Yesterday I posted PAS' WMD for UMNO wallahs which discussed PAS’ secret strategy in boycotting the Batu Talam by-election.
PAS, PKR and DAP have all complained about the ‘unnatural’ polling list which ‘naturally’ favours the ruling party UMNO. That claim has been indirectly supported by none other than the Election Commission Chairman, Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, who admitted to western news media the ‘supernatural’, that half a million dead are registered as voters.
Then PAS VP Husam Musa gave another wicked chop of his kapak kecil on the grasping hands of UMNO workers by saying the boycott would deny those UMNO gollums any extra income.
But how will this concern UMNO leadership then, because a PAS-PKR boycott means a free ride home in Batu Talam?
Well, everyone in Malaysia knows that UMNO is like a parking meter that runs only when it’s fed money. A money-deprived meter will soon show a nasty red flag, which is bad for the UMNO leadership. No money, no loyalty.
Of course if you don’t like the parking meter analogy, and prefer to continue with the ‘supernatural’ line, there’s the example of the Jinn in a Nescafรฉ Bottle, on how one must feed the creature.
malaysiakini columnist and consultant in strategic think-tank, James Wong Wing On wrote that the boycott has caught the ruling party by surprise. UMNO is now strangely raving and ranting about anak-jantan-ness, the no-ball opposition denying voters the democratic right of choice.
“…denying voters the democratic right of choice …”? A bit rich of UMNO!
Wong said: “…now the opposition is attacked by the other side of the political divide for having decided not to field any candidate. The decision to boycott the Batu Talam by-election is made by PAS and supported by PKR and DAP.”
Apart from the joke about ‘democratic choice’, Wong said the UMNO’s accusation that the opposition decided to boycott the by-election is because PAS knows it would lose in the UMNO stronghold, and is afraid of demoralising its supporters.
But Wong pooh-poohed that argument away, because he asserted that PAS, PKR or DAP had all lost before in other by-elections without being demoralised. They are still around, even poor PKR.
He believed that the opposition’s strategy allows them to husband their limited resources for the coming big one, while exploiting the argument for electoral reforms to purge the irregularities in the system - a classic case of killing two birds with one 'stony' boycott.
Wong concluded that the opposition has succeeded in showing that the ruling coalition is ‘inconsistent’ or ‘self-contradictory’ in UMNO’s present cry for the opposition to participate in the Batu Talam by-election, when in the past UMNO had criticized opposition parties for fielding kucing kurap (mangy cat) candidates in the strongholds of the Barisan Nasional where there was no chance of winning at all.
But Wong didn’t answer something which he wrote, namely: “Opposition supporters now ask: if the ruling coalition does not like the opposition or considers it to be ‘obstructionist’ [in simply putting up poor quality candidates just for the sake of opposing], then why it is now being attacked for not contesting in the by-election and clearing the ‘obstacle’ for the BN to win without having to confront the ‘trouble-maker’?”
Wong merely stated that “the ruling coalition and its propaganda machinery are now caught in an obvious and serious contradiction by opposition’s strategists.”
Here’s where KTemoc steps in ;-)
The ‘true’ reason why UMNO is raving and ranting about the boycott is not so much about the opposition denying the voters ‘choice’ or being scared that its supporters would be demoralised by a loss. UMNO is always concerned about, guess who? yes, UMNO!
It is about UMNO being worried it cannot provide the much needed high morale of a ‘victory’ for its members, and the feel-good-look-good publicity for its 2008 image.
Both AAB himself and UMNO have been under enormous internal stress and seriously damaging publicity that they badly, very very badly and desperately, need an uplifting shot in their arm. A win in a boycotted Batu Talam by-election would be like tasting piss in a victory toast.
But, wait, maybe there’s hope yet.
UMNO might feel it necessary, nay, vital to put up an ‘independent’ (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) or a former PAS or former PKR bloke to contest? Remember, the red-eyed toyol can do lots of stuff! Besides, hooray, UMNO workers will be back at work.
Why, it’s like killing two birds with one ‘independent’ stone!
BERITA ... er ... BATU ... er .. I mean ... BARU
Walaupun PAS dan Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) mengumumkan mereka memboikot pilihanraya kecil Batu Talam, tetapi Umno Bahagian Raub tetap membuat persiapan rapi ekoran bertambah kuatnya berita yang mengatakan ada calon bebas akan bertanding.
Ketua Puteri Umno Raub, Rosmiley Bontat berkata, pihaknya mendapat tahu ada bekas ahli jawatankuasa sebuah parti pembangkang di bahagian Raub yang ingin bertanding di atas tiket bebas.
“Berita itu semakin kuat diperkatakan sekarang di kalangan ahli Umno dan penduduk Batu Talam. Calon itu juga dikatakan sudah membuat persiapan menjelang hari penamaan calon Selasa depan,” katanya ketika dihubungi malaysiakini hari ini.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Friday, January 12, 2007
The 'late' voters of Malaysia!
Election fever, yes?
Well, Malaysia, with a population of around 26 million people, has some 10.3 million registered voters. Amazingly 500,000 are dead!
Yes, half a million registered voters are dead!
This revelation came from the horse’s mouth, namely, Election Commission Chairman Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman.
It's not that we Malaysians are surprised by the existence of constitutionally conscious cadavers, but the numbers given are truly staggering. Well, that’s certainly a remarkable stats for the Malaysian Book of Records. But I wonder whether we should term them as 'the late voters'?
I am not sure whether Abdul Rashid is a closeted sympathiser of PAS or PKR or good lord, surely not the DAP, because his frank disclosure came almost immediately after PAS and PKR said they would boycott the Batu Talam by-election, as if to support those two parties fears. PAS and PKR complained about dodgy voter lists and a woeful lack of transparency in the election process.
However, Abdul Rashid rejected opposition claims that the ‘walking dead’ voters had led to electoral fraud.
He said: "When you talk about the dead on the rolls, I admit there are a lot. I believe that 5% of those on the voters' list are dead. That's why we are going from village to village to verify the dead."
Visualise officers from the Election Commission knocking on your door and asking: “Inche atau Nyonya Kaytee Moc?”
“Ya?” my husky/sweet voice thrilled those young salivating bucks and foxy buxom ladies, who most fortunately can’t see me behind the door.
“Are you dead?”
“You mean right now?”
Abdul Rashid blamed the existence of Malaysian zombies on poor data collection, archaic election laws (how?) and bureaucratic red-tape (again, how?).
In one case, a woman voter who died in 1975 at the age of 77 was still listed on the 2006 rolls. I wonder who she voted for in 2004?
Well, Malaysia, with a population of around 26 million people, has some 10.3 million registered voters. Amazingly 500,000 are dead!
Yes, half a million registered voters are dead!
This revelation came from the horse’s mouth, namely, Election Commission Chairman Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman.
