Friday, November 30, 2012

BN yang sedang mufliskan negara kita


Di dalam ucapan pembukaan oleh perdana menteri dan presiden Umno Najib Razak baru-baru ini, beliau asyik memberikan penekanan bahawa Pakatan Rakyat akan memufliskan negara ini sekiranya gabungan parti-parti pembangkang itu berjaya memperolehi kuasa di dalam pilihanraya umum yang akan datag.

Jelas, Najib, sekiranya Pakatan berjaya memegang tampuk pemerintahan di Putrajaya, negara kita ini akan muflis dalam tempoh tiga tahun yang akan datang. Sungguh menakjubkan, rupa-rupanya Najib dan Umno sudah bersedia untuk menyerahkan Putrajaya kepada Pakatan Rakyat walaupun belum tibanya pilihanraya umum yang akan datang.

Siapakah yang memufliskan negara ini sebenarnya? Skandal-skandal BN yang pelbagai melibatkan komoditi, sektor tenaga, bekalan air, isu-isu saham, pinjaman kerajaan yang tiada pembayaran balik, isu tanah, utiliti, penswastaan, isu AP (approved permits) untuk pembelian kereta mewah import, kerugian MAS, Sime Darby, Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ), National Feedlot Corporation (NFC - Cowgate) yang berlipat ganda juta Ringgit, penyalahgunaan kuasa di dalam jabatan-jabatan dan agensi-agensi kerajaan di dalam pembelian pelbagai jenis barangan, pembelian kapal selam yang nilai dan komisen yang amat tinggi, proses perolehan peralatan pertahanan dan ketenteraan yang gagal menepati mutu piawaian dan banyak lagi.

Kesemua bentuk perbelanjaan kerajaan yang hilang kawalan ini, dengan ditambah pula dengan urusniaga dan penyelewengan yang berterusan adalah jelas terbukti, di dalam laporan Ketua Audit Negara baru-baru ini telahpun menjelaskan keadaan yang sebenarnya kini sedang membawa negara ini ke ambang kemuflisan kerana tidak ada sebarang langkah perlu yang diambil oleh kerajaan BN ini untuk menghalang gejala negatif tersebut daripada terus berulang walaupun laporan audit sejak dari tahun-tahun sebelum ini telah banyak memaparkan pelbagai bentuk kesalahan dan penyelewengan di dalam perbelanjaan kerajaan.

Jadi, tak perlu tunggu sehingga Pakatan Rakyat mengambil-alih teraju pemerintahan negara ini barulah muflis, kerajaan di bawah BN sekarang kini sedang menuju ke arah kemuflisan. Najib seolah-olah cuba menolak bala kemuflisan itu kepada Pakatan Rakyat kerana beliau yakin BN dan Umno sudah tidak dapat bertahan lagi, Najib dan para menteri kabinetnya telah kehabisan modal mengenai cara-cara yang perlu untuk mengembalikan kestabilan ekonomi negara ini.

Sekiranya Pakatan Rakyat berjaya mengambil-alih Putrajaya di dalam pilihanraya umum yang akan datang, cabaran yang pertama adalah bagaimana nak menstabilkan semula ekonomi negara ini, di samping memulihkan semula perbendaharaan kerajaan pusat yang hampir kering dibuat BN.

Jika "kerajaan yang baru" itu mengambil keputusan untuk memohon pinjaman daripada tabung kewangan antarabangsa, kami yakin Umno akan cuba mengaitkan langkah tersebut dengan Yahudi dan pengkhianatan Anwar terhadap Islam dan bangsa Melayu. Itu sudah pasti Umno akan berbuat demikian.

Oleh itu, rakyat jelata perlu mengambil langkah-langkah yang berani di dalam mengubah keadaan yang tenat sekarang. Kenapa hendak memberikan satu lagi peluang kepada BN yang sangat luas pengalamannya di dalam pemerintahan (dan juga amalan rasuah serta salahguna kuasa), sedangkan Pakatan Rakyat telahpun membuktikan kemampuannya di beberapa buah negeri di bawah penerajuannya.

DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF JAKIM ATTENDS UMNO GENERAL ASSEMBLY - IS HE GOING TO BE SUSPENDED OR SACKED?



At the recent UMNO General Assembly, it was noted that the Director-General of JAKIM, Dato Hj Othman bin Mustapha ATTENDED or to say it plainly, participated in the Assembly on 27 November 2012.

Since he is a high-ranking government official, he should have not attended any political event. IS HE ALSO GOING TO BE SUSPENDED OR SACKED for participating in this political assembly.

Recently a temporary officer with JAWI was SACKED for just going and listening to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's ceramah.

