Jacksonmania and His Last Two Singles

It has been more than 4 days since the shocking sudden death of Michael Jackson and Jackson mania has hit the world again. All of his music records were sold out in most music shops everywhere when news hit the world and every media shop is playing his video music, including the recorded Dangerous world tour.

Back in the mid-90s, in Malaysia, some people would refer the initials of M.J not as Michael Jackson but actually to the then Domestic and Consumer Affairs Minister, the late Tan Sri Megat Junid Ayub, M.J that is given that he makes rounds on the 'sell Made In Malaysia goods' campaign.

Back to the real story.

After the History collection, Jackson released two but not as great albums namely Blood on The Dance Floor: History in The Mix and his final recorded album, Invincible. The last two singles known to hit the airwaves after You're Not Alone is the title track from the former and You Rock My World from Invincible featuring Chris Tucker.

When you hit 40 you are not as great as before because of your age, you will not be able to perform those stunts, including the moonwalk or the vocals as great as before. Jackson tried to repeat the feat being at 50, but as the saying goes, it ain't that easy as before when you try to repeat your gags.

In my opinion, these two tracks are the last two hit singles from King of Pop, and though it is not as popular as the greatest smash hits, these could be the good farewell in retrospective for MJ.

Salute!

Blood On The Dance Floor

You Rock My World (From Invincible)

We Didn't Give You Permission To Do That, Zambry!

There is a saying that if you try to be foolish of yourself or doing something that is stupid, don't show it or you don't tell it to the people. That's all. My point is the mainstream media did not even bother to show or trying to hush the people over what is happening to Perak, and the only expose on the false promises by Mamak Zambry is exposed by Malaysiakini.

Some of the points highlighted of what damaged and dismantling done by Mamak Pangkor are:

* 3,000 applications from residents of new and planned villages to convert their land titles from leasehold to freehold cancelled.

* 817 elected village headmen had their term of office terminated. The village chiefs have since filed a suit in the Ipoh High Court to be reinstated.

* The proposal to change the octagon Yak Tack Seng market along Jalan Osbone into a tourist centre scrapped.

* The uniform one-coupon parking system for vehicles, and at a discounted rate from April, for the whole state did not see daylight.

* The proposed RM38 million new bus terminal at Meru Raya in Jelapang grounded.

* The open-tender policy for approving government contracts, land and logging concessions reverted to the old system of closed tenders.

* The giving state land to religious schools and Chinese independent schools also scrapped.

* The policy of giving RM1,000 to the dependents of senior citizens who die too has been buried.

* The process of legalising the 134 new villages put on hold.

Sorry, Nat, but I tend to be more familiar of this given I am Ipoh-bred and I am to say that how Barisan Nasional led by the gerombolan United Malays National Organisation came in and staged the coup is somewhat like they are doing things without the people of Perak's permission.

In other words, I didn't give you the permission to do that, Mamak. In Kampung Simee the village near my neighborhood, people booed this man when he visited there. In Yuk Choy primary school in Hugh Low Street they make a mockery of him, erecting a tombstone for this 'puppet' (as some called) of Big Mama.

True, I am an angry citizen, felt being robbed and being intruded into my house. In other words, they came to our houses without our permission. Our permission is being asked a yes or a no. It's like being taught of never to come in uninvited or being permitted by the host. Even the Muslim way is that you do not take anything unless you are the guest of the host and the host invites you to something.

I repeat - I do not blame Sultan Azlan for the entire fiasco. I have a good idea and reason to believe why BN to now refuses to go for the state level snap-elections - for reason of losing their ill-gotten gains. If Zambry would do that, I think he'd be whacked left and right by Big Mama. You see after the coup, a friend told me of how Big Mama reprimanded Najib for forgetting to hit Sivakumar. I don't have to repeat what he said but you can google around and you'll find out.

I am no loyalist of Pakatan Rakyat but I find it morally wrong for that thing to happen.

There is a saying that revenge is a dish best served raw. This entire scenario previously happened in Kelantan from 1978 to 1990. The people felt cheated and dished out revenge to Barisan in 1990. To now, BN couldn't capture Kelantan. The people there learned the hard way and they gave them a taste of their medicine. If there happens to be a snap election or next GE, I just wish that a dish of revenge is to be served at the gerombolan. And there is this question: do people find themselves foolish for picking BN just because of being a loyalist?

Sometimes I find myself unforgiven towards what people do at me and this is a case of point. This is absolutely unforgiven. What was exposed of what Mamak Pangkor Zambry did is literally like walking one step backwards. If this is Russia and in 1942, there's going to be a bullet on his head for 'walking one step backwards'. But the question is will fellow Perakians like myself feel unforgiven as I do of what BN took from us without our permission?

30% Subsidy For All IT-Related Equipment

Every year, PIKOM organizes a PC fair nationwide in the months of April, August and December. The is always a sense of encouragement by government and PIKOM to improve the IT awareness and penetration to the end-user. That is why PC fairs are part of it. But then, despite all the latest equipment and encouragement to improve IT awareness, the amout of sales and buying power from the end user is still low - only at buying when necessary - status.