It's not that we Malaysians are surprised by the existence of constitutionally conscious cadavers, but the numbers given are truly staggering. Well, that’s certainly a remarkable stats for the Malaysian Book of Records. But I wonder whether we should term them as 'the late voters'?
I am not sure whether Abdul Rashid is a closeted sympathiser of PAS or PKR or good lord, surely not the DAP, because his frank disclosure came almost immediately after PAS and PKR said they would boycott the Batu Talam by-election, as if to support those two parties fears. PAS and PKR complained about dodgy voter lists and a woeful lack of transparency in the election process.
However, Abdul Rashid rejected opposition claims that the ‘walking dead’ voters had led to electoral fraud.
He said: "When you talk about the dead on the rolls, I admit there are a lot. I believe that 5% of those on the voters' list are dead. That's why we are going from village to village to verify the dead."
Visualise officers from the Election Commission knocking on your door and asking: “Inche atau Nyonya Kaytee Moc?”
“Ya?” my husky/sweet voice thrilled those young salivating bucks and foxy buxom ladies, who most fortunately can’t see me behind the door.
“Are you dead?”
“You mean right now?”
Abdul Rashid blamed the existence of Malaysian zombies on poor data collection, archaic election laws (how?) and bureaucratic red-tape (again, how?).
In one case, a woman voter who died in 1975 at the age of 77 was still listed on the 2006 rolls. I wonder who she voted for in 2004?
PAS' WMD for UMNO wallahs
Read Secret strategy behind PAS' boycott over at BolehTalk, where Husam Musa revealed PAS secret and (extremely cruel to UMNO workers) election strategy!
AAB's sweetener for admin wallahs
PM AAB made a speech at the 7thh Annual Gathering of Civil Servants at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre, where he hinted that the government might be able to give some "relief" to civil servants. He said that he might entertain Cuepacs’ request for a 40% (for lower grades) salary revision for government employees.
Previously he had indicated reluctance to meet Cuepacs’ demand as he claimed that’s one humongous lot of lollies, but now he seems to be singing a different tune. He said the government was “adopting an open mind in the matter and would scrutinise all the reasons submitted by Cuepacs on the salary revision”.
The usual blah blah blah … and ending in "The government has to study all these factors. The reason is that there must be (financial) capacity. And I believe that with the 'spirit of give and take', we can achieve something that will give relief to everyone, InsyaAllah."
Mark my word, the government will time it just in time for the next general election, which may well be just around the corner, probably next year, and likely to be just before Anwar Ibrahim served his full term of no politics.
Previously he had indicated reluctance to meet Cuepacs’ demand as he claimed that’s one humongous lot of lollies, but now he seems to be singing a different tune. He said the government was “adopting an open mind in the matter and would scrutinise all the reasons submitted by Cuepacs on the salary revision”.
The usual blah blah blah … and ending in "The government has to study all these factors. The reason is that there must be (financial) capacity. And I believe that with the 'spirit of give and take', we can achieve something that will give relief to everyone, InsyaAllah."
Mark my word, the government will time it just in time for the next general election, which may well be just around the corner, probably next year, and likely to be just before Anwar Ibrahim served his full term of no politics.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Bush's goy-ish strategy for Iraq
Now, here’s something for us to wonder. Why does President Bush decide against all logical thinking to deploy an extra 21,500 US troops to Iraq as his new strategy for the war torn country.
Consider this:
(1) American opinion is 61% against increasing troop levels in Iraq – instead they want US troops back home. The opinion polls show declining public confidence in Bush's conduct of the war, with the majority opposed to his proposal to send more troops to secure Baghdad.
(2) Both houses of Congress are now controlled by a (hostile to Bush) Democratic Party, which will oppose Bush’s plans, though not too vigorously to the extent the American public sees the Democrats as not caring for their troops already in Iraq. The landslide victory of the Democratic Party in the recent US Congressional election has been seen as a rejection of Bush’s Iraq policy.
(3) His military commanders don’t want to put more troops into Iraq.
(4) His extra troop insertion into will hurt the Republican Party's prospect in the next election.
(5) The Iraqis themsleves, particularly the Shiite majority, want US troops out a.s.a.p, not more coming in, because they are (quite rightfully) fearful of American treachery, in possibly striking a deal with the Sunnis by agreeing to bring them back to power. They know Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan have been whispering in the US’ ears.
(6) The bipartisan Iraq Study Group, headed by his dad’s old Republican Party friend, ‘Uncle’ James Baker, and a former Democrat congressman, Lee Hamilton recommended that the US (1) engages Iran and Syria diplomatically to help stabilise Iraq and (2) sets a goal of early 2008 for the removal of almost all US combat troops.
The President was particularly lukewarm towards talks with the two Middle States, and there’s a reason for Bush's reluctance to embrace ‘Uncle’ James' recommendations.
Bush will not engage Iran and Syria diplomatically, because Israel wants the US to be hostile to its two principal serious threats.
Bush will not yet leave Iraq because, with US troops out of Iraq, the world’s attention will shift to and focus on Palestine, a completely undesirable situation for Israel.
Israel fears that with the departure of the American presence in Iraq, consolidation of Shiite powers will bring an increasing Iranian influence into its neighbourhood.
Need I spell it out any her as to why President Bush is obdurately going against the wish of the American people (and Iraqi people, not that the latter matter), a hostile Congress, his military commanders and ‘Uncle’ James?
It’s precisely for the same reason why he sent his military to attack Iraq in the first place – it’s all for Israel. Mind you, he probably doesn't even know that, and more likely has been fed a tale of ensuring his place in US history as the brave and resolute US President. Whay a goy!
Consider this:
(1) American opinion is 61% against increasing troop levels in Iraq – instead they want US troops back home. The opinion polls show declining public confidence in Bush's conduct of the war, with the majority opposed to his proposal to send more troops to secure Baghdad.
(2) Both houses of Congress are now controlled by a (hostile to Bush) Democratic Party, which will oppose Bush’s plans, though not too vigorously to the extent the American public sees the Democrats as not caring for their troops already in Iraq. The landslide victory of the Democratic Party in the recent US Congressional election has been seen as a rejection of Bush’s Iraq policy.
(3) His military commanders don’t want to put more troops into Iraq.
(4) His extra troop insertion into will hurt the Republican Party's prospect in the next election.
(5) The Iraqis themsleves, particularly the Shiite majority, want US troops out a.s.a.p, not more coming in, because they are (quite rightfully) fearful of American treachery, in possibly striking a deal with the Sunnis by agreeing to bring them back to power. They know Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan have been whispering in the US’ ears.
(6) The bipartisan Iraq Study Group, headed by his dad’s old Republican Party friend, ‘Uncle’ James Baker, and a former Democrat congressman, Lee Hamilton recommended that the US (1) engages Iran and Syria diplomatically to help stabilise Iraq and (2) sets a goal of early 2008 for the removal of almost all US combat troops.
