4th By-Election for 2009

Dublin Untini passed away today, making way for another by-election for this year. With the number of recent deaths among Wakil Rakyat due to health reasons, perhaps it's valid to ponder whether most were fit for duty and whether health screening is something that should be considered.

Money Laundering

UBS recently disclosed that approximately 52,000 account holders from the US have in some way violated tax regulations. This pressure surmounted following a lawsuit filed in Washington, demanding that the Swiss bank disclosed more details about the account holders. From here we could surmise a few points:

1. The US capital movement policy has significant loopholes that enabled these 52,000 US citizens to wire money without detection, possibly involving an intricate web of highly skillful professionals.

2. The figure we are discussing could amount to billions of dollars, money that could have saved or at least cushion the ailing economy. I was told the President of a renowned oil co quickly disposed his shares amounting to USD77M and moved his operations to outside the US, just before President Obama took his oath.

The Madoff case is also something astounding, to fathom the amount of money invested for almost a decade by average people and even high net worth individuals. Evangelical and jewish groups, especially in Minnesota Twin Cities where it all started, were also not spared to pour some of their dough into it. Federal prosecutors are doubtful that the money could be recovered.

Law-abiding, tax-paying citizens are furious. Their money will be spent to save the dire auto and banking industry. Tax evaders get to call it a mistake, become treasury secretary or safely secure their money while skiing in the Alps.

Dalang Atau ‘‘Boy Friend’’? — Dr Novandri Hasan Basri

Quoted from Malaysian Insider
Dalang Atau ‘‘Boy Friend’’? — Dr Novandri Hasan Basri

FEB 17 — Apakah berbogel di depan teman lelaki dan kemudian diambil fotonya boleh dianggap melanggar tatasusila atau pun sebarang undang-undang? Jika yang berbogel itu seorang Muslimat, undang-undangnya sangat jelas. Beliau bersalah.

Tetapi jika beliau bukan Islam, kita tidak berapa jelas. Mungkin ada di kalangan pembaca yang menganuti agama Buddha atau pun Kristian yang lebih arif di dalam isu keagamaan ini dan berkongsi pandangan dengan kita.

Secara teorinya, foto-foto yang di ambil adalah untuk simpanan peribadi dan bukan untuk jualan di majaalah nudity dan internet porno. Kalau dijualkan pun penulis pasti tidak akan laku.

Tapi Elizabeth Wong merupakan seorang pemimpin di negeri Selangor, makanya harga foto tersebut tentunya bertambah jika dijual.

Penulis tidak pasti nama penyakit psikologi yang menerangkan perangai orang yang suka mengambil foto-foto nudity padahal beliau sudah puas melihat dengan dua mata sendiri dan mereka yang merelakan tubuh badan mereka difotokan.

Jika kita lihat foto Elizabeth Wong, tidak ada yang menarik untuk difotokan. Mungkin kerana kulit beliau yang cerah tapi selain daripada itu, kita boleh gambarkan di dalam otak ini yang tidak ada yang special untuk ditatap.

Masalahnya sekarang ialah Elizabeth Wong merupakan seorang Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri di negeri Selangor. Beliau dipilih secara undi majoriti di dalam PRU yang lepas. Ketika itu, tiada siapa pun tahu yang tubuh beliau pernah difotokan.

Jika tahu, pasti parti PKR tidak akan mencalonkan beliau. Jika dicalonkan juga, ianya adalah tindakan kamikaze, tindakan yang bakal membunuh parti PKR sendiri.

Persoalannya sekarang ialah apakah Elizabeth Wong perlu mengundurkan diri? Tentunya beliau dan penyokong-penyokong beliau seperti MB Selangor akan tetap mengatakan bahawa bukan salah Elizabeth Wong tapi boyfriend beliau.

Anwar Ibrahim pula tentu cuba mencelah dengan memberikan alasan-alasan beliau. Beliau tentu menggeleng-geleng kepala tidak percaya kerana dalam usaha beliau untuk memujuk rayu ahli Parlimen BN, ada pemimpin PKR pun turut terbabas dek pujuk rayu boyfriend beliau!