The reason is very simple that the cost of buying is simply over the amount we can afford. Most of the equipment purchased are imported from China or America since they are manufactured there. The cost is calculated on the exchange rate of USD to Malaysia to Ringgit at the time the stock was acquired. The cost also includes the 30 percent import duty imposed by Customs.

This is Malaysia, we do not have the much buying power as Singapore do, as they can buy 5 times more than us. If you want to increase buying power, here, then the government has to give 30 percent subsidy to all IT related items like hardware and subsidy. Removal of import duty imposed on this should be suffice though or deduct 30 percent from all items cost.

But this is not a suggestion. It is a radical must do thing. Dino, anyone?

A Scorecard on Ong Tee Keat

1. I met my friend Edmund today, for the first time in about 4 months while he was down in KLCC to watch a movie and buying some books. The first thing he asked me is that whether have I read a post of his that details the number of shouting matches and fights between him and DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang.

2. No doubt that having watched a number of videos of both of them, I'd say that the shouting matches between these two men, particularly on the Port Klang Freezone is no doubt the best of what the Parliament circus offers to us after reconvening from the middle of the month. But I must concur with his opinion that in the last 16 months since being appointed the Transport Minister, Tee Keat has done nothing really significant and despite promises to make MCA an active partner of the Barisan Nasional, the MCA still remains a lapdog of the coalition boss, United Malays National Organisation.

3. True, there isn't much of action taken following the release of the PKFZ report, and now, parties are pointing fingers one another and the actual guilty ones are not questioned at all, e.g Chor Chee Heung. There is also the public transport issue thing, that despite having being experienced of the reality of the situation by Abdullah Badawi, there isn't still much of radical action taken there.

4. In summary, I am afraid that despite him being in helm, MCA still remains a lapdog. Interestingly, there are two things that I was told, with one notably of him finding schedules of when, where and what Najib Razak or Muhyiddin Yassin will particpate in an event and he'd go there to give a clap or two. Recently during the launch of the Chinese version of Dr. Mahathir's Letters To World Leaders, he was the only VIP person there and no one else. Another claim that I was told he's politcally backed by Hainanese businessmen from Pahang.

5. There is no deliberate intention of badmouthing a person, but it has been my observation after reading through whatever is written in the news, paper or online.

Next By-Election in Bandar Tun Razak?

Word has gone among the PAS people that the next by-election could happen as Khalid Ibrahim could be vacating his Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat to concentrate more on his duties as MB for Selangor. This is likely to take place after the Manek Urai by-elections. If it is true that Khalid is vacating, this will be adding more problems to Barisan Nasional since they had to spend more money for elections and facing a prospect of losing the 7th out of 8 by-elections since 2008.

I bet that Tan Chai Ho, the previous incumbent in 2004 would be the likely candidate to be contesting in this seat, but what seems could be the possible person to take in place of PKR is Zaid. Zaid becoming an MP and going to Parliament seems to be a strategy to level the playing field of PR against Barisan Nasional. But the equation of MPs of one camp and another camp would be the same though.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Michael Jackson is No More...

"August 29 1997 came and went by, Michael Jackson was 40..."

Sarah Connor, Terminator 2 alternate ending

I got up this morning to check on some news and some postings (BBC feed) and from Hisham Rais (I just love his mockery of BN) and I was shell shocked to see the news that Michael Jackson, (Wacko-Jacko, King of Pop), you name it, the most lucrative singing sensation of the 80s was dead in an apparent cardiac arrest early morning (Malaysia time).

When I was a little boy, the first song that I heard from Michael Jackson was the famous "Man In The Mirror". Then as time goes on, the first Wacko-Jacko music video that I saw was "Black and White" starring Macaulay Culkin and John Goodman - it was hilarious in the opening when Dad Goodman was blown off from the roof into a wild African safari by his then 8 year old kid, fresh from his debut in Home Alone. He also wrote some social-themed, very moving songs with one notable one was 'Heal The World' taken from the Free Willy theme.

History Volume 1 was arguably his last best-selling collection of songs. Invincible was his last album, despite producing new songs, picking 15 good ones, the last one didn't do well. The last we heard is that he wanted to do farewell concerts, but like human nature dictates, if you're 50 and above, you can do those dance routines, and those moves like in the 80s or early 90s!

Jackson's death was like a double-dealing blow coming immediately after Farrah Fawcett. Fawcett's was very much expected given of the last rites administered to her one day before. But not on Wacko-Jacko. Given that he had underwent physical tests to ensure he was fit for his ultimate concert. It has been almost close to two years, since I last wrote such an eulogy like this, the last one was being of the big man Luciano Pavarotti.

He is the late 20th century equivalent of Elvis or James Brown, either two, to those born in Generation X, he's the ultimate music icon and the unexpected death throws something that is the new appeal to people born in the 90s and now. Also The Final Curtain concert, already 750000 tickets booked in advanced is scuppered already, cancelled...

His older Jermaine Jackson was in Malaysia not long ago . According to him on CNN, the pathologists are doing an autopsy on him and KABC showed a little disturbing picture from birds-eye view of the hospital attendants transferring the body from a chopper to UCLA hospital for an autopsy.

As of now, the question remains of who could take over the throne as the new King of Pop given it is now vacant? It's Rest In Peace for you Mr. Jacko...

