Via Malaysiakini Malay Edition: Umno Cheras division chief Syed Ali Al Habshee questioned what's so difficult for Abdullah to come face-to-face with Dr Mahathir to resolve their problems. In fact, Syed Ali said, Abdullah should be grateful to Mahathir for choosing him as the successor.
Via The Star: Wanita Umno Lubuk Kawah branch in the Kubang Pasu division has unanimously passed a resolution calling for Minister Mohamed Nazri Aziz to be sacked from the party for rude remarks against Dr Mahathir.
Declaring himself as "a loyal citizen of this country", Mustapha Ong also wants to "protect the sovereignty of our civilised nation of more than 25 million people" by invoking the services of our Special Branch to fix an alleged 'kwailan, kwailo' freelance journalist from Australia -- with deportation as a firm option.
As karmic wind blows in circle, will the political climate cool down with the former and present Prime Ministers going on holidays worlds apart from each other?
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will be fishing and golfing as he takes his family members for a two-week vacation in their holiday home in Perth.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be holidaying in Turkey and Greece with his family members and close friend, tycoon T. Ananda Krishnan, says Leslie Lopez in Singapore Straits Times (June 30, Page 16).
(Satellite link-up? You must be out of your mind!)
Meanwhile, after the Wednesday Cabinet meeting, many Umno ministers felt they have found the materials to 'checkmate' Mahathir on the "crooked bridge" debacle and FA Minister Syed Hamid Albar was asked to do the delivery. The NST calls it "Shifting Sands".
Incident Report
Date/Time: 26th June 2006 (Monday)
Type of Incident: Abuse – DoS attack
Incidents Description
0905 hrs – 0950 hrs
NOC detected very high incoming traffic on both of the data center uplinks which is causing intermittent connection to the data center in Cyberjaya. The problem has been classified as an incoming Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack situation.
Engineers identified the source of the DoS attack is from a hosting provider in New York and the targeted server to be co-located in the data center.
As the DoS attack originated from a high-speed bandwidth, as at 0951 hrs – 1044 hrs, access-lists (ACLs) implemented on both routers are only able to mitigate the current situation with minimal effect, as the intermittent problem was still there.
Webvision, a Singapore company, is giving me bloody hell
1000 apologies
The national issues we have at hand is hot, and yet my visitor trafic has dropped.
Meanwhile, I received scores of emails and SMS complaining to me that they have difficulty accessing this blog. Personally, I also have difficulty in updateing my blog from the IMbps Streamyx line from office, and 1Mbps Streamyx line at home, and 10Mbps like from overseas. All day long in the past one week.
I offer my sincere apology to you all. Meanwhile, I am taking up a case with TM, which has outsourced its Myloca internet data centre to a Singaporean company, Webvision Sdn Bhd, which hosts my server.
If other companies hosting their clients' servers with Webvision are having similar problems, please email me.
I am in Singapore, and this is what is printed in Straits Times, the newspaper Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan and Brendan Pereira once worked for their keeps, on Page 13, titled: Call to tone down criticism of Mahathir:
There is a strong feeling on the ground that while Umno and the government may peldge loyalty to Datuk Seri Abdullah, they should not humiliate Tun Dr Mahathir, who is regarded as the elder statesman.
A political analyst said an attack on the ex-premier might swing fence-sitters who are still confused and undecided, and those who may not agree with Tun Dr Mahathir's views but feel disillusioned with PM Abdullah's administration.
And on Page 23, Straits Times re-runs Dr P Ramasamy's piece that first appeared in Malaysiakini, retitled: What lies beneath Mahathir's attacks.
"Let it all hang out, warts and all. It's good for Malaysia." Sounds like my new ringtone.
+ + +
Check out what's on and what's gone on World Cup karmic circle. Tomorrow will play a tragedy for top 2 teams: Germany vs. Argentina.
There is a context, from the horse's mouth, to A. Kadir Jasin's 'Right of Reply' he insisted on -- and earned -- during the NSTP AGM yesterday, in response to Kalimullah's personal attack on him in The NST.
Sdr Rocky, thank you for your efforts. Dato' Hishamudin Aun published my letter in today's NST page 28 in full except for removing the word "Insya-Allah". It's Arabic for God Willing. I was told that Christian Arabs used the expression all the time. They too refer to Allah as Allah. But I think we're always a bit confused in this country.
Some said my reply is mild. Maybe. The idea is to get the facts across with the hope that they are published and are not further manipulated. I have already thanked Dato' Hisham via SMS.
But I still think what the minority shareholders said at the AGM was important too. Even NSTP's CEO admitted that rising fuel cost, higher electricity rates, inflation and interest rates are affecting the company's performance.
So if a big commercial consumer like the NSTP is feeling the pinch, can you imagine the poor, individual consumers.
I thought that's where the minority shareholders questioned the accuracy of reports and comments in the NSTP newspapers on the real rakyat issues. Almost all NSTP minority shareholders present were pensioners and elderly people.
Thank you.
And this is AKJ's Letter to Editor published in The NST today, minus Insya-Allah, which was deleted by The NST:
Draw your own conclusions
I REFER to the comments by Datuk Kalimullah Hassan in "Political tiffs and intrigues not new" (NST, June 27). Allow me to respond to the comments made about me:
I have no objection to the writer describing me as being among friends and relatives of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. I will not dare presume that Anwar and Dr Mahathir share that sentiment. I leave it to them. But I am not their relative.
"Kadir and his partners (unidentified) were the largest recipients of a number of projects, including independent power plants (IPP’s)." Yes and no. Yes, Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad and its ultimate holding company, Realmild Sendirian Berhad, were the ultimate beneficiaries of the IPP licences.
I and three other then senior executives of The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad were deemed to be the beneficiaries of these projects by virtue of the management buyout (MBO) of the NSTP and Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad that we undertook in the early 1990s.
Under that arrangement, NSTP and TV3 became subsidiaries of MRCB. The arrangement then, as it is now, is sufficiently explained by the writer when he said: "The NSTP Group (is held) by Media Prima, which in turn is nominally controlled by interests close to Umno."
By way of explanation, the "interests close to Umno" do not own these companies. They merely hold shares in the companies in trust. So let me not go into detail as this could embarrass the real "owners" of the shares.
When I resigned from the NSTP in 2000, I had already explained my position in my New Sunday Times "Other Thots" column. I accepted all blame due to me individually and collectively, including the sales performance of all newspapers in the group. I do not wish to repeat it. The writer is free to make his remarks and conclusions.
Yes, NSTP sold Berita Publishing Sendirian Berhad to me and another former senior executive of the NSTP for RM1. As a severance package involving my position in Realmild, MRCB and NSTP, I was asked to choose between a cash payment and the sale of Berita Publishing. I opted for the latter.
When we took over in 2000, Berita Publishing had accumulated losses amounting to RM3.8 million as at Aug 31. Offset against its share capital, the shareholders’ fund amounted to only RM157,073.
In addition, we offered an option to Berita Publishing staff to either follow us or remain in the NSTP. Out of 105, only 48 followed us. We are today a profitable wholly-owned Bumiputera publisher, employing 100 people.
The comparison to Proton’s one euro sale of MV Agusta may not be appropriate. NSTP is not a government-linked company, we are a wholly-Bumiputera company and the value of the transaction was small.
Yes, Datuk Jalaluddin Bahaudin, the former special assistant to Dr Mahathir when he was Prime Minister, another former newspaper executive and I did submit a privatisation proposal for RTM and Bernama, but it was rejected by Dr Mahathir’s Government.
It’s the writer’s prerogative to draw the conclusion that I remain one of Dr Mahathir’s staunchest supporters and am a harsh critic of the current administration through my blog and the dwindling Malaysian Business.
DATUK A. KADIR JASIN
Kuala Lumpur
* Ed: The writer, Kalimullah Hassan, stands by his comments
In summary, the editorial says investor's confidence is dictated by a market environment that is transparent. The present Mahathir-Abdullah standoff is far less severe than the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, and the 1998 Reformaso Movement. hence, the paper says, what Kalimullah wrote in The NST is gross exaggeration.
As I'm not sure if Malaysia's "free media" that Kalimullah spins carries it, but this is a transcript, via Malaysiakini, of Mahathir's Q&A with the local media after a dialogue session in the Malaysian Institute of Management Global Exchange Forum themed "A Leader's Imperative: Managing Global Challenges" yesterday.
Read, and tell me if theSun should just shut up and let him, and every Malaysian who stakes an interest in country, should speak up.
If theSun truly believes in transparency in the system, where each Malaysian is a stakeholder, it shouldn't offers itself to be another Kay Kay. That's bad for Malaysia.
Let's give Mahathir a plug. He has been blacked-out. Here's it is:
On Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz’s comments yesterday.
Mahathir: Nazri is what they call a hatchet man. I don't care at all for his opinion.
I know there is this process of demonising me so that I will be hated by Umno. At that stage, I think they will take action to expel me. At the moment, they cannot. It has to be built up, and they are building this up through the newspapers, showing pictures of me with PAS leaders.
(They said) I was supposed to be on the same platform (with PAS leader); I don't know what they meant about platform. Those PAS people, they came together with all the other NGOs. I wasn't on the same platform with PAS people but if they want to come, I can't say no. I am giving a talk to NGOs, and they came. It wasn't even organised by me. I went there, and they were there; so be it.
On whether he would be leaving Umno
The party doesn't belong to Datuk Nazri. It belongs to all Malays. Nazri has no right to ask this person or that person to leave. I was in Umno before he was born.
On causing disunity within the party.
No, not disunity. Lots of people have come to ask me, ‘cannot something be done about what's happening?’ And nobody wants to take the risk. Because you take the risk, you get punished. And lot of people now feel the pinch.
So, nobody wants to talk. Ministers want to say yes, MBs (mentri besars) want to say yes, to be in the good books. So nobody is talking. So I talk. I have nothing to gain, I have already retired, I have no more ambition. But when people appeal to me, and also because I see wrong things being done, I feel it is my duty (to speak out). It was also the same when I thought the (first prime minister) Tunku (Abdul Rahman) was wrong. Nobody wanted to take the risk, I stuck my neck out. That is a bad habit I have, I stick my neck out.
On whether he was sad due to the lack of support for him.
I am not sad because the number of people who come to see me, the number of people who wrote letters to the press but were not published; there are very many of them. They all gave me a copy of their letter, and they said they had written but not published.
You look at the newspapers, it would seem that nobody agrees with me, everybody is angry with me but lots of people are not angry with me. In fact, they come to see me, and say ‘go on, datuk, go on datuk, we cannot’.
They say all this talk about openness is a big bluff. The only thing open, they feel, is when you condemn anybody who criticises the government. You can see them digging up; now they have not just stopped at me. They have gone on to attack other people who have the same ideas as mine. I am sorry for (ex-New Straits Times editor-in-chief) Kadir Jasin, they dig here and there. If we dig, there is also dirt.
On starting rumours about the government.
The AP thing, is that a rumour? Nobody dares to say anything until I said it. Others, it's the same. The selling of Agusta, losing RM500 million for nothing because you are ‘bodoh’ (stupid) and don't know technology, (and) you say it's useless.
Sack this person, and that. These are not rumours, they are facts. I spoke about facts. Why is the good of me saying this? This won't appear in your papers.
There are a lot of people doing it, they have been told they must demonise us, that nothing I say will appear in the press. But this is (their) openness - you are open to support the government, it's not open to criticise the government.
On breaking his promise not to criticise the government.
They broke the promise first, I kept silent. Promises made while I was in the government, and just before I was about to leave, were broken but I didn't say anything. So, finally when it comes to the bridge, I felt it is our sovereignty, it has been undermined.
People talk about my pet projects - I have no pet projects, all are my pet projects, during my time, they were influenced by me, the whole country is my pet project. So, don't talk about pet projects.
Yes, of course, I built the railway, KLIA, Putrajaya - was there anything that happened during my time that I didn't have a hand in, that I didn't encouraged and ensure that they were successful? All were my pet projects.
To make it sound this is my pet project ... it is sheer nonsense. This is a spin doctor's job. I think these are very good spin doctors.
They are building up towards it, if I am still popular in Umno rank and file, I don't think they will do it. But they have to demonise me, associate me with PAS and opposition, show pictures of me, what was that picture (in the newspaper)? Well, I was smiling so I must have smiled at quite a lot of people but those pictures were not shown.
On when Umno will sack him
I don't know, it's up to the tempo. I think if they can build up Umno’s hatred for me fast enough, then they will do it sooner. I don't plan to do anything. As far as I am concerned, if you do
something wrong, I will criticise.
On whether the spat has become an open war.
No open war. Critising the government is not war. They are trying to make out that this is a war between Dr Mahathir and Umno. You mean to say you can't criticise the PM at all? During my time, the amount of criticism I had to face would fill several volumes.
On his criticism being not good for the country.
It is not good if you don't criticise. Things which are done which are wrong; that would not be good for the country. In any case, people already have doubts. After I left, whether things would move at the same pace, they felt that (they are not), and even Malaysians are going abroad nowadays, there is no business in place.
It's not going to stop me from criticising. I have been expelled from Umno before. Before, it was even more serious. I didn't know it would stop me from becoming PM. But now I don't have any ambition to come back, not even as an MP.
On achieving Vision 2020.
Because things have slowed down. Everybody says things have slowed. Of course, the figures that are trotted out says that everything is fine, but figures can hide a lot of things.
On whether the PM supports the move to expel him.
I don't know. Everybody has the right to expel anybody, they have the authority to do so. But my view is Umno belongs to the people, and at the moment I have every right (to speak out). I have not breached anything in the constitution of Umno.
While A Kadir Jasin may be staking his claims for his "Right of Reply' to Kalimullah's personal attack on him in The NST (June 27, Pages 6 & 7), in the name of transparency, I say let him speak up and tell his side of story. No truth is truer when their versions collide.
Irrespective of whether The NST will publish his written reply verbatim, this is what AKJ wrote in RockyBru at 9:29pm last night:
Sdr Rocky, sudah lama tidak menyertai bahas blog anda. Namun saya setia mengikuti posting saudara dan perbahasan yang berlaku.
Mengenai posting saudara yang terbaru, izinkan saya mengambil sedikit masa dan ruang untuk menjelaskan beberapa perkara.
1. "Debat", kalau istilah itu tepat digunakan, di antara saya dan GEIC NSTP, Datuk Hishamuddin Aun, umumnya berlaku dalam bahasa Malaysia;
2. It wasn't my intention to fry anybody. I was, in fact, honouring Hisham by recognising him as supreme editorial authority of the company. In that capacity, I hold him singularly responsible for what is published and not published by the group's newspapers. If you noticed, I mentioned only two names in connection with today's NST article -- Jen (Bersara)Tan Sri Ghazali Che Mat and Hisham;
3. I asked Hisham to give the undertaking that he would publish my reply, should I decide to send him one. I need that undertaking and requested the Tan Sri to be the witness because Hisham had not published a short letter explaning that I did not make police report against NST for publishing an offending cartoon implicating the Prophet (PBUH) in February;
4. I told Hisham that it was wrong for his papers to react to reports that they did not publish as this would confuse readers. I also asked him to differentiate between straight news reporting (by reporters) and commentaries (by editors) irrespective of where they are published in the newspapers; and
5. I asked Hisham to reinstate the time-honoured "right of reply" policy in his newspapers.
It's alright for anybody to damn me. But let's be fair. It does not matter if my critics and accusers have a larger and more potent means, like a daily newspaper, to malign me. It does not matter if I only have a weblog and a dwindling (the writer's description) fortnightly magazine (Malaysian Business) to respond. But let's play fair.
I am curious why Hisham should decide to publish articles and pictures (with me in them) three days after the event had taken place and, interestingly, on the day that the NSTP was holding its annual general meeting.
Hisham has a long way to go. My journalistic journey has been long and has seen its good and bad days. I am more than willing to give Hisham a chance to be the GEIC that the NSTP and its readers can be proud of.
For information I have sent my response to today's NST article(pg 6 and 7) to Hisham at about 6pm, well ahead of the offstone time. It was a simple explanation letter. I am sure he will publish it.
theSun runs an editorial on Page 10, asking Dr Mahathir to shut up.
It says:
Mahathir's threat to continue his present course of embarrassing the government would in the end only hurt him and all that he had achieved. His image would suffer as more and more people, including those who suported him when he was the PM, come out to challenge and rebuke him like what Datuk Seri Abdul Aziz did yesterday. The Malays and UMNO members will be split again...
I beg to differ. When Mahahtir spoke up repeatedly, he must have calculated his risks, and it's very clear by now, that personal image and legacy have little bearings and meanings to a man who has slogged over 50 years of his life for this country. For the many sins that he has inflicted, there are an equal amount of larger good he had done for the country. You can't erase his deeds with a fluke of the pen, or a stroke on the keyboard, just to suit the flavour of the month.
