We are in Malaysia, aren't we? (2)

On Wednesday, at the Simpang Renggam detention camp two of its younger inmates were involved in a fracas. Senior inmates helped resolved the differences and calm the situation – all was under control.

Two hour later, an unspecified number of warders attacked around 40 inmates in the camp afternoon leaving scores injured. Initially the detainees were made to squat; then they were pulverised.

A malaysiakini source said: “They [the wardens] used rattan canes and batons. Some of us were beaten until we vomited. Others could not walk as their bones were broken.”

Beaten until bones were broken?

He continued: “Normally, they would call detainees in for questioning to find out about any fights that have taken place, but not this time.”

“This is a Pusat Pemulihan Akhlak (Moral Rehabilitation Centre) but they treat us worst than animals. Kita langsung tidak boleh baik. Depa buat kita lebih teruk. (We can’t be better persons like this. They make us even worse).”

16 detainees were given out-patient treatment at the Kluang Hospital on Wednesday evening following the incident. The New Straits Times reported that one inmate, S Selvam, suffered a broken hip.

Naturally the detention centre authorities could not be contacted for comments.

Meanwhile, over at Kampong Serampang Indah, things weren’t all that ’indah’ because an Indian Malaysian family were found to be in modern day bondage - meaning they were treated like slaves.

malaysiakini reporters traced the members of the family to a Felda plantation in Triang, Pahang, less than 200km from Kuala Lumpur.

Their plight reminded me of an old movie show, which was fiction of course, but the Malaysians’ story weren’t.

In that movie, set in the southern USA, in a remote farm, white thugs held Mexican workers as virtually slaves, to work at a vegetable farm. Whatever little money they were supposedly to receive for their work, conveniently disappeared to settle mysterious ‘expenses’ they had incurred, which of course was worked out by the white boss, at his whims and fancies.

Each week, the workers became more and more in debt even as they worked harder and harder. Those who refused to work were either beaten up or ‘disappeared’ mysteriously. The good looking females were raped and ravaged by the white boss and wardens.

Well, fact is stranger than fiction because, save for the ‘strange disappearances’ depicted in the movie, all those draconian punishments and oppression were alleged to have happened to the Malaysian family.

BTW, just as a reminder the alleged case (not the movie story) occurred in Malaysia – yes, where we live.

So there we are - we have, all alleged of course, government thugs beating up inmates at a detention centre until bones were smashed, and a Malaysian family or perhaps even families treated like slaves and beaten up from time to time by the 'boss'.

Oh, not to forget, early last year I posted Rela-gate! Do we have Warlords?, where I highlighted the plight of a group of Indian nationals contracted to work here.

When they were short changed (not paid, etc) by their employers, and sought help from the Indian High Commission about their plight, a group of Rela personnel suddenly arrived outside the gates of the Hi-Comm and started bashing the Indians.

Despite Hi-Comm officers rushing out to inform the government thugs that the Indians possessed work visas, those Rela blokes continued to beat the hell out of the visitors, before dragging them away to the Lenggeng detention camp.

All the above incidents involved Indians, with the police strangely silent.

But that’s hardly surprising when in January last year I posted Police has done it again where I wrote:

“An Indian couple was forcefully dragged away by several men on some pretext. They bashed the husband and repeatedly raped the wife through the night. When the couple was eventually released the following day, they went to report the rape to the police in Brickfields.”

“Then our wonderful police did what we, knowing them, would have expected them to do. The police instead arrested them for overstaying in Malaysia and dumped them in the Sungai Buloh prison. Isn’t that just great?”

“Hellooooo – the couple have been the victims!”

We are in Malaysia, aren’t we?

Related:
We are in Malaysia, aren't we?

Lakhbir Singh replies!

Dear Kaytee,

Ji, you bloody rotten ar$*h()le. You will never change, will you? My father warned me years ago to watch out for that naughty 12-year old Chinese boy, namely you! Then you had the bloody cheek to inform the old man you wanted to marry his 19-year old daughter – hehehe!

Mum and Saroj thought you were sweet and cute in your infatuation with sis. KNN, you didn't even have pubic hair and you wanted to marry Saroj; and boy, was the old man pissed off with you – I told you my dad wasn’t one to take jokes but mind you, you weren't joking as well.

Anyway, what the f**k is this blogging bullsh*t on the long & short of 'tambis', where you questioned the countrymen’s size. The moment I landed in Penang, my brother (with a bloody grin) told me to read Kaytee’s posting.

That writeup has been an insult to your blood brother, moi.

Remember when we were kids and we sneaked unauthorised into the quarry for a dip in their pool. Yeah, trust you to drag me into your illegal forays in the village (as dad warned me), and of course you had to bring along two ah moi's. I can't even recall their faces but one did look rather sweet. Weren't they the farmer's teen daughters, you know the one whose rambutan trees we raided every year until we left school for KL? .

Many people thought (and probably still do) you were shy but only I know the devil you were and undoubtedly are. And there we were by the pool where none of us had any swimmers, and it had to be you to suggest we skinny dipped.

I knew you manipulated the two lassies into that situation, angling to get them to strip. I have to admit I was highly embarrassed, mind you, not that I was worried about my … er … size.

I knew those girls were curious about how big the ‘Bengali’ one would be, and while they were staring unabashedly at me, waiting for me to remove my undies (no bloody way), you exploited the opportunity to quietly strip to your birthday suit behind their back and jumped into the pool – you bloody cheat.