The President was particularly lukewarm towards talks with the two Middle States, and there’s a reason for Bush's reluctance to embrace ‘Uncle’ James' recommendations.
Bush will not engage Iran and Syria diplomatically, because Israel wants the US to be hostile to its two principal serious threats.
Bush will not yet leave Iraq because, with US troops out of Iraq, the world’s attention will shift to and focus on Palestine, a completely undesirable situation for Israel.
Israel fears that with the departure of the American presence in Iraq, consolidation of Shiite powers will bring an increasing Iranian influence into its neighbourhood.
Need I spell it out any her as to why President Bush is obdurately going against the wish of the American people (and Iraqi people, not that the latter matter), a hostile Congress, his military commanders and ‘Uncle’ James?
It’s precisely for the same reason why he sent his military to attack Iraq in the first place – it’s all for Israel. Mind you, he probably doesn't even know that, and more likely has been fed a tale of ensuring his place in US history as the brave and resolute US President. Whay a goy!
Silent agony of MCA
I have posted Stung by hornet, mute as only MCA can be at BolehTalk.
The posting discusses the MCA's current political predicament as that of a mute stung by a hornet - he feels the terrible pain but he can't even yell out in his agony. I've also provided a little of what I have learnt from old-timers about the MCA's less-than-friendly history with its UMNO taikoh.
The posting discusses the MCA's current political predicament as that of a mute stung by a hornet - he feels the terrible pain but he can't even yell out in his agony. I've also provided a little of what I have learnt from old-timers about the MCA's less-than-friendly history with its UMNO taikoh.
Keeping an iron lid on an inelegant stench
Early yeterday morning (5:35 am) I posted AAB's inelegant response to anti-toll outrage, where I noted AAB’s outrageous response to reporter’s query about the PKR claiming it had a copy of a dodgy agreement between the government and one of the highway concessionaires.
The reporter was obviously attempting to elicit AAB’s reaction to the credible PKR’s revelation that the government had over-indulged the toll concessionaires.
Instead of talking about the issue at hand, namely the dodgy toll agreement or the increase in toll charges, the PM threatened to take action aaginst PKR if the document was classified under the Official Secrets Act.
Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang said what I posted, namely, what aspect of national security had been undermined for the government to take action against the PKR for being in possession of an agreement, that in the first place should be available to the public?
He lambasted AAB: “When he became prime minister, he pledged a ‘clean, incorruptible, modest and beyond suspicion’ government and called on Malaysians to tell him the truth.”
“All these promises of an open government have come to nought as the people’s right to information is not recognised or entrenched by law.”
“What has happened to all the government talk about protecting whistle blowers to ensure accountability, integrity and good governance?”
Lim said the people have a right to information that would help build good governance, transparency, accountability and participation, and eliminate corruption. He pointed out that countries with access to an information law are perceived to be the least corrupt.
The more the government attempts to keep a lid on stuff that affects the public, that should rightfully be available to the public, the more it actually tells us the government is hiding something dodgy and smelly.
The reporter was obviously attempting to elicit AAB’s reaction to the credible PKR’s revelation that the government had over-indulged the toll concessionaires.
Instead of talking about the issue at hand, namely the dodgy toll agreement or the increase in toll charges, the PM threatened to take action aaginst PKR if the document was classified under the Official Secrets Act.
Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang said what I posted, namely, what aspect of national security had been undermined for the government to take action against the PKR for being in possession of an agreement, that in the first place should be available to the public?
He lambasted AAB: “When he became prime minister, he pledged a ‘clean, incorruptible, modest and beyond suspicion’ government and called on Malaysians to tell him the truth.”
“All these promises of an open government have come to nought as the people’s right to information is not recognised or entrenched by law.”
“What has happened to all the government talk about protecting whistle blowers to ensure accountability, integrity and good governance?”
Lim said the people have a right to information that would help build good governance, transparency, accountability and participation, and eliminate corruption. He pointed out that countries with access to an information law are perceived to be the least corrupt.
The more the government attempts to keep a lid on stuff that affects the public, that should rightfully be available to the public, the more it actually tells us the government is hiding something dodgy and smelly.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Danger of bird flu & Murphy's Law
No, it hasn’t gone away - bird flu, that is.
Latest casualty from the deadly avian flu has been an unfortunate teenage boy in Indonesia.
Just a mere 14-years old, the boy died four days after being admitted to hospital for treatment with flu-like symptoms. Doctors claimed that he lived in an area where chickens had died recently from the virus.
China has also reported its first human case in months, though the man has since made a full recovery. Unlike the Indonesian case, there was no reported outbreak of the virus among poultry in the area where the farmer was. Medical authorities are wondering how he contracted the disease. Could it be the worst nightmare, that the deadly virus is being spread undetected among birds?
Last month, Vietnam had its first outbreak of avian flu in poultry in a year. Since then it has slaughtered thousands of birds.
But the bad news is that as winter prevails in the northern hemisphere, leading to lower temperature, the virus can survive longer, thus increasing risk of the disease spreading to humans.
In my posting Qu'ils mangent de la murtabak I discussed the sad case of Dr Asmawi Tahir, who holds a doctorate in corporate aangement yet couldn’t get a reasonable white collar job.
He decided to go into quail farming but has had his business plans severely affected by inflation – fuel, transport, toll prices all taking off and soaring away (no pun intended). He found out that the consequential price increase of chicken feed has made his quail business no longer viable.
Asmawi had already spent some RM70,000 on his farm. His fall-back action has been to switch to the exotic bird business, rearing peacocks, lyre-birds, etc.
But I had to open my big mouth and commented that “Murphy's Law suggests that there may just be another outbreak of SAR to break this poor man’s heart.”
Sorry Asmawi, I’ll go and wash my mouth - with Dove soap (pun not intended, again).
But we all need to be vigilant and must immediately raise to the medical authorities any observations of suspected outbreaks of the deadly avian flu. In this Visit Malaysia year, we the Malaysian public not only need to look after our own safety and protection from bird flu, but that of our overseas visitors as well.
Latest casualty from the deadly avian flu has been an unfortunate teenage boy in Indonesia.
Just a mere 14-years old, the boy died four days after being admitted to hospital for treatment with flu-like symptoms. Doctors claimed that he lived in an area where chickens had died recently from the virus.
China has also reported its first human case in months, though the man has since made a full recovery. Unlike the Indonesian case, there was no reported outbreak of the virus among poultry in the area where the farmer was. Medical authorities are wondering how he contracted the disease. Could it be the worst nightmare, that the deadly virus is being spread undetected among birds?
Last month, Vietnam had its first outbreak of avian flu in poultry in a year. Since then it has slaughtered thousands of birds.