Dateline Windows 7 Vienna - 22 October 2009

Windows 7 or Vienna is due for launch worldwide on October 22 2009. One of the main features addressed in the OS is about the performance in which Longhorn (Vista) was heavily criticized upon. And secondly, it combines the support of 32-bit and 64-bit in one instead of separated out versions.

The European version, due to its laws imposed will exclude the Internet Explorer browser. But the good news that for those who bought new machines and then featuring Windows Vista, there is the option to upgrade to Vienna with no costs, but you need to request a CD from Microsoft. Not sure Microsoft Malaysia will send one to customers like us, in this case, I'm using Vista business.

See also - Features in Windows Vienna (7)

TM's Broadband Monopoly In Malaysia

I noticed of the poor broadband penetration in Malaysia, with as of this time, it is still at a dismal 21 percent, with no chance of hitting the target 70 percent by end of 2010. I have always been very suspicious of saying that penetration is low due to the monopoly and hogging by Telekom Malaysia and its sister subsidiary Celcom over the coverage of network.

I also have looked through the coverage provided by other broadband players such as P1, Maxis, Izzi, and so far, only main cities in the West coast of the peninsular including Kuantan (P1 was already launched in Kuantan on Wednesday and in Ipoh last week) . The rest part of Malaysia and some towns primarily using Streamyx, with small percentage on Jaring broadband.

I find it really unhappy over why people in one city apart from the Klang Valley, Penang / JB / etc is unable to have other broadband options to consumers apart from only making them to pick only Streamyx, which uses the DSL streaming technology. The DSL streaming technology, if ranked by efficiency is 5th. Wifi is 4th, WIMAX is 3rd, High Speed Data Packet Access is 2nd and Radiowave (e.g Izzi) is first. Streaming technology can be very unstable sometimes and this is illustrated through the use of copper wires that TM is still using.

A case in point to illustrate the point above is always Cyberjaya. Cyberjaya was originally envisioned to be a I-City, before Shah Alam, it is to be a city with full of IT activity and thus, broadband penentration in the area is expected to be high as with its neighbor city Putrajaya. However, I have the chance to test Maxis's broadband reception in its area sometime ago and in Puchong, and sad to say that its service coverage was pretty abysmal. I have also enquired to P1 about a possibility of seeing its wireless coverage in Cyberjaya and as of this time, after checking its latest coverage, the answer to me is a no. A check at Izzi on its coverage to shows a resounding no too, although it covers Serdang, Seri Kembangan and Bukit Jalil.

Ini kerana penyibaran broadband terbelenggu di Malaysia kerana TM mengamalkan prinsip“anti-competitive conduct” dalam penentuan tariff bagi rangkaian kuprum (copper network) yang menjanakan fixed-line broadband secara teknologi DSL. Meskipun arahan “unbundling the local loop” telah dikeluarkan beberapa tahun yang lepas, namun TM mengendalikan“predative pricing” sehingga pemain-pemain industri seperti Jaring – satu lagi GLC -- disekat daripada bersaing dalam satu persekitaran industri yang, dengan izin, “level playing field”.

That thing above has put me in conclusion that other broadband players who are better in offering services are stopped high-handedly or in other words could not ply their services there due to the monopoly of Telekom and Celcom. As Jeff said in Parliament, unless Telekom cuts down its monopoly and hogging attitude over communication services here, broadband penentration will not even hit 50 percent by 2010 or 30 percent by end of this year. We will still lose out to other nations even upcoming ones like Indonesia or Vietnam.

Old Men Can't Make Youngsters Old Minded

There was a Malaysiakini article yesterday morning which said about Huan's three-year suspension from Gerakan for citing anti-party views, which one of the quotes mentioned as in the title said, "Old Men Killing Young Leaders".

The first stanza of William Butler Yeat's poem, Sailing to Byzantium mirrors the lamentation of old men making rules on the young:

That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
Those dying generations - at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unaging intellect.

Political parties are in need of new young blood, those who are no later than 30 years of age.

The mindset and behaviour of youngsters these days are unpredictable and don't expect them to follow the rules set by the old men.

I remembered a few weeks, ago, I was at a forum featuring Hishamuddin Rais and one of the subjects and messages that was mentioned to the forum, in Malay said "Jangan Mentuakan Orang Muda." In the posting of the same title, Keadilan Youth Wing was also criticized in that same manner. There is also a criticism and a commentary on the youth trend nowadays also by Hisham Rais - in which is to understand the mind of the youngsters today.

Note thought that you have to read Malay well for this two articles.

Who Are These MPs That Say Aye To Plan B..DNA?

The DNA bill is quite controversial and sometimes debating it triggered some shouting matches last year and it was just passed with just a mere one vote difference. I know that this is always Plan B to kow tim Anwar Ibrahim so that he will still be convicted of Sodomy II despite clear evidence that there's no part of him involved whatsoever at Saiful. How Saiful gets connected to Najib about the sodomy thing is through his godmother, Mumtaz Jaafar, a bag lady and exercise partner of Rosmah at the Lake Club Badminton.

But I'm not really into repeating the gossip. It's merely looking into the picture of who are these MPs who say yes to the bill. I'm pretty skeptical of how the bill is going to be used or executed upon when it is approved and gazetted by the government.