Maklumat terakhir yang penulis tahu ialah pihak polis sudah mengenal pasti dalang di sebalik sebaran foto-foto nudity Elizabeth Wong. Elizabeth pula mengatakan bahawa beliau tidak bersalah dan adalah mangsa kepada isu ini.

Yang pastinya, ramai yang ternanti dan mencari-cari foto tersebut. Bagi penulis, ianya tidak perlu. Yang perlu ialah untuk Elizabeth Wong meletakkan jawatan dengan segera.

Ya benar bahawa pada mulanya foto-foto itu adalah untuk simpanan peribadi tetapi apabila ianya sudah diketahui awam, ianya tidak baik lagi. — pemuda.com.my

Gross Outrage On My Modesty

“This constitutes a gross outrage on my modesty, a gross invasion of my privacy, and in particular the sanctity of my personal life,” she said.

Do you smell another by-election around the corner? CSL gracefully resigned from his cabinet and party posts after the widely-circulated DVD of his other nocturnal activity. Former NY Governor Spitzer vacated his seat after getting his hand caught in the cookie jar with a USD1000-an-hour 22-yr old "friend". If Wong had wanted to get out of dodge and avoid public scrutiny, why did she allow it to happen in the first place? Not very smart. She has yet to deny the photo shots. If this was taken from her private collection, only close associates have access, so go figure.

“The whole incident could be politically motivated,” said Kok, adding that there must be someone purposely circulating the photos. >> Did she figure this out on her own?

So, herein lies the question: Are we to accept capable (assuming their capabilities tremendously outweigh their short comings) leaders after their skeletons have been exposed? Or do we ignore their little human flaw and move on, dismissing the moral obligations that come with being a respectable elected leader?

She could follow Kok's foot steps and sue someone. Might as well make some money out of it.

Vision 2020 - Close, but no cigar?

Almost 2 decades ago, the then Prime Minister Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamad tabled the sixth Malaysia Plan at Parliament. It was also the day which marked the birth of Vision 2020. It envisions a destination for Malaysia to attain a certain economic and social status by year 2020. The vision outlined economic prosperity among the multitude of races in the country, the advancement of science and technology application and consolidating a more robust national identity while tolerating different races and society.

Assuming Dato' Seri Najib survives the trials of fire in the years to come, he will be the PM zooming in on this target. Someone I know once asked the luminary TDM whether this vision is measurable. His eloquent answer was that one must always gauge accomplishments against history. One cannot advance without carefully studying the plight of the past, the struggle, the fight to achieve betterment in our daily lives.

From a perspective of a layman, I could safely make a conviction that the wealth creation in this country has been substantial since 1991. We've created and sustained a myriad of healthy private and public companies. Our towering jewel has always been Petronas. Would we witness another fortune 500 in the making in the next decade? I certainly hope so. Our friendly neighbor in the south boasts of 12 so far. Unfortunately, the seeds of success cannot be fully grown in a mere year or so. It has to be carefully planted and continually nurtured, its fruits guarded from pests and predators alike, its soil to be systematically nutritioned and conditioned. The current crisis of historical proportions could bear opportunities if we sift through it hard enough.

On science and technology, we have yet to see an encouraging progress. If sending an individual to tag along a team of highly trained taikonauts counts, I can't recall any other significant progression in the field of S&T. Biotech has been trendy for the last few years but the fruits would only be reaped in years especially with the historically high percentage of failures in the said industry. We continue to upgrade the stature of Proton, our home-grown automobile business. TDM had a brilliant idea to create our own Tata Nanos, until the company which had the technology was sold for 1 bag of banana fritters.

On the other hand, we are losing heaps of manufacturing business to China. Dato' Seri Khaled was quoted to have said about the need for more scientists, engineers and doctors in the years to come, yet our teaching force is reluctant to teach kids the most widely-used language in science. "The National Language would be extinct! Our culture would cease to exist!", they cried. The world is indeed growing flatter, and kids will not only be competing with fellow Malaysians, but techies from all continents in omnipresent multinationals.

