william wang

Malaysia EPF Camouflage

2008-11-25T12:36:00.006+08:00

In recent announcement by Malaysian government that contributors to EPF(Employees Provident Fund) are allowed to contribute 3% less than the usual mandatory amount until 2010.
The reasons given were:
1) To bring relief to household income.
2) To stimulate Malaysian’s declining economy due to global financial crisis.

The measure taken will perhaps contribute to relief and stimulation but who are the losers.

What had not been explained, as usual, to the unsuspecting contributors, was ‘the catch’.

We had indeed over-looked the implication of this government’s move until my daughter asked me, ‘will it increase her income tax’.

I am sure many were just as unsuspecting as me.
If our income is already in the taxable bracket, any amount that you get out of the 3% will be taxed at its maximum.
Now, do we still think our government is very caring and concerned on our well-being ?
Or they are just simply incompetent!

Clarification:
If your gross income is between Rm28K & Rm58K, and you do not have additional personal insurance for deduction, then you stand to lose out in this 'generous' move from government.
Apparently the target group is on young workers.

Vegee Plot continue....

Today, the 1st brinjal has reached the size of 120mm x 100mm, the purple colour has somehow faded. Perhaps it is being over matured.
A second brinjal had formed and the size is 100mm x 85 mm.

The Vegee Plot

2008-11-13T14:23:00.006+08:00

Had cultivated this plot before I left for Kuala Lumpur and that was in mid July.
When I got back in mid September, it was in miserable shape, full of aphids and mealybugs. Since then I had given it a round of insecticide and watered it regularly.

Waa-hoo, what do you know, the tomato is profuse in fruits, the chilli plant has shot up to about 5 feet and full of chillies.

What amazed me most is the brinjal (egg plant), I had expected it to be of the other type which is elongated in shape but this appeared the round type. Not much fruit with it, only 3 that I had noticed.

The earliest formed had become quite big. Photo taken on 8th Nov. showed it to be around 60mm tall & 100mm in width.

As of today, I had it measured again, the width had reached 120mm and the height was 90mm.

I just wonder how big it can really grow.

According to Wikipedia, brinjal is known to grow to 250mm long and 90mm broad, can weigh up to 1 kilogram.

So far with this one, it is already broad enough but I doubt it can reach that length. It may just mature and wilt. I can wait to see what happens next in coming weeks.

Going Bananas!

2008-09-16T16:15:00.004+08:00

.
.
Snapshot: Malaysian politicians are going bananas, chasing each other across borders and playing cat and mouse. Lots of denying in changing allegiance or not, do the opposition has enough MPs for a new mandate? All these will unveil in coming months. Again, of course depends on how the present government behaves, if they still do not understand and continue their wayward behaviour, nothing can help them. The opposition had always insisted that they wanted a smooth transition and there is really no hurry for it.

Got a surprise when a cluster of banana plants was bearing fruits. From the shape of the unripe green fruit it looked like ‘Pisang Emas’. One of the best kind?

(doesn't it look yummy, like pisang emas?)

Anyway, yesterday we discovered one of the plants in which its fruit was ripe for harvesting. Finally, got a chance to taste it.

Upon peeling the banana, it looked kind of funny in colour, blackish, instead of the normal white colouring. We had some reservation on what kind of banana was it. You had that funny feeling straight away that it was really odd, might not be banana, could even be poisonous.

In breaking it into half, then it suddenly dawn on us that the blackish colour came from the seeds. It was a wild banana! Still, I got to a taste of it, neutral in taste and a bit sour near the seed, very little flesh, hardly felt it and the seeds were gritty & hard.

(seeds)

Now my problem is how to get rid of this cluster of wild banana plants.

On reflection, do we have an analogy here with our political situation???

Ahmad Ismail...Catalyst To......Come 16/9

2008-09-07T12:10:00.002+08:00

Ahmad Ismail is a timely reminder to all Malaysians what UMNO people are made of, it is not the first time that such racial rhetoric was viperously used to rouse the sentiment of Malaysians, such was further confirmed by the UMNO divisions in Penang.

Are we getting used to such racial rhetoric?

Are we really that easy to forget and need constant reminder from the racial guidance of UMNO?

History was told that a country without unity and harmony in its populace would eventually meet its demise. UMNO had been the culprit for the past 30 years and perhaps it is a blessing in disguise that such timely effort is just ripe for a more responsible party to take over the government of Malaysia.
Malaysia needs a different direction that respect our constitutions, the 20 points agreement in the formation of Malaysia and social obligations both written and unwritten to take us into the future.
Such government should not undermine other social groups just for perpetual power in Malaysia. Malaysian problems had manifested themselves and any effort to change is a welcome sight.

Do we really need an apology from Ahmad Ismail?
This monster ought to be in jail long ago and so are some of our present leaders if our government is decent enough.

Our recent 2009 budget is a joke.
In June, we were slapped with fuel and energy increment of between 40 to 60 percent, to reduce subsidy.
As it was said, that the subsidy had inflated to almost 50 billion ringgit, equivalent to our development budget.
In September budget, our expenditure budget was increased, this almost double compared to 4 years ago while development budget is still at about 50 billion ringgit.
The last energy hike had caused inflation, unnecessary hardship, devaluation in ringgit, less domestic spending and discouraged Direct Foreign Investment.
Quite naturally, the government spending is increased, due to inflation. This is a vicious circle, inflation, more hardship and more spending. The biggest losers of all are those who save their money in fixed deposit, ASN, ASB, A Wawasan, EPF and insurance. How much do they really worth in a few years time under the present policy?
I do not expect the PM to know much in economy, though he is the Finance Minister but the 2nd Finance Minister had bad history, ought to be replaced immediately.

Never mind, come 16th September ……….

Interesting Online Streaming Of Results From Permatang Pauh By-election.

2008-08-27T14:13:00.002+08:00

A lot of attention was given to the just concluded by-election at Permatang Pauh constituency.
Many Malaysians take it as a start of things to come, for a new Malaysia where better racial harmony, more transparency, less corruption and improved judicial system, are anticipated.
The end result is DSAI won with a majority of 15671 votes over the BN candidate. It is a big enough margin for the BN government to revise their approach in the governance of Malaysia and the anticipations of all Malaysians? Let’s hope so.

However, there were interesting reports online, right from the close of poll to the final results announced at around 21:47 hours whereby Anwar – 31,195 votes; Arif – 15,524 votes and Hanafi – 92 votes (total – 46,811), giving Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim a majority of 15,671 votes.
The total turnout was 81.01% (NST quoted), there was no mention on the number of spoilt votes. If the 81.01% can be taken as correct, then the total number of 58,459 registered voters will give us a number of 47,358 voters that turned out to vote on 26th Augusted 2008 at Permatang Pauh and the spoilt votes would be 547 votes.

Many of us were interested to know the result, earliest possible and yours truly included.

6.40pm – As quoted through NST online, an official from the election commission announced that the turnout is about 63%, meaning only about 35,829 voters turned out to vote. Just an estimate, I believe, quite easily done as there are only 28 voting centers and I believe the numbers are already tallied and a glance can possibly give you a rough estimate across the board, if the figures showed every number from each center is in the sixties percentage.

8.00 to 9.00pm – My wife called and told me that over TV3, evening news, it was announced that Anwar had garnered more than 29K votes, while Arif obtained 14,444 votes (remembered this clearly, as someone commented on the not so nice sounding of four in Chinese). This was already unassailable at that point.

8.32pm – Malaysiakini unofficially reported, Anwar – 31,949 votes; Arif – 14,297 votes and Hanafi – 74 votes.

In summary:

6:40pm – Election commission - Turnout 63% - 35,829 votes
8.10pm – TV3 – Anwar (29000 +, - 1K); Arif (14444) - 43,444 (+ or – 1,000) votes counted
8.32pm – Malaysiakini (unofficial) – Anwar (31949); Arif (14297) Hanafi (74) - about 46,320 votes counted.
10.35pm – NST – final result – Anwar (31195); Arif (15524); Hanafi (92) & 81.01% turnout = 47,358 votes.

Throughout the evening right until the final result was announced, every follower of the election result would be under the impression that the turnout was between 65 to 63 percent. It was certainly a surprise that the final result turned out this way. 81.01 percent!

Are we forgetting something? Could it be the postal votes factor or the online reporting had not been accurate.
But from the flow of results, I believe the majority could have been slightly higher but not that much to show it to be more dramatic. To the gamblers who bet on the difference, this could be win or lose and large sum could change hands, poor buggers!

But if the initial quote of 60 to 65% were to be correct, also mentioned by the election commission as quoted by NST at 6.40pm on election day, than the implication is significant. There are about 8,800 votes that are not caste on the same day. The main-stream-media had since withdrawn all the sixties odd percentage from their online news portal.
The lesson to learn from this is: it is never easy to cover live events if it is necessary to cover up some of the truth.

Is Lying Our Best Policy?

2008-08-23T19:11:00.004+08:00

We had been taught that it is difficult to lie and dishonest then to be sincere and honest. The more you lie, the more you will have to cover up, especially if you are a public figure.
Have our politicians figured this out, yet.
It is difficult to believe whatever our government says anymore.
Our Malaysian government made mistakes and every time in order to cover up, they made bigger fools of themselves. This leads us quite naturally to believe that our leaders are not capable of the tasks at hand and people who read both sides of the news would not be confident or comfortable with the present bunch in power.

Good News – Fuel Reduction.
The fuel price will decrease from today….Great!
They went on to say that it was not politically motivated by the coming P44 by-election.
Just deep concern for the suffering Malaysians, as on July inflation was up 8.5%. (Wait till you get your August electricity bill, easily 25% more than the previous month)
Why can’t they just keep quiet.
Didn’t they ever think of this before the drastic fuel increment?
It is too late to be sorry after you have beaten someone, half dead - just compensate for the suffering and the medical bill.
The more the government tried to show concern, after the fact, it only sounded so insincere and incompetent. Are they trying to take us as fools.

Look at the price reduction as tabulated:
It was further said that the government would maintain the subsidy at 30 sens for petrol and 50 sens for diesel. However, until the end of this year, the ceiling price is capped at the max. prices already happened this year.

Can you really believe what the government is telling us?
All these subsidies is nonsense, the price that is been increased the most and now reduced that least. It seems they are just habitual liars.
From the set of figures, it also shows that there is no policy to encourage more efficient use of fossil fuel, meaning the government does encourage inefficiency?
With present technology, most mechanical minded people will tell you that diesel engine is a more efficient engine. Most efficient petrol engines will require Ron97.
What they are literally telling us is to use 1960s technology in our transportation. Little wonder our fuel usage keeps pilling up.

Touch N Go Card.
In another separate matter, the customer service department head told us that its card only has a lifespan of 10 years.
When asked for the reason, he said like all electronic products there is wear & tear, as such only last for about 10 years.
Another typical case of lying, do our Mycard will only last for 10 years.
What he should have said, we like to make a bit of money out this, after-all it is only a ringgit a year.
We, off course, will hope to keep the RM15 if the customer were to abandon the usage totally. The same reason why we have so few reload centres around, where you can reload free of charge.
If we are inconsistent with what we say, we have to be lying!

Do Malaysians Still Trust Their Main Stream Media

2008-08-08T17:10:00.003+08:00

At the end of the day, can the BN government come out of this constant political manoeuvre of late by the opposition and smell like roses.
Since the 8th of March, 12GE, the opposition had been taking potshot at the government with accusations and the likelihood that the opposition will had enough crossover to form the government.
Five states had already been claimed by the opposition since the March results and it takes little imagination that there is such possibility.
The government since then had been playing big suckers to entertain most lawmakers and states by giving increased allocations and more projects.
Any negligence in the past, had been promised with renewed seriousness, and in Sabah, the illegal migrant problem.
If things were not right in the beginning and there is no policy change from the authorities, there is little to convince the Sabahans that the illegal migrant problems will be ‘investigated’ thoroughly. Pardon me, I do not recall any investigation and the present exercise in flushing out all illegal migrants will prove futile and could just be a waste of time and money.

