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.

Told you so, again

I won't go about why I think BN would win the Machap by-election. It doesn't take a smart person to figure out that the villagers do have a major advantage of choosing BN over DAP. I mean, come on, all DAP has done is keep bashing the government. That's nothing constructive.

clipped from thestar.com.my Thursday April 12, 2007 Barisan wins Machap by-election

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.
   

Candidate for networking?

Earlier yesterday I was talking to my cousin on msn. Some really juicy topics came up from our little chat, most of which I'm not going to disclose, fearing that it might be confidential. Anyway, my cousin alerted me on the latest happenings in the Malaysian business world. Forgive me for being a katak bawah tempurung but when it comes to business dealings, somehow or another I don't have my source. (Poor networking I would say)

Introducing Malaysia business's upcoming star, Carmen Chua. I'm not sure if you are aware but she's on the front page of Bizweek last weekend, talk about high profile. They say wit and charm comes in a package, I couldn't agree more.


Currently she's the MD of the OneKL project, if I'm not mistaken. Tagline is "94 apartments, 95 swimming pools". She's also on the board of several of Datuk Chua Ma Yu's company, understandably she's Datuk Chua's eldest daughter.

But looking at the article on The Star, it's not like she doesn't deserve it. Doing several stints at firms like Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and UBS, mind you these are investment banks and I do know how hard it is to earn an internship with them. It is a phenomenon in the UK that almost all of the graduates want to work with an investment bank and she had worked for 3 of them? That's astounding. I can't even manage to get into a firm which is less competitive, talk about comparison.

Now don't give me all those shit about she's here because of her father. I've known of people who I call the luckiest bastards in the world and all they do is go out, have fun and draw from their parents' deep pockets. If she can be at this position, I would say it's all because of her hardwork and brilliant networking.

There's always an ongoing debate whether it's easier for children from rich families can maintain the wealth of the family or for children from poor families to make it big. Afterall, there's a chinese saying that goes by "Fortune in the family can't last for more than 3 generations". I don't have an answer for those, it really does depend on the individual. My only comment on this is that children from the rich has the connections and a headstart, while children from the poor has the drive and determination.

So what happens to people clamped in between like you and me? Well, I'd like to draw from an old joke the phrase "sometimes matador wins, sometimes bull wins". That's my perception of how the business world will be like.

I was telling my girlfriend about what I've read about Carmen when she popped the question:

Do you think you are a candidate suitable for networking?

My first answer was.........

I haven't really try but..........

That's when she interrupted me

A person good at networking doesn't need to try, take Timothy as an example.

Oh my god, she's right, at least she makes sense. I've known Tiam for almost 6 years now and there's always this aura around him that makes people feel close with him. And that is the single biggest factor that would push Nuffnang further. It did for Carmen and OneKL, where she played a significant role in the government's move to abolish the real property gains tax(RPGT).

It suddenly daw tned on me that I'm really a loser when it comes to networking. Save for the fact that I'm stuck in this small town/village/university, I just haven't been able to manage my network correctly. Suddenly I feel all so sad, how am I going to improve?

So I'm not a candidate for networking, all books and no play makes Boss Lepton a sad sad person. Is this graveyard before I've even started my career? If there's one thing that I have it's not giving up. So here I'm asking for your opinions, any pointers on how to improve my networking skills?
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Oh and anybody close to Carmen, could you pass her a message?

Please start a website for OneKL, learn from Guinness's mistake on the Adam King campaign the last time.

Reference:

1. Finding her place, Anita Gabriel and Hari Raj, The Star Bizweek, 7 April 2007.