THERE SHOULD BE NO DOUBLE-STANDARDS?

source of news: kerengga

Deepak’s exposé: Najib should respond, not Zahid


It is Najib and not Zahid who should respond to Deepak’s most serious allegations at the Umno General Assembly tomorrow, says Lim Kit Siang.
COMMENT
Defence Minister and Umno vice president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said that he would respond tomorrow to allegations made by businessman Deepak Jaikishan on Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s family which is also related to the high-profile and long-running  Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.
It is not Zahid but Najib himself who should be responding in his winding-up speech at the 66th Umno General Assembly tomorrow, for three reasons.
Firstly,  Deepak’s allegations pertain to Najib’s family, that he had paid an undisclosed sum for the premier’s intervention to allow him to come in as a party in a RM100 million defence ministry project in 2005 when Najib was the Defence Minister -  stitching a deal with a Selangor Umno Wanita leader’s company where he would participate as a third party in the project.
As Najib is not only around but is also the chief of the pack in Umno, he should respond as whatever Zahid could say would only be hearsay with neither credibility nor legitimacy.
Secondly, the Deepak connection with the high-profile and long-running Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case. Deepak has expressed regret of his involvement in getting private investigator P Balasubramaniam to make a second Statutory Declaration which reversed an earlier one linking Najib to murdered Mongolian Altantuya.
Deepak said in interviews that he got involved in Bala’s case to help “the family of the prime minister”.
Again, Zahid’s response to Deepak’s allegation cannot be satisfactory as only Najib is in a position to respond with any credibility.
Thirdly, this is an acid test of Najib’s Umno Presidential Address yesterday which had asserted that Pakatan Rakyat should not be given a chance to win the 13th general election as Umno/Barisan Nasional could  boast of great success in governing Malaysia in the past five decades – one of which is the “efficacy of national institutions”.
The sordid Deepak/Bala/Altantuya scandals are shameful testimony, not to success but corruption and subversion, of the “efficacy of national institutions” as Malaysia would not have reached such a sorry pass in the Altantuya murder case if various national institutions, whether the police, the judiciary, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Malaysian press had maintained and upheld their integrity, independence and professionalism.
Is Najib prepared to fully vindicate himself, his government and the country by subjecting himself to a full and independent public inquiry into the sordid Deepak/Bala/Altantuya scandals and announce it at the Umno General Assembly winding-up tomorrow?
If Najib is prepared to submit himself to a full and independent public inquiry into the Deepak/Bala/Altantuya scandals, his apology in his Umno Presidential Speech on behalf of the Umno leadership for any “mistake” or “oversight” would be a bona fide one.
If not, his “apology” is just mere rhetoric.
Lim Kit Siang is DAP parliamentary leader and MP for Ipoh Timor.

Apology accepted, I’m sorry too, Karpal tells Speaker


The veteran politician also thanks Pandikar Amin Mulia for his services rendered to the Dewan Rakyat.
PETALING JAYA: DAP chairman and veteran politician Karpal Singh today said he was deeply touched by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia’s apology to him yesterday, and reciprocated with his own apology.
“I wish to reciprocate by asking for his forgiveness for the many transgressions for which an apology is due from me to him.
“I wish Tan Sri Pandikar well and thank him on behalf of the DAP for his services rendered to the Dewan Rakyat,” Karpal said in a statement today.
Yesterday, at the end of the last parliamentary session before the 13th general election, Pandikar took the opportunity to apologise to MPs if he had hurt their feelings in the course of the parliamentary sittings since 2008.
He specifically tendered his apology to Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh for being insensitive over the veteran MP’s health conditions.
He explained that there was one time during the sitting when he had asked for all the MPs to raise their hands to make a decision on a Bill and had reprimanded Karpal for failing to do so.
He said it had slipped his mind that Karpal could not lift his hand as he was disabled following a bad car crash some years ago.
“I still feel bad about it till today. Although Karpal is not in the House today, I would like to say that I am very sorry. I did not mean to be so insensitive,” Pandikar said yesterday.

Indian groups divided over MIC unity talks


While Indian leaders in DAP are cautious over the idea, PKR and Hindraf have slammed shut the door on such talks.
PETALING JAYA: Hindraf and PKR Indian politicians have snubbed MIC’s proposal for unity talks among Indian leaders while the DAP remained cautious of the idea.
Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy declined outright MIC’s invitation to such talks, saying that the move may be politically motivated in view of the upcoming 13th general election.
“Vel Paari is now making this call of ‘unity talks’ as he is worried that Hindraf’s blueprint is picking up momentum among the grassroots Indians.
“MIC and Umno are now worried that they would lose support of the Indian voters forever, now that Hindraf has gained momentum throughout the country over the last four months since my return,” said the Hindraf leader.
Hindraf had presented a blueprint for the betterment of the Indian community during its fifth anniversary gathering on Sunday.
Yesterday, MIC central working committee (CWC) member and party communications chief S Vell Paari announced that he has suggested to the CWC to call for unity talks with Indian opposition and NGO leaders for the sake of Indian community.
He also cited the Hindraf rally in 2007, saying that the movement had invited MIC to a discussion then but the latter had turned it down.
“We refused Hindraf’s invitation just to defend Umno’s stand of banning Hindraf and declaring it an illegal movement,” Vell Paari, son of former MIC president S Samy Vellu, was quoted as saying.
However, Hindraf’s Waythamoorthy denied this and called it a blatant lie.
“Vell Paari’s statement is an absolute lie. It was Samy Vellu, the then MIC president, who desperately called me on Nov 22, 2007, three days before the mass rally for discussion.
“He even volunteered to drive down to Ipoh immediately to meet me as I was then attending to a rally in Ipoh. However, I turned his invitation down as it was too late and we have absolutely lost confidence in MIC,” said Waythamoorthy, when asked to comment on the MIC leader’s call for Indian unity talks.
Let’s talk Malaysian unity
Meanwhile, PKR vice-president, N Surendran, rejected the idea altogether.
“We should talk about Malaysian unity, not Indian unity, and I don’t think the talks would help the community in anyway,” he said.
DAP, on the other hand, was more on a reconcilatory note.
Its vice-president M Kulasegaran welcomed the notion but added that there is a need to ensure MIC is committed to it.
Recalling a Tamil school blueprint initiative he had proposed in June last year, he said Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz chaired a meeting on that initiative.
“MIC president G Palanivel had sent his vice-presidents [Deputy Minister in Prime Minister's Department SK Devamany, and Deputy Federal Territories and Urban Well Being Minister M Saravanan]. But they had refused to follow through and yet this year Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced that there was a need for a blueprint for Tamil schools.”
National Indian Rights Action Team (NIAT), however, has thrown its support for the unity talks proposal.
“I fully support his call. If MIC has the community’s [welfare] in its heart, it must align its political interest to the community,” said NIAT chairman, Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim, who has identified five major and 17 subsidiary issues concerning the Indian community.
Welcoming the call for Indian unity talks, he noted that Pakatan Rakyat was more open to consultation and was willing to listen to NGOs.
“MIC should talk to other Indian-based BN component parties such as IPF, Kimma, MMSP, MUIP, PPP and Gerakan Indian leaders. I am sure they have not sat down and discussed anything,” said Thasleem.
He also took note of MIC’s non-participation in the proposal for unity talks.
“MIC is least bothered. Only Vell Paari is communicating,” he said.

