I Got A Feeling They Ain't Going To Learn.

From The Star:

Accepting Barisan’s sixth by-election defeat since the March 2008 general election, Muhyiddin said the results showed that the people were not just interested in development.

I actually read another variation in Bernama that said of:

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said he was disappointed that the constituents of Permatang Pasir did not vote for change in the by-election yesterday.

The Umno deputy president said they could have become too comfortable to want development.

Anyhow, the statement above no doubt hints of cry-baby that Barisan Nasional would likely get into when they lose a by-election. I have a good feeling that they will never learn, not with some hardcore BN people out there who wants retribution for at those who are not supportive to their cause.

Najib previously said of wanting to retake the 5 states lost. Perak was one of the signs of cry-baby retribution. And now "Mr. Swollen" (a translation of Wak Sembab) has said that Permatang Pasir does not want new development with that result and start saying that it was all the non-Malays fault.

The reality is that people are very angry at Barisan Nasional. That's why they don't support them. They realized that there are things that they have been mislead into believing into.

If there are more cases of other assemblymen accused of this and that and other things that people are angry, it is a clear hint that it's a sulking hit hard antics by BN over losing.

Soi Lek Removed From No. 2 MCA Post

I stumbled upon info that the MCA disciplinary commitee has removed Chua Soi Lek from the DP MCA post. This was confirmed 8 minutes ago.

Read also the earlier article by Malaysian Insider.

From Tukar Tiub:

AKTOR PORNO HILANG KERJA

Berita jam 11.49 malam.

Berita belum saheh tapi sudah sah !!

Increasing The Consumer Buying Power in Malaysia

Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati told Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that India needs to increase buying power by spending more and reduce the amount of current balance. The reason is simply because that saving is a sin and a spending is a virtue.

Although we are taught the other way round, the reality is that there are two main reasons behind the famous saying. First of all, is that a nation cannot progress without spending and secondly, savings forms a part of the nation's current account balance.

Despite having the largest current account balance, alongside Japan and India, the Chinese economy remains in a slump simply because of the current balance. The big amount of balance has made these three nations as a shopkeeper financier to the United States. Of all the 163 countries the United States has a red margine of current account balance. How they have a red margine and still being the world's number 1 economic nation is because they have been living on borrowing the reserves that we nations have stocked up.

Asians like ourselves tend to save and do not spend so much as the Americans do but in the end, the economic position of a country is weak. The Americans spend what is attractive to them via the imports from other countries.

This is the rank of countries in terms of account balance:

Rank Country Current account balance (million US$)
1 People's Republic of China (PRC) 179,100
2 Japan 174,400
3 Germany 134,800
4 Russia 105,300
5 Saudi Arabia 103,800
6 Norway 63,330
7 Switzerland 50,440
8 Netherlands 50,170
9 Kuwait 40,750
10 Singapore 35,580
11 Venezuela 31,820
12 Sweden 28,610
13 United Arab Emirates 26,890
14 Algeria 25,800
15 Hong Kong 20,900
16 Canada 20,560
17 Malaysia 17,860
18 Libya 14,500
19 Brazil 13,500
20 Iran 13,130
21 Nigeria 12,590
22 Qatar 12,510
23 Taiwan 9,700
24 Finland 8,749
25 Iraq 8,134
26 Angola 7,700
27 Oman 7,097
28 Belgium 6,925
29 Austria 5,913
30 Argentina 5,810
31 Chile 5,063
32 Denmark 4,941
33 Philippines 4,900
34 Luxembourg 4,630
35 Trinidad and Tobago 3,259
36 Azerbaijan 2,737
37 Egypt 2,697
38 Korea, South 2,000
39 Bahrain 1,999
40 Gabon 1,807
41 Botswana 1,698
42 Yemen 1,690
43 Indonesia 1,636
44 Peru 1,515
45 Israel 1,643
46 Uzbekistan 1,410
47 Burma 1,247
48 Republic of the Congo 1,215
49 Vietnam 1,029
50 Ecuador 727
51 Bolivia 688
52 Papua New Guinea 661
53 Namibia 572
54 Ivory Coast 460
55 Cameroon 419
56 Morocco 389
57 Bangladesh 339
58 Turkmenistan 321.2
59 Equatorial Guinea 175
60 British Virgin Islands 134.3 (1999)
61 Kazakhstan 113
62 Cook Islands 26.67 (2005)
63 Palau 15.09 (2004)
64 Tuvalu 2.323 (1998)
65 Samoa -2.428 (2004)
66 Tonga -4.321 (2005)
67 Comoros -17 (2005)
68 Kiribati -19.87 (2004)
69 Swaziland -23.13
70 São Tomé and Pr íncipe -24.4
71 Vanuatu -28.35 (2003)
72 Federated States of Micronesia-34.3 (2005)
73 Anguilla -42.87 (2003)
74 Cape Verde -44.43
75 The Gambia - 54.61
76 Burundi -57.84
77 Haiti -58..72
78 Tajikistan -73.95
79 Lesotho -75.44
80 Seychelles -78.59
81 Antigua and Barbuda -83.4 (2004)
82 Guyana - 84.3
83 Rwanda -104.1
84 Honduras -160
85 Zambia -165.4
86 Republic of Macedonia -167
87 Belize -173.4
88 Malawi -186
89 Ghana -219
90 Armenia -247.3
91 Togo -261.9
92 Zimbabwe - 264.6
93 Kyrgyzstan -287.3
94 Paraguay -300
95 Chad -324.1
96 Benin -342.7
97 Guinea -344
98 Cambodia -369
99 Mexico -400.1
100 Uganda -423
101 Eritrea -440.5
102 Mozambique -444.4
103 Fiji -465.8
104 Panama -467
105 Madagascar -504
106 Laos -404.2
107 Belarus -511.8
108 Syria -529
109 Moldova -561
110 Uruguay -600
111 Burkina Faso -604.6
112 Mauritius -651
113 Albania -679.9
114 Georgia -735
115 Tunisia -760
116 Slovenia -789.2
117 Nicaragua -883
118 Senegal -895.2
119 Thailand - 899.4
120 Tanzania -906
121 Malta -966.2
122 Jamaica -970
123 Cyprus -1,051
124 El Salvador -1,059
125 Sri Lanka -1,118
126 Kenya -1,119
127 Dominican Republic -1,124
128 Costa Rica -1,176
129 Cuba -1,218
130 Guatemala -1,533
131 Bosnia and Herzegovina -1,730
132 Estonia -1,919
133 Ukraine -1,933
134 Colombia -2,219
135 Serbia -2,451 (2005)
136 Latvia -2,538
137 Lithuania -2,572
138 Jordan -2,834
139 Croatia -2,892
140 Iceland -2,932
141 Ethiopia -3,384
142 Slovakia -3,781
143 Czech Republic -4,352
144 Sudan -4,510
145 Poland -4,548
146 Bulgaria -5,100
147 Lebanon -5,339
148 Pakistan -5,486
149 New Zealand -7,944
150 Hungary -8,392
151 Ireland -9,450
152 Romania -12,450
153 South Africa -12,690
154 Portugal -16,750
155 Greece -21,370
156 Italy -23,730
157 Turkey -25,990
158 India -26,400
159 France -38,000
160 Australia -41,620
161 United Kingdom -57,680
162 Spain -98,600
163 United States -862,300

