New Drama Queen

Malaysiakini - Jet firm: Technical issue with Dr M's jet did not jeopardise safety (extracts):

VistaJet, the private jet charter engaged by Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad, confirmed that his aircraft faced a technical issue but stressed that it did not jeopardise safety.

"VistaJet confirms the recent statements of the Malaysian Authorities that one of the company’s aircraft had a technical issue in its normal course of operations before departure which at no point jeopardised safety.

"Another VistaJet aircraft was immediately made available to fulfil the customer's schedule," the company was quoted as saying by The Star Online.

Hello there, "Another VistaJet aircraft was immediately made available to fulfil the customer's schedule"?

Didn't Mahathir claim other aircraft owners were warned not to lend him their aircraft?

maaf, melayu mudah lupa lah 

NST had reported: He further alleged that certain quarters had acted as if they knew that there was a damage to his private jet and had prevented his close friends from lending their aircraft to him.

"I had sought the help from three of my close friends and they said they could not lend me their aircraft and one of them even told me that he had received a warning from certain people not to lend his aircraft to me.

"It seemed to me that certain people had known that my aircraft was damaged and tried to make sure that there was no other aircraft available to fly me to Langkawi.

"Fortunately, I had another friend who was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore but he was willing to divert the flight to send me to Langkawi."

Has Mahathir been ratcheting up the story?

Zahid: Wǒmen shì yī jiārén

MM online - Zahid delights Bagan Datuk Chinese voters with Mandarin phrase (extracts):

BAGAN DATUK, April 29 — “Wǒmen shì Bagan Datuk rén, Wǒmen shì mǎ lái xī yǎ rén. Wǒmen shì yī jiārén hé Bagan Datuk rén shì wǒ de péngyǒu,” said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in Mandarin at a gathering with the Chinese community here today.

The simple phrase which meant “We are all the people of Bagan Datuk, we are all Malaysian citizens, we are one family, and the people of Bagan Datuk are my friends,” endeared him to his audience. [...]

He spent more than a hour talking to the voters, moving from shop to shop, meeting the voters, and assuring them that Barisan Nasional was the party which could deliver in terms of economics, education and security.

In his speech, Ahmad Zahid inserted several simple Mandarin words like tajia hao (how are you?) and buyao (don’t) and spoke Malay with a Chinese dialect, to which he received thunderous applause.
The mood was certainly different from the official functions which he had to attend.

Addressing himself as a ‘local boy’, the closeness that Ahmad Zahid has with the local folks, some of whom are old friends, including many Chinese and Indians, were clearly an advantage to him.

Bloke has come to imitate Anwar Ibrahim in sprouting Mandarin to Chinese a la manmanlai, wakakaka, which BTW is Cantonese.

I prefer Canto as it has more delightful swear words like Tiu and Niamah

wakakaka

Just in the same way as Princess Permatang Pauh was doing during a Pakatan Harapan rally at the Penang Esplanade a couple of days ago when she was rumoured to have said Wǒ shì yī zhǐ māo (我是一只猫). Aiyah, probably fake news lah, wakakaka.

真的，我是一只害怕的猫

Zhēn de, wǒ shì yī zhǐ hàipà de māo

caution: fake news above - read at own discretion

My oh my, pŭtōnghuà has gained more popularity in recent days, especially with the election just around the corner.

In China and especially HongKong, Mandarin language is referred to as pŭtōnghuà (普通话), which literally means common speech or language.

But in Taiwan it's called Guóyŭ(國語) which means national language.

Malaya in its colonial days used the same expression as the Taiwanese and in addition also Zhōngguóhuà (language of the Middle Kingdom), but obviously with the Independence of Malaya in August 1957, those words were no longer correct as Mandarin (or Middle Kingdom lingo) were/are NOT the national language of our independent nation.

Trust the Chinese Malaysians to come up with a politically correct alternative, by calling Mandarin as Huáyŭ (华语; 華語) which is translated as the Chinese language. Sing, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines do likewise.

But Western countries, especially the USA, use instead Hànyŭ (汉语; 漢語) which means the language of the Han tribe.

I am not sure what Mahathir will call it, wakakaka, considering he once warned and threatened Dong Jiao Zong about the UEC exams?

真的吗？

zhēn de ma?