But the bad news is that as winter prevails in the northern hemisphere, leading to lower temperature, the virus can survive longer, thus increasing risk of the disease spreading to humans.
In my posting Qu'ils mangent de la murtabak I discussed the sad case of Dr Asmawi Tahir, who holds a doctorate in corporate aangement yet couldn’t get a reasonable white collar job.
He decided to go into quail farming but has had his business plans severely affected by inflation – fuel, transport, toll prices all taking off and soaring away (no pun intended). He found out that the consequential price increase of chicken feed has made his quail business no longer viable.
Asmawi had already spent some RM70,000 on his farm. His fall-back action has been to switch to the exotic bird business, rearing peacocks, lyre-birds, etc.
But I had to open my big mouth and commented that “Murphy's Law suggests that there may just be another outbreak of SAR to break this poor man’s heart.”
Sorry Asmawi, I’ll go and wash my mouth - with Dove soap (pun not intended, again).
But we all need to be vigilant and must immediately raise to the medical authorities any observations of suspected outbreaks of the deadly avian flu. In this Visit Malaysia year, we the Malaysian public not only need to look after our own safety and protection from bird flu, but that of our overseas visitors as well.
MCA's death-by-a-thousand-cuts?
I have just posted MCA div leader: "We're as good as dead!" over at BolehTalk, where I highlighted the MCA’s current dilemma, desperation and possible death-by-a-thousand-cuts vis-ร -vis the sorry issue of toll charge increases.
AAB's inelegant response to anti-toll outrage
Remember my posting Toll charges - more lies from government's 'pot', where I discussed what PKR information chief Tian Chua revealed, namely, a 'secret' agreement between the government and Litrak which was “lopsided and not done in the best interest of the people”.
Tian explained the agreement was drafted in such a way that it gives Litrak virtually unfettered powers in becoming a money-making machine, with the government only having thumb-twiddling or nose-picking function.
Should we be surprised?
Tian then accused the government of “lying” when the latter claimed it was negotiating with Litrak to reduce the toll rates, because, according to the contract, the rates have been fixed under the agreement for the entire concession period of over 30 years from 1998.
Again, should we be surprised?
And don't forget, DAP leader Ronnie Liu told us UMNO-linked Litrak had already recovered its highway construction cost three years after it started operation and has been recording profits since 2002.
Tian Chua also revealed that the ‘secret’ document allows the concessionaire to continue collecting toll irrespective of whether the company is reaping profits or making losses.
He gave an inelegant response - in fact, damningly pathetic! Should we be surprised? (yeah, I know ...)
AAB said, beat this, the cabinet decision to allow the recent toll increase was based on representations by the concessionaires on their toll collection.
He claimed: "And what they proved to us, to the government, was that the toll had to be increased."
"... was based on representation by the concessionaires ..."? And the cabinet jumped to grant their wishes. What about representation from the public?
Then, there was AAB's assertion of "... what they proved to us ...".
However, when asked the obvious and logical question, for him to reveal the 'proof', AAB inelegantly attempted to bulldoze his escape by saying: "All are public limited companies."
What the hell has that to do with the public wanting to know how the cabinet came to approve the toll charge hike, based on so-called 'proof'?
If the cabinet was satisfied with the so-called 'proof' which is making us, the suffering public, pay more, then let’s see that 'proof'.
But he moved quickly from there to moan about the subsidy the government had to pay the concessionaires, that it was considerable and could not be continued.
Yet Dr Mahathir said the traffic flow through the toll had increased five fold, so why continue the subsidy, unless as Anwar Ibrahim had averred, the increased toll fee (or in our minds, more like extortion) was to hand out early ang pows and Christmas presents to a list of parasites.
Anwar, recalling his conversation with Humpty Dumpty in 1997, when he was then deputy premier and finance minister, said Humpty told him a highway concessionaire sought an increase in toll charges because the extra money was needed as inducements for unspecified individuals.
Anwar said: “He (Samy) still said it was important to increase (the toll charges), and I told him that he should resign (from cabinet) and go work for the company (instead).”
Following his rejection of Humpty's request, a ‘Tan Sri’ from the company appealed to Anwar for the toll increase, saying the company had to pay ‘leaders’ and their families from Perlis to Johor.
When AAB was asked about PKR claims it had a copy of an agreement between the government and one of the highway concessionaires, the PM threatened, of course tangentially to the issue of toll charge hikes, that the government could take action if the document was classified under the Official Secrets Act.
Pray tell us, Mr PM, why should a toll concession involving/affecting the out-of-pocket expenditure of the rakyat (people) be classified under the Official Secrets Act. Where’s or what's the bloody national security issue?
... unless the government imposed secrecy has been meant to deny the cash cows (stupid us) from knowing how rapaciously the government-concessionaire complex has planned to milk us, the long suffering public.
Tian explained the agreement was drafted in such a way that it gives Litrak virtually unfettered powers in becoming a money-making machine, with the government only having thumb-twiddling or nose-picking function.
Should we be surprised?
Tian then accused the government of “lying” when the latter claimed it was negotiating with Litrak to reduce the toll rates, because, according to the contract, the rates have been fixed under the agreement for the entire concession period of over 30 years from 1998.
Again, should we be surprised?
And don't forget, DAP leader Ronnie Liu told us UMNO-linked Litrak had already recovered its highway construction cost three years after it started operation and has been recording profits since 2002.
Tian Chua also revealed that the ‘secret’ document allows the concessionaire to continue collecting toll irrespective of whether the company is reaping profits or making losses.
You would be tired by now of my 'should we be surprised?', but alas, it still needs to be said.
Well, in the face of such a damning barrage of criticisms, what has been the response of our so-called elegant PM?He gave an inelegant response - in fact, damningly pathetic! Should we be surprised? (yeah, I know ...)
AAB said, beat this, the cabinet decision to allow the recent toll increase was based on representations by the concessionaires on their toll collection.
He claimed: "And what they proved to us, to the government, was that the toll had to be increased."
"... was based on representation by the concessionaires ..."? And the cabinet jumped to grant their wishes. What about representation from the public?
Then, there was AAB's assertion of "... what they proved to us ...".
However, when asked the obvious and logical question, for him to reveal the 'proof', AAB inelegantly attempted to bulldoze his escape by saying: "All are public limited companies."
What the hell has that to do with the public wanting to know how the cabinet came to approve the toll charge hike, based on so-called 'proof'?
If the cabinet was satisfied with the so-called 'proof' which is making us, the suffering public, pay more, then let’s see that 'proof'.
But he moved quickly from there to moan about the subsidy the government had to pay the concessionaires, that it was considerable and could not be continued.