On The Malay Apocalypse Yesterday and UMNO as the Messiah


Where in the holy scripture is written that UMNO is chosen by god I would ask? I believe Malays are now scrambling to read all existing scriptures of the Abrahamic tradition -- the Talmud, the Torah, the Old and New Testament, the Psalms of David, the Quran ,.. in order to find evidence of this profoundly new revelation that must have been passed down to a messenger in the 21st, century.
A REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE
Dr Azly Rahman
This news story interests me and I offer my thoughts on it:

" ...Umno is the party chosen by God to liberate the chosen land of Malaysia and to uplift the chosen race of the Malays, claimed Umno Youth information chief Reezal Merican Naina Merican.

“When it comes to power, since 55 years ago, He had chosen Umno as the ones to liberate our country.

“Remember, we are mukhtarin, the chosen ones,” he told the Umno general assembly while debating the president’s address.

As such, he said that no matter how people want to choose otherwise or have the right as humans to make their own choices, they must realise that they are bound by God’s dictates.

And God’s choice, he said, is that the assembled delegates are Malays living in the chosen land of Malaysia and is to be liberated and administered by Umno.

He explained that God is the true authority over all governments and shall give power to those that He has chosen. ... "
SOURCE: http://www.freemalaysiakini2.com/?p=57328


Where in the holy scripture is written that UMNO is chosen by god I would ask? I believe Malays are now scrambling to read all existing scriptures of the Abrahamic tradition -- the Talmud, the Torah, the Old and New Testament, the Psalms of David, the Quran ,.. in order to find evidence of this profoundly new revelation that must have been passed down to a messenger in the 21st century. I for one would be thinking of embarking on such a hermeneutically-inviting reading of the holy texts and along the way I might also discover that god does read newspapers. We must not take these claims lightly and brush them off as another "LOL" occasion or "ROTFL" moment if we are to use the lingo of Generation XYZ at an age wherein the line between cybernetics and existentialism has become thinner than a piece of human hair split into seven strands for the believer to walk on in their journey to the gates of paradise.
And verily .. only the chosen people will be delivered from the dungeons of destitute and desolation in this game of salvation that has taken a semiotic turn and a flavour of deeply moving religiosity; as moving as the decision Moses made to deliver the chosen people out of Egypt, as inscribed in the Exodus. And for those Malays who believed that UMNO is the chosen party of god and that salvation must only come from the sacrifices UMNO has made and died for, for the sins of men, and that the Messiah will come from amongst those of the race of Sawojaya (brown-skinned sawo matang folks,)

For those Malays, I assume that there will be an exodus of the Malays and forty years of wandering in the deserts of Bintang Walk before they come to a promised land right beside the Melaka tree Parameswara sat under when he saw a Rottweiler kick a mousedeer into the river and declared that the kingdom shall be called Malaka-ka-ka and when he installed himself as a sultan thenafter, he shall pardon his own sins of the Palembang fugitive who went to Singapore and killed that Siamese-installed ruler named Temagi who was shot with a Russian-made machine gun while Temagi was eating Maggi mee. This is the seriousness of the latest claim by the high priest-politicians in their effort to call for the unity of the Malays and to save the chosen people from the prospect of not being chosen this time around.

I don't know ... do you?

Lets' get serious will you politicians ? .. this is an age in which we might not be smarter than an eighth grader ... 
**********************************
DR AZLY RAHMAN, who was born in Singapore and grew up in Johor Baru, holds a Columbia University (New York) doctorate in International Education Development and Master's degrees in the fields of Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies and Communication. He has taught more than 40 courses in six different departments and has written more than 300 analyses on Malaysia. His teaching experience spans Malaysia and the United States, over a wide range of subjects from elementary to graduate education. He currently resides in the United States.

