Khazanah & Bernas - wang tak ada

Orang Malaysia, maaf kata, gemar mengutuk Singapore sebab "menipu" tentang isu air dari Johor.
Dengan membayar beberapa sen, Singapore dapat berlambak air Johor ni.
Tetapi yang saya selalu bertanya ialah, kenapa pula negotiator Malaysia tak dapat harga yang lebih baik? Mungkin lemah dalam taktik nak "menipu"? Atau lemah otak?
Dari zaman batu, ke zaman Dr M, ke zaman bapa mertua KJ, pun isu ini tak dapat diselesaikan.
Atau mungkin Singapore kepala besi? Tak tahulah.


Kemudian ada kes lagi.
Khazanah Nasional pada 2006 terpaksa, dan dipaksa, orang politik untuk membeli kembali syarikat Pantai Holdings dari Singapore. Ini dilakukan melalui Parkway.
Rugi ratusan juta negara Malaysia (Bukan salah Khazanah kes ni, orang politik suruh masuk, depa masuk belilah). Ada sikit background di sini.
Habis duit rakyat terbuang begitu saja sebab semua lalai nak periksa kepentingan negara.


Dan kini, kes Bernas pula.
Siapa punya arahan jual Bernas kenapa syarikat Hong Kong, Wang Tak, saya tak tahu.
Yang saya tahu kalau aset sensitif kenapa dijual?
Kalau jika betul yang ditarget ialah keuntungan, dan SUDAH pun dijual, kenapa sekarang orang politik baru sedar?

Kalau Wang Tak mengikut undang-undang sehingga dapat membeli saham sampai nak control Bernas, maknanya, ada undang-undang yang perlu diperketat. Jika tidak mana tahu, esok, saham syarikat telekom, KLIA, penjana kuasa, Malaysian Airlines, syarikat pembekal air, semua kena control orang asing.
Lepas tu baru tersipu-sipu kena beli balik dengan harga tinggi.
Nanti jika ada syarikat Singapore yang telah beli, kami kena kutuk lagi. Walhal yang salah selalunya orang di utara Tambak Johor.

Yang saya pasti, jika orang politik ni hendak beli balik, dia dapat - sebab dia tahu ini semua menggunakan duit rakyat. Duit aku dan engkau yang bayar cukai.
Sampai bila nak pandai, aku pun dah give up.
Agaknya sampai Wang Tak Ada baru kita semua faham.

Another day, another by-election BN will lose

Kasihan Barisan Nasional.
They are hoping to win a by-election in Peninsular Malaysia for the first time since March 2008.
They have lost six already (won one in remote Sarawak).
But the ones who passed away, or played games and stepped down, are always those from seats which were tough to win for Umno and BN.

Now, another State Assembly seat in Penang is vacant.
In Permatang Pauh (Anwar Ibrahim's stronghold) - the seat is Permatang Pasir, a PAS stronghold.

But Umno-BN has received a shot in the arm with the narrow results for Manek Urai.
And so, everyone will want to see whether the shenanigans in PAS (split between ulama and Erdogans, between wanting Umno or staying with Pakatan), and tensions in Penang (PAS vs DAP to a little extent, and certainly more open, PKR vs DAP) will also affect this seat.
If Umno loses this Permatang Pasir battle as expected, but gains more Malay votes, then that would surely be good enough for the Grand Ole Party.
Also, the Chinese voters are expected to stay firmly with PAS-Pakatan. Will they?
And the Indians, although only at 6 per cent, will they shift their vote?
Wow, many mind games can be played.

But amid the political games, let us not forget that someone's dear family member has passed away. Sometimes I think Malaysians are too ready to shout 'by-election!' rather than contemplate on a local leader just lost to his family and community.

From God we came, and unto Him is our return.
Al fatehah.


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Stats:

Total number of voters: 58,459.

March 2008, the late Mohd Hamdan Abdul Rahman won 11,004 votes while Umno candidate received 5,571. Majority, a huge 5,433 votes.

Racial breakdown (Malaysia ni kalau tak cakap pasal bangsa dan agama, macam tak sah):
Malays 69.4 per cent.
Chinese 24.5
Indians 6.0
Others 0.1.


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Pilihanraya kecil mesti diadakan dalam 60 hari.
Wah ini dah masuk Bulan Puasa!
Macam mana nak kempen waktu siang?
Dan macam mana nak kempen jika tak boleh burukkan orang lain, mengumpat, menghina, mengherdik, keluarkan poster palsu?

Dan nak senangkan cerita, jika Pakatan jadi pemerintah kelak, kenapa tak jadikan Permatang Pauh ni ibu negara baru?
Kita tutup KL dan Putrajaya?
Kita namakan semula tempat itu dengan nama Anwarjaya!
Amacam? Set?

Kosmo minta maaf tentang isu Yasmin. OKlah tu!

OKlah tu, tak payah panjangkan cerita tak seronok ni.
Bukan scoop besar yang orang tak tahu pun.

Baca di sini.

Sebelum ni saya dah lepaskan geram dengan Kosmo. Sekarang dah sejuk.
'Rakan Sekerja' bertanya di bawah posting di atas, bahawa oleh kerana The Star dan Bernama pun laporkan gitu, apa patut dibuat?
Protes 'bang jangan tak protes.

Tetapi lain kali berhati skit. Kan ada Hadith Nabi bila orang tu dah meninggal kita cakap yang baik tentangnya. Bukan tak boleh minta hutang, tapi tak payah cerca.
Terima kasih Kosmo!
Hidup Utusan Malaysia! (Marah Pakatan Rakyat dengan saya! Tak apa, sebab saya ramai rakan di Utusan).

Between P.Ramlee & Yasmin Ahmad

(I accidentally deleted this earlier posting. I also MUST add an angry comment below).

I wrote a posting about her in The Straits Times Blogs here about the genius of Yasmin.

"P.Ramlee, the actor and genius movie director of the 1960s, made Malay movies that reflected the easy-going way of life of the Malays then.
"Yasmin, the genius movie director of her time, was very good at highlighting the angsts of the Malays in the 2000s."




NEW COMMENT - Kencing di atas kubur orang
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So now Kosmo!, the trashy tabloid of Utusan Malaysia, must desecrate her grave with a salacious story on page 1.
If you wanted to attack her, you could have done that four times a year, every year, Bongok.
Because just before every Raya, Lunar New Year, Deepavali or Hari Merdeka, her ads would be on TV.
Or everytime she released a new film. Attack lah then, tell the world.
Why didn't you have the guts to do that then?
So that she could reply.

Why oh why wait until someone is dead and then attack?
As if it was a world scoop or something.

You know how tough it is in Malaysia now to find a MALAY ROLE MODEL that EVERYONE, regardless of ethnicity-religion, love so much?
(Not Dr Mahathir, not even Nik Aziz. Siti? Maybe. But mostly Malays her fans would be).

She was that rare Malay role model.
She showed us to rise above the petty Malay race issues and narrow Islam interpretations.
She showed everyone that there were Malays who are not stupid, Stupid.

- Tak bangga ke orang Melayu Malaysia sebab ramai pengarah filem dari Singapore sanggup terbang ke PJ-USJ nak hadiri pengkebumian Yasmin?

- Ramai rakyat Singapore masih ingat komersial TV anak Melayu ini yang pernah ditayang di Temasek Darul Cina? Ada dua yang dibayar oleh Kementerian Pembangunan Masyarakat, Belia dan Sukan SINGAPORE (MCYS) sedangkan ramai pembuat filem lain di sini pun boleh buat. Satu dari komersial tu di sini.

- Menteri MCYS Singapore mengeluarkan kenyataan takziah untuk anak Melayu yang mati - di sini. Sedangkan kenyataan menteri selalu hanya dikeluarkan jika orang politik besar mati.

- Yasmin sedang dalam pre-production nak buat filem di Singapore, apabila dia meninggal. Tak bangga ke beliau dianggap bagus sehingga nak buat movie kat negeri orang. Projek ini disokong oleh agensi-agensi kerajaan Singapore.

Itulah yang patut digembar-gemburkan.

Guan Eng perjelas isu di ceramah di Singapura

Hari Isnin lepas, saya diperkenalkan kepada Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, Lim Guan Eng (LGE). Saya kenal Kit Siang bapanya (tak rapat), strategist besar DAP, tapi anaknya tak pernah jumpa rasmi sebelum ini.

LGE dan rombongannya berada di auditorium syarikat saya, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), untuk menyampaikan ceramah. Beliau sebenarnya di Singapore untuk mesyuarat lain, tetapi jabatan latihan kami dapat memujuknya untuk singgah di SPH.

Ini bukan kali pertama politikus Malaysia singgah di pejabat SPH - pernah Khairy Jamaluddin, Azalina Othman, Khalid Ibrahim dan lain-lain menjenguk ke pejabat kami di Toa Payoh North.

Bos-bos saya gemar mengadakan pertemuan dan mendengar sendiri dari 'up and coming politicians' baik dari Malaysia, Indonesia dan sebgainya.

Selama kira-kira dua jam beliau, dengan isteri Betty Chew duduk di sebelah, Lim menceritakan tentang bagaimana beliau pernah dipenjara dua kali - sekali ISA dan kali kedua kerana memperjuangkan isu rogol budak perempuan Melayu di Melaka (Lim kata isu ini penting menunjukkan sifat tidak melihat etnik (racist) beliau kerana pada masa tak ada pemimpin Melayu nak tolong keluarga budak itu, neneknya meminta bantuan dari Lim dan beliau tolong sampai kena jail).

Kemudian beliau menceritakan tentang politik Malaysia, pembangkang dan tentang negeri tercintanya, Penang Darul Kandar.
Katanya apabila orang kata: Kamu tak ada pengalaman nak tadbir negeri, beliau menjawab: Saya juga tak ada pengalaman dengan salahguna kuasa dan dengan corruption.
Ooi pandai depa jawab.

