Akin to a Death Sentence

This article from Patrick Lee who wrote to Free Malaysia Today best describe the facts of the recent price hikes in sugar, fuel and gas. 

Don't forget that the majority of Malaysians today are a poor lot with 57.8% of the total house holds earning less than RM3,000 a month and another 12.9 % of the households earning between 3 to 4 thousand ringgit a month. These are the greater majority of people making up 70.7 % of total households and certainly the umnoputras are not in this category they are in the upper 5 % category living in 24 million ringgit homes.

Patrick Lee wrote:

Subsidy Cuts Adds to Inflationary Pressure Amid Slowing Economy

Malaysia government announced subsidy cuts will result in the increased of petrol, diesel, kerosene, gas and sugar which will spur consumer prices and add inflationary pressure on its majority of low income households. Cost of living will soar and the low income group which makes up more than 70% of the total Malaysian households will face greater hardship and sufferings.(70.7% of Malaysian household earns less than 4000 ringgit a month).

The Malaysia Institute of Economic Research (MIER) has just announced on the same day  that the Malaysian economy growth is expected to slow considerably in the second half of this year. MIER forecast that consumer prices will rise 2.2 per cent this year and added that inflation has climbed by 1.6 per cent in May from a year earlier which is the fastest pace in a year as food and transport costs rose with the strenthening of the economy in the first quarter.

Singapore and Malaysia

The Boston Consulting Group, one of the leading global management consulting firm has just last week released its Annual Wealth Report and found Singapore to be amongst the top 20 countries with the most millionaires households.

Singapore, (once a part of Malaysia) is a tiny nation of 5.1 million population is ranked at no. 18 with the most numbers of millionaires and rank the highest in terms of density with 11.4 percent of the total households being a millionaire in USD (US Dollar). That is about 3.3 million Malaysian Ringgit. And this is of liquid asset which does not include the value of property owned.

Tengku Razaleigh on Corruption in Malaysia

Below is an extract of the speech by Umno veteran politician Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at the launch of ‘The Shafee Yahaya Story – Estate Boy to ACA Chief’, a book written by Shafee’s wife Kalsom Taib.


The word ‘corruption’ comes from a Latin word meaning ‘to break’ or ‘to destroy’. Corruption is a cancer that steals from the poor, eats away at governance and moral fibre, and destroys trust.

Although corruption exists in both the private and public sector, the corruption of the public sector is a more fundamental evil. This is because the public sector is the enforcer and arbiter of the rules that hold us together, the custodians of our common resources.
(Read On)

Football Betting Champion of Malaysia

So who is the champion of Football Betting?

Vincent Tan, Najib Razak or the Rakyat?

Personally i am neutral about Football Betting but does not approve the usual UMNO's way of just handing out licences to their cronies.

We already have a Casino, Sports Toto, Big Sweep and Magnum and not forgetting the many Jackpot Machine outlets all over the country. And who are the owners of these licenses?

Don't be greedy lah...already have Sports Toto which is already generating a revenue of about RM3.7 billion ringgit and a gross profit of  about 900 million as at 2009 reported accounting of Berjaya Sports Toto BHd.

Maybe this time give the license to the Bloggers and we will donate all the profits to the Rakyat and the many under privileged Malaysians and there will no longer be any poor people in this country and we will have free university education to all those who wnats an education. *Just daydreaming lah.. can or not?

Read "Public Outcry" from Melissa Goh of Channel News Asia HERE

Where's My License???

Who Took My License? Give it back now before i get angry!

Give it back to me now and i give you free membership card...

I am looking for it...

Najib..Stop Embarassing the Nation!

Malaysia is now also known as "Sodomy Country". You just can't imagine the jokes that goes around here in Singapore. Yes, i am in Singapore for a week now and everyday this sodomy is all over the media both in print and on TV as well as a topic over lunch, happy hours and dinner.

There are pages and pages of reports everyday in the foreign press. This is such a bad joke that it is embarassing and to talk about Najib's New Economy Policy which is now the New Sodomy Poke-a-nomy which has Najib written all over it.

Stolen Jet Engine Found!

 

 The Malaysian Attorney General Abdul Gani Petail has in a statement today said the stolen jet engine has been found in Uruguay. He has expressed his gratitude to the South American authorities in bringing an end to the case of the stolen jet engines and further added that the two countries will continue to work closely to enable the return of the jet engine to Malaysia.

DAMNATION of MALAYSIA!