Let them speak, I say. Mahathir's and Abdullah's hatchetmen can have equal opportunities to tell more on what has gone wrong in the last 22 + 3 years during the previous and present administrations and the gravy trains related to the system. The more they speak up, the more transparent the system will become.
Like what Malaysiakini's Steven Gan told the Iseas audience in Singapore last week: "Let it all hang out, warts and all. It's good for Malaysia."
theSun should remember not to screw up its motto, that majority shareholders Tong Kooi Ong and Tan Sri Vincent Tan both cherish by not meddling with the editorial operations -- TELLING IT AS IT IS.
So, for Malaysia's sake, I ask theSun to just shut up. Let them speak. The rakyat will decide. We are not that stupid anymore.
Yesterday, a spin-doctor told NST readers that "the Malaysian media has never been freer in deciding what to print and what not to print."
But strange things happen in today's Malaysia. There so many Kay Kays around that make media freedom transparent, so transparent that you don't see the stories getting out.
Three casualties so far.
Sunday June 25, Star Online gave you a 'now you see it, now you don't'. See Screenshots here.
Tuesday June 27, NST Online gave you a 'now you see it, now you don't'. See Screenshots here.
Tuesday June 27, national news agency Bernama also gave you a 'now you see it, now you don't'.
The story that Bernama spiked is about Tebrau Umno Division chief Maulizan Bujang, who told Bernama that Minister Nazri's 'jantan-man' challenge to Mahathir was a personal opinion, and that the differences in opinion between Mahathir and Abdullah were a party matter that had to be resolved quickly by Umno.
Umno Tebrau chief also said, "What are unnecessary now are statements that will worsen the situation. While we support the prime minister (Abdullah), let's not forget the deeds of Tun (Dr Mahathir). Such a view (by Nazri) does not bring any good."
The story was spiked, but readers YW Loke and Apa-Apa Pun Boleh were quick to give me this slert:
This is another piece of news pulled shortly after it appeared:
Read it at 7:10 pm 27/06.2006 or thereabout. Shortly before 8:00pm, it disappeared. Perhaps servers at Bernama find it too heavy to carry.
Or God forbid, another sign of the Press 'Freedom' in the new era since the MT Dialogue.
Some screencaptures courtesy ApaTakBoleh:
News portal editors and webmasters are reminded that as you do the janitor's job, robots at the search engines are hard at work. They cache even the slightest cracks among the Umno grassroots!
Welcome to Kay Kay's NewsGone.com -- "the Malaysian media has never been freer"!
As a matter of fact, the article has been available online at this URL since this morning.
However, the URL has been taken down from the news index (National/Local section) on the NST website (ask the online chief Zainul Arifin why) and thus, the URL to the story, which was still live at blog time, becomes oblivious on the Internet.
'Mahathir won't quit Umno, but ready to be sacked'
UPDATES: Dr Mahathir today said he won't leave Umno on his own accord.
"The party doesn’t belong to Nazri. It belongs to all Malays. Nazri has no right to ask this or that person to leave. I was in Umno before he was born," declared Mahathir, according to Malaysiakini, in an apparent rebuttal to his former junior minister who asked him to be a 'jantan'-man and leave Umno.
"I know there is this process of demonizing me" in the ruling United Malays National Organization party, Mahathir told reporters.
"I think they will take action to expel me...they are building up toward it," he said. [...]
Mahathir said "many people" have urged him to keep up the criticism because they are dissatisfied with Abdullah's policies but who dare not object openly.
But even if he is expelled, Mahathir warned, "it is not going to stop me from criticizing."
Minister of Information Zainuddin Maidin also admitted that it is tough to get Mahathir to back off as the former Prime Minister has "made up his mind" and believes in what he is doing in criticising the Abdullah administration.
We'll see if Husam Musa, who earlier said Mahathir was poised for sacking, will be vindicated.
I will say it's going to be a long haul for Abdullah and Mahathir. locked in a political quagmire. Either one will fall ultimately if there's no divine intervention of sort.
UPDATED VERSION. The AGM started slightly after the scheduled time of 10.00am. Minority shareholder A Kadir Jasin, who is the attack target of NSTP Deputy Chairman in Malaysia's No. 3 English paper today, looked sizzling.
There were several angry shareholders, Chairman Gen (Rtd) Mohd Ghazali Haji Che Mat, who was chairing the AGM in his last term, made several attempts to put them to a stop but he was told he couldn't.
As the deputy chairman cum editorial adviser stayed stone-faced and hardly talked, the new Malay Mail became the hot topic for discontentment.
A former Malay Mail editor, who doesn't look like RockyBru, spoke diplomatically about how the company could kill a 116-year old English paper without wasting money, thus creating values for the shareholder.
+ + +
Today, some NSTP minority shareholders -- ESOS beneficiaries, retired journalists and VSS-ed editors -- will attend AGM 2006 with full anticipation.
The NSTP counter 24+6 months after Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan helmed the editorial. Wasn't it RM5.50 in 2000, recovering from the Asian Financial Crisis?
With the declared first and final dividend of 5 sen per share less 28% tax for the financial year ended 31 December 2005, some feel there's nothing much to look forward to except the door-gifts.
Speculation is rife that “爱·开麦·无障碍”, the 9-10am popular call-in radio show over Ai-FM, the former Chinese-language Radio 5, will be axed from July 1.
Little Birds told Screenshots that MCA is unhappy with a recent call-in session that implicated Hon Choon Kim for dereliction in his duty as a deputy education minister.
Hon's name was said to have been implicated by an angry parent during the live call-in over Ai-FM, albeit in an unsavoury manner.
The Little Birds said MCA leaders had made representations to the Minister of Information Zainuddin Maidin (ZAM), and one of the resolutions is to have the popular call-in radio show axed from next month.
DJs on Ai-FM have a blog at Livelogger.com, and the blog entry related to the issue is dated June 21, the date that might have prompted Hon to pounce.
The Hon Blooper
Over the past few weeks, Hon had been criticised by the Chinese community for condoning the Selangor education department to combine classes that have less than 45 pupils, while a new class will only be allowed if has 45 pupils.
The Selangor education department's directed was to become effective from July 1, affecting 25 vernacular schools in the state.
The Education Ministry has cited shortage of Chinese-trained teachers as the the reason, and Hon clarified that the 45 pupils per class is a standing order that has to be followed.
This is despite highlights in the newspapers that similar compulsory reduction of classroom numbers had happened in Pahang recently, and Hon had attributed the problem to shortage of trained teachers, compounded by the retiring teaching.force that exceeds new recruits.
However, parents and educationists articulating in the Chinese Press are saying that the shortage of trained teachers had been a perennial problem for decades that should have been overcome with proper planning of teachers training programmes.
Apparently, Hon hasn't come up with an amicable solution and the recruiting of temporary teachers, a phonomenon that dates back to the 1970's, is said to have slowed down.
In an editorial on June 20, Oriental Daily News said, beginning July 1, a total of 30 schools will have their classes condensed to contain over 40 pupils each. The paper stated that this rule defies Selangor Education Department requirement of not having more than 35 pupils per class, while the national average classroom size published in 2005 was 31.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) have also refuted Hon's 45-pupil requirement, and reiterated that the ideal classroom size for proper teaching-learning process should be limited to 30 per class.
Now, instead of pooling resources to solve the classroom problem in the Chinese vernacular schools, political manoeuvres are being spent on gagging the Chinese-language radio station that has helped the government reach out to a wider Chinese audience with its momentum in popularity.
Is Hon avenging his national blooper to kill the messengers on-air?
I am also interested to know if this is MCA's grand strategy to gag the Chinese radio station after having cartel-controlled the print media (The Star and the Nanyang Press Group) and gained access into the airwaves through the acquition of two former Redifussion radio channels.
Already, the Wah FM Chinese-language channel, which was an offshoot of NTV7, had been killed off when the parent company was bought over by Umno-owned media cartel, Media Prima, last year. There is so far no date of revival of the Chinese-language radio channel despite previous promises of doing so.
I have appeared in the live call-in over Ai-FM to talk about blogs. I have a penchant for this station. And I do not know what's on ZAM's mind to axe this popular show.
Ai-FM is a government-run radio station reaching to the Chinese-Malaysians. Does ZAM want the citizens to stop interacting with the ruling government?
But this is a mad act that serves nobody's purpose. Abdullah's pledge has been to get the people to tell him the 'real thing', not just feel-good stories!
Malaysiakini Chinese edition quoted media sources as confirming that all editors-in-chief of mainstream have been summoned to attend a briefing by the Internal Security Ministry, scheduled for today. However, the agenda is not known at press time.
The Ministry, headed by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, issues the printing and publishers' license for the print media through power vested under the Printing Presses and Publications Act.
Malaysiakini Chinese Edition today also confirmed that major mainstream newspapers -- including The NST, The Star, theSun, Nanyang Siang Pau, Oriental Daily News and national news agency Bernama -- did despatch their journalists to cover the Saturday event in which Mahathir launched his latest scathing attacks on the Abdullah administration.
Gag order
None of these newspapers, except theSun, carried the stories filed by their assigned reporters. Star Online, which had originally carried the story on the web, timelined June 25, hurriedly took it down on Sunday.
Malaysiakini said the gag order was passed down on Saturday before Mahathir could finish his speech and Q&A.
Related to this, A. Kadir Jasin revealed in his blog that the gag order came from an officer at the PM's Office who carries the initials KK. Many has taken KK to be the PM's Media Special Officer, Kamal Khalid, 36, who is also a non-executive director in Utusan Group.
Earlier this month, Mahathir had repeatedly complained that his news has been blacked out by the mainstream media.
With the turn of events, international media freedom watchgroups have placed Malaysia under close monitoring.
Or so the circus starts, with Minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz clowning in, using the lobby at the Parliament as his grandstand.
He declared it is now an open war with Mahathir. Via Malaysiakini:
“If he continue to remain in the party, he would be like the opposition. It’s better for him to be a ‘jantan’ (man) and leave the party,” said Nazri in a heated 45-minute press conference.
Nazri also defended Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s influential and ambitious son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin (left), who is Umno Youth deputy chief.
“An 81-year-old man wants to quarrel with a 31-year-old young man. Better to pick someone his own size.”
Meanwhile, when contacted by Malaysiakini Malay Edition, the PM's son-in-law adhered to his father-in-law's 'elegant silence' and declined comments on his being implicated in Mahathir's tirades.
'Intra Malay/Umno Conflict'
On Saturday, Dr Mahathir reminded us to revisit Hang Tuah's concept of 'Ketuanan' -- "Di mana titah, patik patuh." (Read Chandra Muzaffar's 1979 Ph.D thesis on this Malay psyche.)
And Hang Tuah went on to kill his friends, Jebat et.al., apocalypse-like with money-back guarantee and no question asked.
Meanwhile, political scientist Dr P. Ramasamy, who was 'forced to retire' from UKM in 2005, holds the views that the Mahathir-Abdullah conflict goes much more deeper than the four issues that the former Prime Minister has raised for the attention of the government.
Essentially, Ramasamy said in a Malaysiakini Op-Ed piece, the conflict represents an intra-Malay/Umno conflict over the access to resources, business opportunities and power.
To better understand the intrigues of the conflicts between the benefactors and beneficiaries of the system, Ramasamy suggested a words, a political economy approach to dissect the malaise that shows the subtle linkages between politics and economics in the country.
Only such a methodology will be able to provide better and more realistic assessment of the basis of the present nature of conflict and how race, religion and nationalism have been invoked to hide the clamour for wealth and power between two power bases in Malay society.
Umno politics in general have become much more materialistic in the last few decades or so. Gone are the days when difference of ideology took a centre stage in the domain of Malay or Malaysian politics.
The struggle in Umno all in the name of religion, God and race is invariably related to acquisition of material wealth and the need to maintain this wealth by seeking access to politics or political patronage.
While money politics was outwardly shunned as the evil that would destroy Malay unity, it has proved impossible to dismantle the operation of money politics. In fact, one could argue that without money politics, Umno would have fragmented a long time ago.
Is there any wonder that Nazri wanted to cast the first stone and be damned?
Get a Malaysiakini subscription to read the details. You should know WHO gets WHAT for the Umnoputras under the Mahathir and Abdullah administrations, respectively.
However, theSun editors have snipped the part where Dr Mahathir attacked, re-positioned and deconstructed Abdullah's core religious posturing, which can be viewed in the video-clip on Malaysia-Today, from the 41:28th to 46:14th minutes. The transcript is also available on AgendaDaily.com.
'Good for Malaysia'
To give a perspective to the rift between Abdullah and Mahathir Mohamad runs deeper, Malaysiakini editor Steven Gan told the audience at the Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore that, at the bottom of the feud are their clashing world views. Mahathir's mantras are economic and political nationalism, which get little weightage in Abdullah's policies, Steven said, explaining the root cause of friction between the two leaders.
Steven described Abdullah as a fiscal conservative who implements IMF-like policies.
The spat has opened a can of worms, added Mr Gan, who has been observing Malaysian politics for 20 years.
"Nobody expects this to be a short fight," said Steven. "Both sides have much to lose - Tun Dr Mahathir is in the danger of losing his legacy. And Datuk Seri Abdullah, in attacking the decisions made in the past 22 years, is vulnerable because he and his ministers were part of the previous government."
"But in the end, the row might be a good thing, Mr Gan pointed out, because Malaysians would see more transparency," Steven said.
'Cakap serupa bikin'
So, if KK strikes again, your last chance of media transparency may be The Moon -- and that's pathetic for Malaysia!
Or you want to tell KK to f**k-off? Call him at his direct line at 03- 8888 3417, or his secretary at 03-8888 8017 or email him at kamal@pmo.gov.my not to renege on his boss' pledge to the People, prodded by his spin-doctors' sloganeering.
It's for the benefit of Malaysia and Malaysians that those who had vilified Mahathir for deciminating press freedom must invoke the same yardstick on the Abdullah administration. Abdullah's pledge for transparency will lose its currency if media freedom is mean to whack Mahathir and his past mistakes.
Like Steven said, "Let it all hang out, warts and all. It's good for Malaysia."
We are just wondering if Malaysia under the Abdullah Administration is any more transparent, and if media freedom is any more effervescent compared to the Mahathir era.
It is noted that all newspapers that I browsed, except the Tamil version which I can't read, have blacked out the news on Mahathir's Saturday dialogue with the NGOs, during which the former Prime Minister launched his latest criticism of the present administration over numerous issues of governance.
When TV3 aired the footages, it was seemed done with the sole aim of distorting facts, as Singapore Straits Times' Carolyn Hong reported:
That night, the private TV3 station aired footage of Tun Dr Mahathir mingling with them, hinting naughtily at an unholy tango between the former premier and the opposition who once labelled him a pharaoh for his mega projects.
This, however, was almost the only coverage of Tun Dr Mahathir's latest diatribe in the local media yesterday.
A Screenshots reader noticed Star Online carrying the story briefly (see image below) but it seemed to have been erased.
According to A Kadir Jasin, there has been a blackhand who ordered the blackout in the mainstream media. However, AKJ only said the blackout order came from an official from the No. 1 Office in Putrajaya, who carries the initials of KK.
Dr Mahathir doesn't only want answers. He wants to right the wrongs.
So, he soldiers and battles on to out the 'Third Party' that "controls the Abdullah administration".
Target: "Orang yang belajar di Universiti Oxford... merchant banker? budak belum kering hingus..."
Islam Hadhari vs 'Islam Yang Satu'
A lot of Mahathir's talking points are expected to be blacked out by the mainstream media as he hit out at the core of Abdullah's religious posturing.
Mahathir didn't mince his words especially when he articulated his sceptical views of Islam Hadhari, during the Q&A session, awkwardly in the presence of PAS national leaders, who had openly renounced Abdullah's concept of 'Civilisational Islam'.
He argued that one can't interpret Islam and connote it as having an older and newer versions just because time has lapsed. He said, for him, there is only one Islam pillared on the Al-Quran and the Hadis. Quote:
"Jadi kita balik kepada Islam yang satu... tak payah le Hadhari ke tak Hadhari... Islam sesuai sepanjang zaman. Jangan ingat zaman Nabi saja... zaman sakarang sesuai. Kalau kita ikut tafsiran Al-Quran yang betul... ia sesuai untuk zaman seberapa moden sekalipun."
For himself, he said he will hold on to the original Islam since the time of Prophet Muhammad SAW, and will remain true to being an Islamic fundamentalist who reveres the Al-Quran, the Hadis and the Prophet. He emphasised that an Islamic fundamentalist must not be confused as a terrorist as often stereotyped by western thoughts.
Dr Mahathir's rejection of Abdullah's Islam Hadhari can be viewed in the video-clip on Malaysia-Today, from the 41:28th to 46:14th minutes. The transcript is also available on AgendaDaily.com.
