Forex, Khairy

Started doing a little demo trade on the forex market in 2 eventful days. DEMO only, hehehe guess I don't have that much confidence in trading real money. And I can see why people always say try it on a demo account first, it's really risky, much riskier than equities.

First, Oil barrel reaching US$80 per barrel, and second, EUR/USD hitting the wonderful 1.39 mark, seems like it's going to hit 1.4 soon.

Also, fingers crossed for EUR/JPY to hit the 115.85 mark so I can earn some more $$$.

Anyway main news today is this.

Love him or hate him, he's a daddy now. Congratulations.

Let known your dissatistifaction

That is exactly the difference between Malaysian and UK residents. I've just received my free trial of Moneyweek today and guess what caught my eye. In the bottomline section on the 2nd page, here's 1 of the numbers I saw.

£110,000 How much taxpayers' money the Health and Safety Executive spent on a 140-page, year-long study of risky behaviour at amusement parks. Main findings include the fact that passengers often stick their hands above their heads on rides.

You don't have to go to university to figure out that THIS


would pose a hazard to safety.


£110,000 and you could see people complaining. Do we ever question whether there are any unnecessary projects given out by the government for our 9MP or more recently the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER)? Do we ever think what would happen if we just overbuilt without ever considering whether these infrastructures would be ever occupied.

The fact is there is absolutely no evidence of Malaysian increasing their spending and certainly no evidence of increase of disposable income. With prices going up and up do you see your salary going up and up?

Let's take some time off to think about this.

WOoosh

Taking some time off from reading the wonderful Norwegian Wood, which turns out to be quite a love novel, I would like to tlak about the headline of the week.

Uncle Jeff joins DAP

Everybody in the blogging world knows that.
Everybody who reads newspaper in Malaysia knows that.
Subsequently, everybody in BN knows that, I smell trouble for them.
I think those boys from the 3rd or 4th floor are smelling smoke and they are rushing for the fire extinguisher.

If you ask me who I would vote for during the next election, XXX or Jeff Ooi, my answer is Uncle Jeff.

Why?
At least he lets me know his political thinking and how he intends to tackle political issues. Unlike the incumbent, they have the power of money on their side, Jeff has instilled that certain trust among his readers. Love him or hate him, you gotta praise his guts for taking matters head on.


The timing of this is perfect. Certainly it would set the government back if they were planning the General Election before National Day. Jeff's in the hot seat now and it would not be wise to rush things, agree (3rd/4th floor boys)? Unless you are willing to sacrifice like a seat to the opposition. Not too much harm? Think again.

Until then let's see how things unfold. I've just seen some news flying around in The Star a few days ago about the rulers of the country having to abuse their powers to detain people at their pleasure. Another constitutional crisis started by UMNO? It was a quick update on The Star but I couldn't find the same news on the paper the same day, conspiracy?

Update me if you have seen that news or heard anything like that.


p.s. Kai Yan n Kelwin, Good to be back.

Go down if you're not going up

Watch your comments in your blog, because the police are starting to catch bloggers.

When your dad tells you that, you know things are turning sour, so it's getting bad or even rotten. The big talk recently is that RPK was arrested(or called in for a statement) by the police. One wonders where this is all heading?

Ideally, as a country we should be going up and only up. Instead, I see us going around in circles. Don't get what I mean?

First, RPK vs those in the corridors of power. Then they strike back at him. Then he strike back at them. Then they bash him again. When RPK said he won round one, in fact there were already hundreds of round fought. Well, so who will win this 1?

Personally I want RPK(on one side of the ring) to win and I think he is going to win. He has thrown everything away just to get some action with those he loath, and when you're at the bottom, pushing you won't make you drop further. On the other side of the ring, the PM has everything to lose, personally I think this is a rather stupid move by him, why make a big fuss? Now all eyes are on you and game on.

Let's watch. In the meantime, I won't be reading what happens until we have some conclusions. Instead, I've bought a copy of Norwegian Woods(挪威的森林) by Haruki Murakami(上村春树) which I hope will keep me entertained. It's been a long while since I've read a chinese novel(translated from japanese) and I want to enjoy it.

