Tun Dr Mahathir for routine medical checkup

There were romours flying about that the ex PM Tun Dr Mahathir was critcally ill and was admitted to hospital. Tun Dr Mahathir immediately issued a statement that he was only going for a routine checkup. Wow, a retired politician still can stir up so much news!

Big business with only 1 Euro

Malaysia national car builder Proton has sold its subsidiary,Agusta for 1 miserable Euro. Agusta was acquired by Proton for 7000 Euro with much fanfare on 7 July 2004 . Subsequently Proton pumbed in another RM 1.7 billions to cover losses incurred. It lasted barely a year and all we saved is 1 Euro. No profit and no technology transfer. After the MAS fisco,this is another big money sucker. Work harder you Inland Revenue guys out there,we need you to feed these big money suckers!

Kedah Tenaga transformer stolen

Three stand-by feed transfomers of Kedah Tenaga was stolen.The capacity of these transformers are enough to power half of Kedah.Two large lorries are used to carry them away. What do these thieves take the police for,they think the police are blind or what? The police should pay regular visits to the second hand goods and scrap iron traders,so that these people will not be so bold as to carry out a stunt like this. Maybe the junk yards are too dirty for our policemen to set foot on?

Who own these construction companies?

The authority and dignity of 2 state government are put to the test recently,coincidentally both by developers (construction companies). The fisrt incidence is in Tawau of Sabah.4 lots of state lands ear-marked for recreations purposes and car parks are given to private developers under dubious conditions. The irregularity was exposed when construction works were started on these lots. The town council called an emergency meeting and declared that works on these lands should stop with immediate effect.However,the town council's order was ignored and works continued. Petitions and protests from the public occupied the front pages of local news papers daily,which caused the cabinet to issue an order to the said developer to stop work on the project. Yet works on the said site continued,and the news reported (complete with photos) that the protesters and the developer's employees are getting physical. The Chief Minister himself had to stand out and gave stern warning to the developer.The dispute is not over yet. Who is behind this developer who can ignore the weight of the town council/state cabinet/CM? Even if they go ahead and complete the project,who will buy their shop lots knowing very well that they will not be able to get OC,trade licences and other permits if the relationships between the developer and the authority are strained? To top it all the self-proclaimed "champion of the people",the Consumers Association Of Sabah (CASH) ,is on the site of the developer! The developers are robbing the people of recreations and parking facilities,and CASH stood by them and urged the state government not to stop them! The second incidence takes place in Penang. It involves public interests too,this time the victim is a school,Sin Chung Chinese Primary School (the name is translated by me,might not be accurate,because I read only Chinese papers). A developer managed to get a court injunction to evacuate the school and a factory nearby which are situated on state lands.How they gained control of the state lands with school on it is everybody's guess. Anyway,the villagers/parents formed a human wall against the developer's bull dozers and the fierce workers to protect the school. This makes good content for the news papers,especially the Chinese news. This stirred the Chief Minister himself.He ordered the developer to stop threatening the school.Meanwhile refurbishment works were going on in the school. When the works on the school was completed,the Chief Minister and many of the local dignitaries went to witness the open ceremony.What welcome him was a new solid fence of wood and zinc surrouding the school,only a small "dog-hole" was left open to let the CM and and his group of YBs to pass. The ceremony was called off to save the CM from the humiliation of going through a "dog-hole". The fence was susequently pulled down by city council workers. But it sprang up again later in the day! The fence was pulled down the second time,police men are posted there this time to prevent the fence to be put up for the third time. Unfortunately,the developer had dug a huge hole in the middle of the access road to the school.It is believed that the road is government property,the law is broken then! Take them to court and see the reaction of the court! Again,who is this developer who is more powerful than the CM,making the whole state government so helpless ?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Foreigners as tourist guides

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib announced that foreign individuals will be allowed to work as tourist guides to serve visitors from their home countries. This move will certainly boost the tourism industry. Earlier this month 9 Mandarin speaking personnels from the Immigration dept are stationed at airports of the major cities to facilatate smooth operation at the check points in order to attract visitors from China,Taiwan and Hong Kong. The government is doing the right things,if you want people to come here you must make them feel at home and stay longer (and spend more).Remember Malaysia is not the only country that has bright sunshine and beautiful beaches!

