Remember Din's Words!

In the morning, when I read this mainstream article featuring the Mamak of Merbok, I started to laugh at how obsolete and unacceptable this guy is!

Just a quote from that piece of news:

It is highly unprofessional of lawyers to hold street protests.

It’s about time the Government find out if the lawyers were allowing themselves to be used.

It’s clear they were being directed by a certain individual or political party out to discredit the Barisan government.

No wonder I kept saying that this guy is a prime example of dinosaurs in the government who don't even give damn thing to understand the global changes that are affecting Malaysia as well.

Here's an example: blogging. Notable journalists of the media have made successful transitions to blogging to reach more people online. This even includes Datuk A.K Jasin - chief editor some more.

But this guy is an ex-Utusan editor and still don't even know a single thing of blogging!

Here's a solution: Go to the All-Blogs forum this Wednesday!

During the floor session with the public at the forum on Saturday, a notable person got up to make a statement. That was Din Merican, and the one thing he said that gave me an idea to write this post is (correct me if I am wrong):

(referring to the man making trouble) "Sack that minister who is also from Kedah!"

Forum Report: Collapse of Law and Order

I was at the forum entitled Collapse of Law and Order on Saturday with a few fellow bloggers including James (Clare Street) and Howsy, who was sitting next to me.

The complete report of the posting can be seen at his blog posting.

You can see another one at Hafiz's.

The pictures that you would see were taken just next to me as well. He didn't move out of the row of seats!

Of course, the show got kicked off with the showing of the 8-minute footage of the Lingamtape. Some called V.K Lingam as Shockalingam - a nod to a guy killed in Anniyan which everyone was laughing. Sure, the real laughing point is indeed "correct...correct...correct!"

Of course the speakers are from PKR, BAR Council, Transparency International and an ex-UN Rapporteur. I find that the musing by Mr. Param a bit amusing especially when he recalled a remark of him being replied by the Chief Justice about accepting the appointment as Lord President after Salleh Abbas. Mr. Param also said that the lost of confidence in the judiciary can also result into vigilantism - taking the law into their own hands. He cited an example of a Guatemala magistrate stoned to death because of improper decisions. The important reminder in his speech is the fact that AAB is not fulfilling his manifesto.

I read the online edition of the MEA document that Anwar wrote before coming for the talk. I came to realize that because of the corruption and bureaucracy in the government, Malaysia stands to lose more than what they are able to gain. A notable fact that was said is that Singapore's standard of living is indeed five times better than Malaysia. Anwar speaks of various points in which no doubt I have to agree, despite my affirmation that I do not take interest in politics.

Former MP Wee Choo Keong is also among the audience, but seating at the back. His commentary is the one that stands out during the Q&A session. I remembered how he was a victim of law manipulation when the court decides to give the disputed parliamentary seat to the loser instead of conducting a re-count. I could hear what he said and his motive in giving justice to what was lost before.

I didn't know until today that my friend Martin was working as the driver for Transparency International founder Tunku Abdul Aziz. When I called him today to get some stuff from him, he told me of a problem. His October pay got stolen yesterday when thieves ransacked his car. There goes his pay. Of course it's negligence, but I thought of maybe meeting him over the problem. I don't know whether to help him or not. I told him that I don't have enough money to spare him because I figured that I would be paying a big portion of credit bills after next week.

But when I went through the whole thing, I came to realize that I can't seem to trust the judiciary anymore. If I am to challenge a big government over compensation of damages, I would immediately end up one the losing side because of the intimidation and the partisan decision of judges. Some are pressured by the mob to go with them or face punishment. Which reminds me of what Tony told me of a Shearn Delamore lawyer representing MAS did in the lawsuit against Audra.

You can say that high-profile cases involving the government are rigged from the beginning.

Mandatory Upgrade

For those who might be buying or upgrading new PCs, you need to know that there a few things deemed extinct that the market no longer sells it.

First thing is that they don't sell anymore of Prescott motherboards.
Second thing is that they don't sell anymore of those Socket-478 processors.

And now, the third thing is that they are to ship out Windows XP!

A lot of people fancied XP over Windows Vista due to performance cases and the IDE issues that developers find that it is totally different from what is shown in Vista. Because of this, business level users have pressured Microsoft to keep selling XP.

But it is only a reprieve as Microsoft decided to delay further the removal of XP from market by 30 June 2008. Perhaps the main cause of this is that lukewarm response to the initial release of Vista as well as total pressure from Dell customers.

The thing is that Vista alone requires 1 GB of RAM to run major applications. In some test machines that I've test run, I noticed that the machine lags when it is run at the minimum of 512 MB of RAM. a 2GB RAM will be needed if you want to run some video games along. This is evident in the Microsoft-exclusive game Halo 2 which is on PC right now.

Nazri Isn't Capable. He Should Quit

When it was learned that the Bar Council had marched to the PM's office to hand over the memorandum, the de facto Law Minister, the Nazi from Padang Rengas was making kinds of various statements and *denials* that people, comprising of lawyers, socio-political community and the opposition party find it unconvincing and crap.

The first denial, according to Malaysiakini quotes that Nazri says there was no crisis at all. That's the first mistake he made. He thinks the judiciary crisis as no crisis. Just go through this line a few times saying it out loud:

There's no need for such a judicial commission as there is no crisis in our judiciary.
No crisis, no problems. I don't see any scandal.
This are all efforts by the opposition to create distrust and erode public confidence in the judiciary.

You idiot! Are you trying to ignore this thing that is plunging the country into abyss? Nobody has the confidence as before to trust the law system of Malaysia already. And you try to make that statement as an excuse? The hell with it! And you blame the opposition for the problems that arise in this country? The opposition did it? You did it first, pal! That's your mistake.

You are supposed to clean up the mess and shows us that you did fix the problem. It's not leaving the pile of mess and blaming the others for the problem. That is the problem with mentality of idiots of the Bolehland. If Wee makes a video that makes people think and points out the mistakes that Malaysia did, you should understand the criticism and not shooting back like a troll! You are exactly like Chuck Austen! Period! Lame trolls, assholes, call whatever you want, but we have the knowledge and confidence that it's not our fault to point out.

The claim was then refuted by people. Second mistake is to call lawyers as opposition parties. Hey, lawyers are there to work base on the law, not politics. It seems that this idiot Nazri cannot differentiate the meaning of talking law and politics. He doesn't know the line well. Law and politics have different meanings. This is not election. OMG!

This is not the only occasion that he makes mistakes. The famous video footage of that Gestapo man calling people stupid and asshole in the Parliament on 21 June is still the main highlight that shows his arrogance as the de facto Law Minister. This guy at times can find the use of law to be manipulated on folks. Remember the day where he said that the Child Act could be used against Nurin's parents for negligence?

Is he playing the hero so that everyone thinks of how great this El Balachi is?

NO!!!!!!

This guy should quit. He's not doing what he's supposed to do as a Law Minister. A loudmouth and then make noises, making mistakes, pointing fingers at people for the mess...that's it! People had enough of this guy. The guy tries to hide mistakes by denying this. The guy blaming the Bar Council for not calling him over for the memorandum...his reputation spells it out to the people which is why they don't hand it to him.

The antics is enough for me to say in the face that he is not capable to be the Law Minister. Instead he should quit and give the post to a better person who knows the Malaysian law better. Hey they are a few great people who is good in the Malaysian law. And some of them are bloggers too. Why not give to our Raja Nazrin?

Should I stop here? I would love too, but then who knows, El Balachi might go bashing against bloggers for "why you write about me....point to Jeff, ask the question...point to Zorro...ask him the same thing..., point to June...why you bash me!?...point to others....you stupid bloggers..."

This is one sucker punch from Uncle Lim, saying Nazri is unbecoming. Beautiful punch!

Another problem here is that ISM guys are just issuing directives to the paper editors of not turning that to the front news page. I think it's scary for them to see it in front. The ISM is telling them first step this second step that...that's not freedom of the press! That's subversion! I have no opinion on this ISM rep Che Din Yusof who issues directives but I think it is insensible and wrong mentality to issue a directive against the press instincts. You might blame it on the idiots like FAK or Joe Baharom (a S.I.L crony).