Yet Dr Mahathir said the traffic flow through the toll had increased five fold, so why continue the subsidy, unless as Anwar Ibrahim had averred, the increased toll fee (or in our minds, more like extortion) was to hand out early ang pows and Christmas presents to a list of parasites.
Anwar, recalling his conversation with Humpty Dumpty in 1997, when he was then deputy premier and finance minister, said Humpty told him a highway concessionaire sought an increase in toll charges because the extra money was needed as inducements for unspecified individuals.
Anwar said: “He (Samy) still said it was important to increase (the toll charges), and I told him that he should resign (from cabinet) and go work for the company (instead).”
Following his rejection of Humpty's request, a ‘Tan Sri’ from the company appealed to Anwar for the toll increase, saying the company had to pay ‘leaders’ and their families from Perlis to Johor.
When AAB was asked about PKR claims it had a copy of an agreement between the government and one of the highway concessionaires, the PM threatened, of course tangentially to the issue of toll charge hikes, that the government could take action if the document was classified under the Official Secrets Act.
Pray tell us, Mr PM, why should a toll concession involving/affecting the out-of-pocket expenditure of the rakyat (people) be classified under the Official Secrets Act. Where’s or what's the bloody national security issue?
... unless the government imposed secrecy has been meant to deny the cash cows (stupid us) from knowing how rapaciously the government-concessionaire complex has planned to milk us, the long suffering public.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Dr Mahathir claims he was 'stupid' in toll agreement?
Over at BolehTalk I posted Dr Mahathir's unbelievable humility in toll saga.
Obviously the toll price saga has heated up to supernova magnitude that Dr Mahathir is distancing himself from the dodgy agreements,but by effecting self-humility - calling himself a 'stupid' politician - and blaming the government officers for not checking the fine print of the agreement with the toll concessionaires.
Obviously the toll price saga has heated up to supernova magnitude that Dr Mahathir is distancing himself from the dodgy agreements,
Dr Mahathir must make amends to Lim Guan Eng
While I support Dr Mahathir’s condemnation of Tony Blair for the latter’s crime in being a more-than-willing partner in fabricating a casus belli against, and consequentially waging an illegal war on a sovereign Iraq, I criticise the Ole Man for his silence when Lim Guan Eng was persecuted and jailed for standing up for a Malay schoolgirl who had her young body ravaged by the powerful.
In that shameful silence was Dr Mahathir’s failure to stand upfor against an injustice within our own land.
In 1995 Lim Guan Eng was arrested and charged by the police after he publicly criticized the government's handling of allegations of statutory rape against Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik, the former Chief Minister of Malacca.
Lim the Younger accused the government of 'double standards' in the statutory rape case, where the Attorney General, Mohtar Abdullah, decided not to prosecute Rahim Tamby Chik, but instead put the underaged alleged Muslim girl, a mere fifteen-year old schoolgirl, under 'protective custody'.
Lim was accused under the Sedition Act of prompting 'disaffection with the administration of justice in Malaysia'.
Compare Lim’s so-called ‘crime’ with the behaviour and public utterances of delegates to the recent UMNO general assembly. Even Marina Mahathir described the authorities' treatment of the girl as a 'mockery of justice' in comments published in an article.
Just to make sure Lim was nailed, he was additionally charged under the Printing Presses and Publications Act for 'maliciously printing' a pamphlet containing allegedly 'false information' specifically because he had used the term 'imprisoned victim' in reference to the alleged rape victim.
Amnesty International had this to say of Lim Guan Eng’s case:
The sedition charges against Lim Guan Eng, apart from being an apparent move to silence a leading critic, appear to be part of an established government strategy of selectively using repressive laws in prominent cases to engender a wider public reluctance to criticize the authorities.
A similar intimidatory stance was reflected in December 1996 when the government threatened to use the ISA against those seeking to organise an NGO forum to discuss alleged abuses of police powers. Threatened with detention without charge or trial, the organizers suspended the forum indefinitely.
Members of the government and ruling coalition have also publicly criticised those regarded as dissenters after questioning their patriotism. In December 1996 Prime Minister Mahathir accused some Malaysian NGOs of acting in collaboration with foreigners to undermine the countrys international reputation and described them as 'traitors' and 'leftists'.
Similarly in November 1996 in a parliamentary speech a senior UMNO parliamentarian accused Lim Guan Eng of being a 'traitor' because he had allegedly referred his case to the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) thereby 'damaging Malaysia's international image'.
Lim Guan Eng’s courage to stand up for the girl has been such a sterling example of courageous public service, especially for women, that parties like PAS, with too much focus on the grubby issue of sex and lust, could do well to emulate.
Instead of harassing and persecuting women with the inconsequential, PAS could do well to fight for their real dignity and justice, such as protecting them from oppression by abusive husbands and rapacious employers, rather than their nonsensical version of 'dignity' that demanded women to comply with PAS' narrow worldview of aping desert Arabs in dressing. In reality those dress codes masked PAS leadership’s misogynist persecution of womenfolk.
I pick on PAS for the reason I had expected it to be the main counterweight to UMNO, already a lost cause. Yet PAS has let us down miserably by straying into puerile issues.
Yes, there may be some good blokes and women in UMNO like the Johor Baru MP, Sharir, but they are far too few and fearful of speaking up, an when they did speak up, were pulverise into silence by the UMNO leadership.
But indeed the injustice to Lim Guan Eng must not be allowed to be forgotten. That he is from the DAP is coincidental and irrelevant.
If Dr Mahathir is truly committed to a new leaf of human rights value, then he should fight for Lim Guan Eng’s slate to be officially wiped clean, and for the abused Malay girl (a woman by now) to be properly compensated and apologised to.
In that shameful silence was Dr Mahathir’s failure to stand up
In 1995 Lim Guan Eng was arrested and charged by the police after he publicly criticized the government's handling of allegations of statutory rape against Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik, the former Chief Minister of Malacca.
Lim the Younger accused the government of 'double standards' in the statutory rape case, where the Attorney General, Mohtar Abdullah, decided not to prosecute Rahim Tamby Chik, but instead put the underaged alleged Muslim girl, a mere fifteen-year old schoolgirl, under 'protective custody'.
Lim was accused under the Sedition Act of prompting 'disaffection with the administration of justice in Malaysia'.
Compare Lim’s so-called ‘crime’ with the behaviour and public utterances of delegates to the recent UMNO general assembly. Even Marina Mahathir described the authorities' treatment of the girl as a 'mockery of justice' in comments published in an article.
Just to make sure Lim was nailed, he was additionally charged under the Printing Presses and Publications Act for 'maliciously printing' a pamphlet containing allegedly 'false information' specifically because he had used the term 'imprisoned victim' in reference to the alleged rape victim.
Amnesty International had this to say of Lim Guan Eng’s case:
The sedition charges against Lim Guan Eng, apart from being an apparent move to silence a leading critic, appear to be part of an established government strategy of selectively using repressive laws in prominent cases to engender a wider public reluctance to criticize the authorities.