Surprising to see Malaysia being on the top 20 of the list.

I've stumbled upon an article by Business Times Singapore that prompts of the case of strengthening the ringgit. Bank Negara cannot bow to the idea of keeping the ringgit weak as to encourage more exports to the other countries. It is a dependency that will no longer work anymore. That tends to make America spend more and more, depending on reserves of other currencies to sustain themselves.

The solution to improve Malaysian economy is there:

1. Reduce the exchange rate of the ringgit to 2.5 (as pre-1997 rates)
2. Reduce the import duties of all goods - particularly on cars, electrical items.
3. Encourage buying of items like cars, computers and those that they wish to do so.

The Customs department and the Finance ministry must straight away forget about dilly delay of those things and start implementing those measures. Retaining the OPR rate at 2% will not help much.

Abdullah Badawi once said of increasing prices to reduce subsidies is wrong. That is a prescription of the economic hitman out to make Malaysia owe money to agencies like IMF / World Bank.

Full article below:

Japanese save a lot. They do not spend much. Also Japan exports far more
than it imports. Has an annual trade surplus of over 100 billions. Yet
Japanese economy is considered weak, even collapsing.

Americans spend, save little. Also US imports more than it exports. Has an
annual trade deficit of over $400 billion. Yet, the American economy is
considered strong and trusted to get stronger.

But where from do Americans get money to spend?

They borrow from Japan, China and even India.
Virtually others save for the US to spend. Global savings are mostly
invested in US, in dollars.

India itself keeps its foreign currency assets of over $50 billions in US
securities. China has sunk over $160 billion in US securities. Japan's
stakes in US securities is in trillions.

Result:

The US has taken over $5 trillion from the world. So, as the world saves for
the US, Americans spend freely. Today, to keep the US consumption going,
that is for the US economy to work, other countries have to remit $180
billion every quarter, which is $2 billion a day, to the US!

A Chinese economist asked a neat question. Who has invested more, US in
China, or China in US? The US has invested in China less than half of what
China has invested in US.

The same is the case with India. We have invested in US over $50 billion.
But the US has invested less than $20 billion in India.

Why the world is after US?

The secret lies in the American spending, that they hardly save. In fact
they use their credit cards to spend their future income. That the US
spends is what makes it attractive to export to the US. So US imports more
than what it exports year after year.

The result:

The world is dependent on US consumption for its growth. By its deepening
culture of consumption, the US has habituated the world to feed on US
consumption. But as the US needs money to finance its consumption, the world
provides the money.

It's like a shopkeeper providing the money to a customer so that the
customer keeps buying from the shop. If the customer will not buy, the shop
won't have business, unless the shopkeeper funds him. The US is like the
lucky customer. And the world is like the helpless shopkeeper financier.

Who is America's biggest shopkeeper financier? Japan of course. Yet it's
Japan which is regarded as weak. Modern economists complain that Japanese do
not spend, so they do not grow. To force the Japanese to spend, the Japanese
government exerted itself, reduced the savings rates, even charged the
savers.

Even then the Japanese did not spend (habits don't change, even with taxes,
do they?).. Their traditional postal savings alone is over $1.2 trillions,
about three times the Indian GDP. Thus, savings, far from being the strength
of Japan, has become its pain.

Hence, what is the lesson?

That is, a nation cannot grow unless the people spend, not save. Not just
spend, but borrow and spend.

Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati, the famous Indian-born economist in the US, told
Manmohan Singh that Indians wastefully save.. Ask them to spend, on imported
cars and, seriously, even on cosmetics! This will put India on a growth
curve. This is one of the reason for MNC's coming down to India, seeing the
consumer spending.

'Saving is sin, and spending is virtue.'

But before you follow this neo economics, get some fools to save so that you
can borrow from them and spend!!!

