet by the government is that the government's income will improve in the future and one day, these loans from the public can be paid off. Theoretically, this sounds ideal. But do you genuinely accept that from the government of a nation whose corruption index ranking have been consistently falling to an embarrassing 57 now? Regardless of how much of the nations resources are depleted (our oil is running out by the way; palm oil isn't that popular in the world market unless you are a sucker who believes in Utusan Malaysia; we do not have much rubber; we ran out of tin decades ago), the profit do not go back to the rakyat but the Swiss private bank accounts of our politicians.

So, the bonds will never get to be paid from the ideal profits. New bonds will be issued to pay off earlier bonds. And this will go on and on and on. Over time, with larger amount of bonds raised every time to cover for additional 'nation building and development', government debts will only continue to rise. This is what we call a Ponzi scheme. Read Bernie Madoff. Read cheat. Read con.

The present government is passing it's current problem to the future generation. An irresponsible government indeed. In developed nations, the people are able to appreciate this problem. Parliaments debate after debate on bond issuances. In Malaysia, the Prime Minister approves new bonds while he gobbles down his nasi lemak with ayam rendang and sotong sambal. The future is not his problem anyways. He has his hot seat to protect; lose it or he will get nagged to his death by the thing who sleeps next to him.

Has anyone actually thought that Najib knows that his days are numbered and he is maximising his personal dough collection? Think about it. Whatever he takes from the bonds will have to be paid back by the next government. If he is not going to be the next government, paying back will not be his problem.

But whatever he does now will still be a problem for the rakyat in the future. If BN continues, it will be BN's repayment problem. If PR takes over, it will be PR who is faced with the same repayment headache. The only permanent fixture is that the rakyat is at the losing end.

Some may argue that all the government has to do is to print more money. Yes, that is true. A learned friend of mine once said that the government will never run out of money because it can just print more. That is a brilliant statement. But of course it has it consequences. The amount of paper money in circulation must correspond to the amount of gold and other reserves. If paper money exceeds the value of the reserves - which is what the US is facing right now - then the said currency's value falls. Purchasing power declines. Inflation rises. And a whole lot of other negative economic terminologies.

So you see, printing money to repay government loans solves the loan issue but it brings the country to a whole new level of economic problems.

And yes, you got the message, the rakyat loses.

If you are lucky to live short enough, the problem will not be yours. But your kids? You better leave them enough money to buy bananas at RM1 million per comb.

Additional note by author: Najib has pledged more and more spending. But with limited funds available, other government disbursements will have to be reduced. Hence, the proposed (rumoured) removal of subsidies for petrol, sugar and flour are very real. Expect electricity tariffs to go up too. Rakyat will suffer like never before. Is he not interested in getting re-elected? Does sound like Najib is taking all he can and abandoning ship.

.

GST? Stop Pretending To Be A Developed Nation

2009-12-02T21:31:00.007+08:00

GST is a serious matter but the general Malaysians are not made aware of it. After all, tax is a complicated matter. And most will choose to ignore it although it affects the dough in our pockets. Taxes are just not our daily comic strip readings.

There is nothing wrong with GST. The government needs taxes to run the country. But the question is, is Malaysia ready for GST?

To debate on this question, we first need to understand what GST really is.

GST is nothing and should not be anything but an ALTERNATIVE TAX COLLECTION METHOD. Right now we have taxes in the forms of corporate tax, personal tax, withholding tax, real property gains tax, service tax etc. Taxpayers go all out to reduce their taxpayers (naturally) via loopholes in the system or through out right illegal means. This is where GST comes in. It ensures a more efficient collection of taxes by the government by having value adding points collect taxes from their customers on behalf of the government. GST should not be a new source of tax revenue for the government that adds on to its coffer.

With GST, the person who sold you the goods or services is now tasked to collect your taxes on behalf of the government and then remit it. The underlying objective is that the collection will be more efficient when the collection ‘agency’ is now no longer paying from his own pockets (there is no heart ache involved). He is merely collecting from his customers; if he fails to collect then he gets penalized – so obviously there is not going to be much incentive for the seller/provider to not want to collect the taxes for the government. If you understand this, then you will see that this is actually a good system. How efficient is the government in utilizing this money is another subject – we are talking about the theoretical effectiveness here.

I mentioned that GST is an alternative tax collection method. It should NOT be an additional tax. But this does not seem to be the case with Malaysia.

With GST, if I were a taxpayer paying RM5,000 per annum, an efficient GST system should not cause me to pay significantly more or significantly less taxes than I previously did. If I were a non-taxpayer, GST should not cause me to have to pay any new taxes. In an efficient market with GST, the only way the government should be able to add to her tax revenue is via the closing of tax loopholes.

Now, how many percent of Malaysians are taxpayers? I do not have the figures but the figures being bandied about is about 15% to 20% of Malaysians only. That means 80% to 85% of Malaysian are not taxpayers. But with the introduction of GST, all Malaysians will be taxpayers. Every time you buy a can of Coca-Cola, you get taxed. Every time you buy an ikan kembung, you get taxed. Every time you buy a karipap, you get taxed. So what we have now are non-tax payers paying taxes at inflated selling prices. Prices are inflated as everyone in the supply chain of production and distribution have to pay taxes to the guy below him in the supply chain. So, you have taxes added on and on and on. And you finally pay the makcik additional 4% tax on her new inflated price.

GST will work if and only if the country is one that is of high per capita income. Quite simply, a developed country. That is because when the average income per head is high, chances are most of its people are already taxpayers. And by implementing GST, the personal income tax rates will be reduced to compensate for the alternative GST. Remember, GST is but an alternative form of collection – not a new form of tax.

If we were to implement this 4% GST, personal income tax must be brought down to below 20%. By this the higher income earners will not have their positions changed. The brackets for the lower income taxpayers must also be enlarged so as to enable more taxpayers to fall into the lower tax brackets. This is not a suggestion – but is a must. Look at countries like Hong Kong and Singapore where GST have been implemented. Their highest income tax bracket is at mid-10%.

But even with the reduction of tax rates and changes in tax brackets, we still do not solve the problem of non-taxpayers. How is the government going to exempt them from paying taxes now? You cannot have a GST exemption card being distributed to certain income group can you? The lower income group is not paying taxes because they are not earning enough. They are low income earners. The taxes are meant to subsidise them. The rich subsidises the poor, remember? Why is the government now trying to drive the lower income group to the edge by increasing prices and imposing taxes upon them. GST implemented this way will then be inefficient and is a departure from the very objectives of GST and the key pillars of the tax system.

What is the solution? Sadly, there is no solution. There is no solution because GST is simply not suitable for Malaysia now. We are not a country that is ready for GST. GST is only effective and efficient in an environment where the people are high income earners where most of the population are taxpayers. And we are not! There is just no 2 ways about it. Our government must go back to the drawing board and first understand the meaning of the word ‘tax’. (Ahem… actually we already know that Najib and goons think that tax means money in their personal bank accounts. Farkers!)

Do not take GST likely. Something as simple as 3 alphabets will turn the country upside down. When the under-privileged in the society forms the mass of the numbers, forcing them up the wall will only bring trouble. When the people could no longer afford to buy rice, petrol, clothes and all other necessities, all hell will break loose. We have seen enough examples in the recent past with Indonesia a decade ago being the best example. Are we willing to risk all this just so that the greedy ruling government is able to pocket more ringgits in their personal bank accounts?

Maybe we should we all join Tok Guru in his prayers regardless of if you a Muslim, Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu, Catholic, Protestant, or Sikh? After all, tax knows no religion.

Pakatan, What's Your Cut In The PKFZ Bonds?

2009-11-27T01:34:00.008+08:00

Hey Mr. Prime Minister, what on earth are you doing guaranteeing the RM4,600,000,000 PKFZ bonds? You think its your father's money is it? Hello! That's our money you are talking about.

Who are you to be deciding what to do with our money based on your whims? As far as we rakyat know, the PKFZ saga is hardly near the end. How is it that you can already make decisions on key matters of that con job?

Has there been new developments with the PKFZ bond which I have missed? Last I read, Chan Kong Choy said that the letters issued were NOT letters of guarantee. So isn't what Najib doing now contradicting the claims of the man who issued the 'letter of support'?

Aduhai! Which is correct now? Letter of Support or Letter of Guarantee or Letter of Undertaking? What is what BN? What is what now? Is Najib saying that Chan Kong Choy and OC Phang committed CBT and he is now 'forced' to accept their misdeeds? Then charge them in court on Monday.

And where is Pakatan on this matter of Najib guaranteeing the godzillionbillionmillion ringgit?

What has Pakatan been doing about this? Making some noise in Dewan Rakyat - like they always do. Dei... Lim Kit Siang has been doing that for years. Effective ka? No. It is not. Those crooks sitting opposite you don't give a damn. You've got to be doing much more than that. BN will not submit to you. If they have to be forced into relooking their actions, then force them into it.

Pakatan, who put you guys in Parliament? We the rakyat. What does that mean? It means we rakyat have the power. So, use us!

Do you Pakatan political novices read international papers? Or watch international news? Do you not realise that people protests take place very often else where. That is democracy. Do the same. Make a big fuss out of the ruling government's mismanagement. Every time.

Protests! Protests! Protests! Stage it right outside the Parliament House. Stage it right outside Najib's residence. Swarm his car. Chant outside his house at 2 am. Get creative. Get CNN. Get Al-Jazeera. Get BBC.

The bigger the fuss, the bigger the coverage. The bigger the coverage, the larger the pressure on BN. BN is in desperate need to win back votes. They have to appease the public. Pressure them into halting/reversing the decision. If you think that it may not be easy to gather the general public, then what use are your party members? You guys need to know how to play games.

BN will of course make it difficult for the protests to take place. All the better. Suppression of the people's voices. The international media loves it. Wider coverage.

It's ok to inconvenience us with traffic jams. I can tell you that the rakyat would rather get stuck in jams then having the government squandering our money. After all the protest is done to protect the people's money!

PR, you really really need to know how to play games. Politics is dirty. Politics is cunning. You think Obama won the elections because he smiles a lot? Tactics guys, tactics. Strategies. Strategies are not about winning elections only. And definitely not about keeping Anwar out of jail only.

You have got to know how to play your role as the opposition. It is much more than standing up in the Dewan shouting your lungs away or staging walkouts. It is much more about how to win the next elections. Tell the people that you fellows truly have the interests of the rakyat at heart. And not all talk and talk and talk.

Walk the talk Pakatan. And I meant literally walking.

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Childish MACC, Childish PDRM

2009-11-26T00:33:00.009+08:00

Childish!

That's the best description of the reactions of MACC and PDRM to the court judgement to disallow them from forcing witnesses to answer to them past office hours.

By the way, I think the judge did a good job in delivering that judgment. It shows good use of common sense. Mind you, that is an element that is constantly missing in this country; even though half the term is meant to mean... common.

You just cannot believe the response we are getting from these 2 rubbish of the nation. I could not stop shaking my head in disbelief reading the news of their reactions. MACC to close their offices at 5.30pm sharp. Police threaten to stop taking reports after 5.30 pm. What is wrong with you people?

You get this anger suppressed within yourself. No. It is not anger. It is more of helplessness. The country is at such an embarrassing state being run by tantrum-throwing-children. And we are the ones paying their wages? It just doesn't make sense. How is it that we pay these rubbish to work for us. Are there no better people? And we aren't exactly paying peanuts.

Why? Why? Why?

Why do we have to have this kind of people leading important agencies? Why can't we have decent people working for us?

Has the Head of MACC and the IGP got no shame? Have they got no family names to protect? How do they go home and face their wives and children? How do they answer to their parents?

Buat malu bangsa! These 2 morons are definitely doing the Malays no good. Is it not bad enough that the Malay race is already being labelled stupid and lazy by the others? There are certain things in life that do not require justification and this happens to be one of them. If I were a Malay, I'll be ashamed. (Well I heard the Chinese are really ashamed with the shenanigans of the Ongs, Chuas and Liows).

But come on. Do their reactions really look like one taken by intelligent people? The straight answer is no. It is apparent what the the court is saying - do not FORCE the public into giving statements into the wee hours of the day. That's called torturing. Be professional. Keep interrogation to office hours. But if the witness offers himself, then that's something else. Take that as a bonus.

We know that the MACC understands this. We know that the PDRM understands this. But they instead choose to throw tantrum because they are no longer allowed to do as they wish. I hope they know that they are doing themselves a major disservice. Forget about whatever public relations works they have been up to. They have shot themselves on their feet again. Either they are really stupid or they really love the public to see them as being stupid. And childish. And immature. And there are actually people out there thinking that Najib's administration is doing the people good.

Shameful. Just plain shameful.

This is Malaysia. Never capable of executing anything good. We are the country of shame. I am truly ashamed of all these nonsense going on in the country. All because we have incapable clowns running the country. Maybe the only way for me to console myself is to accept a religion and accept the doctrine that they will be dealt with in the afterlife. But that would be the wrong reason to get religious.

Somebody help us, Malaysians. We are desperately in need of decent humans to lead the country. The bad news is Pakatan Rakyat isn't any better.

Malaysians, we are so screwed.