With all the commotion in politics since March 2008, nothing has been optimistic for those who seek high-quality news feeds: Malaysia to aid MIT research for cure for bird flu. Malaysia to build wind farms. Proton buys Chrysler to save crippling US auto. Tesla to JV with Proton to build electric cars. Malaysian football makes first appearance in World Cup. Maybank buys Citigroup and tightens fiscal policies. Malaysia to replace NYMEX as global crude exchange.

Well, that was probably a different country on a different planet. Most news revolved around speculations of huge monetary handouts, vote buying, allegiance switching, internal bickering, sensitivies in religion and race especially highlighted by the rise of Hindraf with its allegation of ethnic cleansing in the country.

Year 2008 could be summarized as a nightmare for any national leader. It doesn't seem to have ceased either. 2 by-elections are en route. Another major party election is weeks away. Elections aside, will the leaders commence governing after March 2009?

The current plague in the world monetary system should serve as a respite for us to ponder our footing in this world. Many have asked who would be the Malaysian Obama? (Bakri Musa strongly feels we had one). I would be the happiest camper to see the next Mahathir.

Peak Oil Theory Challenged?

Peak oil theory suggests that the cumulative oil production would reach a peak and start to decline. Many pundits agreed that we are beyond that point. When oil peaked to $140 per bbl, the theory strengthened itself and more speculated that the price would break the $200 barrier.

Since then, oil has plumetted to mid 30's and the father of peak oil theory has also questioned the theory. It's safe to assume that we still have a long way to go before oil becomes a rare commodity.

Meanwhile, Libya might be showing US oil companies the door and announce their intention to nationalize oil.

Also, a note of interest is Tun Mahathir's recent presentation in Sudan on the global economic crisis.

How Malaysia Deals with the Downturn

In January alone, America has seen 600,000 jobs vanished into thin air. Global car sales have gone down in the vicinity of 40%. Airlines around the world have reported reduced travels. Oil price has been low floating in the average of $30-odd per barrel, forcing small independents to minimize their losses and cash out, also rendering 10% of rigs unoperational. Some have been cold stacked (after being re-activated with the hype of $140-oil). The frenzy of building massive fleets of boats and rigs have ceased. Shell announced its first quarterly loss in 10 years last quarter of USD2.8B. Only 2 industries were reported to have grown in the US last year, video games and alcohol. Retirees are forced to continue to work, fearing that their savings would not be sufficient to weather this rough storm.

In Malaysia, we are not so worried about the economic downturn. We are insulated from the rest of the global community. "Constitutional crisis" and "judicial reform" take center stage and make headlines. Metro continues to be the highest-selling circulation in the country. By-elections seem to be trendy these days (no disrespect intended for a couple of Yang Berhormats who passed away). As Yang Berhormats, it's acceptable to vacate your seat to give way to your husband. It's also acceptable if you intend to switch alliance, get caught in a sex scandal or other reasons.

Malaysia will soon become net-importer of petroleum. This means that we would be consuming more oil than we are producing. In lieu of foreign exchange, the cost to purchase oil per barrel from foreign countries would be enhanced. How would this affect the government's revenue to continue to operate? We have a cornucopia of resources and industries available but are we taking full advantage of these? Are we ensuring that subsidies are not hurting our bottom line?

Are we committed to improve the education in this country to beef up our human capital in the years to come, not just constructing empty schools with an ill-prepared teaching work force which scorn teaching our kids in English? Do our graduates pass muster or are they too concerned of their rights to be involved in politics? Are we not worried of the 100,000 unemployed graduates and many more retrenched recently from factories? Are we complacent with our universities ranked in the top 200? Are we not troubled that Vietnam would overtake us in GDP by next year? Don't even mention football.

It is a conundrum that many of these issues receive little, if any, attention. Maybe if we dish out enough dato'ships, the problems would diminish and eventually rectified.

Aberdeen oil man killed in rig fall

An oil man plunged to his death at Keppel Singapore ship yard recently. The rumor mill among rig hands was that his harness malfunctioned and it is the third so far at the yard. It is a stark reminder to all that despite the voluminous safety manuals, it is absolutely important to study these unfortunate incidents and continue to enhance our safety standards. His brother works for us and it saddens us all to see a colleague affected by this traumatic event.

