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What about Ali-Baba business? Names go to the Bumis, money go to the Non-Bumi's.

"There has been wealth creation. The question is: Where has the money gone?"

Well, where else can the money go? To fill the piggy bank of people like Datuk Z.

So if the study by Dr M Fazilah Abdul Samad is accurate, it begs two questions:

1. Why are the figures and statistics quoted by the govt till now different by so much?

2. Any cause to investigate whether massaging of data took place?

And I think the person who should answer the questions should be the PM at the material time - Dr M.

Hi Jeff,I remember after 1997 that was the start of the Asian Financial Crisis. The year 1997 saw the drastic changes in local scenarios. Foreign direct investment fell at an alarming rate and Ringgit depreciated substantially from MYR 2.50 per USD to much levels lower (up to MYR 4.80 per USD at its bottom) as capital flowed out. The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange’s composite index fell from approximately 1300 to nearly merely 400 points in a few short weeks. In response, the Malaysian government imposed capital controls and pegged the Malaysian Ringgit at 3.80 to a US dollar while refusing economic aid from International Monetary Fund (IMF) which came with austere lending conditions.

So my guess is we will see the bumi equity ownership went down dramaticly as well, but was not a good reason to keep NEP alive anyway.

Any studies shown stats 1998 up to 2000 for Bumi Equity at par value?

whatever the reason, it is just not rite for the govt to reintroduce NEP if in the future the equity again drops after reaching its target. It will be a yo-yo effect. During financial crisis every Ali, Ah Kau and Samy were hit too. It knows no boundaries, race or religion. So why are bumi companies so special that only they are badly hit unless they were badly managed. Once the equity has been met, just abolish it. So in this case unless the govt can come out with another of their own methodology to rebutt this study, NEP should be abolished!

But maybe UM's study wont be accepted now that its ranking has dropped. The govt will ask UKM to do one afresh.

Since the research is done by someone from the same race, the Umnoputeras cannot claim that the researcher have personal vested interest.

Don't worry. You will still get no answer because this government is DUMBER than DUMB. No one can speak with facts and figures. They only can echo "saya sokong"!

Hi Jeff, for the ease of checking this out, could you provide the citation for this paper?

Anyway, this new development shows three things:

1. Measuring equity ownership is not an exact science - different methods yield different results. This put into question the efficacy of basing an wide-reaching, social restructuring, mega long-term economic policy to an uncertain/unreliable target.

2. Should we openly investigate this issue, on the reliability of using an almost unheard of economic policy targeting to restructure a society of 26 million ppl? Perhaps, by transparently, and academically analysing this issue with integrity, we could come up with better (ie, less inefficient and disruptive to market functioning) policies to achieve the core NEP objectives (not the arbitrary 30% target). As an economist, many many other methods seems to make much more sense with lesser trade-off. Even something such as racially discriminatory income/corporate tax lead to less economic costs/distortions.

3. Either that, or Dr Fazilah should resign as lecturer in UM, retract her findings for they can't be vigorously tested, and apologise to all Malaysians for hurting us with her grossly insensitive-rubbishy-polemic academic work.

I came across this article from AP:
Separately, Malaysian activists filed a police complaint to demand an investigation into what they claimed was corporate corruption involving Mahathir, Abdullah and their children.

Ezam Mohamad Noor, chairman of the Movement for Democracy and Anti-Corruption, said the feud between Malaysia's two most prominent politicians highlighted concerns that government contracts have been unfairly awarded to the businessmen sons of both Mahathir and Abdullah.

The movement has provided police with at least 17 government documents, including Finance Ministry letters, that allegedly showed how Mahathir and Abdullah abused their power, Ezam said. He refused to disclose the documents to reporters.

Police officials declined to comment. Mahathir and Abdullah have both previously denied that they or their relatives breached any regulations.

---

You think the police will do anything about this?

To: Dr M Fazilah Abdul Samad

May I ask, "Do you pass your statistics exam?"