Just give that thing to new batch of people who are subject experts and can able to run the country well. I remembered Anwar Ibrahim said in his MEA paper that Malaysia is still run by old dinosaurs who know nothing about new improvements to the world. As Susan's tagline says: May the truth save us all.

Failed Malaysian Varsities

The following is the article by columnist Sim Kwang Yang on failed varsities in Malaysia:

In the last years of his tenure as prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad must have realized that there is such a thing as too much nationalism. Without nationwide consultation, without any penetrating studies by experts, and certainly without seeking opinions from parents, teachers, and students, his government decreed overnight that Math and Science must be taught in English.

Not a note of protest was heard from the Malay teachers association, and other usually irascible Malay nationalist bodies.

The move was an open admission that the exclusive emphasis on Bahasa Malaysia in schools and universities has failed to produce globally competitive human resources. Dr M may have been a giant figure in the short history of Malaysia, and has been instrumental in shaping the political landscape of our country. But his brand of Malay nationalism in the matter of the national language has victimised many generations of young Malaysians in developing their potentials in more ways than one.

The first casualty of this language policy has been the academic standard of our local universities. In the 80s, I used to be invited to student forums in local universities, in my capacity as an opposition MP. Representatives from other political parties were also invited, bit it seemed these talks generally degenerated into a BN bashing session by students of all races.

After one such session, the moderator of the talk who happened to be the dean of one faculty told me aside on the quiet that the performance of his students had declined over the years, partly because they were illiterate in English and could not read international journals and reference books.

(He also told me that he and other university lecturers were compelled to mark the students on
a curve, so that those Malay students who failed will be given a pass mark anyway! But that is an open secret.)

Publish or perish

Those who are acquainted with the unwritten rules of the academia know that academic standard is subject to international scrutiny. An academician has to publish or perish. It is very difficult for a professor to obtain the security of tenure if his original composition or research findings are not published in prestigious international journals. Better still, he can publish an authoritative book, which soon becomes a best seller and a university text book everywhere.

The idea is that one of the essential roles of the university is the production of new knowledge through research. The findings of research must then be published to allow the world academic community to test and evaluate the research results. Only when it is so verified can the new theory or findings be accepted as orthodox truth.

Naturally, students - especially those in senior years and in graduate programmes (or "post-graduate" programmes, as they are called in British universities) – must refer to an enormous amount of journals, reference books, and related research materials, in order to master their area of specialisation.

Invariably, their thesis must contain a great number of quotations from authoritative sources, footnotes, and a lengthy bibliography. In conclusion, the thesis writer is supposed to come to his own theory or perspective, by engaging himself in a debate with all the authorities, and synthesising all contentious stands into a harmonious view entirely his own.

Then, the graduate is qualified to pursue an academic career, as a professor, an assistant professor, or a humble lecturer. This is that original signification of the term "professor", as one who professes his own theory through some kind of publication. His academic worth is often determined by how often he is quoted by other books and publication. The standing of a university is also determined partly by how many such professors they have on their faculty.

Though I do not have the figures, I suspect that most academic and professional journals in the
world are published in English. If our universities are such that English literacy is lacking, we will be producing graduates who are intellectually like frogs under the coconut shell, no matter how fluent they are in the national language.

Perhaps the problem lies with the philosophy of education determined by the government in the first place.

Academic freedom

The idea of the Western university evolved very much after the model of Plato's Academy. Plato's model was shaped very much by his philosophy of searching for truth and knowledge as its own end, and not as a means to an end. It was meant to be a community of scholars living in close proximity, a refuge free from the power play of the outside world.

Plato's Academy continued in Europe even after the fall of Athens at the hands of Alexander the
Great from Macedonia and the rise of the Roman Empire later. The last Academy was finally closed down by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in AD 529 because of religious bigotry on his part.

That is why an institution of higher learning has to enjoy academic freedom, because without the freedom of thought and speech, there can never be truth with a capital "T".

Thirty years ago, I did study philosophy in a small university, the University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Unlike Malaysia, the Winnipeg university came under the purview, and was
funded by the provincial government of Manitoba. The unranked university was administered by a University Senate made up almost entirely of faculty members, and 12 student representatives.

I served as a student senator for a couple of years, sitting on several committees like the one in charge of admission of foreign students.

Many of those liberal arts colleges and universities in the West are run on the assumption that the most important people in a higher institution of learning are the teachers and the students, and they should be given a big say in all things in the administration of the campus.

One year, the provincial government of Manitoba proposed a raise in tuition fees. The student union organised a demonstration, marching down from the campus to the state legislature downtown peacefully in protest, with professors marching with them in support. The proposal was withdrawn. If such a march happens in Malaysia, the police, the FRU, and the water cannons will arrive in full force to quash the "riot"!

The comparison may not be all that fair. As an important institution, like all other political, social and economic institutions, the university takes even centuries to mature. We are but a young nation on the world stage. I can actually understand how, during the early uncertain years of independence, the university was seen as a powerful political tool for nation building. Much stock was placed on the university as a symbol of independence. Since education tends to be the quickest way towards social upward mobility, the eradication of poverty and the lifting of the socio-economic position of the Malays and other native communities must indeed depend on a tilted policy on university education.

Nearly half a century of experiment with our own tertiary education later, in the context of a rapidly changing world, the glaring negative impacts of our university education are legion.

Send them overseas

Naturally, in all universities, you get the small percentage of the cream of the crop who would do well anywhere in the world. The bulk of the university student population though are just glorified super secondary scholars in terms of their intellectual achievement.

(I had the chance to interview some graduates who were certified to teach English as a second language. Upon my request, they could not name even one prominent writer of English literature!)

What ails our universities is more than evident when it comes to the employability of their products. Tens of thousands of fresh graduates cannot find a decent job after graduation. They have to be re-trained at great public expense in order for them to find their place in society. If you ask me, it is this training mentality that forms the bedrock of our philosophy of education which stunt students' growth.

Finally, the government is making some noise about creating "apex universities". There is some welcome talk about academic freedom, financial independence, and campus autonomy. So far, what little public discussion there is on the proposal borders on the superficial. We are indeed a Third-world nation. But the discussion is better late and superficial than never.

Blame me for being pessimistic, negative, and cynical. As long as Umno is in power, and they seem determined to do so for the next half century, no meaningful reform on our tertiary education system will arrive at our shores.There will be too much politics and too much vested interests in the way of moving our nation forward in matters of education. All this talk about making Malaysia the educational hub of the region is only marketing language to be taken with a giant block of salt.

My advice for my friends who have children contemplating university education has always been this: send them overseas!

Potential Piracy With More Lust

The Chinese NC-17 rated movie Lust, Caution, shot partly in Penang and Ipoh as to give the show the Hong Kong 1950's feeling has been released in a called sanitized version in Malaysia.


An interesting fact is that Ang Lee visited the famous assam restaurant in Ipoh - Assam House. In addition to that, co-star Alex Wang (Lee Hom) and other stars were there as well. Part of the show is shot in Market Street in Old Town Ipoh, the street where my mother grew up.

The NC-17 version is clocked at 158 minutes as according to Internet Movie Database.

The R-version is clocked at 151 minutes with proper supervision from Lee himself by removing 7 minutes of over-the-top sex scenes as they called it.

But according to the Star, the so called Malaysian Black Men of Film - as Mob would call them, uses their scissors and black markers to remove another 3 minutes of film. 3 minutes of film is equivalent to about 4320 frames of film BTW.

Now, do you see that this is the slightest thing that makes movie lovers, crazed fans of movies to go for pirated videos? This is the main reason whereby people hate the censorship board. The pigs there would cut according to their old beliefs. Old convention beliefs. This will anger the new generation people of such mentality.

To the Domestic and Consumer Affairs Ministry...if you want to beat piracy in Malaysia, you need to pay more attention to this matter and placing enforcement / raids as second priority.

Don't make the mistake of pirates coming and bashing officers as in the Penang case.