Floods at 4 northen states in Penisular Malaysia

The yearly north-east moosoons (winds) is demostrating its powress again. It brings a 3-day non stop down pours.As a result,the northern states--Perlis,Kedah,Kelatan and Trengganu are under 5 feet flood water. All land transport between the north and south are cut off,rubber-dinghy are deployed to reach areas where aids are urgently needed.In extremely urgent cases,helicopters are used. Losses are yet to be assessed as a result of power cut,and road inaccessibility and crop destruction. One thing for sure the yield from Kedah,the ricebowl of Malaysia will drop dramatically. The Kedah state government blames Thailand for the disaster,because the southern Thailand state city Changloon was under 8 feet of flood water,and they opened the flood-gates and let the surplus of water to flow into Malaysia. What a kind neighbour we have here!

Radio Hosts' Pronunciation And Accent

The authority concerned has released a new set of guidelines for Bahasa Malaysia announcers of Radio TV Malaysia,as there are a lot of confusions over how to pronounce certain words among the announcers. This is definitely a positive step,but the authority can go one step further by correcting the annoucers' accent as well. The spoken Malay words differ from their written forms when the last syllable ends in the vowel "a",the spoken words will be read with the last syllables ending with the vowel "e" instead of "a",to make the last accent less heavy.Example : "mereka" will be read as "mereke" instead. The fomer deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim wanted to change this way of accenting over the air.He introduced the Bahasa Baku where "mereka" will be read as "mereka" not "mereke". Unfortunately the Bahasa Baku sounds very much similar to the way Indonesians speak,so the annoucers thought that by aping the Indonesians they will be speaking perfect Bahasa Baku,which is not true. The Bahasa Baku requires that the last syllable of words not to be light-accented,whereas the Indonesians put heavy accent on every single syllable of their words! So let's speak BahasaBaku,not Bahasa Indonesia!

Malysia's own squash Queen,Nicole David.

What Nicole has accomplished is some thing which I never believe a Malaysian can achive....I confess. You make us proud,Nicole!!!

National Service Camp for the Police

Design a "NATIONAL SERVICE CAMP" specially for the police force! Since everyone agrees that the "National Service" camps are good for instilling desirable values in our kids,why not set up the same trainings for those police personnels who are already in the service for over 10 years? The recent stream of disgraceful publicities created by the police is,in my opinion,stemmed from pure boredoom. The police personnels involved have nothing better to do. When the public report minor cases like handbags-snatching to them,they will just reocrd the incidence and advise the victims,"small matter lah,forget it lah..." Then they do nothing. On the other hand,when met with serious crimes like murder cases,they will push them to higher authority or special unit. They will say,"oh...so big case,we can't handle lah...". Then what is left for them to do? Everyone knows the answer now after reading the many bad reports about them from the media. An alternative to the "KHIDMAT NEGARA KHAS" for the police personnels to help them while off their idle time is to get them involved in community/social works. Moreover,it will help them get rid of their bulging bellies!!!

No more oil price hike,please!

Please dont increase the price of oil again.Cost of living is already high,any further increase in oil prices will eventually push the cost of living even higher. According to the findings of a news paper 20% of the people's monthly expenses exceed their incomes.This is very sad to hear.If this situation is not changed,it is meaningless to acheive the year 2020 vision.

Malaysia Independence Day

MERDEKA !

MERDEKA !

MERDEKA !

Countdown to merdeka (Malaysia Independence Day)!