Tafsiran Kekecohan Politik Perak

Haru biru, kecoh, porak peranda. Bermacam2 perumpamaan, ungkapan dan perkataan telah digunakan untuk mencerminkan suasana di Perak sekarang. Ada yang menganggap perbuatan Tuanku Sultan tidak termaktub dalam Perlembagaan Negeri, ada yang hendak memfailkan saman di mahkamah. Ada juga tiba2 menjadi pakar dalam mengintepresasi undang2. Ada yang umumkan bahawa dia akan derhaka perintah Sultan. Macam2 ada.

Mari kita kaji aspek politik negeri. Politik Perak agak rumit dan berlainan dari negeri2 pembangkang yang lain. Rata2, kerusi Parlimen telah dipertahankan dengan mantap oleh wakil2 Barisan Nasional tetapi banyak kecundang dalam pertandingan kerusi DUN. Corak pertandingan juga menarik, kerana di mana BN menang di peringkat Parlimen, lain pula ceritanya di peringkat DUN dalam Parlimen yang sama. Ini secara jelas menggambarkan hasrat pengundi yang meneliti calon2 kedua2 barisan. Presiden UMNO juga telah membuat kenyataan bahawa ada unsur2 sabotaj dalam parti yang menyebabkan BN kecundang di Perak terutamanya parti komponen.

Sebagai contoh, Di Parlimen Parit Buntar, Dr Muhajid (PAS) menang dengan majoriti selesa 7551 tetapi di DUN Titi Serong dan Kuala Kurau, calon PAS dan PKR hanya menang dengan majoriti 1149 dan 467. Di Gerik pula, Tan Lian Hoe (Gerakan) menang dengan selesa dengan majoriti 5573 di kawasan 74% peratus Melayu (tetapi selepas kemenangan dari undian orang2 Melayu juga, beliau mendakwa orang2 Melayu juga pendatang, bukan sahaja orang2 Cina. Ini menimbulkan kemarahan majoriti orang Melayu. Kenyataan beliau sebagai respons kepada kenyataan yang dibuat oleh bekas Ketua Bahagian UMNO Bukit Bendera). Di Sungai Siput, presiden MIC kalah di tangan Dr Jeyakumar dengan majoriti 1821, tetapi kerusi DUN Lintang dimenangi UMNO dengan majoriti 1376. Di Ipoh, pembangkang sapu bersih kerusi Parlimen dan DUN. Di Parlimen Lumut, Kong Cho Ha (MCA) menang dengan majoriti tipis 298, tetapi DUN Pasir Panjang menyaksikan Nizar (PAS) menang dengan majoriti 4474 dan Datuk Zambry (BN) menang kerusi DUN Pangkor dengan majoriti 5785.

Sandiwara bermula dengan Nasarudin Hashim (DUN Bota - BN) lompat ke PKR kerana katanya pimpinan UMNO sudah hilang arah. Selepas 10 hari, keluar PKR dan jadi calon Bebas, tapi menyokong BN. Sekarang BN mempunyai 28 DUN + 3 bebas manakala Pakatan Rakyat mempunyai 28 kerusi DUN, yang majoritinya dipegang DAP. DAP mempunyai 18 kerusi DUN, manakala PAS memegang 6 kerusi, PKR memegang 7 kerusi. Selepas PRU-12, DAP menyarankan bahawa kerusi Menteri Besar seharusnya diberikan kepada DAP. Permintaan ini menimbulkan kekecohan di Perak sehingga Raja Nazrin terpaksa campur tangan dalam menyelesaikan konflik ini. Lim Kit Siang pula menyuruh DUN2 DAP untuk boikot majlis angkat sumpah. Sifat DAP yang cuba menggerhanakan kedudukan PKR dan PAS akhirnya berakhir apabila ahli2 DUN mereka sendiri lompat parti, semuanya berpunca dari Anwar yang mencadangkan kaedah melompat untuk merampas kerajaan persekutuan dari BN.