I remember someone who didn't but always disputing facts and figures and have managed to "con" his way to the top.

JEFF OOI says: You are hitting below the belt at an academic. At the very least, get a Malaysiakini subscription and read the full story before you spew rubbish on Dr M. Fazilah's finding. You don'teven know her methodology in details -- which I didn't want to copy-and-paste in full -- I want you to pay to read Malaysiakini to be an informed Malaysian..

Hi Jeff,

Sorry to be bothering you again. I am wondering if you have the title of the academic paper by Dr Fazilah, so that I could get my hand on a copy of the paper and study it myself.

Unless of course you reckon I should subscript to Malaysiakini to get the title.

Thanks again.

ps: i think penangwang was being unclearly sarcastic.

//Where has the money gone?//
Needless to tell,even idiots know the answer. Otherwise how can a stupid Adun cum town councillor afford to build mansion with ten of millions?

if this report truely exists, then it will disappeared in a matter of hours ... as this is the only carrot for BN to fish for malay votes, they can't afford to risk their fortune with it ...

the following might happen :

1) dr fazilah will deny it (out of political pressure) saying it was mis-understood as it is at market value after all ... documentation error ...

2) dr fazilah acknowledge it but umno youth and the rest of umno members start screaming demanding that dr fazilah retract his report ... najis, hisap-puding, nazri and others start talking how irresponsible dr fazilah is ... dr fazilah will be asked to resign quietly ...

3) another zakaria equivalent scenario will be exposed (not difficult to find another similar case) and played up kow-kow by medias to divert attention ... zakaria will at the same time sack of everthing to show govn is transparent ... the satay shop will be taken over and convert to public food-court while his banglow converted to become mosque ... zakaria cry again asking for forgiveness ...

4) govn will tell public that bumi corporate equity cannot be counted as part of NEP ... only individual is calculated - hence a long way to go ...

5) all the medias forced to keep quiet about this issue ... so just a handful of people who can afford internet link will continue discussing with frustration within jeffooi blog ...

6) govn declare general election ... kenduri everywhere ... sack mahadey ... give kain pelekat and beras (maybe KFC or mcdonald) as carrot ... obedient citizen will return current govn with 99% support ... everything back to square ... fuel, water, toll, assessment, severage, electricity, etc will be raised - people screaming again .... blah blah blah ...

where does all the money goes ? hey, maybe zakaria is the poorest amongst the govn officials ... so guess where it goes dude ...

http://stocktube.blogspot.com

cheers ... everything is OK

Folks

...There has been wealth creation. The question is: Where has the money gone?

Good question. The Oxford trained Son In Law might have the answer after all he is quite good at quoting statistics and quoting from Imams etc.

How come we have not heard of this research study before.

Where is Universiti Malaya academician Dr M Fazilah Abdul Samad now?

UMNO and UMNO Youth is going to be very very upset with her now.

Umno and UMNO Youth will now instruct the Minister of Higher Education to lean on the UM Vice Chancellor to deny her the professorship,promotion etc.

Academic suppression for convenience of domestic politics.

Dirt is slowly being swept out of the carpet.

elanor

Go and subscribe to Malaysiakini.

[ DELETED BY JEFF OOI ]

So what is in a percentage? Percentage of what? What does it measure? Does that measure really count? The problem so far is that no one at all has determined or agreed that there is a universal measure that would most approximate what ever needs to be achieved. When the NEP was postulated and they decided upon 30% equity ownership, did they specify what equity meant? Or equity of what was meant? The Government seems to think ownership in terms of percentage of the number of shares in issue represents equity. Asli assumes that whatever% of market value is equity. So far as I know equity refers to the unencumbered asset value that you own. Indeed I don't even know that equity is necessarily the correct measure to be used. Equity was presumed to be understood, but surely now we can see that it has many meanings to many people.