The March of The Lawyers

As of 11 a.m. today, the lawyers of the Bar Council are marching from the Palace of Justice to the Prime Minister's office in Putrajaya. They left Merdeka square since 9 in the morning.

The march began at around 11 a.m with bloggers and members of the public follow behind the lawyers at there.

The sequence of events as from 11 a.m. onwards, as according to Malaysiakini are:

10:44 a.m:

There were seven bus loads of lawyers reaching the Palace of Justice. However from there, the road to the PM's office was barricaded by the police with the assistance of the FRUs. And so there begins the march towards the office. Quite a long walk really, in my opinion.

11:51 a.m:

The police threatened to stop them from going further into the office of the PM. But the participants of the protest defied the police directive and instead marched on. They were assuring that they are marching peacefully with no harm.

12:03 p.m.

4 people representing the group met an official from the PM's department and handed it over the memorandum.

12:15 p.m

Rocky's account of the march at his blog.

As of this time at Petaling Jaya it is raining while rain was spotted earlier at Putrajaya

Alright, they've handed the memorandum. But the Bar Council is right in demanding for a royal commission to investigate this scandal. The Bar Council has total disagreement over the decision of the government to have a special independent panel to look into the matter, calling it unacceptable. According to fellow blogger Haris Ibrahim:

For those who may have forgotten, Haidar was the Registrar of the Supreme Court who, on the instructions of Hamid Omar, squirreled away the seal of the Supreme Court so that the order of the 5 Supreme Court judges prohibiting the tribunal hearing the case against Salleh Abas from submitting their recomendations to the Agung could not be sealed.

Given Haidar’s implication in the Salleh Abas sacking, he is unacceptable.

Now, another concern is this. At this time, AAB is not at the office, currently attending the annual UN summit in New York. According to a book that I've read, any correspondence reaching AAB even in the form of memorandum has to go through the Son-In-Law or his personal assistants supervised by him and vetted before it goes to AAB himself.

Talk about eyes only to Abdullah, that is what some would see through it. The royal commission is more appropriate in handling the matter as stressed by DSAI. The people especially the minority is losing patience and trust of the ruling coalition in dealing with this matter.

The generation X people, minus those lazy and menaces possess much more of awareness and understanding than the older generation are. Hence that they much awareness and insight into what is running the country right now. Let's count: how many bloggers in Malaysia are from Generation X and Millennial ones?

Update: The picture gallery for the march can be see in this link:

Bottled Up Anger

Well, I had to wait for another day before my pay comes up. After some calculating and planning for next month's expenses, I felt that I am a little bit angered by the fact that I can spend no more than $600 or $700 on credit card bills, while the remaining half has to be used on usage of food and sundries.

Almost one third is used on the mandatory expenses of the month which includes the room rent and the office monthly parking pass. The one thing that I am pretty offended about is that my rent has shot up by another 60 percent. The main reason according to the landlady was that the electricity bill per month when I started to stay shot up to roughly about $230 plus per month. Sensible to say that I used the air-conditioner almost every night when I am bed. And not to mention that I am using a mini-fridge and water heater during my baths.

I might try to haggle for a slightly lower price so that I can spare some extra cash for food. By having this thing up, I can surmise that she is hanging me out to dry for 8 days. Imagine the extra money I had to pay can be equivalent to 8 days of food, assuming it's roughly $15 bucks per day.

This is something that boils inside that I simply find it hard to accept and it's like bottling up anger within a person. I really feel the dark psyche of humanity - wanting to shoot a person for creating inconvenience out of me. But the thing is that I decided to sign up for a marketing course, after my self-attempts could not work. I hope that I can earn extra cash in USD by the time October is over. My target that I intended to reach is around $7000 USD. Part of it is used for next year special event.

This morning there was a terrible traffic jam along Jalan Kuching in which I thought there was an accident but instead there was nothing at all. It really angers me that the attitudes of drivers who care less of going to work is affecting me that I got delayed by 30 minutes. Fortunately, I informed my manager of that circumstance before the clock hits 9 a.m.

I really wanted to carry a baseball bat in the car and really wanted to bash up idiots who really create trouble out of nothing. I couldn't really depend on obeying the law now that the judiciary process in Malaysia is corrupted already. There are many murders whereby criminals are still walking away free is if they are untouchable...that's where vigilantism comes in.

So angry...I wanted to beat them all!

Waning Trust in Malaysia's Judiciary

Sometimes I find it quite funny to hear some of the statements by the BN-loudmouth and de facto Law Minister Nazri Aziz. Not only funny, but some statements by him reflected how unqualified he is to be the Minister in the PM's department.

For instance, Malaysiakini's news on the idiot says:

De facto law minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz said he issued a denial on behalf of the chief justice in relation to the explosive ‘Lingam tape’ revelations because “I am his minister”.

So, this clearly says that judiciary is depending on the government and it is no longer an independent body. This implies that our CJ is not as the kind of daring person that we expect from the other few judges that the rulers respect like Alauddin Sheriff. Chicken cowards

When I recalled the recent Lina Joy appeal that Ahmad Fairuz was one of them that rejected the appeal, I wondered whether it was due to the pressure from various quarters that would haunt him of the consequences of going against their wishes. Everyone says that the judiciary body is independent, but the revelation of the Lingam tape shows otherwise of the body being clinging onto the master that is the government.

And to say that the lawyers planning a march at the Palace of Justice this Wednesday as if behaving as the opposition means that the Gestapo Man of Padang Rengas is not looking at the other side of the story, thinking that it is foolish of them to commit such folly. But then, the Bolehland guys are in deep trouble. The truth is indeed out and if this thing is not stopped, then it means that they are likely to be out of the job if the Royal commission decides to step in.

They are trying to slow down by denying that thing. But the BAR council and the opposition are not convinced by that statement. Sounds unconvincing.

Sometimes some of the statements in related to this by the government has some hidden truths that some who could see through it would find it an attempt to get away from the mess that they created themselves. Given this current state of affairs, for example, if I am to sue the government for compensation of damages over something that I've lost so dearly for the last 5 years, chances are you might not win because the decision has been rigged!

It seems that they are too late already. Two memorandums are written at this time, one by Big Pete and the other one is by Haris Ibrahim - a fellow blogger and finally the proof by Anwar Ibrahim submitted over to the Rulers for their meet end of next month. Remember that in Article 150 of the constitution, the king has the right to remove AAB from office if there is proof beyond doubt that the government is not doing the job mandated by the people. So far, only 30 percent of what has been promised in the 2004 manifesto has been completed.

The complete commentary on the statement by BAR is at this URL:

Some people wish that Nazri should not continue his post as the Law Minister next term. I have to agree to that statement. This guy has been hurling insults at people in the recent parliament meet on 21 June with the immortal words...stupid, shut up, shut up..and etc. This guy is purely a example of perverted idiots who try to force their stupid words onto their people. If they are criticized, they will start making noises and excuses instead of understanding the faults.

A lot of people totally disagreed over his idea to charge Nurin's parents for negligence. His excuse is just, "The law is in place. We have to act" referring to the use of Child Act 2001. Seems like this guy is itching to use that against low-level people who are not in the goverment level of administration. Normal citizen average Joe like us.

GESTAPO!


I know there would be an invitation for the members of the public to come along with the lawyers in voicing the displeasure over the current judiciary crisis. I wonder what happen to my cousin-in-law who is also a lawyer if this crisis hits out on the fan. I wish I could go but work commitments prevented me from going out to share the spirit of displeasure against the people.

But I just hope that the episode there will not be a repeat of the Batu Burok thing.

Witchhounds in Campus

I remembered one my schoolmates in secondary school and my aunt studying at UPM for their degree courses respectively. I am aware that in universities there is such a thing as university politics.

Of course, student leaders are free to do so as long as it doesn't go above the ethics in the university.

But I feel that the case at UPM is quite outrageous.

That student is trying to make his time at UPM memorable and being active in various activities besides studying. Instead, he finds that his things are confiscated by security personnel who don't even understand the word of privacy.

From Malaysiakini, briefly:

First-year Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) student Yee Yang Yang is considering legal action to get back his laptop which was seized by the campus security on Friday night.