Just one fcking ringgit

MM Online - For Tian Chua, lawyers say time is of the essence (extracts):

KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — PKR’s Chua Tian Chang could stand a better chance of challenging his disqualification by the Election Commission if he initiates this before rather than after the general election, according to legal experts.

While they did not mean his chances would diminish with time, they explained that launching the challenge now would afford the politician popularly known as Tian Chua more options.

On Saturday, the EC ruled that Chua was disqualified by a RM2,000 fine he received in March, notwithstanding the High Court’s explanation that the amount was chosen explicitly to avoid affecting his eligibility to run for and hold office.

“If Tian Chua institutes a legal challenge in respect of the EC’s decision to disqualify him before GE14, he could seek for an injunction to stop the elections of the Batu parliamentary seat,” said Malaysian Bar president George Varughese.

Malaysian Bar constitutional law committee co-chairman Surendra Ananth also suggested that seeking an injunction now would be the wiser option than to apply for an election petition, which he pointed can only take effect after May 9.

Besides an injunction, Surendra said Chua could also apply for a mandamus order to compel the EC to register him as a candidate.

A mandamus is a writ that makes it mandatory for the responding agency to execute its duty in relation to the order. [...]

I tend to support the legal advice because succeeding in an appeal after the election and frustrating the already conducted election in Kepong will become very messy. Yes, obtain the mandamus as a means to participate in GE14 rather than a subsequent by-election.

Tian Chua's case stands strongly in his favour on two counts, namely:

(a) the High Court’s in fining him RM2000 had explicitly explained the amount was precisely chosen to avoid affecting his eligibility to run for and hold office, and

(b) a case of stare decisis, in which Tian Chua was previously fined RM2000 but which permitted him to continue his status as a MP for Kepong.

At that time Karpal Singh (then alive) had stated that RM2000 disqualified Tian Chua from being MP for kepong, but the court had then ruled otherwise, much to the bemusement of Karpal.

The problem lies in the statement of the Federal Constitution that a candidate is disqualified if he has been fined “not less than RM2,000”.

As reported by MM Online, some interpret this to mean RM2,001 and above, but others including the late Karpal Singh believe that a fine of RM2,000 is exactly enough to trigger the disqualification.

But my argument is the earlier case provided a legal precedent (stare decisis), so it doesn't matter now about the legality of the matter being not fully established. Actually it has been established which is why we have a stare decisis.

Remember the f**king shameful highway robbery of the notorious Adorna precedent, which was law for nine disgraceful years until (thank goodness) Chief Justice Tun Zaki Azmi overturned it on 21 Jan 2010 in the case of Tan Ying Hong v Tan Sian San and two others with words describing that earlier notorious precedent as an obvious and blatant error?

Hell Hound experience for MCA sweetie

Malaysiakini - MCA candidate: How can women bully women, Chinese insult Chinese? (extracts):

MCA's Cheras candidate Heng Sinn Yee may have been all smiles when she encountered unfavourable response at a Kuala Lumpur market but she has since taken to social media to complain about being bullied.

Commenting on Facebook, Heng referred to an incident at Yulek market where a woman shook her hand and promised to support her, only to add that the support was for BN to be the opposition.

"Since when a woman bullying another woman is considered a hero? A Chinese insulting another Chinese is seen as a warrior?" she said.

A video of the encounter, which was in Cantonese, has since been uploaded to social media.

Heng claimed that she was entrapped in the video.

"Thank you for the person who set the trap and the person who recorded.

"Your actions have only strengthened my resolve to fight DAP's culture of bullying and hate," she said.

Earlier today, Heng was at Yulek market to canvass for support.

A woman who shook Heng's hand said: "We will definitely support you."

However, the woman continued to hold on to Heng's hand and added in Cantonese: "We will support BN to become the opposition. Not a single vote will go to BN."

They can, my dear Heng. You were fortunate to meet a more domesticated species of the Hell-Hounds, wakakaka. Even DAP women are not exempt from their rabid raging relentless savaging.

Nurul Izzah doing a 'Azmin-Ali'?

FMT - Nurul confident she can draw PAS members to support her (extracts):

BUKIT MERTAJAM: PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar remained cautiously optimistic over her chances in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat, despite it being a PKR stronghold for the past two decades.

She is concerned over a low voter turnout due to the Wednesday polling day and those voters who have not made up their minds on who to vote for.