Tetapi kebanyakan cerita beliau orang pemerhati politik Malaysia dah tahu. Tetapi yang menarik saya ialah dua perkara:
Dah lama saya cari statistik, tetapi ini datang dari Ketua Menteri sendiri, jadi tentu tepat dan terkini.
- 25 peratus dari barangan eksport untuk seluruh negara Malaysia (baik diukur dari jumlah dan matawang - volume and dollar value) ialah dari Penang.
- 65 peratus dari resit pelancongan medical (medical tourism receipts) berasal dari Penang juga. Maknanya baik pelancong dari Indonesia atau negeri orang putih, jika mereka ke Malaysia untuk membesarkan payudara atau nak baiki jantung, kebanyakan mereka ke pulau mutiara.
Wow, dalam hati saya. Don't play play.

Jike dicampur dengan negeri industri besar yang lagi satu, Selangor, maknanya kerajaan Najib Razak tak mampu nak main politik (seperti bekas menteri pelancongan Azalina Othman dulu, dan juga sedikit sebanyak bekas PM Abdullah Badawi) dengan Penang.
Dan juga dengan Selangor.
Jika kedua-dua negeri besar ini tenggelam ekonominya, maka Malaysia Darul Badminton pun mungkin tenat.

Itulah yang membuat LGE mendebek dada (sikit) bahawa PM Najib tak boleh main politik dengan Penang.
Jika kerajaan Barisan Nasional kasi telungkup Kelantan dan Kedah, tak apa juga, tetapi Penang tak boleh. Dan pada saya, Selangor juga.

Dan Lim ditanya bagaimana kedudukan Penang dengan PM Najib? Beliau berkata perdana menteri baru ini nampaknya menyedari hakikat itu dan sanggup bekerjasama.
Hubungan lebih "businesslike".
LGE mengeluarkan statistik yang menunjukkan projek-projek yang menggunakan dana persekutuan (federal funds) dikeluarkan untuk:
- Second Penang bridge, jambatan kedua 24km panjang. Harga RM4.5 bilion.
- Mengkuang Dam RM1.2 bilion.
- Keretapi Bukit Bendera (funicular train project, Penang Hill) RM60 juta.
- Dan projek ini, kata LGE, beliau terkejut bila diumumkan oleh PM Najib kerana ianya tidak termasuk dalam baget original dengan Penang - memperbesar airport antarabangsa Penang, RM250 juta.

Jika dulu menteri pelancongan nak sekat promosi untuk Penang, menteri pelancongan baru nak tolong seperti biasa, katanya.

Orang Kelantan kalau baca ini: inilah mungkin masa terbaik nak pekik minta royalti minyak dan gas!? Tengku Razaleigh sendiri, bekas orang kuat Petronas dan menteri kewangan, berkata Kelantan memang sepatutnya dibayar wang royalti ini.

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Cerita Kampung Buah Pala

Saya rasa LGE agak pelik membuat kenyataan bahawa pemaju/developer tidak dibenar untuk meneruskan projek kerana development order sudah ditarik balik.
Beliau memberitahu dengan keputusan ini, pemaju nak masuk ke tanah kampung itu, nak robohkan pun boleh, tetapi TAK BOLEH memajukan tempat itu dengan menanam satu ceracak pun.
Katanya ini kerana beliau mahu pemaju cari penyelesaian dengan penduduk kampung itu.
Katanya, tangannya terikat kerana mahkamah telah membuat keputusan projek bolh diteruskan.


Kita berhenti di sini. Panjang sangat kalau tidak cerita LGE ini.
Kesimpulannya: kira-kira 150 wartawan dan bos-bos besar SPH duduk dalam auditorium itu.
Mereka dari akhbar-akhbar SPH seperti The Straits Times, Business Times, Berita Harian (Singapura), Zaobao, Wanbao, Shin Min Daily, Tamil Murasu. Terdapat juga anggota dari Singapore Press Club yang datang.
Ramai yang kata 'gua caya sama lu' (impressed) dengan penerangan-penerangannya.

Nah, jadi lepas ini kena bawa orang besar Umno pula nak counter diayah pembangkang ni kat Singapore. Masalahnya, ada ke yang nak terima?

Baru-baru ini, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) di Singapore telah mengadakan siri ceramah yang begitu popular mengenai politik Malaysia. Ratusan memenuhi ruang auditorium di National University of Singapore.
Mereka dipanggil secara berasingan:
- Khalid Ibrahim, PKR.
- Dzulkefly Ahmad, PAS.
- Nurjazlan Mohamed, Umno. Anak Tok Mat.

Tok Jazlan, berani datang SPH ke atau takut kena bantai? Saya boleh aturkan.
(Saya action sikit cabar beliau sebab saya kenal beliau).

Covering Guan Eng, Boediono visits

Apols to my fans, if any (heehee. Thanks mom).
Been busy last two days doing reporting in Singapore, ie away from my usual monitoring of Southeast Asia and South Asia news by just sitting in office and talking to my paper's correspondents all over.

Penang CM Lim Guan Eng came around to Singapore Press Holdings' auditorium (SPH) Monday, and then Indonesian Vice-President-elect Boediono was in the famed Shangri La Hotel's Island ballroom on Tuesday (many big events in Singapore happened here inside this big room).
So I was roped in to do reporting.... ie I was not allowed to enjoy their speeches and answers to questions like everyone else. Cari makan.

LGE was polished and impressed many of the SPH journalists who attended. They liked his sincerity in presenting his arguments and his life philo.
A jaded me told 'em: Normal lah politicians whether Malaysia, Singapore or America, they can persuade you to go to war with their words. Else they become stupid journalists.

Boediono's forum - that was the first time I listened to an Indonesia politician (errr...he is technically a politician now, though the former central bank governor still saw himself as a technocrat put into the political arena) speaking politics in full. Though most of his speech was like throwing numbers and stats. Still, I like his sincerity in presenting his arguments. Heehee.

Both were two-hour sessions. I got a lot of new insights a lot despite having to furiously jot down their pearls.
In answering questions from the floor, LGE answered some of the reservations I had about his decisions - like banning Utusan and NST from state government offices (what happened to media freedom espoused by these opposition types?), and that strange decision on Kampung Buah Pala. More later.

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Pakatan Rakyat 'will not crumble'

Penang Chief Minister Lim says alliance has gone past initial stage of fragmentation

By Reme Ahmad, Assistant Foreign Editor
		Mr Lim said differences of opinions were normal in any political organisation and did not portend a break-up.

PENANG Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng expressed confidence yesterday that the three-party Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance will not break up despite the pressures of 'growing under a magnifying glass' of its political enemies.

He said that even if opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, the glue of the disparate opposition alliance, is somehow removed from the political scene, PR is unlikely to come apart.

'Nothing can be further from the truth than to say that the political obituary of Pakatan Rakyat can be written,' he said.

Mr Lim was speaking to journalists from Singapore Press Holdings, at its auditorium, on the topic Winds Of Political Change In Malaysia: Can The Opposition Alliance Hold? He spoke on a wide range of topics in the two-hour session that included questions from the floor.

PR won the state assemblies of five of Malaysia's 13 states in last year's general elections, the best-ever showing by the opposition parties. The alliance comprises the multiracial Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP), and the conservative Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).

Several questions from the floor were about the state of the opposition alliance after a series of intra-party and inter-party disputes in recent months.

Mr Lim, DAP's secretary-general, said that differences in opinions were normal in any political organisation and did not portend a break-up as predicted by leaders of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).

He was also asked whether PAS will stay loyal as some of its top leaders seem keen to get close to Umno. Mr Lim predicted that a firm move by this group towards ethnic-based politics would cause a break-up of PAS because a 'significant' number of its other leaders and members want to stay with PR.

There have also been questions on what would happen to PR if Anwar, who is facing a sodomy trial, is found guilty and thrown into jail.

Mr Lim's reply: 'The legacy of Anwar will be that even without him we can go on. We have gone past the initial stage of fragmentation.'

Mr Lim also explained the strength of the opposition alliance in another way: 'We are growing under a magnifying glass (of BN). Any shred of suspicion (of wrongdoing) and they will throw the whole kitchen cabinet at you, yet nothing has stuck.'

He said that in the end, the administration of Prime Minister Najib Razak would have to accept that a two-party system has emerged in the country.

Chief Minister Lim said PR wants to replace the concept of Ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy) promoted by Umno, with its own Ketuanan Rakyat (people's supremacy), in which leaders help the public without looking at ethnicity. The Umno model, he claimed, merely distributed wealth and shares among its members, not among the Malay masses.

Asked whether a state run by a non-BN government, like Penang, could expect much help from the federal government, Mr Lim said the Najib administration knows that it cannot allow Penang to fail.

Penang is the second most industrialised state in Malaysia, after Selangor, which is also controlled by a PR state government. Some of the biggest industries in Malaysia are located in these two states.

'There is a realisation that you cannot play politics in these types of national issues. We have to work together,' he said.

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Boediono eyes 7% growth for Indonesia

Govt also wants to halve poverty and slash jobless rate

By Reme Ahmad , ASSISTANT FOREIGN EDITOR
		Indonesia has survived the worst of the global economic crisis, says Mr Boediono. He outlined his country's goals during a forum organised by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore yesterday. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

INDONESIA'S Vice-President- elect Boediono yesterday painted a brighter future for the country over the next five years.

The government is targeting average economic growth of 7 per cent a year, cutting poverty by half and sharply reducing unemployment.

It plans to achieve these targets by starting more infrastructure projects, increasing assistance for the poor and helping local businesses to grow, he told a forum in Singapore.

The plans will go hand in hand with the fight against corruption and improving governance under the government of re-elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Mr Boediono said.

'Democracy has to deliver the goods for the people. Unless you do that, its legitimacy will be questioned,' he told the audience at the forum organised by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Mr Boediono, 66, was central bank governor before he was picked by Dr Yudhoyono as his running mate in the July 8 presidential election. The Yudhoyono-Boediono team captured 61 per cent of the votes, far ahead of the other two rival teams.