Bocor every month

Talking about no post to update, after the circus incident last week in Parliament, where 2 MPs, namely from Kinabatangan(of Keluar Malaysia fame) and Jasin(of Close one-eye fame) argued (with a straight face):

“Mana ada bocor, Batu Gajah pun tiap-tiap bulan bocor juga (Where is the
leak? Batu Gajah leaks every month too).”

Batu Gajah here refers to Batu Gajah's MP(DAP) Fong Po Kuan, who incidentally(like all other DAP MPs) have a blog here. Thinking that this matter should be easily resolved had Bung Mokhtar and Said Yusoff issue an apology of the statement, they went further by saying

“It is normal to play with words,” he(Bung Mokhtar) said, adding that it would be wrong if the statement had been made with malicious intent.

Mohd Said said the statement was made in the heat of the argument.
“I don’t see what the fuss is about,” he said. “It is normal to play with words,” he said, adding that it would be wrong if the statement had been made with malicious intent.

Shame shame la. Finally today YB Sharizat wants to take this matter to Cabinet. Even Najib 'bung' in to say

the remarks were not supposed to be taken seriously and that there were certain
parties out to make a big deal of the issue.

Hello Najib, if you still want the ladies to vote for you, better get a grip and become more sensitive. I'm pretty sure that had you have said this during your years in university(of nottingham), you will be subjected to great hatred.

Certain parties out to make a big deal?

Now I can see the issue of pariahs made by RPK here. Heck, even pariahs have their own respect, these 2...... no respect from me sorry. Being politicians doesn't give you freedom to make sexist remarks in public, let alone a parliament session.

Mind you, the sittings at that session was supposed to serve the following function:

The sittings last week were an extension of the March 19 to April 26 meeting for
Parliament to deliberate on several important bills like the Anti-Trafficking in
Persons and Employees Provident Fund amendments. [Source: The Star]

So instead of 'solving' problems, they create more problems. I say throw these MPs out of parliament, make damn sure to let them know

You serve the people, and if you don't serve them
right, you're out.

What say you on this issue?



Reference:

1. Sexist remarks to be brought up to Cabinet, The Star, 15 May 2007.
2. Sexist remarks becoming the norm?, Elizabeth Looi, The Star, 13 May 2007.
3. Let off despite 'sexist' remarks, The Star, 11 May 2007.

Ijok and Bag

The week of exam is over. It's going to be a race to the finish line for my dissertation now, so cross my fingers. :D

So the news of the day today which everybody knows is that BN won the Ijok by-election. I don't think this is a disappointment, BN NOT winning is a disappointment if that happens. Thanks to phantoms?(maybe not since it's sort of a landslide victory)

Let's look at this objectively. Compare both candidates for the by-election, Parthiban and Khalid.

We know Khalid led PNB and Guthrie Bhd in the past, he's a corporate man and he makes no mistake in letting people know that he is going to run politics like he runs business(although his performance in the past is subject to debate).

Parthiban to me looks like a better candidate overall, although he's running for a rotten party. He's a family man who raised his sisters, respect. He's a much cleaner candidate(at least in the public eye) than Khalid, respect. Most importantly, he's a teacher!!!!

2 reasons why I respect teachers:

1. My dad was a teacher.
2. Education is sacred.

To me, BN winning that is no big deal. They are going to have to compete for the seats again for the GE and let us hope that the opposition really presents us a REALISTIC case of how to run a country, rather than go on saying how bad and corrupted the current government is.

So, Uncle Lim, Dato Seri Anwar and Dato Nik Aziz, the onus is on you guys to show us the light if you think that you have a better way of running the country.

On a side note, as I said earlier, words on the street has it that the General Election which was supposed to be held just after Hari Raya is going to be postponed. Of cose, when the exact date is, only Pak Lah will know it.

End of the political talk today. I'm damn depressed I couldn't be at home to go witness Ijok the day before polling day. I heard got a lot of drama, and I like watching drama. Sigh........ sadness.

---

Enough of politics, I went out shopping(dragged by someone) and guess what I got.

A BAG!!!

A freaking BAG!!! That's like the first bag I've ever bought for myself in 5-6 years, no joke. I have to admit though that most of the bags i have are gifts from friends and I got one as well from my uncle.

Too lazy to take photo of it and show u guys now so I'll just find the pic of it online and post it here.