This author has got gumption. I got to salute her for that. I shall take hers to be an academic discourse supported by evidence that she presents and these are as credible and valid as any Asli or the government can profer. Unfortunately all that you need to be is a railway gatekeeper, but so long as you are an UMNO leader, if you say that this is rubbish, then, in Malaysia, this will be rubbish as this will be clearly printed in big bold by our mainstream misleading media. Anyway, now that this report is published my wishes go to Dr M Fazilah Abdul Samad. i would not lose sleep over anyone critical of this report who cannot in the first instance stand up to academic srutiny. And that basically excludes almost all of the UMNO leadership who are often quoted in the press. This includes our Education Minister as well as the Oxfordian SIL!

I think it's highly inappropriate to tell someone looking for a simple piece of information such as an academic study to subscribe to a news service they probably don't/wouldn't use on a regular basis just to get that info.

It may be justified to suggest that PenangWang should read the article to understand the methodology, but elanor is just looking for the title of an academic paper. Anyone with a Malaysiakini subscription should be able to give the title here. It's hardly troublesome, and it's hardly something Malaysiakini has a monopoly on anyway.

The attitude that if you don't do X, you don't deserve to be given any time to make your case prevails among both establishment and opposition parties (not in the political sense; I mean in the same sense as pihak). Tell me, Frank&Honest, why should elanor pay money to learn the title of an academic paper so he/she can find it and read it? Don't be a "cheapskate intellectual" and give a cheapskate answer. Malaysiakini is not a resource any intellectual worth his/her salt should be subscribed to. It's disturbing that there are people who think you shouldn't be paid any attention and "shut up" if you don't have a Malaysiakini subscription.

The Reaserch title is
Bumiputera in the Corporate Sector - Three Decades of Performance, 1970-2000. CEDER Research Reports Series: Volume I, University of Malaya Library, ISBN 983-2085-36-5, Kuala Lumpur, 2002.
Dead Links available from
http://powerpresent.blogspot.com/2006/11/337-bumiputera-equity-in-1997-bumi-in.html
See her resume and publication offer for the article

johnleemk: I find your attack on Malaysiakini's journalistic credentials distasteful john.

Ok, so maybe it isn't too much to ask of Frank&Honest to give elanour the citation. But ultimately, it's up to him whether he wants to do that or not.

If I'm not mistaken, are you not a supporter of the libertarian ideology? If so, I thought the free-market view on things are strongly rooted in the idea of property rights? Malaysiakini is not a public good. The team there needs funding to keep afloat and to keep reporting in a manner that is not influenced by major political players, unlike the other mainstream papers.

How do you think that funding will materialise if its subscribers keep reproducing its articles to others for free? Those non-subscribers will just be free-riding at the expense of the subscribers of Mkini.

I guess we can all do that, and when Malaysiakini eventually folds, we can all settle back on the NST and The Star, where the probability of them reporting this issue will be remote at best.

Cheers.

Q:Moron, Idiot and Stupid jumped of a cliff, who would die first?

A: Who cares!

The research, whether it is Accurate, Exaggerated, Completly False. One thing will remain the same, 90% of the wealth of this country goes to the National Front and their Cronies, irregardless of race.

I however will be interested if instead of finding out which race ownes the most in Malaysia, Maybe someone will come out with wealth by Political affiliation.

Also we all know that the goverment can scrap NEPs policies to only introduce new policies.

There is no solution. Jumping around the same subject is tiring.

What we have today in Malaysia is as good as it gets.

Until Malaysian citizens as a whole matures a little bit more, no political revolution will ever happen.

It's better late than never.

Yeah, I second the idea of finding out which race ownes the most in Malaysia. I think it's preety clear who owns the bread and butter in this country. When the bumis are struggling to attained the 30% equity (wheteher they have attained it is another question), is it a fair playing field to be competing with another race that could be holding as much as 60% equity in the country.
We all know about ali baba companies and where the money actually flow from the hand of the bumis to the hands of a particular race. Behind every bumi businessman, there is always a chineseman.