(Pic from Antares)

Transparency International has labelled the Bakun Dam Project a "MONUMENT OF CORRUPTION" and highlighted debate over whether there will be enough customers in 2011 when it becomes fully operational with a 2,400MW capacity.

All the valuable timber has already been removed from its catchment area, and the dam will begin filling up next month, taking eight months to submerge all 70,000ha.an area the size of Singapore.

Engine Trouble in Malaysia

2 Units of Stolen Jet Engines?? Stolen since May last year when Najib was Defence Minister. Cover Up?
More equipments could be missing? Doing an Audit now?

Armed forces chief Gen Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin said the stolen jet engine might just be the "tip of the iceberg", as initial investigations showed that other equipment might have gone missing from as far back as 2007.

Actually Mr General Sir, we Malaysians will not be surprised if  more items are stolen or missing? While you are auditing can you also check the stocks of C4s?

The stolen engine is the powerplant for one of the four F-5E Tiger II fighters and two RF-5E Tigereye reconnaissance jets still in active duty at the air force's 12th Squadron (Scorpion) at the Butterworth air base.

An "international company" based in Latin America bought the 50 million ringgit (USD 14 million) engine "because the price was cheap " Bernama quoted the defence minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as saying.

The engine, used for single-seat fighter and reconnaissance jets, is believed to have eventually ended up with a final purchaser in the Middle East.

New Puppet at MACC?

The Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission, Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamed has been promoted the "New Boss" in place of the "early retirement" of Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan.

So for the new boss it is only proper to first express his thanks and gratitude to the government for his promotion, he said "I thank the government for the trust they have in me." and he added "The most important thing right now is the support from the public. The MACC cannot perform at its fullest capacity without the public's support."

So the government appoints him and he is grateful for whoever (in the government) that gave him the top post. And now can he start investigating the government for graft as there have been so many reports on abuses and corruption by top government officials and politicians from the ruling elite. Will he investigate his bosses now that they have appointed him?

What public support does he need? The public will always be supportive, if he is true to the duty and performance of the job and are seriously fighting and defending the nation against the evils of corruption.

If Malaysia is serious about fighting corruption than they should emulate their immediate neighbors Singapore and now Indonesia and others who had been successful in the fighting graft.

Just look at the Indonesian's Corruption Eradication Commission known as the "KPK" which is a fully independent body free from the influence of politics and has wide ranging powers in the fight against corruption and up till today, its achievements includes senior politicians of the higher house of People's Representative Council (DPR), the chief of police, provincial governors, city mayors, a central bank governor and even the son in law of the President.

The Fight against Corruption always starts at the top and can be seen  in the initial years of the  famed Hong Kong's  ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) and other independent commission.

Malaysia's fight against corruption is seen as superficial and made worst by garnering the perception that it is now a political tool against the innocent and the opposition. The MACC has achieved world fame through the Teoh Beng Hock fiasco! And not forgetting the infamous joke of investigating  the Malaysian Against Cows and Cars incidents.

Corruption is Evil!

Malaysia's Economy Trailing Badly

It is a rarity to see a Malaysian Minister who speaks out against it's own government's policies and this he did, Second Finance Minister, Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah (Pic) speaking at an economic outlook conference organized by the MIER (Malaysia Institute of Economic Research) today at Kuala Lumpur.  Bravo! to the Second Finance Minister for telling the "True State of the Economy"

This topic of Malaysia losing out in the economic race has been written about several times in this blog. The Malaysian government is at a loss towards the management of the economy and as highlighted in earlier writings "Budget and Corruption" is that Corruption have to be first eradicated and the Anti Corruption Commission must be made fully independent in order to fight graft, so that the real benefits of any economic plan be able to reach the common man on the ground otherwise as it is today Billions of Ringgit are siphoned off through corrupt practices of government officers and politicians.

As at todate the government has failed to effectively manage the economy and is falling way behind and losing billions of Ringgit to graft. From a mathematical viewpoint the level of graft is to be deducted from any flimsy economic growth and the true or nett effect will be a NEGATIVE growth.

Read on the AFP report of the Second Finance Minister as below:

Malaysia's economy has been stagnating for the past decade and is now trailing badly behind its neighbours, a senior minister said Tuesday, calling for "urgent" and wide-ranging reforms.

Malaysia's economy has been stagnating for the past decade and is now trailing badly behind its neighbours, a senior minister said Tuesday, calling for "urgent" and wide-ranging reforms.

Malaysia's export-dependent economy has been hit hard by the global recession, contracting by a forecast 3.0 percent this year and jeopardising its ambitions of becoming a developed nation by 2020.