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The De-Facto Menteri Besar of Selangor

2009-11-18T17:11:00.005+08:00

Anwar Ibrahim has made his first major decision in 2009 (even though there are only 2 more months to go, never mind la). We know the economic advisory position is made up. He is basically leading Selangor now la. De-facto opposition leader cum de-facto leader of PKR cum de-facto Menteri Besar of Selangor.

What is your plan for Selangor now, Anwar?

It's about time we Selangorian hear something constructive from the MB's office.

How are you going to resolve the beer sale issue? Can we put an end to that. Restore open selling status please. The 'majority' Muslims cannot lord over the 'minority' non-Muslims. We live in harmony, remember? And can we get the pork sellers back into Shah Alam please. And the Magnums and Totos and what not. Point is: restore your multi-racial image and be done away with the radical Islam mask. Even Tok Guru cannot tolerate such rubbish carried out in the name of Islam. You have a lot to do to win back the voters - of which many have deserted PR if you don't already know by now.

And the water issue. You guys can't exactly go on and on and on about the never ending water issue. There must be something in the law that can be evoked to stop the likes of Puncak Niaga being the cocky bastards that they are. (My apologies for my French but I cannot find other ways to describe them). Has anyone read my earlier article on this? I Want Clean Water posted on 26 October 2009.

But what I really like to see is the end of UMNO running Selangor while PR is the government of the state. RPK is darn right pointing this out. Ask anyone in Selangor. Everyone knows about this. Maybe that's why Anwar took so long to come to Selangor - he is not a Selangorian and hence does not know. Hehehe...

The begging question is what has Khalid been doing with these UMNO goons running about his offices? He wants to be Mr. Popular with government officers is it?

You need not fire the entire office. The lower level personnel aren't the problem - they are lazy by nature and we can live with that. (Actually, I can't. I cannot stand them). And they are the bulk of the headcount. So you have no need to worry about massive unemployment. It is the Little Napoleons whom should have been dealt with. Sack them. Don't want to get into trouble with Labour Law? Fridge them, no?

If I were Anwar, I'll walk into each and every municipal council, gather all heads in a room, and tell them to start counting their days in office. I always believe that the rakyat are not pleased with the government because they are actually most unhappy with the municipal council officers. The decisions of the central government affect you at a macro level but the actions of the municipal council officers affect your daily lives. If Anwar can tackle the municipal councils right, PR will remain government come the next election. It is as simple as that. Politics sometimes really ain't that difficult. Go on, cull them, Anwar, cull them. Bring in new blood. We don't expect the local government service to turn efficient overnight but at least we know that you want to make a difference from what the BN government has to offer. Buat masa sekarang, tiada perbezaan.

And please start a hunt on previous government's misdeeds. I know that the PR government promised no hunting when they first took over. I can never ever understand why. Such a hunt is a must. Why not? So that when BN takes back they won't hunt you back? Is that it, Anwar?

If you are keen on a reformed Malaysia, a strong message must be sent. Previous administration's corruption will be tracked when a new government takes over. By that, the present government officer will have to think a 100 times before he even dare to take a thousand bucks. Let alone the millions and billions being leaked out now. This is what a 2 party system is all about. Counter-checking to minimise corruption and leakages.

But my bet is Anwar will not do this. He has his own baggage from his UMNO days. There is this pact among thieves; you sell me out, I'll sell you too. Anwar was in a position to know a whole lot of things being a DPM. If he truly wants to nail UMNO, he has the info. But he cannot do it else it will backfire upon him. But that is politics. So we the sorry rakyat just have to bite it.

Let's sidetrack from Selangor to the next GE. If PR truly wants to win the next GE, misdeed hunting must be a key policy. The rakyat is fed up with corruption. If Anwar and gang can make this pledge, then a significant portion of the voters have been won over. If Anwar dare to stir the hornet's nest and openly declare that he will change the IGP with so and so, the Chief Justice with so and so, and Head of MACC with so and so, half the battle would have already been won. Let us know who you have in line and we will know if you are serious. With 3 new heads come 3 new reborn arms of Malaysia. And it is then that we will believe that a new Malaysia will rise.

So, what are you gonna do Saudara Anwar? We will be watching you closely. We Selangorians are not easy to please. And oh, one more thing. Please don't go into hiding again.

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Of Najib, Obama and Protectionism

2009-11-13T19:12:00.005+08:00

Bloomberg on 13 November 2009 reported in their article 'Obama Must Be Like Bush in Free-Trade Commitment, Malaysia Says' that:

"Najib Razak urged President Barack Obama to show the same commitment to free trade that his predecessor, George W. Bush, expressed at a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders last year... "

"APEC in Singapore is a wonderful opportunity for us to make a very strong political statement that we will resist protectionism,” Najib said.

What a whole load of cow dung! Look who's talking here.

Who is Najib to talk about free trade? Who is Najib to talk about open market? Malaysia under the dictatorship of Barisan Nasional is possibly one of the most protected economy in the world. And mind you, protection not to the interests of the ordinary farmers or fishermen or white collared salaried workers but that of the interests of BN politicians and their beneficiary cronies.

(There is nothing wrong if Obama wants to protect the economy of his country, but what I cannot swallow is a robber telling another robber not to rob.)

Proton is an example of a protectionism nightmare. Ridiculously high import and excise duties placed Proton in such a cosy seat to the extend that all that comes out from its factories are jokes that literally kill on the roads. Protectionism kills competition. Without competition there is no pressure for creativity or drive to improve. What more, non-Proton car prices from the little Viva to the high end Maseratis are inflated sky high to the extent that the entire economy is bubbled up.

There is no such a thing as a stand alone component item in the economy. Every item within the economy is inter-related. Higher costs of vehicles lead to higher costs of transportation which in turn affects delivery of raw materials, then sub-components and then final consumer products. Can you imagine if our local car industry is not protected. With car prices falling by 60%, what do you think will happen to the prices of all other goods in Malaysia?

(There are of course concerns with a plunge in car prices and its immediate repercussions on the corresponding loans with banks being forfeited etc. but that is another topic for another day).

I am an advocate for free trade. But that does not mean that I support no protection. There could be areas where protection is required. But the overall benefit to the population has to out-weight the benefits reaped by the few who enjoy the protection they are accorded.

We know that this is not the case in Malaysia. No doubt the restriction on import of rice helps to protect the local paddy farmers. But are the paddy farmers the real beneficiaries? No. Our farmers are still one of the poorest in the country. The profits have landed in the hands of government related conglomerates such as Bernas. And such protectionism also leads to little innovation. Our local rice is of such poor quality that it is deemed 'a poor man's' diet. Those who can afford it are dining on the expensive Thai fragrant rice. In this case, how has a protectionism policy actually helped the general Malaysians? Ever wondered why we cannot produce high grade rice like those of the Japanese?

It is always good to look at the actions of those who have done well for themselves. And in Malaysia, the ultra-rich Robert Kuok is a very good example. If you asked me, I'll say that Robert Kuok have had enough of the Malaysian government and its rubbish. He is a businessman (and a darn good one at it) and has no interest in the political games of Malaysia. Did you know that he is no longer the Malaysian Sugar King? He has already disposed off his investments. And he is definitely getting his other businesses out of Malaysia - you may recall the transactions with his Singapore based Wilmar. His core businesses are now based in China and Hong Kong. So, the richest man in Malaysia no longer stays in Malaysia and the bulk of his businesses are also not based in Malaysia. That must really say something.

Look at another Malaysian success story, Genting. The Genting Group knows that the future of their gambling business lies in the hands of the Malaysian government. Who would like no control over the future of their business? Naturally, they've smart it up. They have now expanded their gambling business to UK and Singapore (to be completed in Jan 2010). They are also venturing into Macau. What is your prediction for Genting Highlands? The Malaysian government can shaft it up their arses for all they care. Genting will die a natural death and the loser is the Malaysian government who will lose out on lucrative tax revenue.

Another form of protection which is not seen by the ordinary rakyat is that of our foreign exchange. Do you think that the ringgit is rightly value at RM3.35 to US$1.00? Nobody seems to think so except for Bank Negara. Why can't we float our ringgit again? Enough bullshit about speculators playing with the ringgit. The Malaysian government is one of the largest forex player in the world pre 1997 meltdown. Don't blame others for your own mistakes and greed. Float the ringgit and I am blardie sure that we will easily be in the range of RM2.50 and Rm2.80. And I read somewhere that based on burgernomics (that's forex and economy based upon spending power on McDonald's products), the real value of the ringgit could even be below RM2.oo (I think that that is s a bit pushing it la).

No doubt that keeping the ringgit high is beneficial for the exporters. But remember, it makes imports very expensive. And we are a country that relies heavily on imports because our economy is so protected that many things produced are sub-standard. So who suffers with a high exchange rate? The rakyat again. That's you and me. Why can't we float the damn ringgit and force our manufacturers to learn to produce quality goods at low prices? Why should we rakyat have to suffer so that our manufacturers can make a profit and make the government looks good with healthy exports? Why must we rakyats pay for everything? Why must the rakyat be sacrificed so that the manufacturers get to buy their S Class and 7 Series.

There are many more protectionism imposed in this country. It will take an entire thesis for me to write about all of them - if that is even possible at all. The point is protectionism is good only if it is not abused. But we know that our government is incapable of not abusing anything.

I say the best thing Obama can do is to tell Najib to shut up and mind his own business. I hope that the US got really offended by Najib's remarks and retaliates. It will be good to see them forcing Malaysia to adopt a full FTA. Failing which they may impose an economic sanction on Malaysia. Let me tell you this; in the short run an economic sanction will hurt Malaysia. But in the long run, every single rakyat Malaysia will benefit from an open trade because right now be are just being suckered by the Barisan Nasional government. Malaysia must be forced into an economic reform or she never will.

We have already missed a boat for an economic reform when Mahathir rejected IMF's reform in 1998. That would have opened up the economy and removed all the political nonsense. Look at South Korea who took up the offer. Take a hard look at South Korea today. Where are they now? And where are we? And why did Mahathir reject the IMF? Because they would have killed off UMNO's power in the country and the wealth of its politicians and cronies. Everything else mentioned about us being colonised by the west via IMF is bullshit. South Korea is still South Korea and not the United States of Korea. Indonesia in not known as United Indonesia. Talking about Indonesia, guess who got kicked out from his lofty seat when IMF went there.

Ordinary Malaysian do not pay just the expensive cars; we pay for much more for everything we incur every day because of protectionism. Economics affect our daily lives much to the ignorance of the uninformed laymen. And the BN government will continue to manipulate economics for its benefits because the bulk of the rakyat do not understand the technicalities of economics.

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For the benefits of those who are not well versed with economic terminologies, here is what Wikipedia has to say about 'protectionism':

Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states, through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other restrictive government regulations designed to discourage imports, and prevent foreign take-over of local markets and companies. This policy is closely aligned with anti-globalization, and contrasts with free-trade, where government barriers to trade are kept to a minimum.

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A Structure for PR

2009-11-03T15:05:00.010+08:00

So much is being said out there about the goods, the bads and the rubbish of Pakatan Rakyat. And Anwar Ibrahim. I don't think I'll need to give a recap on these; as it is I myself am quite mual already.

Where has Anwar been? I bet you that a whole lot of people out there are suspecting that he has sold out the rakyat with UMNO holding him by the balls because of his Sodomy II charges. Can you really blame those who think so. After all, where is Anwar? Since 8 March 2008, he has been talking cock, lost a state, bumbled in Sabah and Sarawak, got himself and PKR (along with PR) into a whole lot of mess and nothing much positive for the rakyat.

Is he really that busy with his case? Or is he so guilty that he has to please UMNO by destructing Pakatan Rakyat?

Whatever it is, it is time for Pakatan Rakyat to get organised. I can't stand disorganisation. There has to be a proper structure for anything and everything to work.

I like things done the corporate way. Take a leaf from Thaksin. He has his issues but you cannot deny that he is one of the best thing that ever happened to Thailand. He ran the country the way he ran his businesses - brilliant!

As such, I believe that PR should be run in the same manner. There should always be a clear leader and I've mentioned this before. But maybe this person should not be Anwar. Yes, remove Anwar as the 'Managing Director' of Pakatan Rakyat. This is my proposed structure:

MANAGING DIRECTOR

The MD should be a person who is NOT a member of any of the 3 of DAP, PAS and PKR. By doing this, the MD will be impartial when it comes to decision making. All decisions affecting PR must be approved and endorsed by the Board (MD + 3 directors). A simple majority suffices. Collective decision is the way to go.

The MD should also be well remunerated from a pooled fund (will come to this later). RM100,000 per month comes to mind. It is a decent amount to live a comfortable life. This amount must be such so as to prevent any 'paid favouritism' - you know what I mean. RM1.2 million per annum may not be a large sum considering what the corrupted government officials can make, but it sure puts off some risk taking (of being caught) as this RM1.2 million is a risk free high paying income. (Singapore is adopting this strategy and I think it is very smart of them).

Who are the candidates? I would like to think that Tengku Razaleigh fits the bill. But that's doubtful. What about Raja Petra? He seems like a good candidate. And potentially Zaid Ibrahim - if and only if he leaves PKR.

And who decides who gets the MD job? That's a tough one. Maybe the 3 parties get to choose by way of vote. Or maybe all registered members of the 3 parties get to vote.