To counter this, she said 60% PKR’s machinery was concentrated in Malay-majority areas. [...]

She said despite PAS claiming to wield a stronger election machinery, she was confident many of them will vote for a change, especially in Permatang Pasir. We will not take a confrontational stance against them,” Nurul said.

Permatang Pasir’s Amanah candidate Faiz Fadzil agreed with Nurul, saying the PAS grassroots in Permatang Pauh were divided.

He said Permatang Pauh was home to many PAS moderates and will support a Pakatan Harapan candidate to defeat Umno and BN. [...]

Faiz said brave PAS members have even quit the party to join Amanah, which he says has a membership of 1,000 in Permatang Pauh alone, compared with PAS’ 2,000 members.

This was what Azmin Ali had been trying to do in Selangor, slutting with PAS though the Islamic Party has proclaimed total political severance with PKR, DAP and of course Amanah.

a balanced diet requires some greens

The way Nurul has said it, it appears she wants to ape Azmin Ali's work in Selangor (which won't surprise me if Azmin has worked out a covet kowtim-isation with PAS, wakakaka).

But yes, Nurul has cause to be concerned about, namely, the white moon in the green sky. I wonder whether she has already kowtim-ed the 'arrangements' with PAS?

President Duterte acts correctly

MM Online - Philippines’ Duterte calls Kuwait work ban ‘permanent’ (extracts):

MANILA, April 29 — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte today said the temporary ban on Filipinos going to work in Kuwait is now permanent, intensifying a diplomatic standoff over the treatment of migrant workers in the Gulf nation.

Duterte in February imposed a prohibition on workers heading to Kuwait following the murder of a Filipina maid whose body was found stuffed in a freezer in the Gulf state.

The crisis deepened after Kuwaiti authorities last week ordered Manila’s envoy to leave the country over videos of Philippine embassy staff helping workers in Kuwait flee allegedly abusive employers.

The two nations had been negotiating a labour deal that Philippine officials said could result in the lifting of the ban but the recent escalation in tensions has put an agreement in doubt.

“The ban stays permanently. There will be no more recruitment for especially domestic helpers. No more,” Duterte told reporters in his hometown in the southern city of Davao.

Around 262,000 Filipinos work in Kuwait, nearly 60 per cent of them domestic workers, according to the Philippines’ foreign department.

Last week the Philippines apologised over the rescue videos but Kuwaiti officials announced they were expelling Manila’s ambassador and recalling their own envoy from the Southeast Asian nation.

Duterte today described the situation in Kuwait as a “calamity”.

He said he would bring home Filipina maids who suffered abuse as he appealed to workers who wanted to stay in the oil-rich state.

“I would like to address to their patriotism: come home. No matter how poor we are, we will survive. The economy is doing good and we are short of our workers,” he said.

Malaysia has a vile notoriety for some of its citizens abusing maids, especially Indonesian maids. Our lack of humanity and civility towards our foreign maids have been a terrible source of shame for many of us.

I can understand president Duterte's action and applaud his national pride and care for his people working as maids or more likely slaves in the Gulf countries. If there are employers of foreign maids worse than a Malaysian it's a Gulf country's Arab.

Excellent decision your Excellency.

Will Permatang Pauh be a Waterloo for Nurul Izzah?

Wan Azizah has been the family torchbearer in Permatang Pauh since poor Anwar first went to prison in 1999. She held that federal constituency:

in 1999 with a 9,077 majority against BN

in 2004 with a 590 majority also against BN

in 2008 with a 13,398 majority again against BN

and

in 2013 by-election (after Anwar was jailed for 2nd time) with a 8,841 majority against BN

2004 seems to be an aberrant year when the UMNO Bao Gong onto the scene and veni, vidi, vici the political landscape, before he was bizarrely and severely “Et tu, Brute?” by his jealous predecessor.

But before Anwar was jailed for a second time, he did win PP with a 11,721 majority.

So it would seem on average, the Anwar family had enjoyed election wins in Permatang Pauh with an approximate 10K majority in every election (except for the aberrant 2004).

This time Nurul Izzah will contest in the seat, deemed as a family heirloom, BUT without PAS support au contraire with PAS as another competitor in addition to BN.

I doubt she will secure the average 10K majority under such circumstances.