There are two questions to be questioned really, first thing is about preventing the misuse or tampering by those in charge of the data bank. Is there any mention of measures to check that misuse? This is apart from the assurance that only a DCP or above officer is allowed to be in charge of the DNA bank. But what about Rodwan Yusof in the distant future? After all, DCP is two ranks above SAC II.

The second issue is mainly about musing, I really wonder who are these jokers that said yes to the bill? Okay, as far as I know, the bill was passed with just one vote difference. There are a maximum of 219 votes, meaning it can only be 110-109, maximum, (three excludes the speakers) of course and there are some from BN who disagreed. Fine, that's not a problem. But I was brought to the attention of something that mentions about 27 MPs out of 31 from Sarawak that doesn't stand up or make a sound at all, two of them Ministers, one ex-Minister. And it makes me think that these are amont the buggers being longkang MPs, people who promised to represent their community in Parliament before elections, but remained silent after they are elected by the people - in other words, false promises. I still remembered what Ronnie Liu told me about a year ago about choosing who and who and the term of Longkang MPs.

Do they actually know well both sides of the bill? Like both sides of a coin? Or they blindly follow the leader of saying a mere yes without understanding?

New PhD Degree in Bolehland

Cops Giving A Very Bad PR Impression To The Public

It's just a dinner and with FRU trucks and water cannons part of the big group of police sealing off the DAP fund raising dinner, thus giving the first 3500 people - the impression of a very bad Public Relationship of the police with the public. The famous reputation of LAPD - "To Serve The Public" is a foregone no no in Bolehland. Based on Malaysiakini's coverage there, by making a mess out of it, including intruding private property to take away PA systems, giving all these ridiculous rules and conditions despite people carrying no objects of violence, it is clear that the police had indeed crossed the line , in the name of Police Act 1967.

The Police Act has been proven in the last three years to be heavily misused and there is an ulterior motive to gag people with the knowledge that people's intelligence and awareness on the country's mismanagment is getting bigger and worsen as everyday goes by.

As Kay Peng said earlier on, the moaning of the police force (100000 of them) being insufficient to combat crime in the country is rendered useless with this one act: showing up in full force on a illogical event that is considered a crime whereas the number of street crimes had not been reduced siginificantly.

There was one question mark raised, when I read an excerpt from Charles Santiago's blog which said of the permit being withdrawn on Friday although it has been approved by the Klang Police District Headquarters. Seems like there is an interference from either the state or the federal police, in which to pressure the district station to cancel the approval of permit. I wonder who actually overruled the whole thing? Of course the first person that people are going to point fingers at or scream at is Khalid Bakar or Najib.

What will the people say after this, I wonder? Try asking anyone in the urban areas particularly those in the working group and the young, and they will say "Police is not doing the job properly" , or they'll say other bad things about them. It's not about giving compliments to them as of previously. It is more of police bashing because of doing something illogical. Currently, what you see here is a flaw in the Police Act 1967. Society in the last 40 years have been much stable than before, so therefore, the act is somewhat needs a revision or so. Maybe from tomorrow onwards some would brand police as busybodies!

But I do understand about those who were ordered to go there. It is the first thing, a waste of time over something that poses no serious threat or whatsoever. Secondly, they wasted money and resources for nothing. Third, despite knowing that it is again the morality and principle, they are unable to say no and must follow superior orders or risk being transferred elsewhere as a result of insubordination. The ones who are thinking like this are those in the lower to mid levels of police level hierachy. It is the decisions of the top brass that is put to question.

I do have the knowledge and comfort that the police force is currently split as like the split in 2007 between camp Musa and camp Ramli. With the seven SDs, as exposed by Raja Petra it seems that the lower levels are starting to question why the police are linked to underworld and its figures like BK , Tangkak Tengku, etc.. That thing has also sparked a question on whether their actions are against the moral principles, logics, society stances, etc. Sure, what the top brass do shows that isto kowtow to the political masters. It has become an extension, indirect extension of the Gerombolan. And on the other hand, this points to why crimes are still high and why Malaysia was blacklisted for human trafficking by the USA.

Imagine there is a caretaker government and in the period of six months - as the provision in the Federal Constituition stipulates - , the caretakers, neutral people should consider revamping the police force from bottom to top. The allocation is indeed wrong, the approaches that they take are irrelevant and so on.

The days of good police leadership since Hanif's days are all gone.

Benjamin Lim

There's my new-born nephew Benjamin, in which we celebrated his full moon yesterday night. Apart from that, my family relatives also revisited memory lane with photos that I took from my grandparents house. We had a good laugh on that one. Seeing the faces of my relatives at their yeteryears - that was around the period of 1975 to 1985.

Sodomy Plan Scuttered, Then Now It's Plan B

The report from the specialists in the KL General Hospital revealed negative results of Saiful Bulkhari being sodomized by Anwar Ibrahim. The report is definitely putting a blow to the plan that is setup by Najib, Big Mama and "the sodomologist extraordinaire" to put Anwar Ibrahim out of the picture.