Keep watching the live telecasts. The 'knock-out' round is now tersely playing.
Tonight, Fifa World Cup Soccer 2006 will move into the 'sudden death' phase where the Top 16 will knock out each other in 'do-or-die' matches. If the regular 90 minutes can't result in a winning team, a 30-minute extra time willbe added, failing which again a penalty shoot-out will be the decider. It's a time blood pressure heightens for the team managers as well as peanut and bigtime punters alike.
As the matches play out in stadia scattered around Germany, which is on a time zone of 6-hour difference from ours, Malaysia never had it so good with all 64 matches, from the 32-team preliminaries to the July 9 final, beamed live to our private bedrooms and our version of al-frescos at the mamak stalls.
Meanwhile, Singapore, which depends on live feeds from an RTM-relay, is crying foul of scrambled signals that it has no control over.
Just watch the YouTube to know what it means that bother our usually more progressive neighbours by global benchmarks.
Live telecasts have come a long way in Malaysia. Today, you don't have to do the Adib Adam-Citizen Nades' way of the 1980's, where you had to get Ahmad Sebi to collaborate via Malay Mail to campaign for the live telecasts by means of Tajaan oleh Rakyat Malaysia. Leave it to our satellite broadcaster, it now has the power to milk the fat cows among advertisers -- Maxis, Hotlink, Petronas, Power Root et. al. to nurse your soccer fever.
So, who are we to thank for if not Astro? When Rocky Bru romanicised his gratitude to one of the four T. Anandakrishnan (AK) enterprises, ASTRO, he was mobbed and mocked. Mocked, partly because he had invoked the name of a man most demonised:
When Dr Mahathir told Malaysians of his plans to launch a satellite in space (in 1991, I think, during a press conference in Langkawi), many of us thought it was such a lofty thing to be doing. I had my reservations, too.
But, hey, it's not too late to say thank you to him now.
Such is the force of the karmic circle. You sow the seeds but it's not neccessary that you should reap the fruits.
Astro, which broadcasts all 64 matches live, is an outcome of a long-range vision entrusted in the hands of people capable of delivery to do the execution. And no doubt, the entrusted ones belong to the privileged few and they stand the risk of being dobby-marked "CRONY' on the forehead.
Mahathir's cronies, if one is to be specific with the spin-doctors' demonising rounds.
Some flashback is appropriate to narrate this karmic circle vividly.
Apart from advertisers' money, Astro relies on transponders mounted on Measat satellites to make the 64 matches beamed live to your bedrooms possible. And Malaysia has the distinction of putting the two birds into orbit, within a year in 1996.
That's the hallmark of Malaysia entering the multimedia phase as 1996 was the year the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) was launched. AK, the eminently privileged among the rare few to launch Measat satellites and ASTRO's 15-year monopoly to operate Malaysia's sole direct-to-home (DTH) payTV, has touted his act as a ground-breaker to "earn future's money'.
If you remember well, in 1996, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was still swimming along the political tide in Wisma Putra.
And of course, at that early time, little did AK imply that Measat (then called Binariang Satellite Systems), would make money that will be resoundingly earned by such post-2004 outfit like ECM-Libra. More about this later.
'Karmic circle'
Not many people realised the significance of the chosen dates for the Measats 1 and 2 lauunches -- on January 13 and November 13, 1996, respectively -- but AK as the dominant owner of Measat must have pulled a joke on Mahathir. Numberical 13 is said to be Abdullah's favourite number. One of his vintage cars bears it on the numberplate, AAB13. The karmic circle had been in motion by then.
But Mahathir did have his moments of glory, didn't he? The two birds were acclaimed, and The Star and The NST were not the last to echo it, as the crowning moment of the Malaysia Boleh! spirit.
Dr M was seen taking keen interest in the country’s national agenda of embracing and utilizing new opportunities of communications. The signing ceremony was held in Paris and this was the formalization and appointment of Arianespace as the preferred commercial launcher for Measat 2.Picture courtesy Asia PR, the public relations agency of record for Arianespace, the commercial launch service provider that propelled Measat 1 and 2
Mahathir was in Kourou, French Guiana, to witness the launch of Measat 2 on November 13, 1996, which was tagged Mission V92 by Aianespace. The picture shows him being briefed on what takes place before the actual lift-off of the launcher carrying the satellites.Picture courtesy Asia PR
Dr Mahathir and wife Dr Siti Hasmah (2nd & 3rd from right) visiting Arianespace's launch base in Kourou, French Guiana, during the countdown to the launch of Measat -2. The man on the far left is Mr. You-Know-Who.Picture courtesy Asia PR
With the two birds, AK's enterprises soared beyond the Tanjung Plc, which milks retail punters through the Big Sweep gaming business. After the on-time handover of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) project, AK's enterprises in telecommunications (main brand Maxis, sub-brand Hotlink, 5051, 5051-CA, 5051-OA), broadcast (ASTRO, 5076 and 5076-CA) and satellite communications (Measat, 3875) were nurtured to be listed on the mainboard of Bursa Malaysia.
I leave it to you to tabulate the total capitalisation of these three AK enterprises. As a quick reference, Astro raised RM2.03 billion in October 2003; Maxis Communications Bhd raised RM3.05 billion in July 2002; and Measat raised RM340 million from the sale of AK's 20% stake in Measat Global Bhd.
Meanwhile, ECM-Libra emerged as a conduit to tap this karmic circle after the Reverse Takover (RTO) exercise on South Peninsular Industries Bhd (SPI), which was completed in swift five months after Abdullah was elevated to be the Prime Minister who also holds the Minister of Finance portfolio.
'Knock-out Round'
Call that coincidence, but the timing was incredibly critical. ECM-Libra, then ECM Capital Sdn Bhd, was the advisor on the share placements for Measat, ASTRO and Maxis, in stages.
According to a Bernama story on March 17, 2004, ECM Libra was founded in 1994 as Libra Capital, which formed a chain of financial hot houses in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong linked to Lim Kian Onn.
ECM-Libra was ranked No 1 in terms of equity capital market transactions in 2003, the year of Abdullah's ascension as the Prime Minister, when it handled 28% of the volume of shares transacted which were valued at US$531 million (about RM2.017 billion), Bernama reported.
That was the result of ECM-Libra being given the tasks of co-leading the Astro initial public offer, and solely managing placements by Maxis, MEASAT and YTL Power, a profit-making Independent Power Producer (IPP) in the country.
Recently, ECM-Libra swept into media lightlight when the Prime Minister's son-in-law, a corporate novice with no prominent business track-records, bought into the company after taken up shares worth in excess of RM9 million.
Public attention on ECM-Libra was further attenuated when it proposed a merger with, and takeover of, a Government-linked Company (GLC) Avenue-Capital, which has a larger capitalisation. However, the proposed merger exercise, now nearing completion, will ultimately see the principal shareholders in ECM-Libra taking management control.
The sideshow to this is a law suit filed recently over a June 14 Leslie Lau story in the Singapore Straits Times, which chronicled a public challenge hurled at Kalimullah to declare his assets amassed, including those in ECM-Libra, after Abdullah came into office.
This is the karmic circle of how a company variously enriched through the financial advisory assignments awarded by AK's enterprises, has volunteered its head honcho's arsenals to 're-position' -- in a crass, unsavoury taste -- the very same visionary man who had made AK's 'empire in the air' a reality. No sacred cows, but many call this something very alien in the history of Budaya Melayu.
Will the karmic circle cease to spin from here?
Keep watching the live telecasts. The knock-out round is now tersely playing.
"SOMEBODY TRIES TO SABOTAGE ME AGAIN!" The room burst into laughter when Dr Mahathir quipped as the lights suddenly went off, for brief seconds, in the midst of a press conference at the Perdana Leadership Foundation on June 21.
That sent many people relating to the whispering campaign that was said to have irked the former Prime Minister to the hilt.
The whispering campaign is none other than the vicious mouths that accuse Mahathir of emptying the national coffers for his mega projects and failed cronies. And that his successor Abdullah had inherited nothing but a country that's almost bankrupt.
The Foundation is tucked in an undeveloped parcel of Putrajaya in Precinct 8, with the signature Seri Saujana bridge as the backdrop, which is slightly beyond where the uncompleted mini 'Golden Gate Bridge' is located. There's no boulevard leading to the place, and you have to access an obscure underpass. You will surely lose your way if don't know the terrain well.
The June 21 by-invitation-only function started with a list of about 100 guests, but the numbers ballooned into over 300, Mahathir said. I saw members of the diplomatic corp, representatives from the NGOs, young university students, and business tycoons who appeared to have fallen out of favour with the present Administration. And dignitaries from overseas.
They came in self-driven cars and chauffered limousines. And this is how the public carpark looks like. It holds water.
All pictures by Steven Sum, LensaPress - copyright protected
It holds water -- I take it to mean the whispering campaign and the campaigners' despise for the Mahathir legacy. And I also take it to mean Mahathir's anger and scathing barbs over the performance of his successor. And I am also referring to the juxtaposed contrasts the two portray in various means, not least the water-clogged carpark that the Public Works Department doesn't seem to care.
It all holds water.
And the NGOs and diplomatic corp who had their tyres dirtied in the muddy carpark may report as such. It's something that's too insignificant to grudge about, but it's something equally stubborn to shirk from an eye-witness' account.
Peace becomes illusive when stopping war becomes a soliloquy; and it's elusive when those willing to make peace are ridiculed and vilified -- despite the falling nuclear rain outside.
LensaPress picture, copyright protected
Such was the feeling enveloping LensaPress photographer Steven Sum when he took the picture at the Perdana Peace Forum yesterday.
We know our man comes this way but once in his life-time, and his time is running out.
LensaPress picture by Steven Sum, copyright protected
Only those who understand it, however small the tribe may be, will cherish.
The supremo speed queen is no doubt Youth and Sports Minister Azalina Othman, 43, who has been slapped with 28 traffic violations -- all but two were for speeding -- according to www.rilek.com.my, the website that provides an online service for users to check and pay their traffic fines. View Azalina's summons record here.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, 52, has clinched the No 2 spot in the Umno and cabinet’s ‘Speed Queen’ title. She has 23 summones, all for speeding. View Shahrizat's summons record here.
Their boss in Wanita Umno, the International Trade and Industry minister Rafidah Aziz, 62, has been edged out into the third spot. She has 10 unpaid summonses dating back to 2003 -- - seven for speeding and three for parking violations - dating back to 2003. View Rafidah's summons record here.
Discounts
Azalina has outstanding fines of RM8,400, but with the generous police discount, it adds up to only RM3,850.
Shahrizat's outstanding fines totaled RM6,900, but with the discount offered by the police, she will only have to pay RM3,040.
Rafidah's outstanding fines totaled RM3,000, but she only has to pay RM1,180 after the police discount.
Earlier this month, Malaysiakini reported that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was slapped with 11 summonses for speeding, traffic obstruction and parking offences. But he pleaded that he was not aware of the offences, nor who were driving his vehicles at the material time. He paid the fines after he was informed about the matter.
Abdullah’s fines, originally RM3,300, were reduced to RM1,000 with the general discount offered by the police.
Former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is also in the list. According to Rilek, he has three summonses - all for speeding, and they were relatively recent, dating back to last year.
His fines work out to RM900, but he got a 50 percent discount.
Who now dare say Malaysians are not up to speed? Rilek-ah Malaysia!
According to Amazon.com, Karen's book, that was banned alongside 17 other titles in Malaysia, was published in 2000. Blogger/political commentator James Wong confirmed that it was available in Malaysia soon after its release.
Denis Halliday, former United Nations Assistant Secretary General who was the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq before he resigned, quoted Omar Khayyam, the 11th century Persian mathematician and astronomer widely known as a poet, in his closing remarks at the Perdana Peace Forum yesterday:
If you punish me for my evils, what difference does it make you?
Waging war to precipitate Peace? Food for thought beyond the Rubaiyat.
Also yesterday, Umno Seremban division declared that the tiff between Abdullah and Mahathir would not have happened if the premier had shown more respect to his ex-boss who is regarded as an eminent former leader who contributed immensely to this nation.
Speaking to malaysiakini, division head Ishak Ismail said his 18,000-strong members were dissatisfied with the way the current administration had handled the issue.
On Monday, Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin (ZAM) commented that Dr Mahathir’s remarks about Abdullah should be viewed positively by the people as Mahathir's criticisms were meant to test the prime minister as part of the nation's leadership development in line with Malaysia's transition to a developed and highly regarded nation.
"The leadership of every nation undergoes trials and the Prime Minister takes responsibility in handling these trials," he said.
June 19, Umno deputy president Najib Abdul Razak declared that "there is no dominant leader who does not support Abdullah as the prime minister or Umno president, and there are no factions in Umno".
The reference text: Global Strike: A Chronology of the Pentagon's New Offensive Strike Plan, March 15, 2006. (Download PDF here, 250pages, 4MB.)
According to Nukestrat.com, at the end of September 2006, the US Joint Functional Component Command for Space and Global Strike is scheduled to achieve Full Operational Capability (FOC). That event builds on Global Strike capabilities developed over many years to provide new offensive strike options to the US President against proliferators of weapons of mass destruction.
The chronology contained in the booklet lists the most important of the developments that led to the creation of the Pentagon's newest and most offensive strike plan. Although Global Strike is primarily a non-nuclear mission, the information collected for this chronology reveal that nuclear weapons are surprisingly prominent in both the planning and command structure for Global Strike.
The roots of the nuclear option in Global Strike go back more than a decade to the early 1990s, where military planners and policy makers gradually began to broaden the scope of U.S. nuclear strategy to incorporate missions against proliferators armed with weapons of mass destruction. Yet the nuclear counterproliferation mission was controversial because it appeared to broaden rather than reduce the role of nuclear weapons.
The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in September 2001 removed those constraints and led to the formulation of new guidance that has spawned a highly offensive Global Strike mission with prompt or even preemptive strike planning against imminent threats anywhere on (and under) the face of the Earth.
The operational embodiment of the Global Strike mission is CONPLAN 8022, the detailed strike plan directed against proliferation targets in North Korea, Iran, and elsewhere. First operational in 2004, refinement of CONPLAN 8022 continues.
Read it. Much of the information was painstakingly obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The threat looks real.
Rocky Bru (the blogger) and Bernama have the story on this morning's event.
Cindy Lemcke-Hoong is a Holland-based fellow Malaysian I befriended through this blog. She was so kind to drive from afar to meet up and to give me a ride around The Hague when I had a brief visit of the city that faces the North Sea (below), a couple of weeks ago. I shall cherish her friendship for a long, long time.
I always love the sight of a lighthouse, this one in The Hague
As usual, I travelled with a camera in tow and let the splendour of European architecture and cultural colours astound me. Another personal agenda in visiting The Netherlands was to visit WWII relics, with Arnhem -- the town ravaged under Operation Market Garden, being top of the list.
But due to the time constraint, it seems I have to come back again some other time, and for the time being, be contented with visiting the Peace Palace, which houses the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The pillar standing on the vribrant flowerbed is a stern message to the World, lest we forget
The ICJ was established in 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations, and the Court began work in 1946 as the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice. It is the principal judicial organ of the UN that is anchored on the Statute of the International Court of Justice.
The monuments across the ICJ that engraved the misfortunesof WWII from 1940-1945
Today, a peace forum convenes in Kuala Lumpur with an assertion that the world may be in the throes of a new global conflict -- WW4, the coming nuclear wars.
While the first two World Wars were fought on geographical boundaries, with collateral damages inflicting many countries and peoples that took ages to heal, the third World War was subtle. The Cold War which ended with the collapse of Russia.
Is Iran, which clamours for equality in nuclear technology, and the US which denies it, building the present hot-and-cold waves of yet another world war?
Can the UN, with the five permanent members of the Security Council wielding veto powers, be instrumental and effective in averting WW4 while the entire world is compromised by the fact these five countries manufacture 85% of the world's weaponry?
"We need to work in the long-term for war to be made a crime. People who wage war should be treated as criminals," said Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is the key driver behind Perdana Peace Forum 2006, with this year's theme: "Criminalise War. Stop WW4".
Assumingly, the judge was seeking justice, not popularity, when he went to the NST with his story.
Now that the two interested parties -- former Chief Justice Mohd Eusoff Chin said he has done his job, and the then Attorney-General is dead -- while de facto law minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz had said there is no case, what the NST and its alphabet-soup group editor have to offer are to tell the Syed to do the right thing and go to the ACA.
In this context, a newsman blogs that, on the contrary, any good newspaper and editor would do is to see it through to the end.
Anyone who have been to the Amsterdam Red Light District will know that, or the tour manager will advise you that, you are not to allowed to photograph the prostitutes parading in the cubicles. The ladies are at work and they are protected by the 'mafia' who mind the flesh industry. Secondly, pick-pockets are rampant as Amsterdam is a cosmopolitan of many nationals. It's not necessary to flash your digital gear around or the risk is entirely yours.