Woo hoo, it's a Ted Baker biffo!!! Welcome to Boss Lepton's family.

I have to say it's the nicest bag I've seen so far, non-leather of course. And it has lots of space inside which can fit a laptop plus a book and some notes nicely. Not to mention it looks great.

Ah..... vanity!!! Ok, enough indulgence, have to go back to normal life and dissertation.

Ciaoz


p.s. Kelwin, I'll get the promised post about scam up tomorrow ok? I have a good 1 :D

Ijok phantoms

According to RPK of Malaysia-Today, BN will WIN the by-election in Ijok, by hooks or by crooks.

I've been talking to several people on what they think will happen in Ijok. Most of the answers I was given is "50:50". It seems that even BN with all its "buy election" campaign still can't muster enough muscle power to win the election easily. Someone might want to explain how PKR can garner that much support within such a short period.

Word has it that it's not that KeADILan has been gaining popularity in Ijok, this switch in popularity owes itself to some issues concerning the local BN leaders in the Ijok constituency.

The main issue these few days is Anwar Ibrahim going all out on Najib. That is the headline in Malaysiakini(sorry I still don't subscribe to Malaysiakini, maybe somebody in MK wanna give me a subscription?). With all the VCD distributing, he has nothing to lose while Najib has ALL to lose and nothing to gain.

Najib: How about doing some cost-benefits analysis with your political adviser on how you're gonna approach this ok? Oh wait I'm sorry..... your previous adviser is in quite deep shit himself.



Here it is then, BN going all out and pulling out all the arsenal to get Ijok in control.

We have at least 2 voters who are 107 years old, with a few more in other pages which can be seen in MT. This must be a record, so many 107 year olds staying near each other, I tell you they must have some secret to eternal youth kept there. Guiness world book of records here Ijok comes.


Also check out this voter borned in 1999, he's younger than my little cousins.

This really takes the word "phantom voters" to another level. We have very old and very young voters. Hello, you wan phantom voters, make their profiles a bit more normal la, sheesh amateurs.


Also, words on the street also has it that the General Elections will be held much later than planned. It was originally planned that the GE would be held some time just after hari raya aidilfitri. But since BN is suddenly faced with an unexpected by-election, they've spent way too much(remember RM36 million?) on this one alone. Also, remember that a big chunk (RM10 million) comes from the Ministry of Works, meaning Samy vellu's department, he has to regroup and reallocate the funds to ensure he's re-elected again?

Don't believe me? Well, it's your choice.



UPDATE:

Found somemore, here are some screenshots, courtesy of SPR Malaysia here.

Absurd v Absurd

small talk: Exam on Monday, Thursday, Friday. Stress sia.




How do you counter absurdity with absurdity? Sounds crazy? It's not if you're living in a little country where westerners still think you live up in the trees. I'm not crazy, ask any UK graduates and they will confirm my statement. A classical case of "absurd v absurd" surfaced yesterday on Malaysiakini.


Sarawak CM Abdul Taib Mahmud was threatening to sue Malaysiakini for the reasons stated by Jeff in his blog here. Apologies I don't subscribe to Malaysiakini and therefore couldn't view the full report. His request was to demand that 8 articles concerning accusations of corruption, involving RM32 million of logging kickbacks from Japan allegedly linked to him and his family, removed. The latest update is that he threatens to sue Sarawak PKR leaders too, and the story continues.

If I'm not mistaken, this is the same person who owns the majority in RHB until the recent EPF fiasco where EPF bought up a major chunk of the bank. Call me stupid if this isn't an obvious case of bailout by the CM. It's his right to sell his stake, I won't deny, the question should be where did he get the money to buy the bank in the first place. Fishy?

When one is accused to be corrupted, why counter by threatening lawsuit? That is just plain dumb and bring more spotlight to yourself. The sensible move is to shun all spotlights and hope people forget about it or do what our PM loves doing, play dumb. But fight back by threatening lawsuit? I quote Steven Gan saying

When we go to court, we have a long list of witnesses whom we plan to call - starting with the ACA and Japan’s tax authorities.

No joke, you're just asking for trouble.