Lunas Assemblyman Leaves PKR...I Said So About Anwar's Blunder

As I have said previously, Anwar Ibrahim has made one major blunder in this 17 months so far and that's evident when Lunas state assemblyman Radzhi Salleh decided to jump ship and become and independent.

I have mentioned my piece (Anwar Ibrahim's Biggest Blunder in 17 Months ) in the previous posting but would like to comment on the Lunas thing. The Lunas seat in 2000 won by PKR marks the start of the reformasi in the elections thing. It was fortunate for if Joe Fernandez was not murdered 9 years ago, it would still be a different thing.

Anwar, I've said so and you blew it. Period.

The signs where there before the real thing happened. For instance they never expected that turning down the opportunity to bubar state assembly resulted in 3 people moving over.

Gunasegaran #1805 Today

P Gunasegaran's funeral was held today at the temple in Bandar Baru Sentul.

YB Tian Chua was there and was twittering about the entire event.

Gunasegaran is casualty #1805 - alleged casualty under police detention.

Such deaths in detention reminds me of the Abu Ghraib style of detention that is happening in Malaysia. Unfortunately people simply are not aware or kept in the dark about this matter.

The government has not implemented the measures that were introduced by the Dzaiddin Commission that tells of the internal procedures and practices that must be implemented in the police force.

The police force fears such implementation would result in power loss. No. It is a reality check now. And the opponent of the implementation? The top brass like Musa Hassan. Now the police has to ask themselves - I mean if MACC is now in confidence crisis, so they should be.

A/N - Pic above by delCapo

A Sure Win For PAS In Permatang Pasir

The press statement by Yusri Ishak this morning on the BN candidate Rohaizat Othman proved to be the smoking gun used against Barisan Nasional. With that, it is anticipated that with backed up claims by the BAR council and the high court, PAS will win. According to Malaysiakini, the statement has been backed up by the BAR council.

In addition, the Permatang Pasir UMNO division has expressed their disappointment that their preference was Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said being passed and in favor of the other one by Muhyiddin Yassin. This has shown infighting among themselves.

My friend Aspan has written in his posting that given that the revelation is to painful to bear, BN should withdraw from the election race, rather than wasting more money on the by-election. If continued, they stand to lose more of the money campaign, having lost almost all by-elections except for the Batang Ai.

Letter Proves The Hypothesis Behind Beng Hock's Death

At the beginning, I have theorized that Beng Hock's death was via harsh interrogation tactics employed by the state MACC. I have also theorized that Beng Hock was put out of the window as actually meant to scare him to confess or make something out of it. It was an intimidation tactic aimed to get Beng Hock to mention a name as to start accusing any Pakatan Rakyat assemblyman in Selangor of corruption.

The timing of when Beng Hock died was weeks after the state speaker Teng Chang Kim suspended opposition leader Khir Toyo from the assembly for one year. This was a hit back plan that went awry. The intention was to hit back at PR people over the fiasco.

It was mentioned earlier that several MACC insiders were witnesses of the harsh interrogation methods that involved Beng Hock. What was known was that when being asked various questions during the statement taking sessions, Beng Hock absolutely had no idea or doesn't know anything at all to the questions posed by the MACC officers.

It was alleged that the man responsible for the botch interrogation was Deputy State MACC director Hishamuddin Hashim who is found colluding with Khir Toyo. Although Khir denies it totally, it was in fact to cover his own ass up.

Now, let's go through the content of the letter:

1. His involvement was not merely on official orders, but instructing subordinates to find any thing or excuses to prosecute the Pakatan Rakyat state assemblymen.

This shows that Beng Hock was forced by officers under Hishamuddin's command to reveal or finger point any assemblymen to save himself. Beng Hock was threaten to do so, failure he would be risked beaten or having family members beaten - one of the methods that is ultra vires of a MACC officer would be entitled.

2. Chemist department found fingerprints and DNA traces which is on Beng Hock's belt. According to our knowledge, Hishamuddin Hashim has his own methods of interrogation, that is he will ask questions while holding the front detainee's belt and shaking it a few times.

This has proven that he was shoved outside at a window pane (see a scene in Be Cool movie), threatening to drop Beng Hock. However, the Beng Hock's pants went "cracked" and they could not pull him back off the window in time. The interrogation plan went awry and it is suffice to say why MACC was blamed for the actions of one senior officer.

3. We have knowledge that Hishamuddin ordered the officers to wipe any fingerprints on the window where Beng Hock was believed to fall. This proves that the police were not able to find any fingerprints at the window. Why would he ordered such thing?

There are a few deductions...maybe to cover him and Khir, or to say that Beng Hock committed suicide. These are the top two assumptions that could be known after this exposure.

Khir Toyo was implicated in many corruption scandals but when people asked the MACC to investigate, it was a NFA result. What the letter implies that Hishamuddin being an associate of Khir's circle did that to cover their asses. It's like you cover me I cover you thing.

There have been many speculations of how Beng Hock died or who did it, but the letter and my hypothesis would eventually point out that Beng Hock died in that manner that some believed.

Kota Seputeh Vacancy: Remember The Try in Perak?

Malaysiakini has reported that the state speaker of Kedah has filed a notice of automatic empty of seat for the Kota Seputeh seat after the assemblyman Datuk Abu Hassan Sarif has failed turn up in the last two assembly sessions without the Speaker's permission. (Read: AWOL). The state constitution has stated that if any assemblyman who fails to show up twice without cause will have the seat deemed vacant.

The Kedah EC commission has received the letter of notice from the speaker and will be passing to the federal level of the EC commission.

But do you remember what the EC did prior to the Perak fiasco?