"Malaysia is trapped in a low-value-added, low-wage and low-productivity structure," Second Finance Minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah told an economic outlook conference.

Among its peers China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand, Malaysia's economic growth over the past three years was second-lowest, he said.

"Our economy has been stagnating in the last decade. We have lost our competitive edge to remain as the leader of the pack in many sectors of the economy. Our private investment has been steadily in decline."

"While Singapore and Korea's nominal per capita GDP grew within the last three decades by 9 and 12 times respectively, ours grew only by a factor of four."

In a withering assessment, Ahmad Husni said the services sector is underdeveloped, private investment is half the levels before the 1997-98 Asian crisis, and the manufacturing sector is suffering from lack of investment.

"The (need for) transformation is particularly urgent when we take the external environment into account," he said.

"The global environment is changing. We can no longer rely on our traditional trading partners and we need to address the competitive pressure from other emerging markets on our existing exports."

He called for sweeping measures including an emphasis on meritocracy and ensuring all Malaysians are given "equal opportunity to participate in the economy".

Malaysia has for decades practiced a system of positive discrimination for Muslim Malays who dominate the population, but critics say the policy is fuelling corruption and is hurting the nation's competitiveness.

"We must also consider the gradual dismantling of our open-ended protection of specific sectors and industries which have introduced a climate of complacency and artificial levels of supply," the minister said.

"The long-term success of the nation's economy must take precedence over the short term interests of a few protected groups."

Prime Minister Najib Razak -- who is also finance minister -- came to power in April with plans to tackle graft which is endemic in the ruling party and society at large. (As Reported by AFP)

(Plans to tackle graft? What Plan? MACC (Anti Corruption Commission) is today viewed as a political tool of UMNO and like its predecessor the "ACA" had never prosecuted any "Big Fish" and politicians till todate gets away with billions of ringgit stolen from the people!)

Read earlier Post "Malaysia - Snail of Asean" HERE

Budget and Corruption

Budget and Corruption

Woo..Budget! But than there is Corruption! Lets see how the Budget relates to Corruption as the common denominator here would be about Money.

There has been quite a few requests for me to express my views of the Budget 2010 and I was telling them that I am feeling lazy after watching the Budget presentation last Friday and that is how I felt after the budget speech and if you still don’t get my drift, it’s that the budget made me lethargic and that’s my view of the Budget 2010.

Yeah, there were some minor improvements and there were still inadequacies that are yet to be implemented, what was proposed on the incentives for tax reliefs and such are nothing much on an overview and all proposals must be viewed from the top so as to get a broadview or overview of the total objectives.

A government budget other than being a planned approach to the revenues and expenditure of the nation will also reflect the political and economic strategies and to address the existing problems and concerns of the government.

This budget rings hollow from ear to ear and other than the Public Relation’s input in the budget speech it lacks details. “1Malaysia, Together We Prosper” that is the slogan of the budget speech and I am already getting an overdose of this entire PR sloganeering.

Significance

Someone ask me what are the significance of this budget and that is a good question, first as I can see is that our economy is in contraction as from year 2008 when our Gross Domestic Product (at constant 2000 prices) was at Ringgit 528.3 billion and 2009 at Ringgit 512.4 billion and projected for 2010 at Ringgit 525.4 billion ringgit which is still lower than the 2008 figures. I would have preferred statistic based on GDP at nominal values but was unable to access the department of statistic website up till time of writing.

One annoying matter in Malaysia is the delay in the publication of statistics as when we are now already into the last quarter of the year but our figures are still at 2nd quarters when other nations have already announced their 3rd quarters performance, we probably have to wait until December before they give us the 3rd quarters statistics. How to be a developed nation with all this delay and inefficiency?

Back to the significance of this budget is that we are still in deficit and will be projecting a deficit of RM 40.5 billion adding up to the national debt which will come to about RM 430 billion bringing it close to 60% of the GDP at nominal values which is estimated at approximately RM720 billion and is not looking too healthy as the threshold for a nation like ours is about 50% of GDP. (This will affect the country’s rating.).

Throughout the history of the entire nation, Malaysia was able to record a surplus Budget from 1993 to 1997, isn’t that the time when Anwar Ibrahim was the Finance Minister? But the deficits kind of escalated and ran through the roof from 1998 onwards after Anwar was sacked.