Mindful of the risks, I tried to push my luck a little by using the LG Chocolate phone which I brought along -- snap some quick photos and, perhaps, test its picture quality with the 1.3-megapixel CCD under unassuming conditions.
This is one which I took with the LG Chocolate at the entrance to the RLD around 10.00pm. The summer sun was fast setting, giving it a twilight mood.
The picture you see above did not go through any digital post-processing and, at 640x480 resolution with 1.3-megapixel sensor, you can't possibly ask for more. The sensor touch control, a feature that's ONLY available on LG Chocolate in the market now, allowed me to snap any sneaky photo in a jiffy! The shutter of LG Chocolate is as responsive as my mind had wanted! I was reeling with pleasure at my catch and then...
"HEY YOU! JAPANESE!" There was a raised voice near me. A police van. The policeman at the wheel, I saw him giving instructions to his subordinates several streets ago. He was using eye contact to signal me to get near him. Trouble? I obliged and got near him. (Niamah, don't you see I'm a proud Malaysian and I am using a Korean phone lah.)
"You Japanese?"
"No. I come from Malaysia. Trouble Sir?"
"Ohhh... You from Malaysia?"
"I know. I shouldn't shoot at the shops in this area..."
"Kuala Lumpur haa?"
"Yes, Kuala Lumpur. I will be very careful. I won't shoot the ladies at work."
"No camera. No expensive phones. Pick-pockets, you know! Trouble. You Malaysia no pick-pockets?"
At that point, I knew I broke no laws and continued bull-shitting with him.
Come to think of the LG Chocolate, it does give me reasonable quality when shooting the streets. This one taken near the Parliament House in The Hague, below, clearly shows that it is capable of capturing details. I put it through some digital post-processing and the finesse comes out.
Read on for more pictures.
The following three pictures were taken when I roamed the streets in The Hague. It was high noon, and I had wanted to test Chocolate LG's performance under high contrast, condition that even digital SLR may not guarantee good returns.
As you can see, using the default settings of the phone-camera, I chose high contrasts of intense light outdoor ajnd the dark shades in the shadow. Clarity was obviously compromised. As I couldn't see clearly into the LCD screen under the hot sun, I think my hand shook, hence the blurry pictures.
Before the flight home, I took yet another shot at the outdoor performance of the LG Chocolate in my departure lounge.
This one, below, was taken behind a wall-height class window, tinted and about a quarter-inch thick. The indoor is shaded, so I could see the LCD screen clearly, while the outdoor is a late morning sun at low altitude. As the glass window is tainted, shooting through it is like shooting with the aperture at half an F-stop under.
Surprisingly, the Chocolate gives me a bracket of three shots to compare. All are exposure under.
Then, an auto prompt pops up the Chocolate's LCD, asking me whether I want to swift to a high light source, or in camara jargon, to shoot with a bigger aperture open. There are three steps to adjust the light intesity upwards, each with live demos. I chose one-step up and here is the picture -- no digital post processing.
It will be a pity when LG Malaysia repossesses my Chocolate at the end of the preview. I have grown to like it more for my stealth photo projects.
NOTE: All images captured on LG Chocolate are at 640x480 resolutios with 1.3 megapixel sensor. They have been resized to 500-pixel width to fit the configuration of this blog.
Earlier today, after Umno had finished its Supreme Council Meeting, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah hosted leaders from Pemuda PAS who paid him a visit at his Langgak Golf residence, which media circle touted as the 'White House'.
Picture courtesy Pemuda PAS Information Bureau
Pemuda PAS was headed by its national chief, Kubang Kerian MP Salahuddin Ayub (in dark suit, centre), accompanied by his deputy Ustaz Idris Ahmad; vice-president Mazlan Aliman; Secretary Ahmad Sabki Yusof and Treasurer Mohd Zaki Ibrahim.
A reliable source at PAS told Screenshots that their discussions centred on current issues plaguing the country, including PM Abdullah Badawi's leadership, the crooked bridge and the role of government outsider Khairy Jamaluddin over the Abdullah administration.
Meanwhile, PAS vice president Husam Musa told Malaysiakini that PAS leaders would meet Mahathir on Saturday as they have been invited to attend a talk by the former Prime Minister.
'No factions'
On the other hand, Puteri Umno, the party's young women's arm formed during Mahathir's era, has put up visuals garnering partisan support for the party president.
Picture courtesy Malaysiakini
"There is no dominant leader who does not support Abdullah as the prime minister or Umno president, and there are no factions in Umno," Deputy Prime Minister and Umno deputy president Najib Tun Razak said today.
UPDATED VSERSION. Parti Gerakan chief Dr Lim Keng Yaik said Saturday that Dr Mahathir won't be sacked by his party, Umno.
It turned out to be true after Umno Supreme Council met for three hours this morning. Umno deputy chief and head of disciplinary committee Najib Abdul Razak announced the outcome, reading from a short, prepared text. The party stands firmly behind Abdullah.
End of story? Ask Husam, who told Malaysiakini that his "pre-emptive statement can be deemed successful because Umno has had to change its initial plan (to sack Mahathir) over the past few days".
Meanwhile, Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin (ZAM) said today that Dr Mahathir’s remarks about Abdullah should be viewed by the people as positive criticism.
"The leadership of every nation undergoes trials and the Prime Minister takes responsibility in handling these trials." He said Mahathir's criticisms were meant to test the prime minister as part of the nation's leadership development in line with Malaysia's transition to a developed and highly regarded nation.
The Government has sufficient funds to implement projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) which is budgetted at RM200 billion for development projects, said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday.
It is noted that the budget is an increase of 17.6% over the RM170bil provided under the Eighth Malaysia Plan (2001-2005).
The question now is how this amount of allocated RM200 billion is going to be spent anchored on a defensible fiscal policy?
As 9MP will be funded via debt financing and deficit spending, attention was drawn to the 9MP blueprint which indicates that Federal government debt will balloon to RM351.3 billion, or 48.6%, of the GDP by the end of the development period in 2010.
If you trace back, under the 8MP, the government had planned to limit the deficit to RM29.8 billion, or 1.5%, of the GDP. Instead, the federal government ran a deficit of RM97.8 billion, or 4.8%, of the GDP.
This brought the total government debt by the end of the 8MP to RM228.6 billion, or 46.3% of the GDP.
Under 9MP, the government deficit will amount to RM107.6 billion, or 3.4%, of the GDP. Total government debt by 2010 will balloon to RM351.3 billion, or 48.6% of GDP.
Last week, Paul Donovan, UBS Investment Research managing director of global economics, commented that Abdullah's forecast of 6% GDP for 2006 borders on the ambitious. He said Malaysia's growth will hover in the region of 5.25% to 5.5% in the next two to three years time frame.
Ini berbeza dengan zaman Tun Mahathir di mana Tun dan dua menteri kewangannya iaitu Tun Daim dan Datuk Seri Anwar mengutamakan dasar growth with price stability iaitu menjana pertumbuhan ekonomi yang tinggi mengawal kenaikan harga.
Waktu itu, economic team kerajaan cukup mantap dengan gabungan Tun Mahathir, Daim, Anwar, Mustapha Mohamed dan penasihat-penasihat yang berwibawa. Saya bernasib turut dapat memberi pandangan sebagai ahli Majlis Perdagangan Malaysia (Malaysian Business Council).
Dasar sekarang tidak pro-perniagaan dan tidak pro-pengguna. Ia lebih merupakam dasar yang mengutamakan kestabilan fiscal (kewangan) dan monetary (matawang) yang sempit. Ini mula dirasai apabila permintaan pengguna merosot tetapi harga terus naik.
Anyone cares to translate the above passage for the benefit of our non-Malay speaking readers? Otherwise, let's make do with this version courtesy of YW Loke of BeritaMalaysia:
This is different from Tun Mahathir's time where Tun and his two finance ministers, Tun Daim and Datuk Seri Anwar, emphasized a policy of growth with price stability, that is generate high economic growth while controlling price increases.
At that time, the government's economic team was well-established with Tun Mahathir partnered by Daim, Anwar, Mustapha Mohammed and advisors who were authoritative. I had the opportunity to offer my views as a member of the Malaysian Business Council.
The present policy is not pro-business and not pro-consumers. It is more a policy which emphasizes tight fiscal [financial] and monetary stability. This has begun to be felt whenever consumer demand fell but prices continued
to rise.
Numbers crunching aside, Joe Publics who placed 92% manadate in Abdullah's hands may look at the national economy in a simpler perspective, which has been rightly encased by Wong Chun Wai yesterday:
I believe that the majority of Malaysians would like to see the leadership spend its time tackling real people issues like the rising cost of living. Ordinary Malaysians talk about their rising petrol and electricity bills, and now the sugar shortage.
UPDATED VERSION. A series of 'curi-curi' shots while in The Hague, if anything, just to humour our mullahsback home.
To avoid being identified as a 'sniper' with an intrusive dSLR, the camera was set to aperture priority and rested on my stomach, and shots were fired blind -- hence the horizon was lopsided somehow. I was standing on the same spot for both shots, only the zoom/focal length shifted.
Here's our lovers' wishes to all in love: Semoga cintamu berasmara sehinggalah ke cucu-cicit (May your love flourish till the ninth generation).
The third image is also a 'curi-curi' shot, cropped for better framing.
Journalist: A Kadir Jasin
Blog: The Scribe A. Kadir Jasin
URL: www.kadirjasin.blogspot.com
Birth in Blogosphere: February 2006
Journalist: Ahirudin 'Rocky' Attan
Blog: Rocky' Bru
URL: www.rockybru.blogspot.com
Birth in Blogosphere: May 2006
Journalist: Oon Yeoh
Blog: Malaysia Explorer @ ZdNet
URL: www.zdnetasia.com/blog/msiaexplorer
Birth in Blogosphere:January 2003
Rebirth in Blogosphere: May 2006
And like Bollywood movies where court-jesters flank the heroes and heroines, to give a yin-yang context to life, there are journalists who blog and there are journalists who bitch. Here's one, circa 2005, which makes impressive blogging style, off-line and with name-throwing, but which can find no place in my CNet Blog.
This is for your Sunday reading pleasure. Please don't try scapegoating any innocent party.
Corporate figure and former IGP Haniff Omar, who sometimes lives in my USJ neighbourhood, makes a strong point in his Sunday column, urging the media to prepare the right atmosphere for a curtain-close to the Mahathir barbs on Abdullah's administration. Quote:
Then Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad surprised everyone by giving his now historic interview to his erstwhile enemy, Malaysiakini. Looking hard again at that interview, I find that he skirted Malaysiakini’s two attempts to make him pass a judgement on Pak Lah himself... It is clear to me from this interview on May 26 that Dr Mahathir did not at that stage want to take his unhappiness into the personal domain.[...]
Various newspapers have reported Dr Mahathir’s unhappiness and the reasons thereof in slightly different ways and nuances. I would suggest that, to get to the heart of the problem accurately, there should be no second-guessing what questions Dr Mahathir wants answers to.
Reach out to him now for a list of his questions so that the answers can be directly to the point, giving him no reason to be able to say that he has not been adequately answered.
Star's Wong Chun Wai also makes a reference to the media which play batu api (flintstone) and has resorted to political posturing and ignore rumblings on the ground:
There may be pockets of unhappiness against Abdullah, judging by comments posted on various Malay websites, some of which are said to be linked to certain Umno personalities. But generally, the majority of Umno leaders have sided with Abdullah.
Many of those who posted their views online expressed their unhappiness, if not disgust, at Umno leaders who run down Dr Mahathir now when they previously praised, and even curried favour, with Dr Mahathir.
These views may not be an accurate assessment of the feelings of the Umno grassroots but they do provide an indication of the sentiments of some Umno members who have been ignored by the media.
Indeed, the media should stop the political posturing. Unless there are parties who want to stoke further to cause the retak to rebah (causing cracks to to total collapse).
If that happens, the country will be wasting time and resources on the wrong pariorities.
My post on the streets of Amsterdam yesterday has aroused interests, of all places, in the Red Light District. Reader LSK must have been there for his close-ups, too.
The annual World Press Photo exhibition (April 24 - June 18, 2006) was held in the old church in Oude Kerk, right in the RLD of Amsterdam. The Dutch sell the event as the largest international competition in photojournalism, involving the exhibition of the best press photos of the previous year and showcased in numerous cities in the world -- Kuala Lumpur excluded.
This year's event, which follows the tradition of best photo presentation, is already the 49th instalment of the awards. But World Press Photo, as an institution, graduated to celebrate its 50th Anniversary last year.
The photo gallery with collections since 1955 can be viewed here -- and the 1972 winning shot by Associated Press' Nick Ut Cong Huynh is something everyone remembers vividly till this day.
My sifu, CY Leow, might like to hear this. The 2006 collection will be on display in New Zealand from June 16 to July 09 at Shed 11 Gallery, Wellington.
However, the nearest in Asia will be in Taipei (June 11 - July 02), Tokyo (June 17 - July 30), Soeul (August 03 - September 05), and Shiga, Japan (October 06- 30).
Thanks Screenshots reader Fedro Harahap, who must have read my series on how badly Jalan Riong had treated photojournalism, for sending me an interesting article from Canada's National Post regarding ethics in photo journalism.
This afternoon, reporters followed-up with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on what was blogged here on June 13 -- the maths about the off-on-off Scenic Bridge that was supposed to replace the Causeway linking JB and Singapore.
The PM got riled up a little, and his Works Minister S. Samu Vellu got really angry and walked away after the reporters' grilling questioning. The duo were caught at the same function today, the Barisan Nasional (BN) supreme council meeting.
Speaking at a press conference after the BN meeting, Abdullah proclaimed that scrapping the bridge was more financially prudent than to build it.
However, the PM, who is also finance minister, appeared uncertain about the figures involved, reports Malaysiakini.
Earlier, the media reported that the government might have to fork out RM1.12 billion (in compensation, building a new highway and land premium) while the construction would cost RM1.113 billion.
Graphics courtesy Malaysiakini
The PM was then repeatedly asked on his maths by the reporters who came armed with statistics already issued by the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament (PAC) . Quote:
When this was pointed out, Abdullah asked: “How could the cost be higher than building the bridge?”
“You (journalist) are trying to assume all sort of things. Come on, this is not fair,” he added.
Abdullah was then told that the Works Ministry estimated the cost at RM740 million while the Johor government had reportedly asked the federal government to pay RM380 million in land premium because of the cancellation.
The ministry’s figures encompassed preliminary works (RM170 million), compensation to the contractor (RM100 million) as well as the new flyover and connecting roads (RM470 million).
This once again prompted a question from Abdullah.
“I want to have a correct figure, I want to know exactly how much. (It) cannot be more than the cost of the bridge. How could it be?” he asked.
“How can you say RM100 million compensation when we are not certain with the figure?” he retorted in a tone reflecting his irritation.
When pointed out that news reports had quoted him as disclosing the figure, he said: “Enough.”
Meanwhile, Samy Vellu who was seated near Abdullah at the press conference became visibly peeved when the question on his spat with the PAC was raised with the premier.
He snarled and walked away after the pressie, mumbling something like “Jangan-lah begitu, orang sudah kata tak ada pandangan, (Don’t be like this, I have said no comment),” reports Malaysiakini.
Makes for good anecdote before the next World Cup matches.
This is a by-invitation-only opportunity for Malaysian bloggers to get up close with an international event where former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is the key driver -- the Perdana Global Peace Panel Session on June 21, from 9.30am - 1.30pm.
On behalf of the organisers, TV Smith and I are extending the invitation to fellow bloggers for the June 21 exclusive function, limit to 20 seats on a first-come-first-served basis.
During the closed-door panel session, to be chaired by Dr Mahathir, participating bloggers will be accorded special guests status to follow five distinguished speakers, who presented their papers at the Perdana Global Peace Forum 2005, and are now back to present their arguments on why World War IV -- the coming nuclear wars -- is imminent and what we can do about it.
The speakers are:
Mr Denis Halliday, Former United Nations Assistant Secretary General
The following day (June 22), Dr Mahathir, Chairman of the Perdana Global Peace Forum, will present the keynote address at the Public Lecture at Tun Dr Ismail Hall, PWTC, Kuala Lumpur.
If you are interested, please send me an email at jeffooi.screenshots@gmail.com, with a cc to TV Smith at tvsmith@gmail.com, with "Perdana Global Peace Forum" as the email subject, so that we could organise the logistics, including lunches, to welcome you. We appreciate your response will come in before 12.00 noon Monday, June 19.
All bloggers who register and attend the June 21 and 22 events are not obliged to blog about the event, though it will be good if they did.
It's just our little effort to network Malaysian bloggers with an international event and to gain some insights into the global peace movement.