Back to the game, opposition versus government.

It seems the government is not good at this and falls in the opposition’s trap every so often.
Mostly out of their own ignorance and arrogance, still hoping that the main-stream-media will report favourably and ignore whatever mistakes/contradictions there are in their reports.
There is a limit in which the media can do, if the government do not stop exposing contradictory statements and provide stupid answers or out of spike, give sweeping statements which either means nothing or just plain stupid. They will not know what hit them when the cards crumble.
The quality of people running the government plays an important role, take for instance, the Anwar sodomy charge, there is nothing to show presently that Saiful, the accuser, is telling the truth. Statements from the government only pointed to the rule of law and quite unbalance, if the pursuit seems to be one sided, as it is been done now. How on earth can you ask the Malaysians to believe, if such people also have the internet access for alternative news.

The by-election in P44, Permatang Pauh would be interesting, perhaps it is a blessing in disguise for the government, if they can wake up from the state of self-denial. Should Anwar able to win convincingly by historical margin, it goes to show ‘proper news’ can reach its readers despite government attempt to subdue them. Should the reverse happens, the MSM is still effective in forming the perception. Which then, is sad for Malaysia.

Saiful’s Doctor Statutory Declaration

2008-08-07T03:59:00.003+08:00

Dr. Mohd Osman Ab Hamid who was apparently the 1st to make medical examination on Saiful’s anus for evidence that it had been penetrated, made a statutory declaration on 1st August on what he could recalled had happened and the days that followed, until he had to take leave and left Malaysia.

If all these that appeared in the alternative media were true.
What puzzled me most, the police, indirectly the government, is convinced that Saiful’s story is credible.
Had the government only been reading what the main-stream-media dished out?
It seems they have been convinced by self-denial and wrong advice.
If they still do not wake up to this reality, I am afraid they will not be in government for long!

Saiful Medical Report

2008-07-29T03:26:00.003+08:00

Saiful, who had accused Datuk Seri Anwar of sodomising him had himself first examined by Dr. Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid of Hospital Pusrawi and attached is the report as widely circulated in bloggersphere.

The examination and report was made at 2:14 pm on 28th June 2008.
This report was clarified by Mark C., a commenter on Raja Petra Kamarudin’s Malaysia Today website, where the medical report first appeared.
We know how difficult it is to read doctor’s handwriting and I believe Mark C is of the same breed.

There is argument that such report is violating the privacy between doctor and patient. We should also be reminded that there is also a law against concealing of evidence.
Saiful knew that evidence did not exist and yet made the police report.
He is making a mockery of our police force which otherwise would have better things to do.
Or do they?

The Quality of our Leaders And Patience of our Police Force thoroughly Exposed.

2008-07-17T17:54:00.002+08:00

Wan Farid: What's the difference 20 or 50 minutes

TAKE TWO

What's the difference Rm1.92 or Rm2.70

It has been political ‘cat and mouse’ game between the opposition and the government for the past few weeks.
Somehow, the people that our PM had assigned to carry out the duties, had turned out to be liabilities to him rather than help, to secure more confidence in his government which had been badly scarred since the 12th general election, in march this year.

If the main-stream-media reports were to be believed, which we normally thought to be biased on the government side, than this indeed convinced the Malaysians more than ever that we had inherited in government, a bunch a no hopers, lack in focus and patience but full of arrogance and still convinced than it is not their own doings that had caused the Malaysians to be disillusion to them. It may perhaps hit the dead nail to the present ruling coalition.

Let us start with the debate between Anwar and Shabery.
The subject matter was on oil price increment and the opposition said that they would be able to reduce it if they were in government.
The government side in fact had lots of points to rebut this. One of which is perhaps to change the mentality of Malaysians not to be wasteful on limited resources and the perennial expected price subsidy attitude.
This was good forum for the government to lay their case and thrush out any lingering doubts that may be in the Malaysian minds. But no, instead of having an intelligent debate from the government, it had turned out to be a history lesson and accusations on its opponent, which were totally out of the subject matter of this debate.
While the opposition, represented by Anwar, gave the reasons on how they are able to do it and the benefits it brings.
If our PM still had full trust on such minister, I am sad on the prolonged consequences to our beloved nation.

We know very well that the opposition is doing what they can, to expose the weaknesses of the government and the subject is doing a splendid job to help them.
Such weaknesses are already inherent, to be exploited and the government just do not have the ability to change, it is already too ingrained.
It is becoming clearer by the day, that we indeed need a complete change, nothing can be worse than what we had, that is what the government seems to be telling its people from its actions. What a pity!

Another example, as reported by MSM, the CID police branch arrested the opposition leader before the deadline. The deadline was widely published by media and from the horse’s mouth itself.
Though they may not be wrong in doing this, but it shows the arrogance and impatience of our police force, which already had suffered in the past, out of their own doing. Do they simply lack intelligence and common sense?It only shows how capable they are in handling highly charged cases and in protecting the image of Malaysia by taking actions on presumptions. They are just dangerous!
Worse yet, our deputy in Home Ministry said what is the difference in 20 to 50 minutes. Now, such attitude only further convinces the Malaysians that our government just cannot keep a promise. It is just not in their habit.
These people in power have to change before the Malaysians change them!But then again….. don’t waste my time, they are just incorrigible!

Malaysia Today

2008-07-03T17:31:00.003+08:00

The Malaysian government said we were spending almost 40 billion in fuel subsidy, in which just about equal our development budget for the year.
With our population at 26 million, this works out to rm1538.46 per Malaysian per year.
If this is distributed, that person who had 3 wives and going for the forth and had 18 children, would get a total of rm35,384.62 for his family, almost equal to his yearly salary of 36K per year. I don’t think he needs to work any more.

Jokes aside, where had all our billions gone to, was it used to improve our cost of production whereby foreign investors would find it attractive enough to invest here and multiply our billions of hard cash spent.
We are a net oil exporter and if foreign investors do not find us attractive enough, something must be very wrong somewhere.Our past policies must have been wrong and it is coming back to hound us.

I have to take our klang valley as an example, as it is the most industrialised part of our country. It cost quite a lot to stay in the klang valley of Malaysia, where most of the industries are and thus job opportunity.
The closer you can get to rent a residence, to your place of work, the higher is the rental and unfortunately such residences are also limited and fully occupied. The security is another problem.
After staying in the klang valley on and off for the past year, I have come to the conclusion that you need at least Rm900 per month now, just to stay there and move around. This does not include your other necessities. (This is beginning to sound something like a head count tax)

It seems everything goes in sync with each other, if you were to stay near a place where you work, the rent will be exorbitant and should you stay in another residential area away from the industrial area, you pay a high price for transportation or an unavoidable loss of time.
Thus my gut feeling is, you will have to spend that much if you are to stay alone and being a working person. This is beside the food that you have to consume and other necessities.
For a person to live decently in klang valley, he would need a job that pays at least rm1800 per month, anything less than that, he would be living like a rat in a rat hole.
I do not think, one would have much left over at the end of the month and he can forget about entertainment, just work like a slave.

So, can the Malaysian government bring down the cost of living in the industrialized area like klang valley, despite raising the cost of fuel?
Without a doubt, I think they can, if they are sincere in tackling this issue.
There had been so much abuse and conflict of interests in the past that it gives them a huge margin to adjust without burdening the Malaysians further.
There was desire to improve the public transport in 1996 after the fuel increment but as we could see, the desire was not to improve the mobility of the working people but for school children to school and housewives to do shopping.
The conflict of interest here, it seems, the government wanted the working class to have their owned form of transportation.
It wanted to see no end in the increasing sales of motorized vehicles.

It takes at least 4 changes in public transportation to get to your place of work on a single trip (return trip not included), if you are lucky and staying about 20 km from your place of work. This distance takes at least 2 hours in traveling and waiting time, on a single trip. Thus for a day, you spend 4 hours on a 8 hours working day just on transportation time. Don’t you think it is ridiculous?

The government had said that the fuel subsidy had reach a point where it almost equate the development budget for the year and thus the fuel price increased up to 40%.
It is only logical now, more important now than ever, to discourage vehicle ownership. The public transportation improvement should get the first priority.
Shaft those corridors, if you can convince at least 50% of the working class and industrial sector to used public transport, imagine the saving, it will be in billions and actually it will be self financing.
We do not know what the former transport and works ministers had been doing, to get us to such a mess but hey, this can be a blessing in disguise.
The present ministers can improve on this without straining the budget further.
If this is given the priority, our ministers should be talking and discussing about this, not the corridors, shaft those corridors for all I care!
We had been going down the wrong path for the past 25 years and it is about time we make the right turn.

My Dear Pak Lah

2008-06-27T16:19:00.006+08:00

My Favourite Comic

Pak Lah, you know, hor, we Malaysians are very cham already. We all lub you, we all know you are doing your very best.
What to do, hor? The Americans, the british, the japs, the chins and the khiling, disturb our economy only. They don’t want to invest in our place, hor. They say we don’t know how to do business, we only kasi naik harga barang only.
I know it is not true, you got many ma-chai to take care, hor and all want to be putera-putera and puteri-puteri, so difficult to take care, hor.

You know, ah, pak lah, we know you really, really work very, very hard, sampai you look so sleeping everyday, people just don’t know.
You have to take care of the whole Malaysia, we all know you cannot leave your ma-chai alone, basket, they will all steal us bankrupt, hor.
Some more, hor, you have to play tat-tat with you lovely wife, hor. At your age, please take care, hor. Don’t hurt you back, okay.

I know actually, hor, you are a very nice person, you know, hor, in the last erection I actually wanted you but when I went to the polling station, so many people said you are not good lah, I was so confused, so I just hantam saja. I simply cross and made a prayer for you. I actually forgot how to vote as you say. So sorry, hor.

Aiya, the Sabah monkeys making a lot of noise again, hor.
The WWF also cannot do anything, you know or not. I think you can control them, kan? You already give them some peanuts, see all of them sokong you now, kan?
Aiya, still got one, wants to bite you, what you want to do, ha? I don’t know if you can hantam him with the ACA and bring him to court with your ma-chai now.
You see, hor, your ma-chai is not very clever, lost so many big-big cases already, kan.
I think never mind, lah. There are only two of them but be careful, hor, I think you should give them bigger peanuts, you know like the coconut, okay? Hopefully they choked, then we can have another erection, nice kan?

You know, ha, you must trust me because I am your fren and I am very good, I don’t talk about ketuanan, I love all kinds of religions because I don’t know how to choose, I love all kinds of people because I swing both ways, see, you must trust me lor.
You know or not, your other people’s son is very sneaky, hor. Maybe he only married your daughter because of you, so be careful, ha. You can trust me wan, because I am the cham people, mah.

You know or not, ha, people said your deputy and his wife did very nasty thing, I pun takut to say it here. You know, ha, people also say, his ministry buy goods also at very high price, something like Maggie for the price of Kancil. You know, hor, it is no good for your nice image.
Aiya, how to get rid of him, ha, he also got very very strong backing from someone who left your office. Aiya, really susah, hor? I am still cracking my head, to help you, no promise, ha.