Deepak Jaikishan : A Pattern of Lies and Deception


Freedom Come Freedom Go

From reports and blogs, some excerpts of personalities involved in the PI Bala SD I and II affair.
Lawyer M. Puravalen, who was Abdul Razak Baginda's first lawyer in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case two years ago, has refused to divulge to the police today the details of "privileged information" shared with him by his client.

The 54-year-old lawyer said such information when made in full confidentiality was a fundamental and sacrosanct aspect of the lawyer-client relationship. - As posted on the Malaysian Bar website.
That was 3 years ago, 18 July 2008.

Fast forward, 14 August 2012 a press statement by Sivarasa Rasiah, PKR Member of Parliament for Subang,
RPK was invited to that meeting in Puravalen’s house the day before the 3nd July press conference to be given a pre-view of Bala’s 1st SD to put up on his blog and write about it which he did.
I just cannot reconcile the above two quotes. For anyone who understands what Bala SD I was all about, it raises questions. 

For example, how could Mr Puravalen house a meeting related to a statutory declaration which had (at the time) significant references to his former client and not risk breaching "privileged information" of the lawyer-client relationship?

Was it judicious for Mr Puravalen to be involved, in any way, with a statutory declaration that could, one way or another, be seen as damaging to his former client? 

Anyway back the Deepak fellow.

Bear in mind, of course, we do not know to whom or what the Deepak fellow is referring to, as he is riddling us this and that.

These are for those are frothing at the mouth and think whom and what the fellow is referring to.

For starters.

Then,
Deepak Jaikishan, the carpet dealer mentioned numerous times by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, said Rosmah "is a good person, if you know her personally".
Now,
“I had no business being there, I am a businessman. I regret helping a friend whom I thought was true... I am not supposed to be involved in this James Bond movie."
Then,
He also rubbished the website’s claims that he had played a key role in silencing private eye P. Balasubramaniam in the 2006 sex-murder scandal of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu; and in Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s ongoing sodomy trial.(sic0
Now,
“It was damage control to stop the problem... I was tasked - don’t ask who tasked me - with getting him to agree to sign another SD, not because of the (first) SD itself but because of the repercussions that will happen the next day if that (first) SD was not reversed,” he said.
I see a distinct stratagem here and the personalities involved in the PI Bala saga are interconnected.

Support first and later, in the familiar words for Raja Petra Kamarudin, whack.

And whack first and later, support.

RPK prints all over. 

"I would have better use for the millions of ringgit that I would have needed to do that, which I don’t have in the first place" - Sivarasa Rasiah
Mull on that for now.

By the way, what do you make of the following?

Because there was a concentrated effort. There were two factions here - you had Bala sitting down with (opposition leader) Anwar (Ibrahim) and you had another faction that didn't want the people named in the first SD to come to power.
They were determined, although they were from different sides, to work together to achieve this and both had the power to do so. Hence the absolute concern.
Me, I think it's clever.

The journey in life is never a straight line (PART 7)