Remember when the girls complained that they won’t stripped unless I did, you bullsh*tted them I couldn’t because I might terrify them – very tua tiau lah, and by golly for the first time you weren't exaggerating, so I am a bit pissed off with your long & short of 'tambis'.

Till today I wonder how you managed to chong those ah moi's into the pool with you, you rascal. Oh, their sweet pearly white moons as they porpoised and gambolled with you, you lucky bastard. There were moments when I was prepared to discard my katchera and leap in as well, if my katchera then wasn’t in full operation to hide my 'full salute’.

But I don’t want to hear anymore bullsh*t about the countrymen’s size. As my family (save dad) and I have always treated you as an honorary countryman, I feel I can share with you the most inner secret of the Sikhs.

Some people think we only subscribe to the 5-K’s of kesh, kangha, katchera, kara and kirpan. But just for your ears only, we Bais have a sixth K, and it's related to your posting. I want you to think of what it may be … hint … it starts with ko…

You work it out, Ji, you have always been naughty-smart.

By the way, Saroj sends you love from London. She asked whether you’re still up to mischief, which I answered in advance with a 'yes'!

When you come to my house next week, please bring (I know you'd steal or help yourself) a bottle of your granddad’s VSOP Hennessey and we’ll talk the usual sam kok.

F**k you buddy – oh, don’t forget the ginger ale as well.

Lakhbir

p/s don't you bloody dare post my reply - my brother warned me you might

The NS transportation saga

Over at BolehTalk I posted Why NS had transport woes!, and also fantasised about the possibility of me standing for erect ... oops sorry ... I mean ... election.

Toll charges - more lies from government's 'pot'

Here’s the most stinking dirt on the secret dodgy toll agreement between the UMNO-controlled government and the UMNO-linked Litrak toll concessionaire.

PKR information chief Tian Chua, representing the ‘Protest Toll Hike’ coalition comprising the PKR, DAP and PAS, recently formed to oppose the recent toll hike at five major highways in the Klang Valley, told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday that the agreement between the government and Litrak was clearly “lopsided and not done in the best interest of the people”.

The agreement was drafted in such a way that it gives the government very little power but turns Litrak into a money-making machine. Hey, given the common denominator of UMNO in the two contractual parties, why should we be even surprised?

The reality is the agreement had been written that way to allow UMNO-linked Litrak unfettered powers in milking the public, a sweet cash cow to Litrak, and a dumb one in itself for voting UMNO in the last election.

Chua also accused the government of “lying” when the latter bullsh*tted it was negotiating with Litrak to reduce the toll rates, because Chua said, according to the contract, the rates have been fixed under the agreement for the entire concession period of over 30 years from 1998.

The stench emanating from the ‘pot of lies’ and the ‘pot of flies’ is sure overpowering!

But suck it, Malaysian road users, and also like it as well - you’re f**ked until 2028, even assuming Litrak won’t raise the toll charges, which of course it has just disabused us of that silly notion by its recent increase.

Chua revealed that the ‘secret’ document allows the concessionaire to continue collecting toll irrespective of whether the company is reaping profits or making losses.

He tells us the bloody painful obvious: “The government has very little power under the agreement. The concessionaire can continue to collect toll irregardless of how much collection it has made.

“This is very different from the old concept of privatisation where the concessionaire was allowed to make certain collections over a stipulated period. After that, the toll gates should be closed down and the concession should be handed back to the government.”

DAP leader Ronnie Liu averred the the UMNO-linked Litrak had already recovered its highway construction cost three years after it started operation and has been recording profits since 2002.

He showed that according to Litrak’s 2006 annual report, the company had set a new record after collecting RM243 million revenue for its financial year ending on March 31, 2006 while recording a net profit of RM80 million.

What amazes me most is the unmitigated humongous greed that Litrak has shown, with the blessings of the AAB government, by further increasing the toll changes, even at a time when most Malaysian are feeling the pinch of rising costs.

There seems to be an impatient obscene avaricious rush to screw the public for as much as possible in the shortest possible time.

I wonder whether AAB is trying to record another Towering achievement in the Malaysian Book of Records?

Iraq 'squat-gated' shameful execution affair

So Iraqi PM Maliki has ordered the detention of a guard at the Shiite circus for Saddam Hussein’s execution. There’s worldwide scepticism that he’s being used as a low-level scapegoat. In fact Munkith al-Faroon, a prosecutor at Saddam's trial who was present at the execution, said two Iraqi officials were openly videotaping the event via their mobile phones.

Obviously PM Malaiki is hoping that by directing the world’s disgust at the lowly guard, the sordid shameful and barbaric behaviour of the execution party, which incidentally was ferried to the execution venue by US military helicopter, would be forgotten.

In other words, mask the unmitigated behaviour by offering a cheap sacrifice.

This reminds me of a Malaysian incident, the Squatgate affair, where the unwitting whistleblower, the policeman who took the video clip with his mobile, was supposedly punished (was he?) by the police, in the hope that the disgraceful barbaric punishment of making a detainee do ear-squat in the nude would be overlooked, or its crime diluted..

Refer to my postings Malaysia's Abu Ghraib - Minister Says Police Innocent and Squatgate - Dodgy Police Excuses.

Turn the crime into that of taking video clips rather than the far more horrible crimes that led to the taking of the video clip.

On top of that, the Malaysian newspaper which first published the squating punishment was also punished. As I blogged in Shoot the Messenger! “it’s a newspaper that gets the chop for Squatgate, not the police, the IGP or deputy IGP, or the ministers for the shameful incident including the deliberate concealment of the victim's identity for political reasons (the Pengkalan Pasir by-election).”