A similar intimidatory stance was reflected in December 1996 when the government threatened to use the ISA against those seeking to organise an NGO forum to discuss alleged abuses of police powers. Threatened with detention without charge or trial, the organizers suspended the forum indefinitely.
Members of the government and ruling coalition have also publicly criticised those regarded as dissenters after questioning their patriotism. In December 1996 Prime Minister Mahathir accused some Malaysian NGOs of acting in collaboration with foreigners to undermine the countrys international reputation and described them as 'traitors' and 'leftists'.
Similarly in November 1996 in a parliamentary speech a senior UMNO parliamentarian accused Lim Guan Eng of being a 'traitor' because he had allegedly referred his case to the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) thereby 'damaging Malaysia's international image'.
Lim Guan Eng’s courage to stand up for the girl has been such a sterling example of courageous public service, especially for women, that parties like PAS, with too much focus on the grubby issue of sex and lust, could do well to emulate.
Instead of harassing and persecuting women with the inconsequential, PAS could do well to fight for their real dignity and justice, such as protecting them from oppression by abusive husbands and rapacious employers, rather than their nonsensical version of 'dignity' that demanded women to comply with PAS' narrow worldview of aping desert Arabs in dressing. In reality those dress codes masked PAS leadership’s misogynist persecution of womenfolk.
I pick on PAS for the reason I had expected it to be the main counterweight to UMNO, already a lost cause. Yet PAS has let us down miserably by straying into puerile issues.
Yes, there may be some good blokes and women in UMNO like the Johor Baru MP, Sharir, but they are far too few and fearful of speaking up, an when they did speak up, were pulverise into silence by the UMNO leadership.
But indeed the injustice to Lim Guan Eng must not be allowed to be forgotten. That he is from the DAP is coincidental and irrelevant.
If Dr Mahathir is truly committed to a new leaf of human rights value, then he should fight for Lim Guan Eng’s slate to be officially wiped clean, and for the abused Malay girl (a woman by now) to be properly compensated and apologised to.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Dr Mahathir: "Tony Blair is a war criminal."
Dr Mahathir called British leader Tony Blair a war criminal for his role in the Iraq war and the hanging of Saddam Hussein.
On his first count of accusation, Blair being a war criminal for his role in the Iraq war, I fully agree with the Grand Ole Man. Because of Blair’s support of Bush’s illegal attack on Iraq, orchestrated by his neo-cons including many ultra-Zionists, Blair must share with Bush the responsibility for the death of 650,000 Iraqis as well as the dislocation of many terrorised millions from their country.
But on Mahathir’s accusation of Blair being criminal for his part in Saddam’s murder, I hesitate to go fully along with that. Mind you, that is not to say Blair wasn’t partially or indirectly responsible. I believe Blair in his disgusting sycophantic (to Bush) self had gone along passively with the American sinister design.
Blair is known in his own country as Bush’s poodle. It’s a crying shame, a travesty of commonsense and logic and an insult to British pride, that an articulated intelligent man like Blair had to lick the boots of an intellectual pygmy like low brow George W Bush
Mahathir is a member of the International Committee for the Defence of President Saddam Hussein. He merely joined the world (outside of Israel and the Coalition of the Killing) in blasting the mob lynching of Saddam.
Whether the evil former dictator deserved the death sentence is arguable, depending upon one’s values and attitude towards capital punishment, but the point is there was no fair trial as shamefully averred by the White House - its spokesman Tony Snow had the brazen vulgarity to claim the US-backed Shiite-dominated Iraqi kangaroo court demonstrated "absolute proof that the judiciary in Iraq are independent.”
There’s just no limit to the Bush Administration’s blasphemy against the concept of justice and due process.
Blair had been severely criticised in Britain for refusing to speak out on Saddam's trial and execution. But how could he when he wanted so badly to suck up to the American president.
Mahathir told a press conference: "He [Blair] is as much a war criminal as he accuses Saddam of being."
"The Americans and the British and possibly this little country in the south called Australia, they are also behind this hanging. They cannot say they are not involved."
"I am disgusted at these people because they tell us the death penalty is bad ... but they actively promote the death penalty, Britain in particular."
As I said at the beginning, I agree with Dr Mahathir that Blair and Bush are war criminals, but at least Bush has never hide the fact he loves to send people to the gallows. But Blair is an unmitigated two-face hypocrite, talking down to 3rd World nations on human rights.
But rest assure I won't let Dr Mahathir get away unscathed. I'll be posting something to show Dr Mahathir had not been true to his new found human rights values as well.
On his first count of accusation, Blair being a war criminal for his role in the Iraq war, I fully agree with the Grand Ole Man. Because of Blair’s support of Bush’s illegal attack on Iraq, orchestrated by his neo-cons including many ultra-Zionists, Blair must share with Bush the responsibility for the death of 650,000 Iraqis as well as the dislocation of many terrorised millions from their country.
But on Mahathir’s accusation of Blair being criminal for his part in Saddam’s murder, I hesitate to go fully along with that. Mind you, that is not to say Blair wasn’t partially or indirectly responsible. I believe Blair in his disgusting sycophantic (to Bush) self had gone along passively with the American sinister design.
Blair is known in his own country as Bush’s poodle. It’s a crying shame, a travesty of commonsense and logic and an insult to British pride, that an articulated intelligent man like Blair had to lick the boots of an intellectual pygmy like low brow George W Bush
Mahathir is a member of the International Committee for the Defence of President Saddam Hussein. He merely joined the world (outside of Israel and the Coalition of the Killing) in blasting the mob lynching of Saddam.
Whether the evil former dictator deserved the death sentence is arguable, depending upon one’s values and attitude towards capital punishment, but the point is there was no fair trial as shamefully averred by the White House - its spokesman Tony Snow had the brazen vulgarity to claim the US-backed Shiite-dominated Iraqi kangaroo court demonstrated "absolute proof that the judiciary in Iraq are independent.”
There’s just no limit to the Bush Administration’s blasphemy against the concept of justice and due process.
Blair had been severely criticised in Britain for refusing to speak out on Saddam's trial and execution. But how could he when he wanted so badly to suck up to the American president.
Mahathir told a press conference: "He [Blair] is as much a war criminal as he accuses Saddam of being."
"The Americans and the British and possibly this little country in the south called Australia, they are also behind this hanging. They cannot say they are not involved."
"I am disgusted at these people because they tell us the death penalty is bad ... but they actively promote the death penalty, Britain in particular."
As I said at the beginning, I agree with Dr Mahathir that Blair and Bush are war criminals, but at least Bush has never hide the fact he loves to send people to the gallows. But Blair is an unmitigated two-face hypocrite, talking down to 3rd World nations on human rights.