In addition to his laptop, the security officers also carted away Yee’s mobile phone, MP3 player and 10 other items valued at RM6,000 during a spot check of his hostel room. Documents were also confiscated.

Yee (right), who is studying timber technology, was also interrogated about his involvement in student politics.

Although he was told that the items would be returned last Saturday, this did not happen - and a 75-minute meeting with unit director Mej Othman Jailani today did not produce results either.

"They (security officials) wanted me to give them the password for my phone and laptop so that they could check the contents," he told reporters outside the campus security's office this afternoon.

"I refused. I want them to return my things and to apologise to me publicly because they did not follow proper procedures when they took away my belongings.

"Not only were they not in uniform, but they were also rude when I asked questions."

The attitudes of these authorities shows that they are arrogant, thinking that they are high and mighty. In addition, these "pigs" absolutely have no respect on one matter: privacy. Which is indeed against the rights of every human being that is entitled to.

I often think that to have that thing impede your way to make your life meaningful in campus means is to make a ruckus out of your for nothing.

If it is clearly because of the survey form in which you hardly like the current ministers of Bolehland, this means that you are trying to force everyone to accept the statement as the Nazi man Nazri would do before. It is still the shut up and listen mentality that these people are trying to impose. I recalled the statement that Machai made sometime ago that they still need to listen to the UMNO because of the superiority...why keep doing that when you know that you don't really agree to their ideas? Public backlash? That's because despite having the kind of stature and reputation, some of the cronies have a shallow level of understanding!

You don't have to stick to a group if you don't really agree on. You can just ignore the call to be called a black sheep. Stand up for what you are, people!

If I had the chance, I would definitely carry a gun and shoot the idiots point blank in the face. What a kind of disrespect you show to a student that poses no physical harm to others. Yee Yang Yang deserves the right to voice his on comment, not to be shoved of stupid men ideas!

The real truth is indeed hurting the guys at UPM. It's just another parallel case of the lawsuit against Rocky and Jeff. Kalimullah Hassan is trying to shut things up the same thing he gags Matthias Chang - a fellow man from the same school of mine - and Husam Musa. It's going to be another embarrassment for the idiots of the Bolehland.

I often dreamed of Bolehland guys running the nation well when I was a kid. But after Mahathir era, it is going the other way round. I just simply don't have much words to continue about that.

No More Jose

I talked to a few friends the other day when I heard that Jose Mourinho left Chelsea abruptly due to the clash of relationship with Roman the owner.

I told them that there is something to cheer about for die-hard Manchester United fans who are watching tonight's game against Chelsea, a home game. With Chelsea in disarray following reactions of certain players and without Drogba and Lampard, there is a likely chance of the team winning the match.

I wonder what happens to my dad's friend who is a Chelsea supporter ...

Rigging of Trials

Someone said that the recent Nurin's murder that was sensationally highlighted on newspapers are actually distracting the people's attention from the judiciary scandal that is now a hit in Malaysia.

Maybe it's because of the media's knowledge that the people love crime and horror stories.

If you are reading a newspaper online, which local news will you read first?

First priority is the headline and then following with crime news. I knew it because I am one of them too!

But the funny thing is that the lawyer V.K Lingam who was named as the prime suspect of the scandal along with our current Chief Justice is called Shockalingam - named after our Anniyan victim Chockalingam.

Remember Anniyan's line - Chocka 65 for me! ?

Never have I heard before a scandal that could be as great as the 1988 sacking of Salleh Abas.

But on the other hand, El Balachi Nazi has denied that Shockalingam is talking to the CJ but on the other hand is pressing the Child Act 2001 against Nurin's parents for negligence.

Everyone says that this El Balachi Nazri the Nazi (see Mob's poster) is an asshole from what he says. If an opposition tells of a dissent of a people, he imposes the shut up and listen thing on everyone.

How ironic is that mentality of a de facto Law Minister. AAB was saying 'no need commission of inquiry'. Seems like that he's turning the thing away as if there is nothing involving him.

Najib was saying of waiting for the authentication of the video.

If the government decides to act against the video, that means there is likely a dissatisfaction growing more and more bigger than before.

Strangely though, on the day where the article was out, the Chinese and the English dailies were able to tell the story but stopped at one point of naming the actual persons involve. They used plural nouns. But the Malay papers and Bernama absolutely imposed a blackout of the thing until they relented. Not Utusan Malaysia.

So, is ZAM saying that this is authoritative source? Cut the bullshit.

God Loves Man Kills

The recent and supposedly murder of missing victim Nurin Jazlin Jazimin has triggered the outrage from everyone, including the media and various people over how despicable the acts of the murderers who did it. See this Malaysiakini report in the link above.

But somehow, I believe that the conviction above should be placed as the second reason.

You can also take a look at the video courtesy of the 'MaChAi' paper (as some called).

Parent Negligence

I am still convinced that the main cause of the missing was due to parent negligence. This shows that Nurin's parents still lack of parental control over the children. Sometimes, if I were to walk around shopping malls I would notice that parents sometimes are quite careless in handling children. They *should* keep the eye all the time, not turn one eye blind against small kids that are under 10 years.

Where were the family at during the time where Nurin went missing? The mall?

Hence the people should not put the entire blame on to the mental-sick killer but instead of themselves, as the role of parents. Right now the world is not as before - one wrong move and poof - the end of something. Sometimes, being one second late can spell many bad consequences to whoever is involved in a scenario.

In The Killer's Mind

Perhaps the motive behind rape is that the person has suffered rejection of the past such as his offer of love being declined. It is likely that women are too picky over their men and will need some tough persuasion to get the permission of love. What happens, as a men, if you get your proposal of love rejected? Psychologically, you tend to feel demoralized.

That is a possibility of why a rapist would do that. Another reason could be that of in my previous post of The Widowmaker, you get to see what the reason of why Tim Barutto would rape Jenny Cesare day after day non-stop. It's just merely for one reason, to satisfy the hunger that can never be filled up.

To see people suffer is a possibility but a long shot.

And now, what is to be summarized?

This events that just happened after the 50th anniversary of Merdeka celebrations shows that the Abdullah Badawi administration has only accomplished 30% of its objectives as dictated by the manifesto. The remaining things that has failed to be accomplished encompasses of corruption - judicial and law-enforcement, the racial polarization between the majority and the minority. The nation's economy can actually go further and as equal as Singapore but the misuse of the NEP and the mentality of the big group hampers Malaysia's progress in reaching 2020.

It may seem to be against the topic, but a point from that shows that the police are not doing their job properly as mandated by the people. And the administration is failing the people, particularly the those middle and lower class people by the corruption and the ridiculous policies that limits progress.

As for the Nurin case, if the police can no longer provide the security for the people, perhaps the people will be forced to result to vigilantism, taking law into their own hands, perhaps carrying a gun to defend themselves or stop innocents from the bloodshed of criminals.

The world isn't nice anymore and it has gone upside down, black becomes white.

Wanton Punishment Part 5

I told Edmund the other day that I've just bought the new Punisher book called The Widowmaker. I was so excited to find out what happened throughout the story so that I finished the book in one sitting itself. As of writing, I finished the second round of the story.

Widowmaker is basically examines three things that remained unanswered in the Punisher lore:

1. The first and foremost, it examines the other side of the perspective. If you, as Frank execute people because the main reason is that they are the scum of the society, drug runners, criminals above the law, and most important of all, rotten to the core, what about those who are related to the criminals? Wives, siblings, children, etc..? What is their reaction? That is the purpose of examining the other side of the coin, being a widow or a victim of a so-called killer.
2. The second one examines a man's conflict torn of following orders from his superiors or acting at your conscience should the situation a man faces requires immediate action and no more waiting. At what consequence are we likely to face if we are to do something according to your conscience and as well doing something that is right for everyone? How far will you be before you could find yourself behind the 8-ball?
3. The final element examines on a woman who lost her innocence and suffered atrocities at the hands of the five whores and a abusive husband and we get to see how the damage done affected her so badly that she eventually became a very sad creature with no hope or whatsoever.