OTHER DIRECTORS

Each component party is given 1 board seat. Regardless of party size or number of state seats or parliament seats held. Why? Because you campaign as PR during the elections and you won the seat because of PR and not because you are DAP, PAS or PKR.

The board member cannot be the leader of the individual party. If you are the head of your party then your job is busy enough. Look at what we have now with Anwar. He is so busy with his case, with 'leading' PR etc. that he has no time for PKR. Anwar should stay focus and look after his upside-down PKR before he attempts to tell DAP and PAS what to do. Isn't that right?

So, 1 seat allocated to each party, and the party representative should be a person with certain level of power within his own party. Say, someone like Karpal Singh of DAP, Wan Azizah of PKR, and Tok Guru of PAS.

Should PR get to form government, should the MD be made PM? Maybe. Maybe not. The candidate could be one of the directors, or he/she could be one of the party heads. But the PM must be decided by PR as part of its election campaign. Voters must know who is the candidate running to lead the country. Let us know beforehand who you have in mind. This must be decided by the MD and the 3 directors so as to prevent unexpected 'problems' on 'unexpected' wins - like GE12. And see, its collective agreement.

DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE

An independent disciplinary committee should be set up to monitor the activities and misbehaviour of all members within PR. Yes, the net is cast wide. This DC is something like the internal audit department. Not very well liked but keeps everyone on their toes. And the members of this DC should not be members of any of the component parties.

The DC has no power to prosecute. And reports directly to the MD. Not the Board because the Board has the 3 party reps. The MD will then decide on if actions should be 'forced' upon the directors to 'clean their house'. This will trap the likes of Hasan Ali and Zulkifli Nordin.

Members of the DC are paid by a pooled fund.

SUPPORTING DEPARTMENTS

Some of the supporting departments that can be created are:

1. Accounts - Ensure that all centralised funds are well managed. The accounts must be audited and made available to the public.

2. Branding and Image - PR is suffering badly from this department because PR is still darn old school. Wake up. This is 2009. Everything is about perception - politics especially. I actually think that Najib is very smart in hiring the professionals for his own branding and image. I still don't like him though. But you cannot deny that this team is doing a good job in making him look good. People actually get convinced by good publicity. The Americans are just darn good at this. And we know Obama spent a fortune on publicity to win his Presidency seat.

3. Strategy & Planning - Enough of listening to Anwar. He is good but he is not Mr. Know All. PR needs a team to cater for PR. Component parties can have their own team but that is for their own purposes. PR as a unit must have its own strategies and plans. Time to rope in the professionals. Time for change. The thing with DAP and PAS is they are still old school. Tweeting doesn't mean that you have moved forward. Having a political blog doesn't make you a changed politician. The mindset must change. How things are done must change. The thought process must change. Did I mention that PKR has to move on from its UMNO style of doing things?

Now how are we going to finance this centralised management team?

POOLED FUND

Each component party must dedicate an amount to the PR central management team for running expenses. What is a good gauge? That depends. We could go based on say RM1 or RM2 per party membership headcount. There may be an issue of party x complaining of paying more due to their broader membership base etc. But PR will just have to learn to live as ONE. Else, what's the difference between PR and BN?

Remember, PR knows no religion or race. So, nothing should be apportioned based on such criterias like what BN is adopting. Leave the BN mentality please.

Fundraising can also be carried under the PR banner. All 3 component parties are allowed to keep all fund raised for own use when raising fund under own banner. But when the banner of PR is used, say 50% of all fund raised must be contributed to the central committee.

So, there you have a very simplified structure for brainstorming. Of course there is room for improvement. This is something I thought off while taking a shower! But it is a start.

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I Want Clean Water

2009-10-26T14:40:00.012+08:00

I've been waiting for reactions. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Nothing happened.

So, it is confirmed that nobody gives a damn about us Malaysians.

I am talking about The Star's report on 21 October 2009 titled 'Operators Fail To Follow Clean-Up Schedule'. Many people I spoke to had no idea what that article was all about. Many missed it because it was carried in the Metro section. But, this is a shocking revelation.

Dear People of Selangor, SYABAS did not wash our reservoirs a single time last year! And a particular treatment plant in Sungai Sireh has not been washed for 10 years. Click here to read more.

And SYABAS had this to say on another report on 23 October 2009, '40 Of 307 Reservoirs Cleaned':

"SYARIKAT Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd. (Syabas) said it had cleaned 40 of the 307 reservoirs in the cleaning programme in 2008 while the rest were rescheduled as the water quality in the reservoirs complied with minimum standards after scheduled inspections."

"He said based on the inspection carried out by the company, only 40 reservoirs needed to be cleaned urgently due to the poor water quality."

"With regard to the other reservoirs, the Government decided to put the programme on hold because in early 2008, the decisions was made to restructure the water sector in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, which led to the freeze of all Capex (capital expenditure) works."

Click here to read more.

Seriously, why do we have to live with this kind of nonsense? SYABAS is contracted to supply us with continuous supply of clean water.

And what? You only clean the reservoir when it is in bad shape? Hello... this is water! A key component of human life. And our health. What on earth are you talking about? Do you take a shower only when you are covered in mud? You have a cleaning program and you stick to it. That is the agreement. We do not want compliance with minimum standards. We want the best quality water money can buy. And that's why we pay you for water usage. And government delays the programme because there is a restructuring exercise? What bullshit is this? And what has capital expenditure got to do with cleaning the reservoirs? Capex is a balance sheet item. Cleaning is an income statement item. You don't have money to buy cleaning equipment? But you've signed up the water supply agreement aeons ago. Are you saying you had never been cleaning the reservoirs from day 1?

How many of us have had to deal with brown water from our tap over and over again? How many of us have had to deal with smelly water from our tap over and over again? How many of us have had to spend money to purchase water filters? Mind you, a good water filter costs a few thousand ringgit. And there's your maintenance costs as well. And we do not even know of the long term impact such filters of sand and charcoal may cause to our health in the long term.

For crying out loud, clean water is a 'given' item. It is one of the most basic of basic human rights. Look at the developed countries. They literally drink right from their tap. Where are we?

What has the Selangor government been doing? What happened to monitoring? The previous state BN government was only interested in taking from us. The present PR government is 'still new', 'inexperienced' and is nothing but a whole load incompetent squabbling fools.

Fellow Malaysians, nobody gives a damn about us. We are like orphans. We are on our own. And I say it is time we all stand up and be counted. They are our servants, not the other way around.

I am toying with this idea. Remember Erin Brockovich? Yes, class suit. Can the rakyat of Selangor who are (obviously) directly affected sue the daylight out of SYABAS? If this can be done, forget about the Selangor government having to buy them out. There will be nothing left by then.

Is there any good lawyer out there who wants to take this up? Can we agree to a success fee of say 10% of compensation? And talking about compensation, I am talking about every ringgit of water charges paid by every water user in Selangor for the past, say, 5 years. Plus, damages and compensation. SYABAS has failed in their duty of care and from the angle I see it, they have breached their contractual agreement to provide continuous supply of clean usable water.

Here is a suggested game plan:

1. Get a lawyer who has the balls to fight against the big boys. Some one who can stand up and live with the potential backlash from those in power.

2. Get a team of professional managers to oversee this project.

3. Start a fund-raising exercise. People of Selangor, this is your fight. And the people of Selangor are the richest in this country (no offense to the others). And in particular the Klang Valley-ites. I am confident we can raise a good few million bucks to keep things rolling. Heck, why not appoint professional fund managers to raise this money. We Selangorians can definitely afford this. The fund raisers get paid on success fee basis. I think a 10% cut is fair. And we will ensure that a Big 4 accounting firm audits the fund. I know for sure that they do many 'community service' audit for free (or a token sum).

4. With this mobilisation fund, engage subject matter experts to study the water system and quality. Don't worry, this will not be a futile exercise. Chances of them returning with nothing to report is as likely as the sun rising from the west.

5. With evidence and studies in hand, it's game on.

6. Our public relations chaps have work to do again. Spread the issue to every corner of the world. Make sure it causes a big hoohah. Make sure it rocks the country. Make sure it reaches the United Nations. With global scrutiny, the issue cannot be buried.

7. We can even hire the Queen's Counsel to advise us. Malaysian law is written based upon the English. And many laws have been in existence pre-1957. Can we have the case heard in some international court? I don't trust our judicial system.

8. Who are the plaintiffs? The rakyat of Selangor. Everyone with a water bill. The lawyers will be given a mobilisation fee from the fund raised to start a signature drive. Sign up and you stand to share the compensation pool (net of expenses).

This is an exercise much practised in developed nations. Why not here? Why are we so fearful to defend ourselves? Why must we continue to live on crumbs thrown out by the government. No, don't wait for Pakatan Rakyat. They are politicians as well at the end of the day. Why can't we start to stand up for ourselves?

I really hope something to this effect can be taken. I am fed up with having to live like a beggar in this country. Why should I compare myself to the Ethiopians or Somalians? Why can't I compare myself to the Swedes or Germans? I deserve more. You deserve more. We the orphans of Malaysia deserve more than this.

There are so much more that we can do. We can take Proton down for selling us suicide mobiles. We can take on PLUS for building killer highways with inferior raw materials. The list goes on. GLCs must be smacked hard right down where it hurts them most, or they will never wake up. It's not easy being a government. Being the CEO of a GLC is much more than pocketing large paychecks. You affect the lives of everyone in this country. We must deliver a strong message to these very people who are making our lives a misery. And they will have to learn it the hard way.

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Banks Stealing Our Hard Earned Money

2009-10-16T23:38:00.004+08:00

Who has tried to get an overdraft facility from a local bank only to be told to place a fixed deposit of similar amount with the bank?

How often have we heard of stories of small time entrepreneurs who needed bank loans to help their businesses only to be turned away because they do not have strong collaterals?

Has anyone who has a business idea but no capital tried approaching our local banks for a start-up loan only to be turned away for having no past track record?

The above are common knowledge among laymen Malaysians. Not to our political leaders though because they are never interested in our welfare and neither are they in touch with reality on the ground. And do not be fooled into believing that only non-bumiputras are faced with the above problems. The available government schemes are not that easily disbursed even to the bumiputra entrepreneurs. Not connected kot...

Malaysian banks are rubbish. From the ridiculously stupid requirement of requiring an introducer to open an account (what the hell for, seriously) to their level of service to the very objective of running a bank.

What are the main objectives of a bank? I will say to accept deposits, and to lend those deposits out for a gain via charging interests.

Are our banks meeting these objectives? Very partially. Accepting deposits - yes. Disbursing loans - no. But yet they are making vulgar profits. Huh?

Our local banks are no longer interested in making money from interests on loan. That's too risky as the loans may go bad. Over a business lunch recently, I took the opportunity to whack a couple of bankers that their bank should cease their operations and look for a new business if they are no longer interested in giving out business loans. (No I was not asking them for a loan). They are simply being overly cautious with their credit assessment. And those 2 idiot bankers had the cheek to ask me how I would feel if I am the one being asked to lend money out. For heaven's sake, I am not in the business of lending money - you are, jackass!

The truth is our banks have no clue what credit assessment is all about. Credit assessment is a difficult task as it requires the assessor to be somewhat of a Nostradamus. But poor skills and lack of capabilities have resulted in lazy approaches to be adopted based on 'policies' created by 'upper management'. It would seem that anybody can do credit application assessment nowadays. Forms have been created. If you meet enough ticks, you get your loan. The bad news is there are no 2 businesses that are the same. 1 simple form is not going to be able to cater for a 'living' entity like a business. How good are these jokers sitting behind the computers in interpreting the profit and cash flow forecasts and projections presented by businesses to the banks? How sound is their understanding of the hundreds of industries out there? Too much effort involved, too much skills required.

Fortunately for our banks, and unfortunately for us, they found a new source of income - service charges. Malaysians are complaining that banks are charging for everything but Bank Negara will not give a damn. After all, they want to keep the banks afloat.

Malaysians are charged like no tomorrow just to use their own money. Your bank charges start the moment you open a savings or current account - admin fee, search fee. Then you get charged an annual fee. Further fees will be charged if you don't maintain a minimum amount. Why? It's my money, why can't I spend it? Farking hell, you even get charged if your account is dormant. If you withdraw money from an ATM of another bank, you get charged RM1. And RM1.50 for internet banking fund transfer. Hello! Didn't I just save you some human effort for going techie? Why RM1.50 per transaction? And a hell lot of other transactions downright to the moment you close your god damn account. Click on any bank's website and look at their long list of service charges.

I really cannot begin to estimate how much our banks make every year from stealing this money from us. Yes, stealing. It is blardie legalised daylight robbery. But what I am sure is that this service charging is a multi-billion ringgit industry. Mind you, corporate accounts get charged much more than individuals. Multi-billion bucks of free income.

The Star reported on 16 October 2009 in the article titled "Public Bank Posts Higher Q3 Net Profit" that:

1. For the 9 months ended 30 September 2009, Public Bank made a net profit of RM1.84 billion
2. Other operating income increased by 10% to RM1.03 billion

What does the above tell you? More than 50% of Public Bank's profit came from non-core business. If that is the case, shouldn't the non-core business of the bank now be called it's core business? After all, Public Bank is no longer earning the bulk of its income from its lending activities.