Ibak had been watching this mafia for quite some time and had decided that enough is enough. He opened up the meter business to the non-cartel members and we managed to squeeze in. Within three years we walked away with RM40 million in business. But I was the most hated supplier because I ignored the mafia and refused to join the cartel in the price rigging.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
When I reflect on my corporate life, I can probably summarise it as 20 years of the 62 years that I have been walking the face of this earth. I became a businessman at age 24 and ‘retired’ at age 44. Considering that my father and mother died at ages 46 and 47 respectively, I regarded myself as almost reaching the end of my life.
Hence, maybe, a change of career was in order.
However, I have to admit that my retirement was not actually my choice but the point of frustration that I had reached. When I first started my business in 1974, you could make it with sheer hard work, ingenuity, and plenty of guts to venture into areas where angels fear to tread. However, by 1994, it was no longer about know-how but about know-who.
If you were not aligned to those who walk in the corridors of power then the doors would be closed to you. And mere ‘alignment’ was not enough. There were also the contributions you had to make to various political funds, all to be made in cash and not with traceable cheques.
I, too, was not exempted from having to ‘buy’ contracts. In the beginning it was not too bad. A RM500,000 donation to Umno for a RM30 million contract where you earn at least 8% or RM2.4 million was affordable. You still had some money left in your pocket. But when margins dropped to less than 5% and the commissions (or kickbacks) increased to 10%, it was pointless to continue with that type of business.
My wife, Marina, was actually the one who ‘pulled the plug’, so to speak. As I wrote in the earlier parts of this series, we became ‘Born Again’ Muslims in the late 1970s and by the early 1980s I was practically a radical Muslim who believed in the Iranian Islamic Revolution and dreamed of such a revolution in Malaysia.
I also became closer to PAS, although still very much a ‘closet’ supporter because of my business activities. I so very much wanted to come out into the open but I would first have to get out of business to do that. Hence it would have been just a matter of time before I made this switch.
One day, Marina asked me how we could consider ourselves as true Muslims and at the same time indulge inharam activities. When she said haram activities she meant indulging in bribes and giving money to Umno, the enemy of Islam.
What she said made sense but I needed a ‘trigger’ to spur me into doing the right thing. And that ‘right thing’ offered itself in the early 1990s. And that story goes as follows.
By 1990, I felt that a change of course was required. For the past 16 years we had been acting as a mere dealer, distributor or agent. No doubt not all our businesses were government business -- maybe about 20% or so -- but we were just selling ‘other people’s products’ and, therefore, were at their mercy.
We needed a product of our own.
I spoke to a friend in TNB and, interestingly enough, he told me that a certain ‘mafia’ monopolised the electricity meter business and they had formed a cartel and was rigging the price. TNB, therefore, was at their mercy.
I then spoke to someone in GE Singapore who gave me a list of all the electricity meter manufacturers in the world. I found that one manufacturer, Schlumberger from France, was not marketing their meters in Malaysia. (There were many others, of course, but Schlumberger was the best amongst them).
I flew to Paris and met up with a man named Arman Carlier. I proposed a partnership with Schlumberger to manufacture their meters in Malaysia and to try to break into the TNB market.
Arman did not think it was viable. Even ‘strong’ companies like George Kent (M) Bhd (a company linked to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak) failed to break into the TNB market. And their meters are actually very good -- Landis and Gyr. So what makes me think we can succeed where others have failed?
I told Arman that our meters must be fully manufactured in ASEAN, with maybe 30% of the components locally manufactured in Malaysia -- and the local content to be increased as we go along. We must then ‘dive’ at least 20% below the prices of the cartel (they all tender at almost the same price with a couple of Sen price difference).
I was confident we could demolish the cartel and beat the ‘mafia’ that was merely importing their meters and doing a ‘bolt-and-nut’ operation. But Arman was still not sure. He knows the TBN market, as Schlumberger had done other business with them, so he knows the mafia has a strong hold on the meter business.
I told Arman that if Schlumberger agrees to set up a factory in Malaysia and they fail to get any business, I was prepared to underwrite the entire operation and reimburse them for all their expenses.
Arman finally agreed and said that he will give the Malaysian operation one year to get the business and that if we fail he will then close the factory down. We sealed the deal and then went to ‘Le Crazy Horse’ (SEE HERE) to celebrate our new partnership.
The factory was set up but after one year we got nothing. So much time and money spent with nothing to show for it. Arman told me it was time to close shop unless I could assure him we would be able to get at least some business.
I asked him for an extension of three months and he agreed. But that was it. Another three months and then they were going to close shop.
The mafia was determined to keep us out. In the meantime, the cartel was laughing all the way to the bank. I was bracing myself for bad news at the end of that three-month extension.
As I said earlier, a drowning man can come up only three times before he goes down for good. I had gone down twice so far, once in 1975 and again in 1985-1987. It looks like this time I was going to go down for good.
Then, suddenly, the unexpected happened. The General Manager, who was not supposed to retire yet, retired. He got a ‘golden handshake’ involving a large coal supply contract to prompt him to retire. His deputy, Datuk Ibak Abu Hussein, took over as the new number one.
Ibak had been watching this mafia for quite some time and had decided that enough is enough. He opened up the meter business to the non-cartel members and we managed to squeeze in. Within three years we walked away with RM40 million in business. But I was the most hated supplier because I ignored the mafia and refused to join the cartel in the price rigging.
What a stroke of luck! Schlumberger was just days away from closing down the operation. And that would have meant I would have lost my pants, for the third time. But fate decided it was not yet time for me to die.
Unfortunately, Ibak did not last long as the head honcho of TNB (the mafia hated him as well). He was ‘pushed’ into retirement and Ani Arope, a Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad-Anwar Ibrahim man, took over (the first time in history an ‘outsider’ was appointed as the head of TNB).
And that allowed the mafia to bounce back and go for me with a vengeance.
We soon began to lose tender after tender even though our price was the cheapest by far. By the third tender we lost, the TNB mafia approached Schlumberger and told them that as long as Raja Petra Kamarudin is their partner they are never going to get any business from TNB. We also lost the fourth tender and this convinced Schlumberger that the mafia was serious about it.
The second unfortunate thing was that Arman Carlier had been transferred to another division and was no longer heading the meter business in France. The new chap had no ‘history’ with me so there was no sentimental attachment. Hence he made the decision to ‘file for a divorce’.
Schlumberger took on a new Malaysian partner who was ‘highly recommended’ by the TNB mafia. I found out later that his new partner was linked to Anwar Ibrahim. So it was an ‘inside job’ after all.
I was so furious I decided to get out of this whole ‘rat race’ once and for all. This was getting very stressful. Fighting your competitors is one thing. But when your ‘own people’ stab you in the back and grab what you painfully built up with a lot of risks involved, there was just no point in continuing.
I never forgave Anwar’s people for taking away my last shot at making it in the business world. Anwar was the Finance Minister and TNB reported to him. But I never once walked into his office to ask for any help all that time he was Finance Minister (Anwar actually complained about this to one ABIM chap). But for his people to take away what I felt belonged to me was something so intolerable that I decided to throw in the towel and go for a career change.
And this new career change was to become a political activist and political writer. I was part of the corrupt system. I worked within that system that eventually ‘ate’ me up as well. Now I was going to fight that very system I had operated in.
That was 18 years ago in 1994. Today, I am still doing what I started 18 years ago back in 1994. I now have very low tolerance for abuse of power and corruption, even when committed by those from Pakatan Rakyat. And trust me, it does happen in Pakatan Rakyat as well. After all, many of those Pakatan Rakyat people are the same people who ‘makan’ me back in the 1990s.
TO BE CONTINUED

