Looking Back: Art For Change

Namewee's funding for project and film about 1Malaysia was rejected by the Communications Ministry although it has received an approval from FINAS for rebates and grants as this was to be a locally-produced project. The main argument, according to the minister in charge - Rais Yatim - was that Namewee was involved in past activities which are considered going against Malaysian norms and values.

It has clearly demonstrated how resentful the present government towards liberalization of ideas. This has clearly mean that government's direction of conservatism and UMNO's stamping of their way and definition of culture and ruling of all Malaysians. It clearly means that UMNO is forcing their way of making people become a yes man to propaganda and will not allow them to experiment or expand their sensibilities / cultural horizons.

This is why as long as Rais, a.k.a Daddy Dino around, Malaysian art and cinema industry will never move to new heights because of the barrier that prevents showcasing of variety of shows that tackle things and change the norms of society. The art for change must be there because it is also one of the key solutions of elevating the local arts and entertainment industry to new heights. It could compete with Asian cinema giants and even Hollywood if given the proper space to do so.

One of the videos that I kept listening and watching is a talk about how art can be for change, instead of being just to glorify something in particular. Hishamuddin Rais has always underlined art for change must come from social understanding and awareness.

This video summarizes the entire content above and what Namewee wants to do.

Recently, I was amused by Khairy's remark of "Jurassic" at Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman for being one of those "dinosaurs" that are not willing to expand their knowledge and understanding. Rais can be also among the category mentioned due to lack of social understanding of youths of the present age.

UKRC: We're Watching You, PR Selangor ADUNs

I received an SMS from a fellow blogger of mine that pointed of the UKRC land matter that will be raised by Hulu Kelang assemblyman Saari Sungib tomorrow at the assembly.

It is also a warning to all the PR Selangor ADUNs including Khalid Ibrahim as well.
 
It reads as:

If PKR ADUNS don't vote in favor of Saari Sungib in this current state sitting to give the UKRC land back to the community and revoke Khir Toyo's illegal gazette claiming UKRC as an open space under the purview of the MB's office, we the rakyat will personally see that we throw PKR out of office in the next general elections! It's been 3 years since PKR came into power in Selangor and NOTHING is done to resolve this UKRC land issue. MB Khalid better do the right thing now and return the UKRC land back to the community or else.............THE BUCK STOPS HERE AND NOW!!

Note: This SMS will be passed to every Selangorian to vote against PKR in the next election if that doesn't happen tomorrow!

Because I have several relatives and friends staying in other parts of Selangor, I might as well put this message in particular to ADUNS like Dr. Cheah Wing Yin (Damansara Utama). Gan Pei Nie (Rawang), Hannah (Subang Jaya) and Nik Nazmi (Seri Setia) on behalf of them. So far, I have relayed the message to Hannah and Nik and they said "will do",  "already in the  agenda papers". Well, then - let's see how it turns out tomorrow. Selangor has 33-35 PR ADUNS and I'd better see a show of hands that say yes to it!!!!

Here's our foot up your buttocks if I don't see you ADUNS doing it!

Illustrating False Hope and Never Trusting It

Here, I would like to illustrate the sense of false hope portrayed by the minister and the national propaganda news agency - they spur propaganda to make it feel good and complacent:

KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 (Bernama) -- The country's debt last year amounted RM407.1 billion or 53.1 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and is no cause for worry, Dewan Rakyat heard Tuesday.

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Awang Adek Hussein said of the amount, RM390.4 billion or 96 per cent was internal while RM16.7 billion or four per cent was external debt.

"Concern should be on foreign debt but at only four per cent, it is not worrying. Our GDP ratio is much lower than others including developed countries," he said when winding up debate on the ministry's Supplementary Supply Bill (2010) 2011.

Awang said the debts were from loans to finance the deficit and finance development projects planned. The loans will generate revenue to the government as it is an investment.

"The returns will be higher. This is normally the case except during an economic slowdown."



Commenting on alleged unequal treatment of Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia, he said the government gave due consideration without bias to any airline.

Awang said 24.6 million tourists visited Malaysia last year compared to 23.6 million in 2009 with tourism receipts rising to RM56.5 billion from RM53.4 billion in 2009.

"Part of this increase in tourist arrivals was due to AirAsia's promotion of low-cost fares," he added.

Maybe if you do not know about Murphy's Law, then you won't know. Never assume that things will go back to normal as it was before. Mahathir misjudged of the economic direction back in 1997 when the Asian Financial Crisis hit and Malaysia never recovered fully from that bubble burst unlike Singapore who managed to cushion it down and rebounded it back to a healthy black level sign.

If you take a the total amount of reserves from Bank Negara and attempt to pay off all debts, you virtually have no reserves at this point and you still have a fraction of 5% GDP equivalent of debt to be paid off. This calculation is based on the total reserves as at end of January 2011 - which is RM 368.57 billion, after conversion, with the USD exchange rate counted at 3.05.

When we try to offset the present debt, we still have a debt of RM 38.43 billion, which is 5% of the GDP. With calculation, you can say that Malaysia is still having no extra money in available. And assuming that we pay internal debts first, we still have yet to pay off the external debts there. And so this is why to recoup and getting the extra money needed, Malaysia was forced to privatized most of their properties and introduce various taxes (e.g GST), still pursuing the "saman ekor" as part of the "make a quick-buck" desperation.

In the Abdullah Badawi years, the external debt average was consistently at $52 billion USD, whereas after Najib took over, the debt average ballooned by another 25% to $69 billion USD. The Keynesian concept and model that Mahathir used back then is also used by Najib as well but it might not work unlike previously. Note: This is based on the debt chart statistics.

Malaysia, ala with ego still wish to pursue mega projects thinking that they can recuperate long term and go back to the black zone (positive territory), but they are playing high-stakes poker here with the risk of project failures, delays coupled with NEP-based policies. Having read the "Economic Hitman" book thing, I don't think that Malaysia is heeding the warning of being swindled of billions of monies by hitmen and making projects ending up as white elephants.

One more thing that I keep seeing about giving false sense hope is about poverty rating. 108 extreme poverty families is not convincing to me. The statement sounds a little unrealistic to me mainly because that the yardstick that they used to measure what defines extreme low or whatsoever is not at the actual realistic real-world point. That means, the baseline was set too low. The statement was to make things happy to all, but it removes the sense of reality that people should know and be ready for it.

In fact by injecting the false sense of reality, the government and the news agency is lying on themselves as well in addition to "duping people" thinking that nothing is wrong all in control trust me thing.

How Do You Protect Your Votes From Being Traced?