As a result, Barisan Nasional is moving back to plan B that is to push for the passing of the DNA act, which will compel all suspects to give their DNA samples, in failure will be violating the act or committing the offence. The hidden agenda of them being panic is echoing the theme of Mayans fighting on another like kids whereas the Spanish conquistadors are arriving to conquer Mayan. This means that the political scene in Malaysia is like Barisan Nasional fighting the other camp tooth and nail while ignoring the looming economic meltdown sometime at the end of the year.

According to Malaysiakini, the old samples can be admissable as proof, in means the old sample of DNA in which Rodwan Yusof allegedly tampered the evidence in 1998 could mean that BN wanted a very quick conviction to take off Anwar from the board.

Right now, the infighting means that majority of sides are out of ideas to eliminate one another and so far, attempts to remove Rosmah has resulted in blanks. The only thing that will put it once and for all is the MILITARY INTELLIGENCE, and time is short before the apocalypse of the world economy meltdown consumes Malaysia.

Captain America - Back From The Dead

Pretty surprising when I was informed that Captain America (Steve Rogers) who was assassinated at the end of Civil War (see The Death of Captain America) is finally returning back from the dead with the release of the 5-part mini-series called Reborn starting from July until year end.

After the event that shook Marvel universe, I was engrossed in reading the aftermath of the assassination with the Death of Captain America trilogy, concluding with Part III entitled, The Man Who Bought America. It seems that during that progression, many of us has accepted Bucky Barnes as taking over the role of Cap that was left vacant.

I had the believe that nobody can kill Captain America except the Red Skull himself because it is always Schmidt's obsession to face Steve one-on-one to see who is the better of the two matched opponents with a different ideology. If there is a killing by a someone that is neither the two, there is likely that a character will be restored at a later point. For instance, at the beginning of Winter Soldier, when the Red Skull was shot dead by Bucky, he was restored at a later point when we learnt that his conciousness resided in the body of General Alek Lukin.

You can take a scene from The Spirit movie of why Octopus is not willing to let others kill his arch-rival except by his own hands. That's a hint for you guys out there.

Are We Seeing The Abu Ghraib Style of Detention in Malaysia?

Abu Ghraib: SPC Charles Graner beating up restrained detainees

First, it's Kugan, then it's Ganapragasam, in Damansara Damai. Both accused were found dead in police lockups in the vicinity of Selangor. The one common thing is that they are alive and well when they were detained but in the next few days after that, they ended up in body bags. And it's two Indians dead.

The one thing that was very suspicious was that when G. Antony met his wife on Friday, he was in okay condition with an exception of some bruise marks front and right. And despite the assurance from the police that he will be released today, he ended up dead on Sunday morning. The initial analysis by the pathologist who also conducted the second post-mortem on Kugan has the same conclusion that both men did not die by natural causes but it is allegedly caused by some torture methods a.la. Abu Ghraib style of prisoner abuse by the police.

This is the one point that people are getting suspicious of police in how prisoners are treated. I don't know whether it is a new method, by brute force to make an accused admit of their crime although they do not know what they are accused of. Or maybe given that the police do not know whether if the detainee is a member of a underworld or something that the man could be lying or otherwise. If that is the case, where is the lie detector when you need one? Is it that the police, particularly in the logistics division could not afford to buy one or two lie detectors for each station?

When I saw the news of the man dead in lockup, I remembered of the Abu Ghraib prisoner tortures but there, it was more severe than what is in Malaysia. The problem though is that people, especially the makcik and pakcik in rural areas simply are not aware of such things unlike those in the urban areas. Abu Ghraib is more of a prison lockup, it was a modern day gibbet hellhole in the Middle East. At least Tijhar prison, the biggest prison in Asia in New Delhi doesn't go as bad as Abu Ghraib. They have their limits.

At this time, the police have asked the people to stop speculating on the man's death. But then, as the saying goes, you can't capture lightining in the bottle twice in succession. No way that people would accept a statement by the CPO or something that say that G. Antony slipped in the toilet, broke his head and so on. The autopsy remarks were: 4 puncture marks on the back, one the size of a 10-sen coin.

In August 2002 nine unsanctioned military interrogation techniques were included into the US military manual by Captain Carolyn Wood and when she was moved to Abu Ghraib in 2003, she drew up her own rules of interrogation, against what was set and used later for Iraq by General Ricardo Sanchez. It never followed the Geneva Convention standards but followed the Bagram method used in Afghanistan. The only question here is that is our police force starting to use unacceptable methods of interrogation over detainees, even if you're arrested for petty crimes?

Now there's a second death in detention in Selangor, the first person that has to answer is of course the CPO Khalid Bakar. Bakar has previously been branded as a liar following his defence for detaining people at the Bersih Anniversary rally, Kugan's death by lung problem etc.. But then recently Khalid is mentioned in a statutory declaration by ASP Mior Fahim Ahmad that is connected to the Johor rackets syndicate. Part of the SD reads:

" 24. Subjek (i) dan (ii) telah ditahan di lokap Balai Polis Larkin, dimana ketiga-tiga mereka ditahan untuk tempoh 60 hari sementara arahan KKDN. Selepas sembilan (9) hari kemudian, ketiga-tiga subjek di atas dibebaskan tanpa pengetahuan saya, sedangkan saya merupakan IO kes fail. Mereka telah dibebaskan oleh P/DSP. NG FOOK LONG di atas arahan DATO KHALID BIN ABU BAKAR – Tim. Pengarah JSJ 1 – (Operasi/Risikan). Setelah meneliti ketiga-tiga kes fail tersebut, saya dapati mereka dibebaskan dengan alasan, telah insaf, tiada kekerasan dan menjalankan aktiviti secara individu, sedangkan arahan PJSJ No. 2/2005 masih dikuatkuasakan."