Umno paints bleak scenario to cow rivals ahead of polls


Najib’s call for progressiveness failed to make it into the second day of the Umno general assembly. — Reuters pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 ― With polls just around the corner, the Umno general assembly today continued to see more Pakatan Rakyat-bashing as party delegates repeated the old chestnuts that anarchy and racial conflicts would destroy Malaysia should the opposition pact come to power.
Day two of the party’s main general assembly here witnessed delegates taking turns to discredit PR, criticising them for the purported lack of cohesion among their three member parties and accusing them of suppressing the Malays in the states they lead.
Although more reserved compared to the usual chest-thumping rhetoric typical of Umno’s past annual assemblies, debates today offered only a glimpse of the transformation that the party has professed to have undergone.
Instead, delegates focussed on PR’s failures and played the race card again in a bid to drive a wedge among their rivals.
Apart from the repeated calls for unity, the delegates also deviated from president Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s advice to surge forward, and continued to dwell on the past.
In his presidential address at the opening of the assembly yesterday, Najib had reminded Umno members that they were facing a more discerning and forward-thinking Malaysian electorate today.
The country’s sixth prime minister said voters now want to see what their leaders have to offer to better their future.
But, departing from this reminder, Johor delegate Datuk Samsol Bari Jamali laced his debate with accusations that the federal opposition pact’s culture of “extremism” would lead to racial and religious conflicts in Malaysia.
“PAS promotes religious extremism. DAP, on the other hand, preaches equality without respecting the rights of other races, while PKR brings this ideology of liberalism that would only lead to anarchy,” he told the over 2,000 delegates gathered at the Putra World Trade Centre here.
Samsol pointed out that during the country’s first general election, Umno had been willing to share power with MCA and MIC although the country’s Malays made up 80 per cent of the population.
“Is this an apartheid and racist like the opposition claims?
“In truth, they only know how to spew rhetoric here and there and create chaos in this country,” he said.
MORE TO COME

Deepak tells Ropiaah to quit as senator to save Umno


KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 — Controversial businessman Deepak Jaikishan wants Senator Datuk Raja Ropiaah Abdullah to quit her parliamentary post to save Umno from being embarrassed by her cheating case.
“In order to save Umno, I am asking her to quit as senator,” he told The Malaysian Insider in a telephone call.
He is suing the Selangor Wanita Umno chief”s Awan Megah (M) Sdn Bhd for criminal breach of trust  in the sale of 223.33 acres of land in Bukit Raja. The civil case was heard yesterday.
Deepak (picture, top) had named Awan Megah together with the Ministry of Defence, government land unit Syarikat Tanah Dan Harta Sdn Bhd and Cebur Megah Development Sdn Bhd in his lawsuit for allegedly cheating him out of millions in a land deal. But the trial judge had already struck off the government, Ministry of Defence and Cebur Megah from the lawsuit and her judgment has been upheld by the Court of Appeal earlier.
Deepak’s Astacanggih Sdn Bhd had agreed to buy three parcels of landin 2007 for RM13 million and a RM72 million bank guarantee for a land bond from Raja Ropiaah, who was awarded a RM100 million privatisation deal for the development of the defence research centre called Pusat Pengajian Pertahanan Nasional (Puspahanas).
The land was supposed to be placed in a special purpose company called Cebur Megah as government rules does not allow land in privatised projects to be sold by the winning party. The land is still in government hands as the defence project has yet to take off.
The Selangor Wanita Umno chief had allegedly sold one parcel for RM2 million in cash and a RM16 million overdraft facility in a “joint venture” with Guppyunip Sdn Bhd, a company specialising in plasticware, prompting the carpet dealer to put a caveat on the land in Bukit Raja and lodge a police report last July.

Waytha: Vell's claim Hindraf approached MIC 'absolute lie'



Hindraf has denied MIC’s claims that the rights group had approached MIC for talks in 2007, calling it an “absolute lie”.

hindraf 5th anniversary 251112 waythamoorthy waytha moorthy“I wish to stress that at no time did Hindraf ever invite or engage MIC for talks in 2007. 

“The statement by MIC communication chief S Vell Paari is an absolute lie and sinister in nature,” said Hindraf chairperson P Waythamoorthy in a statement today.

He was responding to Vell’s comment to Free Malaysia Today (FMT) saying MIC’s mistake was to “refuse Hindraf’s invitation” for alleged Indian “unity talks” in 2007 prior to the historic Hindraf rally in Kuala Lumpur.

Contrary to Vell’s claim, Waythamoorthy maintained that it was MIC who had tried to court Hindraf.

“It was Samy Vellu the then MIC president who desperately called me on November 22, 2007, three days before the mass rally, for discussion. 

“Samy Velu even volunteered to drive down to Ipoh immediately to meet me as I was then attending to a rally in Ipoh.

NONE“But I turned his invitation down as it was too late and that we have lost absolute confidence in MIC,” said Waythamoorthy.