I wonder whether the Iraqi government has received advice from Malaysia, on how to Houdini-ed the shameful circus?

We are in Malaysia, aren't we?

This is bloody frightening. We are in Malaysia, aren’t we?

Yet we learn that Dr Nasruddin Aspan, the Klang Municipal Council (MPK) health director has had to resign his job out of fear for his and his family's safety after being attacked and threatened sometime late last year.

According to Dr Nasruddin, on Nov 27, as he was leaving his home in Taman Menegun Indah for work, a group of men in a one-tonne lorry rammed into his Naza Citra, and then attacked him with a machete and iron rods.

It’s a miracle with such an assault he only sustained bruises and a deep gash to the left side of his head, which nevertheless was serious enough to require eight stitches.

The Klang Municipal Council then deployed enforcement officers to Dr Nasruddin’s house to protect him and his family. But WTF, where’s the police involvement?

As if that wasn’t enough, 10 days later Dr Nasruddin received a phone call telling him to quit his job or risk losing his life. The caller had also threatened to harm his family.

I need to ask what have the police done (or not done) so far, that a senior public servant deemed it necessary to leave his job out of fear for his family’s safety from threats by gangsters.

I ask again: we are in Malaysia, aren’t we?

One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to link the assault to his health inspection job. Therefore what had been the particular inspection that Dr Nasruddin conducted that invited the unmitigated thuggery. Surely the police can start from this premise?

This is no longer a personal matter for Dr Nasruddin to decide. This is very serious intimidation stuff, terrorism of a kind with public interest. The police must step in immediately. And I call upon our politicians, those from the BN or opposition, to raise this matter of urgent public security in Parliament.

Meanwhile, Immigration Department director-general Ishak Mohamed tells us that since he was elevated to the post, he had been worried about the safety of his family. He confessed that he and his family hardly eat out because of fear of poisoning.

Then, my confidence as a Malaysian in my own country was further assaulted (indeed I just couldn’t believe my eyes) when I read him saying: “I do not like this job and I did not want to be appointed to the post.”

Elevated to director-general of Immigration! And he is scared of some possible ‘troublesome’ foreigners? What happen to those times when public servants like Ishak Mohamed would be striving hard to get such an exalted position?

We are in Malaysia, aren’t we?

To illustrate his fears, Ishak Mohamed revealed that one day when he was on holiday with his family he was ‘shocked’ by a group of Bangladeshis approaching him to say ‘hello’. He was even more petrified when he learnt from them that “every Bangladeshi” in Malaysia know him.

Why is a Malaysian senior public servant, heading the Immigration Department, sh*t scared of being known by Bangladeshis or for that matter any foreigner? Yes, why does a Malaysian in Malaysia have to fear any foreigner?

But we are in Malaysia, aren’t we?

What’s going on with these two cases of senior public servants so fearful of threats to their and their family safety, that both don’t want their departmental top jobs, and in all probability, couldn't do their jobs effectively because of concerns for their familys' safety?

One is understandably fearful of thugs while the other, the more serious, bizarre and most unacceptable case, claims to be fearful of Bangladeshis.

Surely we are in Malaysia, aren’t we, that we haven’t surrendered our immigration control to Bangladeshis invaders?

The police must answer why they haven’t or couldn’t provide for the security of our citizens and the confidence for them to live their lives and do their jobs without fear or favour, especially senior public service officers in important positions that are vital to national security.

Because if they don’t, soon we will have Malaysian judges, ministers and perhaps even the leaders of our security forces (police, military) trembling in fear of thugs and foreigners.

We are in Malaysia, aren’t we, but now I wonder?

Saddam's execution - tragedy of American ignorance

Here is a sad example of American ignorance revealed by American comments on Saddam Hussein’s execution.

Nancy Hollinsaid, of Malden, Illinois, whose son, Army Staff Sgt. Lincoln Hollinsaid, was killed in a grenade attack early in the war, said: "I want this evil man off the face of this earth. I want peace to come sooner.'

Hollinsaid, who has followed Saddam's trial, has a more personal wish, that the execution will "do some good for my heart.''

While her loss is indeed terrible, that of seeing her son sent to war to perish, and I do sympathise with her, let’s examine the logic of her hatred for Saddam and her fallacious belief that somehow the execution of the former Iraqi dictator should bring satisfaction to her.

For a start, Mrs Hollinsaid failed to appreciate it was her country, the USA, that was the aggressor nation, attacking, invading and occupying a sovereign nation on false fabricated fibs, for the devious secret agenda of members of her own government.

Iraq under Saddam Hussein didn't threaten the USA but au contraire, it was the other way around. Those US Administration lies have been revealed, reported and raised by reputable and respected Americans, and available in books, newspapers, the electronic media and even TV documentaries. Thus her hatred for or anger at Saddam Hussein has not only been misplaced but unjustified.

Though of course we recognise that we can't stop someone (like Mrs Hollinsaid) from hating another person (like Saddam), we can see clearly that Saddam wasn't responsible for the tragic death of Army Staff Sgt. Lincoln Hollinsaid.

If she needs someone to hate and lash out at for her terrible loss of her son, she should direct her acrimonious emotions against President Bush, VP Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and most of all, the chief promoters of the war against a sovereign Iraq, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and ‘company'.

Those were the people who had sent her son to his death in a foreign country - a country where American gross and wilful interference and aggression had resulted in the murder of more than 600,000 Iraqis, many of whom were women, children and infants. Millions have also been dislocated from their native soil, thanks to the USA.