For the benefits of readers from outside Malaysia,it falls on 31st August every year. Malaysia ceased to be a British colony and gained its independence on 31st August 1957. To those who are born after this date there is no emotions attached to it,what little emotions they may have could be quite different from their parents'. The younger generation may feel proud that we have our own identity,while the older generation feel the freedom from foreign suppression. My parents and uncles/aunts used to relate to me stories how the local people were made to feel inferior to the colonial masters. Many of the people living in the town where I grew up were rubber tappers in the large rubber estates nearby,naturally many of such stories happened in the estates. Those days if you saw a zeep passing by,you had to quickly jump off your bicycle,stand at attention and salute.Failing which you would be scolded or even slapped by the "Mat Salleh" driving that zeep. If you were collecting dried fallen branches from the rubber trees as firewood for cooking and a zeep zoomed pass,you really have to thank your lucky stars if that zeep did not stop. If the zeep stopped a "Mat Salleh" would come down and accused you of felling his rubber trees! You would be ordered to leave empty handed and banned from entering again! "Can't he tell the differnce between dreid dead branches from a live rubber tree?" I asked naively.Then my parents will look at me with sad eyes and did not reply. If any of you ask "why use firewood and not cooking gas?" then I will look at you with tears in my eyes and laugh.

Don't Compare Us,PM urges

Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Sri Abd Badawi urged the rakyat not compare him with the ex PM Tun Mahatir,because the eras are not the same,and their personal traits are not the same. This is very true. We elected him so we should let him run the country he sees fit.

The New Economy Policy

I think the politicians in Malaysia are running out of ideas.Why is everybody talking about bringing back the New Economy Policy? And some wise guys suggested to call it by a new name--New National Agenda. Shakespere said,"a rose by any other name is as sweet." Giantkite says,"a NEP by any other name is as rotten." Looking closely at the orignal noble objective of the NEP is to improve the bumiputras' share in the country's economy,then it should not have being named as New Economy Policy in the first place.The name implies at changing the economy to suit the objective,which is wrong in logics.What should be changed is the ability,the mindset of the bumiputras,so the befitting name should be New Bumiputra Policy,New Bumi Outlook,New Mindset Agenda,etc,etc... The first person who proposed the NEP was a genius,it was so noble, all the Bumi loved it.The non-bumi could not object it because it is only fair that the idea be given a chance to prove itself.NOw there can be heard voices that the NEP did not achieve its objective(in plain words,it flops).The loudest ones are coming from the bumi,particularly the UMNO Youth.Now,if an idea fails,why stick to it still?If it has being quietly put a side to avoid embarassments why stir it up again? Unless that person has serious problems with his brain! The biggest failure of NEP being that while a handful of bumi are filthy rich,but the majarority of the bumi remain as before.The non-bumi has surrended more the 30% asked for,the sectors that command big bucks like Telecommunications,Petrolium & Gas,Finance,Automobiles are all in the hands of the bumi now.But are the bumi happy? You tell me. And there is a minister in the Prime Minister's ministry calling for a new system wherein bumi to be appointed as top executives in non-bumi owned corporations in order to learn the business skills from the non-bumi,can you beat that?! Apparently no one told him that you have to start from the bottom and rise slowly to top in order to fully understand how a business entity functions.At high positions all you learn is how to entertain,to feast,drink and golf with clients.Real business is more than that.

Malaysian Political Arena

The political arena in Malaysia is busy these days. The AP affairs. Former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim got his name cleared of the things he was accused of in a much published book.The author of the book was ordered by the court to pay Anwar RM 250 millions as damages. The UMNO Youth calling for the revival of the NEP. The party election for MCA Youth is completed. The new leadership of MCA is also born yesterday. The next to watch will be the contest for President's seat of Gerakan between Dr Lim Keng Yaik and his deputy Kerk Choo Teng. This one is a surprise,everyone is guessing whether Kerk is going to defend his seat as deputy president or not. No one expected he will go for the No 1 post! Too much for a simple Malaysian to disgest.

The AP Affair

The AP issue seems to stir up more dust than it was originally intended. It all started as a lame excuse of the Chairman of EON Mahali for the poor performance of the group during an interview with a local Chinese magazine.He claimed that the poor showing was due to the unfair competations coming from imported vehicles from South Korea,bacause the import tax imposed on these vehicles were unreasonably low,blah blah blah...Then Datuk Rafidah,the Minister of International Trade and Industry jumped to the defence of her ministry's practice,the way it was issuing the Approved Permits(AP).To that up came our esteemed ex PM Tun Mahatir who is now the Adivisor to EON,giving support to Mahali's words. This stirred the current PM,Datuk Abd Badawi who ordered Rafidah to explain the whole thing to Tun Mahatir and put a stop to all these immediately.But the exchange of words goes on,with the UMNO youth and the Parliament back-benchers jumping onto the band wagon. Finally the Anti Corruption Agency(ACA) also wants a piece of the action,oh boy!!! By the way,the naming of AP is puzzling me.Approved Permit......isn't a permit by default alreafy approved? Is there such a thing as Unapproved Permit? I thought AP refers to Aotu Permit or Automobile Permit all this while!