Talk of Fifa World Cup, here's the mood on June 9 kick-off in Leidseplein, one of the popular squares in Amsterdam -- with many drinking holes -- where I stayed last week. The Dutch don't think their team can make it to the Final 8, though...
Leidseplein in the morning
And the crowds throng in Leidseplein by 6.00pm... the sun set around 10.30pm when I was there. Heineken isn't the house beer here.
Ever wonder how to keep cycling straight after rounds of beers which, like Malaysia's, carry a 5% alcohol content?
Quito must be partying all night long when Ecuador zooms into the Top 16 of the Fifa World Cup 2006 with a superb 3-goal match last night.
Ecuador caught my eyes as the country was featured in the prologue of the book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, that I read on the plane last week. It's still fresh on my mind why the nation is driven into soccer. It's like why the Indians in the Southern sub-Continent were driven into Bollywood cinemas in the 70s.
Quito, Ecuador's capital that streches across a volcanic valley high in the Andes, was founded long before Columbus arrived in the Americas. The people there are accustomed to seeing snow on the surrounding peaks, despite the fact that they just live a few miles south of the equator.
That's how author John Perkins describes the city.
On May 24, 1981, barely months after Ronald Reagan (Rep) defeated Jimmy Carter (Dem) in the US presidential election, Ecuador president Jaime Roldos was killed in a fiery airplane crash. It smelled of CIA assassination.
History has it that, early in 1981, the Raldos administration formally tabled a new, radical hydrocarbons law to reform the country's relationship to oil companies. The oil companies retaliated. PR troups started to vilify Roldos, lobbyists swept into Quito and Washington, briefcases full of threats and payoffs, Perkins writes.
Roldos did not cave in to intimidation. He responded by denouncing the conspiracy between politics and oil -- and religion. In the end, he had to be eliminated. And today, Ecuador is the 10th biggest oil supplier to the US.
I would like to quote this part on Page xxiv written by Perkins, who quotes Sandy Tolan in Ecuador: Lost Promises, (National Public Radio, Morning Edition, July 9, 2003):
Ecuador is typical of countries around the world that EHMs (Economic Hit Men) have brought into the economic-political fold. For every $100 of crude oil taken out of the Ecuadorian rain forests, the oil companies receive $75. Of the remaining $25, three-quarters must go to paying off foreign debts. Most of the remainder covers military and other government expenses -- which leaves about $2.50 for health, education, and programs aimed at helping the poor.
Thus, out of every $100 worth of oil torn from the Amazon, less than $3 goes to the people who need the money most...
Thus soccer thrives in Ecuador as the people, the lowest common denominators, are hungry to change their fate by seeking means Pelé has shown them.
Though Umno politicians pooh-poohed at PAS vice-president Husam Musa's 'intelligence report' that Prime Minister and Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is planning to sack his predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad next week from the party for his public criticisms against him, the possibility is there however remote it may be.
However, to sack or not to sack Mahathir is not an easy task, Wong hastens to add.
Though Mahathir holds the record of having be booted out of Umno in 1969, when he was aged 44, for having condemned the then Umno president Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, Umno still has to first ask a realistic question, says Wong.
And the question is: At the ripe old age of 81, is Mahathir a 'lonely old man' in and outside the party?
Quote:
Although it is still to be the interests of both Mahathir and his opponents to portray the man or himself (Mahathir) as a "lonely old man", circumstantial evidences seem to suggest that it may not be the true picture at all.
If Mahathir is a "lonely old man" fighting "desperately" only to preserve his own legacies, then why is there a need for ministers and top powerholders, past and present, to be drafted to defend Abdullah and to counter-attack Mahathir?
If there is no crowd behind Mahathir, why did Abdullah abandon the strategy of "elegant silence" and concede to the ex-PM's public demand for his questions to be answered? Why not leave the "lonely old man" alone?
Why did Abdullah or his supporters feel the need to hold meetings for loyalty pledging and report the meetings publicly?
In view of these circumstantial evidences, the sacking of Mahathir would, more likely than not, cause another major split in Umno.
Those who think Abdullah has won entirely on his own the landslide mandate from the rakyat in 2004 will have to ponder if that's the way he could spend his politcal capital.
June 1, Prime Minister and Finance Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi maintained the government's earlier growth forecast and said the country's economy is expected to grow 6% this year.
He has a detractor.
Paul Donovan, UBS Investment Research managing director of global economics, said yesterday Malaysia's forecast borders on the ambitious. He said Malaysia's growth will hover in the region of 5.25% to 5.5% in the next two to three years time frame.
Donovan said US economy is currently experiencing a slow down, which negatively impacts consumption in the US while the greenback is getting fatigued, causing a global slowdown that won't spare Malaysia the wrath.
It is unlikely that Malaysia will achieve stable economic growth in the short term, said Donovan.
He advised Malaysia to understand the globalised competitive environment will precipitate in keener competition.
Currently, Malaysia is the 10th biggest trading partner to the US, making it dependent on the US economy.
2 ) Micro-economy: KLCI retreating
Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) closed at 899 points on the last trading day in 2005.
It rebounded but yesterday, KLCI dropped below the 900-point psychological level, shredding 10.4 points, or 1.15%, to close at 893.23 points, lower than the last year-end's level.
On the same day, in comparison, Nikkei Index went up 90.96 points (0.64%), Kong Kong's Hang Seng Index went up 13.5 pointg (0.09%), Taiwan's Index went up 131.8 points (2.08%), while Singapore Straits Times Index dropped 12.68 points (0.55%).
Oriental Daily News cited Maxis, which shredded 30 sen (or 3.41%), as the blue-chip loser that triggered the sub-900 point slide yesterday.
Researchers and financial analysts are looking at 885 points as the next support level. But they anticipate a downward adjustment to 880 to 870 points in the short term, before a possible recovery in September.
Some analysts attribute the soft equity market to the global sell-down, especially in the US bourses.
3 ) Macro-economy: Global equity meltdown
Yesterday, Reuters reported that the month-long slide in global stocks has wiped out at least US2 trillion in wealth, that translates to RM7.34 trillion in our money.
That leaves investors few alternatives to preserve their holdings aside from bonds and money markets. In fact, investors have been dumping stocks, commodities and emerging market assets on growing concerns that economic growth will suffer from higher inflation and interest rates, which is especially a looming pattern in the US.
4 ) EPF and Petronas cash reserves
Yesterday, Wong Sulong wrote another gem piece that clearly illustrates he is a survivalist even in diverse political regimes.
What used to be politically correct during the Mahathir era, the Old Man's Keynesian economics -- the hallmark for governmental intervention in economic planning, pump-priming etc -- has been proven by Wong as no longer the flavour of the month. Quote:
What about Dr Mahathir’s argument that the Government should tap the funds in Petronas and EPF? He suggests these funds are lying idle. “It’s like keeping money under the pillow,” he said.
I think it’s unwise to look towards Petronas and the EPF whenever the Government faces a financial shortfall.
It must be clear: Petronas and EPF money are not there for the Government’s taking. They belong to the people. [...]
Our oil and gas resources are finite, and Petronas must manage its reserves (oil and profits) prudently to serve the nation well into the future.
The EPF was set up as a national pension fund before Independence and is 100% funded from deductions from the salaries of employees and contributions from employers. The money belongs to EPF members. They are the ones who would suffer for any losses incurred by the EPF – and there had been some horrendous losses in the past.
The Government has always tapped EPF money to fund national development. Most EPF funds are invested in government bonds and securities, which incidentally, carry an interest rate of between 3% and 3.5% when the EPF is paying out 5% to its contributors.
Last June, the Government announced a RM2.5bil plan to build new homes and accommodation for the police. The funding would come from the EPF and the Pension Fund. These institutions will get a guaranteed return from the Government that is higher than the yield from government securities.
Therefore, leave Petronas and the EPF alone, and let the professionals do their job.
I don't normally buy into Wong's political posturing, and at times mercenary sell-out, in his business-sheets, but I really can't pick a bone with his sound advice this time.
A survivalist must always have his vital signs well checked, mustn't he?
That Chinaman from Sibu is roaming the town again.
Having laid low after the News Express newspaper had folded -- with journalists recycled from many countries and unpaid -- this man is all over the place again, trying to recruit journalists to start a "new English newspaper" in Brunei.
Just beware, and don't say that you have not been warned.
How do mainstream media embrace Web 2.0 in this part of the world?
In Malaysia, mercenary bloggers are said to have taken the initiative to 'engage' the media's tech-idiot head-honchos into it. The last I heard was that there is hitherto no change in status quo. 'The talk is still on', but the champagne we bet on is fast losing chill.
It's a slightly different case in Singapore, you know, the 'little red dot' that caused the delicate hymen-tear between two prime ministers -- one former and the other incumbent -- who obviously hold virtues each of their own kind.
Last week, Singapore Press Holdings, the oligarchy of modern press, ventured into the Web2.0 space with the launch of STOMP into cyberspace, followed by an official launch scheduled for today.
For those uninitiated with neo-speak, STOMP (www.stomp.com.sg) stands for Straits Times Online Mobile Print.
The Web2.0 media that occupy the site comprise blogs, webcasts, virtual chat rooms and forums, with categories ranging from Singapore news to tech stories, reports ITJourno Asia.
Contributors STOMP engaged -- no mercenaries, we are Singaporeans please -- are seven Singapore-based alpha bloggers, from Xiaxue to Dawn Yang and the first topic is about the Ang Moh (Caucasian) Uncle and he he he... the Singapore Girl.
UPDATES FROM ITJOURNO ASIA: It's a relief for the Singapore blogging community. Ever since the fallout between bloggers and journalists after two Singaporeans were found guilty on sedition charges last year, the perception has been that local mainstream media is out to get them, but Han Fook Kwang, the editor for Straits Times, said in the STOMP launch press conference today that "it is time to accept blogs and be part of this new phenomenon".
For the interactive space, STOMP encourages readers to SMS or MMS questions and comments to the site and a lucky contributor stands to win an Opel Astra with a contest that ends in July, 2006.
There is a tech blog at STOMP, titled ST Digital Club, which is redirected to SingTel's Moblog site where tech stories and event photos are currently contributed by the anonymous techbrat and techchick.
Same start, different finish
It is noted that SPH has STOMP all planned up around the same time our Malaysian mercenaries started their pitch. A quick check of its domain details at www.nic.com indicates that stomp.com.sg was registered in February this year. It just took four months to be up-and-running.
The Malaysian initiative, leave it to the mercenaries and the tech-idiot media head-honchos, may be a still-born.
Admittedly, I am acting arsenically cynical here. Perhaps, just perhaps, the delay is intended, so that a RM1 million per week penalty can be claimed against the media house ala Gerbang Perdana.
Now, you may want to ask me who our mercenary 'No Action, Talk Only' bloggers actually are.
I am not involved in this project pitch though I was talked into it initially.
'Elegant Silence'. You will get the answer through the relevant parties, not me.
Lawyer Mathias Chang, a former political secretary to Dr Mahathir when the latter was the country's Prime Minister, has challenged Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan and Khairy Jamaluddin to a debate to determine if the duo are not the people who cast Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi under their control and influence his decision-making.
Kalimullah is the New Straits Times Press deputy chairman and editorial adviser while Khairy is Abdullah's son-in-law and Pemuda Umno deputy chief.
In a press conference yesterday, Chang alleged that Kalimullah and Khairy have seized control behind the throne of power, and that the duo had leveraged the power to further their own business interests.
Chang was quoted in Oriental Daily News (PDF here) as saying that Kalimullah and Khairy are hypocrites as the duo have not walked the talk in preaching for anti-corruption and transparency.
He also challenged Kalimullah and Khairy to declare their assets from the time before Abdullah's ascension as the Prime Minister in October 2003, up to the current period as at June 1, 2006.
Chang, however, qualified that he was speaking in his capacity as an independent individual and a Malaysian citize, adding that he was not representing his former boss, Dr Mahathir.
'Mahathir demonised'
Chang said Kalimullah has used his Sunday Column in The NST (download PDF here) to demonise Dr Mahathir, an act he considered as disrespectful and malicious to the elderly statesman.
Chang equated Kalimullah's act as that of a traitor to the Malay race as the latter has launched a malicious attack on Dr Mahathir, who is regarded as a Malay hero.
Chang demanded Kalimullah to stop demonising Dr Mahathir because the former Prime Minister has contributed tremendously to the Malay race, and by right, the Malays should duly appreciate Mahathir's good deeds.
On the other hand, Chang criticised Khairy for orchestrating The Economist magazine during the run-up to Mahathir's retirement to pressure the former Prime Minister to vacate his seat.
Meanwhile, Chang also challenged several political leaders who had spoken against Mahathir's public outcry. Names mentioned include former DPM Musa Hitam, Education Minister Hishamuddin Hussein, Minister of International Trade and Industry Rafidah Aziz, Youth and Sports Minister Azalina Othman and Foreign Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar.
Without Dr Mahathir, these people wouldn't have been where they are today, said Chang.
Screenshots readers will have to tell us if Chang's interview has not been blacked-out in other mainstream press.
The singers say they dedicate the song to 'our ex-Prime Minister' with royalty payable to some party.
I'm wondering, is this what James Wong mentions as "other less glorious interpretations of Abdullah’s silence (that) have also developed and been circulating in the civil society"?
Oh yes, I am coaxing my good friends to create an "Elegant Silence" ringtone that can be downloaded free for all.
A transcript of the lyrics to the video clip:
Bersatu Kita Bersatu
Dengan Setia Berganding Bahu
Tipu Terus Menipu
Kita Tipu Melayu
Bersama Kita Bersama
Menjunjung Hasrat Semua
Berjasa Pada Kroni
Anak Isteri Dan 'Bini'
Lambang Kita Yang Rebah
Dipandang Keji Dan Haprak
Bersatu Bersetia
Khianat Cogan Katanya
UMNO Terus Lara
Rompak Rakyat Malaysia
Let's hope 'Elegant Silence' will not follow because the Official Secret Act (OSA) can be conveniently invoked. We have had one bad bluff too many in the past.
Citizen Nades tries to slip into Citizen Mahathir's and pretends that he asks some questions on public governance at the local councils, the state government, the ACA, the Youth and Sports Ministry, and the Office of Chief Secretary to the Government.
I guess, Citizen Nades has the intention of telling his children that, despite all odds, he has tried. Quotes:
Knowing the civil service and quasi-government agencies, don't expect them to respond because anyone pretending to be Dr Mahathir can be told to go and fly a kite.
But at least, in consolation, I can say that I tried. Better than remaining silent as the mismanagement and abuse of power continues unabated.
UPDATED VERSION. Yesterday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was quoted as saying former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad would get his answers in detail but..."the answers can be put out but this has got to be done by the relevant ministries, not by me." See Bernama.
The fact that Abdullah has, first, been advised to cocoon himself in 'elegant silence' and yet has now been smoked out to answer to Mahathir's questions, political commentator and blogger James Wong Wing On says "this could be interpreted as another round of success for Mahathir".
Despite massive media blackout of his views, this time, Dr Mahathir has succeeded in gaining attention from all and sundry because, says James Wong in Malaysiakini, the strategy to portray Abdullah as the 'good guy' and Mahathir as the 'bad bully' has backfired. The PM’s over-zealous media operatives and spin doctors overdid it and ignored one new reality, says James Wong and I quote:
That is, although Abdullah is still likable as a person, his track record as the premier on many vital current issues such as police indiscipline and brutalities, insensitive neo-liberal economic measures such as the drastic increase of petrol and electricity prices as well as corruption, nepotism and cronyism in politics and the economy have caused his popularity to plunge considerably in the eyes of the people since the 2004 general election. [...]
At this stage, the over-simplistic propaganda of ‘good’ Abdullah being ‘bullied’ by ‘bad’ Mahathir has ceased to win the hearts and minds of the people for they now see a more complicated picture of a ‘good’ man who is also a ‘badly performing’ prime minister.
So, will 'elegant silence' work when the whole nation, as prompted by Mahathir, demands straight answers?
Hold that thought. James Wong has an expose:
Abdullah has actually communicated with Mahathir privately without the knowledge of most of his advisers, strategists and propagandists (some of them are alleged to be lobbyists for foreign capital and other foreign interests) who try to isolate him (Abdullah) from more disinterested advisers and critics for their own exploitation and manipulation.
In fact, the worse has developed, says James Wong, as rumblings on the ground has attenuated rather acutely:
Although some members of the ruling elite have been circulating the term “elegant silence” to shield Abdullah from the pressure of being held answerable or accountable to the points raised by Mahathir, other less glorious interpretations of Abdullah’s silence have also developed and been circulating in the civil society...
UPDATES: Incidentally, Oon Yeoh also writes in Today, the free-paper in Singapore, that Abdullah has no choice but to answer's Mahathir's barbs, or else the knife of public perception will sink deeper on his front chest.