In MM Online's Analyst: Sans PAS, Opposition at disadvantage in Penang the pundits expressed such concerns. Extracts of article follows:

The scenario however has changed for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat, a PKR stronghold which saw PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail handing the seat over to her daughter and PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar.

Nurul Izzah who is expected to receive serious challenge from PAS candidate Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden and Permatang Pauh Umno division head Datuk Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said, also suffers the setback of not getting votes from PAS supporters in the area this time.

If PKR’s previous victory in Permatang Pauh was assisted by PAS votes especially in Permatang Pasir state seat which was represented PAS, now the PKR candidate has to contend with a split in the Malay majority constituency while BN supporters are firmly behind their party.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) political analyst Prof Dr Azmi Hassan said the contribution of PAS in the Opposition coalition before this could not be trivialised especially its grassroots machinery.

“With PAS outside of the opposition coalition, the majority for PKR will definitely be reduced...and with a new face in BN, an upset could not be ruled out,” he said.

He said contest in multiple corners as seen on nomination day in the state would work to BN’s advantage in GE14.

Will Nurul's scaredy-cat flight to Permatang Pauh prove eventually to be jumping from the Lembah-Pantai pan into the Permatang-Pauh fire?

Pandan would have been a better bet for her, but alas, her mum has taken that place safe even for PKR cats.

The family seems reluctant to relinquish Permatang Pauh, a constituency what they see as a family heirloom and Wan Azizah can't resign-retire because of the threat of dwarves to the Princess.

But Bagan could have been another better bet though that would be encroaching into Tokong's territory, wakakaka.

a cat must stay clear of a very territorial dog

The Cat that ran away

Star Online - Everyone’s the ‘underdog’ in three-way Lembah Pantai fight (extracts):

KUALA LUMPUR: It is officially a three-way fight for the Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat here.

Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Seri Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin will face off against PKR’s Fahmi Fadzil and PAS’ Fauzi Abu Bakar.

This is Fahmi and Fauzi’s first general election and the second time contesting Lembah Pantai for Raja Nong Chik.

That's because the Top Cat has takut-cabut-ed to Permatang Pauh, wakakaka.

When the big bad dogs come out to play

Miss Pussy sCATred will run far far away

Wakakaka.

Syabas Pandelela Rinong and Cheong Jun Hoong

Congrats on winning the Diving World Series gold in the 10m platform synchro in Montreal, Canada.

sweeties, you're great

and we're very proud of you two

Observations on Nomination Day

Quite a few wannabe candidates have been disqualified for bankruptcy. Makes one wonder what were those people getting into politics for?

It also reflects poorly on their parties for lousy vetting on party nominated candidates.

Then quite a few forgot their important documents such as this and that on Nomination Day, even including an IC. Really, do we want such candidates, or worse, potentially MPs and ADUNs?

Is Wan Azizah's candidate for Wangsa Maju suitable?

Star Online - Oops, I forgot my IC! (extracts):

KUALA LUMPUR: Wangsa Maju PKR candidate Datin Paduka Dr Tan Yee Kew's candicacy was in jeopardy after she forgot to bring her MyKad to the nomination centre at SMK Wangsa Melawati here.

An Election Commission (EC) officer denied her entry to the nomination centre because she could not produce her MyKad.

Tan then sat on a bench outside the nomination centre while her assistant went off to collect her MyKad.

It was believed that her MyKad was left inside a photocopy machine at her house in Subang Jaya.

An EC officer said that Tan would be allowed into the centre but she would need to produce her MyKad to process the registration as a candidate before 10am.

I can't believe anyone in Malaysia would be so stupid to go out without his or her IC, let alone an election candidate on Nomination Day.

Dr Tan Kee Kwong's angry prediction nearly came true when he dismissed his replacement as someone who has always lost, wakakaka.

But it begs the question, whether Wan Azizah's blue-eyed girl, Dr Tan Yee Yew, is a fit and suitable person to be nominated as a candidate to contest an election to be a MP, when she has even forgotten such an important personal document as an IC?

Mahathir taking a leaf out of Anwar's book? (2)

MM Online - Civil Aviation Authority: Probe shows no sabotage on Dr M’s plane (extracts):

CAAM Chairman Datuk Seri Azharuddin A Rahman, through a statement, said thorough investigations conducted by the authority found no indication whatsoever of any sabotage on the aircraft.

He said their investigations included a verification of the aircraft documentation, a physical inspection, and interviews with the pilots and maintenance personnel of the private plane.