Another significant change is the big drop in revenue by about 8.4% from RM162.1 billion in 2009 to RM 148.4 billion in 2010 and the government responded by cutting the operating expenditure by 13.7% from RM 160.17 billion in 2009 to RM 138.28 in 2010. This huge cut of about RM22 billion from the operating expenditure is quite drastic and the question arises in whether they are able to achieve this as it does not show how they went about just slashing off this figures.

Another thing noticeably annoying in this budget is the grouping of figures presented in this budget, like the revised economic forecast of (negative) – 4% to -5% negative growth for year 2009 and the forecast for 2010 to be from +2 to +3% growth. Governments are suppose to generate greater accuracy and are a reflection of their basis and methodology in their logics towards the economy and they are being lethargic or lazy by just grouping up the figures in this approach.

Strategies or Slogans?

As presented by the Prime Minister; “1Malaysia, Together We Prosper” Budget focuses on three strategies, namely:

First: Driving the Nation towards High-Income Economy

Second: Ensuring Holistic and Sustainable Development

Third: Focusing on Well Being of the Rakyat

How? The budget speech does not impress on the strategic approach other than by just saying so. No details provided, I see no strategic plan but just words. What and how are we to prosper together? How are you to double the per capita income in 10 years and what are your plans?

Some Points to Note (or to be Alarmed):

• The Private Sector was once the driver of economic growth with investments contributing to 30% of GDP, and has declined significantly to below 10% of GDP. Total Domestic Direct Investment slumped from RM 72 billion in 1997 to RM 56 billion in 2008.

• “A business friendly environment requires uninterrupted electricity supply to ensure smooth business operations.” says the Prime Minister who is also the Finance Minister. And so? Billions of ringgit will be thrown in to generate more electricity and includes Hydro Electric Project in Ulu Jelai, Pahang and Hulu Trengganu. And Sabah will also increase electricity generation.

Looks like our economy is in a Boom and we will require more power for all the new industries coming to Malaysia. And All this while I thought we had excess supplies from all the Independent Power Producers generating an over capacity.

• A Second Wave of Piratisation oops I mean Privatization of government companies and agencies to allow these companies to operate more efficiently and expand their activities and to reduce financial dependence on the government. And who are the lucky few who will benefit and get to be bosses of these multi billion ringgit companies.

• 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)??? Wow! This is fast! How did I miss this? Another government sovereign wealth fund? How many sovereign funds do we have today? Anyway this 1MDB had already invested USD 1 billion in collaboration with a company from Saudi Arabia in a high impact project. Don’t ask me where and why? As I don’t know, just heard this for the first time in the budget presentation.

• RM 30 billion allocation for primary and secondary education. This is huge! Better get into the education business fast and furious.

• Planned projects of the five development corridors are in according to schedule and todate, 126 out of 195 projects are in various stage of implementation. Planned investments totaling RM 221 billion have exceeded the 9 Malaysia Plan target of RM 145 billion.

Crime

And on ways in “Preventing Crime” the government will be making an allocation of RM 3.7 billion to increase the efficiency of the security force, including providing modern and sophisticated equipment. And adds that: “The government is serious in reducing the crime rate and will implement crime prevention measures. The government targets to reduce the crime index by 5%, including reducing street crimes, such as snatch thefts and robberies by 20% by end 2010. A total of RM 1 billion will be provided to further improve the services of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) in 2010.”

Just wondering where and how they get the 5% and 20% figures from and why not wipe out crime completely and reduce to the barest minimum? There is only one method they know and that is to throw money.. they are outdated and i find them always at a loss as to the causes of crime, as if you don't know the cause you will never be able to find the antidote.

Corruption

The biggest laugh I had in the presentation was the part to “Combat Corruption” as how the heck do you combat corruption by enhancing the image of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) and promoting better Public Relations? This PR thing is really overdone! Maybe the Prime Minister is very happy with their PR consultants and now we see PR in every corner.Let me give you guys a reminder for free.. No amount of PR can hide the Truth!

There are no short cuts to fight corruption and it has to be done through a system of complete autonomy of the Anti Corruption Commission from the government, it must be a fully transparent and independent institution free from the influence and control from politics and politicians.

All this budget strategies are only eyewash and propaganda if the will to fight corruption is not intact and falls on pretense. We could allocate and spend hundreds and thousands of billions but with the system we have in place there will be massive leakages of the Rakyat’s money through corruption and we will always fall short of our objective and the end result will be great defeat in the global economic race of nations and the people of our country deprived of the opportunity which otherwise would have been present and readily available.