And I am curious as to how much of this RM1.05 billion is earned from charging service charges.

Something is just not right with the way Malaysian banks are running their business. Consumers cannot be ripped off per the banks' wishes.

Banks have a social responsibility too. That is to move money around the economy. Giving out loans is one important aspect. I understand that giving out loans is risky business. The country's loan system was so poor pre the Asian Financial Crisis that the banks were hard hit. And oh don't we all know of the current Credit Crisis. But understand that these are the results of greedy and unscrupulous banking decisions. In both crises, money was given out like a running tap. There was pretty little credit assessment. And now we have the opposite.

There has to be prudent and sensible credit assessment and not form ticking like what we have now. Seriously, if banks are not willing to put in the effort to earn interest income and yet be able to balance the risks of lending, don't run a bank.

Money has to be earned. If it has to be earned the hard way, then so be it. Our banks are living on free for taking money via imposing never ending service charges. Go back to your core objectives of money lending. If the risks are too much to stomach, then I suggest that the banks look into other lines of businesses. There will be some others who are willing to earn money the hard way.

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Why don't you just shoot yourselves PR

2009-10-16T09:51:00.004+08:00

These people just don't get it do they? For a while we harboured hope that PR would be a viable alternative to the current ever-corrupt UMNO/BN government. But that hope has been dashed by the incessant discord amongst PKR, PAS, and DAP and also within their own parties. The people have had enough of UMNO/BN, and now they have had enough of PR. Why don't you all just shoot yourselves PR! You have proven to be no different from UMNO/BN. Do you really have the rakyat in mind or do you just want to be in power for your own selfish reasons?

Stop the frakking bickering and get your frakking act together for Pete's sake! At the rate you guys are going, I doubt that you can pull it off in the next GE like what you did last GE.

I hope Bagan Pinang was a lesson learnt for you lads and you deserved it. At the rate things are going with you guys... might as well go shoot your frakking sorry selves la.

Spinning The Gasing

2009-10-13T12:04:00.012+08:00

Everyone's talking about how our local medias spin stories, propagandas and what is and what not. How many of you actually understand what a spin is?

Malaysians are a gullible lot. Most buy into anything as long as it is presented in a way which they think carry weight. Which is why professional conmen love Malaysia.

Malaysians are major suckers - skim cepat kaya, MLMs, pyramid schemes, bomoh tipu duit, feng shui master scams etc. are aplenty in Malaysia. (Embarrassingly I form the statistics too). We are so easy that we must be internationally known because even Africans from the most remote part of Africa are making big bucks right here.

Our local medias know us Malaysians best. They put up whatever serves the purposes of their political masters and chances are some Malaysians will fall for it. I have had enough of Utusan - so let us not even give them any form of coverage here. Let us look at Malaysia's best selling newspaper - The Star.

This is what I picked from The Star on their 9 October 2009 edition.

It reads:

PETALING JAYA: A Merdeka Centre poll found that MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat was the preferred choice to lead the party instead of suspended deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.

Almost one third (32.2% ) of the 273 respondents from the Chinese community indicated that they preferred Ong over Dr Chua who polled 5.1%.

Among the 146 Chinese respondents who said they cared about the MCA problem, 60% of them said their choice was Ong while 9.6% wanted Dr Chua.

The Merdeka Centre polled a total of 846 respondents of all races, who were asked for their views about leaders who were corrupt and marred by scandals.

It found that 64% of them strongly disagreed that a leader tainted by sex scandal could lead a major political party while 76% strongly disagreed that a leader charged with money politics in party elections should be allowed to contest in a by-election or general election.

The poll also asked for their perception of the problems faced by the MCA to which 64% of all Chinese respondents felt that it was an internal affair of the party. Asked on their views on MCA’s reforms, 39% of the 846 respondents in peninsular Malaysia felt that its leaders should give priority to resolving the in-fighting.

Another 27% of the respondents wanted the party to focus on regaining the confidence of all Malaysians, while 10% of them wanted the party to win back the confidence of the Chinese community.

The poll also touched on Barisan Nasional reforms, the PKFZ controversy and perceptions of Pakatan Rakyat. The respondents also felt that MCA leaders should concentrate on resolving in-fighting in the party the most.

About 34% of the respondents felt that unless Umno carried out reforms extensively, changes in other component parties would mean little.

..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....

There we have it - a super spin! A spin may not be a lie but is it the ultimate truth?

Page 6 of the country's most read newspaper shouting and rallying for their political master, Ong Tee Keat, that he is the 'preferred' man to lead MCA.

But preferred by whom? One look and you would have thought that the Merdeka Centre has done their survey from all of Malaysia. Before you read any further, be known that I am not challenging the survey or method adopted by Merdeka Centre. The point I am trying to make is on the way The Star spins the survey results. After all, the country's No. 1 newspaper is reporting it.

Now if you read the article, you will find that only 846 people responded to the survey and only 32.2% of the 273 Chinese respondents agreed that OTK is the preferred choice.

We do not know how the 846 respondents responded to OTK being the preferred choice but logic tells me that it is not too good else The Star would have gone to town with it. So, their survey did not turn out to be as what they wanted it to be. What do you do? Look for corners that favor you of course.

The Star decided to show only the portion of the Chinese who responded. It some what achieved some favourable statistics. But what kind of a sample size is 273 respondents? I am pretty sure that it fails all sampling tests requirements. 273 respondents! The country has a population of about 27 million. And they say about 25% are Chinese. That works out to be 273 out of 6.75 million Chinese?

You call that a sampling? Is that good enough data to shout and propagate the way The Star did?

And there was the specific mention of 64% of respondents who didn't feel too much for a sex scandal tainted leader. To report this figure is alright. But what are the other questions posed in the survey? Why not list them all. Is this not called selective reporting?

I don't give a shit about OTK and CSL. And I am not writing about any one of them. My point here is the spin that The Star makes. The above news article is but an example of what The Star is capable of. And I think that this is a bloody good example of a spin.

Please la Wong Chun Wai. Have a bit of dignity and pride la. Some Malaysians may get fooled, but not all Malaysians are idiots. You have turned this newspaper into rubbish. Do you decide what goes on in this paper or is it a collective decision with Clement Hii?

Spinning is dangerous journalism. You cannot say that The Star has broken any law. Neither can you say that they have cheated on the survey. Everything they reported were quite likely to be true. But it is what they choose to report and the manner in which they choose to present them that is morally incorrect.

We Malaysians are a pitiful lot. What is real and what is not in this country? Which is fact, which is a spin and which are wayang kulits?

Come Christmas, I am going to ask Santa for a new laptop. I'll leave him some extra-large cookies from Mrs. Fields to please him. Damn. Better start working on a chimney at home. Not too narrow, I heard Santa is really fat.

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MCA - Tong Tong Cheng!

2009-10-12T15:51:00.011+08:00

Now that the MCA EGM is done and dusted, it is clear who won; Ong Ka Ting and Chan Kong Choy. Even the aunties at the morning market will tell you that they are the 2 behind the '3rd force' who caused the 2 egoistic fools, who challenged each other in a do-or-die battle, to both lose.

I call them fools because they placed their egos above everything else. They have miscalculated their moves. They both thought too highly of themselves. One thought that being President and all he gets the upperhand and can call the shots and play the game from the inside. The other thought that he had nothing to lose and might as well go for broke.

In a game of high stake Baccarat, one placed all his chips on Banker while the other went all-in on Player. But the dealer won with a Tie. None of them are unlucky. The cards have simply been 'fixed'.

I am most pleased that MCA is now in shambles. And what this episode taught us is that Malaysian politicians have again shown that their personal interests are of much more importance than that of the party, party members and the interested general public.

I tell you these 2 jokers really played a bad hand. And they played straight into the hands of Ong Ka Ting and Chan Kong Choy at that. It doesn't take much effort to know why the 2 former MCA taikos would want to kill off Ong Tee Keat using Chua Soi Lek as the bait.

Answer: PKFZ, Ling Liong Sik and UMNO. I will not elaborate on why these 3 put in so much effort to prepare the stage because the answer cannot get any more obvious.

By the way, did you really think that Ong Tee Keat is on leave now to sort out his MCA presidency? He is on leave now to sort out Transport Ministry (and other ministries where he has influence) contracts which he has promised and of which he is a beneficiary. That is why MCA's central committe is only meeting on Thursday. Why would anyone let the party be on auto cruise drift for 6 days? This is Malaysia. Personal interests must be taken care of. Cronies' interests must be taken care of. UMNO's contracts must be taken care of. It will be too late to handle these by the time OTK resigns as MCA President and hence his ministerial position. UMNO and MCA have been working round the clock since Saturday evening to sort out all contracts and have them signed off this few days.

So, what's left for MCA now? Najib, Ling Liong Sik, Ong Ka Ting and Chan Kong Choy need to put a puppet on the pedestal now. But is there still anybody left?

Liow Tiong Lai is leading the race as I had previously predicted. But this guy is so young. How is he going to control the warlords of MCA. (Yes, from this EGM episode, it has been exposed that UMNO is not the only party controlled by warlords). Mind you most of the Chinese who will or may support MCA are most likely to be the elderly. Can this young chap who has never proven anything be able to win the Chinese support back? He is not even doing a good job running his Health Ministry. He handled H1N1 so badly - starting off with lies to Malaysians that the country is safe from this flu. It was like as though Malaysia is on another planet. And we of course know that he got bombarded like a school boy on meetings with top shots of affected industries for his lack of knowledge.

Side track: If Liow Tiong Lai gets to be president, Khairy must be thinking that he can take over UMNO very soon too. I can see Khairy setting up meetings with Omar Mustapha and gang planning their next steps already. Najib, watch out. You are about to get cucuk-ed from the back.

Kong Cho Ha's name has been thrown in as well. Kong who? Not very sure. What does he do at the Housing and Local Government Ministry? Actually, what does that ministry do? Do they have an office even? This is a low profile fellow. Not much coverage of him in the country. Can lead meh? He won't get to make president la. But then again, with UMNO calling the shots, you'll never know.

Malaysian Insider just mentioned Fong Chan Onn??? Hahaha... This guy still around one ah? Where did this former Minister of Human Resources pop out from? Just retire la uncle... By the way, I think he looks like Hong Kong comedian Michael Hui. You think so?

Message

Back to Fong Chan Onn and politics. He had left the scene. If I were him, I'll continue to live at the sidelines. Come on la uncle, nobody hates you now. You've done no major harm to the Malaysian public in general. Lets keep it that way for your own good. Lest you be reincarnated an Indian in Malaysia in your next life. That's from my earlier article, Indians... The Malaysian Pariahs.

And one major name missing from the above is one Chua Jui Meng. No vision la this fellow. He is a politician; so don't come telling me that he left MCA because he saw the good of PKR. Had he not been too greedy, he will be the president come this Thursday. Hahaha... He must be kicking himself now.

It doesn't look like MCA has anyone. Ng Yen Yen is never going to make it in male chauvinistic MCA. Oh I forgot about Ong Ka Ting's elder brother. Never remember his name. Always the MCA President's brother. Hahaha... Ong Ka Chuan. Yes, that's his name. Maybe he got chance also although no longer popular within MCA. Apparently Ah Ting stil got power wor.

So matilah kau, MCA. UMNO is fed up with you and have decided to turn you inside out and upside down. UMNO will do a MIC on you. What will UMNO call the new MCA in BN? They have Makkal Sakthi Party to replace MIC. Fatt Choy Club, anyone?

Indians... The Malaysian Pariahs

2009-10-07T13:10:00.010+08:00

I don't quite believe in reincarnation. I know many of you do but not being a very religious person myself, I still pretty much believe in Stephen Hawking. Anyways, say you believe in reincarnation. Who decides where you get reincarnated? There's the karma system isn't it? Do good this life and you will get a better life in the next. If that is true, then we know that bad people get reincarnated at Indians in Malaysia. If you are born into Malaysia via an Indian womb, you are screwed I tell you. Screwed big time.

It sucks to be an Indian in this country. If you are born an Indian in India, you stand a chance of being born in the north where you may one day be the richest man in the world or you may be born in the south where you will be just... poor. (Ok, that's a generalisation but you get the drift). But if you are born an Indian in Malaysia... aiyoyo...

Look at this article, (Indian) Lady Arrested While Making (Police) Report. For those who are too lazy to read... Plain clothes anti-narcotics police raided Indian lady's house for no reason. Coppers took her pawn papers and her son's PS2. Coppers made the 14 year old son sit in the police van and poked fun at him telling him they will arrest him when he grows up. Indian lady then went to police station to make report and claim back belongings, but they nabbed her because her report will get the coppers in trouble.

That's Malaysia. It doesn't matter if the above story is true or not. It doesn't matter if the woman has some untold stories. The point I am trying to make is if you are an Indian, you are heavily discriminated in Malaysia. Everyone knows that. You know that, I know that.

If you are an Indian, and you kena tangkap masuk balai, your chances of dying in there is higher than any other races. Innocence not important. Type of offence also not important. And the chances are extremely high that you will get bashed up by the coppers if you are an Indian.