Mr Boediono, who is also a former academic, is seen as someone who is without political ambitions, thrifty and leads a moderate lifestyle - attributes that sit well with Dr Yudhoyono's reform agenda.

In his speech yesterday, Mr Boediono said Indonesia has passed the worst handed down by the global economic crisis and expects 'respectable' economic growth of 4 per cent this year and 5 per cent next year. The economy grew 6.1 per cent last year.

The building of more roads, ports and power plants, accompanied by a rebound in exports and increased consumption in Indonesia, will help push growth to an average of 7 per cent a year to 2014.

The high growth rate will pare unemployment from 8.1 per cent to between 5 and 6 per cent by 2014.

The government also aims to reduce the percentage of people living below the poverty line from 15 per cent of the population to 8 per cent in five years' time. The government defines those who spend less than 200,262 rupiah (S$29) a month on average as living below the poverty line. He declined to give further details, saying an informal team of advisers is working on these matters.

While he had no trouble dishing out numbers during the two-hour session, he was guarded when asked about non-economic issues such as Indonesian foreign policy.

He said that Indonesia wanted to be an 'anchor of political stability' in Asean but that he would leave the details to the incoming foreign minister, who has yet to be named.

He described bilateral ties between Singapore and Indonesia as stable and solid. But he also pointed to the unresolved issues of the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) and the extradition treaty.

Both countries had agreed in April 2007 to introduce a DCA and an extradition treaty, but talks on their implementation have since stalled over technical issues.

At the start of the forum, Mr Boediono expressed his condolences to the family of Nanyang Technological University student David Hartanto Widjaja, 21, who fell to his death on March 2.

Mr Boediono said he hoped the process of law would soon establish the whole truth about the death - a case that has received widespread attention in the Indonesian media. A coroner's inquiry into Mr Widjaja's death was held and a verdict is expected today.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LYNN LEE

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New perspective

TECHNOCRAT Boediono used to see his work in terms of statistics.

He was a central bank governor under the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and finance minister under former president Megawati Sukarnoputri.

But after two months of intense political campaigning as running mate to Dr Yudhoyono, he now appreciates that the lives of many people are affected and that Indonesians put a lot of stock in their leaders.

'This kind of experience I never had before when I was minister or central bank governor, so in a sense I have been transformed,' said the Vice-President-elect at a forum in Singapore yesterday.

'I used to see the subsidies as numbers, dollars - and at the back of my mind these may be just a waste of money. But when you see this money goes to the people with the sincere faces, I think I have changed my mind. Subsidies may be necessary.'

By REME AHMAD

Guan Eng makes strange move in Penang

I am stunned by the move made by Lim Guan Eng, the Penang Chief Minister, to revoke the development order for Kampung Buah Pala in the state.
Facing huge pressure from Hindraf, the Indian community and the few dozen villagers there, he had revoked the development order.
In other words, the developer who was planning to build a residential estate in the area, can take a walk. Or they can sue and waste time and money.

This is a shocker, surely, for Malaysia.
And bad news for business, because there is no finality on doing things that could affect everyone, including you and I as buyers of properties put out by developers.

Lim said:
“This means that even though they (developers Nusmetro) can come on Aug 3 and demolish the houses, they cannot build them.”

What is this!?!?

Yes, I agree that there might well be something funny with the way the land was sold to a cooperative society.
But surely once the court has decided on the issue (that the development could proceed and the squatter villagers must move out), that should be the way things should move forward.

While Lim's move is good for his politics and the villagers, surely this is bad news for developers and the public who already bought units in such projects – be they medium-cost flats, condos, office units and factory floors.
So let’s say a PR government in Penang-Selangor-Kedah now approves a piece of land to be converted into a major project. the developer then sold units to the public.
But if/when BN takes back the state, can it then say that the project is not good for the people and revoke the development order?
If that is so, then what happens to the buyers of such units? Bank loans have been taken out.

My sympathies to the villagers, of course, but I do feel that they presume too much by rejecting the offers by the developer. The villagers are, after all, squatters. Ie the land is not theirs.

I am now worried that my house in KL could suddenly receive a 'get-out' order from the government (who knows PR may take over soon, eh) because the developer had done some suspected hanky-panky stuff with the previous government that I didn't know about.
And the land, previously hilly green terraces, would be given back to some farmers or be taken back by the government.
Sigh.

Is this what all Malaysians really want?
That a pressure group/s can force the government to go against the court and revoke a development order just like that?

Yasmin Ahmad (1958-2009)

When a Muslim is told that someone he/she knows has died, this is what we say in Arabic:
From God we came, and unto Him shall we return.

I had never spoken to her and had never met her.
But she was ever-present every year in my living room just ahead of Hari Raya, Chinese New Year or Deepavali with TV commercials that tugged at my heart, celebrating family and multiracial living in Malaysia.

(PICTURE from her Facebook account).

At last! Truth on Beng Hock's case (yeah, right)

Wait a minute.
So NOW, with the birth of a new anonymous website, we know the truth about how Teo Beng Hock died!

The story is like this, spread by government friendly media:
A few DAP leaders got greedy, but it is not easy to steal money from state coffers because all the big schemes have been carried out in Selangor by Umno and BN leaders. So how?
These greedy DAP leaders decided to rope in former journalist Teo to help them steal little sums of government funds.
Our intrepid investigators from the MACC, too busy to chase after Khir Toyo and his zillion-dollar house with questionable low-price, managed to cobble together the secret plan!
Wah, Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie can go back to sleep!

But alas, before Teo could sign the document implicating his DAP bosses, he was somehow found dead. No guesses for who could have killed him.... why, the DAP and its gangsters of course.

My verdict:
Whoever thought of this scheme to defend the government, I have one advice for him/her or them.
Go to the 14th floor of ANY building.
Open the window.
Jump.


The scheme is so amateurish, I have only one word for it: Bodoh.
It reminded me of the ICJ case over Pulau Batu Puteh/Pedra Branca, when suddenly a mysterious pro-Malaysian-government website apppeared with a doctored picture to show that the rocky outcrop is very close to the Malaysian mainland - see here.


And now, spin-doctors, let's think of another scheme. Something credible please.
I am not saying that it cannot be true that the DAP, gangsters or aliens caused Beng Hock's death. What I am saying is that this T4TBH is a non-credible way to explain away the issue. It might even complicate the Inquest if the same documents were to appear at the inquest.

I am no friend of the opposition in the way it is handling the case - it merely wants to play games, not just to help in finding out the truth.

Yasmin Ahmad - hit by stroke

LATEST 8.30PM FRIDAY
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Her brother said Yasmin remains unconscious but stable.
She is on oxygen support, NOT life support, which is good.
He said it is not true that she had a stroke before - as reported by some media.

It also means that my earlier headline 'Yasmin Ahmad - hit by second stroke' was wrong (I based it on those media reports).
So I have now changed my headline, by taking out the word 'second'.



EARLIER POSTING
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Don't lie.
We have all cried, or at least shed a few quiet tears, after seeing one of Yasmin Ahmad's ads over the joy of multi-racial living or the feel-good ads ahead of Hari Raya, Chinese New Year or Deepavali.

And of course there are also those great down-to-earth movies.

Yasmin was downed by a second stroke today.
She is only 51. Let's hope she will recover fast.
Malaysia needs more Glokals like her.

Click below her TV ad made for Singapore's Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, which perhaps not many Malaysians are aware of (Thanks MIA for telling me about it).
And see if your eyes can stay dry at the end.





Type 'Yasmin Ahmad' on Youtube and find lots more to ponder over.



LATEST 10AM FRIDAY
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This was how the Life! section of my paper in Temasek played the story - note the two Singapore commercials. And upcoming movie.

The Straits Times, 24 July 2009.

Critically-acclaimed writer-director Yasmin Ahmad, 51, collapsed and went into a coma during a presentation she was giving at TV3's studio in Sri Pentas, Kuala Lumpur, yesterday, the Malaysian press reported.

When reached, her producer Fendi Harjoh told Life!: 'This is not the right time for an interview. But she is fine and stable and in the ICU.'

It was reported that the Malaysian film-maker was taken to the Intensive Care Unit at the Damansara Specialist Hospital. She is believed to have suffered a stroke and was in a coma for a short while before doctors there successfully revived her.

She has won awards for her sensitively observant dramas such as Sepet (Chinese Eye, 2004) and Gubra (Anxiety, 2006).

But Singaporeans know her through the successful pro-family commercials she created for the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. Last year, she got people talking with an ad featuring a girl growing up with a single father and this year, an ad which depicted a widow reminiscing fondly about her late husband at his funeral.

She is currently in pre-production for her first movie to be shot in Singapore titled Go, Thaddeus!. She has been holding casting calls here for it, which is based on the true story of 17-year-old Singaporean triathlete Thaddeus Cheong, who died after finishing a SEA Games selection race in 2007.

Royal Commission and the game oppo plays

In my recent writings on the MACC case, I did not at all mention that a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) should be held.
Like most people, I am angry about the way things had happened at the anti-corruption body and how it had failed to properly handle the angry backlash.
And I am unhappy that race issues were raised by some in the media.

I am but a tiny voice who is not even based in Malaysia.
But let me tell you anyway the reason for my big reservations about the RCI:

As you must have seen with the Lingam RCI, the opposition made use of this to vent their frustration at all things linked to the judiciary.
The opposition did not bother to make clear to everyone - since all Malaysians, foreign investors and readers well beyond Malaysia were also watching - that perhaps SOME judges were implicated. The opposition instead went all the way and throw all kinds of nonsense that in the end the WHOLE judiciary became tainted.
There are many good judges, untainted ones, in the system.
But in their hurry to paint the government black, the opposition did not care two hoots. They only want to come to power by making the government and its agencies look black.