Recollections of Bersih Vigil 2008

Note: Video by Malaysiakini

There were two to three friends of mine that were among the two dozen people arrested on the night of 9 November 2008, to commemorate the first anniversary of the Bersih Rally. Many of those caught were wearing RPK shirts or the anti-ISA shirts. I don't even know why cops take those shirts as anti-establishment, in my opinion considered them like rebels. I still to this day don't even know why people who carry no weapons are treated as hooligans in the street like thieves and scum a like.

Watching the video made me recalling that night and the mad encounters that happened that night. I managed to remember most of the things that happened there, with aid of a few grainy pictures that I took that night as well. I was grumbling over how innocent people who do no harm get caught for nothing and accused for nothing.

A few days ago, I remembered the phrase "militant" that John Malott called Perkasa that got Ibrahim Ali hopping like mad in front of the American embassy. The word is an adjective for something in a very "aggressive" nature. That night...it was a militant scenario that we encountered.

When Will Real Press and Journalism Be Restored?

PUTRAJAYA: Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament Nurul Izzah has applied for a publishing permit from the Home Ministry for a new weekly newspaper.

Nurul Izzah, who is Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter, said the Malay-language publication would be titled Utusan Rakyat and she promised it would be bipartisan and fair in its reporting.

She said the editorial advisory board helmed by herself and Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan would name National Union of Journalist president Hata Wahari as its founding editor when it receives its publishing permit.

Nurul Izzah also stressed that the weekly would not be a Pakatan Rakyat organ but would take into account the opinions of all parties.

“This can be done under the editorial advisory board’s leadership who can give an overall view of current issues,” she told reporters after applying for the permit under Hata’s name on Friday.

- The Star, 4 March 2011

This was what the original plan - to have a newspaper that clearly demonstrates the real press in Malaysia, all until if the permit for the weekly newspaper is given the seal of approval by the publication department. So far, there have been several online news portals up, for example Free Malaysia Today, Malaysiakini, The Malaysian Insider, etc.. all of these what is interesting is that they have a fair spread of news from both sides of the political front. The problem is right now there is a notice of bias in the form of the major newspapers.

Cost wise, it costs less in terms of upkeep and printing as you need to spend a lot of money on ink and paper in printing news daily. We are talking about having a few million copies of papers for 360 days per year (this excludes public holidays where papers are not printed) . On the other hand, running an online news portal costs half of that, which you means you need a content-based website and a high capacity server to store all the stuff that you'd put on the website. And it is very efficient, easier to manage.

But the real problem in Malaysian journalism is the problem of self-censorship and constant interference from the Home Ministry. Basically, what the big boss wants is a feel-good news about the current government and whack the opposition  - which is what papers like Utusan would love to do at anything. The key point here is that the Home Ministry bullies major newspapers into submission by reprimanding them with warning letters, thus it also forces them to withhold certain key information that would alter the nature and the atmosphere of the story. What's worse is that it is very identical to school scenario - the shut up and listen scenario. Or if it's not the case, it is also meant to get or entice newspaper editors to support the government official line at all costs, even if it is bad. Sometimes, what is noted that it is meant to manufacture consent from the public.

You made me look bad — so now I’m going to shut you up. That’s what KDN is saying.

Sometimes, if you write something that is factually true, the Home Ministry will "declare" that what you say is a lie, even though you are convinced of its factual accuracy. In other words, a lie becomes a truth and vice-versa.  And consequently you are branded a person with subversive elements or a "commie" in short. 

Summary in terms:

1. The Truth” lies is whatever the KDN says. It is “the only truth”
2. If someone says something not in line with the KDN view, the media is held liable for reporting “false news”
3. “The truth” about what the KDN does can only be found in what the KDN says it does
4. If what others say about KDN does not follow the KDN version, the media are reporting “false news”

This has been happening over the last 25 years or so, in the aftermath of the Operasi Lalang 1987 so real press and journalism has been stamped to the gutter. And so, today, when Malaysiakini reported of the Hata Wahari-led Harian Malaysia coming in as the new kid on the block after Free Malaysia Today and other news portals, I must say that it is about time to have a more bi-partisan newspapers coming up as the mainstream press is still under the influence of politicians and red-tape that demands them to write local news in a pre-defined angle way.

Note: It reminded me of the statement by Utusan chairman saying about following UMNO's line at all costs. 

I still do look forward to seeing the first few issues of Utusan Rakyat to see whether if it lives up to the billing of the first new bi-partisan newspaper of the century. But until then, I would definitely agree that to have another online news portal that would be among the process of restoring real journalism in Malaysia.

Datuk T and The Anwar Conspiracy

Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!

The Need For PR To Reinvent The Wheel

It's always non-stop for BN to use their owned-media apparatus and government agencies that they believe in owning it to whack the opposition Pakatan Rakyat in all corners as to make sure that they are no longer the threat. When they are stunned to see the losses that they have never seen before in the last General elections, they have declared that the Anwar Ibrahim led coalition is a political threat to their survival and would play to the gutter. The three main things that gutter politics would involve would be:

a) Anwar Ibrahim must be removed from the board at all costs.

b) PAS via Malay unity talks must be separated from the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, no matter how many times it needs.

c) The propaganda to throw Pakatan Rakyat into chaos will have to keep on being intensified via their owned-media.

The most important goal to achieve is to give a bad image to the opposition and to manufacture people consent of not trusting PR and herding people into believing of there is only one coalition to support with. It is right now a battle of perception at overdrive mode. Politics is a game of perception as well. Anwar Ibrahim has been called with things related to bad image like a chameleon, sodomizer and the CIA agent - as what former NST editor Rose Ismail called in 1998. And it still goes on and on. That is on the personal capacity. The big three parties each have sometime that the BN would accuse them of in the form of perception. Therefore, in this case, Pakatan Rakyat needs to reinvent the wheel to show a different perception that it was.

PKR always draws the biggest problem from everywhere, in and out. There are several opinions about the party in this case, some people would call them a tool for Anwar, Azmin and Shamsida's ends. However, many failed to understand the closeness of the three which dates way back to the early 90s. But having the three will give one kind of perception. And in the follow aftermath of party elections, there are some who called them as the same system as UMNO - with some grassroots ignored and some preferential treatment over who to be in which post and that. Many are unhappy that instead of fair votes that most ended up in Azmin as Deputy President, and with some intimidation and so forth.

The biggest problem is to shed the image and perception of being a relic and the same system of UMNO and the need to move away from thinking that it's just party for the three person ends. This means that the three of them should move to another unexplored avenue and give the leadership to someone as good as them to avoid more negative perception. Many have earmarked Nurul and a few young leaders as good to go in and head the party with young mix with the experience of it. Like the Mentor Minister concept in Singapore, Anwar will need not stamp his signature onto every matter, only when necessary or last resort.