Aiya, your ma-chai are really susah lah, all they want are project-project saja.
All your bajet also have to go to them, somemore not enough, have to increase somemore for them in your plan.
So susah, hor. I really pity you, your kepala pun pening.
You must take care of your health, pak lah. They say gingko and viagra are good for people of your age, you must try some, ha.
See, I am always on you side, not like those smart ass ma-chai, always want to kachau saja, hor. They say you flip-flop like an acrobat, you cannot decide.
But I know, what to decide, hor? Must know only how to distribute the money, kan?

You must help cham people like us, can ha? People say you got plenty power, you can give plenty money to your ma-chai to keep them quiet. You must be very powerful, hor. Can you help cham people like us by reduce the tax, get rid of the toll, reduce the car price, protect our savings, reduce the barang barang price, can or not, ha?
I hope you can, because your ma-chai say you are very powerful and you can do anything, wan. Thank you, hor.

Malaysians Must Unite!

2008-06-26T14:19:00.002+08:00

Most traders are ruthless people and would try to make more profit if given the slightest chance.
Unavoidable inflation will eventually deplete our incomes and savings, given the recent increase in energy price, brought on by the Malaysian government.
No traders will want to be left out and would like to get ahead the soonest possible. This includes those from ‘teh tarik’ shop right to the recent behaviour of the Petrol Stations.
Consumers can sympathize with some of the traders, as their basic cost had actually increased and it was just cost plus the competitive margin of profit.
They are not only facing the stiff competition, they have to explain to their loyal customers and apologize for it, as they have no monopoly on their type of business.

Coming back to the petrol stations in Malaysia, they can be considered the privileged lot, as no one can simply set up a business in fuel trading, they are all selected!!!
To say that the members of the Petrol Dealers Association is losing will be ridiculous. They said they are no longer accepting credit card for payment, as it cost them 2.7 cents per liter now, which still works out as 1% mathematically. Some may not be earning as much as before but given also the fairly large percentage of those who pay in cash, in actual fact they may end up earning more.
For those who use credit card, they would normally fill up their tank, meaning a higher value in each transaction and thus higher return.

Overall, the petrol station operators should appreciate a higher fuel price, as it means higher earnings.
These lot of members definitely do not belong to the group of poor buggers.
They have the privilege to be among the first few to have a better earning to overcome the inflation. What is there to complain!
It is the normal wage earners who are suffering at the moment. There is no guarantee that they may get salary increment at the end of the year.
The members of this traders association are just being unscrupulous and insensibly trodden the consumers when opportunity present itself.
It is a known fact that with a flip-flop government like in Malaysia, it pays to complain and threaten the government, be it commercially or politically.
What happened in the latest announcement by the government to the petrol station operator is, the commission is increased by another 2.7 cents to compensate for the credit card commission, while the increment in credit card commission is actually 0.78 cents.
We would have imagined that the commission at previous petrol price had been compensated for the card commission.
One just wonder, if there is any purpose in increasing the petrol price in the first place. How much further, those money saved from reduced subsidy can be stretched, it may all just end as a futile exercise. This is what the government appeared to be very good at.

It is about time the consumers must unite, at a time like this we must boycott those traders who are unscrupulous in their method of doing business.
I still remember vividly in the mid 1980s, there was a shortage in subsidized diesel but no such shortage in commercial/industrial diesel in which was sold at a higher price.
Among the stations operating then, were Shell, Mobile and Esso.
During this crisis, in Esso station you would always find that the subsidized diesel exhausted but right next to the Esso station you would find a skid tank selling commercial/industrial diesel.
Since that day, I had sworn that I will never step into another Esso station again and I will also try to convince my friends or anyone I come across to do the same.
I urge the consumers to take note of those stations that do not accept credit card and in future just boycott it.
We do not need such type of people in dealing with the essentials and we can all sleep better at night.

In another front, I can’t help but fumed at BN management committee meeting on Tuesday, wanting SAPP to explain and a show-cause letter will be issued.
What is there to explain, if the committee still do not understand what is at stake at the moment with Sabah, they don’t deserve to be in government.

The outstanding issues in Sabah are glaringly clear, what they do now is just talk, talk and talk, plus all kinds of aspiring lips services.
About time, Sabah should give the Federal government a show-cause letter in which is long overdue.

Do the UMNO stooges in Sabah have the guts and will power to safeguard the state or afraid that they will be investigated by the ACA.
You see, Sabahan politicians are quite amateurish compared to those old rascals in the central and there can be allot of skeletons under the federal safeguard.

SAPP Political Move Is With The Spirit of Sabahans

2008-06-24T03:51:00.002+08:00

Has it ever crossed your mind or noticed that Sabah state assembly cabinet members are called ministers and not councilors as practiced in Peninsula states of Malaysia.
This is because when Sabah entered to form Malaysia with Sarawak, Singapore and Malaya, they joined as equal partners and with the same sovereignty and autonomy. Its spirit is expressed in the 20-point Agreement.
In fact under point 13 of the 20-point Agreement, the name Prime Minister was mentioned for the Sabah ‘state’ government.
We have to understand the circumstances that Sabah joined Malaysia in order to appreciate their dissatisfaction at the moment.
While Sabah had fulfilled its part, the same cannot be said with the federal government. It is common knowledge in Sabah that it rights had deteriorated and its political landscape had changed.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about the matter:
The 20-point Agreement was written for the main purpose of safeguarding the interests, rights, and the autonomy of the people of Sabah upon entering the Federation of Malaysia. It was originally envisaged that Sabah will be one of the four entities in the Federation, the others being Malaya, Singapore, and Sarawak. However, as times passed, Sabah and Sarawak ended up being merely one of the 13 states in the Federation

There is no doubt that the 20-point agreement is wilting and if the present Sabah parliamentarians were to do nothing about it, more changes and deterioration will happen.

SAPP, a small Sabah political party of the coalition in government, made a significant move and declared its dissatisfaction by voicing no confidence on the Malaysian prime minister.
Which is totally right, as Sabah had been burdened with illegal immigrants, unsubstantiated new Malaysian identity to foreigners who did not qualify, poor infrastructure, unfair distribution of wealth, high unemployment rate and being the poorest state in Malaysia, despite its wealthy resources. Their earlier calls to resolve these, particularly the Royal Commission to look into the illegal immigration problem, were ignored or given the delayed treatment.

What followed this declaration, we suddenly find the Anti-corruption Agency is opening the file to investigate the party president.
We can be highly suspicious of its timing and can only conclude that it is political blackmail.
Apparently, this was something happened 12 years ago and the party president was then investigated and interviewed by them.

Why all this rhetoric from the ACA all of a sudden.
Is it a timely reminder to potential parliamentarians not to step out of line? If such is the case, their integrity is at stake. They have a duty to the Malaysians and the country.

Further to this, the same conclusion can be arrived at most of Sabah parliamentarians. Most of them had been vocal in demanding Sabah rights and wanted more emphasis and demand to know why Sabah security and immigration problems still persist. All of them suddenly fell silence and became non-committal.
It is sad to note that our Government Agencies, paid from our tax money and resources, are used as political tools for those who walk the corridor of power.

There is little wonder why Malaysia is imbedded into a 3rd world country and classified as such. We just do not have the right people to get us out of this shit at the moment.

We just need a total overhaul!

Can A Mosquito Party Fight For Sabah

2008-06-20T11:23:00.002+08:00

SAPP president finally made his call, demanding in no uncertain terms that Sabah woes must be addressed, in yet the most assertive way by demanding the PM resignation.

We take comfort to such a move and anticipate concrete effort will be made to address the immigration, poverty, better equity to oil revenue and autonomy in state government.

The federal government had shunned it duty to provide for Sabah, instead involved in local politics to determine the type of state government it wanted.
They wanted to perpetuate their strong hold on Sabah in whatever means possible, including changing the state political scene which we saw had already happened.

The federal government should be more involved in the macro economy, politics and policy of Malaysia, making national decision whereby we can be competitive in the world economy.
To the contrary, they are more interested in kampong politics, using unfair federal policies which were in place to arm-twist the state government and its people into submission.
By having such attitude, the federal government is just not matured or capable enough to handle the world. They are a threat to Malalysia.

It can be said that SAPP president, Datuk Yong Teck Lee is greedy in making this political threat.
But then who is not in this political world, especially in a country like Malaysia,
I am glad that such greed had been taken correctly and inspired him to right the wrong for the benefit of Sabah.
Less can be said of others, from the same state, made strong threats but changed directions when given some personal benefits. This are the type of selfish politicians we must rid off, they do not look into the larger picture and only aim for personal gain.

Now we can only hope, some positive outcome can happen for the benefit of Sabah & its people.

Fuel Subsidy Rebate

2008-06-15T19:23:00.002+08:00

Post offices open its doors to handle the fuel subsidy rebate yesterday. As reported by mainstream media, there is a mad rush to get this generosity from the government.One may ask; what is the hurry? why the mad rush? After all the government did say you have the whole year to claim what you are entitled.

We are only talking just a small portion of the car owners and these are those who had just recently renewed their road tax i.e. April & May. Come July the 1st , I cannot imagine how big the crowd will be, it will probably stretch the queue for a few kilometers.
Some post offices probably did not expect such mammoth crowd, as reported some of them ran out of forms and worst of all money as well. This is to be expected, as no one would have expected such a huge turnout.
When it come to something free, better still like rebate, it is typical of Malaysians, they just cannot wait to grab them. But normally free offers from any sales outlet has conditions and normally limited to a very short period and you cannot blame the people who try not to miss out, thus the mad rush.

In the case of fuel subsidy rebate, why do we have to rush, we have the whole year to get back what we are entitled.
Unless there are other reasons:
The Malaysians must be very much affected by the fuel price, such little relief is a very welcomed savior.
Or
The Malaysians are afraid that the government may change its mind and withdraw the rebate. One cannot tell for sure, as was said before, early this year that there will be no price change in fuel until the end of this year and that was before the general election. Not only there was a change but a record of more than 40% as well.

Is Malaysia Gambling With Its Oil Resources?

2008-06-12T12:10:00.004+08:00

The MP from Kalabakan in Sabah is on the prowl again, jumping onto the bandwagon on criticism of the government’s petrol hike and allowances cut on ministers.
All seem sincere and with dedication to eradicate wastage and proper suggestion to the government, as what MPs should.
The unfortunate thing is; what will be his motive this time.
In the last episode on Sabah illegal migrants, just a month ago, he was among the first to make hue and cry on the government to do something, failing which under no uncertain term, he may not support the government, so it seemed.
When it came to the gist of it, the MP from Kalabakan was conspicuously quiet and among the group of MPs from Sabah, they were against the formation of Royal Commission. Instead, retrace the old path of parliamentary committee to look into it.
The only difference in this committee is the superlative adjective of ‘high power’.
Something good did come out of this trying exercise. The MPs in Sabah are given additional allowances to line their pockets.
While every citizen is trying to tighten their belts, what can be his motive this time; perhaps the extra Rm400K doesn’t mean that much anymore, when you take inflation into account.

As usual, now we have our attention directed elsewhere. Has the ‘High Power’ parliamentary committee been formed yet? Or is there any attempt at this moment? We are starting another cycle whereby history again, will play itself out. As always being said, Malaysians forget easily.

In another related matter on petrol hike, they were discussion on why Petronas is losing heavily on subsidy as admitted by its chairman.
The record in crude price, it seems is not doing Malaysia any good as suggested by Petronas chairman.
What can be the possible reason, since Malaysia is a net exporter in crude oil.
The chairman also said foreign oil companies are profiting on the subsidy and draining away our money.
This indeed is very strange, as foreign distiller and retailer also have to get the crude from the world market.
The only possible explanation to this is, Petronas could be gambling on our country’s security in oil.
Could they be speculating on our crude price and had committed our production way back at a much lower price? Of course now that the price is at its peak, they will lose out on the difference and thus the difference is something extra that they had lost in their little misdemeanour.
We will never know if such is happening unless there is more transparency and the reasons for it.
If such is true, with our crude committed into the future at a much lower price, the present peak price is inducing worldwide inflation and thus we are doubly caught.