And was there not a RCI on the police force, that was made out by the opposition to make all cops look like corrupt guys who will rob you tomorrow and then beat you up to death during detention? In other words, no one now trusts the police.

While Teo Being Hock deserves justice, how come I got the feeling that at the END of this whole new RCI, ALL anti-corruption officers would have been painted as corrupt and pro-government workers who love to persecute the opposition?
You can see the oppo playing games here already. They say they want quick answers but they dabble in mind games.

I hope to be proven wrong about this new RCI, with the opposition showing real maturity.
When pigs fly....?

Racism is alive. In (Moral Majority) America

In Singapore, if a Meley guy like me was seen at the entrance of a big house in a rich neighbourhood, I don't think anyone would call the police.
The neighbours would think that I was the 'Amat' (the racist Chinese label for a driver in Temasek) or the gardener.

In Malaysian, the Meley guy at the front porch of a giant house of a rich neighbourhood trying to open the door, wouldn't get a second glance.
Thanks to the much-maligned bumiputra policy that has raised crony zillionaires of ALL races, and a big group of high-income professional Meleys.

In America, two black guys in the front porch of a big house in a rich Massachusetts neighbourhood, in broad daylight mind you, trying to open the door, were ARRESTED.
The white neighbours thought they were thieves trying to break into the house!
Well, one black guy turned out to be a famous Harvard professor, and the other black guy was his driver!

Hello America.
Land of those who are ever ready to teach us about human rights and dignity.
Land of Moral Majority.
Land of Obama, Condi Rice and Denzel Washington.
See the story here - including a picture of the black professor in handcuffs as police came to the house to take him away from his front porch.


Lesson: Lain kali bawa kunci rumahlah, bodoh.

My friend, journo Tony Thien, passes on

S.C. Chan, more widely known by his Malaysiakini byline Tony Thien, passed away this morning after undergoing heart surgery. He also wrote for Malaysian Mirror.
See Malaysiakini story here and Bernama story here.

The Sarawakian, 61, covered not just Sarawak news but also that of neighbouring Sabah. And even Brunei.
I consider him a friend although we have met but once. In the years that I called him for info and news about East Malaysia, he always have stories to tell and phone numbers to share.

I had met him in 2005 when Sime Darby took a bunch of journalists from West Malaysia to visit Bakun Dam. And a group of journalists from East Malaysia joined us.
There were about 30 reporters-photographers-videographers in the group.
Pity I don't know where I put the pix from that visit - maybe they are in my old computer in KL.
His PICTURE here is from Malaysiakini.

The West Malaysia journalists landed in Bintulu airport (the Borneo journos on another flight), then we were bussed about 3 hours into the restricted Bakun area.
I remembered coming out LAST from immigration to the impatient snarls from some others. You see, the other journos all needed to show just their IC to enter Sarawak, whereas I had to bloody fill up an immigration form and have my Singapore passport stamped.

Sime was then in charge of Bakun and had a Chinese company as its main contractor and the project was doing well.
The group spent one night in a hotel built specially in the dam area itself. The hotel is made of wooden walls mostly and was used by executives of the project and by visitors like us.

I had only then read about interior Sarawak, Bakun and Belaga from books and on the Internet.
My God, huge jungles, swift giant rivers and friendly locals.
And seeing is believing - I saw with my own eyes how huge the Bakun Dam basin would be - an area the size of Singapore, indeed, would be under water if this project is ever completed. We were driven right atop a mountain to see the huge site.

And amid all the city journalists, with our oohs-and-ahhs, suntan lotions and sunglasses, was Tony. We became fast friends in those three days and two nights because he had many stories to tell, and I had many KL stories for him.

The next day, everyone was taken by long boats for an hour in the huge murky river to spend another night at a tiny hotel in Belaga. The boatmen were funny, saying if fell overboard no one can save us as the water is dark teh tarik colour, and big toman fish would eat us quickly.

The next day, everyone was supposed to be taken by long boats again to meet our bus, but several reporters including myself came down late from our rooms and were left behind!
So we were taken in two Toyota trucks to be driven out of the thick jungles.
I feel like Indiana Jones with my stomach all churning because there was NO road to speak of, just very muddy trails full of potholes.
We caught up with Tony and the bus later on, took group photos at the airport and that was it.

But I have been calling Tony since then every time Sarawak or Sabah rumbled.
And now, I have one less friend to call.
Just over a year after I lost another journo friend.
Rest in peace, Tony.

Ku Li weighs in on MACC case

See here.
Let's wait for what Da Mahadet might want to say.

The sections of the media (both mainstream and blogs) that has made this into a Melayu-lawan-Cina issue is scary for a country that I wished to retire in.

Of course, the idiots from the opposition are 'politicising' the issue.
They are monkeys that will jump at every rotten banana and stale peanut - they don't care if tensions are raised, just so long as they can make the government look black.
I can understand that Teo Beng Hock's friends and family wanting to carry banners during his funeral, but why should the opposition meet at stadiums and halls to 'explain' the issue?
Such things just raise tensions in the country.
They had behaved in the same way in the Perak assembly - jumping on tables like monkeys. If they had been man enough, call ALL assemblymen into the hall and call for show of majority. But they behaved that way so that there won't be no such show of hands, after failing to ban Zambry and five others from attending.
And whenever the courts ruled against them, they began shouting like monkeys too about unfairness of justice system and biased judges. But curiously if the courts ruled FOR them, they support the decisions! See my arguments here.
That's the quality of the opposition who is dreaming of ruling Malaysia. Mind you, I am saying this although I know many opposition leaders quite well.
Biar depa marah, sebab saya dah marah dengan perangai 'asyik nak mengamuk' pembangkang ni, walaupun nama negara dibusukkan. Nak berang dengan kerajaan tengok tempat dan berpadalah, tuan.

Yes, so everyone has the right to voice his opinion. But somehow I feel that the message has been received by the government - they must provide answers fast - and these meetings are just to drum up support for the opposition, never mind if tensions are raised.
And indeed it could become a racial issue, because the attendees of these events would be mostly Chinese, ringed by Malay policemen. Aiyah.

Then again, I am asking myself: which issue is not politicised in this country?
Tambang bas naik jadi isu politik.
Pengajaran matematik dan sains pun isu politik.
Nak buat jambatan RM7 juta pun dah jadi isu politik di Kelantan - vote for us, or no bridge.
Aiyah.

Ku Li reflected what I wrote earlier (see last paras), that in the issue, one needs to look at Teo Beng Hock as a young man with a family who lost his life in unusual circumstances.
His family demands answers.

Ku Li:
"Questions about the death of Mr Teoh cannot be evaded with the low tactic of racialising the issue because the death of Mr Teoh touches us all as citizens, brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers. None of us wants to live under a government apparatus that cannot be trusted to be independent and to tell the truth."

A Parody (Part 2) - Death at the MACC

Yes, I know death is a serious thing.
But this shows you that even in anger (or politicised anger as pro-Umno people are saying), the opposition types are inventive enough to make people 'get the message'.
Umno-BN, when are you guys gonna whack the opposition the same way?





And for you guys who missed the earlier Parody (Part 1) using Hitler also, see here:
If you think the subject is too sensitive, aiyah, just click off this page.

Petronas tipu rakyat Kelantan Darul Condensate?

Pejuang seni yang kini memperjuangkan PAS di Klate, kickdefella, menunjukkan di blog beliau beberapa peta galian minyak-gas yang saya pasti berasal dari sumber rasmi.
Jika betul, ia semacam menunjukkan bahawa kerajaan Malaysia - termasuk Petronas - sengaja tidak mahu membayar wang royalti minyak-gas kepada Kelantan.
Petronas dalam isunya terpaksa buat donno sebab ini terpulang kepada kerajaan Persekutuan, bukan terpulang kepadanya nak kayakan kerajaan Nik Aziz yang banyak nikmat.

Kerajaan persekutuan pernah berkata minyak-gas yang digali bukan milik Kelantan kerana ianya didalam Joint Development Area (kawasan pembangunan bersama) [JDA] Thailand, dan lagi satu dengan Vietnam - sebab kawasan tertindih, iaitu Thai dan Viet berkata kawasan itu kawasan mereka.

Tetapi PETA - lihat di atas (saya 'pinjam' dari kickdefella) - jelas menunjukkan bahawa kawasan gas dan condensate (campuran gas dan cairan) kebanyakannya dalam kawasan Kelantan, bukan JDA!

Apa kata Hassan Marican, ketua pegawai eksekutif pujaan saya? (Depa tak kenal saya pun)


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1) Sayugia diingat bahawa apabila PAS memenangi Terengganu dalam 1999, tiba-tiba royalti minyak ditarik oleh Dr Mahathir Mohamad dan dijadikan wang ehsan.
Ianya taktik politik (taktik kotor ke tidak terpulang kepada anda. Saya bukan penyokong PAS atau Umno) kerana pada masa itu PM Mahathir khuatir PAS akan menjadi lebih kuat jika wang lebih kurang RM800 juta-RM1 billion pada masa itu jatuh ke tangan Hadi Awang dan kuncunya.

Tetapi wang ehsan inilah yang akhirnya merosakkan politik Umno Terengganu kerana tanpa diawas oleh kerajaan dan rakyat wang sebanyak itu 'disimpan' dan 'dilabur' oleh Umno.
Saya rasa sehingga kini tak ramai yang tahu berapa banyak yang masih ada dalam bank, lebih-lebih lagi di zaman Abdullah Badawi-Idris Jusoh, sehingga Sultan Terengganu murka lalu tidak mahu lagi akan Idris.
Sampai chedet pun ada bertanya - Where has the money gone to?

2) Dan lebih menarik lagi untuk Kelantan - saya cover pilihanraya Mac 2008, duduk dua minggu di Kota Baru dan ikut pemimpin Umno dan PAS yang turun naik berkempen.