If he's a UK politician, he would be instantly stripped of his job and he's already lucky if he doesn't end up in jail. Take David Blunkett's case here as an example.


I quote something interesting which I would love to share with all of you here:

Mr Blunkett admits he had been wrong to give a rail warrant intended for MPs' spouses to his married lover.

The home secretary's spokesman said he would repay the £180 cost of the train ticket to Doncaster, adding: "Having examined the detailed rules today he realises he has made a genuine mistake and will be repaying the cost of the ticket to the Parliamentary authorities and apologise for his mistake."

Hilarious isn't it, he has to repay £180 for giving his lover a ticket intended for MP's spouse. It's £180, compared to the sum allegedly taken in by Taib. Would really love to see kennysia write something about this(probably in a satirical manner too).

Allow me to drive home my point. People in the UK still think we live in trees, not quite so, but our mentality hasn't change much from out living-in-tree days.

Absurd v absurd, something that will only happen in a little country in the middle of nowhere which we call home.
Read Freethinker's take on this here.

Rinoa, you got a comment on this issue? Two lions or a wolf?

References:

1. Timeline: Blunkett Resignation, BBC News, 21 December 2004.
   

By-elections? Buy elections!

How to buy your way through elections. That's right folks, that's the hot topic that's been stirred up since the Machap by-election. Well BN bought their victory by hook or by crook, let's try to see what happens in Ijok.

First of all, one has to ask himself, what do you know about Ijok?

A search in google reveals a few interesting results. The most interesting being masak-masak's post on New Beggar's Delicious Restaurant @ Ijok. I have to say the beggar chickens look very tasty, but beware if you're muslim because they do serve pork too. Don't say I didn't warn you first.

This of course doesn't tell us too much about Ijok. Here's a map on where Ijok really is for all you katak bawah tempurung(me included). People say you have to pass Ijok if you're heading to Kuala Selangor via the north route, I wouldn't know since I stay in the south(Subang) and I've never been to Kuala Selangor(hope the kelip-kelips are still there).


After a few pages, there's still no sight of both the famous Ijok blogs. The publicity team must be doing a shit job at this. Heck, they really should go consult some SEO expert and read up on what is google pagerank.

Also, there's a rocky's post on Ijok and with some nice statistics here.

Recently, there's so much press about how development had been brought to Ijok virtually overnight. Khir Toyo's 36 million ringgit is just a prelude, I actually expect more goodies to come. I actually think now the rakyat should already figure out a strategy to get the most out of the present government.

Here's the plan if you don't already know it. By-election period, show your support to BN, and they will reciprocate you by building roads etc in your area thinking you are going to vote for him. Don't vote for BN, instead, vote for the opposition and make him win. At the next election, the BN people will try harder to please you, bringing yet again more developments. Show your support but again vote for the opposition. See the viscious cycle here?

I thought I'm pretty smart to have thought of this.


.................I must be kidding myself, there's no way BN would lose. The "law of shopping" is that when you buy something, it is legally already yours. It's Sales carnival Malaysia season if you haven't realised, for the politicians that is, and they are spending too much of the taxpayers' money on a correct region for the wrong reasons.

Lai pwn Liou

Again stole a picture from The Star to illustrate my point.
A classical Lai pwnz Liou, BN pwnz DAP situation.

If you have trouble understanding the meaning of pwn, here is an explanation from wikipedia:

The slang term Pwn (see pronunciation note below), used primarily in the Internet gaming culture, means to soundly defeat an opponent.

In my words, pwn means to "properly own".

And that is what happened, with the votes counted here at Elizabeth's blog. While here is an analysis by freelunch2020 on the Machap by-elections. If you're lazy to browse over, here're the numbers:

BN - 5536 5533
DAP - 1449 1452
Spoilt - 156 166 (wth does spoilt mean?)

Let's see, MCA wins by a milder margin? In statistics, we have a term for that, and that is "not significantly different". Why? there's always room for errors and randomness.

I'll list the reasons freelunch2020 gave on why MCA won:

1. Damn high rubber and oil palm prices.
   It's not surprising at all. One of my friends who went to live with a family in a Felda estate on a homestay programme told me that before the trip, they were expecting to wake up early in the morning and live the lives of a rubber tapper. You know what they had for dinner? Abalone, I bet that most of you don't even get to eat abalone outside New Years celebrations. So no complains here, with Oil Palm being no.1 export, shortage for rubber shoots its price up, ask Tony Pua for his opinions on this. We all need rubber tyres don't we?
   