Remember what happened during the financial crisis in 1997?
Malaysia’s dabbling in foreign exchange that had cost us billions; we can only hope such is not happening this time. More important now is do we still have the same people managing our security resources, if those people are still there and with the same mentality, the chance is we would be in the same kind of shit as we had in 1997.

Is Malaysia Doing The Right Thing, We Can’t Curb Fuel Usage And Discourage Alternatives At The Same Time

2008-06-10T10:10:00.002+08:00

I am still brooding over the statement by our Malaysian government that because of the crude steep price increment, we can no longer afford to maintain the subsidised fuel at previous level, to do so will only mean we have to sacrifice development fund and failure to maintain the price of other essentials.
The whole picture is fuzzy, there is lack of transparency and there is no way we can debate and suggest to help otherwise.

However, I am still not convinced that our government is telling the truth.
Malaysia is a net exporter of crude oil, we use up less than what we produce and the surplus is exported.
In fact we exported our sweet crude at much higher price and imported the lower quality crude.
To say that we are subsidising the foreign oil company, like shell is also not true, in fact very naughty of Petronas chairman to even suggest.
Foreign companies buy crude from international market, in fact they are extending credit to the Malaysian government by selling petrol at below cost and have to wait for refund.

Why I say, we are advantaged by high crude price, let us take an example:

When the crude is at USD60 per barrel, our pump price is at Rm1.92, we had allocated budget for, say A amount for development and other subsidies for essentials.

Now with crude at Rm130 per barrel, the government said we can no longer can maintain our pump price at Rm1.92 and to do so we would incur B amount for the same development and other essentials.

Now, B is larger than A. So the government said we need to increase pump price so that A can be equal to B. Sounds logical.

But Malaysia is a net exporter of oil, say we have a net surplus in trade of X billions at crude price of USD60 per barrel and at higher crude price X will be larger. Agree?

Let’s say, there is a country in the middle-east, their only revenue is from oil and the rest of the other requirements are imported.
They produced just enough to meet their requirements and at crude price of USD60, they are able to meet their budget with their profit of X billions in crude export.
Now that the price of crude had gone up to USD130, is the Malaysia government telling us that this middle-east country won’t be able to meet their earlier budget and requirements?
If this is the case, why did this middle-east country want to increase his price of crude in the first place? And also, if this is beyond this middle-east country control, it would have to increase production just to survive but there is no sign of this in the world of crude oil production.

I don’t think our government is telling the truth, we should have more to enjoy and the pump price can be maintained if they wanted to.
This may be more of political move to win back support since the disastrous last election.
It will be despicable if this is what our government is doing, to disrupt our daily lives for political gains.

Another theory may be we are threatened to reduce subsidy by the developed countries, countries that are importing our cheap goods because their own production is not as competitive.
Their NGOs and governments had been accusing and pressurising us as perpetuators against ‘green world’, health problem products, labour exploitation, minimum wage, exchange rate manipulation, etc.
For all we know, it is their grand design, in manipulating the price of energy to overcome their disadvantage.
They may already have secret deals with major oil producing countries who guaranteed them certain volume of crude at a minimum price. The scene is played out by their speculators in the commodity market and they make no effort to control this speculation.

Is our government playing into their hands?

Yet again, the world economy is dangerously coupled with mineral oil as energy.
We need to de-couple it; we urgently need alternative sources of energy.
These sources are available everywhere and unexploited because we just take the easy way out.
As for Malaysia, palm oil may turn out to be our saviour in future. The government should give incentives to this development and not try to introduce deterrent, like windfall tax to stifle the industry.

FUEL PRICE HIKE - As usual, we will go on a merry go round and back to square one and no one is any wiser

2008-06-08T11:38:00.002+08:00

Lately every blogger is taking pot shot at our Malaysian government, mainly on the price hike in fuel and energy.
Do they know what is happening? The Malaysians are angry. We had been given ever changing figures that the government is doing its best to contain the inflation. Their inflation rate was 2% before and lately with the 40% hike in fuel, they said the inflation can only be felt at 4.5%.
We all knew how much we had to pay, to survive before and it cost more than 2% in inflation. It is not going to be 4.5% with this 40% hike in fuel.
At one time, they said the subsidy in fuel was at 45 billion and in a matter of days another leader said it was 75 billion. These people in government just hide behind their veil of secrecies. There is little wonder why every Ahmad, Arumugam and Ah Chong try to guesstimate if the government is taking us for a ride, at a time like this, to pile on the confusion and make more money for their cronies. As the saying goes, there is no opportunity without disaster.

When the price hike was announced, it said it would save the government 17 billion in subsidy and towards the end of the week it had gone up to 28 billion.
It seems even the people in government is having a guess. For all you know, even at USD150 per barrel of crude, no subsidy is needed at the old pump price. Apparently nobody knows exactly how much Petronas is making except the PM and a privileged few in the company. The government kept on saying it is inevitable not to raise the pump price because of the price of crude now.
It is so difficult to give us a breakdown and exactly how much it cost for the refined product. This lack of transparency and to certain extends in honesty, will keep the public guessing.
This is not the first time that the government wants to hide information from the public. There must be something sinister that cannot see the light of day, as had happen before.

When the government increased the price of fuel and electricity, they never consulted the public but rely on their bunch of half witted cronies.
When the serving public were to increase the prices, they stamped their feet and forbid them to do the same.
The reason being, these essential goods suppliers are still enjoying the subsidy and have no reason to do likewise.
What is not considered, there will be a general rise in the cost of living and these people may not be able to carry on with their trade any longer. Particular reference is taken to the public transport providers.

Everybody seems to agree that fuel hike is inevitable.
The price of crude is much higher than before, the difference has to come from somewhere.
The government think their present method is the best.
What we have now is uncertainty to every level of goods & services, and everyone at the moment is either trying to take advantage of it or to plainly survive.
No one knows the fair price level for every individual goods & services.

At a time like this, the government will create a bigger mess if they still allow monopoly in our economic system.
Like in the transportation sector, free competition should be allowed and the price will find its level very quickly, likewise for any other sectors where there is exclusive monopoly but again this may destroy the government effort to protect the underprivileged group.

Today, the government is again talking about giving further subsidy to certain group of services.
The government is working overtime with sacrifices and announcement will be made next week.
The more they are trying to repair the damage they had started the more loopholes they are going to create for unscrupulous people to take advantage.
Now it is onus to the government as how to stop it. As usual, we will go on a merry go round and back to square one and no one is any wiser.

A COMPETITIVE STICK UP?

2008-06-07T12:12:00.005+08:00

The domino effect has started since the Malaysian government hiked the fuel price of around 40% on 5th June.

The lorry transportation association had announced an immediate increment on the transportation charge of at least 45%.

We can expect, the overall effect can be heavily felt in the coming months; with less money to spend, the whole internal economy in Malaysia may slow down drastically. An average working person in Malaysia has an income of around Rm2000 per month and with this increment, the government is removing at least Rm500 additional spending power from him, i.e. 25%.
Food and other essentials will also take its toll and we can anticipate a slowdown of more than 35%. Businesses that had cash flow problem will have to close down and individuals that have just enough to meet their credit commitment will default.
We can only hope that there is no financial fallout from this move by our government.

Malaysia is a net exporter of petroleum. No doubt, this product may not last forever, but given another 6 years or so, we still have the time to correct our strategy for our future requirement and stability.
We were jolted to the reality that our basic necessity investments were neglected.
There were a huge sector of our people trained with the wrong disciplines and capabilities; our industries had the wrongly emphasized.
In fact, what we can do, can be done in any 3rd world country but only maybe slightly better, there is nothing to shout about. The industries we have were non-competitive and will be the first in-line to be affected, should there be any adversity.

For what reason, that Malaysia cannot attract high calibre form of investment (FDI).
The people that had been in the government should know it by now. It takes more than 25 years to feel the effect now. We had the wrong set of policies then.
We had not emphasised on what malaysians and our climatic conditions allow us to do best, we copied developed country set of data, which was already in the stage of phasing out. The car industry itself was the biggest mistake of all.

We could have opted for hefty income tax increment to solve our problem.
There must be quite a bit of personal reasons as to why the government is not taking this approach.
The majority of industries are already not competitive enough? The government wants more billionaires in Malaysia? Or these rich people will just run off to another country? Or the government has to protect the cronies.

The world runs on meritocracy, protection, incentive and fair distribution of wealth, any effort to hinder this will affect the country and render it uncompetitive.
Malaysia will continue to suffer if the mindset of its lawmakers does not understand this.

Fuel Price - Malaysians are Cheap, Cheapest in the Region!

2008-06-06T10:09:00.002+08:00

It had finally happened, earlier than expected. It seems that there is a controversy on the implementation date but at the end, it has to be immediate, meaning the PM is still on the driver seat. The way it is implemented may just unseat him as well, let us just wait and see.
At a time like this, after the hefty fuel price increment, whatever the PM said in consolation seemed so hollow, he can keep his sympathy. Whatever he did or advised, had so far nothing in line to raise the productivity and improve the income of the people, to meet this rising cost of living.
Nothing is changed, encourage the subsidy mentality, you can actually make a living with a few unserviceable junks(cars), as long as you have it registered and pay the road tax to claim the subsidy. It may just end up, people who are cars/junks collectors being subsidise to have this hobby. The subsidy encourages non-productive usage of vehicles.
Last night, TV7(local television station) made a survey on whether the law-makers, especially the cabinet ministers should walk-the-talk and change their life style. The response was 98% that the ministers should lead by example. The PM made excuses to the increment in fuel price (up to 40%) and that we should change our life style by adjusting to the inflation expected. This also includes using public transportation. Let us see if our ministers use public transportation and have their Nasi Lemak for breakfast at the 5-foot way or in a makeshift canteen under the tree.
The government only implement measures to collect more from the public and encourage unproductive usage of subsidy. For those who live and spend meticulously are left to further hardship and unprotected. Whatever you had saved for a rainy day is further eroded by at least 20% by a stroke of the PM’s pen and the PM is silent on how to address it. Maintaining the interest rate of 3.5% is ridiculous by bank Negara, unless it is out to help those who live beyond their means.
A working person would travel at least 50 km per day, meaning at least 3 litres of petrol and that will cost Rm2.34 extra per day (with price hike of 78 cents per litre), about Rm70 per month or Rm840 per year. It is a double whammy, not only with this extra cost in fuel, now the person has to face raising cost of living as well. The fuel price as it is, before the hefty increment is already a burden in comparison to the income of the ordinary worker. To say that our fuel prices are still the cheapest in comparison to our neighbour, is the worst load of rubbish that ever come out from our elite ministers and they kept on saying it, as if all Malaysians are idiots.
Our investment policy must be very wrong. Not only will our neighbours come in to fill up the petrol tanks but inefficient companies (FDIs) also come in to take advantage of our energy price. The subsidy to a large extend is enjoyed by the FDI companies. If these FDI companies are here just to provide employments and to use ‘slave’ labour but uncompetitive in world market, we can do without them, there is no need to polish the pride and say we attracted so much and so much of FDI every year. This, to a certain extend is confirmed by the government in saying that we still among the cheapest in the world in energy cost.