Thus I pity her sad ignorance and misplaced belief that the execution of Saddam Hussein, who had neither plotted nor conspire in the death of her son, would "do some good for [her] heart.''

The more pitiful has been her tragedy, because she failed to see the truth that she and her son were treacherously betrayed by the Bush Administration, where her son had perished not even for the interest of the USA.

That's the obscenity of her government's lies that have unfortunately but sadly blinded her. Thus I weep not for her personal and very tragic loss but for the utter waste of her loss.

AAB's pot of rice, flies & lies?

My pungent letter about AAB’s stewardship of our nation has been published today by malaysiakini which cheekily or wryly titled it as 2006 - Pak Lah’s ‘great year’:

********

In the run-up to the 2004 general election, we were assured by the MCA that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had the virtues of the legendary magistrate Bao Gong (Justice Bao).

The MCA boasted that the PM would be a man of unimpeachable fairness and integrity, promising that the saviour of Malaysia's future would demonstrate transparency and accountability.

Since then, the MCA has remained rather still and mouse-quiet whenever we demand for evidence and credence to the Bao Gong allusion. Like dandruff, the pre-general election painted gloss has flaked off dreadfully. When asked by a Bangkok newspaper of Dr Mahathir Mohamad's accusation of his (Abdullah’s) family's peccadilloes, the so-called ‘Bao Gong’ talked instead of Mahathir breaking his son-in-law's pot of rice.

Would the original Bao Gong have stated that? As Dr Bakri Musa wrote in his column, the PM should be concerned about the rakyat's (people's) pot of rice rather than that of his own family members, especially when prices for oil and other goods and services have shot up significantly to hurt the common man's pocket.

Where is the transparency and accountability that we expect of him? How was his son-in-law able to obtain such a humongous sum of loan without any collateral to buy shares in a company? How could that very company be approved to merge with a government financial service unit, without considering the public question of the PM's (concurrently finance minister's) conflict of interest?

But at every turn of the way, with every fresh query, he automatically defended his family members without even explaining satisfactorily to the public their concerns on government propriety. Huge contracts continued to be handed out to specific companies without open tender. His earlier boast of ‘no more mega project’ imploded with neither embarrassment nor explanation.

Scandalous misuse of maintenance funds for schools and financial aid for tsunami relief, etc, have been revealed respectively by BN politicians and the auditor-general's report. His minister refused to open for inspection contractual arrangements and reports that claimed to justify hikes in road toll charges. By so refusing to be accountable and transparent, his government has, in fact, answered the question the public fear and detest.

Under his premiership, even an Umno-controlled state has not been above board, refusing to openly account for the rise of water tariffs, and as if to punish further the shocked sense of the paying public into sheer disbelief, has incredulously classified those reports as 'secret'. The paying public are treated with disdain like dumb cash cows to be milked at will.

The pot of rice has turned into a pot of flies, attracted by the stench within. His government continues along the path of profligacy, inexplicably planning to build a multi-million ringgit sports centre offshore with neither adequate nor plausible justifications. I am not sure whether he had acted as PM or Umno president when he handed out RM600 millions to his Umno members to dispense to bumiputera contractors without proper parliamentary approval and with gross discrimination towards the state of Sarawak.

He condoned the protection of a member of parliament from being hauled up for questionable conduct before the parliamentary select committee even when the erstwhile chairperson of the Umno-controlled backbenchers club supported that move, punishing instead the righteous member.

Under his premiership, his state governments demonstrated double standards in, for example, the over-hasty demolition of a Taoist temple built on its own land or the traumatic destruction of Hindu temples that were starkly memorable only for the unnecessary zeal, ferocity and utter insensitivity demonstrated by the enforcement units of various local authorities, while the illegally constructed residences of Umno members are protected or condoned.

His Higher Education Ministry has perverted the very sanctuaries of free thinking and the nurturing grounds of the nation's future leadership, turning higher learning institutions into pro-Umno zombie factories and recruiting grounds for potential Brown Shirts.

Under his presidency of Umno, he failed to take appropriate action to stop Umno bigots at the party's last general assembly from arrogantly issuing racist threats of violence against non-Malay Malaysian communities, and also failed as minister of internal security to subsequently take legal action against those extremists.

His own son-in-law was allowed to escape unscathed with reckless and racist comments against the Chinese Malaysian community. He accepted a Putera Umno's proposal for the PM to officially legitimise and glorify motorcycle hoodlums, who have been known to attack even police officers. How could he have allowed the high office of the PM to be sullied by its association with those unsavoury bike thugs? If this was not indulging his son-in-law, what was it then?

And where is the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) that he had promised us?

Is this the Bao Gong redux that the MCA had promised us? If the original Bao Gong was still alive, he would have said in classical Chinese-accented English, ‘It's all a pot of lies’.

A Malaysian Fairy Tale (2) - Rumpelstiltskin

From Wikipedia, we learn that Rumpelstiltskin is a fairy tale of German origin, where the central personality is a dwarf of the same name, who possessed magic powers.

In Germany, Shorty is known as Rumpelstilzchen. The tale was collected by the Grimm Brothers who first published it in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales. It was then revised a number of times in later editions until the final version was published in 1857.

Rumpelstiltskin is also known by a variety of names in a number of other languages, for example: Repelsteeltje in Dutch, Grigrigredinmenufretin in French, Praseidimio in Italian, Bulleribasius in Swedish, etc

The following is the Malaysian version:

It was said that the handsome son of a nation’s official claimed to the king that he could spin rice straw into gold. The king ordered the man into the 4th floor room of a towering tower [yeah, very 'towering'], where there were rice straw and a spinning wheel, and demanded that he spin the straw into gold for three nights, to be presented to his elegant majesty on each following morning, or … gulp … be executed.