Mahathir is vocal for berani kerana benar, and Abdullah has to maintain silent for takut kerana salah;
Abdullah maintains his silence because his oratory and debating skill as well as persuasive power are not deemed as effective as Mahathir's;
Abdullah maintains silence because he is still silently shocked and awed by Mahathir's sudden and no-holds-bar criticisms and has not reached consensus with his advisers, strategists and propagandists on how to respond;
The inner circle of Abdullah is afraid that responding to Mahathir's criticisms would lead to more debates and may reveal more other controversies in governmental decision-making in the process;
Abdullah does not know how to answer because most of the decisions on the controversial subjects were not personally made by him but his inner circle.
PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi stalled the crooked bridge when he took over from Dr Mahathir in 2003, revived it with a new name 'Scenic Bridge' in early 2006, and cancelled it 12 weeks later -- the preliminary cost of the flip-flop decisions has surfaced -- and still counting.
SOURCE: theSun (June 13, 2006, Page 4)
The Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament (PAC) found out yesterday that the flip-flop will initially cost the tax payers about RM740 million -- no bridge, and the final costs have yet to be determined.
Had we gone ahead with the project, according to the PAC, the original cost was RM1.113 billion -- meaning you would have had a bridge by putting in an extra RM373 million.
Don't forget, when Abdullah cancelled the project in April, he announced that compensation to contractor Gerbang Perdana Sdn Bhd would be about RM100 million.
The PAC revealed yesterday that, bridge or no bridge, Gerbang Perdana has been given an assured payment of RM640 million.
Discount the sand and airspace favouring Singapore, what's the total damage again, Rashomon?
This 50-minute documentary titled “The World According to Google” is part of the popular Backlight series aired in the Dutch public channel Net3, which syndicates many of the episodes in other countries like Japan, Germany, Australia and the USA.
Following Google's informal corporate motto, "Don't be evil', that co-founder Sergey Brin talked so much about, I took an interest in the company's business model in China as several issues attributed to the company are being discussed at the university level in the US. Last week, I was in the Netherlands for an international debate and, again, Google featured prominently in the two rounds I was slotted in.
We showed the audience this documentary directed by celebrated producer IJsbrand van Veelen, which studies Google’s modus operandi in detail. Van Veelen happened to be my sparring partner in Round One of the debate. We ended up having drinks into the wee hours, and he paid for our taxi fare to the hotel.
The documentary, produced in collaboration with Dutch national public broadcast organisation VPRO, was aired over Net3 a couple of weeks before the debate, so the audience had high memory retention of the programme, which helped trigger thoughts-sharing from the floor.
Key among the discussion points was that Google, through its mantra of “Don’t be Evil”, seems to have the best intentions for its stakeholders and its end-users. Due to the incidents aligning it to the business environment in China, there had been claims that Google is slowly turning into Big Brother. The very nature that Google users are depositing their personal information helps the company keep track of its users’ surfing behavior, and make decisions on the users’ behalf about the information it provides to an ever enlarging user community.
Hence the question arose during the debate whether Google will rise as a new Library of Alexandria in the digital age? Or is Google morphing into a monopolistic Big Brother that ultimately challenges the freedom of expression?
Those were also the blunt questions van Veelen posed in the documentary to Vint Cerf, one of the 'Fathers of Internet' who now works for Google. Evidently, Vint Cerf became defensive and avoided answering the sharp questions posed to him.
If you guys are interested, I may arrange for a viewing session somewhere in KL.
Reader Thana Ramayah sends me something that I feel compelled to share:
Silence is not a virtue always. Megawati, the daughter of a famous nationalist father, became Ibu to 220 million Indonesians in 2001. She hardly gave any interviews as she lacked opinion. She disappointed the masses who expected a charismatic leader. She is an honest and reliable constitionalist but a fragmented country like Indonesia needed a team of honest, uncorrupted politicians to alter its fate.
She could not deliver and chose to be silent on biting issues. Finally the same silence made her shrink into non- existance within three years.
Here are some Quotes on "Silence"
Adrienne Rich:
Lying is done with words and also with silence.
Alice Walker:
No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.
Bob Dylan:
I accept chaos. I am not sure whether it accepts me. I know some people are terrified of the bomb. But then some people are terrified to be seen carrying a modern screen magazine. Experience teaches us that silence terrifies people the most.
Confucius:
Silence is the true friend that never betrays.
Mark Twain:
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
Martin Luther King, Jr.:
We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King, jr.:
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King, jr.:
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends
Martin Niemoller:
In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.
Martin Niemöller:
First they came for the Jews. I was silent. I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists. I was silent. I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists. I was silent. I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me. There was no one left to speak for me.
Rachel Naomi Remen:
The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention…. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.
Robert Greeleaf:
Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much.
Sally Berger:
You never saw a fish on the wall with its mouth shut.
Sam Levenson:
It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it.
Sam Rayburn:
No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut.
Anon:
Sometimes silence is not golden--just yellow.
Paramahansa Yogananda:
In shallow men, the fish of little thoughts make such commotion. In oceanic minds, the whales of inspiration make hardly a ruffle.
Thana Ramayah:
When Laws are silent interpreting becomes noisy.
Today, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi indicated that the 'elegant silence' will be broken soon so as to respond to the key questions that Dr Mahathir had demanded for straight answers.
It had been five grueling days where his arsenal of spin-doctors had failed in their job in shielding his administration from Dr Mahathir's scathing criticism.
June 7, when former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir took on the offensive to criticise the performance, apparently not the person, of his successor, the target's mercenaries of spin-doctors had to quickly find a strong line of defense.
As the the media that triggered Dr Mahathir's ballistics came from the foreign press corp, the line of defence had obviously got to come from the local English press that are, inevitably, directly responsible to the Umno chief. That's a perfect job cut out for the NSTP Group EIC Hishamuddin Aun which he can't deliver, for this Hisham has yet to attempt a single, unaided, original English copy since taking over as the No. 1 at Jalan Riong in January 2006.
Like a good soldier, it was Brendan Pereira who rose to the occassion when his 5-star general was invalidated, and wrote the front page lead on June 8 -- a preliminary line of defence was put in place. Dr Mahathir can continue watching the Abdullah administration, but so will "the millions of Malaysians who gave Abdullah the biggest mandate in history at the 2004 general election", Brendan rationalised.
It didn't work convincingly on the reading public. Dr Mahathir broke the code, and upped the ante in the subsequent days.
June 11, entered Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan, the reinforcement and last line of defence at Jalan Riong, regurgitating what Pereira has attempted and failed to convince. "(The) Prime Minister’s mandate came from the electorate which in 2004 voted in the current administration with the most popular margin in Malaysian history", repeated Kalimullah.
Evidently, the two fellows are so disconnected from a young population that they have omitted the fact that the populace who have given Abdullah the trouncing mandate in 2004 have spoken, exactly six days before Dr Mahathir emptied his first round of arsenals at the Abdullah Administration.
Journalist Jacqueline Ann Surin, who hail from the new voters' clan, wrote a courageous Open Letter to the PM, that theSun was equally gallant to publish. The Open Letter must have been circulated wide and deep via viral emailing among the literati in this country. I, for one, had received dozens of copies in my mailbox.
The population who were moved by Abdullah to put him where he is through the 2004 ballotbox are becoming disillusioned with the leader they had chosen.
This is how the Open Letter began its line of persuasion, hoping that the Prime Minister would listen attentively:
Dear Prime Minister Abdullah,
When you first came into power after the 2004 general election, you promised us that you would be prime minister for all Malaysians.
In fact, I still have the letter you sent out to voters before the elections that promised you would fulfill your duties with sincerity, integrity, efficiency and fairness.
It was a letter that moved people, including staunch Opposition supporters.
There was hope that a new leadership which was more conciliatory, more willing to listen to differing views and more just was in store for the country.
And people invested in that hope by voting the Barisan Nasional back into power with a clear majority.
But recent events, including your administration's reactions to these events, have been deeply troubling.
Deeply troubling it indeed is.
Hence, in the days to come, Abdullah will get his arsenals to break his 'elegant silence' to respond to the key questions that Dr Mahathir had demanded for straight answers.
Dr Mahathir seems to have employed the 'elegant silence' stance and dispatched a little pawn, Sufi, to deal with Kalimullah, apparently denting the Big Man's ego
Quote:
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad did not seek an appointment with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi while both leaders were in Tokyo attending the Nikkei Conference.
In fact, it was the opposite. Dr Mahathir was only informed by a third party that the Prime Minister was on the way to call on him 20 minutes before he was due to leave the hotel on May 26.
To this, Dr Mahathir agreed and the two leaders met for about 10 minutes before Dr Mahathir had to take his leave.
The NST publishes Sufi's letter today, but wishes to have the topic killed off immediately. Here's Jalan Riong's saving grace:
We have received many letters in support of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Because they express similar sentiments to the correspondence already published, we have decided to bring this subject to a close. — Editor
It's a vindication for RPK, who doesn't even have a Prophet's variant name tagged to his forehead.
Here, we are talking about solid factual errors in Kalimullah's column -- and I only quoted one of glaring three.
It's spins like Kalimullah's, printed in Jalan Riong (see evidence in PDF here), that make bazaar rumours plausible by contrast.
I would like to point out several factual errors contained in the article:
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad did not seek an appointment with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi while both leaders were in Tokyo attending the Nikkei Conference.
In fact, it was the opposite. Dr Mahathir was only informed by a third party that the Prime Minister was on the way to call on him 20 minutes before he was due to leave the hotel on May 26.
To this, Dr Mahathir agreed and the two leaders met for about 10 minutes before Dr Mahathir had to take his leave.
Dr Mahathir did not invite the foreign Press to, in your words, "lambast Abdullah and his administration".
The Press conference on June 7 was called to announce the Perdana Leadership Foundation’s Global Peace Forum to be held from June 20-22. The foreign Press was there for that purpose.
However, as in all Press conferences, the foreign Press took advantage of the opportunity to ask questions on other matters.
Individuals are free to give their views, opinions or advice to Dr Mahathir.
Many do that voluntarily. However, that does not make them "advisers".
In this case, as mentioned in the column, I would like to clarify that Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad does not hold any formal post as adviser to Dr Mahathir.
SUFI YUSOFF
for TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD,
Kuala Lumpur
(We have received many letters in support of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Because they express similar sentiments to the correspondence already published, we have decided to bring this subject to a close. — Editor)
June 8, BBC News carried an interview with this blogger relating to the issue of reviving Malaysia's hi-tech dreams.
We started off with great visions and we were ahead of the pack. Now, late-comers had zoomed past us. I told BCC the devil was in the implementation, and here's one of my earnest observations of the rot:
"What went wrong was the devil was definitely in the implementation," says Jeff Ooi. "We have prohibitive immigration laws which makes an application for a working visa for expatriates so difficult.
This was affirmed in three days by N.R. Narayana Murthy, the chairman of India's Infosys Technologies Ltd, which employs over 50,000 employees worldwide.
Infosys, which has wanted to invest in Malaysia six years ago, is frustrated with the bureaucracy in our country and had bypassed Malaysia to set up an office in Mauritius instead.
The person who was given the shock was our DPM, Najib Abdul Razak. Among issues raised by Infosys included the limited movement of IT specialists in Malaysia, immigration and other travel-related matters.
As an immedite remedy, Najib instructed Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Dr Jamaludin Jarjis, to set up a Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) branch office in India as soon as possible.
I did some street photography while in the Netherlands last week. Summer sun, and all the people are out and about in the city.
Instead of shooting the fabled stories of canals, I train my camera on the bicycle brigades and how the folk park their vehicle. I notice bicycles are a common public transport that does not discriminate the social status among the working class.
Here is the series of 30 images I captured while wandering the streets of Amsterdam and The Hague.
FACT: Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi met his former boss Dr Mahathir Mohamd briefly on the sideline of the Nikkei Economic Conference in Tokyo recently.
QUESTION: Who made the overture for that brief encounter?
Rashomon again. There are at least two versions of 'truth' being circulated in print and cyberspace, respectively.
The Prime Minister was in Japan shortly after the Malaysiakini article appeared and was told that Dr Mahathir wanted to come and see him.
Abdullah, in the midst of breakfast with aides and officials, immediately put on his tie and told the ambassador that he would go and see his ex-boss rather than let Dr Mahathir come down and see him.
When Abdullah used a common friend (one of the doctors in his entourage) to arrange a meeting with Mahathir in Tokyo during the recent Nikkei conference in late May, Mahathir was of course reluctant to accept. But he could not refuse to meet the Prime Minister as he was told that Abdullah was already on his way to his hotel suite and could hardly turn back. Nevertheless, this did stop Mahathir from ‘doing a Tunku’. He pretended to be in a hurry and, after dismissing Abdullah with some hellos, grunts and umphs, the ‘courtesy call’ was all over in less than ten minutes.
In spite of Kalimullah Hassan Masheerul Hassan’s and Brendan Pereira’s attempt to portray a reconciliation with the great giant of UMNO politics, the meeting had all the excitement of a hospital morgue.
Who, between Mahathir and Abdullah, made the initiative to meet up? The facts contained therein, as put in contrast, above, are contradictory and mutually exclusive to each other.
In the best scenario, only either one version could be true. In the worst, both may be dongeng.
You have to tell us -- beyond reasonable doubt -- the plausibility of the fact that would not jeapardise the overall believability of the respective central theses hawked by both writers.
You also have to tell us if by affixing a Prophet's tag to one's name could lend him moral high-horse over the other.
To those uninitiated in Bahasa Melayu, 'dongeng' can be loosely translated as tall-tale.
I can only pity the father, who has so christened his son that the given name, claimed to be a variant honorific for a Prophet based on Google search, has been made the butt of national jokes -- not once, but allegedly twice -- by a former Prime Minister.
While the complainant navel-gazes on his bruised ego, the nation echoes the former PM's straight questions that are greeted with 'elegant silence'.
And we know the former PM is a strategic tactician who often moves several steps ahead to checkmate his targets when he gets mad. And this time, he is mad with so many people out there, really mad.
Mr Hassan may not have willed it, but God stands witness to the showdown for many a friend of his son.
When that happens, you don't have to consult Kalimuthu the bazaar soothsayer to gaze on the crystal ball.
The newsmen's reaction in the commentary section of Rocky's Bru, which has been blocked by Jalan Riong -- Congratulations to Rocky for earning yourself a membership to the by-invitation-only Hate-the-Bloggers Club that this blogger incurred at the expense of the God in June 2004.
Another newsman, A Kadir Jasin (AKJ), has a 'preliminary, tentative' take on the Mahathir-Abdullah tussle. There had been over 50 readers' comments so far. (BTW, AKJ gives an interview related to the Mahathir-Abdullah difficulty in today's Oriental Daily News.)
I must have done something right when newsmen start to sing my tune three years after I've strung the first progressive chords. Play that again, Sam.
The nation was dealt a blackeye when a person as high-office as Anwar Ibrahim could be privately tortured in a police cell. That was 1998, and the chilly scares run down your spine till this day.
If a former deputy prime minister could be dealth with this way, what about the layman?
I hope one day, the good old Dr Ani Arope, the former chairman and chief executive of TNB who was said to have resisted signing up the IPPs but was unceremoniously removed after a major multi-states blackout in the early 1990s, will come out and sing.
The fundamentals must be wrong. And the fundamentals involved the IPPs directly in the whole equation -- excess capacity is now running at 40%, and two more IPPs will come onstream soon, demanding their share of capacity and energy charges as had been concluded in their PPAs.
And we heard Ani Arope was dead against signing up the IPPs was back in the 1990s. He'd better sing with the right key and pitch.
June 6, StarBiz put on record how Ani Arope chirped:
I didn't write Ani Arope's script, but I have made my points very clearly right from the start: ( 1 ) The IPPs were allowed to plunder the nation and get away with murder; ( 2 ) We don't need more IPPs now that excess capacity runs at 40% -- which is absolute non-revenue, perishable waste.
We have had enough of finger-pointing. We should now find ways to reduce waste and reduce the energy cost passed down to the end-users, the Joe Public. No two ways but the IPPs -- specifically the fat cats among the Syed Mokhtars, the YTLs and the Ananda Krishnans -- must take a hair-cut.
I have chosen another non-fiction to read onboard my long-haul flights. It's a paperback version of a 2004 book, Confession of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins. An editor at Malaysian Business has been pestering me to read this book for months. I find it a rivetting read.
Perkins confessed that the book, conceived in 1982, was disrupted four times and delayed for over 22 years because he was threatened, and bribed, to get him kill the idea. But his only child, college-graduated Jessica, coaxed him into it despite his fears over the threats and bribes.
"Don't worry, dad. If they get you, I'll take over where you left off. We need to do this fo rthe grandchildren I hope to give you someday!" The daughter said. And the book came out in 2004, published by Berrett-Koehler, after the manuscript was reviewed by declined by a reputable international chain.