When the state speaker V. Sivakumar submitted the letters of resignation of the three assemblymen to the election commission, the election commission rejected those letters resulting in Sivakumar suing the three representatives and the commission for that. In addition, the Bar council has criticized the Federal Court for in opinion that EC decides on vacancies, a fact that is wrong and the court can also declare that the seat is vacant if the assemblyman / MP is bankrupt, violating the law, etc..

But remember. previously there was word from certain quarters that Najib indirectly instructing the Election Commission not to declare the three seats vacant in Perak via the UMNO lawyer "Hasnizam" (or was it really Hafarizam Harun?) still remains around and seeing the news of that prompted me to say that they will try many ways not to make the seat vacant.

1. They have insufficient campaign money to fight in more by-elections. With this and maybe a few more like in one in Gua Musang (state seat) or the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat, it will be hard. Given that most of the by-election campaigns end with defeats they are not likely going to fight that hard and wanted a rejection over a fight.

2. Kota Seputeh is a Barisan Nasional seat and if the seat is vacant, it means that on the psychological aspect, BN will lose one more seat in the state.

These are the two basic premises that it is a high possibility that Barisan will definitely make the EC (as part of their unofficial 4 entities) to reject the letter of vacancy.

Brother Lawrence Spitzig (1918-2009)

I only saw him twice. The first time was when he was visiting Ipoh and I was only 15 at that time. He held a talk about careers in a neighboring school in town.

The second time was somewhere in late 2007 where I managed to spend one Saturday afternoon at St. John's to talk to him. I introduced myself and reminded him of being in Ipoh 10 years ago and we started to talk. At that time of talking, he had a bad fall from the staircase, which was the prelude to the next few months of being bound to the wheelchair as he's weak to walk.

Being 91 is pretty good, considering that he outlived Brother Ultan Paul, whom I used to see when I was a boy. If there is a wake for all students to come and see, it's today and for myself, I've been through three or four wakes, mostly being my grandparents and the first one was on Brother Paul's wake back in mid-April 2000.

Condolences...

From The Malay Mail:

LA SALLIAN Brother Datuk Lawrence Spitzig, the former director of St John's Institution Kuala Lumpur (SJI), who dedicated his entire life to education and youth died yesterday at the Assunta Hospital, Petaling Jaya.

He was 91.

Brother Lawrence who was in a coma for the last five days lost his long battle with prostate and lung cancer.

His contributions to education have been immense. Among his most notable contributions to SJI was the fact that he wrote the lyrics for the SJI school song Cheer cheer & courage display, which till today is sung by its students.

Born in Feb 4, 1918, the Canadian served two terms as the school director (a role equivalent to school principal). The first was from 1955 till 1961 and the second was from 1979 till 1983.

After his retirement, Spitzig visited East Malaysia to help the poor who hailed from Sabah and Sarawak's indigenous tribes.

His six decades of dedication as a school administrator won him many titles and honours. He was awarded a Datukship by the King in conjunction with the Federal Territories Day this year.

He was also granted the "Jasamu Dikenang" award during this year's Teacher's Day celebrations. The La Sallian Brother was also honoured with The Order of Canada in 2004, which is Canada's highest civilian honour and awarded to outstanding Canadians.

Brother Lawrence's body will be brought to the St John's chapel in SJI today at 9.30am and his funeral service will be held at St John's Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur at 10am tomorrow.

Chanan Singh, Charpoy and PMR Trial 2005

Chanan Singh came from Punjabi in India to Ipoh in the 40s. He made charpoys - old style beds that security guards would love to setup when sleeping and easy to move away in the morning. I was told that he passed away at a very old age of 95.

He was incidentally my family friend's father-in-law. His wife passed away 13 months earlier.

And yes, it is a very rich life for Mr. Chanan Singh. Incidentally, references of Chanan appeared in an article of the news straits times and in a Perak PMR 2005 English trial paper. Quote from the paper:

The seventh child of eight siblings, Nasip Khor enjoys a wonderful relationship with both her parents but is closer to her dad, Chanan Singh. Her favourite childhood memory of him were the times when he took her and her siblings to town on his bicycle.

Ninety-year-old Chanan, a craftsman, came from Punjab in India to the then Malaya
in 1935. He lives in Ipoh with his wife, who is 84.

“My dad is healthy and is still going strong,” says Nasip. “He carves beautiful charpoys (a light bedstead of webbing stretched across a frame), rolling pins and rolling boards to make chapatti and other equipment.”

He works in a strictly traditional setting with tools that he designs himself. As a child,
Nasip helped him saw wood, weave charpoys, paint rolling pins and boards.

“I admire and am a big fan of his work,” says Nasip. “When I return to Ipoh, I spend time in his workshop, admiring his skills and determination to continue working.

Asked what she likes most about her dad, she replies: His simple lifestyle. He is
hardworking, humble and honest. Once his customer paid him an extra RM100 and he cycled all the way to return the money.”

He is not materialistic – his most important possessions are a charpoy to sleep on, a 45-year-old cupboard to put his clothes in and a self-made fan called pakhi.

Who's The Real Fool?

Is it the fool himself or the fool that follows the fool?

The Malaysian Insider: - RTM reporter Claims That She Doesn't Know Who Karpal Is

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 — RTM reporter Eliana Mazlan admitted that she does not know which party Karpal Singh belongs to during his sedition trial in the High Court today.

She also does not know who Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is and only described him as the president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

Does she only know who are the people in the Barisan Nasional himself?

Eliana, the prosecution’s second witness, was subjected to a rigorous cross-examination by defence counsel Jagdeep Singh, and appeared rattled by the lawyer’s questions on the third day of Karpal‘s sedition trial.