But rest assure I won't let Dr Mahathir get away unscathed. I'll be posting something to show Dr Mahathir had not been true to his new found human rights values as well.
Visit Malaysia 2007 - what's overlooked
The PM has asked Malaysians to make 2007 the most dazzling, fascinating and exciting year ever for tourists. He said: “I am sure that if we work together, we can truly make this a fantastic year.”
AAB wants Malaysians to be more helpful and friendlier to tourists.
He reminded Malaysians that if visitors felt comfortable here, they would then be happy to come back again or pass the good word among their friends. He stated: “Friendliness, after all, is one of the specialties of Malaysians. This will also further improve the tourism industry, which is one of the main contributors to our economy.”
Very true, and I support the PM in his appeals. But then shouldn’t the PM look closer into what have hitherto been pissing tourists off, and unless addressed, would continue to cheese the visitors off.
For a start, we don’t want those fanatical khalwat patrols harassing tourists. They are so stupid that a couple of months back they even terrorised an elderly American (white) couple who sailed in Langkawi for a couple of months of relaxation. They did it without the escort of a policeman as should have been the correct procedure.
The wife was so traumatised by the dumbo ayatollahs, who couldn’t even tell ‘white from black’ during its sex inquisition drive, that she left straightaway for America on a plane, leaving the hubby behind with his boat.
Did AAB mention tourists passing word among their friends?
Read my earlier posting Malaysian Religious Zealots terrified elderly US couple.
Then, there’s our world famous police, who apprehended two African Americans, an US Navy lawyer and an ex-Navy servicemen, and then to aggravate their mistake, refused their request to contact the American Embassy.
While I can sympathise with the police's (initial) mistake in their campaign of ‘sweeping up’ illegal African migrants, I can’t their refusal to let the detainees contact the Embassy. Why were they so moronic, or was it they were waiting for the Americans to make the appropriate ‘gesture of goodwill’?
To add insult to injury to the two black American visitors, Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor, brushed off the incident as negligible. He had the insentivity to say: “One or two cases from the 17.5 million tourists who visited Malaysia last year is a negligible figure.”
The BBC had already publicised the case of Wayne Wright and Yahweh Passim Nam by quoting them saying that they were treated inhumanely by the Malaysian police. Now, besides the two victims telling other Americans of their traumatic experience, all we need is Oprah to have them on her show.
Then there’s of course our notorious taxi drivers (admittedly not all taxi drivers are dodgy, but all we need is one or two rotten apples to contaminate the whole barrell), and the sometimes equally dodgy Custom and Immigration officials.
AAB should address his appeals to and actions against those public service wonders rather than the ordinary people whom he has (correctly) described as ‘friendly Malaysians’.
And please tell his Tourism Minister not to regard African Americans like Indian Malaysians - like sh*t!
AAB wants Malaysians to be more helpful and friendlier to tourists.
He reminded Malaysians that if visitors felt comfortable here, they would then be happy to come back again or pass the good word among their friends. He stated: “Friendliness, after all, is one of the specialties of Malaysians. This will also further improve the tourism industry, which is one of the main contributors to our economy.”
Very true, and I support the PM in his appeals. But then shouldn’t the PM look closer into what have hitherto been pissing tourists off, and unless addressed, would continue to cheese the visitors off.
For a start, we don’t want those fanatical khalwat patrols harassing tourists. They are so stupid that a couple of months back they even terrorised an elderly American (white) couple who sailed in Langkawi for a couple of months of relaxation. They did it without the escort of a policeman as should have been the correct procedure.
The wife was so traumatised by the dumbo ayatollahs, who couldn’t even tell ‘white from black’ during its sex inquisition drive, that she left straightaway for America on a plane, leaving the hubby behind with his boat.
Did AAB mention tourists passing word among their friends?
Read my earlier posting Malaysian Religious Zealots terrified elderly US couple.
Then, there’s our world famous police, who apprehended two African Americans, an US Navy lawyer and an ex-Navy servicemen, and then to aggravate their mistake, refused their request to contact the American Embassy.
While I can sympathise with the police's (initial) mistake in their campaign of ‘sweeping up’ illegal African migrants, I can’t their refusal to let the detainees contact the Embassy. Why were they so moronic, or was it they were waiting for the Americans to make the appropriate ‘gesture of goodwill’?
To add insult to injury to the two black American visitors, Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor, brushed off the incident as negligible. He had the insentivity to say: “One or two cases from the 17.5 million tourists who visited Malaysia last year is a negligible figure.”
The BBC had already publicised the case of Wayne Wright and Yahweh Passim Nam by quoting them saying that they were treated inhumanely by the Malaysian police. Now, besides the two victims telling other Americans of their traumatic experience, all we need is Oprah to have them on her show.
Then there’s of course our notorious taxi drivers (admittedly not all taxi drivers are dodgy, but all we need is one or two rotten apples to contaminate the whole barrell), and the sometimes equally dodgy Custom and Immigration officials.
AAB should address his appeals to and actions against those public service wonders rather than the ordinary people whom he has (correctly) described as ‘friendly Malaysians’.
And please tell his Tourism Minister not to regard African Americans like Indian Malaysians - like sh*t!
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Alexandre Hotel, Penang 1932 - Identification requested
Can one of you help identify this place from the very old photo, one in a batch depicting Penang in 1932?
Friend of mine said his uncle came across the photo in one of those email chain letters. He sent it to me for help, but much as I pride myself as a Penangite, I wasn't able to.
The caption of the photo claimed it was the Penang Alexandre Hotel.
Friend of mine said his uncle came across the photo in one of those email chain letters. He sent it to me for help, but much as I pride myself as a Penangite, I wasn't able to.
The caption of the photo claimed it was the Penang Alexandre Hotel.
I suppose the hotel would be the double-storey building on the left. Could the hills behind it be Penang Hill (Bukit Bendera). I doubt there would be any hotel in the southern end of the island in 1932, so we may rule out Western Hill.
Next to the hotel, further away in the photo, there seems to be a building with a flag post. It looks like a school, administrative building or a police station.
Then the most intriguing feature appears to be the rail tracks. It couldn't have been the Penang tram lines because the photo doesn't show any electrical grid overhead. If those tracks were for a train, which part of Penang Island had a train line? Maybe in 1932, it might have been a tram pulled by horses?
Or have my friend and I been foxed by our presumption this scene was on the island when it could well have been in Province Wellesley (Seberang Perai)?
Can you kind Penangites and former ones please ask your dads, granddads or elderly uncles or neighbours? Thanks.
Some Indians 'happy' to be drunks & slaves?
Want to know more about what a MIC Youth leader said of poor Indians who have been trapped as slaves? Read my new posting MIC blames slavery of Indians on the Indian slaves at BolehTalk.