2. Super-power by-election development budget
   Nothing fantastic to hooha about also. How much you want to bet that the sources of the money comes from either:
   
   • Donations
   • Tax Payers' money
   • Profits from VCD selling?
3. Entertainment + makan sessions
   They even showed this on mainstream newspaper. Illegal I know, nothing you can do about it. You can either worry about this or more serious corruption cases going on.
4. Campaigning for only 10 days?
   What you mean is that for the candidates to fulfil their promises? No can do, if in the UK they don't fulfil their promises, the next election they're out. That's the end of their political careers, no second chance(unless there's a REALLY good explanation for that) anywhere. This all depends on the voters whether they would like to believe on empty promises too. Then again, can DAP fulfil their promises as well?
   
5. Allegations of money politics
   Hey they can even do that to sabotage Tun Mahathir already, what's the weird thing if it happens to someone of a lesser influence?

I don't see this as reasons for DAP's failure at all. As Lim Keng Yaik said, "I don't like the word Best Effort". If you did your best effort and can't deliver, then something must be wrong.

If you're a DAP supporter and reading this, I'm not against DAP in any ways. To me, I just don't see any point in voters voting for someone when there's a tried and true party working for them. Look how their lives have improved, isn't that the biggest reason why MCA won?

DAP: you seriously have to rethink your position. Bashing the government won't work as well if you cannot prove that you are able to do a better job then the current coalition. The whole ideology which you possess is really confusing. Uncle Lim still dreams of preventing BN to hold 2/3rds majority, that's quite unrealistic right? What we need now is a real opponent, with a true ideology which all Malaysians can trust(such as meritocracy?). Until then, you have to accept the fact that you will lose no matter how much effort you put in.

Seriously, you've been trying for so many years now and still can't win, something must be changed. Get innovative, think for the country, the big picture. This is only the prelude to the general elections, I really hope to see some really promising progress by then from the oppositions.

No matter how much I've thought about it, no matter how corrupted it is right to the core, no matter what underhand tactics they use, BN as I see it clearly offers the better package for all Malaysians with its multicultural components. Remember, multicultural is the key.




Random phrase of the day: "Real gold not scared of fierce fire - 真金不怕红炉火" (Forgive me for the shabby translation, I can't think right at this hour of the day)

p.s. congratulations to Lai on winning. Liou: don't take it too hard, as long as you work for the rakyat, they'll realise it, seriously action speaks louder than words.

Fear the worst

I've registered to buy some tickets to live earth concert, show your support too!

In the meantime, let's start the show. Starting with our very first high profile resignation.
Sabah's DCM has handed in his resignation.

Question of principle, Tan Sri Chong? How much has this to do with Musa Aman's alleged corruption practices? Only he himself would know the answer for that.

So what next, you ask? I don't know, a few issues that would be the key for the next few months:

• Sarawak's CM Abdul Taib Mahmud's corruption allegations.
• Johari Baharum's corruption charges.
• Razak Baginda's trials.
• Zulkipli Mat Noor's corruption charges.
• Musa Hassan's war against all the corrupted "leaders".
• Sabah's CM Musa Aman's corruption practices and whether anybody would take action against it.
  

Razak Baginda's case is not a corruption case you say? MT gave an alternative explanation on Razak Baginda's case. The relationship between him and Altantuya is actually not a romantic one but one of business. It relates to the purchase of Sukhoi submarine incident a few years ago. Apparently Altantuya wanted the money to be paid off to some "other party".

So why so many high profile corruption cases you ask? Don't ask me, Malaysia's corruption perception index just went up last year. Maybe some of you might want to enlighten me on how the business world works around all these corruptions?

When there's corruption charges, there will be a benefactor and a benificiary. I wonder why all the charges are only against the beneficiary and non on the benefactor. Maybe these benefactors pay more to the authorities to only take charges on the beneficiaries? Don't be surprised, anything's possible.