1 Malay, 1 Chinese and 1 Indian run out of 7-11. If someone shouts pencuri, the coppers will go after the Indian fella. Guaranteed.

A young Malay drives a Honda with super mods, a young Chinese drives a Honda with blue lights all over and a young Indian drives a plain Honda. The police on a road block will stop the Indian chap and ask for his identification.

A group of 5 Malays travel in a Myvi. A group of 5 Chinese travel in a Myvi. A group of 5 Indians travel in a Myvi. The police at the road block will stop the Indians, make them alight the car, and check all their identifications.

The Indians have a special status in this country - the least respectable category. Nobody gives a hoot about the Indians. Now Samy Vellu is even claiming that MIC's education arm belongs to him personally. Hahahaha... brilliant.

What is so different about the Indians that they deserve this? I have many Indian friends. I have many Indian relatives. Heck, I don't care if they are Indians, they are just my friends and relatives. Some are really intelligent, some are brilliant in the office, some are super polite and soft-spoken, some love to drink (a lot), some are just downright lazy, some are out to make a quick buck out of you, some are perpetual trouble makers, some are religious to the core, some are... I know many Malays and Chinese who are just like that too! Why pick on the Indians?

Just because many of them are poor does not make all of them thieves. Come on, it is no secret that the Indians are the poorest among the lot of 3 although some of them have made in big. But look at the majority. Just because Ananda Krishnan is rich doesn't mean that the Indians are all doing well.

And why are the Indians the poorest of the 3 races in the very first place? Why are they always treated as the anak tiri? The government just could not give a damn about them and many continue to get stuck in a vicious cycle. The Brits brought them over as estate workers. Many are still stuck there. Why? Because they have been continuously denied proper education. Without proper education, how are they going to break out from poverty? But that is exactly what the BN government does not want to do - keep them in the trap. I am willing to put 500 bucks on the table that the poorest kampung of the 3 races belong to the Indians. (For discussion sake, lets exclude the Orang Asli).

How are the Indians going to break away from stereotyping? They can't. It is not them who stereotype themselves, but the society who stereotype the Indians. Unfortunately, racism in Malaysia is getting worse. The real Malaysia is a horrible place to live in. Back in school, nobody gave a flying fark what color your skin is. We were simply classmates, friends.

For now, our Indians comrades will just have to 'just take it all in'. Nobody influential is fighting for them. The Indians are unable to rise in numbers because of fear and lack of knowledge. I guess they will just have to wait for a messiah.

Here's a little for you stereotyping Malaysians out there. According to The Malaysian Society Guide Book:

If you are a Malay, you are lazy, stupid and benefits from lopsided preferences.
If you are a Chinese, you are a gambler and you'll do anything for money.
If you are an Indian, you are an alcoholic and a trouble maker.

This is the Malaysia we live in. 1Malaysia my farking arse!

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Author's Note:

There seem to be some misunderstanding on the use of the term 'pariah'. Certain people may have different understanding of this term. For the purpose of this posting, I am using the generally 'understood' version.

Wikionary has this to say:

From Tamil paraiyar. Parai refers in Tamil to a type of large drum designed to announce king's notices to the public. The people who made a living using the parai were called paraiyar; in the caste ridden society they were in lower strata, hence the derisive paraiah and pariah. Now, the term is used to describe an outcast in English.

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1Leader - DAP & PAS Need To Give Anwar The Mandate

2009-09-25T12:53:00.010+08:00

Aiyoh... I am so fed up with Pakatan Rakyat.

In-fighting, in-fighting and more in-fighting. I've talked about this so many times and I am bored with this topic.

If you have been following this blog, you'll have noticed that I have been quiet for an entire week. I thought that I would have plenty of time to write over the long weekend but was too uninspired to do any writing.

Habis-habis in-fighting in PR. It's so obvious what's going on.

1. UMNO is using Hassan Ali to take back Selangor.
2. Hassan Ali wants to be MB.
3. PAS Pusat is powerless over PAS Selangor.
4. Anwar is at a lost because he can't get PAS top leadership to act.

And while all these are going on, Khalid Ibrahim is too busy stuffing lemang and rendang into his already very big bulging tummy. And he is clueless anyway on what to do. Might as well just eat.

Pakatan leaders, you guys suck! Big time.

You have to stop relying on the rakyat's sympathy and show us some capabilities. Most of us are not your supporters - we are just not that into BN. You can be a lion, a zebra, a giraffe, a hippo and school of penguins for all we care. We merely crossed the other box which does not carry the picture of a scale. Remember this.

Go on like this and you will turn away a lot of potential voters. They may not vote BN but neither will they vote you. PR is not giving anyone any excuse to vote PR in as government.

Discipline is a major issue within PR.

PKR, DAP and PAS have no discipline. No law and order. No rules. Anything goes. Crack the whip for crying out loud. But nooooo... offending so and so will rock the boat. So and so has influence over this camp and that camp. What is the difference between PKR, DAP, PAS, UMNO, MCA and MIC? None. All parties are controlled by warlords.

Rubbish la Pakatan Rakyat. Utter rubbish. PR will not move forward unless law and order are in place. To achieve that, each party must have strong leadership to helm the parties. Being voted president makes you a leader, but it says nothing about you being a good leader. And at the top of the PR triangle must be an ultimate leader who calls the shot.

Anwar is powerless at the moment.

History told us that no war had ever been won without a clear outstanding leader. No corporate can grow and move forward without a clear outstanding leader. For crying out loud, you even need a leader to run a gotong-royong. There must always be a, that's singular, THE ONE. He who is given the mandate by the other leaders must have control over the other leaders who appoint him. Else, how can problems be solved. Else, how else can strategies be implemented?

Ancient Chinese knew this. Ancient Romans knew this. Just because you have a group of people under a tent does not mean you have control over them. What makes the likes of Shi Huang Ti, Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan great were their abilities to control and command the many heads of countries and colonies under them. These 'ancient' buggers knew this. But 'modern' Pakatan Rakyat knows none.

Can the 3 parties honestly mandate Anwar to lead them? Can they mandate Anwar as PR's The One? If not, then PR will be just another one hit wonder. If not, even if PR can form the next government, what can be achieved? What guarantees are there that the new government will not break upon winning? Who ever said that UMNO will tutup kedai the moment they lose GE13? Who ever said that Najib will take a 5 year break the moment BN loses GE13?

PR is not a loose coalition. It is a very loose coalition. There is almost nothing but a 2 alphabets holding PKR, DAP and PAS together. If you guys have no intentions to firm the grip, let us all call it a day - you won't last a month in the federal government even if we give it to you anyway.

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The Star - Good Quality Paper To Tapau Your Roti Canai

2009-09-16T17:17:00.009+08:00

The Star is turning into an absolute shame.

The degradation from bad to worse over the past couple of years is very much in sync with the appointment of Wong Chun Wai as the Group Chief Editor of The Star. In the past, we could forcibly accept that The Star had to be pro-government as they are constantly being monitored post Tun M's Operasi Lalang. The Star is a business; they had to "toe the line" to survive.

But The Star of present has lost its objectives of being "The People's Paper". Wong Chun Wai has forgotten his journalism ethics. And he has taken The Star to an all time low.

The Star is an MCA paper - we all know that. Politics has no ethics - we all know that. Ong Tee Keat and Chua Soi Lek are now fighting for their political survival - we all know that. But there is honour even among thieves. Ong Tee Keat and Wong Chun Wai via and The Star are lower than that.

Wong Chun Wai had used The Star to assist Ong Tee Keat to attack Chua Soi Lek. I don't care who between the 2 political conmen will win the battle, but to attack Chua Soi Lek in this manner is highly unethical.

On Sunday 13.9.09. The Star headlined "Ong: The Truth Will Be Revealed":

Although sacked MCA deputy president Dr Chua Soi Lek has denied forming a new party called Parti Cintai Malaysia, the truth behind it will be revealed in due time.

MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said many people did not believe him when he mentioned the formation of the party last month.

“However, it is now proven that it does exist. You don’t have to listen to me or Dr Chua, but the truth will prevail one day,” he told a press conference after delivering his keynote address at the National Entrepreneurs Convention here yesterday.

On Monday 14.9.09, The Star posted a tiny errata box titled "Ong Did Not Say It":

IN our report Sunday headlined “Ong: The truth will be revealed”, it has been pointed out to us that the MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat did not say what was reported in the subheading “Chua formed a new party last month”.

We apologise for the error.

Hang on. Is The Star telling us that with MCA controlling The Star, The Star is allowed to publish such damaging news about Chua Soi Lek without first getting approvals from Ong Tee Keat and Clement Hii? And if Ong didn't say it then the entire article must have also been somebody's fabrication during his jamban break. Big news do get published easily in The Star eh?! Uncle, you think we Malaysians are that stupid? (Both middle fingers up!)

This is sabotage at the highest order. Ong Tee Keat is using a national paper to sabotage his opponent and Wong Chun Wai is a party to it. How more dirty can you guys get? I don't know if such horribly named Parti Cintai Malaysia exist and neither am I bothered. The point is Ong Tee Keat and Wong Chun Wai pushed their agenda against Chua Soi Lek with what looks like unsubstantiated claims on headlines only to retract it via a small errata the next day. The damage has already been done. And most readers would have missed the errata posting. So so low... So so unethical... It is only in MCA where anything goes. How many other political parties out there will trap their own leader with a spy camera while he shags his girlfriend with porn showing on a laptop? Oh I heard la about the going-ons in the dvd. Not that I've seen the dvd. It's illegal. And I also heard she blew him too. I heard la. Oral sex is illegal in Malaysia, mind you.

By the way, I am not throwing my support for Chua Soi Lek (no way man...) but wrong is wrong.

Why would Wong Chun Wai want to help Ong Tee Keat? I say Wong Chun Wai is simply covering his own arse. This supposedly staunch Christian is willing to sell his soul to the devil just to protect his warm seat at the pinnacle of The Star. Ethics and righteousness can take the seats behind this warm one. Wong Chun Wai has never been seen to be supportive of Chua Soi Lek since his sex escapades first surfaced. In fact, The Star has been far from being subtle about it. I also don't recall there being any support for Chua Soi Lek when he was running for his MCA Deputy Presidency. They instead character assassin him with their constant tagging of him with his baggage. Imagine if Chua Soi Lek managed to out-seat Ong Tee Keat in their fight. I am sure Wong Chun Wai will have to clear his table in no time and take another long leave to Jerusalem. Clement Hii will follow suit but he looks more like the Dongguan or Shenzhen type.

And that's not all with Wong Chun Wai.

Either Wong Chun Wai has a crush on Rosmah Mansor or he worships her. Or maybe he is just a good pet. How else can you explain the daily pictures of Rosmah Mansor in The Star. Yes, at least 1 hideous picture everyday. Many do not realise this but if you do a "Where's Rosmah" in The Star every day, you will know what I am talking about.

And the England. The England. The Star has no quality control. There are so many grammatical errors - even on front pages. I've picked them out so many times. I know the editors can't read all articles but at least have the decency to get your front page right. Imagine foreigners reading this national best selling newspapers of ours. So embarrassing.

And stop copying and pasting an entire article from foreign newspapers. It is common for our newspapers to pull news from foreign newspapers in the global section or international sports section. Sometimes they will simply add "The Guardian reported...". And then the editor stops reading the article. It is horrifying when the article goes on to say "We can confirm that...". Please la. This is a public newspaper. Had your personnel been more diligent, they would have easily picked that up and have it replaced with "The Guardian confirm that...". By the way, is that not plagiarism?

Why I still buy The Star? I have to put it down to habit. A dumb one I should say at the expense of 2 telur separuh masak every day. But I spend less time reading the papers nowadays. I speed through the local section and business, zoom past Section 2, flip pass classifieds and Metro, read the international section, and concentrate on international sports. And not to be missed every Tuesday is a full page of Dilbert.

Greedy Politicians and Policemen Strip You Naked

2009-09-14T17:13:00.005+08:00

This video titled Slovak Sling by Woo Ming Jin is damn farni. It stars everybody's favourite Harith Iskandar as a corrupted politician and Patrick 'Niamah' Teoh as a corruption facilitator (is that the word or should it be 'briber'? Hahaha...).

This video captures the common knowledge of corruption among our politicians and police force and how they (literally) strip you naked with their greed. And the fact that the video involves an illegal dvd peddlar is so Malaysian.

Have a good laugh...

Note: This video is part of the 15 Malaysia project.

...

Sayonara MCA & MIC

2009-09-14T11:53:00.003+08:00

I know Simon has posted a number of articles regarding the jokers in MCA so I won't wanna comment much for fear of stealing his thunder! Haha!

All I wanna say is that I'm sitting by the couch with popcorn on my lap and happily enjoying watching all the drama unfolding. Sure as hell, I wanna catch the slow demise of MCA and MIC and eventually the demise of BN as a whole. Don't wanna miss that for the world.

Well... I don't know how it's gonna end but I sure as hell know that things ain't looking that bright now that UMNO's two biggest allies are clearly not helping to bring in the votes from their respective races. Yay!! Down with race-based politics!!

It's kinda interesting to see all the accusations and counter accusations happening in the MCA. Spill the beans! Spill MORE beans please! Let the people see how you all are a bunch of worthless selfish greedy pigs that you are!