SPEECH BY TUN DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD AT THE PALESTINE FORUM

SPEECH BY
TUN DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
AT THE PALESTINE FORUM
AT CROWNE PLAZA MUTIARA, KUALA LUMPUR
FEBRUARY 5, 2009
-----------------------

1. Thank you for your presence at this forum on Palestine. I think it is important that we remind ourselves briefly of the background of this tragic country.

2. When after the Second World War, the Europeans had to give up their empires; they left behind time bombs, which regularly exploded, making the development of the ex-colonies fraught with danger and obstacles. Nearly all the newly independent states emerging from European colonisation have not been stable, nor been able to develop themselves, giving the impression that these ex-colonies are unable to manage independence. Many even think that they should remain as colonies.

3. Of the ex-colonies which have to manage the continuously exploding time bombs, none is worse than the mandated territory of Palestine.

4. Britain, which was given the mandate for Palestine had no right to carve the state in order to create the state of Israel. It is shameful that Britain should succumb to the terrorism of the Haganah and the Irgun and Zionist pressures and reneged on the conditions of the mandate. It was a totally irresponsible and dishonorable act unworthy of a country that talks so much about honour and integrity.

5. The Arab Palestinian not only lost much of their land but they were driven out of the portion given to the Jews. Their land was expropriated with no compensation and many were massacred at Deir Yassin, al-Dawayina, Eilaboun, Jish, Ramle and Laydda.

6. Since 1948, the Palestinians had to live as refugees in refugee camps under terrible conditions. Their children grew without proper schooling knowing only poverty and squalor.

7. One would have thought that the imperialists who had wronged the Palestinian Arabs would at least help them reclaim their rights in the state that is now called Israel. But instead we find Britain and the United States in particular giving military aid to the Israelis even when they openly seize more Palestinian land and set up Jewish settlements on land that is not apportioned to them.

8. There are some who blame the Palestinians for what they term as terrorism. I have no liking for irresponsible acts which result in the killing of people, innocent civilians whether Jews or Muslims. In fact I am against war i.e. the killing of people as a way of solving conflicts. But when the Arabs mounted a conventional war against Israel to regain Palestinian land, what did the British and the Americans, the people responsible for the outbreak of fighting between Jews and Muslims do? They provided Israel with military support so that the Arab states of Jordan, Syria and Egypt were defeated.

9. Unable to get any more help from the Arab nations, with no sympathy from other nations, the Palestinians finally had to fight an unevenly matched struggle against the overwhelmingly powerful armed might of Israel. Perhaps they should know that they could not win against Israel backed by American forces. But this is their land unlawfully occupied by the Israelis and even if they have to fight alone against their powerful oppressors, they have to do so. After abortive attempts to dislodge the Israelis, without the weapons to match those of the Israeli military, they had no choice but to resort to methods which must be physically very painful and terrifying to them. It is not something people would like to do – tying explosives to your body and blowing yourself up. But desperate people have to resort to desperate ways. And suicide bombings became their main weapon.

10. If they cannot do this what can they do when the Israelis expanded their territory, building roads on Palestinian land, which the Palestinians were barred from using, building high walls to break-up Palestinian families and their villages.

11. I went to Palestine and was shocked to find that entry into Palestine is controlled by Israelis armed with machine guns. Their checkpoints deliberately delayed my entry into Palestine by more than two hours so that I could not visit the village of Jenin where Israel had destroyed houses while their occupants were still inside, where the whole village was reduced to rubble by Israeli guns and bombs. I could not go to Jerusalem because the Israelis declared that it was unsafe, as if they cared for me. And everywhere I saw Israeli settlements guarded by armed militia while the Arabs were forced to build huts and live in them with their animals to prevent seizure of their land by Israelis for their settlements.

12. I was shocked that the Palestinians were not even allowed to call the remaining land that had formed the state of Palestine after the UN carved up a part of it to give to the Jews, the State of Palestine.

13. The Israelis insisted and the international community appeared to acquiesce that there is no State of Palestine, only a Palestinian Authority. Yet the United Nations when it agreed to create a state of Israel on Palestinian land referred to the partition as creating two separate states of Israel and Palestine. How come today there is no Palestine?