Kopivosian Tadau Do Kaamatan

2008-05-31T02:12:00.003+08:00

Happy Harvest Festival

This is an event which falls on the 30th & 31st of May each year.
What had started as a religious ritual in the pagan time, involving God (Kinoingan), his sacrificed daughter (Huminodun) and thus the rice spirit (Bambazon), had turn into a cultural, secular festival.
The ritual, in essence gives thanks to god and appease with the rice spirit for another bountiful harvest the next season.
This deep culture is the soul of the native kadazan/dusun/murut group and sub-group of people of Sabah and through this they do find themselves.
In recent time, other traditional items such as food, sport and houses are showcased in this festival and organised by the Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association. The festival concludes with the selection of a beauty queen, symbolising Huminodun.

To The Native Group of Sabahans, Kopivosian Tadau Do Kaamatan.
May the force be with you.

KICK THE TOLL OPERATORS OUT

2008-05-30T21:05:00.005+08:00

When it comes to concession road operation, I have always believed that we have the wrong people and companies operating them.
They operate unilaterally, oblivious to whatever consequences it may result.
They do not have the business acumen to run it in such a way that it is a win-win situation for everyone. It would be cheaper for the country to rid off this bad situation.

It costs us roughly 20 cents per kilometre, to run a small car like Kancil 850 and definitely more for higher capacity cars.
The cost is inclusive of petrol (major portion), tyres, oil and the scheduled maintenance.
It is indeed quite expensive to run a car, since the petrol price increased to RM1.92 per litre, not to mention the toll as well. I believe car owners are well aware of this.

The stand-off between Bandar Mahkota Cheras residents and Grand Saga is totally unnecessary, and I would blame it on the Grand Saga management for being so foolish or they think they can bully the residents, with the federal government on their side?
Grand Saga could not care less if you have to spend RM1.20 to get to their toll gate and waste unnecessary ‘heavily subsidised’ petrol, as long as they get their 90 cents.
According to the developer who built the access way to Cheras – Kajang highway, they had the approval from the authority for the access way then, but the concessionaire said it was an agreement that they were never a part of it.
The government must have realised then, it would create overall saving for the government and its people, but here, the concessionaire just could not care less. I can see it coming, they want compensation.
This toll system, intended for the country to have better road system, for the benefit of its people and economy, has turn out to be a burden and a waste of public funds under the wrong operators.

The present concession operators are here to screw the public funds.
They get compensation for not increasing up to the intended price, and at the same time, make sure that their highways are more expansive to use, than the longer but free, public road.
You cannot blame the public to think that the government work hand in hand with the concessionaires to siphon off the public funds.
So, we are swirled into having higher subsidised petrol, higher toll, higher compensation ..... in a deepening whirlpool.

Update (May, 31st 2008):
As reported, the access road from Bandar Mahkota Cheras to Cheras-Kajang highway will remain open, pending court decision.
Also reported, under concession agreement, the concessionaire could claim from the government up to RM9,000 daily.
Under simple calculation, there are 38,000 residents (as reported), up to 6 km to the operator’s toll gate, the operator had calculated there is roughly 1 car to every 4 residents and would spend 2 trips per day, i.e. Rm1.80 and at least half of these motorists will use the toll gate. This works out to be Rm8550. The operator conveniently ignored the fact that at least a third of these residents would pass through the toll gate anyway. How in the first place, can our government get themselves cornered into such position? Any dispute of this nature will be very welcomed by concessionaires, no wonder such news are always well covered by our mainstream media, the more disputes the merrier.

SABAH & MALAYSIA

2008-05-29T10:59:00.002+08:00

What is the most effect way to get a recalcitrant to stay in line.
The art of this is practised in many ways. Some by offering incentives in the form of monetary gains, some by giving more power (of course, will also result in more money, a stupid repeat) and the best are those that can be ‘blackmailed’ to submission. None of the Malaysian politicians will ever admit they are subjected to such demeaning incentives or threats, all will insist that they work for the interest and harmony of the nation, very noble indeed!

As for Sabah politicians, the pattern is becoming clear, where you can distinguish the black sheep.
All the forays from politicians who initiated the determination to have illegal migrant issue in Sabah settled, turned pale when it came to real confrontation. It turned back to, tried and discarded plans, such as, select committee, another proper study on the situation, etc.
Perhaps the present guys think they can do a better job, they think the past selected people and the approach were ineffective. Or perhaps they just want another charade, hoping Sabahans ‘senang lupa’ and take the bait. This will at least buy them time to the next general election. Smart play.

It would be difficult to expect any favourable outcome from this present crop of Sabah parliamentarians, if they can be easily reign in by those in real power. They would not be given a chance to stand as candidates, if they are uncontrollable, given the fact that the federal government is never sincere in investigating this issue. One can also wonder will the Lingam case ever come before Royal Commission, if Dr. Mahathir had not been so provocative and determined to run down the PM.

While the state of Johor mauled the loss of Pulau Batu Puteh, due to their negligent effort to emphasise their sovereignty over it, over the past 60 years. This is only an outcrop of rocks and inhabitable by any standard and it takes only less than sixty years to be judged otherwise by ICJ.

With the incessant entry of illegal economic migrants, how long do you think it takes Sabah to become a foreign part of Malaysia.

CHERAS BARRIER

2008-05-28T10:05:00.002+08:00

The barrier is again rebuilt to prevent the Cheras residence to access the Cheras-Kajang highway.
The reason is to prevent motorists from accessing to the highway without paying. Grand Saga is the the concessionaire to this highway.

For the past month, this barrier was consistently torn down by the residence there, but this time around, they met with a group, armed with sticks and are prepared for physical confrontation with the Cheras residence who dare to remove the barrier.

Though I do not fully understand the whole story and whether the concessionaire has the right to put up the barrier, but from the mainstream media reporting so far, something is very wrong.

If there is law and order in Malaysia, there is no need to resort to gangsterism. This group of gangsters, who threaten to beat up those who dare to remove the barrier, cannot be acting on their own. They must have been paid for ‘protection’.

Now, something is very wrong, if this kind of action is condone by the government. If not, then Grand Saga is not the right type of company for the government to deal with, for the interest of the Rakyat and do not talk about the mandate you had, and that the majority are with you!
Why is there such a need to have the gangsters around if we have our security force to maintain the law & order.

These gangsters should be rounded up and slapped with deterrents, we cannot allow such behaviour to perpetuate and there is no reason that these gangsters cannot be identified.

According to the mainstream media, a court order was obtained and that the concessionaire has the right to erect the barrier. It was later reported, that FRU arrived and used water cannon to disperse the crowd.

Common sense again, tells me something is very wrong here. You have this road from Cheras connecting to the Cheras-Kajang highway. How did this come about in the first place?
If the concessionaire is building a paid highway, why link it to a public road. The public road at this junction must have led to somewhere before or was part of the public road turned into a paid highway by the concessionaire by linking their portion to it? Why should the motorists pay, if they were using what was supposed to be the route they had enjoyed before, built by public funds.

We have too many dishonest businessmen around, proposing grand schemes for the interest of Malaysians and our government should not be part of it.

MALAYSIA CRUDE SITUATION

2008-05-27T09:41:00.003+08:00

It is baffling to any Malaysian, whoever it is, with a bit of brain, to analyse as to what were said recently by our ‘smart’ Deputy Prime Minister.
He said, the price of crude had risen to the level that it is imperative for us to rethink on the subsidy, as it had eroded into our development expenditure. Meaning the price of petrol, diesel & gas have to be increased, otherwise future development, immediate or otherwise has to be put on hold.

Is there any logic in this? Malaysia is a net exporter of crude & gas. Would she rather want a lower international price for such product?
I would have thought the higher it goes the better, rather than the reverse. Don’t you think so? In fact the higher the price, the more we would have, in net revenue, or we can only count to 10. This would be the bonanza, we all have been hoping for and the funds for development should be over-flowing.
With this windfall, we should be able to control inflation and depreciation of our ringgit, to such time until the world economy stabilises and finds its balance, which is, the country made poorer should not be artificially made or seemed to be rich and vice versa.

What the DPM proposed or intended to do, mounts to stealing from those who had been saving the little bit of extra cash, over the years, for the rainy day or their intended purposes. Whatever money that was saved for children education, health care or retirement would not be enough, in time to come.
I, for one, do not wish to see those mega projects if my very own survival is in jeopardy.
To encourage inflation in Malaysia, while we still have the ability to avoid it is more than seditious, it is criminal!!!

MASSA - WHAT A PRICK

2008-05-26T14:42:00.002+08:00

Have you ever noticed that should Raikkenon qualify behind Massa, you can be sure that he will lose at least one position into the first corner of the race, more so if Hamilton is in the vicinity.
However, if the opposite were to happen, Massa will gain at least a position to the first corner. Funny is it not? Not so if you were observant enough.

It is the attitude of Massa that caused such to happen, he is more interested in fighting Raikkenon than helping the Ferrari team to have a comfortable run to the finish. He will pay more attention to Raikkenon and make sure that he does not pass him and ignore the rest, in other words, he is not a team player but just wants to spoil his teammate run of success.

Massa could be a good driver, but his attitude and body language leave much to be desired. Just look at his face when he lost to his teammate, even if he came in 2nd, he seemed happier to be in lower positions, as long as he is in front of his teammate, what a little prick!

Ferrari should get rid of Massa before more damage is done to the team, he is there to sabotage the team and ends up helping specifically the McLaren.
You will notice also that he makes sure credit is given to him should he contribute any success to the team.

The last GP in Monte Carlo is a farce, there must be proper rules, should protests be made, it must be done immediately and not in the session that immediately follows the Safety Car Period. This mounts to cheating, the protest would have little effect if a comfortable margin had been built up but to initiate the protest immediately after Safety Car Period, the effect can be profound and it is frustrating to see the sport is been abused this way.

SABAH LAWMAKERS AGAINST ROYAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY

2008-05-24T13:57:00.003+08:00

Are Sabah Lawmakers Like This Sign; JUST EXTRAS!!!

As a residence of Sabah, you have to feel frustrated and disappointed with Sabah lawmakers, who time and again recently, voiced the hot topic of illegal immigrants in Sabah obtaining citizenship through the backdoor but when it comes to the gist of it, they rejected the proposal.
We can understand if not all of them are in favour of this, because some had probably benefited from it and perhaps financially as well.
But the proposal was dismissed without protest from all the 25 lawmakers from Sabah, are disappointing and downright disgusting.

This was not a problem that had arisen recently; it had been with us for the past 40 years and becoming more severe in the past 15 years.
The backbencher chairman from Sabah said, they do not need the opposition to help them and are capable in handling it themselves. As Sabahans, they are the aggrieved party, affected more by it and should be more concerned and no need for the opposition to interfere and help.
Do they really? Sabah has only 25 parliamentarians out of the 222 in total and past records showed that the central government had always not been keen in solving this issue.
For all you know, the suggestion of increasing Malaysia population to 60 million during Mahathirian period had Sabah in its design.
I do not think pride has anything to do in this non-supportive approach to the opposition proposal, more of the benefits that local politicians had benefited from this fiasco.

Sabah had a turbulent history and who would have remembered what had happened 40 years ago during USNO period.
Sabah politicians are still handling it the same way their forefathers did, grab as much as you can, my eyes no see the future and who is going to remember anyway.

Sabah does need a higher population in order to be progressive and competitive, having it through the natural process would be slow, but Sabah needs quality migrants, not the illegal ones that come to commit crime and rape your daughters. We already had plenty of them.

We just have to resign to the sad fact that we are unlikely to get any help from those who are involved in this grand scheme.
Shame on you, Sabah lawmakers, you don’t represent Sabah at all, bloody jerks. And it is all a mistake.
Even west Malaysia umno members had the guts to condemn PM, where are your guts just to help the Sabahans.

Sabah needs lots of divine interventions.