The bloke realised his big mouth had cornered him own self once again, and had given up all hope, when a dwarf appeared in the room and told him a secret. “Look Hang Putih, spinning rice straw into gold is nothing, chickenfeed stuff, so easily doable, but spinning bullsh*t, hey man, now that’s a high value skill. And that’s what you really need in your world.”

So the dwarf taught the man the art of scatological spinning of the bovine variety, but he didn’t teach him everything straightaway, thus the bloke, big mouth as he was, initially couldn’t spin well enough to bull his way cleanly through. Mind you, what little he knew was enough to impress the king, who was more entranced by Big Mouth’s product of high-value bovine poo than honest-to-goodness bloody ordinary gold.

He exclaimed excitedly: “It’s more than a mere ‘pot of rice’; why, it’s a ‘pot of lies’!”

Look, nothing has ever been free in the real world, so for the first lesson, the young man paid the dwarf with his Stefano Ricci tie [just a mere US$1,500], and on the following night for his second lesson, his Zenith - Grande Chronomaster XXT wristwatch [US$80,000].

However, on the third night, when the strange creature taught him the final lesson, that of spinning the best golden bullsh*t that could ever be spun or bullsh*tted, Hang Putih had nothing with which to reward the gnome. So the nasty creature made him promised that he (Hang Putih) would surrender his first-born child to him (the dwarf).

Anyway, the king was so impressed with the handsome bloke for the 3 nights of scatalogical spinning that he married him to his only daughter. ‘Twas all bliss and rapture, but the day soon arrived when the couple had their first child, whom the proud father named Cemerlang.

Before one could say ‘pot of lies' [or was it ‘pot of rice’?], the dwarf turned up on his unregistered and illegally modified motorbike to claim his payment: "Now give me Cemerlang as you promised".

Hang Putih, who was of course by now a prince consort, was frightened and offered the gnome all his accumulated wealth (rumoured to be over 9 million) if he could keep the child. The dwarf refused but finally agreed to give up his claim to the child if the prince could guess his name in three days. The dwarf was confident his secret moniker would remain just that, a secret. He rather enjoyed toying around with Prince Putih.

The first two days, Putih failed miserably, guessing silly hopeless stuff like ‘bangsa’, ‘agama’ and even ‘no apology’. But on the eve of the third day, Datuk Sri Aampoo Putera Aam Bong Bong, one of his courtiers, accidentally chanced upon and overheard the dwarf hopping around his souped-up bike in a decrepit garage and singing:

Today I rev up, vroom, tomorrow I sing,
for he must to me baby Cemerlang bring;
For little dreams the pahlawan bangsa,
that Mat Rempitstealthing is my nama!

When the dwarf came to the prince on the third day, the prince was jubilant because Datuk Sri Aampoo Putera Aam Bong Bong revealed to him the creature’s name, but in his excitement, instead of saying ‘Rempitstealthing’ he shouted ‘bangsa’.

Thus unlike the European versions, the dwarf Rempitstealthing won his bargain because of Prince Putih’s hasty revving of his big mouth before engaging his brains.

However, the dwarf, casting his toyol-like eyes into the future [thinking “Hope that prince won’t spot my eyes and think it’s the Return of the Red-Eyed Toyol], decided not to crush the young newly crowned prince consort by taking away his child.

Yes, Rempitstealthing has some further use for that young bloke.

So he told Hang Putih, “Look, a deal. Nope, I’m not interested in any money, least of all your 9 over million – that sort of money falls down from heaven easily. But I settle for a noble title. I want you to get the king to officially promote my name from Rempitstealthing to Cemerlanggoosai.”

“Deal!” shouted the prince consort in relief, and quick as a flash, Datuk Sri Aampoo Putera Aam Bong Bong, who was hanging around like a sycophantic leech that he was, took out his deck of cards, which earned him a handsome and dashing frown, but nonetheless a frown from the debonair prince, who said: “Idiot, put those 53 cards away, and ring up ayah, and inform him I have arranged a royal ceremony of great importance for him.”

Sorry I have to end here abruptly as the rest of the book has been confiscated by the authority for its immoral and decadent western culture. But I've since heard from German academicians specialising in folklore that that in the original Rumpelstilzchen the royal ceremony was held in the wintry month of January.


The KTemoc Carl Grimm* Children's and Household Tales:
(1) A Malaysian Fairy Tale - Princess & The Frog

* with apologies to the late Jacob Ludwig Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm and their estates

A Mat Rempit primer

See my new posting Matters Mat Rempit over at BolehTalk - it's a primer to ........

Ong Ka Ting's 'little drops of water'

Over at BolehTalk I've posted Ong KT inches MCA from UMNO's demagogy.

It shows how MCA's president Ong Ka Ting is slowly attempting to undo UMNO's damage to his party. Hmmm, with friends like UMNO, who needs ........

For Ong Ka Ting's endeavour, I am somewhat reminded of what Mrs JA Carney wrote in 1845, telling us not to sneer at what may appear to be insignificant efforts:

Little drops of water
Little grains of sand
Make the mighty ocean
And the beauteous land

Little deeds of kindness
Little words of love
Make our earth an Eden
Like the heaven above

And the little moments
Humble though they be
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.

I can only wish Ong Ka Ting good luck. He certainly needs lots of it with an 'ally' like UMNO.