Whether or not the research paper is correct, the truth is that the Malays, in a whole, are still poor.

This is simply because even though the equity may be owned by the Malay race, it is not owned by the majority of the Malay people.

The equity is instead own by the fat and greedy hands of our businessmen, who insist that the money is all for them, with no intent on the sharing of wealth.

This causes the margin between the poor and rich Malays to grow even larger, thus creating a larger middle class.

And this, of course, allows the government to annouce that now there are more middle class citizens, so poverty is being eradicated.

Typical administrative bullshit plus capitalism.

May I parrot what Muyiddin said the last time about this issue as I have yet to read any of these reports.

This report is rubbish!

We, the Malaysian rakyat regardless of race were and still are being screwed by the elites of know whos in the country.

While the elitist takes the big piece, we are being fed crumbs that is if there is any left over after being chopped, squizzed and stretched.

Why stops at 1997? All I know, much of the wealth get wiped away after 1997-crisis, so does that mean sligthly out of context? Give the figures until now or the publisher could have something else in mind.

Hi Frank&Honest, JohnLeeMk and Sigma,

I truly apologise to have caused misunderstanding amongst you all. But I do have to make some clarifications:

1. I am not seeking for the entire MalaysiaKini article, nor excerpts of it, or anything MalaysiaKini. I am merely trying to find the exact title for Dr Fazilah's research paper so that I could seek/buy it and study and understand the work academically.

2. I am in no way trying to undermine the national contribution and business model of MalaysiaKini.

3. Personally though, I do not think the citation of academically produced work should be kept as commercial and private property unless the author/researcher deem it so (although I do not see how a true academic would want to do that - ppl should know, the very least, the title of your work so that appreciation, further work or critique on the work could be done, hence contributing to the extension of knowledge).

Anyway, thank you MWT for the title. I found it yesterday too, but was just trying to get a confirmation. And the link is superb. Thanks again.

Also Jeff, I am sorry to have posted and caused the misunderstanding. It is my first time commenting on your blog, and perhaps I have done something I shouldn't have, driven by my passion as an economist to study Dr Fazilah's paper. I will remain a silent observer to your good blog.

Thanks and Sorry.

IMHO, it will not drive anything to change the policy to help the lower income group.

For those complain about Ali-baba equity: please explain why the 30% stock allocation not similar to Get-rich-quick scheme.

In fact,the 30% stock allocation inside NEP is merely get-rich-quick scheme for politicals cronies in Day-1.

The use of 'ownership' as a criterion in the NEP to justify its continuance is flawed and will always lead to disputes. Since 'ownership' is dynamic and changes with circumstances, a target that has been reached can be 'unreached' later. As subscribed by many, the NEP should instead address the needs of the poor rather than a particular race. We are generally in agreement that globalization has put ALL of us against the rest of the world, in particular the upcoming economic powers like China and India. We should consolidate our strength rather than destroy our competitiveness. Sadly, in the present political culture, that is unlikely to take place. I am of the view that the basis for the existence of the NEP must be based on net worth instead of ownership. Using net worth would take into account factors such as whether we are really saving or spending too much or whether we are really creating wealth. Perhaps someone can help suggest a good way to calculate the net worth of a race and from where accurate data can be sourced. If the net worth of the Malays compared to the net worth of the nation has exceeded 30% then the NEP should be discontinued. We must also have an annual review of this so that we know how matter stands. Any revision of the basis to determine the 30% target must be by the consensus of both the government and several research centres to ensure that it is transparent and acceptable to all.

elanor

I apologise for being too harsh on you and your earlier posting.

I thought you were going after the author of the article before having a look at the research paper.

It was certainly not fair on my part.

Now we have three versions of measuring Bumiputra equity but which one is the right one?

Whichever it was or maybe, one thing is for sure.

The day will come when there's not enough money to bailout (cost billions)those lousy GLCs, and to help the poverty stricken Malaysians.