As it is today we are already falling behind and lesser nations are fast catching up on us and if nothing short of an iron will to fight off graft or corruption, we will be dropping ranks further, it is not only about economic growth, it is all about clean and efficient holistic growth which can only be achieved when corruption is completely ridden off or kept to the very minimum.

Corruption is a crime worst than murder! It is worst than murder as corruption can create horrendous hardship to the common man and even lead to death as is so evidently obvious. Corruption robs the nation and its people of the wealth which otherwise would have been available.

Corruption kills by the thousands as governments pay for the construction of roads and highway and in returns gets lower quality and a lesser road, as in paying for four lanes of highways but getting two lanes instead and that because of this two lanes of road which increases the rate of accidents that kills which otherwise if there are the four lanes equivalent as being paid for, the traffic accident rates will have been much lower and fatality very much reduced. When there is corruption, as an example; the vehicles inspection unit of the Road Transport Department, because of certain payments (corruptions) the trucks or buses which otherwise is not road worthy gets to be on the road and while travelling that truck or bus gave way to inadequate maintenance or faulty mechanicals which was certified as being road worthy than rams into other private vehicles and caused deaths which is so commonly seen.

Due to corruption the monies are drained off which otherwise could have been available to improve on public safety and transportation and in doing so the government controls and restrict old vehicles and for the old vehicles to be properly maintained and inspected for road worthiness certification of which is not a necessity in this country and you will find very old and run down vehicles plying our roads and highways that are not road worthy and not properly maintained and such vehicles so often causes accidents with a high degree of fatality, and all this were evident in the recent “Raya Holidays” where we had record breaking traffic accidents and deaths on the road and these figures are ever increasing from year to year and our authorities seems at a loss as to the causes and blames it on drivers and speed limits. And this is not addressed in this budget.

Corruption Kills! And they can cause pain and hardship greater than any natural calamities and disasters as they kill on a constant basis, day in and day out.

And how do we stop this KILLER called corruption? The will to do so starts with the government of the day and I would doubt that this can happen with this present government who have developed a “silo mentality” and can only see from within their party politics that is narrow and closed in and their only concerned is their political climb to the top leadership or to be associated to the leadership and that is why you will only see the same old worn out faces hogging the political limelight and it would be these same old politicians that will shout their propagandist antics that will irritate, annoy and trouble the people and nation. And so I foresee the collapse of the corrupt regime which can only happen as proven throughout history and that is their fall brought about through the will of the people.

“Corruption is an all encompassing Evil because it is the common tool of all Evil activities” 

- Syed Hussein Alatas -

Read the Full Budget Speech HERE

Read Losses of RM28 billion a year through corruption in the Star HERE and other stories HERE and HERE

Auditor General's Report - Isn't That Corruption?

Year in, year out, every year we get reports from the Auditor General that highlights the misdemeanor from government departments, civil servants and government link companies. These reckless acts are deeds of corruptions and that is how it should be interpreted other than the excuse of "bad investment decisions" or "not in compliance of procedures" and etc.

These are criminal acts of corruption against the nation that steals millions and even billions of ringgit  and consistently being highlighted and reported in the annual Auditor General's Report and what actions are being taken? Every year we hear pretense of outcry and anger from the BN government but after a while it's all swept under the carpet.

The MACC (Malaysia Anti Corruption Commission) ask for more time so that it could prove its effectiveness and accuses individuals of dishonesty in discrediting the commission as reported on Oct19 HERE.

This MACC is a big joke, right from the onset it has shown to be a political extension of the BN and UMNO's dirty politics and what of the questionable interrogation and investigation tactics that resulted in the death of an innocent young Malaysian as in Teoh Beng Hock who was being investigated for alleged misuse and purchase of over two thousand ringgit of Malaysian flags?? What a Horror!

Tell UMNO this please you people of this country... that we do not believe that MACC is an independent institution as its appointment and selection of officers are all by and from the government and consist of mostly ex police officers. MACC must be again revamped for it to be truly transparent and independent.

What about the investigation of the former Chief Minister of Selangor who has blatantly flaunt his wealth in the building of his multi million ringgit palace. We have reach the pinnacle of a corrupt society as politicians flaunt their ill-gotten wealth in public without guilt or shame as one example of the recent show-off of a brand new Porsche, ( Edit: Its not a Porsche but a Toyota Alphaard , the Porsche was someone else) by the wife of Liow from MCA. So what has the MACC say to all this?? That they are forever being investigated? And that is just that, "under investigations" that has no conclusion.