Users of toll highways prepared for scalping

The DAP led angry protestors in a demonstration at the 11th mile Cheras-Kajang toll plaza on New Year Eve, one day before they get slammed by higher toll charges.

They called (bloody in vain, of course) for the postponement of the increase in toll charges affecting the Cheras-Kajang and four other highways in the Klang Valley.

They also demanded that one of the concessionaires, Grand Saga Sdn Bhd, re-open the Bandar Mahkota Cheras access road that had been blocked since October 2005.

As a rule, when there are toll charges, the public should be provided with the option of taking the no-toll alternatives which would usually be the older and less modern roads. In the general case the majority of the public would choose the toll-ed highways for efficiency, comfort and safety. But that choice must be theirs, and theirs alone.

But in Malaysia, such alternatives are deliberately blocked up to ensure the public have no choice but to take the toll-ed roads. The aim is of course bloody obvious; the government obviously has no shame nor compunction in its anti-public pro-concessionaire action - that is, to milk the bloody users to the max to ensure the concessionaires get their profit.

And indeed this vampirish (blood-sucking) tactic has worked magnificently because Lim Kit Siang of the DAP revealed that the Highway concessionaire Litrak has been raking in millions of ringgit in profit.

The company’s 2006 annual report revealed that it recorded a net profit of RM80 million, an increase of 43 percent from its net profit at RM56 million in year 2005.

Additionally the report showed that Litrak had set a new record after collecting RM243 million revenue for its financial year ending on March 31, 2006, as opposed to RM227 million it collected for the year before.

As such the DAP argued that there shouldn’t be any need for the company to seek nor merit a rise in the toll rate.

Litrak - which operates the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP) highway - will be the biggest beneficiary of the Jan 1 toll hike with a 60% increase of toll charges. There is something dodgy going on here.

Then to add insult to injury, the so-called highways operated by Litrak would be congested at peak hours, thus ensuring people paid toll to have the dubious privilege of joing traffic jams. If this is not unnecessarily gouging the public, what then is? The DAP demanded (yawnnn) that concessionaire reduce traffic congestions at the toll plazas along the LDP highway during peak hours.

The opposition party also urged the authorities to do the right thing, namely to build alternative roads before the toll plazas or allowing U-turn before these toll plazas along the LDP highway. Hahaha, bloody dreamers.

The DAP protest came after the MCA held a brief protest against the toll hikes at the same venue.

Why is the government abetting those favoured concessionaires, already enjoying huge profits and government subsidies, in gouging more money out of the road users, and in circumstances where the public had no choice but to pay up to get anywhere.

For example, the pissed-off people of Puchong complained they are surrounded by toll-ed highways like General Custer was by the Sioux and Cheyenne nations at Little Big Horn. The Puchongites have been prepared by their government for jolly good scalping.

Me Sh*tting Bull: "White menIndian speak with forked tongue".

No wonder the MCA has been worried by its association with the government and forced into a sandiwara demonstration.

Related:
MCA Puching forced into aping DAP

No Turkey for New Year celebrations

Romania’s GDP in 2005 was about $182 billion with a real growth rate of 4%, while Bulgaria had $72 billion and 5.5% respectively. Both have just been admitted into the European Union (EU).

Turkey, which had applied for membership way way way before Romania and Bulgaria did, enjoyed $585 billion GDP (also in 2005) and a GDP real growth rate of 7.4%. It still can’t get into the EU.

Najib's "Do as I say but ... "

I posted Internet leadership by UMNO example? over at BolehTalk, where I accept DPM Najib's advice, but ask him to ensure both UMNO and the government follow his own advice, in order to set good examples for us.

Penang city golden jubilee - Raja Bodek acted dunno

In 1786 Francis Light, a British naval captain, audaciously and rapaciously claimed for the British Crown, the Kedah island of Pulau Kesatu (First Island) or Binlang Xu, as the Ming dynastic Admiral Zheng He denoted in his 15th Century nautical chart.

Captain Light re-named it as Prince of Wales Island, as his ship came upon the isle on the birthday of the heir to the British throne. It subsequently became Penang Island or as we know it today, Pulau Pinang. Mind you, I much prefer Pulau Kesatu which helps remind those 'mainlanders' ;-) who we Penangites are.

In exchange for British protection against the frequently maurading Siamese and Burmese intruders, the Sultan of Kedah ceded the isle to the British on 11 August 1786, making Penang a Crown colony. But typically of the treacherous British colonialists, they played the Sultan out when they refused to intervene during a Siamese raid. Apparently Francis Light made that agreement without consulting his superiors who chose not to offend the Siamese.

When the pissed-off Sultan tried to recover Penang because of the non-fulfilment of the agreement, the Brits naturally told him to bugger off but as a patronising consolation prize, provided the Sultan with 6000 Spanish dollar per annum. Trust the Poms to even con the Sultan of an additional chunk of the Kedah mainland, Province Wellesley or Sebarang Perai. It was ceded to the Brits in 1798 to became part of the Penang Crown colony.

With the Brits, the Island soon had its municipal council, and we are now reminded by Datuk Anwar Fazal, a trustee of the Penang Heritage Trust (PHT) that:

“The centenary celebration of Penang’s municipal status was held from Jan 1 to Jan 3, 1957, and the grand occasion was attended by some 5,000 dignitaries including the sultans from several states.”

“There were chingay demonstrations, a decorated vehicle procession, wayang kulit displays and cross-channel swimming matches.”

“During the celebration, George Town was also granted city status by England’s Queen Elizabeth.”