She could not identify the component parties of Pakatan Rakyat and was taught a history lesson by Jagdeep on what transpired in the 2008 general election.

Don't want to read or told not to know anything about general election?

Eliana was also unable to show a clear understanding of Jagdeep’s questions on the transcript of the tape recording during Karpal’s press conference on Feb 6 this year.

The 26-year-old reporter had only been on the job for two months on the day of the press conference and her testimony is crucial to the introduction of an RTM video recording of Karpal’s statement to the press.

By questioning her understanding of what transpired during Karpal's press conference, the defence is attempting to prove she is an unreliable witness.

The DAP chairman and Bukit Gelugor MP was charged on March 17 with sedition, under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act 1948, for saying that Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin's removal as Perak mentri besar by Sultan Azlan Shah could be questioned in a court of law.

Karpal is further accused of several other seditious statements related to the entire Perak constitutional crisis which began two months ago.

He is accused of committing the offence during a press conference at his law firm here on Feb 6.

During cross-examination, Jagdeep decided to use the video after Eliana failed to answer several questions based on the transcript.

Jagdeep: Do you understand the meaning of ultra vires?

Eliana: I am not sure.

Jagdeep: So you don’t understand or not sure?

Eliana replied that she understood and the defence counsel asked the reporter to define the term.

Eliana: Actions that are above the law.

The defence counsel then asked her if she believes that definition provided by her colleague was correct.

Eliana: I am not sure.

Jagdeep: So it might be right?

Eliana: It might be right, it might be wrong.

On Wednesday, Utusan Malaysia reporter Mohd Nizam Mohd Yatim told the High Court that he thought the phrase “ultra vires” contained in a press release issued by Karpal meant the DAP man was insulting the Perak Sultan.

The defence counsel then referred to the video and asked the reporter if she understood what was shown on the clip.

Hahaha..you don't know English. No wonder Mahathir hits people hard for turning against English!

Eliana: Karpal said that he will sue the Sultan of Perak because the Sultan is not qualified to interfere.

Jagdeep then asked her if she really believed what she said until the reporter finally admitted that she was not sure and asked for the clip to be replayed.

“So you are not sure. This is serious, you cannot just give answers like that,” Jagdeep scolded.

Judicial Commissioner Azman Abdullah then accepted the reporter’s request for the clip to be replayed.

Jagdeep: So do you agree that in the clip Karpal Singh said that we will sue the Sultan together with the new state government as defendants if they persist.

Eliana: We could mean I.

Jagdeep: So what is we? Do you understand English? What is we? So do you agree that we is not I?

The reporter kept quiet.

Buat apa you belajar BM terlalu serious? That's why you pay too much attention to BM. No wonder expats working in here had a hard time to understand. WHY you idiots didn't give them the English option? Ini lagi bodoh dari Singapura!

Jagdeep: So do you agree that your understanding (of the word we) was a complete misunderstanding?

Eliana: I don’t know.

The defence counsel continued to argue that based on the video and its transcript, Karpal did not force his opinion and was only giving his view.

Karpal also explained in the transcript that if the Sultan does not agree with his opinion then the Sultan can refer to the Federal Court under Article 64 of the constitution for a judicial review on whether the three assemblymen were still members of the state assembly.

Jagdeep: Do you agree that Karpal repeated three times in the transcript that the Sultan can refer to Article 64?

Eliana: Agree.

During the prosecution's re-examination of the witness, the lead deputy public prosecutor Datuk Kamaludin Md Said asked if the reporter understood the supplementary case studies provided with the press release during the press conference.

Eliana: No, I didn’t read.

Kamaludin: Do you understand law?

Eliana: No, I do not understand.

The DPP began to read the case studies and asked the reporter if she agreed that what he read was part of the law.

Eliana: I am not sure.

The DPP then asked the reporter if Karpal read the case studies handouts during the press conference and she replied no.

The trial was then adjourned to Tuesday morning

What Man...No Bloody Manners!

"No Bloody Manners"

That's my dad's friend's favorite catch phrase which I still remember until now.

And that's the ideal response to this Malaysiakini video on Rais Yatim.

Anwar Ibrahim's Biggest Blunder in 17 Months

I'm going to make this very short and simple to understand.

Pakatan Rakyat has yet to seized the real advantage since winning by surprise March 8 2008. Some politicians that were elected as either MPs or state assemblymen were accidental people, being in other professions before being dragged into politics and then selected to be candidates in general elections.

Anwar claimed that he had around 31 to 45 MPs to cross over to the coalition at this time around last year. But in the end, after 16 September nothing happened, except for him to say that the plan got postponed for the fear of backlash by the Barisan Nasional.

The weak link in the Perak political fiasco is PKR. The two who left out to became independents are from PKR themselves. From some word of mouth from the inner circle people, it is said that one of them claimed that he should be the MB, but unhappy when the Regent Raja Dr. Nazrin chose Nizar to be MB instead.

In the recent Penanti by-election, which was supposedly a PKR seat, Anwar ran out of options to select a Malay candidate to put in the election. If he puts in a Mamak, there's some trouble bound to be brewing. So does choosing a non-Malay person to contest in that seat. The pool of reserves in the PKR / Pakatan still remains insufficient.

A friend of mine had once offered Anwar and always said to me that he can take the chance to developed a few thousand of intellectual peoples to be associate members of the PKR. Perhaps this is the pool that Anwar should focus on rather than banking on the crossovers that is risky with Barisan Nasional hawking around.

And that is the biggest blunder that Anwar Ibrhaim made in the last 17 months.