My good friend the Admiral Tojo tells me that there are two races in Malaysia, one is of the human race and the other of the "Lizard Race", and than they will sing about unity when they are actually bringing to fore the make believe differences of the people and that in continuation of their division and segregation of the people as they go about their racial play from within their racist party. These are the Lizards.

Read the Sun Report of the Auditor General HERE.

Rise of the Warlords

 "Democracy are Preach by Many but its Fundamental Principles are Seldom Followed and More Often Interpreted and than Imposed Upon."

The UMNO general Assembly has adopted the amendments to the constitution without much debate and the primary amendments will see an increase to the number of voting delegates from 2,510 to 146,500 delegates.

The major complaint in UMNO is corruption or as they would like to put it as "money politics" of which umno has claimed is not the same as corruption, and could even be referred to as a "technical matter" when referring to Isa Samad, the recent candidate for the Bagan Pinang by-election who was convicted of money politics.

Increasing the delegates is only going to empower the warlords as the warlords power comes from the influence and control of their delegates, the delegates are nominated and pick by the warlords who have control of the divisions and branches from which the delegates will be chosen. The more delegates the more money and these warlords will now have an army of delegates which makes them even much more powerful.

There is no short cut to democracy and in a proper democracy the power is vested in the people or in this case the members of the party and every individual members must possess formal equality of right and privilege. Until and unless there is open, free and fair electoral process to be extended to every single member, there can be no democracy.

The problem in UMNO are the en block delegates votes that the warlords control and you can't curb their influence by giving them more delegates, it will be like giving them more ammunition for their weapons. Instead of just taking away the delegates system, they have extended it further. This is not problem solving but adding fuel to fire.

"So the Warlords will still Reign Supreme and are Powerful Brokers."

- Tan Sri Megat Najmuddin -

Isa Won and UMNO Lost!

 (Lost Chicken by Wan Imran)

Isa Won and UMNO Lost!

We came and saw, we did and knew, that it was an uphill task with all the machinery and money that was thrown in. This election is a more aggressive stance taken by umno and we saw a bit of it in Manek Urai, Kelantan, remember? In Manek Urai PAS had only won by a slim majority of 65 votes in 2009 when they had a bigger majority of 1352 votes in 2008. PAS nearly lost it in Manek Urai and that was a close call.

What we saw here in Bagan Pinang was the power of money as in Manek Urai, however the win here is the additional money power of Isa Samad and all he had to do is to buy oops! I mean win over another 1000 voters or so, which is nothing as compared to the 2500 delegates from the umno election.

There were much more hooliganism and gangsterism this time around and much more intimidating than in Manek Urai, we had real experiences and witnessed many of such incidents. This was an UMNO stronghold and had held this seat with the added support of the huge army or postal votes, of which there had always been much irregularities and a lack of transparency in the voting process of these postal votes. PAS was denied access to campaign in the army camps whereas UMNO unfairly campaign through the Defence Ministry. And the postal voting process were not fairly quantified and verified by the oppositions and even the independent monitors were not allowed to witness the postal voting process.

Isa Samad won this buy-election with a greatly increased majority of 5435 votes but sadly, UMNO lost. There were much hype and justification on the selection of Isa Samad as a candidate and the media spin that he was a popular candidate much loved by the people of Bagan Pinang was just that, a media spin. In Bagan Pinang any other reasonably suitable candidate from UMNO would have won but in Isa, they had the advantage of additional fire power of his money and maybe his ground networking being a local of the constituency. There was a lot of talk in coffee shops that the local “Tai Kors” and “Penghulus” and “Big Mundehs” were all very happy with the sudden windfall coming about from this buy-election.

UMNO lost in the fight against corruption and with the return of Isa Samad, a politician previously found guilty of corrupt practices in the UMNO party election, UMNO will lose much with this win by Isa Samad, it will be much more difficult to cleanse or change the image of the party which is widely seen as a party of warlords and money, and this win by Isa will only endorsed the strength and power of the corrupt and as any right thinking individual will not seek to be elected after being dismissed for corrupt practices but than again it looks like “UMNO boleh” as in UMNO only the corrupt has the power and money to dictate and all else matters not.

This win by Isa Samad had reinforced the image of corruption of the political party of UMNO. UMNO had endorsed corrupt practices and will not change. Any attempt to change in UMNO will now be seen as purely cosmetic and an act of deception.

And this is not to say that Pakatan Rakyat did well as all the time Pakatan Rakyat is just the only convenient alternative, the battle is just UMNO and UMNO and that is all, if Pakatan wins its just that UMNO lost and not so much as a Pakatan winning. So for now it is still an UMNO's Lost.