First Wives Club?

If you have seen a movie called First Wives Club starring Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn, you might find this a little similar. No need for me to repeat the premise, but it's just simple - five women who lost their husbands to the Punisher is out for revenge trying to kill him by setting up a simple plan. Nuff said...Bah!

The ringleader of the group is one Annabella Gorrini, the eldest granddaughter of Massimo Cesare (surprise! Remember In the Beginning?). Forming up the rest of the ring would be Barbara Barrucci, Lorraine Zutta, Bonnie De Angelo and the 'Gangsta Princess' Shauna Toomey. By right Shauna is the most volatile of the lot but very meticulous of the execution plan thanks to her husband's antics:

John James was a careful man. Once he got the news he'd take steps of his own to clean things up.

Note: When you read the story, you might it a little confusing of which of the blondes are Lorraine or Barbara. After the second round, you would notice that Lorraine is the blonde with no curls and Barbara is the otherwise, long with curls.

To them, the reason is simple: Frank kills people and ignores their suffering. But sometimes, being a vigilante is sometimes painful. He had a pity for the kids of the parents whom he executed for being involved in making porn movies under the basement. But somehow, he had a mission in life and he will not stop until he cannot move anymore or if his time is up on Earth.

I thought about their looks on their faces. The little girl couldn't been more than four. She might stand a chance, depending on how much of it stayed with her. The boys looked like the damage was done. I had a sinking feeling that I'd be seeing them again in twenty years.

But the one thing that these wives have totally forgotten in Frank's argument is that the men, being husbands who are criminals, puts the wife and children under the crossfire. That is indeed the truth. Now, if the men are gone, what will happen to the children? Are they going to follow suit and become gangsters and criminals themselves? Just to avenge themselves or is it because of the influence of the father?

Annabella had the kind of fanaticism that being a family of the mob means that the kids are being part of the crime or that the women of the family has to marry the capos as to maintain the relationship and security of the family in blood. And it is said that women had no right in speaking of family matters. This is what we see in family purity in the Harry Potter series, and this fanaticism ultimately destroys the family. While they think to be great and in the process, you tend to feel the vanity of it.

Good cop? Bad Cop?

Widowmaker introduces two new supporting characters with one of them being Detective Paul Budiansky (yes, he is appearing in The Punisher 2 with Colin Salmon playing the role). Paul is a family man that is loyal to the wife, Gina. He gained acclaimed for single handedly stopping a school-hostage crisis. He stopped that by killing the gun-totting kid ignoring the superior's orders, because he is worried that with the stand back order in place, more innocent victims could die by that madness.

But the decision came at a price as his captain Starling refused him to attend press interviews and blocked his promotion, instead sending him for a mental trauma therapy with a psychologist. As you go along, you will notice that some of these characters, mostly Barbara and the psychiatrist are playing racist cards. Budiansky is one of those who can connect the dots easily and has figured out that the five women were involved in a club to beat Frank in a pulp.

The question here is about the conflict of listening to your conscience to do something good or listening to superior orders. What good is an officer if he is ordered to behave like a terrorist or not to do anything except to watch evil roll around? The man loved the neighborhood so much that he does not want to see New York become like Hell's playground. But the thing is no one telling him how far has he gone from observing protocols to an avenging angel.

You can notice how deeper has Paul descended from someone who can't stand it to finally decided to become an avenging angel. For instance, when Shauna's hitman Curtis hits Gina at the hospital, he kills that man, emptying all but one bullet from his magazine. The rage could not be contained until when he meets Frank coming out of the hideout in the finale and had second thoughts of killing him just because he is a murderer.

Frank's line, "You want to be me?" at Paul is a simple but very powerful statement and that statement itself manages to stop him from going to the point of no return. He knows that he is a cop and he risks losing whatever he had earned had he gone too deep as Frank does. Frank has no one left but his mantra and mission to punish the guilty before time is up.

Innocence Lost

The plan hatched by the five women went well at the beginning but the plan suddenly gone wrong with the return of Jenny Cesare - Annabella's youngest sibling who was stalking them from far and was responsible for turning the tables around them. That would explain how the plan of taking Frank down at the Bronx gone wrong later on.

An M4A1 with an M203 grenade launcher was discovered at the site.. as far as I remember, no one in the crime organization carries that. So, five of you were trying to club together and beat the Punisher?

Jenny is a sad creature who has nothing left, stripped of her innocence and virginity. Her marriage to the abusive husband Tim was a setup by Annabella, still having that kind of fanaticism and almost everyday she got abused and raped by Tim. She had to play and suffer everyday until the day Frank executed Tim. The thing resulted in her suffering from breast cancer and having to do mastectomy. Having enough of those things, she tried to turn to WITSEC and the FBI with all information, but the five women Shauna beat her up, messed her face and thrown her off the rail tracks presumably dead.

Some may agree that Jenny is just another Kathryn O'Brien, quite similar. But then after the bloodbath of the widows, she has absolutely nothing left. She has become like another Tim. She can no longer enjoy the pleasure of making sex and love with someone as if there is a gap that simply cannot be filled up by any means. The progression that she has is exactly as Frank, except the end.

I am simply your twin.

And there is still the breast cancer that still couldn't be removed after the mastectomy. Of course Frank's first instinct is to stop her from doing something stupid, but women are different from men and you tend to suffer more from breast cancer, just as my granny did days before she died. Any other options if you are to encounter that scenario? As I've said earlier, Frank still has his mission, but Jenny has nothing left, but a shattered soul. But it gave her some hope and determination from what Frank did previously.

I just had a guessing that Jenny is just a flipside of Erica Bain from the movie The Brave One :)

Now I know why you wear that shirt.

Sadly, all Frank could do in the third act is to sit and watch.

Lan Medina's art is much better than Leandro's or Goran Parlov's and edges Doug Braithwaite's. Realistic faces, well colored and inked by Bill Reinhold and Raul Trevino (the duo who inked Mother Russia). So you can say that it is photo like quality that you see in the pictures. I don't really have much of opinion on art but the story is well thought out in the first two acts. But somehow, the third act is a bit weak as Frank is just confined to the bed.

Just get that book. 'Nuff said.

Interesting Anecdotes:

• Much of the references that the women pointed out are based on The Slavers - the Greek woman thrown off the 50th floor of a building, a man burnt to death and the other one refers to the Tiberius and Vera.
• The psychiatrist that Paul visits is modeled after Miranda Richardson.
• Tim Bradstreet's cover art for #44 has Frank's date which is 16 February 1950 but it was decided to block as the date provides some inconsistency to the canon.
• The five women are modeled after Tim Bradstreet's wife and her friends.
• Jenny's beating of Annabella by a baseball bat is quite similar to Al Capone beating up traitors!

In Memoriam: Robert Jordan (1948-2007)

The Wheel of Time series is still one of the best-selling fantasy series that I've read. I got hooked at hit during my final year at university and read almost the first 9 books in the span of 5 months.

The magic of the series is that author Robert Jordan who also wrote the Conan Chronicles placed an emphasize on rich characterization and dramatic battles including some religious imagery. Jordan is a graduate of The Citadel military college, hence he has great knowledge of battles and strategies as well.

The culture of Wheel of Time is somewhat similar to the medieval times coupled with a mixture of the European period at the height of the French Revolution.

Book 10: Crossroads of Twilight remains as Jordan's lowest point when released at 2003. This was due to the error in the editorial decision, releasing after barely a month of submission. However, Jordan intervened personally in the next book Knife of Dreams, released at 2005. He insisted to have a six-month revision of the draft as to ensure to the book does not get the same criticism as of the previous one.

The last book, working title being A Memory of Light was slated to begin writing after the release of the book.

However, it might be on hold or canceled as R.J passed away last Sunday, 16 September.

The doctors confirmed that he was diagnosed of a rare disorder called as Amyloidosis. According to Wikipedia, the disease is a rare one in which amyloid proteins are deposited abnormally into the organs, causing disease.