How are these issues going to proceed. I'm speculating that at some point, Tun Mahathir would step in and disrupt something as well. After all, we know he is not a person that shies away from national issues. The question is why has he not spoken anything on these yet so far? Too many questions too few answers.

Fear the worst! This might be just the start.



p.s. I wish Tan Sri Chong a happy retirement and more time to spend with your family.

Reference:

1. Sabah's Deputy Chief Minister resigns, The Star, 13 April 2007.
   

Difference between 1997 and 2007?

What's the difference between 1997 and 2007?

Well, the event in 1997 gave him the driving seat on route to become the next PM.

The events that will happen in 2007 will ...................... ? Fill in the blanks yourself.
He sure looks worried in this latest photo. Why the long face?

I hope it's nothing to do with this as told on Malaysia-Today. Watergate or Dolahgate?

All rakyat:

• Get popcorns and your soft drinks ready.
• Go out and shop for the most comfortable sofa set.

All BN-govt basher blogger:

• All the above.
• Get you banners and flags ready.
• Charge your videocam and digicams on full, heck, throw in an extra battery.
  
• Reconfigure your computers so that they don't fail you at the time when you most need them.

All businessmen:

• Non of the above.
• Get your secretaries to get ready for overtime. Heck, hire one more secretary.
• Get your management team ready for brainstorming sessions.

WHY??

The next month or two would be jam-packed. Forget 1997 when Anwar was arrested, this could be bigger and better.

Dramas for the rakyat.
Opportunity to bash kau kau the garmen by the opposition.
And for businessmen, well "sometimes matador wins, sometimes bull wins", choose your side wisely.

p.s. I'm tagging this national because it's gonna be important for the nation.

Jolie vs Pak Lah

Wanna fight? Yatch fight it is!!!

Talk about making Pak Lah look like an idiot for getting into a huge controversy over a sampan.

Comparatively......... 268/8 = 33 times the amount Pak Lah spent for the Cobra Sultan.

Reference:

1. Jolie, Pitt buy Italian luxury yatch, The Star, 11 April 2007.
   

Sleep and Jet Lag

Was reading Howsy's blog and I came across this. I told myself I have to put this up, OMG it's like caught red-handed. If you don't get what I mean, take a look at this:




I think it was some speech regarding the Formula 1 event recently, and it has already more than 5000 hits in youtube. Pak Lah, it's not in photo anymore, you caught in live action, say cheese :D

Understandably our PM has lots of work to do, maybe jet lag as well. I propose we equip some device in PNB's new Airbus to counter jet lag. Or at least have some printed notes on board or a personal assistant to advice our PM how to reduce the jet lag. He is after all the most important person in the country right? Heck, I suggest that you take some time off holidaying in Perth as well, too bad the house isn't ready yet right?

And also Pak Lah, can delegate some tasks to your No.2 la, don't have to bear all the responsibilities yourself right? Got so many No.2 to choose from, no problem with talents right? Or do you?

Machap by-election

I predict BN to win. Why?

Having the mainstream media working for you is convenient, but taking time out to visit the by-election region, that is pushing DAP a bit too far. But it is also easy to see why people like Dato Seri Ong Ka Ting, just read the article and you'll get what I mean.

To be honest, it makes no difference to me whoever wins. All that matters is that the candidates deliver their promise to put the welfare of the people above theirs.

Reference:

1. Listening to the people, The Star, 10 April 2007.
   

Likes and dislikes about Pak Lah

It is difficult to tell whether an average Malaysian likes their elected prime minister, since there are so many reports that the last general elections was rigged in one way or another. Ask anybody standing in Midvalley or KLCC whether they think that the Prime Minister is doing a good job and most probably they'll tell you that "I think he's not doing a bad job, just that something has to be done about the crime rates".

You see, a regular rakyat's perception of the performance of the government rests upon 2 major things:

• How wealthy they feel now?
• How safe they feel now?
  

Notice how the inflation rate, GDP, unemployment rate means nothing to a regular rakyat. Also, take note that I use the word "feel" instead of "are".

In both cases, I think Pak Lah has done a pretty good job at telling the rakyat the country is prospering. I don't deny that Malaysia is indeed growing at a good pace, it's just not as good as how Pak Lah claims it to be. Remember this?
If you can't read it, it says "Malaysia's Total Trade Breaks 1 Trillion Ringgit Mark for First Time in 2006". There have been several analysis on the wrongs in this report, interested reader can refer to Jeff Ooi's explanation here.