As for MIC... ah... nice show over the weekend with Semi Value still remaining in power. Excellent! More the reason the people should reject you chaps! Ah... whack the government some more during your AGM? Very good! Keep it up! There goes your support base and your 'titties' base because you have been sucking on that UMNO breast for far too long. Time to grow up! Oh... I don't think that term exist in their vocabulary... so I guess that would mean... time to disappear, evaporate, fade away, melt away, vanish, expire, pass away, perish, fizzle out, wane, wither away. You get what I mean ya.

Sayonara MCA! Hasta La Vista MIC!

MCA's Version of "10 Dalil"

2009-09-12T11:15:00.003+08:00

An email titled "An Open Letter To All MCA Delegates" has been in circulation for the past couple of weeks. It sure looks like another 'dalil' letter that seem to be a popular tactic in Malaysian politics.

I am not a MCA supporter. Far from it. I will be a happy person when MCA calls it a day. Based on the in-fighting they are facing now, they should just 'chup lup'. Hahaha...

Anyway, I find the content of the letter rather interesting.

I am reproducing the letter below just as I received it - along with the horrible grammar, spelling errors, messed up sentence structure and all. I thought of correcting them. But the letter is quite lengthy. Impatient me gave up somewhere in 'dalil' number 4. Hahaha...

Enjoy...

---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------

An Open Letter to All MCA Delegates

Ong Tee Keat as President, MCA will Die

Ong Tee Keet was elected as president on 18 October, 2008 but he has done nothing and party is going down the drain fast. The PFKZ issue is just a show to make him look like hero in the eyes of Chinese community to cover up him and his cronies from stealing party assets and cash.

But chua soi lek also not a good alternative because of his sex scandal and will tarnish the image of the party further as a president.

So, MCA delagates – the future of MCA is in your hands. Here is a 10- part series to give you information to save the party from Ong Tee Keat and Chua Soi Lek.

1. Party HQ – revonavation costing party a lot of money. Why?

Did you know that during Tun Ling and Ong Ka Ting’s time, he would not enter the building by the front door because he is afraid of being “pantang by their feng shui”. So he gets his driver to go down to basement and he would come up through the car park lifts. He did this for years so now that he is president he wants to change the feng sui of the party and HQ. Please look at his hand and the number of colourful crystal beads he wears.

He consults many sifus. One sifu told him the council chamber on the 9th was no good so he did the renovation and it cost the party RM800,000. Then another sifu tld him that the renovated council chamber was also not good. So he renovated the 6th floor to become a second council chamber which cost the party another RM550,000.

He also changed the front door, the lobby and other floors were also renovated. He dismantled the internal set of stairs connecting 7th, 8th and 9th floor as well.

The entire renovation work done cost RM2 million.

He also wanted to change the way HQ is being managed by replacing our loyal staff with outside people who do not know anything about the party. They are also not members of the party even. These outside people tell our staff what to write and what not to write. How can?

2. Do you know what is happening inside CC and PC meetings

OTK is first concern is about feng shui. His second concern is his life as minister of transport. He flies here and there using government money and so, he has no time to hold PC and CC meetings.

Remember, he was elected party president on Oct 18, 2008 but the first PC and CC meetings only took place more than a month later. This is because he was badly criticized that he finally held his first PC meeting on Jan 2, 2009 and the first CC meeting on the Nov 11 2008. Now, only after one year, he only hold 6 PC and 5 CC meetings.

Last time, Ong Ka Ting’s years, PC meetings were every Tuesday and sure everybody must come so that can talk about issues to prepare for cabinet meeting on weds. In case party decision is needed. And CC meetings held regularly every month and only once in a while that meetings is ever changed. But for OTK, meetings change all the time until we all “kalang kabut” go here and there because he also like to change place last minute.

3. What happens in Cabinet?

The only leader with some Cabinet experience is Chua Soi Lek but he is very “actsy” and “LCLY” in his body language and he thinks everybody is stupid so OTK don’t like it. So to avoid discussing national matters in front of CSL, he form a Pre-cabinet council. Only Ministers and deputy ministers can come for this meeting. Even the Secretary-general and Treasurer-general are cannot attend the meetings. Is this right? This is not the decision of the PC or the CC but the decision of only a few people. How can this happen?

What is the use? He doesn’t talk inside the Cabinet anyway!! He prefer to fight with Ng Yen Yen like last time when he was youth chief and she was wanita chief.

OTK also don’t read cabinet papers. Only after things are passed in cabinet then only he brings up for CC and PC to discuss. What is the use? Too late!! Also many times he is not in the country travelling here and there with government money so no time to attend cabinet. Now we also know from Kuala Dimensi that he also take private jets and don’t pay petrol.

4. Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon

We also have crouching tiger and hidden dragon. Do you you know where? His name is Clement Hii in the Star. This fellow Clement Hii is from Sarawak and not a member of MCA.

He is now the owner of SEGI college. OTK ask Clement Hii to sack Steven Tan as MD for 20 years, and put Clement Hii as Deputy Chairman. Do you know under Steven Tan, the Star made Rm600million cash? And clement hii and OTK working on how to take out all this money. They want to develop section 13 land now rented out to UTAR for small rental. Clement Hii also used stat cash to inject into loss making companies or his cronies. This bastard clement hii also sacked many good people and management who have work very hard for the company for many years. He even replaced the CEO of 988 with a lady whom she herself was sacked formt he same station many years ago for indiscipline. Now, 988 is receiving many complaints that 988 is becoming a station for OTK.

Clement Hii pay himself RM6.5 million a year and he shares this money with OTK.

The star also owns a house in Bukit Tunku and OTK and Clement Hii has many meetings in this house to plot the future of MCA. Since Star is a PLC, should politicians use the premise for political reasons?

You know how powereful Clement Hii is? Even the treasuere general of the party has to make an appointment to see him and to ask for a board seat for Loke Yuen Yow, our CC member and deputy Sec gen. but Clement Hii rejected him.

Now the star is a laughing stock of the public. So many people say they don’t want to buy the paper anymore because it is the mouthpiece of Ong Tee Keat. It is rumoured that the staff have been told to black out news of other leaders like Ng Yen Yen, Liow Tiong Lai, Wee Ka Siong and Chua Soi Lek.

So Clement Hii is the crouching tiger and OTk is the Hidden dragon and both whacking our party’s money. See Part 6 for details of where the RM10 m went?

During Ong Ka Ting there was a proposal for a Central Board of Trustees (CBOT). If we had this, at least all these can be avoided. With CBOT we could prevent this kind of abuses. So how now, central committee members ?Please wake up and see you mistake! And please do something before its too late.

5. Lim Kit Siang set a trap in PKFZ for OTK

You know how? OTK stupidly took up Lim Kit Siang’s dare and fell deeply, deeply into a tunnel which he himself can no longer get himself out of. PKFZ has been explained already in Parliament four times about the increase in RM4.6 billion. Now he say that he must clean the party of the past because the downfall of Selangor was due to PKFZ. But he thinks we are stupid and forgetful. Actually, the fall of Selangor was because of Khir Toyo’s corruption and his famous brooms. And also Zakaria’s mansion in Klang. PKFZ was not the main election issue like he said now. Now that he has wallop the RM10m he wants to put the blame on everybody like UMNO, Najib, tiong, CSL and also former deputy president to divert attention from his RM10m.

Spin Spin Spin _ that all he knows how to do.

6. So, where is the RM10 million now?

Why does Tan Sri and OTK like to visit Japan so much? Tan Sri Tee has helped to transfer the RM10m to Japan through a Japanese sogashosa closely associated with tan Sri Tee.

It is said that in one bank account alone, between OTK and his wife, they have safe deposits worth a million. It is said that they both receive between RM60-70K a month into their accounts from somewhere unknown.

7. OTK also has deep dark secrets

He likes to sell out friends. TS Lim, a close friend, supporter and advisor for 20 years as well as the former GM of PKA was sacked because OTK has found a new dog to play with – Clement Hii. One person called Tan Sri Ta who supported him when he had nothing – gave him a car and driver so that he could go around campaigning with dignity during his days under Tun Ling. Now Clement Hii told OTK to distance himself from Tan Sri Ta because Tan Sri Ta is a “pai kia” (bad hat).

Despite all the denials and painful pleadings for us to believe him _ yes, he did send his mother off to a home. Nothing wrong if she was well looked after but to deny it?? Why unless it was found that she was badly treated also by her own son?

8. Some more about Clement Hii’s background

Clement Hii’s background as the co-owner of SEGI University College . Back in his hometown in Sibu, Sarawak this boy claims that he was the editor in chief of Borneo Times at the age of 21. Actually, he was just a reporter but made side incomes (huge) by trafficking prostitutes from Philippines to Sarawak. His record still exists in Bukit Aman. He then ran away to the UK and got himself cleaned up by acquiring some sort of degree. Today, he makes money of educating NURSES (of all professions) instead.

He is truly the trouble behind the party’s woes now. He has purposely surrounded and engulfed the President with his own people. The president’s office is surrounded by Clement Hii’s own boys; OTK’s political secretary, Simon Lim ( a lawyer who represents Clement’s companies) and his special officer, Bruce Lim (former lecturer from Segi college). They control the diary as well as the -ins and the -outs of the party president. They record who he sees and where.

The more the party is messed up, the happier Clement is. He has plenty of time to dig the party’s coffers. RM600m cash in The Star– who doesn’t want that?? Members! Please wake up! This is YOUR money being taken away from you by a NON-MEMBER.

9. Chua Soi Lek’s real agenda; so-called resolution of the EGM

Is Chua Soi Lek the savior of MCA? He has been going around on the ground to seek support to push for his EGM – something he has been threatening to do since he never got the minister post. Now he tells the PM and the public that he will not seek ministerial positions but argues that he is the sole viable candidate to depose and take over Ong Tee Keat.

His agenda is simple; take control of the party and all the assets. Same selfish agenda like the present President.

His first resolution is about removing Ong Tee Keat ( ok, we can support that). The rest of the resolution is about removing all party records of his scandal!! What a joke – you think this is China? Removing records by burning bamboo sticks and edicts carved on stones???

Chua Soi Lek is the last man on earth to take over as our President.

10. MCA under MACC investigation

This week, the party HQ is being investigated by MACC. They demanded to know the list of donors as the party president was under intense media scrutiny that he had taken RM10m from the owner of Kuala Dimensi. This is a shameful event for MCA. Who would donate now to MCA? This would impact the states, divisions and branches. Such are the consequences of the president’s exposure of the PKFZ issue just so that he can become a hero for himself. He is clearly destroying the party for his own selfish gain.

Someone should send MACC to investigate Clement Hii and SEGI instead. Your party is being taken over by the BACKdoor! SEGI is an education institution – should it be so involved in politics? Someone should also alert the Securities Commission on this.

What Next?

1. Ong Tee Keat will continually be blaming the party’s past leadership for the a) downfall of Selangor because of PKFZ and therefore he has to cleanse the party of the past; that b) he is the victim of some conspiracy by Chua Soi Lek and UMNO.
2. Ong Tee Keat will continue to harp on suing Kuala Dimensi for accusing him of taking the RM10million. He is now spreading the rumour that the past deputy president has taken the money instead and not him.
3. The Disciplinary Board has already decided on the verdict of Chua’s case even before it even began. So yesterday kena sack already.
4. Chua Soi Lek will retaliate by organizing demonstrations of support and he will push for his own agenda via the EGM, which is devoid of any interest of the party or the BN.
5. Clement Hii will cunningly carry out mergers and acquisitions to suck up the party’s assets while the leaders are busy and distracted by the internal fights.
6. Finally; the party will be split and bankrupt.

What the Delegates must do?

1. Demand for the accounts of the party be tabled at this AGM; provided under the party constitution.
2. Demand that Ong Tee Keat swear (“cham pak kai”) at the Thien Hou temple that he never took the RM10 million.
3. Demand for the resignation of both the president and deputy president because both have tainted the image of the party and its members. Ask for fresh elections of all the central committee meetings. Those who stand the integrity and scrutiny of the members should not fear for they will stand to be re-elected.
4. Those with appointed positions should resign. You are serving the party against your own conscience. You are helping a self-serving president who is out to plunder the party’s assets and destroy the organization.
5. Dato’ Leong Tang Chong – please look after our RM600 million cash in The Star. The onus is solely on you as the chairman of The Star.
6. Tan Sri Tee Hock Seng and Dato Wong Foon Meng – please resign as treasurer general and secretary general respectively, with immediate effect if you have the conscience.
7. Look for fresh team of leaders!!

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...

Hishammuddin Loves His Beer and Women

2009-09-09T17:03:00.011+08:00

Someone emailed me these pictures.

I am unsure of the authenticity of the pictures or if they have been doctored.

Interesting pictures though...

Sham sure looked like he enjoyed his beer... That's an Anchor, right?

So many chicks! Looks like a cool hippy partie... And hey, that's Sham again!

Anchor? What's with the blacked out eyes anyway? These are key witnessess eh... There he is again!

I was told that this is Tengku Marsila, Sham's wife. Somebody's tipsy...

Pakatan, Are You A Bolton or A Man U?