The question remains of what will happen to the last book. It was said that R.J had spent a lot of time before treatment preparing the outlines and character details as well as getting others to dictate the plot points and so on. This implies that he might be handing this over to a select 'army of writers' as he phrased it to finish the last book.

As for me, I was kind of excited over what happens at book 12 since it is confirmed that there will be 12 books in the series. He expanded it from the original six due to overwhelming response from readers. The Fires of Heaven remains the best book of the series.

What will happen to our lead man Rand?

Change of Lifestyle?

Let's take a look at today's news article in NST:

The people will have to make adjustments to their spending to cushion the impact of global price trends, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said.

But I feel that that should be as secondary. The government should be the model to be followed by all people. Right now, they are faced with anger, frustration, mismanagement of funds and worst of all, corruption, not to mention of unfair quota allocation due to the misuse of NEP.

They should clean it up, proof to the people that they've done it, not to tell them as Najib said.

Now that the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates to 4.75%, it's time for people and the players to improve the economy. Raise the ringgit value to cut down additional expenses, boy! Or expect some unusual thing like a hacker cum mole to change the value in the system.

NWN 2 - Fighter Class Creation

I spent the entire weekend at my brother's house continuing Neverwinter Nights 2. I can say that it is quite addictive, except that it may lag at indoor levels. But they provide sumptuous visuals almost similar as Unreal 3 except for indoor sites.

Someone told me that there is a way to try the game, if you are new by playing a prestige-character class. One of the prestige-classes would be the Frenzied Berserker that does tons of damage, provided your basic attribute points that you earn through level-ups are mainly on Strength.

I remembered this article from PC Gamer UK that recommends using that class but a different progression:

Your character type = Dwarf.

Classes:

You start off as a basic fighter, but after level 5, you change to Bard, at level 11-20, you change to a Red Dragon Disciple (cool dragon breath!) and finally the remaining levels (I think the cap is level 30) is on Frenzied Berserker.

Conditions:

In order to go to Red Dragon Disciple, you must have a rank of 8 and above for Lore. The rest you focus on Diplomacy with some on Bluff and default class abilities.

Feats: Mainly on Power Attack and its branches, two-hand weapon focus, Dodge, Toughness and whatever that you see that is relevant to fighter classes.

After you reach Frenzied Berserker, you get two feats called Supreme Cleave and the Great Cleave which can deal tons of Melee damage. You also can do Frenzy, which makes you invulnerable but susceptible after the thing expires.

A cool side note: When you reach Act 2, you are in charge of a keep called Crossroads Keep, meaning that you are in the middle between West Harbor and Neverwinter. You are running your town, you there's things to do while you're there, repairing, training and etc..!

The Cybertrooper Stamps Again

Jeff put up a post regarding of the hate-mailing in Mob's shoutbox. This one is the not like the other one but someone masquerading as Lim Kit Siang.

So fellow readers, especially those who came via Malaysiakini, allow me to show you another round of stamping by these hate-mailers:

• lim kit siang itu pasai lu punya datuk nenek lali duduk sini tanah melayu

  Details

  2007-09-08 7:13 PM

  Off

• lim kit siang kalau lu duduk china sana pun lu tak bebas mcm lu duduk tanah melayu tau

  Details

  2007-09-08 7:12 PM

  Off

• lim kit siang lagi semua business lu olang pegang, lagi mau bising,niama chau hai punya bangsa

  Details

  2007-09-08 7:12 PM

  Off

• lim kit siang lu makan skrg pun pasai ini tanah melayu kasi lu olang cali makan tau

  Details

  2007-09-08 7:11 PM

  Off

• lim kit siang lu tatak malu ka duduk melayu punya tanah lagi mau bising mcm anjing

  Details

  2007-09-08 7:10 PM

  Off

• lim kit siang lu bangsat punya olang,kalau tak suka malaysia pergi mampus balik tongsan la

  Details

  2007-09-08 7:10 PM

  Off

• lim kit siang ma puki

  Details

  2007-09-08 7:09 PM

  Off

I actually spoke to Mob the other day on the Inter-Faith Prayers meet. He told me that he managed to trace the person's identity to an UMNO ultra from Sabah. Told me that it was the retaliation to what happened when he bad-mouthed this guy in the same circumstance at Kickdafella's blog.

Now, that brought me back to the night of the eve of Merdeka celebration. At one corner near the 7-11 shop adjacent to the BAR Council office, there was a large group of Malays from Sabah - you would see them from the flags. With the kind of unruly appearance and wild behavior, carrying the state flags and the UMNO, that gave me an impression what kind of those fellows are - ultras.

I am calling them ultra - coined it from an extremist group of Roma fans during the Roma vs Man Utd game in April - because it's just their fanaticism to the national cause without realigning their perceptions to changes. It's their behavior that ended up in fights and arrests by the police later on. In the 2005 edition of Merdeka, whereby I was there too, an Ultra from Sabah was also arrested by the police at Merdeka Square for attempting to start a fight with someone else.

I still remembered how Clifford managed to catch a cybertrooper planting a comment in the blog. I think it's born out of the fact that there are people trying to keep the lid close on their wrongdoings.

Wah..This Go Up That One Go Up!?

A few things that involves everybody in Malaysian consumerism:

Chicken ceiling price goes up to $6 per bird.

Wheat flour going up by another 30 cent plus per kilo.

World oil price breaks record of $80 per barrel.

So, there are some capitalist people to expect the rest of us to pay money as if the people are cash registers, printing out money as if there is nothing changing in this world or the money coming from trees. When you are close to reach your hands on the thing that you desired after you worked hard to earn the amount to pay it, you notice that the gap is suddenly enlarged because of the price increase.

Gee, I have to pay more to eat my favorite steam char siu bun or pay extra to have an occasional meal of chicken rice or KFC!

How ironic that this is the AAB Barisan Najis government that we've picked. During the Mahathir period before he retired in November 2003, the fuel price in Malaysia just went up once to $1.42 per liter. If that price is to stick at that time, I can save at least $15 on petrol per week and can use it for food.

As Howsy said, "Undilah Barang Naik!"

So how do we beat this problem? The answer is not solely on smart consumerism. It's getting more locals on playing the Malaysian foreign exchange. The ringgit is still undervalued, folks. We need to play more to get that back to the equilibrium rate of 3.06, as calculated previously. Just imagine how much we can save if we buy a USD $100 item with the rate of 3.06 compared to 3.48 as of today? Way much, and helps to keep the cost low.

Number 2, more opposition members in Parliament...it's crazy but it's meant to check the use of power. There are now cases of mismanagement of funds - taxpayer's money by some government people out there. If there's no check, so....what?

Wah lau...eh!

A Deliberate One-Sided Story?

Malaysia is still right now in the post-crises mode following the two major events that shook the nation, one which is the Auditor-General's report on mismanagement of funds by government agencies and the latter, the Batu Buruk incident which four people are injured by four gunshots fired by an undercover constable.

However, the one thing about the Batu-Buruk incident which ticks me off is that the mainstream media is only reporting a one-sided story of the incident. Let's examine this portion of the article from the mainstream media which was briefly reported at NST:

KUCHING: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the rioting in Kuala Terengganu on Saturday could be the opposition’s desperate attempt to gain political mileage in the once Pas-ruled state.

"Maybe they are under pressure because the Barisan Nasional government has developed this once laidback state. Nothing really happened during their time. "Now they see that the state has developed in a short period and they are trying to do nasty things to tarnish the government and the police. This is their brand of politics," Abdullah said. The prime minister said he was saddened that Malaysians could be instigated to burn the Jalur Gemilang, which is a national symbol held in high esteem by the rakyat. "Why burn the national flag, what did the Jalur Gemilang do to them? These things would not have happened if the organisers had respected the police and the laws of the country.

"But their intentions were different, they were well prepared to create a ruckus. That is why they came prepared with Molotov cocktails and other dangerous objects to attack the police. The riot was premeditated," he said. Abdullah, who is also Internal Security Minister, said police had not issued a permit for the gathering due to the venue’s proximity with the state palace and also after considering complaints from nearby residents. He said the opposition was bent on tarnishing the country’s image and spoiling the rakyat’s Merdeka celebrations by portraying a negative picture of the government. "Now they will go around claiming police brutality. This is a known campaign tactic that has been carried out many times before. They would provoke the police until stern action is taken and then they would cry foul."