TRANSPARENCY

2008-05-22T12:41:00.006+08:00

Transparency is something Malaysia lacks.
Sadly, it is not part of our culture, we tend to hide behind our mistakes, be it natural or by design, this unfortunate guilt snowballs to our own detriment.

Wenchuan earthquake struck Sichuan province at 14:28 hours on 12th May 2008,
China got into action, letting the world know the extent of the calamity, its short comings and measures taken to overcome this.
Such transparency creates a lot of good wills and contributions poured in from both within and outside to a tune of more than 2 billion USD in cash and material aids beside physical aids in the form of rescue and social workers.

An important lesson for all of us to see and follow, we all know where the contributions will go and the authorities assured sympathisers on their efforts.

In Malaysia and Sabah in particular, we have transparency problems with our authorities, be it development work, distribution of social benefits or even on the political scene of Sabah.
This lack of transparency had caused a lot of mistrust, not only towards the authorities but also amongst its people.
Can we afford to allow this dreaded situation to perpetuate? If the local politicians are mindful of this, they should stop the rot, unless they are just another one, the rot, no need to elaborate further.
Proposal to have a Royal Commission to look into Sabah’s illegal migrants and its unnatural population growth is nothing new.
The unlikely resistance, apparently comes from the politicians in power themselves.
This is the very reason why there is no progress on this nagging issue and there will forever be no solution to it.
If we have not awakened to this, just take to the example, what gigantic step the judicial status had taken since the Lingam Royal Commission.

Perhaps it is easier for us to look at something, whereby the local politicians in power can understand and will also benefit. Let us ask for more allocations for Sabah, since this state is contributing more than its share and had been neglected. But if the funds were to filter through so many sieves, the likely outcome in development is very short changed, another bottleneck!

There is so much mistrust, no matter which direction we take, we are viewed with suspicion.
What to do?
May I be crazy enough to suggest that the allocations go direct to Sabah people, not in cash of course, but in the forms of lower taxes, like for clothing, food, cars, whatever taxable materials or income.
This will put more purchasing power back to the locals to stimulate its economy.
This unparallel system with Peninsula Malaysia is possible because of its isolation and would not have cost the central government much because of its relatively small population.

Will our law makers care to propose?

AMERICAN IDOL 2008

2008-05-22T09:10:00.003+08:00

If you have been a follower of this program, there should be no doubt on the final outcome.
As predicted, it is David Vs David in the final, but the difference is the other name, Archuleta, a teenager of 17 years old.

Since the selection on the finalist of 12 contestants, there is no doubt in my feeling that Archuleta will eventually be the American Idol 2008. It is not the innocence, likeable, clean cut kid look that popper teens or grandmas will pour their hearts out but more on his unique voice.
Unlike other contestants, his voice is gifted and unlikely to be imitated. He can sing naturally and yet sound very unique and melodious.
Many of us would have noticed and predicted his winning, right from the audition when he sang, HEAVEN by Bryan Adams.
I vote, he is likely to win this on his gifted voice than on the technicality of singing and we can hope that he will improve from strength to strength and entertain us for years to come.

MAS Vs AirAsia - IDRIS JALA Vs TONY FERNANDES

2008-05-16T10:40:00.002+08:00

When you have a sore thumb, it always attracts more attention, it is uncomfortable and to say the least a bloody nuisance.
Lately the CEO of Airasia, Malaysia low cost carrier, is behaving like one, accusing its competitor of having unfair advantage and competing squarely on the routes they operate.

Has he lost the sense of competition.

Airasia were given regional domestic monopoly before, it turned out to be in such a mess that they eventually gave up, due to incessant complaint, and handed the job back to MAS. Billions were lost in the short stint by Airasia, lost of regional connectivity affects tourism and business. Air worthy plane were rendered grounded when the responsibility were handed back to MAS. It took MAS more than 6 months to have the system in sync again.
Unlike MAS, there were nothing to show that Airasia had intended for a long haul in regional domestic business but only to make a fast buck.
MAS, now have make plans for new crafts to be in service and complaints are virtually a thing of the past, the system is working like clockwork.

Accusation/campaign of late, sound more like personal attack on MAS CEO, rather than on why Airasia gives better value to its customers.
Idris Jala, CEO of MAS, in my opinion is no ordinary corporate mastermind. He has been able to turn MAS (a GLC) around and at a surprisingly short period of time. Not many government appointed employee in government-linked-companies (glc) have done this and come to think of it, Idris Jala is the only one so far. MAS then, a company that was haemorrhaging and to many, had no chance to recover and best just fold it. But recovered it did, under present CEO guidance, it manages not only to compete internationally but also against LCC and still make exceptional returns to its shareholders.

Airasia is not going to be popular, if they force MAS hands to increase its fare through government intervention.
For the first time in over 40 years of Malaysian history, people are able to enjoy travelling with reasonable comfort, in 3rd class fare. Why the complaint, after all CEO of Airasia said their business had improved since MAS ‘unfair competition’.

When you have politicians butting in, it means complaint has reached them to apply a bit of pressure, failing which will be drastic change and the beginning of a down trend in a competitive atmosphere.
You never want politicians to interfere in any business, especially someone from the transport ministry, which had a record of inefficiency and lopsided decisions. They had just extended PUSPAKOM exclusive monopoly for another 15 years.
We were just about looking forward to a more competitive vehicle inspection services, come 2009, but they just can’t let go this money making machine.

CONSUMERS Vs ONG KEE KEAT

SABAH LAW MAKERS

2008-05-15T02:09:00.003+08:00

Sabah - Land Below The Wind

Sabah law makers had always demonstrated great disappointment, right up to GE12.
Immediately, after having won handsomely, there were determinations to correct the unfair treatment Sabah was receiving.
Each component party of Sabah fell in line to have a love affair with PM(more like an interview), something like applying for a job. After the meeting, each party will try to outdo each other and empathetically said, they had demanded this and that, and the PM is SERIOUSLY looking into them.
History repeats itself, whenever the YBs are making noise, the PM will come over and as always, he is seriously looking into them.

Sabah law makers finally got on the right track lately, albeit just a few individuals.
If they can’t get any of their demands fulfil now, it is unlikely that they will ever be able to do it in the future.
All the rhetoric on how hard they work, how concerned they are with its people well being, only result in being unrealistic fools, not worthy of the job entrusted to them, to cut out a path for Sabah.
Yes, federal government is in a precarious position and Sabah law makers are in the position of strength, though not entirely but strong enough.

History had never been kind to Sabah, probably of its own making, billions in wealth in resources had been taken out of Sabah and there is nothing much to show for the present generation.
Despite its depleted resources, the ugly pictures are, poorest state, uncontrollable illegal economic migrants, scarce job opportunity, unsatisfactory basic amenities, uncompetitive salary, atrocious transportation and road condition, just to mention a few. Had our former leaders plundered all the wealth or was it our federal’s grand scheme to wrest control on Sabah, stripe it and lead them by the nose.
This could be the turning point for Sabah, we need more autonomy in the government, need more share of the wealth, whatever still remained, to be circulated in Sabah.
It is indeed encouraging to see that Sabah politicians are making the right kind of threat and bargain lately but there are not enough of them. Quite a few are actually a disgrace to Sabah, making noise and talking rubbish in Parliament, trying to shine balls?

Fortunately, Sabah is still attractive enough for a different group of exploiters, the planters, and more than a million hectare of land had been developed for oil palm.
These investors had thrown in billions of ringgit and unfair criticism was on them for taking advantage.
Now again, Sabah showed its ugly side, why complain when in the first place you willingly give away this opportunity and not having the patience to nurture the industry.
More important now is how to encourage these entrepreneurs to reinvest their money in the state and that could be in billions.
Do Sabah government and its YBs have the courage and intelligence to change the faith of this state that remains to be seen, this far its record had nothing to shout about.

it is WAR in MALAYSIA

2008-05-10T10:54:00.002+08:00

No one is smiling anymore, all the mudslinging and the likely victims will be our Royal Highnesses.
What started off as innocent insinuations, ego damage checks, some stupid self-satisfaction had turned into an open war and no one is smiling nor it is entertaining anymore.
The pot is calling the kettle black, what will all this lead to eventually... a waste of time, these elected representatives will not be able to get on with what they are supposed to do, working for the Rakyat!
Call a truce and get down to work. We are not paying you to nurse your ego!

The new batch of law-makers, those given second chance and some even many chances, are huge disappointment to date.
Get it to your thick head, it takes more than this, some slender & mudslinging to be icons for the nation.
Stop wasting the home forces time and that of the judiciary, both sides of the political front are just as guilty. If you are not convinced let us make you recall the following.

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

*** KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 (Bernama) — Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail today stressed that there was no tussle between the Regent of Terengganu and the Regency Advisory Council with the state government pertaining to the appointment of the Menteri Besar of the state. He said this was because the process of appointing the Menteri Besar for the state was spelled out under Article 14 (2) of the state constitution. “As such, the candidate appointed as the Menteri Besar is not the nominee of the Regent or the Regency Advisory Council but a person who is appointed according to the laws of the state,” he said in a statement here. He said the person must be a member of the state legislative assembly who in the opinion of the Regent and Regency Advisory Council commanded majority support in the assembly. He said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was fully aware of the provision and that His Majesty cannot interfere in the appointing of the Menteri Besar. “This is because under Article 34(1) of the Federal Constitution, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong cannot function as a ruler of a state except as the head of the Islamic religion. “In connection with this, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong does not have his own candidate for the post (Menteri Besar of Terengganu),” stressed Abdul Gani. He said that His Majesty was aware of the fact that appointing of the Menteri Besar lied fully with the Regent and the Regency Advisory Council, and that His Majesty had no role whatsoever under the law concerning it. Gani’s explanation comes in the wake of speculation about the position. Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh whose appointment as the Menteri Besar of Terengganu has been delayed since the 12th general election ended on March 8***

*We need not reproduce the images of our DPM or UMNO youth chief to prove, it is just shameful, best it is forgotten.*
.

******

*The likely victim in this storm will be Raja Petra but bloggers like us are tough, we chew hides for dinner, we are passionate on our nation and we care for each other, so don’t play play!*

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

Let’s give each other a chance to prove themselves, stop the undermining, only people of lesser integrity and capability resort to that.
Show us, there is still a lot of common sense in this pile of shit.

RICE

2008-05-09T11:57:00.003+08:00

RICE, I am not talking about someone in USA but our staple food.

Remember the days when kids were told to be seen & not heard?
I remember those days when adults sat together to have their opinions expressed and we just sat around and listen, generally ignored, when we budded in and accordingly reprimanded to keep quiet, though we hardly knew why.
As we grew into our teens, their argument seemed far fetch, to a point of being ridiculous, yet we were still considered immature and our opinions were dismissed unceremoniously, without an attempt to let us know why.
This led to loss of communication with our seniors, right into our adulthood and perhaps that is how a generation gap is created.

It is funny how events of the past unfurled and now we are told by leaders of the day that unavoidably essential items are to increase, drawing examples from the world and neighbouring countries.
Malaysia is unique, we have a fast maturing population and sweeping statements can now be dismissed as rubbish. The politicians of the day better realise this and fast.

RICE, as a build-up, murmurs are in the background that government may have to increase its price.
Is it necessary for such talk or is it just a side-track on more important issues looming in the horizon.
Triumphant at last, due to diligent management of the government, we are able to maintain the price of staple food, rice. This is what we will hear at the end of the day.

The international price of rice, as reported, had gone up 3 times since the beginning of this year to USD1200 (RM3840, 1USD @ RM3.20), meaning previously at RM1400 (USD400, 1USD @ RM3.50) or maybe lower.