“Sadly, we seem to have forgotten both historic events as there is nothing planned by the state to mark this occasion.”

He forgot to add that the Chinese chingay parade had a nasty association with a 1953 racial riot as had broken out along Jalan Perak when the mainly Chinese participants paraded through a Malay kampong to celebrate the coronation of a then young Elizabeth II. Penang (and Malaya) was then still a British colony.

The Penang Malays saw nothing to celebrate in a British queen's ascendancy to the throne of a foreign country, and from some old timers, they took to jeering the chingay troope and lion dancers. Some alleged that stones were thrown at the lion dancers which was a bad move, considering those people were members of martial arts club.

But basically the Penang Malays have never like (nor want) to acknowledge the British history in the development of Penang. It may explain why the statue of Francis Light was bundled off to some obscure corner in (would it be?) Farqhuar Street.

In 1986, when Penang ‘celebrated’ its bicentennial, some UMNO blokes protested, saying that we shouldn’t be celebrating a dark period when we were oppressed by western colonialism where a sovereign part of Kedah was robbed by foreigners.

Now, the PHT has slammed the state government for not organising any special event today to celebrate the golden jubilee of George Town’s city status and the 150th anniversary of the state’s municipal status. Datuk Anwar Fazal described the omission as a missed opportunity.

Well, my dear Datuk, do you imagine for one instant that Raja Bodek is going to annoy UMNO by having a celebration that would provocatively remind them of their subservience to British colonialism, much as we Penangites like to celebrate anything?

Saddam - Mother-of-Them-All defiance to the last!

Well, contrary to what a Shiite politician had averred of Saddam Hussein (that he was a ‘broken’ man at the gallows), that Mother-of-Them-All dictator was defiant to the last, exchanging taunts with his executioners, insults for insults, word for word.

Al Jazeera had broadcast a video clip (taken by the ubiquitous mobile phone by one witness to the execution) showing Saddam Hussein in verbal combat (exchanging taunts with onlookers) before the gallows floor dropped away to end his life.

For example when a guard said to Saddam "God damn you", Saddam riposted calmly "God damn you."

I suppose in Arabic such a response didn’t require emphasis on the English adverb ‘too’.

Defiant Saddam, even at his moment of death, not only smiled at those taunting him from below the gallows, but paid them the ultimate Arab insult - he said they were not showing manhood – oh la la, the insulting ‘bukan anak jantan’ or in more crude terms “Hey, you poofters lack balls!”.

Addendum (after publishing) from a fresh SMH report:

The jerky web footage, apparently shot on a mobile phone by a guard or one of about 20 official observers at the dawn hanging, showed people in the execution chamber chanting the name of Shiite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr and Saddam smiling back, saying: "Is this what you call manhood?"

Seemingly accusing his captors of misrule, he replied to the taunt of "Go to hell" by asking: "The hell that is Iraq?"

KT comment:: he was not only defiant but sarcastically witty even at his moment of death. This will only boost his myth.

Several witness accounts said Saddam was calm but scornful of his captors, engaging in umremitting verbal combat with those gathered to watch him die. He insisted he was Iraq's saviour, not its tyrant and scourge.

National security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, who was a witness, told The New York Times that one of the guards shouted at Saddam: "You have destroyed us. You have killed us. You have made us live in destitution."

To which Saddam responded: "I have saved you from destitution and misery and destroyed your enemies, the Persians and Americans."

Then, probably realising he was on his way to meet his Maker (the One above or the Pretender below) Saddam began reciting the Shahada - ‘there is no god but God and Muhammad is his messenger’.

Saddam made it to midway through his second recitation of the verse. His last word before the floor dropped out of the gallows was Muhammad (pbuh). I am sure some Sunnis, especially the Baathists, would be building up on the significance of this coincidence, to endow Saddam Hussein with an Islamic halo.

You know, all these reports would only enhance the already growing myth that Saddam Hussein had been the hero of the Sunnis, betrayed by Shiites with the connivance of the Americans and …….. (fill in the blank – anyone the Sunnis don’t like).

In the days to come, that enhanced myth will inflate, of that of a loyal Iraqi hero murdered through (American, Kurd & Shiite) treachery. Perhaps it may be, in a certain way, likened to the saga of Hang Jebat in Malay mythology. And perhaps like Hang Jebat, his name may even be rehabilitated, consecrated and honoured in the distant future.

But it will only spur the insurgency to a more frenzied level and intensity. I wouldn’t be surprised if al Qaeda now exploits this boost to the Saddam myth, that Mother-of-Them-All Iraqi-Islamist hero, another Sulaiman the Great. As they say, all's fair in love and war.

For Saddam’s mythologised image as that of a cool, unrepentant and dignified fighter to the end in the face of overwhelming treacherous enemies, we have only those avaricious mobile phone owners to thank, who were undoubtedly commissioned with huge sums by the eager news media bent on ‘breaking news’ scoops.

Killing Saddam Hussein may be President Bush's biggest mistake, much as the Americans want to be like Pontius Pilate in his execution. Bush has stupidly turned Saddam into someone he (Bush) could never ever be, a 'hero' to his people.

Bangkok terrorist explosions - 3 killed

Thai police investigators examine the site where a bomb exploded at Kong Toey market in Bangkok - Sydney Morning Herald photo (from AP)

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that at least six bomb blasts rocked the Thai capital Bangkok on New Year's Eve, killing at least two people and injuring 12. The culprits and motive were unknown.

But Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) said there were at least seven explosions, killing 3 people and injuring 4, and not 12 injured as reported earlier.