Pada masa itu Awang Adek, yang mengaku akan dilantik Menteri Besar jika Umno menang Kelantan kembali, ada membayangkan beberapa kali - dalam ucapan di depan ribuan orang - bahawa kerajaan Barisan Nasional akan memastikan bahawa paip minyak-gas akan mendarat di bumi Kelantan.
Dia tak cakap pasal royalti, tetapi ada projek nak daratkan paip minyak-gas yang digali itu ke bumi Cik Wan Kembang.

Orang Kelantan pula bengap tak mahu projek, halau Umno semua hingga Awang Adek pun tenggelam tak dapat kerusi....

Mati di MACC - Bagaimana seluar koyak?

Jenazah Teo Beng Hock telah selamat diabadikan hari ini di Semenyih.

1) Satu isu pelik yang ditanya ramai orang ialah bagaimana seluar mendiang boleh koyak besar di sebelah belakang.
Kalau nak kata seluarnya tersangkut apabila terjun/ditolak/terjatuh, agak mustahil kerana cermin di bahagian luar bangunan semuanya rata - jika ada tingkap dibuka pun ia tidak akan menyebabkan seluarnya tersangkut kerana dibuka dari sebelah bawah.
Ini misteri yang mesti dijelaskan oleh *MACC/SPRM, polis atau kerajaan.
Kerana ramai merasakan isu seluar koyak ini ada kaitan dengan kematiannya.
(*MACC Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission/Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia)


2) Dan satu lagi soalan ialah sama ada kerajaan, selepas isu ini, akan membuat peraturan baru tentang selidik-siasat yang dilakukan oleh MACC ini.
Adakah ia akan terus mengadakan 'wawancara' sehingga 3.45 pagi? Dia bukan suspek pun, hanya nak membantu siasatan.

3) Dan kerana telefon bimbitnya masih dengan MACC, adakah ini bermakna Beng Hock belum diarah supaya pulang, tetapi terus ditahan?
Kalau dah di arah pulang, menurut satu laporan kereta Beng Hock ada di bangunan itu. Kenapa nak tidur di situ dan bukan lari pulang (hari yang sama dia nak register perkahwinannya).

4) Dan yang lebih penting, MACC kini namanya dah busuk, jadi apa yang boleh dilakukan untuk menaikkan semula nama MACC?
Susah kalau rakyat dah tak percaya.
Memang betul, orang politik pembangkang menggunakan isu ini untuk membusukkan terus nama MACC, tetapi jangan salahkan orang lain saja.
Suka atau tidak, Beng Hock dilihat telah 'mati dalam tahanan' atau 'death in custody' pertama MACC.

Dan seperti yang saya khuatiri, ada sudah menggunakan isu bangsa - Melayu MACC lawan Cina pembangkang.
Anak orang, tunang orang, bakal seorang bapa dah mati dalam tahanan dengan misteri, tuan, kenapa isu bangsa ini timbul pulak?

There are issues when race-religion does not matter.
You know why?
When these mysterious deaths-in-custody issues happen, I always put myself in the shoes of the family of the dead person.
Whether A.Kugan or Teo Beng Hock or a death while doing National Service (anak orang Melayu), I often ask myself:
What if that was my son? What if he went to/was held by the authorities, and a day/days later was found dead due to unusual circumstances?

Malaysian highways - living with vampires

A fast way to suck your blood, this is perhaps one way to describe the many Malaysian highways and expressways. They are are actually roads with those horrible monsters called Toll Booths.
If you live in Malaysia and especially the Klang Valley, you cannot avoid using them at all.
DUKE, AKLEH, ELITE, SPRINT, LEKAS, KASEH, SILK, PLUS, MRR2.

My favourites are DUKE (Duta-Ulu Kelang Expressway and AKLEH (Ampang-KL Elevated Highway).
PLUS is also okay although at the end of it, my pocket is in deep minus.
I hate MRR2 (Middle Ring Road 2) because since it is FREE to use, it is often jammed - especially at the infamous Kampung Pandan link.

I used DUKE last week to go from my kampung in Wangsa Maju to IKEA - wow! only 20minutes, half the time on the regular Wangsa Maju via MRR2 to Gombak, Kepong, PJ.
Of course, the toll of RM8 for a return trip will suck you dry you if you have to use it daily.

I use AKLEH regularly because it is the fastest way to reach downtown KL (my old office is beside KLCC) minus the Keramat and Ampang Crawl during peak hours.

Like it or not, we have to live with these vampyre roads and the Drakulyas who own them (or vampire and Draculas if you don't like the old spellings).

I wrote an article about these Malaysian highway stars.
See here.

chedet's poll hits 100,000, Pro-PPSMI votes high

It is good that public polling - done by Merdeka or checet.cc or others - is now part of public life in Malaysia.
Opinion polls are suddenly hot in Malaysia.
chedet has now closed his polling on whether PPSMI should be dropped or continued: a massive 86 per cent is against the policy being dropped.

The Cabinet can pretend this is not happening after announcing that it used "scientific" methods to assess that the policy had led to worse maths and science results among students.
But among Malaysians, a hell of a lot of them, want the six-year old policy to be continued.
Though, as I have written before, Dr Mahathir Mohamad's polling is not quite so scientific for obvious reasons.

The problem is, if the government 'go-stan' on this, it will be seen to be flip-flopping.
If it doesn't it will be see as not following the wish of the rakyat.

Ex-PM Abdullah Badawi has declared that the policy was a failure. After just six years?
Then again this was the same man who led Malaysia and Umno and BN into all sorts of troubles in his short 5.5 years as PM (shorter than PPSMI was taught in schools) with major flip-flops on everything.

So to go-stan or not, PM Naib Razak? I don't have any answer (the standard response from a cowardly reporter when he knows the government is screwed).
How now?
Methinks stick to the decision lah. We can always do another scientific study and re-start it again say, five to 10 years from now. Just kidding.
In about a decade, the expanded English language curriculum (including English literature) would have had time to be absorbed in the schools.
If the whole idea is about getting more students to understand English, then when they are more comfortable a decade from now, can add back the PPSMI.

Shah Alam, Jakarta - angry whispers sweep cities

In Shah Alam
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A 30-year old was mysteriously found dead on a five-storey flat roof of a building where he was being questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. He fell from the 14th floor.
Was Teo Beng Hock pushed, or did he jump?
Why should he jump on the day he was about to register his marriage?
Why should anyone want to push him?
Or maybe there was an accident?
Why was MACC so keen to keep him until 3.45am as if the nation is in danger if he was allowed to go home, and questioning continued the next day?
And why wasn't MACC busy with questioning the buyer of a claimed RM3.5 mil mansion called Istana Khir, that even Dr Mahathir Mohamad said would be worth more than what was claimed?
(I didn't ask any of these questions - you can read them all over Malaysia blogosphere).

My question is this: Just after Manek Urai, the world of Umno was all jumping with joy that we now have the rakyat behind us.
Ever heard of making one step forward and then two backwards?
If the government is not seen to come clean and fair on this MACC issue, it is back to square one as far as the public is concerned - forget the liberalisation moves, taxi fare hikes and homes for the poor.
The educated chattering classes want to know how the government will handle this mess.
Unspoken but even more dangerous is this perception: 'Polis Melayu bunuh remaja India yang ditahan, MACC Melayu bunuh Cina dalam tahanan'.
I am worried by this unspoken perception.



In Jakarta
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NEW 9.45pm SINGAPORE/MALAYSIA TIME

Apparently, there were two suicide bombers - one in hotel lobby of the Marriott and the other in a Ritz-Carlton restaurant. This is the work of madmen.

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EARLIER 8.45pm

The rumour mill is in overdrive after three, not just two, bombs exploded.
One at Ritz-Carlton.
One at J.W. Marriott.
And one in north Jakarta involving a car bomb (*THIS turned out to be a mere rumour).
Nine died, more than 40 were injured.

In the past people would right away say 'JI'.
Not today.
High explosives were used, not the standard JI bomb made crudely from fertilisers, chemicals and what not.
Some of the bombers spent the night in a room in the Marriott, a laptop and other equipment found in a room showed!

Not only that, visitors to Jakarta know too well that the more popular the hotels and malls among Westerners and rich locals, the stricter the security checks.
Guards scan under your car, open the boot, open all the car doors to peek inside, and then there are metal detectors before you step into the hotel or mall.
So how did the bombers get inside with their explosives???
And then President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had this to say, which ratcheted up the political temperatures even higher:

"Hari ini adalah titik hitam dari negara kita, terjadi lagi serangan pemboman yang dilakukan kaum teroris di Jakarta. Aksi teror ini diperkirakan dilakukan kelompok teroris, meski belum tentu jaringan teroris yang kita kenal ini terjadi di Indonesia yang menimbulkan kesulitan di seluruh rakyat Indonesia."


Indonesia has its legislative elections on April 8 (President Yudhoyono's Partai Demokrat won big), and the presidential elections just last week on July 8 - he won a second term, by exit poll numbers!
Official results will be out only on July 25.

Now let me quote the whole thing in English (as received from an email from my colleague in Jakarta).
The last para is the killer one that has set the whole country into question-mode and big worries.
I cannot go into other details here, but the whispers out there in Jakarta are like wow.


"Today marks a bleak day in our history. Once again there was terrorist attack in Jakarta. This terror act was carried out by a terrorist group, although this one doesn't necessarily mean the one that belong to the network that we have already known all these years."

"I'm instructing the law enforement institutions to bring to court anyone involved, whatever their status is, whatever their motive is - be it political or other motive."

"There is a terror group who have been training to shoot with targets being a photo of me."

"We have a video showing two people shooting at my photo. I received this intelligence info a while ago."

"With regards to this intelligence info, we know there were plans for violence and anarchy related to the election results. There were plans to take over the election commission's (KPU's) headquarters building when they announce election results (on July 25). There were statements encouraging a revolution if SBY wins the election. There were statements to call for a sabotage on SBY's inauguration."