Prices of local retail: (just a rough analysis)
Local rice, 15 to 5% broken: Range from RM1500 to 1900 per m-ton
Local &Imported, fragrant, super grain: Range from RM2500 to 3800 per m-ton

Looking at these figures, I am still blank if the government needs to subsidise but they definitely had surplus in the past.
The prices of our rice had always been higher compare to international prices, maybe until recently.
Where had all the differences gone to, all the years.

Malaysians of today know how to live and let live, be compromising to fellow citizens, so be transparent.
We know that we need to subsidise the farmers, to have better equity in our nation’s wealth, besides it is also a strategic crop.
There is no need to hide, as if you are doing something shameful. This, I think has always being the problem with our law-makers, they think their fellow citizens are stupid or what.

With all the obscurities, how can we believe the law-makers anymore, especially its leader.
Being controlled item, why can’t the consumers have a breakdown on its price structure just like for the car industries, unless there is really something to hide and for us to find out.

RAJA PETRA KAMARUDDIN ESQUIRE

2008-05-07T11:30:00.003+08:00

The unthinkable happened, they put RPK in jail. RPK refused bail even though he was given the opportunity and he certainly can afford it, instead he opted for detention until trial begins in October.

Now, he has a point to prove and RPK has the guts to do it, against government repressive attitude towards public who cried out for open criticism against wrongdoings of people in power.

The government has surprised me that they would want to cap the opinions of readers & bloggers in the bloggersphere by this action.
The world of internet has no boundary, if one still doesn’t realise it, opinions will forever be expressed against any wrongdoings, be it at home or abroad. What better ways than through the bloggersphere, for an opinion of the Raykat and the true feelings of fellow Malaysians. This is even better than ‘turun padang’.

There are plenty of equity laws for one to have justice in Malaysia, if one is innocently wronged. But by slapping the draconian law only shows the level of intelligence of those people involved. Justice will always prevail if one is innocent.

A fund was initiated to assist in RPK’s bail, on the day he was charged in court. Many supporters and well wishers got its intention wrong, by donating more than a ringgit per person as requested. Imagine, what would have happen if everyone followed as requested and the fund reached RM26 million, this will stop any wrong or right thinking person on its track!
I wish our law makers were smarter, than to use seditious act on RPK

MALAYSIA BOLEH IN CREATIVE BUSINESS

2008-05-05T12:09:00.002+08:00

Question: Why satellite disc is illegal unless it is provided by Astro

I still briefly remember those days when we did not have Astro, we paid rm25 per year, if we were honest enough to own up that we had TV, or play hide & seek with RTM inspectors to find out.
Well, in those days, if you don’t need external antenna, you could probably get away with it.
But anyway, our government, those days were not really interested in catching you.
What was more important, was the information/propaganda that they could dish out. Eventually this gave way to 'free for all' and a few more channels were added, those were the ‘golden era’ of RTM and Malaysia broadcasting.
Those days, the shows seemed to run longer between advertisements, in fact I think just about 3 minutes of ads between show, with more up-to-date movies/entertainments and less repetitions.

Like everything in Malaysia, all good things must come to an end, it is just too tempting for creative entrepreneurs, not to take advantage of it.
Inevitably, then came Astro, packaged it up with tax payers’ paid stations and other free stations, threw in some extras and priced it at minimum rm37.95, and payment on monthly basis. A far cry from those days when we paid only RM25 per YEAR and later free.
The days that we had 'free and good' entertainments were over or at least partially curtailed. One may argue, we can still get it free from those broadcasted from ‘local originals’.
But there is no longer any improvement, the transmission is so bad & weak that you just have to give up. Because Astro is making all the money, it is just like a free for all scramble, you get more advertisement-time programmed, cheap & outdated entertainments with lots of repeats, just like the Astro.

It is just so typical with Malaysia's so-called entrepreneurs, get the tax payers to pay for it then package it up and sell it back to them, nothing beats such 'creative business'.

COAL FIRED POWER PLANT FOR SABAH - NO OTHER CHOICE ???

2008-05-04T12:39:00.008+08:00

The columns of 'smoke', actually are steam + other contaminents

Malaysian forest with early mists

The chairman of TNB recently confered to Sabahan in Kota Kinabalu that they have no choice but to accept the coal-fired power plant as the best alternative. Sighting also the improved technology, unlike the old, and presented it as ‘clean coal’ technology power plant.
He said coal is black, giving the impression that it is dirty but he impressed, we will be using the latest technology and the pollution is minimal. Drawing example also from Peninsula Malaysia, where such plants are also used and situated in close proximity to populated and tourism areas.

I do not consider myself to be an expert in this area but his argument seems flawed, insincere and hiding a lot of important facts from us, while trying to justify the negativities, at the same time take advantage of our ignorance. By saying that coal firing is clean, he only refers to what we can see, smell and hear but not what are continuously exhausted into the atmosphere unseen.

Why then coal is considered the worst polluter.

Chemically, it is almost 100% carbon and depending on the grade, it may also contain varying degree of sulphur and other elements which can pollute the atmosphere to different degree. Ever heard of acid rain? Not only this, there will be other colourless noxious gases constantly emitted from the flue.

Sourced - (Makeup of Coal and Ash Coal is one of the most impure of fuels. Its impurities range from trace quantities of many metals, including uranium and thorium, to much larger quantities of aluminum and iron to still larger quantities of impurities such as sulfur. Products of coal combustion include the oxides of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur; carcinogenic and mutagenic substances; and recoverable minerals of commercial value, including nuclear fuels naturally occurring in coal.)

Carbon Dioxide is the major Green House Gas (GHG) that is raising the temperature of our planet. It took thousands, maybe millions of years for earth planet to reach an equilibrium whereby the GHG absorption and its radiation of heat, can maintain an atmosphere that is habitable to all present living things on earth.
Records have shown, due to our activities in the past 30 years, we had increased the GHG by almost 30% and I don’t think we want to continue this way, to know the actual consequences when it becomes irreversible, which is in not too long into the future, if everyone doesn’t give a damn but only aim for immediate gains and advantages over others.

Perhaps, TNB or Malaysia, doesn’t see it this way, if it is not going to hurt their pockets. But from what I can see, lobby is already in place to have these polluters disadvantaged. Very soon, direct-foreign-investment or world credits/lenders, will only be made available to countries whose power is generated in environmentally friendly way. We just have got to be good neighbour to the rest of the world.

Bakun Dam, area soon be flooded

All mineral fuels are polluters when burnt, it is the carbon element which was ‘sunk’ from the earth atmosphere by plants and other lesser means, over thousands/millions years, is now being burnt and brought back to the atmosphere in concentration. That is what, concerned earth citizens, are talking about, we need to have a balance, a ‘carbon sink’, best known now being plants/jungle, to capture back this element from the atmosphere.

Coal as we know, is just carbon, what you burn is what you pollute. Other mineral/biological oils or gas, have hydrogen element in its molecule, thus you get CO2 and water. Hydrogen fuel is the cleanest because what you burn only results in water. Whatever advantage we get out of coal now, we may have to pay many more times in future, to get rid of the GHG.

We do have alternatives, contrary to what TNB chairman had painted, we can have palm-oil fired power plant, the carbon element is ‘sunk’ back to the oil palms in sustainable basis. Alternatively we can source from Bakun, contrary to what TNB suggested as impractical and yet it is practical to channel the power over twice the distance to Peninsula Malaysia, in which half the distance is undersea and is not going to benefit anyone else in whatever future distance.

By diverting the power from Bakun to Sabah, the distance is only from Bakun to Sabah west coast and in future, areas between these two points, can also benefit from it. Sabah needs, not only, power grit between east & west but also a looped power distribution, I do not know if this is already in place, if already in place, I see no difference in where the power source is situated. If there is none, what better opportunity than this, to have it done now.

We had already wiped off a ‘carbon sink’ in Bakun, the size of Singapore, let us make the best use out of it.

Oil Palm

TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD

2008-05-02T09:45:00.003+08:00

Yes, the name that strikes fear to quite a few during his heydays in power in Malaysia, started his blog on 1st May 2008.
There must be a lot of people, friends, enemies & opponents, are interested in what he had in mind.

I visited his weblog at about 9.00pm(Malaysian time) Labour Day, over 28K visitors had gone through his blog and again this morning(2nd may ’08) at 8.23am, it touched 50497 visitors with 382 comments and counting.

In his ranting, as usual, is consistence with his nature, the wheeling and dealing, the game he famed with. This had resulted in quite a change to Sabah political scene but my intention on this posting is not on this subject, it will be for another day.

Of particular interest is his statement on paragraph no. 3:

“Would the Commission actually appoint the judges or would it only recommend the names for the PM to approve or would the Commission recommend directly to the Agong for him to exercise his prerogative? Or would the Agong require the approval of the Rulers Conference? Or would the Conference of Rulers be merely consulted as is done now? Or would they be able to reject the candidate, and ask for new candidates or name new candidates of their choice?”

This gives us an insight to the many loopholes that the politicians in power of the day can use. I find this quite alarming, no amount of amendments or constitutional changes are going to safeguard us if the government in power are not sincere. I also wonder if the Bar Council who praised on the government’s intention to have a commission for judicial appointments realised it or they just feel there are enough knockings and let’s praise them a little.

This leads me to an understanding of my days in dealing with business. To start off, there must be sincerity in any partnership. A partnership that has trust & sincerity can be made on a single sheet of paper and be successful, lacking this no amount of agreements stretching to volumes of meaningless clauses, trying to safeguard other clauses, are going to help(some say it the American way).

At the end of the day, do our politicians in power have the will & determination to make our judicial system impartial and our judges just as determined.

There may be just too many skeletons in the closet, after 50 years in power, one cannot help thinking like that, but then again who doesn’t.

BIG MONEY IN DIRTY TOILETS? – MALAYSIAN CONCEPT

2008-04-29T12:50:00.004+08:00

LET'S SEE, NO AMOUNT OF TRANING IS GOING TO IMPROVE THIS LOT, FOR SURE !

Whenever we have politicians open their mouth, it is either to cover their misdemeanour, some stupid publicity or worst, some grand scheme to line their pockets in the interest of public.
The local main stream media is never short of these, some sound so irrelevant that I don’t read beyond its captions and paying Rm1.20 per copy for it, is a rip-off most of the time but sometimes these comics do give you great avenue to blog.

Take for instant, our D.S.(a title bestowed) Ong Ka Chuan, Minister for Housing & Local Government Ministry in Malaysia, ran foul with toilets and want to make it compulsory for all food outlets to get their maintenance staff trained by ‘recognised institutions’(presently we don’t have any) to upkeep facilities.
Sound sincere enough, even sound good but compulsory training, by recognised institutions? Some grand scam again? Some of these are actually doing very well and have been lining some people’s pocket quite well, thank you very much. Grand ideas in the interest of public, monopoly and compulsory of course, PUKONSA, FORMEMA, FOREIGN WORKER INSURSANCE, to mention just a few of the big-big money ideas.
I must say they are good, this is what you call wealth creation, unfortunately not to the general public. We have all kinds of money making and compulsory schemes, some deemed illegal by the authority, but nothing beats the legal ones designed by ministers and authorities, it is big-big money and perpetual.

This grand toilet scheme and compulsory ‘contribution’ is not going to improve most of these toilets which are unsalvageable. Nothing is going to improve, the toilets will still be deplorable, the authority will then keep quiet and treated as job done, the 5-star hotels may be have to write off this expense as ‘toilet tax’ and extras on super detergents, recommended(compulsory) by ‘recognised institution’. I understand if the minister may only dine in 5-stars hotel and put on his thinking cap when pee or poop but have a look at common eateries and the stage of their toilets, no super training or cleaning are going to keep most of these toilets clean.
All are not lost, why not come out with a standard architecture plan to be distributed free for these outlets and make compulsory on these minimum standards. Can’t have that, can you? When you have no CONTROL.