Being the CPO means that Khalid has to oversee the entire police force in the state. If you are a commander of the Abu Ghraib prison, that means you are in the same capacity of overseeing the entire camp. Following the exposay of the Abu Ghraib tortures, the commanding officer of the camp, B.G Janis Karpinski was demoted to Colonel, thus ruining her career advancement simply because she had failed to notice the personnel's misconduct on prison treatment although she repeatedly denied that she doesn't know about it. This means, in the same capacity, Khalid has to bear responsibility for failing to control his underlings.

Let's hope that there is no policeman / policewoman / prison wardens in Malaysia that is behaving as disgraced SPC Lynddie England did. The prisoners beating in Sungai Buloh as reported by Malaysiakini is deemed by SUHAKAM as unacceptable.

And then, now we turn our attention to Cousin Hisham. I'm not very sure if Hisham is really doing the job or just being there just because of being cousin of Najib that he gets the privilege. You would want to be ready of what are the roles to play as the Home Minister instead of shaking legs around. For a start, is he really meaning it of what he's saying of the action of policemen in the Perak fiasco or is he telling another story?

Zaid Ibrahim Joined PKR

I was already informed since early last month from a drinking meet with a few friends that Zaid Ibrahim will be joining PKR. And today, it was officially announced, but the mainstream media went to a different direction of reporting by saying Anwar announced that Zaid will join instead of saying directly like "Zaid Joins PKR" as seen in Malaysiakini.

Yes, it was said that he will join PKR but what was never mentioned is when exactly, except I was told that it had to be somewhere in June. A friend of mine, who went with him to Penanti did told to myself and a few friends something similar what is mentioned in The Malaysian Insider:

Strangers walked up to him and urged him to sever his links with Barisan Nasional (BN). But until a week ago, he felt that he did not want to submit himself to the cut throat world of party politics, appreciating that PKR politics may be as distasteful to him as the shenanigans in Umno.

As a compromise, he decided that he would set up a brains trust of prominent Malaysians and provide intellectual input for PR. This unit would be funded by PKR-DAP-PAS and would help firm up a common platform for the Opposition.

Zaid told friends that he was concerned that PR was drifting. He believed that a better Malaysia is only possible with a strong alternative to BN. He briefed Anwar on his idea of helming this think tank and received the latter’s approval.

I remembered being told that Zaid was at times thinking that joining was wrong and rather be involved in setting up a brains trust thing a.la. third front thing. Anyhow, now that he is part of PKR, the risk is that if PKR gets criticized left and right, so will he too, unlike being among the third-party lines. If that is the choice, well so be it. In this case, perhaps Husam Musa could consider taking over Zaid's should be role of setting up a third front or something.

Husam: To Prove A Point To Pas

There are mixed signals from the PAS leadership with one side intending to listen and show their interest of forming a unity government with UMNO while another side and the Pakatan Rakyat partners are very much against it. In the PAS camp, it is clear that the Erdogan faction notably led by Husam, favored by spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the women's wing and Mat Sabu's camp are against the conservative Nasharuddin ISA camp that considers of the unity concept with UMNO.

Frankly, these three factions from 500 members or a big portion of the PAS party. Without them PAS will not be able to function well. What Husam should led by example is to tell the heads of PAS of them threatening to do an exodus if they are to go for the unity government issue. With the Erdogan faction in the lead, the women and Mat Sabu's wing should follow suit as Husam does. Consider setting up a third front, with Nik Aziz as the lead. This will indeed proof a point to PAS that unity government is a total no no to them or to the PAS partners.

It is always as expected that after their general assembly that unity government is always in the idea of UMNO because of the number of Malay representatives like in Selangor is starting to get lesser and lesser compared to the non-Malay ADUNS. That is a way of telling people that Malay rights are gone..bla..bla..bla. Or to put in another way, the amount of Malay representation is violating the quota that is used to be in the last few terms in Parliament or state assembly.

The unity government idea is actually making DAP pissed off and it is part of provocating DAP to pull out of Pakatan Rakyat and spark the pepecahan dalam PR as what UMNO is expecting. This is something that people will have to be very very careful on.

5 Challenges of Democratic Governance

At Bum 2009, one of the speakers, Phillip Koh has given a talk on the 5 challenges of democratic governance. Finally, the full content of the paper used for the talk is available for perusal and review.

Democratic Governance.Com : 5 Challenges

Can You Imagine This To Be Rosmah At Her Acting Best?

There was a video that sensationally hit the net that features an admission from a man who feels that Rosmah is well "she b**tch".

Last night, I was watching a TV show at the Mamak store and I happened to see one segment of the show featuring a man adding more insults to the woman in the middle of the room - calling for a divorce - a follow up to a humiliation she had the night before.

The segment climaxed with a very loud hysterical scream from her.