Jakarta bombings - This is so cruel

I had written before here that with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyoo winning a second term, Indonesia looked set to boom.
The country is about to appoint the cabinet members after the July 8 presidential elections (there was legislative elections on April 8).
But I had also cautioned then that:

"If the biggest economy and biggest country in Southeast Asian is not stable, susah all its neighbours. I know one thing - if you got money, buy Indonesian stocks now. Because the country will boom in next 10years.
"Unless some stupid Malaysian or Singaporean bombers go and do shit things (several not caught yet and hiding there. 'Sialan lo'.)"

Now, the worse has happened.
TWO bombs exploded this morning at two hotels that Westerners often use.
This is very bad. Who are these bomber idiots? Shoot them on sight!
Jakarta's reputation has been destroyed again just like that.
Such is the pity.


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MANCHESTER UNITED DROPS GAME IN JAKARTA.

Man U, which was scheduled to visit Jakarta after KL for a match, has scrapped the Indonesian visit.
The team was supposed to stay at Ritz-Carlton, one of the two hotels that was hit by a bomb. The other hotel was JW Marriott.
I don't follow football at all, but this is surely a big blow to confidence in the country.

Nine died, 42 injured.
The rupiah and Jakarta stocks fell, and unless the murderers are quickly caught, Indonesia is back at square one, it seems, in its terrorism fight.
D88 (Indonesia's anti-terrorism squad): Get those bastards, will ya!
I'll strangle them for you.

Gangsters - Report on the Underground

I must say that to me, this is a hidden aspect of being an MP or assemblyman: that you have to deal with the underworld too.
And you must learn how to dance with them - ie work with them, not for them.

With claims of Selangor exco and underworld figures, it's time to read up.
This is the expose, of sorts, from former Kuching MP Sim Kwang Yang, as found in Malaysiakini.
(If you are not yet a subscriber, start now!)
Read the illiminating piece, 'Notes from the undergrounnd', here.

Manek Urai does not mean Umno is AOK

I sense a lot of back-slapping glee and jumping-with-joy euphoria in the Umno camp since Manek Urai.
Hello? Did you guys not come out LOSER still, Loser?
Yes, it was a morale-boosting small loss.
But if this was the World Cup, the game went into penalties and you guys just lost by 4 to 5. The other guy still took the Cup home.

Anyway, it is wrong for all and sundry in the party to say, 'Hey, we're back!'
Just 6 years ago, there was all these feel-good feeling and I-give-you-benefit-of-the-doubt sentiment for new premier Abdullah Badawi.
It is the same factor now.

The goodies now being rolled out by PM Najib Razak, the sense of anticipation of a new man at the top, and infighting among Pakatan Rakyat - all these contributed to the L,O,S,S at Manek Urai.
It does not mean like wow, we're back and can now go back to our don't-give-a-damn-to-the-rakyat frenzy again. Those days are over.

As I said before:
- Crime is still rampant (I am in KL for holidays now, and almost everyone I met has some new crime stories to tell. Sigh. The ending is almost always the same: KL/Malaysia didn't use to be like this);
- the economy is wobbly and jobs remain at risk;
- and then there is race-religion issues still unresolved;
- corruption is worsening too from tales I am hearing.

So the rakyat is giving the government some leeway, a sort of extended honeymoon period if you like.
But this is not the blank cheque of yesteryears.

I wrote about Malaysia's CERRI problems BEFORE the general elections last year.
CERRI? Crime, Education, Race-Religion and Investments.
Solve these or the country won't go anywhere.
And we can see that PM Najib is doing his best in this first three months on these issues, which is very good.
Let's not drop the ball, guys.
Read about CERRI here.
And read sakmongkol's well-argued piece here about mistaking one swallow for the return of summer.

Where did I come from?

PAS pertahan Manek Urai - exit polls

TERKINI 10.30MLM
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Ish ish ish. Rupa-rupanya saya kena spin dengan PAS. Dia kata dia menang dengan 2,000 undi, tetapi rupanya hujan di tengah hari.
Menang dengan 65 undi saja.
Tetapi pemenang sebenar, seperti kata Lawyer Kampung di sini, ialah para pengundi yang mengajar politikus dan politikam apa makna undi mereka.
Awal tadi saya berkata kasihan Tok Pa. Dengan kurang banyaknya undi untuk PAS, ia menunjukkan tidak sia-sia kerja beliau.
Jambatan RM7 juta itu macam mana? Dah jatuhkan nama orang Manek Urai, saya rasa baik buat saja, kot.

Pak Najib? Wooi. Sekurang-kurangnya anda boleh berkata anda mendapat sokongan juga.
The Merdeka polls showed 65 per cent of the rakyat supports you.
Manek Urai showed that because 65 more people did not support you, Umno lost.

Rakyat nampaknya merangkak, belum berlari, ke arah Umno. Tetapi ia cukup untuk menunjukkan PAS dan Pakatan bahawa the Grand Ole Party, GOP kata orang Amerika, is back.
Errr. Maybe.

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PAS dah menang, katanya.

Dahlah tu, dengan undi majoriti lebih besar dari 1,352 yang dimenanginya dulu.

Mungkin PAS dapat 2,000, menurut laporan.

Seperti yang saya dah tulis beberapa hari lalu, pembangkang akan gunakan kekalahan Umno-BN ini untuk menujukkan bahawa PM Najib Razak masih ditolak orang Melayu sendiri.

Najib sendiri mungkin dah dapat message terang bahawa Umno akan kalah. Tidak seperti Abdullah Badawi dulu yang berkempen dalam pilihanraya kecil, PM tidak turun langsung ke padang untuk berkempen.

Ramai orang sibuk kenapa Nasharudin Mat Isa tak turun, tetapi lupa bahawa akhirnya yang tak turun langsung ialah PM Najib.

Analysis hangat: Kenapa PAS menang, walaupun ada pertelingkahan?

1) Icon PAS Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

Tak payah cerita banyak. Umno masih belum ada pemimpin yang begitu disayangi sehingga 90 peratus orang keluar mengundi.

Kempen Pok Nik kempen moden - Umno katanya membayar pengundi untuk pulang RM300 seorang, Nik Aziz pakai telefon.

Dia meninggalkan pesan kepada pengundi luar daerah supaya pulang dan 'baca bismillah, ingat Tuhan dan pangkah bulan'.

2) Jambatan 150-m, berharga RM7 juta.

Kalau sayalah, saya akan katakan: Murahnya harga diri aku dan kampung aku.

Ini cara ugut dan 'rasuah' taktik lama.

Nak jadikan Manek Urai bandar agropolitan - juga taktik merasuah yang orang dah jemu.

3) Data 12 pilihanraya di Manek Urai, yang saya dapat:

- PAS menang paling besar dengan mendapat 62 peratus undi dalam 1999 - iaitu zaman kemarahan rakyat kerana Reformasi Anwar Ibrahim.

- Umno pula menang terbesar pada 2004 dengan mendapat 51 peratus undi (53 jumlah undi). Ini tahun 2004 ialah zaman Umno terkuat kerana PM Abdullah baru naik dulu.

Maknanya, tempat ini kubu kuat PAS.

Now, back to the ole drawing board.

If the Malays (99 per cent of the voters were Malay) of a very rural constituency - Manek Urai is two hours by car from Kota Baru! - have rejected this new government, it surely is a sad day for its future.

I was thinking maybe PAS would still win but by a lesser margin.

But no, orang Melayu di kampung pun belum pasti nak Umno lagi.

How now, brown cow?

Saya kasihan dengan Tok Pa, sebab dah tiga minggu lebih berhabisan di sana. Dia menteri tetapi kerana ugas kena duduk di pendalaman tiga minggu lebih.

Ketua Umno lain, kata seorang rakan wartawan yang di sana, hanya tunjuk muka konon berkempen apabila Timbalan PM Muhyiddin Yassin ada. Kebanyakan mereka tak buat seperti Tok Pa - masuk kampung, duduk makan-minum bersama, dalam kesusahan orang.

Business unusual for Pakatan in Selangor

Meetings with gangsters allegedly held in the state secretariat building, a public tiff between two senior members of Pakatan Rakyat (PR), and trading of barbs in their blogs too.

At this rate, the PR government in Selangor will collapse anytime now.

And this is happening just after the PR problems in Kedah cooled, even as the one in Penang involving Hindraf-backed villagers are continuing.

And notice something? 

Both BN and Umno leaders didn't have to say anything to stir the pot. These PR guys lagi syiok fighting among themselves.

What gives in Selangor?

It is high time Mentri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim explain everything clearly.

Then again, I heard all these are being unearthed as some people want him out.

Oh dear.

Kim Jong is ill, very ill

I like him.
He lives in his own world and got away so many times scaring the sh*t out of the Americans that I think Iran and Ahmedinijad should learn from him.
Every time he fired a missile or two, I clapped my hands quietly, because I know more fun is coming my way. The Japs, Yankees and Koreans all dive for cover, only to find out later that he had aimed into the sea. I don't know whether this was by design or by mistake.

I watched a long documentary about life in North Korea some months ago.
If you want to go far in that country, it seems, you must shout 'America is the enemy' like a zillion times daily or so.
In every apartment are speakers blaring government radio that plays propaganda for long hours daily. The speakers are installed in such a way in the living room and kitchen that you can lower the volume but not switch them off.
I think such devices should be installed in all Singaporean and Malaysian homes too, so that we are all more appreciative of our governments.

Now, Kim Jong Il has got pancreatic cancer, it seems.
The man with the famous bouffant hairdo and funny glasses might not live long.
You can easily see in the PICTURE that he is much thinner.
The man who is known for his love of sushi (he had his own Japanese cook who ran away!), expensive wine and movies, will be there no more soon.

Like the murderous Israel which hands the Palestinians their holocaust, Kim and Myanmar's Than Shwe also dance to a different tune; all the time.
You can shout blue murder, they do not hear.

Kim is such a caricature that he had a puppet character in a 2004 movie - Team America: World Police (see PICTURE for his puppet character). You could die laughing watching 'Mr Il' berate the UN chief nuclear inspector.