For PAS, the unity government is always the constant problem and the "conservative" factions poses more problems up front. If you are someone who knows little of the party, the faces of the front leadership can give you perceptions that it is a "Taliban" style party and these leaders are "cleric-trained" - those who from the religious background in nature. Barisan Nasional knows that there are some who really crave to be ministers and they would dangle carrots in front those who really wanted it. However, it is the Nik Aziz factor that put a stop to the so-called unity talks there.

Yes, there is still public perception that PAS would implement Islamic state laws if anyone would vote for that and all other kinds of statements that enemies would throw at them. But one thing I respect for them is that they are not ass kisses unlike other component parties in BN would would lick and kiss big boss (UMNO). Currently, there is also the progressive faction in PAS - those highly-trained professionals that are progressive in nature and would be able to move forward in the party there. If PAS needs to reinvent the image as a not-a-backwater party, the progressive faction should be leading the party. I suppose that Nik Aziz would definitely agree it would be more beneficial for the party and the image as well.

There is not much avenue for BN to attack DAP except to say that PAS kowtow to DAP or DAP is a Chinese party. This is a misconception and there is a failure for many in the "get to know the party" factor. Of all the big three in the PR. DAP already has potential successors lined up for smoother transition, but it is the question of when can they go. DAP is originally intended to be a multi-racial party but hardly a few Malays in the party. This problem is the only thing that needs to be debunked by they themselves.

The mainstream-media, owned by BN political parties have been directed to attack PR at all costs. The moment if someone from the PR party is being accused for crimes or investigated by the MACC on corruption accusations, the entire matter will be exaggerated politically.

As quoted by Hishamuddin Rais last year:

Aparacik dan jentera kerajaan federal sedang digunakan oleh Najib Rosmah untuk melemahkan kerajaan Selangor. Kes demi kes telah dibuka oleh SPRM terhadap pimpinan kerajaan Selangor. Semua dilakukan untuk menekan agar ada Adun PKR yang akan berpaling tadah.

Media gerombolan telah digunakan hingga ke tahap maksimum untuk mengolah persetujuan orang ramai. Seluruh Malaysia cuba diberi tahu bahawa krisis yang amat besar sedang melanda kepimpinan kerjaan Selangor. Kerajaan Selangor ini akan runtuh bila-bila masa sahaja dan Khir Toyo boleh kembali berpesta ke Disneyland tanpa soal jawab.

Whatever the problems noticed are part of real politics.All leads to one objective that Anwar Ibrahim and PR is a threat to the political power of UMNO. The present perceptions of PR is giving them ammunition to attack PR everywhere. And if the attacks do not seem to do the real impact, the secondary strategy is to keep pushing for PAS to have unity talks with UMNO for the sake of Malay unity. But there is no such thing as Malay unity in reality. By reading past histories of mankind, it can provide us of such fact. 

PR will need to have a very fast effective fall back plan. Rather than people thinking that it is used for Anwar's end, and still the same system as UMNO's they will need to reinvent the wheel in out to say that it's a mix of experience and young talent, coupled with different and progressive leadership.

Observing a Day of Silence

Some of you may know that today is the 2nd year of my grandfather's passing.

He's the last of my grandparents to go off.

Being one of his grandchildren and the closest to him, it's can be quite painful to miss him at times but I am getting older and older each day, and life will to have to move forward.

In light of commemorating this day, I will be observing a day of silence, which means I will not put up any posting nor tweet anything on that day until night.

Thank you.

MOLES Revealed!

SNAP has been revealed to be working on a shady side. A shady deal with you know who.

I asked PR on Twitter whether they are listening to that and start catching the mole. Answer was a yes, that I got 45 minutes ago.

Masquerading as an Anti-Taib / Anti-BN party only to jump back afterwards? Does MCLM really know about it?

BN knows that they are losing badly in the preliminaries, a.k.a secret polls in Sarawak. And they would have to resort to cheat games and buying people with our money. 

If you don't like to lose, then election should have been banned decades ago! Stupid!

Not convinced? Go and read Sarawak Report's expose here!

Seeing Too Many Ding Dongs Around Today!

I've been tuning in around the Anwar Ibrahim video scandal thing for the whole day and I was looking at the picture of Ezkay from his ongoing trial against Yahya Jalil. And I can get the beat that he does look like Anwar (as what people said), bearing uncanny physical resemblance, except that if there is someone that can provide a top-down angle screenshot of the video, it would be better to check it out. Until then, I somehow feel that someone or a body-double masquerading as Anwar Bin Ibrahim trying to do that "orgy" that will make the name a rotten apple.

Just to reiterate that I see that it's Ezkay was the actor on the video, because of his resemblance, just to out Anwar.

Anyhow, I am totally stuck in between, for there have been too many ding-dongs going around this. The main ding-dong is about Johari Abdul  (which looks like one of my friends) who said that he was offered money as well as 7 other PKR MPs to jump ship by Rahim Tamby Chik (who says he's representing Najib). And of course one of the guys involved was Shafie Apdal's father-in-law - which does say that some UMNO people are in the mess. But Tamby said that Johari was asking for $100K + $7 million for 7MPs to come out..which means that question now is who's saying right or who's saying wrong?

Well, I've basically asked PKR to come clean and I'd hope to see how the chips are falling. I am little skeptical and fishy about Johari from the evening since he seconded the idea of an RCI to investigate that video really. But then, don't forget people loved him because he's the guy who whacked Mamak Maidin in the Sungai Petani parliament election in 2008! 

The other ding-dong is there are several statements that say he was there, there were other statements that said no, he was there. Someone mentioned that Johari actually exclaimed "That's him!" not "It's not him" at the meeting in Flamingo in Ampang. And there's a claim to say that Anwar's police report is not exactly as what people believed to be, in terms of some pieces of information not totally correct or so.

I am totally baffled and well, the whole case is to distract things from the real problems that are brewing up from Najib's end internally. But somehow, what we know is that Rahim Tamby is doing the same thing as in 1998 (50 Dalil). Rahim's surely on a political vendetta against Anwar because he pulled Rahim out of the CM post in 1995 when Rahim was caught in the child molest scandal. 

Anyhow, since tomorrow is a special day for myself, I am going to put a stop on myself not to see any more ding-dongs for the whole of tomorrow. In fact, PR has a bigger mole to catch.....! which they acknowledged just moments ago.

Looking and Diversifying More Than Nuke Energy

In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear energy crisis and the memories of the Chernobyl disaster (approaching the 25th maybe it might be a worthwhile to dissect the problems with sticking to one source of energy - nuclear energy that is.