In the incident on Saturday, a riot broke out around 10.15pm after police attempted to disperse a crowd of 600 who turned up for a ceramah by Parti Keadilan Rakyat treasurer Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and other opposition politicians in Jalan Sultan Mahmud, Batu Buruk. Seven people, including four policemen, were injured in the ensuing clashes, including two who sustained gunshot wounds after a policeman opened fire in self-defence. In Kuala Terengganu, the state Umno Youth wing said it would collaborate with non-governmental organisations to drum up a public petition protesting the burning of the Jalur Gemilang during the riot. "It is unfortunate that there were those who turned traitors by burning the flag," its information chief Razali Idris said.

Yesterday, Razali, representing the state Umno Youth wing, lodged a police report on the flag burning. Relatives of the two rioters wounded by gunshots made separate reports at the Kuala Terengganu police station on Sunday. In Kuala Lumpur, Pas deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa said the party would submit a memorandum to Bukit Aman and lodge a police report on the use of firearms in the incident.

Source article is here.

The problem is, has AAB examined the entire scenario of the riots there? Or he just listens to one side of it only?

News are made when the media reports something that will become a sensation to the public and influence the perception. But then as I read some things in the mainstream media, I noticed that some of the facts are withheld or not included into the papers. The reason? Editors are under pressure to toe the line set in the Printing Publications ethic. Any statement that goes contradicting against the government policies would mean that they are liable. In other words, they have to be nice at the present government.

Hey, this is a commentary that's all. The problem is that certain powerful people are not well receptive into receiving criticism when whatever they do is not right. Sometimes, there are dirty games in stall just to keep things quiet on the front. Another example as one-side story? The constable who fired the four shots was said to be defending women and kids. Does it seem to be a convincing answer?

Does anyone know what type of organization BERSIH stands for? BERSIH is an NGO - Non Government Organization - that is a neutral-state organization. And yet they are accused as being an opposition party entity.

Again, not all is shown. But there are signs that the thing is pre-meditated and the thing was deliberately setup as to point fingers that the opposition is responsible - to shift the attention.

The state police chief later admitted that it was a constable not an FRU member who fired four shots - contradicting to the one bullet that hits two, a thing that Ronnie Liu compares that to the magic bullet theory of the Kennedy assassination.

Want to see?


Here, the actual people are turning the tables against the press. Notable accounts from the people providing the details:

Mustapha Ali:

The police and the ruling party has been accused of colluding to a “pre-planned” skirmish which resulted in two people being injured by “at least two rounds” of live ammunition after the authorities denied permission for an organised political event from being held at Batu Buruk in Terengganu, Saturday Sept 8.

Mustafa Ali named Internal Security Minister political secretary Senator Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh as among those allegedly responsible for the pre-planned skirmishes. In a press conference held at PAS headquarters here today by a coalition of political parties, trade unions and non-governmental organizations calling themselves BERSIH, Mustafa said witnesses are willing to come forward to testify that the skirmishes was pre-planned.

Interestingly though, Wan Farid Wan Salleh is a S.I.L crony, which means a sign that UMNO instigated it.

A police officer was informed in a meeting on the afternoon of Sept 8, of the identities of those attending the event and that plainclothed policemen were asked to wear a ribbon to identify themselves. Full investigation must be done by the police to get the whole picture on what has transpired. UMNO from the ruling coalition had taken the measure because "the people had shown they were more than willing to reject UMNO and the ruling coalition in the next election. That's why they have (to resort to these measures). An application submitted for a police permit Aug 30 for the event which was to be held in a private premise, and the police rejected it on the grounds that the area was heavily populated and that the event would be a nuisance.

Police officers came twice on Sept 7 and 8 to ask the owner of the premise to sign a letter not to allow the event from being held there. The police then dismantled a platform erected for the event at about 5pm on the day of the event - in the absence of owner - in a move described as "morally and legally wrong". The event by BERSIH was to highlight the growing call for free and fair elections which among others includes the demand for postal ballot to be abolished, the use of indelible ink during voting day, the cleaning up of the voters rolls deemed to be littered with “phantom voters” and equal access to the media.

Holding a public rally / talk requires a police permit that also has to receive the nod of the Internal Security Ministry for safety reasons. If the PM and Joe Baharom is not available at the time you want to apply the permit, where does the application go? Notice that the police were planted into the group meet with the red-ribbon tags? And in the aftermath of the ruckus:

Ronnie Liu:

Personal account from a Chinese reporter – He was barred from entering the scene. There is no chance of taking any photographs. We have reasons to believe all these photographs were supplied by the authorities.

You show people throwing up stone but never show the police beating up people. Just like sometimes we complain about CNN showing the Palestines throwing stones at the Israelis but you never show the Israeli’s solders beating up ther Palestine youths.

Withholding information to be shown to the public? The question is do you see that accounts reported into the mainstream media? Check the front lines for the last three days in NST or the Star.

Absolutely none, to which Nathaniel Tan is disgusted at. And Haris told us that one of the victims died due to the bullet shot.How the police act is again contradicting Section 27(5) of the Police Act whereby no live ammunition is allowed if they are to disperse an illegal assembly.

And to add more to show that people are shown only one side of the story, the stooge speaker Ramli Ngah Talib rejected the debate of the riots at Parliament.

Something questions me though. If you want to get people to listen to your speeches with no malicious intent, why do the police come in with guns? Trigger happy? Is it because that the moment someone hears the word 'opposition' that they are trying to find out what are they planning? Are they trying to destroy them for good? Are they trying to hide their secret?

If the mainstream media only shows one-side of the story, that implies that they are not showing the authoritative source as what ZAM assumes. It's controlled. People will eventually question something amiss. Now that's where blogs come in. Perhaps we should get things corrected. I fear that the people might be misled by withheld information.

That brings us back to earlier post and statement by LKY. If each mainstream media takes one side, which media takes a non-partisan side and reports all angles? Malaysiakini? The Sun? Blogs? Just draw the conclusions.

A Petition To The King

I would like to highlight this post in Malaysia Today by Raja Petra Kamarudin in light of the recent incidents that occured in Malaysia including the police skirmish and the A-G's report of the mismanagement of funds.

It is important to other readers out there to know the both sides of the Kuala Terengganu skirmish on Sunday which is not published by the mainstream media. Instead only Malaysiakini and the BERSIH NGO organization were the only few to publish the other side of the story.

In my opinion I found out that the mainstream media only focuses on just one side of the story but not on the other side. I think I am able to understand why it shows only one side of the story, as I will be providing my own commentary later on.

Points of the petition include:

1) The recent shooting of two people in Kuala Terengganu.
2) The reported gang clashes in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johore over the 50th Merdeka celebration holiday that resulted in a few deaths.
3) The Auditor-General’s report that revealed gross and blatant abuses and transgressions in the management of the peoples’ money involving billions of Ringgit.
4) The state of affairs in the Royal Malaysian Police where even the former IGP Tun Hanif Omar admitted that corruption is a serious problem.
5) The state of affairs in the judiciary where senior judges have been bypassed in many promotion exercises in favour of candidates with blemished records.
6) The breakdown of law and order and allegations by serving police officers, who have signed Statutory Declarations or Affidavits, that the organised crime syndicate is running the police force.
7) The dangerous and alarming racial and religious divide.
8) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s implication in the Oil-for Food scandal.
9) The need for electoral reforms as proven by the incidences of gerrymandering and phantom voters in the many general elections before this and which will continue and prevail in the next general election.

As you all know, have no fear listening to what the king has to say as our man has connections with him. Please do it for the sake of the nation before the rot gets worst.

Sunday Free Food Galore

Sunday was free food galore, with exception of breakfast.

Why?

Okay...Sunday afternoon was Coffee Bean's 10th Anniversary held at KL Plaza. There was a promotion of getting a cup of ice blend coffee for the price of $2 and you get to eat cakes and sandwiches displayed all day long until 3 p.m.