But wait! Just like he replaced his dad Kim Il Sung, Jong Il has apparently named his third son Kim Jong-un as his successor! Ah, bliss.

"Kau jong-un main-main, nanti dia tembak lagi missile!"

Singapura - air Johor, kolam, NeWater, laut (Part 3)

Awal bulan Julai 2009 ini, saya telah menulis tentang bagaimana Singapura, khuatir air Johor dipotong dan untuk mengurangkan bertekak dengan Malaysia, membuat halatuju baru.
Bahagian 1 (Part 1) di sini.
Bahagian 2 di sini.

Ada yang bertanya kenapa saya menulis cerita tentang isu air ini dalam Bahasa Melayu.
Harapan saya ialah agar pembaca di Malaysia, atau juga di Brunei dan Indonesia, bila suatu hari nanti dia Google/Bing/Yahoo!Search nak cari laporan tentang NeWater atau desalinated water dalam bahasa yang mudah difahami, akan terjumpa tulisan-tulisan saya ini. Walaupun ianya agak basic.

Jadi sedikit sebanyak mereka akan dapat faham isu ini. Walaupun dari kacamata sempit Singapore saja.

Dan lagi satu perkara: saya berani bertaruh dengan anda (sebenarnya saya tak berjudi, ini omong kosong) bahawa NeWater dan DesalWater ini di masa depan kelak - hanya kira-kira 30 tahun dari sekarang - akan menjadi paling popular.
Ini sebab air sungai dan kolam yang diproses untuk diminum semakin lama semakin berkurangan, di merata dunia.

Di sini saya ulangi sikit.
Singapore kini mempunyai apa yang dia panggil 'Four National Taps' - empat paip air nasional - untuk digunakan:
1) Air dari Johor,
2) Air kolam,
3) NeWater,
4) Air laut yang diproses. Desalinated water.

Air dari Johor kini kurang dari 50 peratus kegunaan air yang diperlukan Temasek Darul Haus.
Bakinya kami dapat dari kolam air (reservoirs), air kumbahan yang dibersihkan dan air laut yang telah ditawarkan.
Semuanya 'halal' diminum - baca fatwa Majlis Ugama Islam di Bahagian 2.

Saya dah janji nak tulis Bahagian 3 tetapi macam-macam cobaan.
Bahagian 3 ialah tentang DTSS - Deep Tunnel Sewerage System.
Sejak beberapa minggi kebelakangan ini, semua air kumbahan (air IWK lah, kalau ikut kata orang Malaysia) di Singapura dibawa ke DTSS ini untuk dibersihkan dan diproses.
Setelah suci (tetapi mungkin orang masih geli, ia dipam ke kolam air tadahan untuk dicampur, kemudian diproses sekali lagi sebelum anda meminumnya dari air paip di apartment atau bilik hotel anda di Singapore.
Nama rasmi air yang telah diproses DTSS ini ialah NeWater.

Kilang DTSS ini di Changi dibuka secara rasmi oleh Perdana Menteri Lee Hsien Loong pada bulan lalu. Ianya didirikan dengan harga S$3.65 bilion (RM8.5 bilion). Baca di sini.
Dengan DTSS ini, semakin kuranglah kekhuatiran Singapore bahawa satu hari nanti air dari Johor tidak mengalir lagi ke Temasek.

Using polls to gauge Malaysian public sentiment

If my memory serves me correctly, the first time I heard of Merdeka Center (American spelling please!) for Opinion Research was just after the 2004 elections.
PM Abdullah had won big and we needed fresh analyst types to quote.
A colleague found and began quoting the boss of Merdeka - Ibrahim Suffian, or Ben, as he is known to his friends and the media.

Since then, the name of the Bangi-based outfit keeps growing with all manner of polls.
And while some may question how come you know the pulse of 27 million people by calling just 1,084 or some such small number, most people accept his data.


Last week, two events have brought polling into the centrestage of Malaysia public (politicial?) life.
It will become a permanent feature of civil society in Malaysia, I should hope.
And this is good, because in the past, the government tended to steamroll public opinion by saying things like 'This is what the rakyat (people) wants!' or worse: 'I don't care whether the public wants it, I know this is good for them'.

Event 1) The gauge of PM Najib Razak's popularity. He scored 65 per cent from 46 per cent just a month ago, in a poll carried out by Merdeka.
Since the data was a positive for Najib, the story was not hidden in page 10. But put on page 1!
Since Merdeka would use scientific methods (totally random sampling, widespread geographical areas, polling all ages and races, the questions neutral) for its polls, the results have been accepted as truths.

Event 2) Dr Mahathir Mohamad using his website to put up a polls on PPSMI, the teaching of math and science in English. The government had decided to drop this after six years and Mahathir, the man behind the PPSMI, said he wanted to ask the rakyat themselves what they think.
Of course, unlike Merdeka's survey, the chedet.cc one can be assumed to be less scientific.
Why?
(a) his ardent supporters are the ones who visit his website, ie people who would tend to agree with whatever he says.

(b) The rule for this polling says one could vote just once.
But even if people were to use one machine to vote (presumably the polling would electronically block a second vote from the same machine), a person could actually vote easily at least three times.
He can vote once in the office, one using his home computer and a third time using his laptop (Each and every machine, if you don't know this already, has a unique number! Look behind your PC or under your laptop! You cannot run away!!!).

(c) Another reason why the voting is un-scientific (ie totally random sampling, for one): only parents who are UNHAPPY with the government for scrapping PPSMI would most likely visit chedet to register their anger.
Those who are happy enough, may or not visit to click a vote.

(d) Also, only people with internet connections could vote, so people in rural areas would be left out (Unlike Merdeka which presumably make phone calls to rural areas, or maybe even meeting those polled face to face).
This means that the results can be expected to be skewed.
Still, it means that the rakyat has suddenly been given its voice in important issues!
For Dr M himself, who used to rule without much care about public opinion - this must be a Eureka moment!

Whatever it is, I hope, like in developed countries, this polling of public opinion on key issues will be continued in Malaysia. That is, opinion polls will become as common as going to the ballot boxes to pick MPs and assemblymen.




CASE STUDIES
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If you talk about stats analysis, which I did for one year in my post-secondary studies, you must go into case studies lah!


1) PERHAPS, the worst abuse of 'This is what the rakyat wants' was carried out by then-PM Abdullah Badawi.
In April 2006, he suddenly decided to scrap the crooked bridge in Johor to replace the Causeway, by saying this was what the rakyat wanted.
This was of course the same premier who just weeks prior to this had said repeatedly that the project would go ahead. - See here.

"The government's decision was made after taking into account the voices and sentiments of the Malaysian people as a whole especially on the supply of sand and air space," he said in a one-paragraph statement.

Everybody, including Dr M, had asked: Eh, bila depa tanya rakyat tentang isu ini?

Now that Pak Lah has stepped down, those Johor rakyat whose views were kicked aside had spoken out saying they don't mind the crooked bridge. Or at least they want solutions to ensure that downtown Johor Baru - the roads immediately past the old checkpoint - will not continue to die.
They are saying this is better than having a Third Link with Singapore near Pengerang-Desaru.

As for Pak Lah's statement, actually everyone then forgot to focus on the last part of what he wanted to say - Singapore had asked for sand and re-opening of Johor airspace, in return for agreeing to build a full-bridge.


2) Then again, maybe Pak Lah does not hold the record as the worst abuser of public opinion.
When he was PM, Dr M cast caution 100 per cent to the wind to sack Anwar Ibrahim in September 1998.
His view was that Anwar was a sodomist, a chaser of women also, was an American spy, hoarded millions of dollars, wanted to kick out Dr M.
Dr M did not bother with public opinion in that how can someone who was annointed by Dr M himself to be the next prime minister, suddenly turned out OVERNIGHT to become gay-womaniser-spy-greedy-backstabber?
If he had used a pollster then....


3) In Indonesia, the April 2009 legislative elections and July 2009 presidential polls saw the big rise of the political consultants aka pollsters aka public-opinion shapers.
Everyone (the lazy media lah especially) rushed to these pollsters to see where the winds of politics were blowing.
Some of these units are paid by the political parties, but still, rather than using guesswork, the media lapped up and legitimise these pollsters.
Read this article from The Straits Times, Singapore, written by my friend and colleague Bruce Gale on this Indonesian phenom: 'The rise of the political consultant'
(Bruce can speak better Bahasa Indonesia that I could! He has even written books. Bruce was in fact with a political consultant/pollster before, Political & Economic Risk Consultancy. He is now with a member of the Senior Writers Group in my paper and has a column on Indonesian issues called Mata Jeli, the All-Seeing Eye, he says).

Bahaya PM Najib dapat 65 peratus; Manek Urai

Pollster terkenal di Malaysia, Merdeka Center (depa eja ikut American spelling 'Center') menunjukkan kajiselidiknya menunjukkan PM Najib RAzak kini lebih popular.
Dia kini mendapat sokongan 65 peratus rakyat daripada 46 peratus hanya sebulan sebelum ini.
Menurut kajian itu angka mungkin silap 3 peratusan mata (margin of error ialah 3 percentage points).
Maknanya angka kepopularan beliau ialah antara 62 peratus hingga 68 peratus.
Yang dulu pula, ialah dari 43 hingga 49 peratus.

Jika dikira dari sudut paling teruk (worse case) pun, Najib dulu hanya disokong 43 peratus dan kini hanya 62 peratus pun, ia adalah lonjakan yang tinggi.