Watching those two videos, I'd say that if the one screaming in the video is Rosmah, then it's her dramatic best performance of the lifetime.

Let's Put A Smile On The Face of Yours!

As the title suggests....we should be like the Joker trying to make people smile....

Without English, Malaysia Will Produce More "Idiots"

The talk of whether English should be made compulsory to pass in SPM is still debated in the last two days. If asked, I'd say yes, go ahead and make it compulsory. Looking into the distant future, English is still the international communication language just ahead of Mandarin and Malaysia has indeed become an embarrassment to those who speak English better than us including our neighbor Singapore.

The plan of putting Bahasa Malaysia first and foremost ahead of English for the sake of nationalism was a bad mistake and as the result, many people including those in the rural areas are suffering from the skill and knowledge handicap because most of the skills are taught in English, not in Bahasa Malaysia. An example in case of point is learning to do programming languages. Programming languages mostly used English as its base point, without that, you can forget about doing programming software. In rural areas, people there are ones who suffered the most because even the teachers themselves could not convey or teach them well in English given of lack of capability to do so.

The English language has become a precedence of everything we want to learn - science, computer languages, understanding classical literature and everything else. To help people learn and improve English will take more than teaching in classrooms and through books. As part of teaching them daily indirectly, signboards, official letters should be in English, not in Bahasa Malaysia. Government agency hotlines like the Inland Revenue Board has given expats especially working here some hassle by only providing a BM option and language choice.

I have sat down with a few Malay people in conversing in official matters and I find that 8 out of 10 whom I see seem to have speech problems in English. I sometimes observe and deliberately test them to see how well they speak. Because of the past policies, and other factors, it seems that Malaysia is producing more idiots instead of producing a huge number of practical oriented good brains.

It is indeed to late to reverse the problem right now, due to inaction by the Education Ministers including Hisham Hussein. If the problem is needed to be solved immediately, it is through radical means like:

1. Reversing the exam paper format and the amount of content of teaching on Bahasa Malaysia and English. In otherwords, requirements, format and teaching content should be swapped, BM reduced, English increased. As I concur with some people, English in Maths and Science is insufficient because students can only improve in scientifically aspects, not daily aspects.

2. Replace billboards, and signs with dual languages.

3. Get English language specialists, local and foreign to be associate teachers. It is necessary given of the current scenario and to help guide teachers in teaching English better.

I do not have to go further but to say to Mat Sembab that the current education system inherited from the 1950s still remains irrelevant despite various measures and there has to be a big change and revamp from everywhere including things that involve us daily.

Jangan jadi lembik.

MACC In Hot Soup Over A Detainee's Interrogation

How and why Norza Zakaria was disqualified from contesting in the UMNO general elections is not very important. But you can see the link there. But the most interesting part of the revelation is how the Anti-Corruption Commission interrogated a man (Norza's underling) and their methods to use them. Seems shocking is how they assault an innocent man who knows nothing to get their info.

Below is an excerpt of what the man descibed about being assaulted by MACC men.

1. I was beaten on the head, stomach and shoulders repeatedly by three MACC men on 23 January 2009.
2. I was kicked on the ribs by the knees of an officer.
3. I was forced to be naked in front of the three officers.
4. The officer who claimed to be the head of the unit choked me until I could not breath and pushed me to a wall.

It seems that now the MACC is now facing hot soup over the 'Abu Ghraib' interrogation methods.

More Antiques, Moving Stuff

After a meeting with a bunch of friends in Devi's corner, I took an early off to go back to Ipoh to help do more of moving the stuff out of the house before we handed it over to the new owner. I only got back there 5 a.m in the morning, something which my mother told me to sleep early last night. This round, there's still plenty of stuff to move in and out, notably some items from my room, my own stack of clothes, and a few other things as well as throwing the thrash - many bags to a dump in Canning.

But the most interesting part is of course of while digging around the stuff, I noticed some interesting classical items, items that are over 30 years and above. For instance, there is a sewing machine in the middle room which is about 42 years old. None of my relatives are interested so I decided to keep it away rather than throwing it off due to its sentimental value.

There are tons of photos which my grandparents kept in which I saved it to be either given back to relatives or converting one corner of the new house as a photo gallery.


The best part is - this set of tools - used to make Kueh Kapit. I remembered granny did it once when I was little boy. But the last thing she made six months before she died was the chang - dumplings - done because my brother wanted to eat.

The date of moving in was tentative (10th) subject to various circumstances like ownership payment dues, so we could have extra time to make sure things are cleared off.



Sigh..there's the last time of sleeping there.

Instructed To Do So or Otherwise?

I was told via someone and Malaysiakini saying that the two Old Town Kopitiam shops, one in Jaya 33 were closed because of this Facebook invitation saying of drinks and Black T-Shirts (to mark the May 7 incident).

I'm not really bothered about the details but I am sure that the cops are threatening to shut down the shop with false pretences of upgrading - no...these shop operators are acting against the will, which points to the metaphor of the police being the Nazi Gestapo - anything they don't like they do it because in the name of law and blah..blah..blah.

Whoever gave the order is as a dimwit as a troll because the man cannot think in the moral, and logical way, just merely being a subservient of the superior whose orders can be considered as immoral or illogical. Just imagine that if you are the one of the commandos from the military instructed to kill a woman in cold blood, will you do that because of the 'follow the order' routine? You're not a robot that is programmed to do that...you're a human!