In fact there were not much of Pakatan Rakyat to be seen in Bagan Pinang, there were only PAS and looks like PAS was like working alone and even the local PAS was not much of a presence. The only time there was Pakatan Rakyat was only in ceramahs when the stars visited and went entertaining the huge crowds of supporters that came to visit crowding out every star studded ceramahs of Pakatan Rakyat.

Nevertheless, the UMNO machinery was impressive working the grounds, quietly and silently behind the shadows under the moonlit nights of PD. Their crowd was not as visible as the PAS people or supporters but whatsoever, these UMNO people were in constant work all throughout. And even during polling day we noticed dozens of UMNO vehicle tirelessly ferrying voters to the polling booth and my partner Ee Chia constantly reminding me of these private vehicles running up and down the polling centres quietly and silently. And herein lays the difference in expertise and professional work.

Check Breakdown and Analysis of Election Results HERE

Malaysians Fed-Up with Corruption!

Headlines reported in the Sun papers today and some points extracted below:

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and other "reforms" introduced by the government has so far been ineffective in fighting corruption in the country.

"Malaysians are fed-up with the status quo and the unbearable effects of corruption in the country,"

Transparency International president Datuk Paul Low told a press conference after presenting the country report in the Global Corruption Report (GCR) 2009.

Low pointed out that the controversial death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock in July, in itself raises questions on the MACC's professionalism and hints of abuses of powers in the way it conducts investigations.

“Until drastic action is taken to separate the cozy relationship between government, business and politics, the anti-corruption effort will remain no more than a token gesture,” he stressed.

In the Global Corruption Barometer survey 2009 released in May, when asked if their government was effective in fighting corruption, 76% of Indonesians said “yes” while 70% of Malaysians said “no.”

There should be a separation in the relationship between the Government, business and politics in the fight against corruption, according to the Global Corruption Report.

XXXXXXX

What does the PM Najib Razak has to say about this report and will there be any effort to revamp the Anti Corruption Commission and make it totally independent? 

Some say that it will be brushed aside as usual or pretend to say some things and formed another committee that takes forever. 

And there are those that believe that the BN government must be in total control as they had already seized all powers long ago and there are no longer anymore independence in any of our institutions.


And yet there are those that say that the opposite are true as the new administrations has lost control of these institutions and the powers are now in the hands of the appointed heads and that they cannot be removed and their services are endlessly extended.

Read the Full Report in the Sun HERE

Source of the Truth - RPK

All Malaysians Must Watch This Video!

Merdeka - The State of the Nation

Merdeka - The State of the Nation

The 52nd anniversary on the independence of the Federation of Malaya falls on the 31st August, when the Federation gains its independence from British rule in 1957. And some has expressed that the true formation of Malaysia is on 16th September 1963 when the states of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore (Singapore later broke away in 1965) than joined up to formed the nation of Malaysia. However, the 31st of August has been proclaimed as the “Medeka” (independence) day of Malaysia.

Let’s look at our Merdeka today and whither do we go from here:

• Unity. After 52 years, we are still talking about unity. We have become more divisive and segregated today much more than ever. We never had such problem as I can remember during my time when I was in school in the late 60s and 70s; we were all like families amongst the different races, religion was not much of a topic either as we pratice and professes whatsoever we pleased as individuals and respect and tolerance is never a question. So we must today ask ourselves why have we come to such after all these years, and what or who have cause this segregation and division?

• Religion has today become such an issue, and an individual’s normal conduct and behavior has to be regulated by laws made out of religion which is interpreted and translated by a small group and making it the ultimate law that is being dictated and imposed over the majority. How and when did this happen? And is this what we the people want?

• Economy. The wealth of our country as indicated economically has been running deficits year after year and the country today has a national debt at almost half the size of its GDP and I have conveniently almost always draw parable to the Singapore economic success story where its national reserves (savings) is estimated to be at about double the size of the Malaysian GDP or maybe more. Singapore, the little state that broke away and had for many years been dependent on us for its needs is today an advanced nation and billed as one of the most “cleanest” governments. If comparisons are to be drawn against it would be that Singapore is today in the Premier league and Malaysia probably being relegated and languishing in division 3 and if not careful we might further be relegated to the lowest division 4.