Qu'ils mangent de la murtabak*
* title translated as "Let them eat murtabak", copying an infamous remark allegedly stated by Marie Antoinette, Queen of France who, when told the French people had no bread to eat, said "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" or "let them eat cake". The notorious statement was meant to demonstrate the French Queen's lack of understanding of the sufferings of the poor.
Now, this is interesting yet at the same disheartening - interesting because there’s something for us to work out the ‘truth’ if there is ever anything such as a truthful ‘truth’ – disheartening because the ordinary people, those who don’t have stuff like yachts to participate in the Monsoon Cup, are hurting badly, but their pains are not heard by the government.
Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) president Syed Sharir Syed Mohamud said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had never met with MTUC to discuss the plight of Malaysian workers, unlike his predecessor, the big-double M.
According to Syed Sharir, Dr Mahathir used to consult the MTUC, not just once but on several occasions during his premiership.
Syed Sharir emphasized his point: “It’s not only the workers. There are several other groups whom he had never even acknowledged nor responded to their appeals.”
“The government must be proactive in engaging groups who are trying to relay the grouses of the people. Maybe they are unconcerned about whether there is any support for them or not.”
In his speech as a guest speaker at the Bank Employees (NUBE) 1st extraordinary delegates’ conference function, the MTUC chief called on NUBE delegates to move beyond engaging in industrial relation issues and into national issues that affect all workers.
“Toll, electricity hikes, inflation. Who else is going to speak up for you?”
Meanwhile, as an example of the impact of inflation on ordinary folks, Dr Asmawi Tahir is complaining about the rise in the price of chicken feed.
Asmawi holds a PhD in corporate management (perhaps not from Oxford university) but because he couldn’t even get a job in the white collar world of corporations, decided to make something out for himself, in quail rearing and exporting.
But his plans to produce processed quails for export have been severely affected by inflation, because the soaring price of chicken feed has made it no longer worthwhile.
He said: “When I started quail rearing in March, it only cost RM58 for a 50 kg bag of feed but now it’s RM74.”
Nearly 30% rise in price, though still less than the 60% rise in toll charges for the people of Puchong. Now which ministers had said the jump in toll charges and petrol price won't affect goods?
"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche?"
He lamented: “On the other hand, buyers are only willing to pay RM2 for each skinned bird” – just a mere 20 sen (11%) addition to the earlier price of RM1.80."
Mana boleh man – cost of feed rise by 30% but his product price only by 11%.
Asmawi had already spent some RM70,000 on his farm. He has a fall-back action which is to switch to exotic birds like peacocks, lyre-birds, etc. But Murphy's Law suggests that there may just be another outbreak of SAR to break this poor man’s heart.
Then, has Syed Sharir been right about a PM who's clueless about the plight of the ordinary Asmawi, Ah Chong and Muthusamy, where they face monumental problems of stuff like a RM16 jump in a 50 kg bag of chook feed or a 60 sen jump in toll charges 'each time' they pass through the milking gate?
Mind you, the government can cast hundreds of millions on a sports centre in UK, another humongous lump of such millions on promoting the Monsoon Cup, probably millions on the Cemerlang-isation ceremony, RM400 million on a palace, RM600 million of pork barrelling, etc etc etc?
Hmmm, but of course we need to be aware that Syed Shahrir also leads the Parti Keadilan Rakyat Kelana Jaya division.
So, was Syed Sharir’s views on AAB coloured by reality or political expediency?
Now, this is interesting yet at the same disheartening - interesting because there’s something for us to work out the ‘truth’ if there is ever anything such as a truthful ‘truth’ – disheartening because the ordinary people, those who don’t have stuff like yachts to participate in the Monsoon Cup, are hurting badly, but their pains are not heard by the government.
Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) president Syed Sharir Syed Mohamud said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had never met with MTUC to discuss the plight of Malaysian workers, unlike his predecessor, the big-double M.
According to Syed Sharir, Dr Mahathir used to consult the MTUC, not just once but on several occasions during his premiership.
Syed Sharir emphasized his point: “It’s not only the workers. There are several other groups whom he had never even acknowledged nor responded to their appeals.”
“The government must be proactive in engaging groups who are trying to relay the grouses of the people. Maybe they are unconcerned about whether there is any support for them or not.”
In his speech as a guest speaker at the Bank Employees (NUBE) 1st extraordinary delegates’ conference function, the MTUC chief called on NUBE delegates to move beyond engaging in industrial relation issues and into national issues that affect all workers.
“Toll, electricity hikes, inflation. Who else is going to speak up for you?”
Meanwhile, as an example of the impact of inflation on ordinary folks, Dr Asmawi Tahir is complaining about the rise in the price of chicken feed.
Asmawi holds a PhD in corporate management (perhaps not from Oxford university) but because he couldn’t even get a job in the white collar world of corporations, decided to make something out for himself, in quail rearing and exporting.
But his plans to produce processed quails for export have been severely affected by inflation, because the soaring price of chicken feed has made it no longer worthwhile.
He said: “When I started quail rearing in March, it only cost RM58 for a 50 kg bag of feed but now it’s RM74.”
Nearly 30% rise in price, though still less than the 60% rise in toll charges for the people of Puchong. Now which ministers had said the jump in toll charges and petrol price won't affect goods?
"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche?"
He lamented: “On the other hand, buyers are only willing to pay RM2 for each skinned bird” – just a mere 20 sen (11%) addition to the earlier price of RM1.80."
Mana boleh man – cost of feed rise by 30% but his product price only by 11%.
Asmawi had already spent some RM70,000 on his farm. He has a fall-back action which is to switch to exotic birds like peacocks, lyre-birds, etc. But Murphy's Law suggests that there may just be another outbreak of SAR to break this poor man’s heart.
Then, has Syed Sharir been right about a PM who's clueless about the plight of the ordinary Asmawi, Ah Chong and Muthusamy, where they face monumental problems of stuff like a RM16 jump in a 50 kg bag of chook feed or a 60 sen jump in toll charges 'each time' they pass through the milking gate?
Mind you, the government can cast hundreds of millions on a sports centre in UK, another humongous lump of such millions on promoting the Monsoon Cup, probably millions on the Cemerlang-isation ceremony, RM400 million on a palace, RM600 million of pork barrelling, etc etc etc?
Hmmm, but of course we need to be aware that Syed Shahrir also leads the Parti Keadilan Rakyat Kelana Jaya division.
So, was Syed Sharir’s views on AAB coloured by reality or political expediency?
Saturday, January 06, 2007
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'.
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?
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.
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?
Friday, January 05, 2007
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
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?
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?
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?
Thursday, January 04, 2007
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?
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
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’.
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
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 ........
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
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.
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
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: "
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
Monday, January 01, 2007
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.
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?
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:
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.
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.
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