Azharuddin explained the aircraft was unable to depart from the airport due to a minor and routine technical fault.

He said checks conducted by CAAM on the Bombardier Challenger CL60 today showed no major defects to the aircraft, except for air leakage from the front left nose wheel.

He said the leakage was logged only on April 27, the day of the supposed flight.

This comes as Dr Mahathir had claimed he was unable to travel from the Subang airport to Pulau Langkawi due to sabotage on his aircraft yesterday.

Reports quoted the opposition prime ministerial candidate claiming he had already boarded the plane in anticipation of taking off, but was told by the pilot of a leaking tyre.

“CAAM was informed by maintenance personnel that they found the affected tyre pressure to be low.

“They serviced the tire, and on monitoring still found the pressure to be dropping at 2psi per minute,” he explained.

Azharuddin elaborated saying personnel were unable to change the leaking tyre due to the lack of spare tyres.

“CAAM also performed an inspection of the affected left tyre, which matched and verified the reports of the aircraft’s maintenance personnel,” he added.

Azharuddin warned that allegations of sabotage against an aircraft were extremely serious and could impact the reputation of Malaysian aviation and the country, especially during the sensitive general election period.

Vista Jet has denied the story that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s private jet was sabotaged in an attempt to assassinate him

In my earlier post on matter, Attempts to assassinate Mahathir? I asked:

I wonder what damage his aircraft suffered from? A punctured tire, a dented door or a cracked windscreen?

It seems I wasn't far off regarding tyre problem.

And from PKR's Malaysia-Chronicle (Tian Chua's newspaper) (extracts only):

poor bloke - he has a hard day today 

This is reminiscent of Anwar Ibrahim’s allegation in 1998 and 2008 that the Malaysian government was trying to assassinate him.

In 1998, Anwar’s wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, told the court that Anwar had been poisoned with arsenic.

In 2008, Anwar ran to the Turkish Embassy to seek refuge, saying there was an assassination plot against him.

Mahathir seems to have taken a leaf out of Anwar’s playbook. When Anwar said he had been poisoned with arsenic, Mahathir mocked him and said you can get arsenic from eating lobsters so maybe Anwar ate too many lobsters in the Sungai Buloh Prison.

Now it is Mahathir’s turn to face that same ridicule.

Wakakaka. Pandai menjilat ludah sendiri.

See also: Mahathir taking a leaf out of Anwar's book?.

Attempts to assassinate Mahathir?

Some weeks ago he was afraid of being assassinated. Berita Daily had reported on 06 April 2018 that:

Pakatan Harapan chairman and prime minister candidate Dr Mahathir Mohamad today criticised the police and Armed Forces for supporting Prime Minister Najib Razak.

He said the police and the Armed Forces should not be loyal to the government and prime minister, but to the country and King according to the federal constitution.

He also slammed the police for acting according to the wishes of Najib, perhaps alluding to the police intimidation of civil society activists, including the recent questioning of Bersih 2.0 officials.

He recalled how former Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos fell from power after the security forces turned against him following the assassination of his political opponent Benigno Aquino in 1983.

And then came his bombshell.

He asked if the police and army were willing to wait until “some of us are assassinated, including me, before they come to their senses”.

And when asked by the media if he was afraid of something happening to him, Mahathir said:

“With this man, I am worried about everything.”

Wah! Really? Mahathir fears that his life is in danger? And that he could be assassinated? Not just him, but also some others in the opposition pact?!

Today, the Star Online reported IGP ... Mohamad Fuzi said allegations that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s aircraft was sabotaged are being investigated by the Department of Civil Aviation(DCA).

"If they find any criminal element involved, we will step in and take over the investigation," he said, adding that Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had directed the DCA to investigate.

It was reported that Dr Mahathir claimed the plane he was about to take to Langkawi was sabotaged.

Sinar Harian quoted the Pakatan Harapan chairman as saying that just before takeoff, the pilot announced that the plane had been damaged and immediate repairs could not be made.

"I should have arrived in Langkawi before Friday prayers but the plane was damaged. Luckily, the pilot was able to detect the damage – if not I would have died in a crash," he said.

I wonder what damage his aircraft suffered from? A punctured tire, a dented door or a cracked windscreen?

Has his recent paranoia been to attract attention or a result of his bloated self importance?