PAS' killjoy advice for New Year eve

Over at BolehTalk I posted PAS Youth's killjoy proposals, where I provided alternative advice to PAS Youth's killjoy proposals for our New Year celebrations.

As the self-appointed Mufti of Antarctica ;-) I welcome you to read it to see whether you ought to be enjoying yourself tonight in ushering in the new year.

Anyway, Happy New Year and have fun but be safe!

MCA Puching forced into aping DAP

When the MCA conducted a public protest against government policies, KTemoc always get mighty suspicious. So when MCA members staged a rare* demonstration a couple of days ago against the government’s approval of toll charge hikes at five Klang Valley highways, I try to look beyond their altruistic intentions.

* note malaysiakini use of this adjective

The 50-odd protestors, armed with banners and placards, held a minimal 15-minute-long protest (to comply cosily with police instructions) at the Bandar Sunway toll plaza along the Lebuhraya Puchong-Damansara highway.

The demonstration was led by MCA Puchong Youth division chief Theng Book. Its division chief Wong Hock Aun and MCA Kelana Jaya Youth chief Lee You Hin were also present.

Wah, local MCA big guns lah!

Theng told reporters: “We are not totally objecting the toll hikes if it is a 10 percent hike. A 60 percent (at the LDP) hike or 40 percent at the Kesas highway are drastic, we want it to be reviewed to a moderate level.”

Theng, who is also the MCA public services and complaint department’s legal adviser, said an estimated 100,000 residents in Puchong will be severely affected by the new toll rates since there is no other alternative main road in the area.

“The entire Puchong area is surrounded by five toll plazas and all these toll plazas are almost all the routes that the Puchong residents will have to use.”

It’s now becoming clear why the MCA dares to (in fact needs to) protest against a government approved policy. MCA is looking after its political backside, its election prospect, since most of the people affected by the toll charge hikes are potential voters for MCA, or alternatively DAP (or PKR – Tian Chua must be licking his lips).

As I had blogged often on this issue, I say it again, that UMNO (and not the DAP) represents the greatest undermining factor for MCA. UMNO has frequently made decisions that have been against Chinese Malaysians' and therefore MCA’s interest without ever consulting the latter. For the MCA it's basically an issue of demi bangsa, not unlike that of all ethnic parties, chief among whom is UMNO.

To add insult to injury UMNO expects the MCA to blindly support its decisions, which explains why in the past, MCA candidates have to hide in Malay dominated constituencies to ever get elected to parliament. UMNO OK-ed that because they needed some multi-ethnic window dressing.

Mind you, if I am not mistaken the current parliamentary representative for Puchong is a Gerakan bloke, Lau Yeng Peng. However, I did hear whispers of some exchanges of electoral seats among the BN parties, between UMNO, MCA and Gerakan. I wonder whether the MCA has been assigned Puchong for the next run.

If it hasn’t, then I wonder what MCA is up to, perhaps trying to upstage its old rival, Gerakan?

Photo of Saddam's execution

The photo above was from today’s Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), showing the former dictator of Iraq in his final moments, on one of the holiest dates of the Muslim year.

The SMH reported that Saddam appeared calm and spoke to his executioners just before his death. He then recited a Muslim profession of faith, "There is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet," but made no other remark after balaclava-wearing policemen escorted him to the scaffold.

Sami al-Askari, a prominent Shiite politician close to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who witnessed the event, said: "One of the guards pulled a lever and he dropped half a metre into a trap door. We heard his neck snap instantly … they left him hanging for around 10 minutes before a doctor confirmed his death and they untied him and placed him in a white body bag."

Of course US President George Bush hailed the execution as a milestone, though we wonder what sort of milestone it was, considering it was state sanctioned murder.

One could argue that Saddam Hussein deserves the hanging but KTemoc is against the death sentence for anyone, because by condoning such a murder (shrouded under the guise of legality and public support) we have descended down to the brutal level of the person executed for his/her crimes.

But it does reflect the sort of mentality President Bush has, though of course he would have to support the execution of Saddam, if not for anything than to mask his illegal attack and occupation of a sovereign Iraq.

We need to recall (quite easily) that the Bush’s casus belli was the absurb proposition Saddam was a threat to global security when the truth was that those allegations of Iraqi nuclear and other weapons were, and have since been confirmed 100%, as US fabricated fibs.

The Vatican condemned the execution as tragic. The execution of Saddam Hussein has also exposed a deep divide between the US and Europe. Italian PM Romano Prodi deplored the decision to execute Saddam, while Renato Martino, the cardinal who heads the Roman Catholic Church's council for justice and peace, warned that "nobody can give death, not even the state."

Denmark, France, Portugal, Spain and Germany have all recorded their opposition though in most cases the criticism is qualified opposition directed at the morality of capital punishment (like KTemoc’s) rather than sympathy for Saddam.

Predictably the other two members of the Coalition of the Killing supported Bush’s hailing of the execution in sycophantic obsequity.

It’s doubly damning for Britain and Australia as the two countries themselves do not have capital punishment. How could their leaders then support any state execution?

Their leaders’ blind and obligatory support of Saddam’s execution demonstrated how those politicians have succumbed to the grubby expediency of using Saddam’s execution as a pseudo-truimph for their illegal actions when they are in reality besmirching their nations’ humanitarian credentials.

Not surprising, as KTemoc predicted, that soon after the hanging, a bomb planted on a minibus exploded in a fish market in Kufa, a Shiite town 160 kilometres south of the capital, killing 17 people, including four children.

How many more innocents must die from the evil let loose by President Bush and his cohorts?