Perkins furthered the concept of Economic Hit Men (EHM), who are actually
"...highly-paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International development (USAID), and other foreign "aid" organisations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources.
Their tools include fradulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalisation."
According to Perkins, the EHMs are the heralds of people who walk the corridors of Monsanto, General Electric, Nike, General Motors, Wal-Mart and the likes.
What is more alarming is that, when the EHMs failed, another type of hitman will take over -- the CIA.
When the CIA fail, in come the jackals, and heads of states are overthrown or die in violent "accidents".
And when even the jackals fail, then the old models resurface. Young Americans are sent in to kill and die. As in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Countries mentioned by Perkins in his capacity as an EHM are Indonesia (1963-1971), Panama and Saudi Arabia (1971-1975), Panama, Iran, Columbia and Ecuador (1975-1981), and Ecuador, Panama, Iraq and Venezuela (1081-Present).
The common string that ties all this economic espionage together is, among others, one commodity: Oil.
To those uninitiated into the EHMs, they often dress up as professionals from international consulting firms. They will convince developing countries to accept enourmous loans, often to see them default in a short number of years. The American government and international "aid agencies" will then request their "pound of flesh". Depending on the luck of the respective countries, the flesh may include access to natural resources, military cooperation, and political support that encompasses partisan votes in the UN.
You may get this book in MPH for RM45.50. ISBN: 0-452-28708-1. Read the Prologue in PDF before you get the book.
To give you some early spices, Seah's story starts with the episode where Umno was declared an illegal entity by the High Court in 1987. Justice Harun Hashim was the presiding judge.
An appeal to the Supreme Court of Malaysia was lodged by the Plaintiffs, so-called UMNO 11, who represented the Tengku Razaleigh faction. Salleh Abas, the incumbent Lord President, was suspended before the UMNO 11’s appeal could be heard and disposed of.
The records show that Salleh has order for a 9-judge panel to hear the UMNO 11's appeal, scheduled to start on June 13, 1988. Salleh gave the instructions on May 24, 1988. On May 27, 1988, Salleb Abas reported that he had been suspended from exercising his functions of High Office with restrospective effect from May 26, 1988.
The Chief Justice of the High Court of Malaya, Abdul Hamid Omar, now a Tun, was appointed Lord President and, on assuming office, the acting Lord President vacated the June 13, 1988 hearing date set by his deposed predecessor.
And Seah writes:
Some 15 years later, after the recent death of Dato Harun (Hashim) on 30 September 2003, the following orbituary appeared in the New Sunday Times, dated 5 October 2003 on page 10:
After Harun declared UMNO illegal, he only sought the Diarist’s opinion on what was next. The Diarist speculated and also told Tun Salleh Abas what could happen in the event they persisted in their plan to have a full court hearing of the UMNO case. Tun Daim Zainuddin had intimated to the Diarist the Government’s plan. They were simultaneously alarmed, sceptical and rather naive. The rest is history ....
The Diarist that Seah mentions is Abdullah Ahmad aka Dollah Kok Lanas, who was then the Group EIC of the NSTP.
Seah, then, was sitting at the Supreme Court bench, alongside Salleh Abas.
As history has it again, Seah was suspended from his judiciary duty alongside four other Supreme Court judges. On this, Seah says:
It should be pointed out that Article 125 regulates the suspension and removal of a Judge of the Supreme Court. The Article does not provide for suspension and removal of more than one Judge of the Supreme Court. This is understandable because the Prime Minister has not been vested with power under the Federal Constitution to suspend the Supreme Court, which is the third pillar of a parliamentary democracy. Similarly, the King can remove the Prime Minister on constitutional grounds but, with great respect, has no power under the Federal Constitution to suspend Parliament. A fortiori, the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong has no vested power even under Article 150 of the Federal Constitution to suspend Parliament.
In my opinion, the subsequent suspension of the five Judges of the Supreme Court following the suspension of the incumbent Lord President, Tun Salleh Abas, was tantamount to the suspension of the Supreme Court. Nobody seems to have questioned the legality of the suspension of the five Judges of the Supreme Court at the material time and this constitutional point was not determined by the Tribunal set up to investigate the charges against the five Judges of the Supreme Court
.
The fracas later degraded into a situation, borrowing words from Seah, of 'colonels judging the generals' and the verdict cast in stone. "It was an episode which plunged the judiciary into depths of despair."
Thanks reader Justin Beh for the heads-up.
'Opposition leader should head Judicial Commission'
At a time when the idea of a Judicial Commission is being tossed around by the present administration, Seah says the Opposition leader should head this commission. Quote"
I think I should give my personal views on the composition of members of the proposed Judicial Commission.
In the first place, the Prime Minister must not be involved, directly or indirectly, in these appointments. It follows that I am not in favour of the Prime Minister being appointed Chairman of the Judicial Commission. A fortiori, I am also against the Prime Minister nominating a person to be Chairman of the Judicial Commission. In my view, the Chairman of the Judicial Commission which is meant to be an independent and impartial body, should be the leader of the Opposition in Parliament, with the Chairman of the Bar Council of Malaysia, as his deputy.
As regards the other members of the Judicial Commission, the details can be worked out after hearing the views of the people of Malaysia, if the proposal is acceptable in principle.
If the Federal Constitution is to be amended to cater for this change, perhaps opportunities should be given to the people to put forward suggestions to amend the Constitution to prevent the Prime Minister from holding more than one portfolio in the Cabinet at any time. This would be in line with the principles of parliamentary democracy.
To commit history or to omit history? Your call. It's a history lesson for all of us.
THOSE WHO DID NOT LIVE THROUGH NIGHTMARE OF THE WAR ARE NOT IN POSITION TO CALL FOR BAN ON THE LAST COMMUNIST, SAYS CAPT (RETIRED) LAWRENCE CHEW
The lead:
A World War II veteran who first fought alongside the communists during the Japanese occupation, and then against them after Japan was defeated, says the ban on The Last Communist (Lelaki Komunis Terakhir) should be lifted.
"The government should let the people judge the film for themselves," retired Captain Lawrence Chew (pix), 82, said.
He said those who did not live through the nightmare of World War II are also not in a position to call for a ban on the Amir Muhammad documentary.
To commit history or to omit history? Your call. It's a history lesson for all of us.
I'm still wondering if Ani Arope is allowed to talk in any of our business sheets?
In 1996, while taking the rap for major blackout in Peninsular Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional (TNB)'s then executive chairman Ani Arope gave Bernama in an interview and warned of an even bigger crisis - that this technical blackout could well turn into a financial blackout. Quote The Edge (August 17, 1998):
"I hope that the powers that be and all those involved in the healthy development of the power industry would look into the finances of Tenaga and see to it that the company does not become bankrupt," he said.
How can a company like Tenaga go bankrupt? In 1996, operating profit was RM2.3 billion and in 1997 it was RM3.1 billion. But, for a big utility like Tenaga, profit alone does not count. Ani Arope was concerned with the rising capital expenditure needed to improve the country's energy and power infrastructure and more so the power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the IPPs - both of which will, in the longer term, eat into Tenaga's profit and cashflow position.
Under the PPA, IPPs were given guaranteed earnings for over 20 years for their entire power production irrespective of demand. In short, whatever the IPPs generate, Tenaga has to buy regardless of whether it requires the electricity.
"If Tenaga were to go under financially, I think it is going to create a national financial blackout. The IPPs could only survive if we are healthy. If Tenaga defaulted on one payment, it would create a financial domino effect that would be real bad," Ani had said.
As history has it, Ani Arope was removed unceremoniously. There were many reasons, but on the surface, he has to bear full responsibility for the total power blackout in Peninsular Malaysia on Aug 3, 1996 that lasted for almost 14 hours.
Two years on, Aug 11, 1998 -- in the thick of the Asian Financial Crisis -- the succeeding executive chairman Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali went on the same course and told of the same scenario.
At a briefing for newspaper editors, he reminded the nation the financial blackout for Tenaga could come sooner rather than later -- the only difference is that it was due largely to the economic upheaval and currency turmoil. The Edge has a an analysis for this:
At the operating level, Tenaga will always show profit but its pre-tax profit of RM1.1 billion in 1996 had dwindled to RM144 million in 1997 after taking into account a book foreign exchange translation loss of RM1.3 billion against its foreign loans of which the bulk is in US dollars. The ringgit was at RM2.90.
Based on an exchange rate of RM4.10 to US$1, forex loss is estimated at RM4.1 billion, putting Tenaga's expected pre-tax loss at RM3.2 billion this year. At the same time, Tenaga had to pay RM3.4 billion to the IPPs based on their current power production capacity.
At that point in time, during the deep winter of the Asian Financial Crisis-- and Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim was booted soon after The Edge's report, Penjanabebas, the association representing the five First Generation IPPs, said it was willing to consider Tenaga's plight and discuss a mutually beneficial solution.
But Penjanabebas had a big caveat: It also reminded Tenaga that this would have to be done without renegotiating the terms of the existing PPAs.
The Edge's Azam Aris asked point-blank: But are changes possible without the PPAs being renegotiated?
Should they continue to protect their guaranteed income stream - even though some of their production capacity are not needed as demand had fallen with the slumping economy? Shouldn't the IPPs also be patriotic and contribute to the course of economic recovery? And why must Tenaga bear the burden alone? [...]
The government has given an assurance that contracts will be honoured in this country and past PPAs are not open for renegotiation, but this does not prevent the IPPs from voluntarily entering into a renegotiation with Tenaga.
The IPPs must understand that these are difficult times. No one had expected the impact of the regional economic turmoil to be so extensive and that the economy is unlikely to recover fast. Tenaga is in a negative cash position while all the IPPS are in a net cash position.
Tenaga is not asking for a radical change in the PPAs but for the IPPs to show some understanding in the name of national interest. Tajuddin had asked for flexibility in the payment period and perhaps some price discounts.
Few people know that Tenaga has to pay the IPPs weekly or fortnightly. Interest will be charged on late payments. A longer payment period will ease Tenaga's cashflow problem as it bills its customers on a monthly basis. In fact, Tenaga also faces late payment problems as customers have up to 60 days to pay before electricity supply is actually cut.
The IPPs, too, will have their own sets of problems and loans to pay, but certainly it will be wise for them to exercise flexibility in their discussions with Tenaga. It is not enough to say they are willing to listen but at the same time stress the point that the PPAs are not open for renegotiation. [...]
The IPPs must do their part. Listening alone is not enough. They must show flexibility if there is to be a win-win situation for all players in the power industry.
However, those were the times of financial crisis. As if it was a vicious circle, Ahmad Tajuddin was also unceremoniously removed, to be replaced by then BN Back Bencher Club chairman Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis, who is now the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation before a short stint as the Finance Minister II during the twilight of the Mahathir Administration..
Now, some 10 years after Ani Arope had sung his tune of sorrows, Tenaga is still beset with liquidity and profitability problems though the country has returned to the time when the Prime Minister has a forecast of 6% growth for this year.
It is to be noted Tenaga has also refrained from any end-user tariff increase in the last nine years.
The fundamentals must be wrong. And the fundamentals involved the IPPs directly in the whole equation -- excess capacity is now running at 40%, and two more IPPs will come onstream soon, demanding their share of capacity and energy charges as had been concluded in their PPAs.
And we heard Ani Arope was dead against signing up the IPPs was back inthe 1990s. He'd better sing with the right key and pitch.
This is an eternal image that radiates one of the strongest global messages against repression -- the Tank Man, or the Unknown Rebel.
The photo was taken in 1989 by Jeff Widener, then a 33-year-old American Associated Press picture editor based in Bangkok, from the sixth floor of the Beijing Hotel, about half a mile away through a 400mm lens.
The still and motion photography of the man standing alone before a line of tanks reached international audiences practically overnight.
"The photograph may not be beautiful or artistic, but it is nothing short of heart-stopping," says the blogger at Pure-Essence.net.
Johan Jaaffar, the man emplaced by Anwar Ibrahim as the Group EIC of Utusan Group in 1992, told his readers how he and his team had helped save the Mastika magazine.
Then, Mastika was bleeding with barely 6,000 copies in circulation.
But Mastika, despite its dismal performance in generating revenue, was a respectable publication by any measure. Says Johan:
"The articles were well-edited and the contributors were almost the who’s who among the intelligentsia and journalists of the day.
More importantly, its literary pages (which included short stories or cerpen and poetry) set a standard of excellence. Many writers who later became famous started as contributors for Mastika.
The editors of Mastika too were legends in their own right — Mohd Dahlan Mansor (Hamdam), Kamaluddin Muhammad (Keris Mas), A. Samad Said, Usman Awang, Asraf, Abu Bakar Husny and in later years Harun Hassan, Subky Latif and Zaharah Nawawi, to name a few.
That was the good part. But, in realpolitik, Mastika was dying, and a new life-support system has to be put in place.
Johan's team, with the present GEIC Khalid Mohamad at the core, revamped Mastika in September 1995, and circulation hit 20,000 copies on the third month, surpassed 150,000 in less than a year, and now, some ten years later, it’s hovering around 300,000 copies a month, making it the biggest selling magazine in the country.
Success formula? Wholesome spread of "stories about ghosts, spirits and more ghosts and spirits".
Call it the dumbing-down of Malay readers. Or better still, the downslide of Malay publications. The truth is such stories sell. Even today, Malay papers are facing a dilemma.
Harian Metro with its staple of sensational stories is currently the biggest selling Malay newspaper, not Berita Harian or Utusan Malaysia.
The difference between the average circulation of the biggest selling newspaper in this country (incidentally a Chinese one) and the biggest selling Malay paper is almost 100,000 copies.
One can blame the Utusan group for publishing Mastika.
Usman (Awang) and many others were unhappy with the changes we made back in 1995. Understandably so.
But as Khalid, the present chief editor of the group, pointed out to an audience a few days ago to commemorate Mastika’s 65th birthday: "If we had not revamped Mastika, it would have died a natural death."
Like Khalid, I offer no apologies.
I have a compilation of how Johan and Amir Muhammad had remembered Usman Awang when the poet passed on in 2001. I had used USJ.com.my as the platform as blogs weren't pervasive, then. It's in the Google cache.
One day, perhaps Mastika may carry a story about Usman Awang, national literary laureate and Mastika editor from 1958 to 1962, turning in his grave.
To those who do not know Usman Awang, let me share one of his many poetries, titled 'Melayu'.
Usman Awang
Melayu
Melayu itu orang yang bijaksana
Nakalnya bersulam jenaka
Budi bahasanya tidak terkira
Kurang ajarnya tetap santun
Jika menipu pun masih bersopan
Bila mengampu bijak beralas tangan
Melayu itu berani jika bersalah
Kecut takut kerana benar
Janji simpan di perut
Selalu pecah di mulut
Biar mati adat
Jangan mati anak
Melayu di Tanah Semenanjung luas maknanya:
Jawa itu Melayu, Bugis itu Melayu
Banjar juga disebut Melayu,
Minangkabau memang Melayu,
Keturunan Acheh adalah Melayu,
Jakun dan Sakai asli Melayu,
Arab dan Pakistani, semua Melayu
Mamak dan Malbari serap ke Melayu
Malah mua'alaf bertakrif Melayu
(Setelah disunat anunya itu)
Dalam sejarahnya
Melayu itu pengembara lautan
Melorongkan jalur sejarah zaman
Begitu luas daerah sempadan
Sayangnya kini segala kehilangan
Melayu itu kaya falsafahnya
Kias kata bidal pusaka
Akar budi bersulamkan daya
Gedung akal laut bicara
Malangnya Melayu itu kuat bersorak
Terlalu ghairah pesta temasya
Sedangkan kampung telah tergadai
Sawah sejalur tinggal sejengkal
Tanah sebidang mudah terjual
Meski telah memiliki telaga
Tangan masih memegang tali
Sedang orang mencapai timba
Berbuahlah pisang tiga kali
Melayu itu masih bermimpi
Walaupun sudah mengenal universiti
Masih berdagang di rumah sendiri
Berkelahi cara Melayu
Menikam dengan pantun
Menyanggah dengan senyum
Marahnya dengan diam
Merendah bukan menyembah
Meninggi bukan melonjak
Watak Melayu menolak permusuhan
Setia dan sabar tiada sempadan
Tapi jika marah tak nampak telinga
Musuh dicari ke lubang cacing
Tak dapat tanduk telinga dijinjing
Maruah dan agama dihina jangan
Hebat amuknya tak kenal lawan
Berdamai cara Melayu indah sekali
Silaturrahim hati yang murni
Maaf diungkap senantiasa bersahut
Tangan diulur sentiasa bersambut
Luka pun tidak lagi berparut
Baiknya hati Melayu itu tak terbandingkan
Selaga yang ada sanggup diberikan
Sehingga tercipta sebuah kiasan:
"Dagang lalu nasi ditanakkan
Suami pulang lapar tak makan
Kera di hutan disusu-susukan
Anak di pangkuan mati kebuluran"
Bagaimanakah Melayu abad dua puluh satu
Masihkan tunduk tersipu-sipu ?