14. At any time Israeli tanks could enter Palestinian towns as if land under the control of what is called the Palestinian Authority is actually under Israeli rule. When I was there Israeli armored cars actually drove through Ramallah. I was told Israeli tanks had surrounded the building where Arafat was forced to seek shelter and Israel’s guns kept up a continuous bombardment of the buildings.

15. The Americans and the British insisted that the Palestinians hold elections to determine who should be the Palestinian Authority. The contest was between Fatah and Hamas. Hamas won hands down.

16. The least the British and the Americans could do was to accept the result of the elections. But these backers of Israel rejected the results of the election because they do not like Hamas.

17. If other countries reject the results of elections these so-called democrats would condemn them. But we now see the great proponents of democracy themselves rejecting the results of the democratic process.

18. But perhaps this is to be expected. America and Britain which had previously condemned detention without trial are now detaining people without trial and without even the benefit of the law. And the American Congress went so far as to make torture of prisoners legal.

19. In the meanwhile the Palestinians have been subjected to condemnation for defending as best they could but the Western Press played up the futile retaliation by the Palestinians as terrorism. That the Israelis attack, kill, destroy and arrest Palestinians thus terrifying them does not make them terrorists.

20. In a recent newspaper report in Malaysia, we are told that the Israelis blasted a car in which a terrorist was traveling. We know the Israelis are technologically advanced. But how could they know which car was carrying a Palestinian “terrorist”. Every time a car or a home is blasted by the Israelis we are told by our own papers that there were terrorists in the car or the house. Can we trust the Jewish controlled Western wire service and media to tell the truth?

Jumping Ship the Malaysian Way

There is no word to describe how silly Malaysian politics has turned out since March 8th. It all started with Pakatan being greedy with their gains. Since winning 5 states is not sufficient to quell their thirst for power, Dato' Seri Anwar vowed to magically turn 30 Barisan Nasional MPs to Pakatan.

On hearing this threat of losing control of Parliament and subsequently the Federal Government, the Barisan Nasional government sent some 49 Members of Parliament to Taiwan to study agriculture and hordes of other life skills from the Taiwanese. Pursuing them were several Pakatan MPs, who boarded the next plane to Taiwan with a mission in hand of securing jumps from the agriculture enthusiasts.

Then the President of PKR pulled a stunt to make way for her husband. Her husband was reported to have contemplated several seats, including Bandar Tun Razak and Kulim. Both were deemed to be too hot to handle. Fearing that his ambitious return would backfire, he returned to Penang to win comfortably, crushing BN's candidate to dust with a bigger majority.

Not perturbed with changing the so-called take over dates numerous times to the point of idiocy and ridicule creating a national political conundrum, the new MP of Permatang Pauh scouted from state to state to seek potential disgruntled BN reps who are willing to jump ship for a range of reasons. The most talked about states were Sabah, Sarawak, and now Perak. The first to break the ice was Nasarudin Hashim, Bota state assemblyman. He said "Kalau dulu UMNO banyak pemimpin penuh dengan idealisma, kini semakin terhakis dengan politik wang dan juga soal-soal lain, dan semua ini turut menghakis kepercayaan saya kepada UMNO", during a PC with DSAI and his lieutenants.

The primary concern that should be addressed is not tightening regulations to prohibit party jumps, however, it is to probe why people are not satisfied with the leadership and why they were selected to contest. As soon as Nasarudin made the jump official, Dato' Tajol called for a meeting with all Perak UMNO State Assemblymen. 5 were MIA. This is not a good signal for UMNO leadership. Dato' Seri Najib has taken over the post of BN State Chairman of Perak.

2 more state assemblymen have resigned to make way for 2 more by-elections. Pretty soon, the Malaysia Book of Records would include the biggest number of by-elections held in a term. Huge amount of resources have to be spent to conduct these events, especially when we are in the midst of an economic turmoil. Not to mention the amount of time and commitment needed to run campaigns. Irresponsible, shameless, reckless, self-centered. These words suit well for these fine Wakil Rakyat.