The One Phrase That Misleads Many Readers

From The Malaysian Insider:

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — Utusan Malaysia reporter Mohd Nizam Mohd Yatim told the High Court today that he thought the phrase “ultra vires” contained in a press release issued by Karpal Singh meant the DAP man was insulting the Perak Sultan.

Mohd Nizam, the prosecution’s first witness in Karpal’s sedition trial, was subjected to a rigorous cross-examination by defence counsel Jagdeep Singh Deo, and appeared rattled by the lawyer’s questions.

At one point the Utusan Malaysia reporter did not appear to even know what Karpal Singh was being charged with.

The reporter was also unable to show a clear understanding of the barrage of questions by Jagdeep on the four-page press statement distributed by Karpal during a press conference on Feb 6 this year.

Based on a report written by him and published by the newspaper, Mohd Nizam had been put on the witness stand by the prosecution to show that Karpal had committed sedition.

By questioning him over his understanding of what transpired during Karpal's press conference, the defence was attempting to prove he was an unreliable witness.

The DAP chairman and Bukit Gelugor MP was charged with sedition on March 17 for saying Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin's removal as Perak mentri besar by Sultan Azlan Shah could be questioned in a court of law.

The veteran lawyer-politician was charged in the Sessions Court in KL before judge Mohamad Sekeri Mamat under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act 1948.

Karpal is further accused of several other seditious statements related to the entire Perak constitutional crisis which began two months ago.

He is accused of committing the crime during a press conference at his law firm here on February 6.

Mohd Nizam was questioned earlier by the deputy public prosecutor Azlina Rasdi.

Azlina had asked Mohd Nizam to tell the court who was at the press conference as well as where it was held, before requesting the reporter read the press release provided.

She also asked him to summarize the contents to the court.

Mohd Nizam: “If the Sultan still wants to pick Zambry as mentri besar then Pakatan Rakyat government has no choice but to take legal action.”

He added that after the press conference there was a question and answer session. He told the court that a reporter asked Karpal if he would be suing the sultan.

“Karpal said yes,” Nizam said in his testimony which was later challenged by the defence.

During cross-examination, Jagdeep had asked the 38-year-old reporter: “Do you agree that his (Karpal) view on the constitution is sought after?”

Mohd Nizam: “I am not sure.”

Jagdeep: “Do you agree that he (Karpal) is known as a smart laywer?”

Mohd Nizam: “I am not sure.”

Jagdeep: “If you still do not know after eight years working then you should start doing your work properly.”

Jagdeep then proceeded to ask him if he understood the press release since it was in English.

Mohd Nizam: “I only understand it in general and not thoroughly.”

Jagdeep then asked the reporter if he agreed that what was said in the press conference was only an opinion of the constitutional crisis in Perak.

“I only report and do not give opinion,” Mohd Nizam replied.

The answer appeared to irritate Jagdeep who accused Mohd Nizam of being insincere.

Jagdeep then told Mohd Nizam to read part of the press release to the court.

Mohd Nizam: “Although the orders have been confirmed by the Sultan. If the decision is ultra vires then the decision can be adjudicated by the court.”

Jagdeep then asked Nizam to explain what ultra vires means to the court.

Nizam looking confused and replied: “To insult.”

Jagdeep then told Mohd Nizam that his misunderstanding of the word had caused chaos in the country because the word actually means “beyond the powers”.

Mohd Nizam was then asked what questions were thrown at Karpal during the press conference.

Nizam explained that reporters wanted to clarify if Karpal meant that he was going to bring the Sultan to court.

“So do you agree that Karpal did not say that he will sue?” Jagdeep asked.

“Agree,” Nizam replied.

After the cross-examination, the defence team requested Judicial Commissioner Azman Abdullah for the witness’s cross-examination to be adjourned until it could question another witness on the transcript of the press conference.

Azman then asked the prosecution to call its next witness.

But the prosecution could not bring its next witness, an RTM reporter, because he had failed to show up and could not be contacted.

The trial was then adjourned to tomorrow afternoon.

So this it then...the one line that misleaded many Malay readers. Ultra vires means beyond the powers entitled and this reporter has told Malaysians that Karpal Singh's statement is seditious, but it was a false lie.

If you don't really study english well, then that's the problem many people are facing. No wonder Dr. M is still unhappy over why Muhyiddin Yassin is walking one step backwards on this policy.

Anyhow, it's menipu the Malaysians, especially the Malays don't you think?

Are You Saying Helping Other Malaysians Is Considered Betraying Your Own Kind?

There is no religion in this world that says that you cannot help other people just because they are different skin colors or they practice different faiths. The Bible, the Quran, the Torah, and other holy books never said of you cannot help that. In fact saying that is a violation of the Abrahamic teachings, in which is the root of Islam and Christianity. Helping fellow men is the most common virtue that God himself would appreciate on men who would do it.

If someone said that helping others is betraying your own kind, that means it more or less of the teachings of the Devil. Only someone who is stupid would say that.

It started with a series of events starting with Muhyiddin Yassin calling Anwar Ibrahim as a traitor of the Malays and then UMNO had its own support Muhyddin in PWTC followed by NGOs coming to say the sentiment of Muhyiddin. On that last part, I wonder whether it is the blind faith to UMNO that is driving the frenzy or is it that the craze of self-gain leverage defying the logic and moral grounds?

People are starting to hate them. That's one of the reasoning. The anti-ISA rally, held 10 days ago reveals that 95% of people who participated there are the Malays themselves. There is a inference from that event to show that Malays are helping their fellow Malaysians, own skin and other skins (read non-Malays). From that point, it shows that the UMNO is losing power over the privileges they enjoyed in the last 52 years.

