Is Anwar Ibrahim Behind The 8-Ball?

Former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has only until tomorrow to hand over the complete 14 minute video that features the whistle-blowers of the Lingamtape to the ACA men. Despite clear cut assurance earlier from the month stating the edited 8-minute footage is deemed authentic by forensic experts brought in for authentication purposes, the ACA still believes that the copy is not convincing enough to say that the guy in the video is VK Lingam and the person he is talking to is Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz.

Now who the hell actually says that the edited video is insufficient? ACA Director Ahmad Said Hamdan? Special officer Chua Lay Choo? Or even Sazali Salbi, the chief men who visited Anwar yesterday? Let's rule Sazali out for he was acting on orders from the above. Above, who would that be?

As of just now, at 4.45 p.m, as according to a Malaysiakini article, Anwar has declared that he will not give that copy to the guys. A posting at his blog has requested people to show up at his office tomorrow morning at 10.30 a.m. to show protest and solidarity at the ACA men. The thing is that he is threatened of arrest under Section 22 of the ACA act 1997.

So now, Anwar is actually behind the 8-ball. There is a dilemma right now. The reasoning for refusing to hand over the video is simplified to a few factors:

1. The assurance of protection of whistle-blowers of the Lingam tape by Nazri and the government is insufficient. Currently, there is no Witness Protection Act gazetted in the Constituition.
2. The panel assigned to investigate the video is not trustworthy because Haidar Mohd. Noor is directly involved in the Salleh Abas sacking in 1988.
3. There is a chance where the AG and the ACA and the ISM might dismiss the case immediately after viewing the footage, deeming it a forge. Then they might destroy the footage.

On the other hand, if Anwar doesn't hand it, he is risking a 2-year jail term and possibly being barred for another 5 years from politics. If he hands it though, he can contest in elections should there is a possibility that the election might possibly be postponed to say June 2008. This is taken to account to the fact that the at that time, the buzz and reaction of people from the price hikes would take about six months before it dies down.

I want to point the third point significantly mentioned just now.

That is what the ACA is likely to do behind our backs, without our attention. If that doesn't seem to be convincing, remember what happened to the three police offers who were charged for falsifying the reports / statements / framing the IGP. To some who knows about this, the ACA cannot be trusted right now because of that. Inspector Nordin Ahmad is the example of a victim of retribution by certain people who were angered by the fact that he figured the connection between higher authorities and the underworld.

Image by Mob's Crib

The catch line for them now is that if you squeal at the high and mighty, you will pay for it.

The Sun today reports another two more officers were charged for false statements. In truth, it is the other way round, sending the wrong message to the people, the public, and the readers. As you might be aware of, one of the two officers charged, ASP Hong is also involved together with Nordin in compiling information, testimonials and proofs that the top men including deputy ISM Joe Baharom and IGP Musa Hassan were paid by the underworld. An obviously, the businessman that is mentioned is the kingpin of Johor, running rackets and others known by some as the "Tengku".

The reason above is that the ACA turned the information of the profilers over to the higher authorities and the parties involve, which involves the people arrested. To keep a hush and sweep under the carpet, the turned the charges around them.

Now many people know that the independent panel and the ACA cannot be trusted right now, which is why the BAR and certain NGOs are pushing for a Royal Commission. Indirectly, this shows that the people are losing confidence of the Abdullah Badawi administration. At this time, it is unlikely there will be a snap election given of this situation.

A Loot That I Cannot Resist

I had to go out today. I'm getting a little out of shape since I didn't have time to exercise this week because of numerous premier free-ticket screenings.

Today there was a IT exhibition / cum sale at Mid Valley, where various electronic gadgets including notebooks were on sale today. I really had been looking forward into getting a notebook for myself so that I can carry it anywhere to do work and even pass my time without wandering around. I know I must have one but there are many choices to pick from. So that's where I browsed through each brand's specs, prices and payment methods.