Pretty Unsafe Nuclear

I went to a forum in Hilton hours ago, and it seems that Malaysia has yet to understand the problem of miscalculating the risk of having nuclear reactors planned. A nuclear reactor can last maybe up to 40 years or so before it has to be stopped and decommissioned. Extending it by another few more years was very risky. Japan made the a mistake of miscalculating the risk. The risk that they put in is that a quake scale will not exceed 7.9 Richter scale and a potential tsunami will not go beyond 7 meters. Instead the quake that happened went above it and it caught Fukushima with the pants down.

We used to learn Physics in school that tells us of half-life term. The term of how long the radiation will last if there is nuclear problem. It will not go off very easily but instead will take thousands of years to go off. In view of the disaster, many nuclear-power existing countries will be rethinking about decommissioning those plants who are already past the prime and proceed with green technology. It's easy to know that if you're caught in radiation, there's no instant cure to that, it will affect subsequent generations of mankind in terms of disabilities, raw mutations and so forth.

At this point of time, people are kept being mislead about nuclear energy is renewable. But it is wrong. Nuclear is not renewable. There's is this nuclear waste - whatever remains after being processed. You can't just simply dump it or bury it in the ground. There's no suitable place to discard it without affecting the environment. It will be a tough challenge. And there's a problem of sanitized information. There are insiders and government officials who actually know the high risks that will happen but chose to sanitize information. There is the fear of people panicking around if they choose to reveal grim information there, but to give something that is providing false, inaccurate misleading hope is much more worse in actual nature than telling truth.

For example, the most common lie statements that the government would tell people would be:

"Keep calm", "Not dangerous", "Nothing to worry about"...but is it really worthwhile at the expense of risking people's lives?. But TEPCO got a bad record of false reporting, cover-up and downplaying risk. If these attitudes are the government is saying, (take Max Ongkili's latest statement as example) mirror to what TEPCO did before, it would be too late if there is an unexpected problem happening and finally the blood will be on the BN hands.

Don't forget that the government of the day cannot simply just act on their whim as they have forgotten that they are answerable to the people. I know that some would deny this, but actually it does except that they would lie behind the truth just to keep people from panicking and freaking out. 

Just Like Business Diversification

There are actually other renewable energies that we have yet to dig into or diversify, but the nuclear pandemic is here due to many excuses such as climate change. And look around, people have been bombarded with news in the past few weeks talking about the virtues and the necessity of having nuclear energy, as if the media is being a slave to government propaganda.

I understand that because of the Paka substation incident that happened in 1999 that blackout the entire peninsular, there is the need to have a 40 percent reserve of energy as to avoid future incidents. But in actual calculations, the amount of reserved at least needed is 15% but if to give a win-win case and to save money to subsidizing IPPs then the amount of reserve energy can be at 28% will do.

Recently there has been a discovery in Sabah of potential geothermal energy in a trench that can generate almost 50000 kilowatts of power that if build, it is much equivalent to building two nuclear plants and it can be a worthwhile sale to sell geothermal energy to whoever they want. Another way of good income money. For solar power, it is also possible, but the limitation is that the amount of energy that could be stored and at this point of time, the cost of buying solar panels is very expensive due to manufacturing costs.

It is actually possible to sell solar energy locally but I was told that MIDA will not allow it as it is only meant to be exported. If they claim to say that we don't have enough renewable energy, then why is solar energy not for sale locally? Something not right, isn't it? It's also part of green technology, right? Note: Malaysia is 3rd largest exported of solar energy in the world as of now.

Then what about wind? Simply generate it by placing at places have been identified by Meteorological Department to generate strong winds and they can at least have a healthy but small percentage of renewable energy.

I do not understand what is in their mind that the government is still pushing for nuclear energy. Perhaps it is because of the monies and the Mr. 10 percent commission attitude that those in interest wish to get from the 16 billion amount. The real danger from that is that they is a likelihood of people not interested to invest in this thing, and lack of interest could be a key to the ETP delay  / failure.

It's a good thing that there's a plan of having a Renewable Energy Bill. Let's see how things would go on that.

Unplanned: No Energy Policy

One criticism that is well spelt out during the talk is that the Energy ministry, including the last 3 ministers do not have a clear energy policy defined. In this case about nuclear, it was suddenly thought out of nowhere, perhaps having seen developed nations. This is a bad case of unplanned things. And I was wondering why suddenly go nuclear when there is still big energy reserves that have yet to be used for? All we have is just electric generation policy that's all. 

Who's actually deciding on the energy policy? The public?

Turns out that the answer was not public people. From what I heard off, Peter Chin, the Energy minister doesn't have the authority of deciding the energy policy. The decision once past the initial stages of his ministry is at the hands of the PM's department. So the PM and his own inner echelon, not Peter Chin will have the final say. Well, there are resurrected talks about Bukit Merah radiation still around, and there's still silence over this case? 

I don't really recall of ASEAN being a nuclear-proliferation weapon or energy region, so I was wondering whether if Najib is violating the original tenets and the ASEAN charter of having a a nuclear power plant building near the sea coast. As mentioned earlier, anything bad can happen and that even if we have taken various risks - a miscalculated would be disastrous. If the ASEAN charter does not allow doing so, then the nuclear idea will have to be ditched. Period.

The Rumor Mill

There is the adamant of proceeding with nuclear power even if the public says no. There's the feeling of some pro-nuclear lobbyists from other countries are pushing for the Najib administration to build the two mentioned plants. There those involved in that are wanting for a quick buck out it - 1.6 billion total out of 16 billion on the table.

Of course, there is a tender now of $50 million consultancy contract to be given out to the successful nuclear power consultant that wins the open tender bid to advise the Najib administration on that. But before even the bid starts out, it seems that the PM's department had interests in the French technology and consultancy. Does it sound familiar to buying submarines and jets from France? It was also mentioned that Peter Chin's choice was Korean technology as it was much performance efficient and wins on the lowest of cost factor. But as mentioned, Chin was powerless on the final say.

There are also rumors that the $16 billion thing is just for show and nuclear project being ended up as another white-elephant with the money being stashed somewhere else. This part, is something I am very doubtful of. Let's take that our public views are totally ignored for at the expense of those who lobbied for nuclear. They know the implications but yet to go for it? 

Do you think we could see a "nuclear radiation" Malaysians in the next 70 years if we don't do anything about it? You'll just decide.

They Say Anwar Was In The Hotel. He Said He Was Tweeting At Home..

There was a video clip playing at Carcosa in the morning to select newspaper reporters of a CCTV footage taken from a hotel room showing of a politician, allegedly and resembling Anwar Ibrahim having sex with a China doll woman. Of course Anwar and PR vehelmingly deny it. Anwar stressed that he was never at the hotel and the man who look like him was slightly fatter at the stomach than him.