2009-09-08T16:46:00.003+08:00

To win a game of football you have to score. And to score, you will need to attack. Put it simply, you will not win a football game if you defend all 90 minutes. You may get lucky when the other team does a boo-boo and accidentally lets in an own goal but that's by sheer good luck on your side and pure bad luck on the other side.

Let's see some real life EPL examples (or BPL as some call it, but to me, it's the English Premier League, Barclays or Carling or whatever else does not matter).

Bolton has never won the EPL and it is very unlikely that the Trotters will in the near future. The likes of Stoke, the Wolves, the Cottagers etc. aren't gonna lift the EPL trophy either. And who do you see winning the EPL over and over again? (EPL i.e. post creation of the Premier League). The Red Devils, the Gunners and the Blues.

(Note: The red side of Liverpool is an anomaly of the highest order.)

What is the difference between the teams above who win the EPL and those who don't? Glaringly, the likes of United, the Gunners and Chelski play attacking football. They attack and attack all through their games, And mind you, it is not only their strikers who are good; the attacking concept is well-oiled through the team. From van der Sar throwing a quick ball to Evra, who accelerates to midfield, who then passes the ball to lightning quick ol' Giggsy, who then squares the ball to Wazza for a ding over the opposition goalkeeper.

If you don't attack, you don't score. If you don't score, you don't win

Football is life! And as such, everything in football can be related to real life; politics included.

Pakatan Rakyat, learn from Sir Alex, Arsene and (once) the Special One. If you don't attack, you don’t win. I see this as a problem with PR. PR is now a Bolton. PR won promotion to the Premier League. But will PR win the EPL defending, defending and defending. All these defending while the Chelski of BN with all the money continues to pump in money to attack, attack and attack.

PR, you've got to do an Arsenal of 03/04 - The Invincibles - the team who won the league unbeaten. To me, that's the best team in the history of the EPL. Being a United fan, that statement pains me but it carries a lot of weight. Brilliant attacking play. Do you, PR, want to defend your 5 states all the way til the next GE? You've already lost Perak. (By the way, just continue sniping at them. Why let Zambry and gang rest?) And BN is attacking you non-stop; putting in red-card harsh tackles in Selangor but still getting away because the referee has been bought.

Start attacking now. Terengganu looks weak. Their defenders are no longer in sync with the goalkeeper. Why are you still passing the ball around on your side of the field? Attack them now! Get the cross-overs. And then do the right thing, please. Dissolve the state assembly and get a fresh mandate from the rakyat.

Negeri Sembilan looks like another potential. Bagan Pinang is not a good ground to attack - the game starts with a 0-1 (5,000 guaranteed postal votes out of 15,000 registered voters). But this is 1 state where it is do-able.

Johor and Pahang may be tough. But attack all states. Melaka. Sarawak. Sabah (ok... this is like playing against Real Madrid but with the right strategy...).

Get more states between now and the next GE. You may not be successful at all attempts but at least BN is kept busy defending for once as opposed to now where BN is attacking while PR is defending. You've got to counter-attack them now. Do you want to win the Malaysian Parliament League?

If you attack them relentlessly, you have already won the psyche battle. Their ADUNs and MPs are weak on their own. All of them have baggages. Find their weaknesses and bring them down. You may not have the referee, linesmen or even the ball boy with you, but you have the spectators on your side. Politics is dirty. So play dirty. Dive in the penalty box if you have to, but don't get caught! Remember the United-Arsenal match in season 04/05 when United roughed up Jose Antonio Reyes so badly that he was never the same player again after that game? United won the game and ended The Invincibles’ unbeaten streak continued from the previous season. Look at Drogba, Essien and Ballack week in week out. Sometimes you just have to play dirty to win (especially against dirtier opponents and bias officials).

I know many of you PR fellas aren't that smart in reading between the lines. In the previous paragraph I basically said: Do a Perak on them. Blackmail them. Force them to resign or frog over. Anything goes. Do things at the back, but maintain your cleanliness in the eyes of the public. And do things with a bit of class, please. Maintain good perception; we need not know what goes on in the kitchen of a restaurant. Then go back to the rakyat for a new mandate.

To you holier than thou out there reading this, there is no morals in politics la ok. And ethics are kept somewhere at your lower back somewhere near the end of your spine. If you can’t stand being wily, I suggest you play congkak or 5 stones.

And dear PR, while you keep BN's state machineries busy with your attacks, attack their MPs. That's like the Champions' League. Can you do a Manchester United of 07/08 winning both the EPL and the Champions League. You need a big squad and a good manager. You need to be technically and tactically sound. Strike them when they are too busy. Strike them when they are spread too thin. Strike them when they are over-whelmed with distrust among themselves. But you need to first be on the offensive to create chaos among them. Be offensive. They have already started all the above against you. Are you just gonna defend or are you gonna counter attack them? Learn a trick or 2 from Man U. Watch Brazil play.

Saudara Anwar, enough of defensive football. 5-4-1 is not going to win you anything. 5-1-3-1 may get you somewhere. I say go for a 4-4-2. Attacking football is your best way forward. But remember to go back to the rakyat for a fresh mandate. We will give it to you.

Squatting Monkey, Jumping Lembu

2009-09-07T14:55:00.010+08:00

I cannot imagine any decent Malaysian who is not angry with the entire cow head fiasco. From the act of brandishing the severed cow head, the down right stupid and irresponsible statements of Hishammuddin Hussein (and Khir Toyo) down to the 'dialogue' held with the so called residents of the Section 23 Shah Alam.

This has been an embarrassing episode in the evolution of mankind. And to the Malay race in particular.

I find it hard to keep my anger away with this stupid issue. Yes, stupid. Stupid because - what is the real issue behind this issue?

I am not a religious person. In fact, I can hardly associate myself strongly with any religion. Maybe I simply have not receive the calling. And as such, I don't usually like to write on religious matter. But I will make an exception. And being a person who is indifferent towards all religions - Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Sikh - I think I can present a non-interested party point of view on this stupid stupid issue. And I believe that many Malaysians out there share my point of view.

(Oh because religion is sensitive and sacred, I will watch my choice of words. I'll try real hard not to swear. Damn!)

According to all sources, the Muslim residents are against the building of a Hindu temple so close to their residence. Ummm... what's the problem? What is so wrong with having a place of worship of another religion close to your house? Or next to your house?

Mr. Home Minister said that having a Hindu temple close to the homes of the 'majority Muslims' makes the Muslims uncomfortable? And he can relate to their predicament.

How does a Hindu temple nearby make a Muslim uncomfortable? Do you develop a rash? Do you get constant headaches? No, you don't. So what is so uncomfortable?

I simply cannot comprehend what is going on in the minds of these Muslims of Section 23. I believe that Islam is a beautiful religion (or way of life as some will like it to be called). I am no Islamic scholar but logic tells me that Islam has to be good or else it cannot be the most popular religion on planet Earth.

And I need not be an expert of the Quran to say that there will be no where in the Quran where you will find that the Quran calls for Muslims to stay far away from the place of worship of another religion. If you believe that there is one, then you have interpreted the Quran wrongly. Very very wrongly. Or you have been grossly misled by someone else. I know for a fact that Islam calls for fostering of closer and stronger relations among mankind. I do not believe that a holy book will preach negativities among mankind.

How can Muslim kids playing at the playground near a Hindu temple make the Muslim parents uncomfortable? There are no monsters in the temples you know?

Are they afraid that having their children growing up near a Hindu temple will see the children taking a likeness towards Hinduism? I hope this is not true because if it is, then these people are poor Muslims who do not really believe in their religion. Do you not have faith in your own religion? Do you have such little faith in your own believes that you see your own children being swayed into the arms of another religion simply because of the presence of another religion nearby? For crying out loud, this is not what religion is all about. Your faith and your believe is what is in you and not what you appear to be or not how you act or what you call yourself or how you name your descendants.

Your faith, and the religion you profess, is a spiritual connection between you and your god. And I belief that this is one critical factor that is missing from the mass of 'religious' people today. Most people who claim to be religious have no inkling of what their religion is all about. And I am not talking about Muslims only.

Our makers (if you believe in one) give us this complex object placed right at the top of our heads called the brain. This object, which is alien to many, has many functions and one of its major functions is to help us think. Evaluate subject matters. Process logic. Understand and interpret matters affecting us, surrounding us. Try using it sometimes.

Honestly people...

How does taking a step into a Buddhist or Taoist temple make you a lesser Christian?

How does reading a Christian bible make you a lesser Hindu?

How does having a Hindu temple near your house make you a lesser Muslim?

Hishammuddin, Can You Stomach The Repercussions?

2009-09-02T23:16:00.005+08:00

Hishammuddin Hussein, are you very sure of what you are doing? Do you have what it takes to live with the repercussions of the words you uttered today? You have better realise that you have set a very dangerous precedent today.

Here are extracts (from Malaysian Insider) of what Sham had to say.

On the use of a cow’s head during last Friday’s demonstration:

They, the organizers, … didn’t even know that somebody was going to bring the head of the cow during that demonstration.

On why police allowed the 50 demonstrators to proceed without interruption:

Hishammuddin told reporters that the police allowed the demonstrators to proceed because the numbers of protestors were small.

Put is simply, this is what Sham has to say:

1. Pleading ignorance will get you out of trouble with the government and police. And the ISA is dead.

2. Any gatherings with head counts numbering 50 and below will be allowed from now onwards. No permit or permission required to be applied from the authorities. Again, the ISA is dead.

I did not come up with the above. Hishammuddin Hussein did.

In the future, should any group of less than 50 people gather outside a church and burn the bible at its footstep, no action can be taken by the police and government authorities. Those who gather can simply plead ignorance of the intention of someone to burn the bible and they will be let off scot free. Hishammuddin, are you going to be responsible for any repercussions?

In the future, should any group of less than 50 people gather outside the Kuan Yin temple and bring along, yet another, cow’s head, step and spit at it, no action can be taken by the police and government authorities. Those who gathered can simply plead ignorance of the intention of someone to bring the cow’s head and they will be let off scot free. Hishammuddin, are you going to be responsible for any repercussions?

In the future, should any group of less than 50 people gather outside a mosque and bring along a pig’s head, step and spit at it, no action can be taken by the police and government authorities. Those who gathered can simply plead ignorance of the intention of someone to bring the pig’s head and they will be let off scot free. Hishammuddin, are you going to be responsible for any repercussions?

In the future, should any group of less than 50 people gather at Wisma MCA and bring along a keris, wave it, kiss it and call for the keris to be soaked in Chinese blood, no action can be taken by the police and government authorities. Those who gathered can simply plead ignorance of the intention of someone to bring the keris and they will be let off scot free. Hishammuddin, are you going to be responsible for any repercussions?

In the future, should any group of less than 50 people gather outside UMNO’s HQ, PWTC, and bring along a full size roasted pig, chop it and feast on it at the doorstep of PWTC, no action can be taken by the police and government authorities. Those who gathered can simply plead ignorance of the intention of someone to bring the pig and they will be let off scot free. Hishammuddin, are you going to be responsible for any repercussions?

Hishammuddin Hussein, you have set a precedent. A very dangerous precedent. This is what happens when you choose to effect the law based on your whims. How are you going to justify taking action against 1 scenario but not against another? You are simply making life impossible for yourself, you idiot. Your myopic action today will only throw the country into further lawlessness. A law is only good when it is consistently applied. But what do you know about the law? What do UMNO and BN know about the law?

You are a dirty politician who has a set of laws for UMNO and another for the rest of Malaysia.

You are a racist who has a set of laws for your band of fanatic Malays and another for the rest of Malaysia.

You are a coward who has a set of laws for your band of extremist Muslims and another for the rest of Malaysia.

If I were a politician, I’ll be ashamed of you.

If I were a Malay, I’ll be ashamed of you.

If I were a Muslim, I’ll be ashamed of you.

Shame on you, Mr. Home Minister. Shame on you.

You are the Home Minister and it is your duty to preserve law and order in this country. Instead you along with Musa The Terrible are screwing us rakyat left, right and centre. How did a job this important land on your laps? You just do not have it within yourself to stand up for what is right and reject what is wrong. We, the rakyat, do not need a leader like you.

You are a finished article as far as I am concern. You will not get the vote of any Malaysian Chinese. You will not get the vote of any Malaysian Indian. And the best part is, the majority of Malaysian Malays will not vote for you.

Start scouting for yourself a cosy beach home in the Pacifics with the money you robbed from us. Your days are numbered.

By the way, I wore black on Monday 31 August, did you?

Places of worship

2009-09-01T17:06:00.001+08:00

By Syed Akbar Ali

Many, many years ago circa 1997 when I wrote a column in The Sun newspaper, I wrote once about our temples, mosques and other places of worship getting too noisy. My article was reproduced by some nut from PAS in the Harakah or somewhere. He was asking people to get angry at me.

At that time we lived on a 17^th floor condo in Pantai Hillpark. Nine years before in 1988 my wife and I (with our baby son) lived for a while in a rented flat in Subang Jaya.

In both places we lived close to mosques and suraus. In Subang Jaya there was a surau immediately behind our flat. Early each morning about 5 a.m. they would start blasting the chanting and recitations etc on their loudspeakers. Our baby son would start crying from his sleep.