Jangan takut melanggar pantang
Jika pantang menghalang kemajuan;
Jangan segan menentang larangan
Jika yakin kepada kebenaran;
Jangan malu mengucapkan keyakinan
Jika percaya kepada keadilan
Jadilah bangsa yang bijaksana
Memegang tali memegang timba
Memiliki ekonomi mencipta budaya
Menjadi tuan di negara Merdeka
When the Indian government appeared tardy and sluggish in helping the info-poor, Sugata Mitra, physicist and chief scientist with India's international software giant NIIT Ltd., launched the 'Hole-in-the-Wall' experiment in 1999.
Dr Sugata Mitra with his Hole-in-the-Wall subjects (SOURCE: NIIT)
Now, the innovator has been asked to bring Hole-in-the-Wall to Cambodia and South Africa.
It seems the stage has been set for the IPPs -- the Syed Mokhtars, the YTLs and the AKs -- to take a lower income by means of adjusted capacity and energy charges to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB). But the IPPs will also demand to have their respective tenures extended, much in the same manner expressway concessionaires got the toll tenure lengthened without giving the country anything extra in return.
StarBiz says the IPPs will 'speak with one voice', but I say they will 'gang up' to negotiate against TNB and the government, though the latter own equity in some of the IPPs through intricate share structures.
According to StarBiz, negotiations between TNB and the IPPs for supplementary agreements on their present power purchase agreements (PPAs) have yet to begin, the IPPs are already lobbying to extend their 21- or 25-year concessions to unidentified number of years.
In other words, the IPPs, especially the First Generation IPPs, will find ways to offset their net income. And we are talking about IPPs that have an average of 9 years left in their PPAs, and that would have recovered their investment -- using low-interest loans from EPF etc -- during the first seven years of operation. (Read my earlier blog entries for the maths.)
I hope one day, the good old Dr Ani Arope, the former chairman and chief executive of TNB who was said to have resisted signing up the IPPs but was unceremoniously removed after a major multi-states blackout in the early 1990s, will come out and sing.
Ani Arope is the past that links to TNB's present; while Syed Mokhtar's Malakoff has Big Plan for you consumers in the future if TNB is broken up during the mid-term review of the 9th Malaysia Plan.
.
Ani Arope last sang in 1996. The lyrics are prophetically eerie as they still fundamentally hold true for the TNB dilemma today.
We just need to find out how many still hum the Ani Arope tune ten years down the road.
17 August 1998
The Edge
My Say -
A case for renegotiation
By Azam Aris.
On Aug 3, 1996, Peninsular Malaysia suffered a total power blackout for almost 14 hours. Tenaga Nasional Bhd, the public utility responsible for power generation, transmission and distribution, bore the brunt of the blame for the outage.
Tenaga got tremendous bashing from the government, the public and the business community. Tenaga, or TNB, was called "Total National Blackout" by many angry customers.
While the bashing continued, Tenaga's then executive chairman Tan Sri Ani Arope, in an interview Bernama, warned of an even bigger crisis - that this technical blackout could well turn into a financial blackout.
"I hope that the powers that be and all those involved in the healthy development of the power industry would look into the finances of Tenaga and see to it that the company does not become bankrupt," he said.
How can a company like Tenaga go bankrupt? In 1996, operating profit was RM2.3 billion and in 1997 it was RM3.1 billion. But, for a big utility like Tenaga, profit alone does not count. Ani Arope was concerned with the rising capital expenditure needed to improve the country's energy and power infrastructure and more so the power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the IPPs - both of which will, in the longer term, eat into Tenaga's profit and cashflow position.
Under the PPA, IPPs were given guaranteed earnings for over 20 years for their entire power production irrespective of demand. In short, whatever the IPPs generate, Tenaga has to buy regardless of whether it requires the electricity.
"If Tenaga were to go under financially, I think it is going to create a national financial blackout. The IPPs could only survive if we are healthy. If Tenaga defaulted on one payment, it would create a financial domino effect that would be real bad," Ani had said.
Two years on, Monday, Aug 11, current TNB executive chairman Datuk Ahmad Tajuddin Ali reminded newspaper editors, at a briefing, of the same scenario. The only difference is that, due to the economic upheaval and currency turmoil, the financial blackout for Tenaga could come sooner rather than later.
At the operating level, Tenaga will always show profit but its pre-tax profit of RM1.1 billion in 1996 had dwindled to RM144 million in 1997 after taking into account a book foreign exchange translation loss of RM1.3 billion against its foreign loans of which the bulk is in US dollars. The ringgit was at RM2.90.
Based on an exchange rate of RM4.10 to US$1, forex loss is estimated at RM4.1 billion, putting Tenaga's expected pre-tax loss at RM3.2 billion this year. At the same time, Tenaga had to pay RM3.4 billion to the IPPs based on their current power production capacity.
Even looking at this bleak figure, Tajuddin assured users that as a national company which places strong emphasis on national interest, it would not seek higher tariff at least until the end of 1999. During this recession, Tenaga will continue to provide power at competitive rates for the various sectors of the economy to help them overcome some of their difficulties. Tenaga is also committed to providing and expanding power distribution to the rural areas.
But what about the IPPs? Should they continue to protect their guaranteed income stream - even though some of their production capacity are not needed as demand had fallen with the slumping economy? Shouldn't the IPPs also be patriotic and contribute to the course of economic recovery? And why must Tenaga bear the burden alone?
Penjanabebas, the association representing the five IPPs, says it is willing to consider Tenaga's plight and discuss a mutually beneficial solution but it also reminded Tenaga that this would have to be done without renegotiating the terms of the existing PPAs. But are changes possible without the PPAs being renegotiated?
The government has given an assurance that contracts will be honoured in this country and past PPAs are not open for renegotiation, but this does not prevent the IPPs from voluntarily entering into a renegotiation with Tenaga.
The IPPs must understand that these are difficult times. No one had expected the impact of the regional economic turmoil to be so extensive and that the economy is unlikely to recover fast. Tenaga is in a negative cash position while all the IPPS are in a net cash position.
Tenaga is not asking for a radical change in the PPAs but for the IPPs to show some understanding in the name of national interest. Tajuddin had asked for flexibility in the payment period and perhaps some price discounts.
Few people know that Tenaga has to pay the IPPs weekly or fortnightly. Interest will be charged on late payments. A longer payment period will ease Tenaga's cashflow problem as it bills its customers on a monthly basis. In fact, Tenaga also faces late payment problems as customers have up to 60 days to pay before electricity supply is actually cut.
The IPPs, too, will have their own sets of problems and loans to pay, but certainly it will be wise for them to exercise flexibility in their discussions with Tenaga. It is not enough to say they are willing to listen but at the same time stress the point that the PPAs are not open for renegotiation.
All across Southeast Asia, governments, international institutions, banks and companies are trying to find amicable ways to solve their financial problems. Many banks, for example, are willing to settle for lesser repayment for every dollar they had lent to ensure that both the financier and borrower survive the crisis.
The IPPs must do their part. Listening alone is not enough. They must show flexibility if there is to be a win-win situation for all players in the power industry.
Bloggers have managed to access and download from the police website the confidential police document rejecting the setting-up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission.
The police on Tuesday said the document was meant for internal circulation and was inadvertently uploaded onto the website by a corporal.
At 6.30am yesterday, a blogger managed to download it and create a PDF file containing the document. It was then made available to the public.
Police are investigating how the document was still available on the website even after it was removed.
The reader also asked: "What is the Star trying to prove here?"
Forget about catching the Big Fish, blowing the Royal Commission's recommended timeline, with an IPCMC draft bill in tow to save time, speaks volume about the country's commitment to reform and enhanced delivery system. Abdullah shouldn't start something which he can't finish off, but he was the one who started the Royal Commission on the Police and raised our hope high in seeing reforms in this country.
By having made so many promises -- it's all in the BN Manifesto and media archives -- Abdullah must see to it that he doesn't abandon ship midway on IPCMC, more so in the eyes of the electorate who gave him close-to-absolute political capital during the 2004 general election.
That said, The Star has actually barked up the wrong tree by having its GEIC II posturing that the IPCMC has now become a matter politically incorrect to pursue.
And now, quoting bloggers who question the governance practices at the Police HQ without giving it a clear context, as pointed out by various Screenshots readers here and here, it's rogue, reckless journalism at best.
In early July, Regional Dispatches will expand further to include three more countries with bloggers Oo Gin Lee (Singapore), VeerChand (India) and Doug Crets (formerly of The Standard, Hong Kong).
In the words of our Managing Editor Juniper Foo, the regional blog is to “provide English-speaking Asia with a window to the technological fermentation brewing in each key Asian city”.
IT JOURNO
Media News
CNET Asia kicks off tech blog
By Tan Lili
31/05/2006 03:20:48 PM
CNET Asia has launched a section on Monday, housing several familiar names from the IT media community, for regional bloggers to write about the IT scene in their respective countries.
Named Regional Dispatches, the launch saw Joey Alarilla representing the Philippines, Vishnu Mahmud for Indonesia, Jeff Ooi for Malaysia and William Moss for China, joining current blogger Matsushita Shuji for Japan.
Alarilla, co-editor of Hackenslash and Infotech columnist at INQ7, posted entries on Linux, telcos, and Microsoft; Mahmud, columnist for PC Mag Indonesia and occasional contributor for The Jakarta Post, wrote about piracy and how technology can aid the recent earthquake.
Another familiar name, Ooi, an Internet and e-Business consultant, posted an interesting entry as he questioned if the tech media in Malaysia were “dying”.
Meanwhile, Moss, a tech PR consultant, wrote about Shanghai’s magnetic-levitation train.
In an earlier story on ITJourno, Juniper Foo, managing editor of CNET Asia, said: “We had a CNET Asia Marketing Forum last year in July. We told the marketing and PR that we were looking at blogging as part of our site development.”
The aim, Foo wrote on CNET Asia, was to “provide English-speaking Asia with a window to the technological fermentation brewing in each key Asian city”.
According to Foo, another set of bloggers representing Singapore, Hong Kong, India and Taiwan will make their debut on CNET Asia either in June or July.
She also confirmed that freelancer Oo Gin Lee will come onboard to represent Singapore.
The Police, due to the doings of the corrupt few among their ranks, have been receiving a lot of bad press lately.
If there's anyone who has good personal experience of meeting good cops doing good deeds unto them, please share with us. Screenshots will publish them prominently.
The only likely target, and the ultimate victim, of the "red-faced, livid" Police Force is none other than their current boss, IGP Mohd Bakri Omar, who has three months left before his final retirement.
Responding to the furore over the Police website publishing the force's threats to the Government if it went ahead with the setting up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), the IGP apologised, offered a curtain-down and re-pledged the Police's loyalty and allegiance to the Government.
He also said that the Government has the final say in whether the proposed commission is set up. Via The Star yesterday:
A mistake has been committed and remedied. The corporal involved has been transferred to another section and the document removed from our website.
As far as I am concerned, there is nothing much that I can do now. I am so sorry for what has happened. I am personally most grateful to the Prime Minister for his caring attitude towards the force. He has done much and has provided us with much-needed logistics, housing and infrastructure, as well as for the welfare of our men. I really feel very sorry for what has happened.
A Screenshots reader emailed at 05:54hr this morning to alert this blogger that the IPCMC: Yang Tersurat, Yang Tersirat document, despite the IGP having gone public to announce that it has been removed, has on the contrary been re-published on the Police website at
That's the document in which ACP Jamaludin bin Hj Khalid, the president of the Gazetted Senior Police Officers Association, which claims to have about 95,000 members, was quoted as having warned the government that, should the IMCPC be established, the Police will not hide their sentiments by voting for the Opposition during the 2008 General Election. The association also said it would ask for the Opposition's help in furthering the interests of the force in the Parliament.
I have saved the document in PDF immediately to embalm the evidence. There is a date alongside the URL at the bottom of each page of the 11-page PDF. Those who know digital forensic will find out that I actually printed the PDF at 06:29am on June 1, 2006. Download the file and see for yourself.
There is a likely answer to this, and the answer came from Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) vice-chairman Simon Sipaun who gave an interview to theSun yesterday.
Sipaun questioned if it was actually a mistake or whether the police actually wanted the public to know their stand.
"How can they make such a mistake? If they can makes mistakes in things like this, how about other important matters?" he asked.
"It is very hard to believe that it was not meant for the public. However, this is irrelevant as the fact is, it has already comeout in the open."
Meanwhile, the Abdullah Administration missed an important deadline and dented its public delivery system when the Government failed to institute the IPCMC in the Parliament yesterday -- May 31, 2006 -- as per timeline set by the Royal Commission on Police.
This is a new attempt at U-Media. Welcome to sempoiii.com, beta version.
It is a WAP portal available on the web. It targets the mobile generation who wanders in the human space with MMS/3G-enabled mobilephones.
The common sense is to share, among themselves, all forms of new media -- ringtones, MP3, videoclips in wmv or mpg, audio tracks, WAP-optimised podcast and videocast, jpg amd wallpapers, and more.
U create, U share. That's U Media.
If U have been familiar with YouTube, this is you-tube optimised for the mobile screens.
Sneak-previewed on lowyat.net a couple weeks ago, sempoiii.com has attracted fairly good attention. One of the hotly discussed downloads is the rap from funnyman Phua Chu Kang.
Download is pretty breezy fast for broadband users, and there are tag-search capabilities to help U zero in to the genres of new media U like.
It's a community-generated content portal, which this blogger, who is madly impatient in pushing broadband content in this country, has had a hand in its early conceptualisation.
It works on what this blogger has been believing in since setting up USJ.com.my in 1999 -- the viral effect of community power. It's only the pervasive presence of broadband (both on web and WAP) that sempoiii.com can be hatched. It's my latest experiment project!
It takes a two-way and multi-way traffic to make U-Media happen.
First, U need to create Ur own media, using the pervasive mobilephones. Next, U need to be prepared to share the new media content that U have created -- upload them whether by MMS/3G or web. U can tag your content the way U like, and Sempoiii will publish it free-of-charge for U.
When Ur content reaches eyeballs out there -- it can be WAP-sent to your mobile or U just browse online on your PC/laptop. To make it consistently less confusing, the URL for both the WAP and web versions are sempoiii.com. That easy!
Our engine has been built to read intelligently the screen sizes of the phone types -- Nokia, Sony-Ericsson and Motorola, for a start -- and render the pixels to snug nicely into the mobile browser when U access the content through WAP.
There is an FAQ to help U start Ur journey on Sempoiii. But it's only when you register as a member -- it's FREE lah -- that the full functions will reveal before Ur eyes.
This is just a beta version. Try it out and let me know what works and what sucks!
(Oh, sempoiii originates from the Malay colloquial, sempoi, which means...? U tell me!)
Yesterday, Wong Chun Wai and Lourdes Charles said one of the 12 members of the new terror group Darul Islam arrested by the Malaysian police was trained by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda movement in Afghanistan.
In Bernama, Inspector-General of Police Mohd Bakri Omar was quoted saying "eleven suspected militants who were arrested over the past two months in Sabah and Selangor are not linked to Al-Qaeda".
He said they were members of a radical group known as "Darul Islam Sabah" who planned to create a "Daulah Islamiah Nusantara" (Islamic Archipelago) covering Indonesia, Malaysia and Southern Philippines.
The Star said "one of the 12", and the IGP said 11 -- is the twelve-minus-one trained by Al-Qaeda? Are the paper and the IGP confirming anything, or am I reading too much into it?
Little Birds told Screenshots that MCA is unhappy with a recent call-in session that implicated Hon Choon Kim for dereliction in his duty as a deputy education minister. 
According to 
If you trace back, under the 8MP, the government had planned to limit the deficit to RM29.8 billion, or 1.5%, of the GDP. Instead, the federal government ran a deficit of RM97.8 billion, or 4.8%, of the GDP.
It will be followed by 
Ecuador caught my eyes as the country was featured in the prologue of the book, 
To give you some early spices, Seah's story starts with the episode where Umno was declared an illegal entity by the High Court in 1987. Justice Harun Hashim was the presiding judge.
Johan's team, with the present GEIC Khalid Mohamad at the core, revamped Mastika in September 1995, and circulation hit 20,000 copies on the third month, surpassed 150,000 in less than a year, and now, some ten years later, it’s hovering around 300,000 copies a month, making it the biggest selling magazine in the country.
Harian Metro with its staple of sensational stories is currently the biggest selling Malay newspaper, not Berita Harian or Utusan Malaysia.
This is a new attempt at U-Media. Welcome to 