Now who is really actually betraying anyhow? Some of us do remember of how the misdeeds committed but unreported by 'scum' / people who are mostly affilated with UMNO.

Pic by The Malaysian Insider

I am no fan of Anwar Ibrahim but I find that if you are saying that helping people or being fair to other people irregardless of skin color is a sin and a traitor to your own kind, then you better ship out. The statement that started with Wak Sembab Muhyiddin mirrors to how Templars started the war against the Muslims in the Third Crusade. What is the point of having the 1Malaysia concept when you have people like Muhyiddin screaming like Ketuanan Melayu thing?

Shouting those rhetorics revealed the characteristics of people who are either in blind faith to the party without using logics or people who behave like Nazis. It also points out that Najib himself is facing trouble and dissent from people in his own party who is more of the leanings towards the Ketuanan Melayu concept that has gone down the drain. The tale of Julius Caesar, including the history that chronicles his life and backstabbing ultimately ends with Caesar's betrayal by his number two man. Consider in the Malaysian political context, maybe Muhyiddin could go against Najib sooner or later..perhaps.

You say other people but what about those among themselves? Consider this:

Muhyiddin sebenarnya menutup fakta bahawa bahawa pemimpin Umno dan kerajaan BNlah yang telah menggadai sejumlah tanah di negeri Johor kepada kerajaan Singapura pada awal tahun 1980-an lagi dan ‘pengkhianat terbesar perjuangan orang Melayu’.

Pemimpin Umno pada waktu itu telah menyerahkan tanah seluas 51,170 hektar kepada Singapura dengan bayaran RM350 juta.

Muhyiddinlah orangnya yang bertanggungjawab menggadai tanah-tanah orang Melayu kepada Singapura.

UMNO has totally ran out of ways to make people to follow them. They want fish for feed but the problems they face mirrors of how they are not able to do their own fishing and expecting people to spoon feed them all the time. And that's where the actual term of Ketuanan Beggars should come into place. And then, as Malaysiakini quoted from Anwar 'politics of race and hatred' is like being a lute player who plays only one tune over and over again.

Saying this thing over and over again will get people bored. And being too ultranationalist as some people will get the rest of the zoo very angry and will eventually get that joker killed. And I get sick of hearing the same tune played over and over again.

Yes, I am rambling because what Muhyiddin Yassin said is something that the younger generation wants to hear. When I sat on the LRT back to Masjid Jamek, I saw a graffiti that says ABU - meaning Asalkan Bukan UMNO. It seems that the young generation has sent a message of desire of freedom and seem to have a disillusion of UMNO and the politics of machination?

Don't believe me? You don't have to. Well, it's just my ramblings and opinion. Arguably, the ego factor is the government's strength and weakness. A media embarassment,( see Is Telling The Inconvenient Truth Something Worth It Now? ) as reported on the foreign media as like what Liberation said has put a shame on the government. It's a waking to reality thing. And to say to critics or people who thinks that the government is making the wrong moves as 'fuck you' shows how 'anti-democratic' - against what they claim to preach. Where's the walk the talk thing?

Jangan Tak Dengar Hishamuddin! Banyak Orang Kata Tak Nak ISA!

First of all, apologies as this picture was taken way earlier on and at this time, the number of votes can be as close to 10000. If you look at the first 4 questions, the majority of answers shows that people are now aware of their rights as citizens and Hisham, you can't shut out the people who say that the ISA needs to be replaced with something else and has to go.

So Hisham, don't be stupid and pretend you're not hearing them. Or you could be branded as anti-democratic...

You're No Computer Expert, Rais..So Back Down!

The Malaysian Insider reports that Rais Yatim's ministry is evaluating the feasibility of the Green Dam software as part of the aim of filtering unwanted content from the Internet.

But as said, the idea will draw flak as it violates the MSC bill of guarantees.

Rais, listen to the IT experts. You are only a politician. There are technical people out there including myself who thinks that taking this idea is a waste of time and still will not be able to accomplish the objective.

"The move comes on the back of proposals to register bloggers, most of whom are said to be anti-government, and the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition parties to have a larger Internet presence."

Look....we criticize not of we don't like you...but the mistakes that you're committing and you don't bother to listen at all. Who is to blame later on?

Even other people, who writes blogs, will start getting very angry and bash you down the moment they hear some illogical idea. Just back down, will you?

Is Telling The Inconvenient Truth Something Worth It Now?

In the aftermath of the anti-ISA Rally, The Associate Press, BBC and Al-Jazeera carried news on the on the rally in Kuala Lumpur.

1. Al Jazeera - Malaysia Protest March Broken Up
2. Associate Press - Malaysian Police Break Up Protesters With Tear Gas
3. BBC - Protest At Malaysia Security Law

That, I believe is a starter of the foreign press reporting the major event that was happening in Malaysia as from the third-person view. Neither being a citizen of Malaysia nor a supporter of any wing left or right in Malaysia. The kind of telling a news to the rest of the world has brought up something that is worth to be considered, given of the situation of the current press stand in Malaysia.

In the last few days, Utusan has showed its leanings towards the UMNO party stance, not the 1Malaysia stance by writing its racial view that is violating the image of Malaysia being a multi-racial country. The Star is a perfect example of showing major MCA events being its party newspaper. But the major mainstream dailies have in common is writing stories that portrays the ruling party leaders and what they do as a caring and showing Barisan Nasional as a 'we care to people party'. On the other hand, the papers portray people and those in the opposition position or those who do not agree with the ruling party policies as enemies of the state.

You do not need to read the papers on the daily basis to tell you the picture. And the way the news is shown in papers, it seems that it is biased and there are some truths that people, we the rakyat should know were kept out of the dark, the purpose is to keep us in the dark.