As for the law enforcement side, there's the Bernama's report yesterday on Pak Lah waging war against all criminals. Good call I have to say, but we're still waiting to see some actions. Mat rempits still crowding your neighbourhood?

So there are things I like and dislike about Pak Lah. Even in a news article I could point out the things I like and dislike about him. Take for example The Star's article today.
4 matters are raised here:

1. VW chairman still not turning up to meet Pak Lah for negotiations over Proton.
2. Proposal to register bloggers.
3. Difficulties faced by Malaysians obtaining visas to Saudi Arabia.
4. Sarawak CM's allegations.
   

Here are the matters and my comments:

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said yesterday that he could not be “waiting forever” for the Volkswagen chairman to meet him to discuss the possible partnership with Proton.

I dislike him using the national media to send a message to VW. If you want to know whether they are still interested, phone VW up yourself and confirm if they are still interested.

On the proposal to get bloggers in the country to register with the authorities, Abdullah said this needed careful study to ensure such a ruling could be implemented.

I obviously dislike this. This move would be futile and it would waste a lot of taxpayers' money for obvious reasons. If you still don't get it, it doesn't take a blogger 5 minutes to re-register and transfer his website to a new host outside the country. You and I know that this is not good for the economy and the web-hosting companies in Malaysia right?

On another matter, Abdullah said the Government was waiting for feedback from Saudi Arabia on the difficulties faced by Malaysians in obtaining visas to perform their umrah.

This is one side of Pak Lah I would love to see more often. The "do something good for the country" side. At least he's still doing something to improve the rakyat's welfare.

On the Japan Times report that implicated Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud in a scandal allegedly involving RM32mil in kickbacks paid by Japanese shipping companies for timber from Sarawak, Abdullah said he was not aware of such a matter.

How can you not be aware of such a matter? If it were to happen to one of the ministers in the UK, there would be full-flown investigation. At least make an effort to tell us that you're going to conduct some investigation on this matter. Or is it that you do not plan to do so?

So there you have it, the likes and dislikes about a PM in just one article.

Do you like Pak Lah? Looks like I can only find out about this in the next general election.

References:

1. Malaysia's Total Trade Breaks 1 Trillion Ringgit Mark for First Time in 2006, AP, 8 February 2007.
2. Wage All-out War On Criminals Similar To Communist Insurgency - PM, Bernama, 5 April 2007.
3. VW chief yet to turn out for meeting, Jane Ritikos, The Star, 10 April 2007.
   

Blog Registration?

Whoever said this must be freaking kidding. Go over to MarinaM's blog to look at the picture of the person who told us to register blogs hosted locally.

Indeed, according to a report on The Star sometime yesterday, Deputy Minister of Energy, Water and Communication (KTAK), Dato' Shaziman Abu Mansor, said that

Bloggers using locally hosted websites may be asked to register with the authorities [Source: The Star]

This is just a freaking stupid move towards development, a good move by the leaders of Bolehland though. There has been a lot of attention about blogs bashing of minister, bashing about actions by government, and even a lot of opposition movements online. Where else can we voice our opinions if we can't voice them through the main stream media?

Think this is bad? In the UK, minister and government actions bashing is done by the mainstream medias themselves, discount all the tabloids. Just check out the daily news at FT.com, BBC and the Guardian to spot a few.

Again, rethink about this silly move. Worst scenario, every blogger just move out of locally hosted domains(I've never seen a blog which ends with .my), and move into foreign hosted domains.

Some relating posts from other bloggers:

• 77 years ago to the date, Jeff Ooi
• The Frog and the Blog, MarinaM
  

For those using blogspot, like me, it should be safe, as long as Google doesn't compromise.

Once again, I shall just reiterate the stance of bloggers, "No smoke without fire". And as Gandhi said, (copied from Screenshots)

First they ignore you,
then they laugh at you,
then they fight you,
then you win.
Mahatma Gandhi

p.s. KTAK - Kementerian Tenaga, Air dan Komunikasi a.k.a. KATAK - frog

Reference:

1. Bloggers may have to register, The Star, 5 April 2007.
   

Nik Aziz

One of the many people I've always respected is the Chief Minister of Kelantan, Nik Aziz Nik Mat. Although I've grown up with an image that all PAS members are evil and the leader of PAS being devil incarnation, I've soon realised that I've been wrong about all these, as they say, these are all politics.