So far, after searching through, I finally came down to two brands, three models and licensing models. They virtually have the similar hardware configuration OS.

The final three models under my scrutiny were:

1. Acer Aspire 5684 WXMI
2. HP Pavillion DV2201TX
3. Compaq Presario V3205TU

Each of these models have strengths and weaknesses. The Presario model has a HD monitor which allows viewing of high-definition trailer at 1080i. But then, it lacks the video graphics processor that others have. The first two models are priced at $ 5000 Whereas Presario was priced at $4000. But then they have one missing thing in common:

OS - Most of those systems offer either Vista Basic (= XP Home Edition) or Home Premium ( = MCE edition). Since I work mostly on client-server programs, I would definitely need Vista Business or XP Professional. The earlier Vista editions are buggy and it does not have the remote desktop connecting feature included in Vista Business. However, I am aware that the licensing cost of Vista Business is 50% more than the Home Premium edition. Sadly, vendors could not do special request such as upgrading the OS to a different level - which is a bad thing since a trick of business success, according to Ron Kaufman is do to something unbelievable.

But still it is a loot that many amateur thieves would be out to get their hands on it. The poor people could not afford to have one of this since the price derives from the production costs of hardware and OS licensing.

You must remember for sure that such piece of equipment don't cost $50, but from $2500 to $15000 with the most expensive being Sony Vaio's Blu-Ray notebook.

Thieving for this isn't as easy as Garrett did before. He until today remains the only person in the world to have Keeper glyph powers to help keep him in the shadows. Not only that, you had to deal with security cameras that more sophisticated than the so called 'Karras' Eyes - big, bulky security cameras that might help trigger turrets if you are spotted.

Thief 2 - The Metal Age is by far the most difficult of the trilogy. The defunct Looking Glass Studios had raised the ante / challenge of stealth, making things go more difficult than Thief: The Dark Project. I believe that following feedback and comments by expert players of the first game lacks the challenge. In some levels of the game, such as raiding Shoalsgate Police Station to frame an officer - think as the medieval Bukit Aman Police HQ in Kuala Lumpur, you are not allowed into confronting people - which is an addition to the expert mode - which forbids killing people - a mark of an amateur as Garrett would comment. And there are levels that make you conserve your inventory as your loot and the stuff you might carry in a mission would be carried over to the next half of a mission.

It took me a month to play through all the 15 levels of the game with the climax being the most difficult of all - shutting down a mad patriarch's factory full of non-living beings.
Now back to the main point:

The picture above is the notebook that I really wanted: HP NX6330. It has the features that fits me most. But then I was angered that retailers do not have this model in the inventory. It seems that I may have to order one directly from the manufacturer. Which brings us to another problem here - the dilemma that I'm facing right now.

I remembered that my technical director of my company said that there are four categories of knowledge usage - that forms a 4-cell square.

1. The first one (upper left) is: Don't know and you couldn't.
2. The second one (upper right) is: Don't know but can do.
3. The third one (lower left) is: Know but couldn't do.
4. The fourth one is: Know and can do.

Using this square clearly benefits much as this can apply to any problems that we're facing.
For this scenario, I'm facing the problem: I can pay but I don't know whether I can pay in the way I want to pay - which is the upper right square that I've mentioned. If translated, it means, I can pay 1/3 of the cost in advance but in cash, but the remaining in card. House of Notebooks is a dealer that does that...thank god! But I'm planning this for April. Another good news is that the price has dropped by $500, which means I can afford it already!

I had to go amateur in the last three months to save as much of advance money that I can pay as to minimize the credit spending. But I treat this as paying monthly rentals.

When I came back for dinner, sometime came across my mind about bootlegging. It made me trying to put into the perspective of the opposition. But that would be another topic to be discussed some other day. I'm trying to keep a habit of 1 post per day.

Nay, simpleton. Knowst thou not that to speak that name is to mock our defeated adversary?
- A warning not to speak the word 'taffer'