Just the price of $2 for lunch.

Night time: Remember I told you about the inter-faith prayers at the Blog House? There's dinner at 8.15 p.m. I've mentioned previously that the food there was equivalent to 200 people. Pok Ku Bustamann also noted and gave some compliments to me that I do not need to buy dinner for the next 5 days given the amount of food that I've taken back home for dinner.


He was right: I saved my money rather than using it for five nights!

Inter-Faith Prayers For Dr. M

On Friday, Marina Mahathir had written for a post inviting everybody to come for the inter-faith prayers for her father Dr. Mahathir at Blog House yesterday.

I was the first one to be there at 5.30 p.m.

Of course, the top bloggers are there, but I get to meet some whom I met yesterday at the Citizen Think Tank talk but some new faces including Captain CY Yusof (Ancient Mariner) and few more.

Extracts from this post by Jeff:

It started with Maghrib prayers for Muslims at 7.15pm, led by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf from New York City. Imam Feisal, born an Egyptian, is the son of the first director of Islamic International University Malaysia.

It was followed by prayers led by representatives of Christian, Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu, Sikh and Baha'i faiths.

I was late rushing from another function across the city, and Archbishop Murphy Pakiam, leading the prayers representing the Christian community by the time I arrived.

Marina (Mahathir)'s voice was choked when she thanked everyone at the end of the prayers. She related to the wellwishers that it was Dr Mahathir who made the decision to have the operation, probably believing he still have many thing unaccomplished for the country, while the operation was successful and the doctors said the "numbers (vital signs) are good.

I had a talk with Zakir again but this time discussing about comic sketch and about Monty Python as well as Rowan Atkinson. Of course there's talk with some people and I was surprised to see JUST chairman, Dr. Chandra Muzaffar being among the attendance. I thought I was looking at hallucination of someone else I've seen before, but Captain Yusof corrected me about that person.

Of course, I am visible at the far left of this picture taken by Jeff, with Dr. Chandra as the man on the wheel chair. I wasn't aware that he was struck by polio when as a child.


Of course at the time of prayers, it was about to rain, but briefly. By 8.15 p.m. everyone was invited to have dinner. Later on, I only found out that the amount of food was catered for 200 people, meaning the amount prepared was double then the intended number of 100 people. Of course, there are specially prepared vegetable food specially for vegetarians. But by the time it was over, there are still plenty of left overs and everyone was invited to take as much back home. Tony told me that all leftovers are to be disposed. Rather than wasting them, I took as much as possible leaving me enough for approximately one week's dinner.

So it's free dinner for me after free lunch (See my next post).

Out of the respect of prayers and religion, I did not bring my camera along for the meet. As mentioned in the previous post, I was shocked to find Big Pete (Raja Petra) appearing in my sight the second day in the row.

That pic was from TV Smith with a very interesting caption:

Kuala Lumpur, 9th September 2007: You! You must embrace our barber! Raja Petra Kamarudin and the Chief High Priest of the Buddhist Maha Vihara, The Most Venerable K Sri Dhammaratana seemed to be saying :)

I asked Tony later on regarding Audra's case against MAS. According to him, not very good as it was clearly stated in the Collective Agreement. But then, the problem is they are facing a very intimidating lawyer in Shearn Delamore. Seems like the case is going to Federal Court if there's chance. According to Bernard, the Collective Agreement was against the rules of the Employment Act 1955.

Big Pete - The Man Himself

Saturday night - the first Citizen Think Tank series was held at a restaurant in Kelana Jaya, with the main speaker himself is none other than Raja Petra Kamaruddin, the website owner of Malaysia Today. Of course, most think that he is the best person to kick off the series which discusses social political stuff in Malaysia.

Right now Citizen Think Tank is conducting a review of the top Members of Parliament in Malaysia with reviews from citizens. It is the intention of knowing the MPs deeper and perhaps influencing the mindset of voters who only wants what is expected from the MPs promise and manifesto.

I was excited to get to meet the man in person after a missed attempt during the BUM gathering in May that I got a permission to have a picture with him and a copy of The Khairy Chronicles - a collection of articles of S.I.L written by the man himself. Of course there's dinner there fit for a king..ha!

Zakir, you may know him as BigDogDotCom or Biggum Dogmansteinberg wrote highlights of the talk by Pete, as close friends would call him:

Malaysia Today editor, Raja Petra Kamarudin urged the DAP to work with the Malays, not against them, if they really want to get things done and corrected. He made this call at the Citizen Think T@nk Talk Series I “Walk The Talk”, which was held on Saturday night, at Widuri Restaurant, Aman Suria, PJ Utara. Raja Petra’s talk was focused on the Oppositions’ current situation and flaws. Slightly over 100 attended, of which almost 80% of them were of Chinese ethnicity. He gave an analysis of the political situation, past and current and also the electoral system, which had been and still is not too favourable for the Oppositions. He explained in details how the Oppositions failed co-operate and work together, time and again. Although they have a common enemy since the Gagasan Rakyat, formed in 1990 and after Semangat 46 was dissolved and members brought back into UMNO, Barisan Alternatif, formed in 1999, but they have very conflicting goals and destinations. They also attracted different segment of voters and the failure of a formidable working formula practically cost the Oppositions to gain substantial grounds, each time there is an election, be it by-elections or the general election. There are cases where members of the Oppositions’ coalition got into a three cornered fight against the BN, even when they agreed not to. Seats allocation is something the Oppositions never managed to resolve. Raja Petra also admitted that the UMNO and Barisan Nasional (BN) at the moment are too powerful. When Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over this country through a seamless and smooth transition of power on 31 October 2003, within six months he managed to get BN win 90% control of the Dewan Rakyat. This was the biggest mandate BN ever achieved since it was formed, August 1973. He also explained that the Malays ratio within the population had grown from slightly over 45% in 1957 to 60% in 50 years. According to him, within the next 50 years, the Malays would be more than 80% of the population. He also said that the people could petition the HRH Malay Rulers for electoral reforms but doubt the petition could achieved substantial grounds as it had been done before. The ruling ‘power-share’ government of the day is too powerful and will remain powerful as the power base of the majority of voters is actually expanding. Therefore, he stressed that it is important that the DAP shed its ‘Chinese chauvinism’ and change strategy to work with the Malays instead. The only way whatever the grouses and dissatisfaction of the DAP supporters and sympathizers can only be met by DAP cooperating with the BN to create a ‘Unity Government’, because as is, the Malays would never support the DAP to gain substantial position in the Parliament, let alone enough power to form even a simple majority government. As is, Raja Petra explained, the Oppositions will never get anywhere. At best, PAS will only be able to get 25 seats, DAP 20 seats and PKR (doubtfully), 5 seats. In total, 50 seats against BN’s 169. BN will still be in power with over 75% control of the Dewan Rakyat, well in the comfort zone of the 2/3 majority to get things done through the Parliament. The fact that more than 150 of these constituencies are in Malay majority areas, will make the Oppositions’ position far worse. This is because the needs and requirements of these rural majority voters are far different from the middle-class and internet savvy voters of the urban and suburban constituencies. He came to terms that whatever things that needed to be corrected, fixed and change, must be done through the Prime Minister, which is almost ‘carved in stone’ for the UMNO leaders. Therefore, it is important that DAP shed its chauvinistic policies and approaches and instead sought a compromise to work as part of a ‘Unity Government’, as once Tun Abdul Razak Hussein managed to form with Oppositions like PAS and Gerakan getting involved, as well as the minority parties of Sabah and Sarawak, as a solution to propel economic development after the bloody 13 May 1969 racial riots.

At the end, there was Q&A and there was also his conviction of Rothschilds sponsoring and engineering the Three World Wars (written in a military blueprint by Albert Pike) - with the third coming soon. See his article, The Synagogue of Satan. Finally, there was also some sort of invitation to guests to provide reviews of the MPs that they are assigned to. As for me, I won't be revealing who they are, but a hint though: they are quite prominent.


Of course, I thought I would be meeting him just that once, but I didn't know I would ran into him again! Yes, again! The very next day.