Hartalling the MSM is in my opinion one way, but, again given of the unique scenario, we might consider exposing the inconvenient truth to the international press, given of the unlikeliness of the local press to published revelations.

Sounds a little out of mind isn't it? It could be, but why I would say this is simply because it is one powerful way to get Malaysia to wake up to the reality of the world situation, and to get people to wake up that there some skeletons in the BN closet that they do not know. A lot of blame is pointing to the opposite closet but their own.

When the French paper Liberation exposes of the corruption, Najib-Altantuya connection a few months back, the deputy Speaker Wan Junaidi Jaafar went into finger-pointing mode, accusing others for writing something senseless. However, that piece is something that is true that is exposing the corruption within those associated with UMNO or Najib Razak. What Wan Junaidi remarked on that thing reveals that UMNO-BN is terribly afraid of the truth that has been kept hidden away from public attention to save themselves from embarassment.

Perhaps consider another scenario - let's say if people have concrete, irrefutable proof that politician A or Officer B has committed a number of malpractices or involved in a misconduct, but the press keeps dark out of it, what will you do then? If we do not write or expose it, other people will still be kept out of the dark.

Taking it to the real situation, let's say we have concrete proof of misconduct on politicians like Zahid Hamidi, Azim Zabidi, Nazri Aziz or we have real evidence that Musa Hassan and the police is in collusion with the underworld figures. If you tell the local press, they won't publish it because if they do so, they get phone calls or visits by Home Ministry or the 4th Floor Boys previously. If you're telling this to the international press, opinions will be divided but gagging the press is almost impossible.

I'm not trying to say that we should do this nor to embarass people, but it is to say that we are placed in the tight situation where telling the space of telling real truth to the public and other people who wants to know is very small and tight. If the local dailies will not permit, then where else can we tell apart from the cyber space / blogs? But the end objective is that we need to wake up to reality or get swept by the realities the more we dilly delay. Consider, if we still believe that nothing happens when the 2012 disaster happens, who is to blame in the end? We people or those politicians running the government?

I want to ask you people out there, about in this situation, is it really worth it in the current scenario?

Utusan's Provocation To Encourage Malay Chauvinism

Utusan's article entitled "The Malays are Cowards" is simply one way of UMNO to say to the Malay community that their rights have been stripped and so forth. But the statement that they say is merely a false hope to the people and actually people get nothing out of it.

The target of reading audience is for those majority of the Malay community who stayed away from urban areas and more on those village areas, with those who are lack in social savvy and education savvy in mind. In other words, those pre-Merdeka generation and those way back. The lack of Internet in those rural areas will be part of the advantage to press the false message to the readers there.

The idea behind the article is to provoke the other races into attacking the Malays and to encourage Malay chauvinism. Secondly, it is to reinforce the distrust, skepticism and unwillingness to trust other people of other colors. In other words, it is to keep the racial quo and gap wide open and maintaining the gap. In the recent years, the gap between all races are starting to close among each other, with everyone starting to express their comfortability to interact and work with other races.

“Who will hold the position of Chief Secretary. Secretary-generals, department director-generals. Senior officers and district officers? Who will be senior officers in the police and military?”

“Witness what has happened in Penang, Perak and Selangor. The Malay special rights and the NEP is no more.”

It didn't really matter whether you are black or white you can be a senior officer. Just whoever's best in the capability. Reading that I'd say that UMNO and this Noor Azam fellow demonstrated the lack of maturity and to think beyond the race game. It is like singing one tune with a lute over and over again.

The so call claim that Malays are losing power has been echoing since the March 8 general elections. That claim never existed at all. The real truth is that the so call Malay rights and privileges were never lost at all. UMNO is losing their power and dominance. The fear of losing power is driving them crazy and to do various kind of stupid and unacceptable things like calling police to whack people, calling Anwar as a traitor to their race, whereas people like Zahid and Muhyiddin are actually doing the wrong thing, etc..

As to fan more hate to them and push for more chauvinism, Muhyiddin remarked (as in Malaysiakini) - "What the Chinese, Indians and PAS want is greater political and administrative powers". Again, cap Melayu does not gurantee that race brand is the best in a capacity. It was illogical and wrong.

MCA and MIC are among the big three forming Barisan Nasional, but still after the general elections, they still say to people via their newspapers that they protect their fellow race interest. I mean like 'defenders of the Chinese, defenders of the Indians' but never answered the last part, 'against who?'. The answer is simple..against who means 'other races' meaning that if you're MCA, then the other races are your enemies. Simple as that.

I would love to go in a shoot whoever said that as a Commissar. How pathetic that people are = walking one step backwards. Please understand that everyone is getting duped into believing some cock shit by Utusan. It's time to wake up to reality. Period.

The question I have is how do you get out from the dream and put yourself into reality? If you have got up but you want to help people to be in the reality, how? Sometimes, exposing the inconvenient truth will have to be necessary to make things right...frankly.

Anti-ISA Crackdown: It Was Hishamuddin's Order

It is no doubt that the police will only act from orders from above.

Buletin Online has released an interesting piece revealing that Hishamuddin Hussein, the Home Minister ordered the crackdown on the anti-ISA rally. The order was traced back one week prior to the main event.

The order given was to 'not to make the rally scale that big' at all costs.

State police contingents were directed to make road blocks in their respective cities as not to allow people to come over to Kuala Lumpur to take part in the demo.

An insider who provided this info quoted that the police will not act like that usually but given why the police was so brutal and relentless on Saturday, it was said that it all came from the order by Mat Lidah Kontot himself.