Yesterday Vell (left), Samy’s son, told FMT that MIC who has been part of the half century ruling BN coalition, needed to hold Umno-style “unity talks” with opposition Indian figures for the benefit of the long-marginalised community.
“If Umno can invite PAS for such talks on Malay unity, why not MIC? The unity talk would only strengthen the community and enable it to make certain demands that is good for the community,” Vell had told FMT.
'MIC just worried about GE'
Waythamoorthy said MIC was now courting Hindraf out of fear of losing the community’s support in the upcoming general election, due to be called any time by April 2013

“Vell Paari is now making this call of ‘unity talk’ as he is worried that Hindraf’s blueprint is picking up momentum amongst the grassroots Indians,” he said, adding that the blueprint has received positive support from the Indians.

hindraf watermelon rally 250312“MIC and Umno are now worried that they would lose the support of Indian voters forever now that Hindraf has gained momentum throughout the country over the last four months since my return.”

Hindraf launched its blueprint on Nov 25 on the 5th anniversary of their massive rally. The blueprint identifies six problem areas the Malaysian Indian community faces that need to be resolved in the next five years.

They are: displaced estate workers, stateless persons, lack of access to education and job opportunities, police brutality including deaths in custody, and institutionalised racism.

“MIC and their leaders are still ignorant on the reasons for the rise of Hindraf,” said Waythamoorthy.

“The Indian community have been enslaved for 55 years and the MIC has been used as a proxy party to pay lip service to the Umno hegemony and create a false impression that the rights of Indians have been addressed adequately.

“Hindraf reiterates that it will never deal with any proxy parties  like MIC and stresses that what we seek is rights and not mercy. Our struggle is not limited to elections and gaining votes,” he said.

Delegates shed tears over song decrying fate of Malays



Delegates at the 66th Umno general assembly stood in saddened silence and some shed tears, touched by an overseas Umno club student representative’s rendition of ‘Anak Kecil Main Api’, a song that bemoans the fate of Malays for being sidelined in their own land.

Air mata darah bercampur keringat. Bumi dipijak milik orang(Shedding tears and blood mixed with sweat. The land we stand on, belongs to someone else),” reads the lyrics sung by Tokyo Umno Club representative Arif Yassir Zulkafli.
Nenek moyang kaya-raya, tergadai segala harta-benda, akibat sengkata sesama kita, pribumi merintih sendiri (Our ancestors were very rich, but they lost all their wealth, because of infighting, the natives moan alone).”

Written by a former National Civics Bureau (BTN) chief, the song was taught to all those who attended the federal agency’s courses, for which attendance is compulsory for students before attending local public universities or going overseas on government scholarships.

The lyrics describe how because of internal strife, Malays have become weak and lost all their wealth and land to outsiders, the only thing they still hold being political power.

The song urges Malays to use political power to uplift themselves and to wake up and retake their wealth and homeland.

The delegates also began a sing-a-long, as the song is well-known to be used in party activities to remind Umno members and Malays of their alleged fate.

After the song ended, Ariff led the delegates in chanting “Hidup Umno!” several times.
The delegates, including Umno permanent chairperson Badruddin Amiruldin, all appeared shaken and teary-eyed, as the chairperson put it, they were touched by the sentiment.

Assembly fines Umno rep RM1,000 for sexist remark



BN state assemblypersons today staged a walkout after the Selangor state assembly passed a motion to fine Batang Kali representative Mohd Isa Abu Kasim RM1,000 for uttering sexist remarks in the House.

Facebook posting by Rawang assemblyperson Gan Pei Nei says she proposed the motion which was supported by Hulu Selangor assemblyperson Saari Sungib and Seri Setia assemblyperson Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.
NONEThe motion initially called for Mohd Isa (right) to be slapped with a fine of RM5,000, but this was later reduced to RM1,000.

"After Mohd Isa apologised... I proposed for the fine be reduced to RM1,000 on condition Mohd Isa (personally) makes a sincere apology to (Bukit Lanjan assemblyperson) Elizabeth Wong and attends a gender sensitivity course.

"This is a reminder to everybody not to be sexist to anyone," Gan said in another posting.

Last Thursday, Mohd Isa caused a stir in the House after he made a vulgar remark against Wong, the state exco member in charge of environment and tourism, when commenting on an alleged encroachment into the Templer Park forest reserve.

He had said: “I am very happy the exco is continuing to look after forest reserves to prevent encroachment, but don’t do this to the extent of neglecting to look after your own ‘forest’.”

(Saya juga cukup amat gembira kerana exco menjaga kawasan-kawasan... teruskan menjalankan aktiviti mengawas hutan-hutan simpanan ini daripada diceroboh... jangan sampai lupa jaga hutan diri you sendiri.)
Isa had later denied that theremark was vulgar saying he was referring to the forest in Bukit Lanjan, Wong's constituency.
Prior to the walkout today, Mohd Isa had denied, during the debate on the motion, that his remark was sexist.

However, he apologised if he had offended anybody's sensitivity.

It was after the motion was passed that Mohd Isa and the other BN assemblypersons staged the walkout.