Di Malaysia setahu saya, yang selalu kerap membuat penculaan (polls) yang kemudian diberitahu kepada wartawan ialah PAS.
Dan selalunya culaan PAS ini agak tepat. Cerita bagaimana PAS membuat culaan ni panjang (saya pernah dalam pilihanraya 2004 dan 2008 menulis cerita mengenainya dalam akhbar saya).
Bos saya yang tak pernah ke Kelantan, bila tiba di sana masa pilihanraya 2008 dan diberitahu oleh seorang petugas PAS bagaimana beliau menjalankan kerja culaan UPU, Unit Peti Undi, terkejut besar kerana "it is so scientific".
Bos saya ingat PAS parti kampung, pakai doa saja nak dapat undi.
Dia juga terkejut melihat pemimpin PAS gunakan Nokia smartphone, sebab dia ingat mereka gunakan tasbih saja.
Umno pula menjalankan culaan melalui Kumpulan 10.

Untuk Umno dan BN pula, culaan pun dibuat juga dalam sesuatu pilihanraya atau pilihanraya kecil.
Satu kumpulan yang melakukannya ialah Jabatan Hal Ehwal Semasa, JASA, yang katanya kerap tersasar (Marah orang JASA degan saya).
Culaan yang dibuat oleh perisik polis pula kadang-kadang tepat, kadang seleweng.
Tetapi yang selalu tepat ialah culaan perisik tentera, kata orang.
(Dalam Mac 2008 sebelum undi risikan polis dan tentera berkata BN berkemungkinan kalah empat negeri lagi - Penang, Perak, Kedah dan Selengor, tetapi PM Abdullah dan penasihat-penasihatnya terus lena dan tak mahu percaya).

Walaubagaimanapun, isu di sini ialah angka 65 peratus yang didapati oleh PM. Semalam dan hari ini, akhbar perdana menulis cerita-cerita beliau seperti superhero perjuangan negara. Seram sejuk saya baca.
Bukan apa. Yang saya khuatir ialah Najib dan orang-orangnya akan menggunakan angka ini sebagai petunjuk mereka telah berjaya.
Iaitu mereka percaya dengan propaganda sendiri macam PM yang dulu. Sebab dulu NST asyik tulis PM Abdullah ini ialah Superman dan Batman dan IronMan, beliau pun percaya beliau gagah, dan terus tidor.

Sebenarnya Najib belum ke tahap superhero lagi.
Buktinya?
Jika pilihanraya umum diadakan sekarang ini, bolehkah Umno dan BN dapat menang kembali lima negeri dan wilayah KL, yang kalah teruk dulu dalam Mac 2008? Saya gerenti tidak boleh menang, malah mungkin kali ini Terengganu pun tumbang sekali.
Bolehkah BN dapat dua-pertiga kerusi Parliamen kembali? Belum lagi.

Itulah sebabnya culaan Merdeka Center ini saya rasa tidak baik untuk PM dan orang-orangnya. Ini kerana mungkin mereka berkata 'Wah kita dah dapat tarik hati rakyat kembali'.
Walhal sebenarnya belum lagi.
Paling banyak, culaan ini bermakna orang dah kurang benci dengan institusi PM dan kerajaan, sebab PM yang karat telah ditukar kepada yang cekap sikit. Berapa tinggi kecekapan Najib masih terlalu awal nak diukur.

Kadar jenayah masih tinggi, pelaburan belum masuk banyak yang bermakna pekerjaan
belum tahu selamat dalam jangka 12 bulan ini (sebab ekonomi dunia lemah), scandal masih berlaku (isu Istana Khir misalnya, yang Dr Mahathir Mohamad pun tak percaya hanya berharga RM3.5 juta). Satu lagi ialah parti komponen BN, MCA dan Gerakan, pun masih belum hormat kembali kepada Umno - mereka terus mempertikai ketuanan Melayu dan fakta bahawa Umno ialah the first among equals dalam BN.

Selagi ini semua belum berlaku semula, maknanya hati-hatilah sikit bila menterjemah angka 65 peratus ini. Boleh berkata syabas, tetapi jangan over-confident pula.

Yang saya pasti: Umno-BN akan kalah di Manek Urai dalam pilihanraya kecil Selasa ini, dan pembangkang akan berkata: Lor, kata dah 65 peratus rakyat menyokong kepimpinannya? Kenapa terus kalah?

Dasar PPSMI, Najib dan Melayu Malaysia

Saya tak mau cakap banyak tentang isu PPSMI ini sebab tidak melalui persekolahan Malaysia, kerana diperbesarkan di Singapore Darul English Breakfast Tea, bukan Darul Teh Tariq (iaitu Melayu ada bau Arab sikit).

Tetapi yang dikhuatiri saya sekarang ini ialah imej kerajaan Malaysia.
Memang sampai bila pun ada yang akan setuju, dan ada yang tidak, bila PPSMI ini dimulakan pada 2003, and kemudian dibuang semula pada Julai 2009 ini.

Tetapi apabila kerajaan dah buat keputusan, maaf: Cabinet Malaysia dah buat keputusan; semua parti BN mestilah berdiri sama di belakang ketetapan itu.

Ini apahal pula MCA dan Gerakan dan ahli Umno yang nak perang depan-depan dengan Pak Najib, also known as Suami Pemain Badminton Terkenal Negara?
Keputusan dah dibuat.

Kita boleh fahamlah jika Tun Dr Mahathir nak buka meja tak puas hati, sebab dia yang mulakan PPSMI ini.
Yang lain tu buat bising apahal?
Nanti jika PM kena pressure flip-flop macam Pak Lah pula pun, yang lain akan bising pula.
Jadi sampai bila nak habis?

Tak kasihan ke anak-anak kamu di sekolah (Anak-anak menteri tak payah kasihanlah, sebab kebanyakannya belajar di luar negeri! Nak tenggelam pun sistem persekolahan Malaysia ini mereka tak dapat rasai kegusaran ibubapa).


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Dah ada 32,000 guru yang mengajar PPSMI ini. Sekarang dah diketepikan, kerajaan nak cari lagi 14,000 guru bahasa Inggeris.
Mana kamu nak cari?
Cari guru bahasa Inggeris ni bukan macam nak cari wartawan baru - baik dia ada PhD atau hanya ada PMR, boleh dilatih. Orang bodoh, otaknya senget pun boleh jadi wartawan (macam aku). Guru lain, nak bawa ke depan anak-anak muda.

Jadi nak cari 14,000 ini macam cerita dongeng.
Nak cari di Australia dan New Zealand, katanya.
Okay, mereka ini pandai bertutur bahasa Inggeris, tetapi macam mana nak ajar budak sekolah bangsa Melayu, India, Cina yang tak pandai bahasa Inggeris di Malaysia.
Bayangkan bila dia tanya dalam bahasa Malaysia kepada guru mat salleh import: 'Cikgu, perkataan fruits itu maknanya buah ke?', macam mana? Siapa nak jawab jika cikgu tak faham.
Setiap kelas nak ada penterjemah bahasa ke?


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Jiran saya di KL - rumah di kiri dan kanan ialah orang Cina.
Saya rapat dengan yang kanan (suami isteri akauntan, ada syarikat sendiri). Yang di kiri pula pendiam tetapi kita 'hi, hi, bye, bye' bila jumpalah. Sekeluarga ada kedai repair komputer sendiri (Aku sorang yang kerja makan gaji....).

Jiran kanan ini anaknya belajar di sekolah rendah Cina.
Nak tahu rahsia? Budak sekolah rendah ini belajar matematik dan sains dalam DUA bahasa.
Dia masih diajar subjek ini dalam bahasa Tionghua. Dan dia juga diajar kedua subjek dalam bahasa Inggeris!
Cerdik budak ini. Dia kini sedang ambil kelas tuition belajar bahasa Melayu.

Maknanya, bila dia besar dia pandai TIGA bahasa. Sekarang pun dia dah faham.
Di KL (tak payah yang di kampung) nak cari pelajar Melayu yang pandai bahasa Inggeris, susah, maaf kata.
Lebih mudah cari budak Melayu yang pandai berbahasa Arab.
Tak ada salahnya, tetapi baik syarikat call centre, bank HSBC atau kilang Intel nak cari pekerja yang pandai berbahasa Inggeris, bukan Arab.
Yang nak jadi ustaz ustazah dah banyak.

Adakah saya menghina Islam dan pengajaran Islam?
Di sini biar saya cakap terang-terang:
Bila anak saya kecil dulu (saya di KL) ada rakan-rakan yang berkata saya patut memasukkan anak saya ke dalam sekolah tahfiz atau 'sekolah Islam'.
'Kita mesti tolong agama'.
'Biar kalau kita mati, anak-anak kita pandai nak doakan kita'.
Saya menolak secara hormat.

Dalam hati saya: Kalau semua manusia Muslim ini jadi ulama, siapa pula nak tadbir negeri?
Siapa yang nak repair kereta (engineers), jadi pegawai pentadbir (administrators), nak jaga duit aku (bankers), nak potong perut aku (doctors).
Kalau semua nak duduk dalam masjid dapat pahala, siapa nak mencemar duli tadbir negeri?

Dr Mahathir pernah berkata dulu - Kenapa yang jadi ulama saja yang kita anggap berhormat dan berjihad? Kenapa bukan mereka yang menjadi askar dan engineer, angkasawan dan pakar matematik (lebih kurang gitu lah).

Seperti yang pernah saya tulis dulu, di Tumasick English Breakfast Tea madrasah semua kena 'paksa' ajar matemaik dan sains dalam bahasa Inggeris, agar pelajar boleh menjadi 'pekerja biasa'.
Pemerintah Singapore pernah berkata - berapa ramai anak Melayu yang nak jadi asatizah (kat Singapore ustaz dan ustazah kami plural-kan jadi 'asatizah').
Jika di Malaysia pemerintah cakap begitu, kiamat, jadi isu besar.
Di Singapore, orang Melayu Temasek (maklumlah bengap sikit) semua jawab: 'Set!'

Maaf, jika tersinggung. Ini tulisan orang Singapore. Kasar sikit.
Fal-sampah hidup kami ini agak pelik.
Fal-sampah Temasek: 'You can take a Singaporean out of Singapore, but you can never take Singapore out of the Singaporean'.