They should have not been busybodies going after the good apples instead of bad scum .

Something about Krispy Kreme

You have just heard of Krispy Kreme being opened in Times Squre sometime ago, right? If you have wandered around shopping malls and see some donut shops like JCO, Big Apple and Dunkin Donuts, this one is literally new kid in the block in Malaysia, but on the worldwide scale, is the biggest chain of donut shops throughout the world.

Of the donuts quality in Malaysia, they are tied with JCO but JCO is a Japanese brand and both of them have a soft shell in the inside with the similar variety of donuts to pick from. But the one thing that separates from JCO and this one is that apart from its long hitory, this is the only donut company public listed in the NYSE.

In Los Angeles alone, expect approximately 20 outlets there, and Los Angeles is just a part of California, don't forget to count San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, etc..

Now here's one fact. Many years ago while on a trip to Los Angeles, my dad bumped to a Krispy Kreme executive. He did ask them Now, Krispy Kreme is nowadays loosening up to extend their franchise throughout the world. In the past few years, economic slowdown and poor sales due to health awareness have prompted them to do so. Previously, they are very skeptical of opening one outside the states.

The interesting part is that, the franchise fee cost to setup one shop alone here is at $500K USD per shop. That excludes the equipment and the manpower costs as well as the shop renting / size. After a shop has been setup here, they expect at least six per country. Currently, the second one is under renovation in Mid Valley.

Of course this says why they are much successful and better than the rival donut companies. $2.50 per piece, original glazed or with toppings can make it a worthwhile snack to eat if we're bored of pretzels or KFC or whatsover :)

Malaysia could have its first shop ready back in 2000 but the SME financial facilities were not there at that time, so it's a waste of 10 years before one gets up. If people are starting to get aware of this donut franchise here, then people in other countries already know about it before us...

Stadium Collapse - Who's Fault Is It Anyway?

A half-billion stadium built during the Idris Jusoh administration that has 70% of the structure collapsed in a blink of an eye.

Immediately the questions are:

1. Who are the participating sub-contractors?
2. Did the project follow safety guidelines, schedules and etc..
3. Is a demolition work in progress there? Rust that easily goes to dust?
4. Why didn't Samy Vellu get tough on those contractors before he went off?

Well then, Idris Jusoh and his gang could be in hot turtle soup over this matter.

Speaking of which, is it possible that Big Mama's jogging could cause this?

Excerpt from Tukar Tiub's:

BIK MAMA NAIK MARAH

Bik Mama telah naik darah apabila nama Altantuya dilaungkan kepada isterinya.

Bik Mama memberi amaran jika kedengaran lagi nama Mongol itu disebut sebut dia kan berjogging di Kuala Terengganu akan berlakulah gempa bumi di Pantai Timur.

Blogging Is By Passion, Not A Must.

The approach to blogging seems to be taken wrongly by certain quarters with for the sake of communicating with people and other readers alike.

As I remembered during the BUM 2009 event, a speaker (whom I can't recall) said that blogging of something of interest is born out of the self-interest and passion of someone. My blog friend, De Minimis told me before that he would write if there is something interesting to share or interesting to write, otherwise, he would not write at all.

As for myself, I have thought of several pieces of things to share with fellow readers and etc, and if I do not have something to write or being too tired from work, I would not write at all for that day.

You do not hire people to write a posting in a blog. That is the wrong approach, the case in point is that the Pahang government employing retirees to write and blog - it's not by passion, but it's by the money...wrong. And the next one coming is the Kedah state BN women's wing which according to Berita Harian tends to train them to blog. It's okay to train, but the question there is do they have the interest or do they required to answer every nook and cranny of whatever is happening in Kedah?

More Daylight Robbery Coming Soon

As if removing subsidies for sugar, flour and bread is not enough, taxi and bus fares could go up between another 30 to 50 percent. But then putting the prices up will bring more bad effects to the people instead of getting a gain from the sellers.

If that is the case, to minimize the thing, Malaysia must increase its capita income to at least $12K USD per year in the short notice of time. Currently we are at $6.3K per year whereas Singapore stands at $32K per year. This means, improving the exchange rate since the USD is imploding and declining with each day. Secondly, it will be a tough challenge to get rid of corruption and nepotism in order.

The people have the right to take the government to the challenge over the issue. Too much politics bickering over more pressing matters defintely makes people giving up / abandoning hope on how Malaysia will pull through the economy. Even the measures taken by BN are inadequate.

Frankly, increasing the prices will do no good. On consumer products, eventually, the producers will have to drop their prices since nobody is keen to buy. Whereas gradually after a few months, people will go less on public transport like taxi and bus given of their fares. This will make things worse given that the railway and bus system remaining inefficient.

Sales could drop later on. And bingo...cheap things could come again.

Madonna - This Used To Be My Playground

As the title simply suggests, this is fitting the theme everyone in the family saying goodbye to the place called home. We can hold this place in our memory and be proud of it. We all enjoyed our time in this house, some for maybe a few years, some for more than 30 years, and all comes to and end on June 10.

It used to be our playground really.

Bye Bye...Home