According to several sources including Free Malaysia Today, the video was taken on 21 February (a Monday night) and the time stamp of the recording was between 10.23 pm to 10.45 pm. In his press statement in the evening, this was what he said to the press

"The “show” started at 10.23pm in several black-and-white clips. Three persons are seen in the room: a fully-dressed man, another wearing a towel bearing an uncanny resemblance to Anwar and a Chinese-looking woman in a dress."

"The PKR de facto leader also said that he had been posting on Twitter, a social media platform, at the time of the alleged event and that PKR had kept a record of his tweets on the day."

Quoting from The Malaysian Insider:

He called the emergence of the video recording today a “scurrilous attack” against him, his family and Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

He added that he was at home with Dr Wan Azizah, their children, grandchildren and members of his staff, on the night in question.

Well, if he says that he's at home at that time and if he can dispense the notion that the Omega Watch is his, then no worry. One of the pages in Facebook seems to be backing up Anwar's claim by showing the activity period within that time frame on that night : he was twitting.

The following sequence of twits occured between 8.15 pm and to 10.50 pm that night:

1. 8.15 pm - Media ala Mubarak @syedmikael Bila team @najibrazak tersungkur di makhamah satu titik cerita pun tak keluar di tibitigasku. Pengecut!

2. 8.20 p.m - Blog: Kabinet bayangan - PM tak faham istilah

3. 8.20 p.m - Blog: Pakar gagal lapor DNA misteri

4. 8.20 p.m - Blog: BMF senarai 49 syarikat terbabit dengan Taib

5. 8.20 p.m - Blog: Mubarak Jatuh Kerana Rakyat Tolak Pilihanraya Tipu

Note: these 4 blog postings (I suspect it's copy and paste thing) was done at 8.20 archive can be check here.

6. 10.40 pm - God willing - (Insha..) @a_sufi Salam DS, bila nk mai #Guar Chempedak ini ..lama sangat dah sy rasa DS x mai

This tweet at 10.40 pm raises the question mark. If Anwar is to be at the scene of the sex part, there is no way that he would be tweet a reply to this user @a_sufi there. Since Selective Tweets is one of the sub-utilities in Facebook, it is to my mind very hard to reply while your mind is concentrating on other activity. You can't do two things at the same time and it takes a while to write a reply particularly if you're on mobile mode. 10.40 is still 5 minutes away before the video recording was finished and he's tweeting. Sometime not right, see?

7. 10.49 pm - That's dsNajib's plan. Our task: pursue reform agenda @nohskywalker i'm worried what would happen to PR if they put you in jail again.

This tweet is secondary to Anwar's claim that he wasn't there at the scene of the crime.

The series of pictures titled "Anwar's Alibi 21 February 2011" can be seen at this Facebook page here.

The last time in 98, Anwar was called a gay (following accusations of sodomizing Azizan), then now they call him a womanizer (Mahathir did say that in his memoirs) and then what will happen next? I am confused really. There are many enemies out there for him, and sure there's no end to that. There are parties out to make sure he never gets to be on the top job as PM for they fear many things with him reaching there.

England Dan + John Ford Coley Old Tracks Found Up

I happened to listen to two of the England Dan and John Ford Coley tracks lately. I heard first time when I was a little boy. There was a cassette that my dad recorded way back in the 80s but I am not sure whether it's kept in the old store room or it's no longer there or what. With Youtube today, you can find those old tracks and those two, I was able to recognize by rhythm and its beats.

Sometime last month ago, John Ford Coley was in Gentng to perform, I recalled. But England Dan passed away in 2009 from what I read about. Between the two tracks that I heard way back, Nights are Forever was more straightforward and in my personal taste better than Love Is The Answer:

I know most Generation Y like myself don't really go much oldies and tend to more the new generation tracks. But I grew up listening to music from late 70s until todays but most I have in my music box were in the 90s. Maybe it's from my parents influence. They too listen to mostly 60s to the 90s as well. I was very sure that Bee Gees was one of their favorites as well.

The duo's tracks are mostly in the 70s and I recalled that these two tracks are performed first time in 1979, if I am not mistaken.

Nights Are Forever:

Love Is The Answer:

Aren't They Like School Bullies?

This case is not involving violent criminals. But just a young blogger at around my age. And yet, Hanief gets the school bully style of interrogation by MCMC men. But he just put extracts of what others say on his posting. But it really angered the BN-people (cybertroopers, bloggers) - whom we can know by some of them and how they posted their comments or so. Why complaint about that when what is claimed to be a lie is actually true?

There are several points mentioned in the Malaysiakini article in regards of Hanief's description of the interrogation:

Intimidation

“They way I see it, their conduct is more like they are trying to intimidate bloggers,” he said, recalling the heavy handed way the police and MCMC officers raided his house at 11pm last night.

Demand for passwords

The officers asked for his Facebook, Gmail and Blogger passwords. “When they asked me for my passwords, I told them I could not remember, just like Mahathir, I have selective memory,” Hanief said. He was reluctant to reveal his passwords, to prevent intrusion into his privacy, and to protect his lifelihood from his online ventures.

Isn't this more to invasion of privacy? Your business is yours and mine is mine, so you've no right to intrude.

The MCMC officers threatened that his non-compliance may see him jailed for two years or fined RM100,000.

Lawyer: Strong-arm tactics

Hanief’s lawyer N Surendren (a vice-president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat) said Hanief is being investigated for a blog posting “that supposedly disrespected and insulted the Sultan”.

Surendren said the interrogation was an act of “intimidation” and use of “strong arm tactics” by the government. “It is an attempt to crack down on bloggers and the Internet, and goes against our guaranteed freedom of expression.”

I keep wondering whether if there are 10000 instances of such things happening that if 10000 people get sent to Kajang prison for a crimes that are nonsensical or doesn't make sense at all, doesn't that mean to say that the Barisan Nasional and the Home Ministry is trying to shut people up for making criticisms or stating opinions? Isn't this like in school the "shut up and listen, no questions asked" style? Are creating robots at all?

 

Everyone of us have their own school bullies during the school days. But sometimes, to get people who are accused as criminals to extract information even if they don't know, is somewhat like school bullies. You need psychology to determine whether if this person is a criminal or an innocent bystander by their face or what they would say. One factor alone is not enough.

The below audio recording was taken during the 3-hour interrogation at MCMC office in Putrajaya. You can say that it's the BN-cyber gang that fingered the bloke. Which reminds me..if they used to do things that falls under "menghina sultan" dozens of years ago, why the sudden change of feeling and sentiment? I do have the same opinion that some of us do that they need to fallback onto something that they can cling into now that their avenues of income is gone particularly if they are in the state under PR government. The days of Mr.Commission 50% are gone with them running the show.