(Most recently my good friend Jahamy keeps sending me smses at about 6:00 am in the morning. When I asked him why so early, he said there is a masjid nearby which wakes him up too!)

In Pantai Hillpark, the local mosque would have their ceramah – sometimes up to 9 pm and beyond. Even 17 floors up the condo and some distance away, we could hear their chatter.

I also worked at Maybank (Menara Maybank, Jalan Tun Perak). In the evenings after work, my colleagues and I would sometimes adjourn for tea at our foodcourt. Just nearby, as you come up the small road from Jalan Pudu, there is a Hindu temple at the corner. In the evenings this little Hindu temple would incessantly ring its very loud bell. It used to really rattle my ears. I would have to strain my ears to hear my friends talking.

In other countries you keep your noises inside your temples, churches and mosques. I think that is a very Islamic and civilized thing to do. In Germany church bells can only be heard inside their own walls and not beyond their compound. Neighbours have a right to complain about noise pollution from church bells. The same applies to the call for prayer or azan from mosques in Germany. All sounds must remain within the four walls of your place of worship.

I am sure if there are Hindu temples in Germany, their bells must also abide by the same rules. Its called curbing noise pollution.

Here I would like to point out that the loudness of the ceramah at the mosques or the loudness of the call to prayer has got absolutely nothing to do with their religious fervour.

Instead it has got everything to do with the inventive genius of “kafir” sound engineers in Sony of Japan or Samsung of Korea. As the “kafir” Japanese and Korean sound engineers become more inventive, so do the mosques around the world become louder. The religious fervour is not linked to the faith but to the power of the latest sound systems from Sony, Samsung and LG.

The relevant question to ask would be : what kind of religious fervour is that?

To be true to the faith, the call to prayer should be made using the human voice alone, unaided by 100MW or 250MW “Made In Japan” loudspeakers.

I really feel that all our places of worship inside Malaysia (of all religions) must be governed by zoning laws pertaining to noise pollution. Keep it down. Don’t make noise and disturb the neighbourhood.

My view is also that compared to our population now - there are far too many mosques and suraus, far too many temples and far too many churches in our country. There are thousands of Hindu temples, there are far too many suraus and mosques being built and there are also too many shophouses being converted into churches. The Calvary Church people are building a huge RM160.0 million worship centre close to my house in Bukit Jalil. Do we really need so many places of worship?

If you go to Kuala Kubu Bahru, they have built a huge mosque in the town. I think this mosque can accommodate all the inhabitants of Kuala Kubu Bahru town, including the non Muslims. It rarely has a full house in the congregation.

In Putrajaya the immensely beautiful Putrajaya Mosque also suffers emptiness most of the time. Only on Fridays and the Hari Raya there is a large congregation. On other days few people attend this mosque. Yet just about a kilometer away the latest testimony to religious hubris – a spanking new RM200 million stainless steel mosque also known as the “Masjid Besi” - with a capacity of 20,000 worshippers - has just been opened. This “masjid besi” is going to remain empty too.

But the saddest of all mosques is the huge and beautiful mosque that has been built just outside the KLIA. You cant miss it when you drive to the KLIA. The huge mosque stands alone with hardly anyone stopping over for prayers. It is totally out of the way.

I was in Kedah, driving through the gorgeous paddy fields beyond Alor Setar when suddenly out of the green paddy loomed this huge brand new yellow painted mosque with a huge dome. I am sure that mosque too could also have absorbed all the men, women and children in the surrounding village and still have space to spare.

There is a reason why mosques are getting so huge and so many. They are lucrative construction contracts – Government contracts. So if you are a local politician and you need to pass out some goodies in your precinct, a mosque contract would do the job just right. Plus the bigger the mosque the better it is – and who will dare oppose the building of a larger mosque because building mosques begats ‘pahala’ or blessings.

And unfortunately many mosques have now also become a rebut kuasa place for the political animals who wear turbans and gorilla facial hair. They use the mosques to sow hatred and divide the community further. Here are some interesting verses from the Quran.

Surah 9:107 “There are those who abuse the masjid by practicing idol worship, dividing the believers, and providing comfort to those who oppose GOD and His messenger. They solemnly swear: "Our intentions are honorable!" GOD bears witness that they are liars.”

Surah 9:108 “You shall never stand in such a masjid. A masjid that is established on the basis of righteousness from the first day is more worthy of your standing therein. In it, there are people who love to be purified. GOD loves those who purify themselves.”

The same goes for temples and churches. Temples and churches also generate ‘money’ at the donation box. They provide other “services” like solemnizing marriages, “blessing” babies, blessing a new car, blessing a new business premise etc etc. All this generates money. That is indeed a powerful aphrodisiac to lord it over the worshippers. Temples and churches are not exempt from feuds, squabbles and fighting over money.

Religion does divide people. This is a scientific fact. It is a necessary requirement for religion. If you join one religion, you must leave another. It is mutually exclusive. If you accept one type of holy spirit, then all the others must become unholy. You simply cannot have two holy spirits. They would start arguing with each other.

No apologies offered but these views of mine do not extend to the “deen” of Islam of my choosing – “deen” being a way of life. I am referring to the Islam that is kept safe and secure in the Quran. I am happy to note that even the non Muslims have begun to understand what is in the Quran and use the knowledge to good effect.

Recently a Guna something being an Editor of the Star wrote an article about the Karthika Dewi Shukarno affair. Guna wrote that the ‘scholars say that the Quran does not prescribe any punishment’ for consuming alchohol.

I am glad that Guna knows the content of the Quran pertaining to punishment and consuming alchohol. I also hope he will get to know much more about the Quran. This is useful information.

The Islam that I have come to know and appreciate is the same Islam that compels me to write these views today about mosques, churches and temples. The Islam that I have come to know is far removed from the hate and divisiveness that is ordinarily potrayed on tv and in the media (and also in Shah Alam on Friday).

I am a Muslim. I am NOT one of them (or maybe one of YOU).

“Religion” (as opposed to the “deen” or way of life of Islam) is indeed the opium of the masses. Religion has too often been thwarted to become one of the most divisive forces ever created by mankind. More wars have been fought over religion and more people have been killed over religion than anything else. Religion is like radioactivity. You touch it you sure “kena”.

If we claim to be sensible people all of us must seriously consider if we really need any type of too intrusive (or pervasive) religion in our lives?

Ponder the following. Compare spending one hour in your place of worship with spending one hour in the library. Compare spending an hour in “devotions” with an hour taking a brisk walk. Compare spending an hour listening to a religious sermon with an hour listening to classical music or listening to a professional speaking about something useful.

Now please answer me this:

Which activity can lead you to carrying a severed cow’s head to insult someone ? Which activity can lead you to say that your neighbour believes in unholy spirits?

Which activity can lead you to be inconsiderate of your neighbours right to peace and quiet?

Which activity can lead you to hate your fellow man based on caste or sect?

Which activity would cause you to like or dislike a person because of his dietary preferences (pork or non pork eating, beef or non beef eating, vegetarian or non vegetarian)?

Do answer honestly. I hope it will help you get a better idea of the common variety of “religion”.

As I said before, I am a hardcore, fundamental, extremist Muslim. So to end this, here are some quotes from my favorite book the Quran :

Surah 9:31 “They have set up their priests and religious scholars as lords, instead of GOD. Others deified the Messiah, son of Mary. They were all commanded to serve only one god. There is no god except He. Be He glorified, high above having any partners.”

Surah 9:34 “O you who believe, many religious leaders and preachers take the people's money illicitly, and repel from the path of GOD. Those who hoard the gold and silver, and do not spend them in the cause of GOD, promise them a painful retribution.”

How true. Sadaqallaah – God has spoken the truth.

The Myth of a moderate Malaysia

2009-09-01T11:11:00.000+08:00

by Sadanand Dhume

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31 — Taken together, these cases illustrate two issues — both central to the debate about Islam and modernity--that Malaysia is struggling to come to terms with. Can a Muslim majority live with a non-Muslim minority as equals, or must the former be explicitly dominant--in law as well as in day-to-day life? And can Muslims reconcile piety with a culture where the rights of the individual (say, to order a beer) are given precedence over communal beliefs?

If you’re looking for an image that captures the conflict between fervent Islam and basic human decency, look no further than the Malaysian city of Shah Alam, about 15 miles west of Kuala Lumpur.

On Friday, a group of about 50 men, agitated by plans to relocate a 150-year-old Hindu temple to their neighborhood, made their feelings clear by staging a protest march from a mosque to a government building.

Amidst the usual cries of “Allahu Akbar” and “takbeer,” the protesters deposited the freshly severed head of a cow — an animal sacred to Hindus — before the building’s gate. The group’s leaders made threatening speeches and, perhaps caught up in the spirit of the moment, hammed it up for the cameras, stepping and spitting on the cow’s head. The police — who have been known to arrest people for such crimes as attending a candle light vigil or wearing black in support of the opposition — stood by and watched.

Ironically, those scanning the globe for a Muslim-majority country that inspires neither dread nor despair often alight upon Malaysia. Until a few years ago, the Southeast Asian nation boasted the world’s tallest building, the iconic 88-story Petronas Towers. Powered by electronics, palm oil and petroleum, Malaysia is the world’s 20th-largest exporter, ahead of Sweden, Australia and India. Per capita income, about US$14,000 (RM49,400) in purchasing parity terms, is about the same as in Argentina. Apart from the obvious prosperity of downtown Kuala Lumpur, the casual visitor notices the comforting trappings of a British colonial past — a parliament, a judiciary, a professional police force.

But most strikingly, Malaysia (along with next-door Indonesia) can claim something increasingly rare in the Muslim world: a large non-Muslim population. About four in 10 Malaysians are Buddhist, Christian, Hindu , Sikh or Confucian. (By contrast, Turkey, the poster-child for an Islam at peace with the 21st century, is 99.8% Muslim.) Recognising the power of this statistic in our multicultural age, Tourism Malaysia promotes the country’s allegedly harmonious blend of Malay, Chinese and Indian communities with an odd but nonetheless catchy slogan: Malaysia, Truly Asia.

The reality, of course, is a lot less sunny. Unlike neighbouring Singapore, which shares the same colonial past and ethnic mix — albeit with a Chinese rather than a Malay majority — Malaysia has rejected secularism in favour of a kind of ethnoreligious apartheid that belongs more in a medieval kingdom than in a modern democratic republic.

In Malaysia, Islam is the state religion. Higher education, the bureaucracy and vast swathes of the economy are operated as a kind of spoils system almost exclusively for Malays, whom the state defines as Muslim. Race and religion determine everything from your odds of getting into medical school to the amount you’re expected to put down for an apartment.

The conversion laws, based on sharia, bring to mind the Eagles’ classic “Hotel California”: You can check in (to Islam) any time you like, but you can never leave.

Over the past 30 years, encouraged by the government and influenced by the Middle East, Malaysia’s growing prosperity has gone hand-in-hand with a heightened piety. But instead of making the country more humane, this has had the opposite effect. Friday’s protest was part of a larger pattern. A 32-year-old Malaysian Muslim model, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, faces a sharia-prescribed caning, suspended at the moment on account of Ramadan, for the crime of drinking a beer. Muslims have been barred from a Black Eyed Peas concert next month sponsored by Guinness.

Two years ago, a Muslim-born woman, Lina Joy, failed in her famous eight-year quest to convert to Christianity to marry the man that she loved. (Interfaith marriages are forbidden.) In another high-profile case, Revathi Masoosai, a practicing Hindu, was forcibly separated from her husband and infant daughter and sent to a religious re-education camp after it was discovered that technically she had been born a Muslim.

Taken together, these cases illustrate two issues — both central to the debate about Islam and modernity — that Malaysia is struggling to come to terms with. Can a Muslim majority live with a non-Muslim minority as equals, or must the former be explicitly dominant — in law as well as in day-to-day life? And can Muslims reconcile piety with a culture where the rights of the individual (say, to order a beer) are given precedence over communal beliefs?

To be sure, not all Malays, perhaps not even a majority of the sharia-minded, approve of the acts of boorishness committed in the name of their faith. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has ordered police to take action against the Shah Alam protesters, and members of parliament have cut across racial and party lines to condemn the incident. The

English-language Malaysian blogosphere is alight with outrage, much of it Muslim. Nor are questions about secularism and individual rights absent in non-Muslim societies. In recent years, thuggish Hindu groups have developed a penchant for roughing up women in bars and castigating young couples for the high crime of celebrating Valentine’s Day. America has yet to come to terms with a woman’s right to an abortion.

Nonetheless, only in Muslim-majority lands are religious bigots given such broad leeway by their secular co-religionists. An Indian feminist is apt to laugh in the face of a pious Hindu who tells her that gender relations need to be ordered by the ancient laws of Manu. In America, the so-called new atheists — most prominently Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins — don’t need to think twice about ridiculing religious beliefs or savaging the most powerful priest or pastor.

But in Malaysia, as elsewhere, secular liberals tend to tip-toe around Muslim religious sensibilities. They wield the word “un-Islamic” as an insult rather than as a compliment. Unless this changes, unless Malaysians can find a way to treat Islam like any other set of ideas, scenes like those in Shah Alam on Friday aren’t about to disappear. — Forbes