• Education. We are still muddling around with the education system of our children, the future of the nation, and it’s a quagmire caused by bungling retards that is the quality of politicians that Malaysians have elected into office. Our education system that we once had, used to be of world standard and a passing out from a Malaysian school allows you direct entry into any top universities of the world. But today our quality gone down the drain and is just garbage! “This is no good as the more I write the more my blood boils and need to take short breaks to calm myself down.. DAMN!” Who has brought us down to such predicament? The children of our country are the most important and it will take a long time to recover from this mess that we are in. A High quality education is the foundation towards nation building!

• Laws. Our laws have not been updated and we have one of the most oppressive laws in the developed world. We have so many outdated and draconian laws that you can almost lock-up all the people of this country. The ISA or Internal Security Act is just one of them and it has been wantonly and repeatedly used on just about anyone of its citizens.

• Institution. For a long time the institutions that makes for a democracy has lost its independence and autonomy and today just exist to serve its political masters. There must be radical reconstruction to the democratic principles of the independent and autonomous pillars of governance otherwise we are doomed and will become a derelict country.

• Crime. The rise in crime that has today created such endemic fear for the safety of our women and children in our streets. Crime is today rampant and brutal when once upon a time, our young and old could just play and walk freely in the neighborhood. Today we lived in fear of the safety of our family.

• Corruption. There are no indications on the will to fight corruption and is made worst by the corrupt leaders openly flaunting their wealth. The corrupt leaders no longer feel any shame or guilt and treat it as their birth right to rob the already economically stricken country. And the anti corruption agency continues to harass the opposition investigating them for petty matters of miniscule proportion as compared to the overtly display of millions and billions of ringgit of the people’s money of the real corrupt. They blatantly built multi millions palatial homes to show their power and questionable wealth, and they own private jets and indulge in luxuries while the many poor suffers from hunger and sickness.

• Brutality. There have been an appalling 1805 deaths in custody since the year 2003. Deaths of suspects and witnesses have shown the frightening scale of brutality and unscrupulous investigating and interrogating techniques as employed by the authorities and the recent death of a young man of Teoh Beng Hock in custody of newly formed Anti Corruption Agency of MACC has exposed many flaws of the authorities. And through the use of the police they invaded into the Perak state assembly by the use of force in bringing down the opposition government and installing their own without due consideration of the law and constitution of the country.

• Human Rights. The Malaysian government has one of the poorest records in terms of human right and in a recent peaceful protest against the ISA the governments used excessive force and sprayed chemicals through water canons and shot tear gas with aerial drops of tear bombs by helicopeters on the peaceful protesters of young children, women and the elderly.

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So what are we going to Merdeka from? I do not know when we are going to have a real Merdeka but for now it is time to reflect and think where we the people must ultimately takes the blame for the state that we are in as we had allowed the rot to happen and we did nothing to stop it from further deterioration. This country we all call home belongs to all of us and its about time we stand up to be counted, to show our dissatisfaction and to tell them that this is not acceptable and intolerable. This is our Malaysia!

Politicians Needs Money..

(Billionaire Politician - Tiong King Sing)

When politics and business mix, you get all kinds of shit at the expense of the rakyat's money, and here what is RM10 million when there are billions being thrown around at the Port Klang Free Zone.

Read on below:
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Initially the KDSB CEO Tiong King Sing was reluctant to comment on the matter and referred Malaysiakini to the MCA president.

However, when pressed repeatedly, Tiong conceded that the 'rumors were true'.

"Last year, Ong asked me to support him. As a new leader, he needed some funds for activities. We are politicians, we need funds to sponsor our activities.

"I was supposed to return the money to some other people. But in order to help each other, I let Ong use the money first," he said.

"He (Ong) said that he wanted to give the money to all MCA divisions. But I have no idea if he did so. This is up to MCA members to ask him.

"If he didn't give the money to the MCA divisions, then he is lying to me, I want him to return the money back," added the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) treasurer.

Stating that since he regularly 'donated millions' to people, Tiong claimed that it was difficult for him to recall the dates when he gave the money to Ong.

Although there was no other MCA leader present at the meetings, the business tycoon-turned-politician said he had a friend who could be a witness.

"If Ong dares to say that he did not take the money, then ask him to come and see me, I will clearly tell him from where he took the money.

"He (Ong) had even promised to give me a receipt, but I have not received anything," he added.

Tiong, however, remained adamant that the money was not a form of corruption or that it had anything to do with the PKFZ issue.

"If I had bribed you, why didn't you (Ong) make a police report?" he asked.

Read More from Malaysiakini HERE
Read More from Malaysian Insider Police Report against Kuala Dimensi HERE and PAC to haul up KDSB HERE