Anyhow, you can view the audio below and see how they respond and interrogate our friend below. 

Hanief's Arrest: Warrant Forgotten or Deliberately Skipped?

The young blogger by the name of Hanief (or you can view satirical videos under the Youtube channel Malaysianews) was arrested midnight by MCMC officers. First-hand information about yesterday's matter revealed that the charge is as follows:

1. MCMC and Sentul police officers raided the house and confiscated computer equipment at around midnight.

2. There are several posting that could be alluded to the arrest:

a) The much gossiped Sultan of Selangor with model Kavita Kaur

b) There are several royalty misconduct including an assault on a Negeri Sembilan royalty by a Johor royalty

c) The Manohara Pinot case with the Kelantan prince.

3. If the posting pointed out to the misconduct of royalties, then it is likely that to prevent things from blowing out of proportion that it has been decided to keep things in a hush that the authorities are directed to silence the young man (read: arrest and harass).

4. According to Tian Chua, the Batu MP (Sentul under one of its areas), the sequence of events described in Twitter pieced is as follows. Note: It is in the nick of time that he managed to be there before the MCMC made the poor young man spill out the beans on password:

a) Now the boy is at Sentul police station accompanied by his anxious dad. MCMM/police asking passwords of his 

b) @myy085 @j_stratslinger yes, Hanief.blogspot.com It is youngster blog, MCMC said he is arrested under "hasutan"

c) balai polis Sentul: MCMC in the midst of interrogating, I ask what authority they have 2detain at midnite. Nobody can show me a warrant.

d) MCMC now threaten to lodge police report against me; I told them if Hanief is not arrested he should be free to http://tl.gd/9bn0vi

e) MCMC officers admitted they have not issued warrant & thus I requested interrogation 2b stopped. They said Hanief only volunteered to come.

There's the key issue: where is the warrant? By police norms, as in every other country, a warrant of arrest must be shown to the accused to declare that he is under arrest or something. To simply go in and raid without the a search permit and an arrest warrant can tell us that either the police has forgotten basic procedures or deliberately skipped the procedure as to befuddle people who do not know their rights when detained by the police.

Note: It makes sense of why a Buku Merah is an essential thing to know by people.

Let's go back to the recent Anwar Sodomy II thing. One reference to that case above is on the arrest warrant. On the day the cops were out of the house, the officer in charge, SUP Ahmad Taufik Abdullah there did not issue the warrant on the spot. It was only issued later of the day. Note that the order of arrest was issue by Bakri Zinin.

Was there something incorrect about how the procedure went? Not to show the warrant on the spot but only after later on? In the matter of issuing warrant of arrest - was it deliberately skipped or forgotten?

Levis' Ad Mr. Boombastic

I saw this ad way back in 1995, to coincide with Shaggy's hit track, Boombastic. I've tried looking around years after that, prior to Youtube's opening but no luck. At last there's one.

While there are many copies of the video on Youtube, the others are not in-sync - picture and sound not in sync.

Boombastic was one of the few songs that I know well by heart, except for the last third of it.

Home Ministry Hardline Attitude on Christians

The Christian community in Malaysia are pretty angry at the Home Ministry when they imposed two conditions on the release of the Al-Kitab (Malay-language translation of the Bible). Out of the books in held by Customs department, the bulk of 35000 copies are use of Borneo. The conditions mentioned: serializing the copies with a unique number and stamping it with "For Christians only".

The two conditions are considered as defacement of the sacred book. As the Bible Society said in The Malaysian Insider:

“Bible Society of Malaysia is alarmed by the defacement of the Christian bible by non-Christians chopping it with words that the Christians have not accepted or agreed to,” it added.

The BSM had earlier today refused to collect its cargo of holy books that had been detained for the last two years after the home ministry imposed two conditions for their release.

The society was stunned that home ministry officials had moved to act on their own and only notified BSM after the act, and called on the ministry to immediately put a stop to it.

“As the bible is the holy book of the Christians, due respect should be given to it by consulting the relevant Christian representative organs before any external text is inserted into the bibles.

“Bible Society of Malaysia calls upon KDN to stop chopping the copies of the Alkitab detained at Port Kelang [sic],” it said in the statement issued today.

Church leaders have stressed that they cannot follow the conditions imposed by the ministry, as it would mean desecrating their own holy book.

It has been noted that the requirement is not shown in the 1960 ISA Act.  And as a result, they are not going to collect it. If this case is another of propaganda by UMNO, then look at Interlok as well.

This latest episode is bringing in several matters that can be highlighted:

1. Forcing a school of thought onto others: although the scenario is similar to the Sunni vs Shiite school of thought episode, this also shows that the government is forcing the thought of one religion being superior than the others into people of other religions. The matter of Sunni vs Shiite was highlighted in my posting last December entitled : Forcing One School of Thought.

2. The Home Ministry's latest action indicates the hard line attitude and conservatism adopted by civil servants running government departments. This is also in addition to the attitudes of civil servants in the cases of Hindu Temple bulldozing. It also demonstrates the fundamentalist thinking of the Islamic religion by those in charge of this matter.

3. Conservatism in the Book Import and Quranic Texts division as noted - the notice was issued by the division secretary Zaitun Abdul Samad. (see pic above, circled). 

4. This is not the first time that hysteria of Christianity was played in Malaysia. In the 80s, the mainstream media played up issues of mass conversions from Muslim to Christianity but the whole event turned up false. In 1987, a Malay man converted to Christianity was detained under ISA for being considered a "national threat" and false accusation of propagating conversions. However, the detention was thrown out by the Supreme Court in 1988. This show "political threat" is considered "national security issue" 

5. This problem would affect more on the Sabah Sarawak site for their culture and custom is not the same as in Peninsular. For more elaboration including some points above, refer to Uppercaise' posting here.

6. As of this time, there are approximately 2.8 million Christians nationwide. I noticed that there is not much can be done by ranting anger at the Home Ministry and especially Hisham who claims to say that the conditions fall in line with standards and etc..The anger that has to be shown is vote anger..by the ballot box.

7. Unfortunately, many try to be holier than thou thing by saying that this religion is superior than the other. If you look at the diagram, Islam and Christianity are the same offshoot of the Abrahamic teachings. That means Islam and Christianity come from Abrahamic. However, for those who are under the falsehood to say that one is better than the other, perhaps it is better ,as in what Ahmad Ismail from Bukit Bendera used to say "Balik China" - in this case and inverse, to go to the desert in Saudi. The Father of Turkey, Mustapha Attaturk viewed this "holier than thou" thing as a religion interference to the secular state that rules on law, not religion law.

What's It Going To Be Then, eh?