Get Ready For Merdeka

Merdeka! Malaysia's national day is approaching,have you fly the Jalur Gemilang yet? Be proud of being a Malaysian,I'm proud,are you not? So fly the national flag now! Car owners should mount the flag on top of their cars on the front left hand side.Do not mount multiple set of flags on a single car,one flag per car is the correct way. If you intend to mount too many flags,naturally you have to mount some at the rear of your car.Please don't! This is regarded as disrespect to the national flag! If you are a business owner,fly the national flag at the front of you premises.Majority of shop owners are Chinese.The Chinese is a conservative lot,not good at expressing their feelings like their counter parts,the Malays and Indians do.Show it now by flying the national flag,don't let people say you are not patroitic.Imagine if only the Malays and Indians are hanging their flags high and out,while the rows and rows of shop lots without flag,won't it be a discouraging sight? I know Chinese shop owners rarely surf the internet let alone reading my blog! But you do,I'm urging you to tell your friend,your father,your uncle who happens to be a businessman,FLY THE JALUR GEMILANG!

The Haze

It's the time of the year again.You know what I'm talking about! The haze is creating havoc to Malaysians' everyday life again,thanks to our good neighbours,the Indonesians. Flights are cancelled,schools are closed,office workers stay at home.It is repeated year after year,can't we do some thing about it? The Indonesian government says, "No,nothing we can do." Jail the culcprits (the farmers).If they play hide and seek,the Indon government police/troops should wait for them to return at the burnt site. If they are real farmers they will definitely come back to start seed sowing after the ashes cooled down. Destroy their crops if somehow they managed to grow them without being noticed by the police. (The Human Rights organisations will interfer...These guys care about the interests of a handful people more than the millions and millions affected.....##Sigh!!!!!##). Then help the farmers clear the land instead of letting them to carry on with this harmful pratice. I know the real reason why the Indon government is not taking any action.The wind is blowing the haze towards Malaysia's sky not towards their's!

The Chinese Parties in Malaysia fighting it out

Two major Chinese-dorminant parties (MCA,Gerakan) in the nation will be holding their party elections very soon. The election for MCA will be quite different from those of the past 6 years,where all the senior positions in the party will see keen contests to take place.These posts used to be pre-arranged,negotiated and uncontested for the past 6 years as a result of the damaging Team-A/Team-B contest which almost split the party into two,and both sides agreed to stop the conflict in order to save the party.The structure of Team A/B is still faintly visible,but no open conflicts as before this year.Many people are fishing in the muddy water. One interesting aspect is that there emerged a third faction, the Team-C,which is headed by the son of ex-captain of Team-A,Ling Liong Sik.The junior Ling is eyeing the Deputy Chairman post in the MCA youth wing.What is interesting is that Ling was the mentor of incumbent party president,Ong Ka Ting,and now he is sending a blood hound after his own disciple! President of Gerakan ,Dr Lim Keng Yaik, is encouraging his preferred candidate Koh Su Koon (Chief Minister of Penang) to unseat his deputy Kerk.Maybe Dr Lim no longer fears the threat from DAP which used to portraited itself as the champions of the Chineses,particuparly in area of education,because Kerk was brought into the fold of Gerakan purely on his stregth as a Chinese educationsit activist.Apparently he has overstayed his welcome in the party.(He has been used). I had long detested Kerk for he has since sheded his original colours of a Chinese educationist activist,and seems to get along quite well with the establishment he used to confront.But the current contest brings out the scholar in him,I begin to like him again!

Aging New Economy Policy

What "new" economy policy? It's already 30+ years old,almost as old as most of the UMNO Youth leaders!