IS RTM GOING TO SPOIL MY DAY AGAIN???

2008-04-27T10:18:00.005+08:00

I am extremely happy today, wake up very early, there is even a skip to my walk.
Yes, you guess it, Raikkonnen got pole position for the Spainish GP on Saturday qualifying, let’s hope that he wins the race as well today.

Rather disappointed again after reading the papers, what I said before? you can always rely on RTM (Malaysian television network-government controlled) to be joy killer. They are not to screen it live, it is much more important for them to have ‘educational’ programs like news, dialogue, documentary and culture, without fail.

I still don’t get the difference, as all these programs are pre-recorded. Perhaps, they need to censure the GP program before it can be screened, you can’t have Alonso showing his mid-finger to the screen or any driver swearing???

As indicated in today’s program schedule, the replay will start at 11.30pm(Malaysian time). I am still doubtful if they will stick to the schedule, you see, most of the time, the prior or preceding programs can be so long that they ran into the scheduled programs and the effect can be dramatic, you sit in front of the TV, trying to keep yourself awake, waiting the your program to arrive and what do you know, you fell asleep when the program finally is screened.

Perhaps it is the only way to improve their rating, as information Minister always claims, their stations are tops!

Remember the Bahrain GP, about 3 weeks ago, RTM1 was to screen the replay at 12.30am as scheduled in program and what do you know, when I switch on my TV, the race is almost half way through. In another word, if you are to watch RTM TVs and not to miss a single bit, be in front and switch on the program +/- 1/2 hour as indicated (better make it an hour). Talk about efficiency ... WTF .... I shouldn’t have paid my tax so prompt lately. Is RTM going to spoil my day again?

MALAYSIANS ARE SUCH A GULLIBLE LOT

2008-04-25T11:44:00.011+08:00

Do you sometimes feel cheated when you had bought a product because of its convincing advertisement.

Without any effort to recall, one such advertisement that comes immediately, is the advertisement on milk product. It made to impress that the milk product will make you the next Einstein, or super athlete. Another advertisement gives you the impression that the toothbrush is recommended by your dentist. Yet another, the product will make your aches disappear almost instantly.

There are rules and regulations as to fair representation of a product, but of late, the enforcement is rather weak and the consumers had been taken advantage.

Now everyone can fly.... a familiar advertisement in red, with prices you can never imagine possible.
Is this advertisement abusing or transgressing advertisement policies and ethics.
What are no advertised are the terms and conditions in small prints and some customers are not even aware of it until they had committed themselves.
In most of it, what are not shown in advertisement, are the hidden cost.
Cost, because the fare is split into various components and only one potion is advertised, and of course, it appears very cheap. If the price is advertised as a package, I wonder how many will give it a second look.

Will people or company behind such unethical advertisements be able to survive in the long run? It appears such practices are doing very well and striving. Malaysians are such a gullible lot.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY FOR SOMEONE ?

2008-04-24T10:00:00.009+08:00

When I read local news, usually just take it on its face value, without much further thoughts. However lately, I am somehow troubled by the reporting, could be the environment, global warming?, food I ate or was it just plain stupidity in the news.

Take for instance in the following:

LEE'S ACTION ‘AGAINST BN SPIRIT’

Why can’t the BN work hand in hand with the other political parties for the common good of Malaysians. They had accepted Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, who just wanted to contribute without political negativity, thus whatever he does now is taken without political overtones.

SECOND BRIDGE DELAY DUE TO COST AND DESIGN ISSUES.

All the camouflage that Malaysian economy is vibrant and there shall be no delay in the so called Corridor Projects(if one can really understand).
Get real, billions were blown even before such corridors kicks off. If there is no money, just say so, there is no need to promise a mountain and deliver a mole.

EX-MINISTER HAD NO INTENTION OF OUTRAGING MY MODESTY, SAYS LOUNGE PROMOTER.

Something truly suspicious here, a hotel lounge promoter made a report against a VIP and suddenly withdrew it through a LAWYER.
If she is acting on her own and genuinely offended when she made the report, why did she need a lawyer to withdraw, contradicting her first action. Was she intimidated or threaten to withdraw, very very suspicious indeed. Let us see what will be our AG reaction, is he as smart as we imagine.

THIEVES BEHIND BLACKOUT IN SABAH.

I was personally affected by this incident.
Remember the ‘cry wolf’ story? Well, when the outrage started at around midday, my first curse was on SESB on their inefficiency again.
You see, in Tuaran, where I reside, we have common stoppages, at least once a day but for a few minutes, like power switch over.
When it lasted more than that on Monday(21.04.07), up to 3 hours, my curse went through the roof.
Again, at about 6.30pm on the same day, another power outrage for another 3 hours, luckily my heart is still strong enough to take that.
The following day, at about 10am, power stoppage again, this time I had enough, I called SESB at 15454 for an explanation.
I have to congratulate SESB for having an intelligent and understanding personnel behind the phone at that time, he was patient and kind enough to explain the situation and I cooled down to accept the faith.
Of course, my curse now goes to the metal thieves and it started to make me thinking.
May I suggest that it is about time for the government institutions or anyone for that matter, to ‘fingerprint’ the critical important/supporting metal products to prevent theft, thus end up in scrap pile.
Perhaps with some kind of paint that has harmless radiation and can be easily detected with a detector/counter, like Geiger counter. I am sure there are such paint/products around. Business opportunity for someone? Don't forget me eh? when you make a pile.

FORMULA 1 GP - CATALUNYA CIRCUIT - SPAIN

2008-04-23T09:28:00.006+08:00

Another exciting F1 Grand Prix is on the card at Catalunya circuit in Spain this weekend.
Am I excited! yes – after a break of 3 weeks, the weekends had been kind of boring.
From the initial 3 races in Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur and Bahrain, it begins to reveal the dominating teams for this year F1. Ferrari, undoubtedly is still on the top of the pile, followed by Mc claren, and BMW is fast living up to the challenge.

During this break, I had been going through the images of the F1 cars and noticed following trend between the RED & the SILVER car. Interesting!

Above - 2 images of the nose cones as in Melbourne GP

Above - 2 images of nose cones as in Kuala Lumpur GP

Above - 2 images of nose cones as in Bahrain GP

ROYAL TOUCH TO THE OLYMPICS TORCH RELAY – MALAYSIAN LEG

2008-04-22T12:39:00.008+08:00

Malaysian leg of the Beijing Olympics Torch run kicked off and ended with royal touches.

Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar, a Malaysian prince of Negeri Sembilan state, one of the 13 states that make up Malaysia, also president of Olympics Council of Malaysia, kicked off the event to roaring cheers of participants and general public.

The torch went through its planned route in a relay through 79 bearers before landed in the hands of HRH Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak state, to light the cauldron.

The torch run was not without incidence, this happened before the ceremony at the starting point in Dataran Merdeka, where a family of three Japanese and a western foreign lady, who were there, trying to disrupt with political issues, were verbally intimidated by a crowd and led off by the authorities. Yes, just 4 of them, some moral consolation? Other than that, we can see joyous crowd and smiling faces.

Having followed the torch run since its tremulous start, especially in cities like London, Paris & San Francisco, naturally I am interested as how the reporting would be in foreign media, particularly CNN.

Now I am truly convinced that the foreign media have ulterior motives, especially CNN, as far as Beijing Olympics is concerned.

Imagine, I can get first hand information in Malaysia and what do I get on replay from CNN, a load of rubbish and half truth.

Monday, the day of the torch run in Malaysia, is a working day, office workers enthusiastically lined the route as the flame passed by and it was fun & joyous moment for all of them. You know what the CNN foreign correspondent showed, part of an empty stadium (STADIUM MERDEKA) that the flame passed through, this is very very naughty, don’t you think! It makes you want to puke at their commentary.

P/S: NOTICE THE SIGN - STADIUM MERDEKA - IN THE LAST PIC.

2008 Kuala Lumpur Olympics Torch Run

2008-04-20T12:12:00.000+08:00

Finally, the Olympics Torch had arrived in Kuala Lumpur and the torch relay will happen tomorrow, on 21st April 2008, starting from Dataran Merdeka at 2.25pm and ends at Twin Tower in KLCC.
We, Malaysians are very happy, proud and grateful for this, myself in particular.
I have been following the torch runs since it started in Athens, only a few countries have the opportunity to host this and I cannot wait for it to arrive.
Local news and television channels have carried images of the runs and in Malaysia, there is a feeling that is KL torch run will give us harmonious and joyous feelings.
If this can be a showcase, then let the world know, Malaysia is truly Asian.
The torch runs had its torrid runs of events starting from London to San Francisco, fanned by global news agencies especially CNN but begin to subdue in the third world countries.
In Kuala Lumpur, I hope it will be a joyous event for us, and I condemn those who are bent on disruption. I don’t care what they do elsewhere but don’t spoil our party!

I can’t stand but have this to add to the 'Carrefour boycott' controversies, the arrogant French said Carrefour contributed in billions from its purchase from China. In the same breath, it could have gone bankrupt if not of its competitive products from China.

CNN Journalists are Assassins

2008-04-19T23:44:00.000+08:00

Not a day is passed without us being informed with half truth from the main media, be it local or international.

I used to think, international media like CNN & BBC had the integrity & resources that churn out only reliable news, how wrong can we get. It appears your ignorance is often being taken advantage. Through self admission from more conscientious journalists, do reveal the ugly side of the story of Iraq, how this was drum up to justify the American’s course to interfere and what a mess it had turn out to be.
As I read more into the history of Tibet, it begins to dawn on me, why violence in Tibet, remnants of military/terrorist groups.

I used to think, Tibetans are religious, peaceful people, minding only their business. The monks are in holy meditation, major part of the day thus one can only imagine, they have no time for earthy affairs.

History had it that in the 1950s, during the heights of cold wars, Tibetans were used by the west to contain the spread of communism and the Dalai Lama was their pawn, until this day, we still see support groups from the west for him. I can also imagine, his very existence relied on their handouts and made himself a very useful stooge for the west.

China is made of many provinces and many indigenous tribes, with different dialects and culture, Tibet is no exception. Modern china had been able to integrate and assimilate these tribes, it only appears that the separatist Tibetans(mainly of noble & monastery casts) are against assimilation and integration, while majority of those who left behind, formerly downtrodden poor hardcore Tibetans, are more eager to assimilate. It seems that some powerful unseen hands are bent on making China yet another Yugoslavia or Soviet Union.

What has this got to do in Olympics Torch Run

What annoy me daily are the reports on the Olympics flame runs, the reports have nothing to do with Olympics but more on the violence it created, it reported hundreds of thousands of protestors but can only come out with close shots of a few struggling with authority for publicity. I am as clear as mud on what exactly happened in London, Paris, or San Francisco. CNN especially, never had anything good to say on the Olympics and China in particular.

They may as well devote the whole Olympics to the Tibetans separatists.

CNN motives should be questioned, these people are not sincere and do not report the truth. CNN is completely quiet on what happen in Paris to a paralympian Jin Jing, against the spirit of Olympics and I brand them being assassins to the spirit of Olympics. Their true colour is also shown through their comrade Jack Cafferty, in his sweeping statement he distained Chinese as a bunch of goons & thugs and their products are junks.

I have this to say to all the CNN journalists, you are just a bunch of bastards and your mouths are as foul as the skunk’s asshole, to say this you probably insult the skunk.

The pro-tibetan demonstrators perhaps have the right to peaceful demonstrations, must also respect the rights of others to have this joyous occasion in the Olympics torch run, to disrupt others, do not deserve our attention and CNN is condoning to violence, which in retrospect, is their second nature.