This video details of India's emphasis and the foresight of science and technology. It is no wonder why India produces the best brains that they would go around the world. One thing noted is that they will have to shed the medieval ways in order to move forward.

And what about Malaysia? Malaysia is still practicing neo-feudalism and there are still many things that followed the medieval ways. The Malay saying "don't rock the boat" seems to be resonant everywhere and because they are kept reminded of the past disasters, that many have yet to move forward. Speaking of education, the current success rate is still abysmal with many completed up to secondary levels only.

No matter what the Education ministry is trying to do as of now, they have yet to achieve the satisfactory standards and level of high-economy. Talk about BTN, distorted history and emphasis on non-scientific related stuff, you can't reach that far!

Malaysia Will Need To Rethink About Nuclear

Following the 8.9 Richter scale earthquake that happened in Japan, the nuclear reactor in Fukushima is heading towards the meltdown with people being evacuated out of the city there. Many Japanese officials fear if the reactor is not contained, they would face a meltdown that would be as severe as the Chernobyl disaster. Maybe for those who are too young to know about Chernobyl or need to refresh your memory, you can check the Wikipedia entry here. For your information, 25 April 2011 is the 25th anniversary of the disaster.

If you read the first three paragraphs that the international press writes, it raises the goosebumps of everyone because the moment the specter of Chernobyl is mentioned, it would mean disaster of bigger proportions, in addition to the 1100+ casualties reported in Japan so far and counting up. 

Excerpt:

Radiation leaked from a damaged Japanese nuclear reactor north of Tokyo today, the government said, after an explosion blew the roof off the facility in the wake of a massive earthquake.

The developments raised fears of a meltdown at the plant as officials scrambled to contain what could be the worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl explosion in 1986 that shocked the world.

The Japanese plant (picture) was damaged by yesterday’s 8.9-magnitude earthquake, which sent a 10-metre tsunami ripping through towns and cities across the northeast coast. Japanese media estimate that at least 1,300 people were killed.

Because of the quake disaster that damages the nuclear plant. Perhaps it is high time for Malaysia to rethink about going nuclear in a decade to come.

Malaysia has already mulled in building nuclear power plants and it has been mentioned many times by several top people including one minster Peter Chin. They are really wanting to push to building and having two operational plants by 2022. But if you look at the geographical structure of Malaysia, it is virtually unsafe to build one. Malaysia is smaller than Japan. 

It seems that Malaysia wants to go ahead, disregarding of what environmentalists and activists would say.

What do you say of what he said?

Chin said a nuclear plant was needed to meet the country's increasing demand for energy due to industrialisation and to ensure energy security.

"We have to look at energy security. No country can grow without energy, no gross domestic product can progress without energy.

"Nuclear energy is the only viable option towards our long-term energy needs. Our energy generation mix is rather unhealthy at the moment because we are using too much gas and coal," he said.

Asked on the cost for a nuclear power plant, Chin said: "It is a costly exercise but we have no choice. Rather than building many coal plants or gas plants which is going to cost even more going into the future."

Where can you place a nuclear plant that is isolated away from population?  That is the main question.

If you are in Peninsular, it's either Pahang or Johor. But if you take an emergency mitigation test into factoring, do you think the meltdown radius will annihilate people in the rural area? What about Sabah and Sarawak? Natives will say it is violating NCR and it will surely destroy the eco-forest if there happens to be the case. 

And finally, there is this poor maintenance record here. The Gong Badak stadium collapse  in June 2009 would tell the fact that we have the maintenance record and if this still goes on even to nuclear silo building, Hey, even the Parliament ceiling leak cases would not be spare of the poor handling of building structure. Why would you want to build that when you can't even take care of other buildings? Does this mean careless handling leading towards killing your own people?

Hahaha...get real. Don't go nuclear before you're good in dusting your own house.

As a lesson, perhaps we might be enlightened by remembering Dr. Strangelove and the accidental nuclear bombing.

They Say Malaysia Is Not Egypt But Don't Be Fooled Yet!

This was Najib said on The Star on 7 February:

PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has warned against any attempt to usurp power in Malaysia, using demonstrations like those in Egypt.

'Don't think that what is happening there must also happen in Malaysia. We will not allow it to happen here,' he said at the national-level Chinese New Year open house in Miri.

Egypt has seen 13 days of protests for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak and the embattled regime failed to clinch what would have been a landmark deal with the opposition groups yesterday. The parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood, rejected as insufficient an offer to include them in the political reform plans.

Many people including his ministers (all the yes man) said that no way Malaysia will end up the same fate like Egypt. But to some, the statement by these people reflect the state of denial that Malaysia is in, although it is not likely to be the same as Egypt. Famed Washington Post deputy editor Bob Woodward famously labeled on of his books as "State of Denial" reflecting on Bush's yet to tell the American public on the truth on Iraq. Like Bush, Najib and co refuses to believe that

Egypt bears some similarities that Malaysia have but the economic levels of Egypt is not the same as Malaysia. That is why people in Malaysia don't feel the same level of heat and emotion as in here. But the similarities that we witness from there are:

1. Both countries still have 'emergency laws' yet to be declared over in black and white. The last emergency law, the 1981, declared following Anwar Sadat's assassination has yet to be declared over. Likewise in Malaysia, the law that was declared in 1974 following the Baling uprising has yet to be declared over. To this day, it makes it impossible for people to gather in groups more than 5 people. 

2. Malaysia has the similar democracy system in name as with Egypt - election system, cabinet minister, prime ministers but no president. They are both elected from the parliament.

3. In Egypt, the constitution was amended to allow Mubarak to contest for another 6 years. This was amended in 2005. Similarly, here, the election law was amended that if there are any deaths three years after the election, there would not be any-election. Also, another election law amended was to bar anyone who resigned as MP or assemblyman for five years. In this instance, Wan Azizah, who made way for Anwar to contest in Permatang Pauh would not be allowed to contest until August 2013.

4. Similar detention laws are there. Malaysia is ISA, while Egypt has a similar set of laws. Political opponents are treated as enemies of the state and criticism at the government could not be tolerated at all and considered as "belot" or "dirtying the national image" as what some "Yes-Man" politicians would say. For Muhyiddin to say that it is wrong to compare African states with Malaysia, then he got it wrong. Or in a inverted statement, they are actually fearful of potential fate similar.

5. There are also secret police in both countries. Tunisia recently announced the dissolvement of the secret police. The method of operation and the perception is very somewhat similar to the Nazi's Gestapo.

I initially made the assessment that Malaysia can end up like Egypt if there is a national scale disaster that will hit everyone. But alas, when I recently listened to a podcast recording by RPK entitled: Beating Malaysian Authoritianism With People's Power (you can listen here as well), it seems that the scenario that plays out in Egypt is not going to be like in Malaysia. They said that Malaysia will not be like Egypt or any other Arab nations involved. This is partially correct. 