'Cut off my ears if BN loses in Bentong'



Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob today boldly declared that Barisan Nasional will not lose the parliamentary seat of Bentong because of the Lynas controversy, and he is willing to literally bet his ears on that.

2012 selangor dap convention 041112 lim guan eng“I tell you, DAP cannot win in Bentong. Cannot win! If DAP wins in Bentong, you cut my ears and I’d jump into the Pahang river,” he said along the sidelines of the Umno general assembly today.

He boasted that even if Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (left) were to contest for the seat, he would lose.

If MCA loses, he added, the party might as well "close shop" nationwide.

The Bentong parliamentary seat is presently being held by MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai, and Adnan’s Pelangai seat is located within.

Adnan was commenting on the possible political implications of the unpopular Lynas Advanced Material Plant (Lamp) in Gebeng, Kuantan.

Adnan insisted that whatever political implications will be confined to Kuantan and will not spread elsewhere in Pahang.

He added that the decision of Kuantan voters in the next general election will serve as a referendum of the Lynas issue.

“If we win in Kuantan, that’s it. That’s finished. Lynas is no more an issue,” he said, adding that he believes BN has a 60 percent chance of retaking the seat.

NONEWhen pointed out that there are many who participated in anti-Lynas protests, Adnan said, “they are all outsiders! They are all outsiders you know? Supporters from outside. We can identify.

“We take photographs from the top of the buildings, and then we will break it into squares, and then we identified everybody. All (are) outsiders, not Pahang people, not Kuantan. That’s why I’m not worried”.

No sympathy for Green Marchers

On a separate issue, Adnan claimed that he had spies follow the Green March protestors, and found that they did not walk the entire 300-kilometre journey from Kuantan to Kuala Lumpur as alleged.

“Come on, they don’t walk all the way lah. They stop everywhere then go by car, (then) they stop (and walk) where people are there to watch them. These are all tricks lah, I know!” he said, adding that he has no sympathy for their cause.

“I have no sympathy. No sympathy. Because they travel in luxury, in motorcars you know.

“They have their children, then they stop at restaurants eating, sponsored by many people. It’s nothing, so I don’t have sympathy for them.

NONE“If the walk right from Day One or from Kilometre One up to Putrajaya, I think I might have some sympathy for them. But then, I have to send that person for mental check-up first,” he said.

However, when asked, he said he would not persuade the cabinet to cancel the project if anti-Lynas protestors do march from Kuantan to Putrajaya because they had already exhausted all avenues of appeal.

“We have followed what they want. (Kuantan MP) Fauziah Salleh - two years back - she SMSed me saying why not we engage with international bodies and I said ‘why not?’

“We have engaged and they have got a u-turn,” he said, referring to an inspection on Lamp by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) representatives.

During the interview, the animated Adnan accidently knocked a reporter’s voice recorder off the latter’s hand.

“Sorry, I’ll buy you a new one,” he said before resuming the interview.

Penahanan S.H.Al-Attas. Tahan Penulis Tapi Tak Berani Siasat Sultan? ***Sumber Berita Dari: http://mediaperak.net/2012/11/30/penahanan-s-h-al-attas-tahan-penulis-tapi-tak-berani-siasat-sultan/



Penulis buku politik terkenal, Syed Hussein Al-Attas yang ditahan pagi tadi ketika menjual buku beliau yang dikatakan menghina Sultan Johor, di Pusat Dagangan Dunia Putra (PWTC), lokasi Perhimpunan Agung Umno ke-66, telah dibebaskan dengan ikat jamin.

Ketua Polis Daerah Dang Wangi, ACP Zainuddin Ahmad berkata Syed Hussein, juga dikenali sebagai Pak Habib, 71, ditahan kira-kira pukul 11 pagi dan dibawa ke bilik gerakan polis di PWTC untuk diambil keterangan.

“Kira-kira pada pukul 4 petang kami telah bebaskan dia dengan ikat jamin,” katanya ketika dihubungi
Polis turut merampas 13 buah buku hasil tulisan Pak Habib, yang juga bapa kepada blogger dan pengamal paranormal Syed Abdullah atau Uncle Seekers, yang sebelum ini pernah ditahan polis kerana didakwa memfitnah Sultan Johor di blognya www.uncleseekers.blogspot.com.

Zainuddin berkata polis sedang menyiasat kes mengikut Seksyen 4(1)(C) Akta Hasutan dan Seksyen 502 Kanun Keseksaan kerana menyebarkan percetakan yang ada unsur fitnah.

“Apa-apa tindakan akan diambil selepas siasatan terhadap kandungan buku tulisannya itu selesai,” katanya.
Sultan Johor itu dikaitkan dengan pelbagai skandal semasa hayat almarhum bapanya, Sultan Iskandar selain turut dikaitkan dengan beberapa insiden yang tidak sepatutnya dilakukan oleh seorang ketua agama Islam negeri.

Bagaimanapun, tiada siapa yang berani menyiasatnya dan anaknya, Tengku Ismail yang turut melakukan kekerasan terhadap seorang kerabat diraja Negeri Sembilan, tiga tahun lalu di sebuah hotel di ibu negara.
Sehingga kini, walaupun sudah beberapa laporan polis dibuat namun langsung tiada tindakan dikenakan ke atas tengku mahkota Johor itu.

- JALAN PULANG