You would in fact be surprised how modest this man is despite being one of the hated figures of non-muslims. Read Jonathan Kent's report on his meeting with Nik Aziz here.

Nik Aziz studied at the same religious school as all but one of the leaders of
Afghanistan's Taleban.

..........................

He may believe that I(Jonathan Kent) am going to burn in hell but he is always charming and welcoming, and there is always a mischievous sparkle in his eye. [Source: BBC]

Such is the phrase used to describe him. I've always like the satirical little comic strips featuring him on Utusan Melayu when I was in secondary school, and to my mom's dismay, that might be the only thing I read from the malay daily most of the time. You see, I pestered my mom into subscribing an english(NST) and malay(Utusan) newspaper daily so I could hopefully read and increase my command of both languages. As many of us know that Utusan is a tool used by the BN coalition to propogade malay readers, it is not at all unusual if another reader has the same view of Nik Aziz as me at that time.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a PAS person, although the little state I love(Kedah) was once under PAS not too long ago. I am also not an advocate of PAS or Nik Aziz, I merely respect him as a religious leader and not as a politician. He is akin a grandfather when speaking about the rights and wrongs in society. So much so that he wants the country to be governed by Islamic law, not to my preference. However, in these he taught non-muslims the other side of story, many of his opinions are in fact not without basis. Taking an example in him saying that ladies who "wearing make-up can invite rape", you can see his basis in saying this from all those rape cases in the newspapers.

It is also hard to see that all his opinions are for good causes. Like preventing rape, preventing adultery, all the good values that should be present in a muslim. His only miscalculation was only that Malaysia is a multi-racial and multi-cultural country, and that not all his views can be accepted.

But imagine this, with him at helm, the BN government hasn't been able to find a way to steal the state of Kelantan from PAS. I personally think that this is not because they are not capable in doing so, there must be some love the Kelantan people have for their beloved leader. Agree?

So, what's your view on this?

More interested readers can refer to these articles:

• The politics of Islam, Time Asia.
• Nik Aziz Nik Mat, Wikipedia.

p.s. the Utusan Melayu I read was the pre-NSTP-Utusan bullocks, anybody wanna update me on whether that perkahwinan jadi or tak jadi?

References:

1. The changing face of Malaysian politics, Jonathan Kent, BBC News, 25 March 2007.

RM20 Million or RM 250 Million?

Who is not getting the facts right?

Tengku Adnan, of Bloggers are liars fame?
Or RPK, of Malaysia Today fame:
I don't know, you tell me? If you ask me what me opinion is, I would say RM20 million will be enough for you to build 2 medium-size bridges in Malaysia, engineers please correct me if I'm wrong.

Don't argue to me that the budget of 2005 and 2006 will differ to such degree. We're talking tenfold here. All I wanna know here is.......

Who got the facts right?

References:

1. Manifold benefits from Monsoon Cup, The Star, 28 March 2007.
2. The power of witchcraft, Raja Petra Kamarudin, Malaysia Today, 02 January 2006.
   

Maybe not too bad

If you're a big fan of all the PM's news, I'm pretty sure you've read this one.

For those who haven't, here it is.According to the PM, it was too late to pop the question

“The press conference is over. It is too late,” he said as he walked away with a grin. [Source: The Star]

I have to give it to this guy, he is one who who humours me at time. Anyway, if it is true that the PM remarried, Congratulations. I'm pretty sure that having a lady by your side would be make you a happier man. And we Malaysians like to have a happy man as PM, because if you're happy, we happy, everybody happy, everything ok.

Ok, maybe it's not as simple as this.

Question:

• Any questions for the ham-sap lou? Nah, not really, as long as he doesn't focus on the "son-in-law" and the "son". That's all good news to us right?
• Really no questions ar? YEA, I REALLY DON'T SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH HIM REMARRYING.

References:

1. Too late to pop the question, March 16 2007, The Star.