In fact there is another potential disaster that can start a potential revolution.

TO BE CONTINUED

This Blog is 4 Years Old!

I am proud to say that today is the 4th birthday of my blog.

I started this exactly on the night of 7 March 2007 as to write down whatever I wish to say.

Though it didn't get much readership nowadays, I don't know why, I am proud to say that this blog will keep on running. No, and I am ain't stopping now even if I am bogged down with work!

Zahid Hamidi With King Kong Behavior

Many would wish to beat the crap out of this guy here. What he said on Saturday is like a 'yes-man'. Don't forget it's the king that commands the army, not the minister. And there are hidden news everywhere of this man's misconduct. 

This man behaved like King Kong that night. The ego is high. Say, does that statement mirror to Najib's "crush bodies" statement in the UMNO assembly October last year?

Read more here!

RPK: Beating Malaysian Authoritianism With People's Power

No need for me to explain further apart you can get the meaning from what Pete said in Canberra.

This is what PR should pay attention to. Listen to what they'd say in Sabah and Sarawak.

PR should forget about arrogance and muster whatever numbers, work with UBF and MCLM to win. Don't listen and you can forget about Putrajaya.

Postal Summons - Wrong Way of Handling Summons

There is been a recent development about postal summons where Mahfuz Omar is going all round to "educate" people to go against postal summons. And given of the sheer volume of unpaid summons (17 million) as of Tuesday, the government is extending the half-price discount of summons until end of next Thursday (10). 

I do not wish to elaborate about extension about it is basically Malaysian culture to do everything last minute or so, and as such the electronic system gets clogged and jammed up hours before the deadline when everyone goes in to pay the summons. But what I find is a very sinister feeling is about why postal summons, which dated to offenses committed even up to 10 years ago! Most people don't really remember of small details or things that they did 10 years ago, only to see a summon letter coming in after many long years. 

If there is a problem of why all out of the sudden comes that, it simply reflects of poor handling of summons by the authorities. I would dare to say that there are imbeciles who absolutely said in the old archaic manner that postal summons must still remain whereas there are better ways, given of new technologies coming in and growing like a mushroom allows better ways of reaching to people and following up.

PAS has claimed that to blacklist a driver from renewing a driver's license or a road tax for not paying summons is tantamount to putting a person into ISA. This true, given of the present situation and much of the summons are issued before the Road Transport Act amendment which went on effect last month. And with that problem this clearly illustrates that the government's way of handling summons is wrong and it also reflects on how they have yet to understand human psychology in pursuing the amendments and enforcements.

It is understood that the bulk of summons are from speeding offenses. The numbers matches the conventional wisdom of "speed kills". However the problem here is many: speeding offense is easily traced and track. And as according to what Khir Toyo said, this creates the perception that the government is out to make more money instead of reducing accidents as intended. This is one of the ulterior motives. To makes things bad, when the AES system goes full operational by April, if there are no signs or warning of camera, and instead if it is misused just to make money for government without educating users, expect a mass backlash over a flawed method of enforcement. Expect more public anger and straining relationship between people and government.

Secondly, the problem is summon letters is that sometimes they do not have proof to back the claim that you have committed the offense or not. Until the amendment, the letter cannot be used as to final say that you did it or not, so it's bit hard to wipe off the case unless you bring it to the court to decide on it.

I've been observing all over and over again that the speed limits in certain roads are very unrealistic and inconsistent. For example, from Serdang to Kajang stretch, you are bound by a 90 k/m limit although you are in the highway that you can actually move to 110. This also applies after the Bukit Lanjan divider heading towards Jalan Duta, both are highways, yet it is inconsistent and you have a good road that is the highway! The speed limit of 110 at this time still remains unrealistic and I find it awkward for the then Deputy minister Donald Lim said that 110 is enough. No. It has to be increased to 120 or 130 given of how car technologies have improved and consider the traffic at highways is always smooth except on rainy and festive seasons.

I too agreed with Khir that many of us are not robots and sometimes, we don't see the heck of driving faster than the speed set there or because we are in the rush. The problem is lawmaking processes failed to take the human factor into consideration. Just because we go too fast doesn't mean that we are reckless all the way without knowing that we are in danger of an accident? It is also unfair to say that those who went 10-30 km/h more than usual should be given a compound summon (as with the amendment says) but it should be more structured, depending on speed severity.

Since the postal summons dating back to 2000 do not reflect the amended methods of enforcement started in February, it would be better to wipe the slate clean and start it again from scratch, starting with offences committed from 1 February 2011. Then it would be fair to all. Of course, those who paid would say it's not fair, but you might want to call for a rebate or something later on in either tax refunds or etc..

I would also suggest watching this video, as it too gives elaboration to what I mentioned above.

Merlimau: Same Mistakes and Problems as In Tenang

Free Malaysia Today said that BN has a definite head start in the Merlimau campaign area. It is mentioned that the head start is attributed to no other parties except the candidates and on one aspect - problem solving. It is mentioned that Yuhaizad has some clout problem of solving on the fly or at least make some promises to look into the problem in there. And if there is not enough, mob-aligned bloggers have been attacking Yuhaizad on the personal side, saying that he had work attitude problems and career / income instability.

This means that PAS is not able to make the candidate appealing and saleable to the audience. Like in Tenang, bread and butter matters are more of the talking matter to the Malay majority. And it's a foregone conclusion result anyway. 

PAS has shot on its own foot again one month after the Tenang debacle. Their candidates, though local and willing to help are still not saleable to the audience. And being on the saying "the best defence is offence", PAS didn't hit back on the attacks from the BN cyber-community. Tracing from the Galas campaign, it has always been PAS, in the last 4 by-elections. The formula of letting the same party contesting again from the last campaign might not work anymore for Pakatan Rakyat, as they had burnt their bridge with MCLM.

However, judging from the coverage of today's campaign of Roslan, it seems that we're seeing a potential yes-man in the making. You can see a few paragraphs that hints of the making of a "bodek".

Read through this excerpt to judge as the hint:

During the meet and greet, the two ministers introduced Roslan to the voters and urged them to vote for him but whisked him away before he had a chance to speak to them.

At a later high tea hosted by a coffeeshop owner, Roslan was unceremoniously squeezed into the BN circle and positioned in front of Muhyiddin rather than beside him.

"Before he had a chance to speak" - does it mean that I speak on behalf of the people or the party, later on at State Assembly sessions?

"Roslan was unceremoniously squeezed..." - facing the whip hint. Potential yes-man in the making.