One day the Bumiputra will own maybe sixty percent, seventy percent or even eighty percent of the country's wealth, then let them pay for their own lousy GLCs, poverty stricken Malays in rural and city area.

What will happen to the Chinese and Indian? One, we get a NEP specially created for us. Two, go back to China and India. Three, can't afford air-tickets, be Chinese or Indian Malaysian boat people.

That is precisely what the NEP is used for, I'd like to belive...

harin,

please don't divert the subject to the kind of racist issue. We all know the NEP has noble goal i.e. poor eradication, but obviously there are tons of problems/loop holes with the EXECUTION. The NEP is more likes get-rich-quick scheme to those political-know-who, rather than wealth distribution to the poor joe public. Is NEP help to distribute the wealth to the poor, or actually enlarging the gap between poor and rich (regardless of races)? Some afford to build RM10 millions mansion, but the joe average have to suffer price hike of fuel, toll, water and electricity. How does NEP serves it goal of poor eradication, even if the target of bumi equity is set to be 60%? Didn't you think it is an embarassment to the Malay race when you qoute "Behind every bumi businessman, there is always a chineseman"? again, if we already know there is problem there, why still lack the will and courage to change for better? After all, for what reason to continue a policy which doesn't work out after 30+ years of implementation? What is the future of Malaysia in this globalization era? competitiveness and universities ranking go down, and corruption goes up...

sigma:

As I said, the title of an academic paper is in no way a monopoly of Malaysiakini's. The title is in the public domain, and nobody should have to pay a fee to find it out. It is emphatically not covered under property rights.

And I fail to see how it can be considered an attack on Malaysiakini's credentials to point out that it is in no way required reading for all Malaysian intellectuals. Many get by just fine with reading the summaries (made available for free by Malaysiakini) and getting any remaining salient points from blogs such as Jeff's. Anything of groundbreaking importance will inevitably find its way to freer (in terms of money) media; the rest is just fluff unless you have a lot of time to blow. (The same applies to many subscription-based online media such as the NYT Magazine, Salon.com, etc.)

[ DELETED by Jeff Ooi ]

Why this is not published in today's newspaper? I don't see that either in tomorrow's (just checked some chinese online newspaper which updates its press news the night before)....don't tell me they are again warned by government not to bring up this issue again? Sigh...

elanor;

here the info. Just pick which one is the relevant paper that you need.

Staff Name: M. Fazilah bte Abdul Samad

Position: Associate Professor & Head of Department

Qualification: PhD (URI), CPA (Aust), M.Comm (NSW), BEc (Malaya)

* Expertise:

- ownership structure and firm performance
- corporate governance
- politically-affiliated government-linked firms
- mergers and acquisition

* Research:
(1) Mergers and acquisition
(2) Ownership structure
(3) Firm performance
(4) Corporate Governance

* Publication:
TEXTBOOKS:
1. Financial Accounting in Malaysia and Singapore, co-authored with Zubaidah Ismail, Mak Yuen Teen and Chn Chee Kiong, 2004, Pearson Education Asia Pte Ltd (Singapore), ISBN 013-123-450-1

2. Financial and Managerial Accounting For Non-Specialists, 2003, University of Malaya Press, ISBN 983-100-105-2, Kuala Lumpur, 2003

3. Financial Management (Malay), co-authored with Shamsuddin Ismail and Fauzi Zainir, Thomson Learning, ISBN 981-243-478- X, Singapore 2003.

4. Accounting for Business Decision-Making: Financial Accounting for Non-Specialists, University of Malaya Press, ISBN 983-100-105-2, Kuala Lumpur, 2nd edition, 2000

CHAPTER IN BOOK:
1. "Family Financial Management: Whose responsibility is that?" (In Malay), in Challenges of the Family Institution in the New Millenium, Rahim, Sufean and Jamaludin eds, 2006, Utusan Publication, ISBN 967-61-1805-2.

2. " Corporate Governance and Ownership Concentration: Firm-Level Evidence from Malaysia”, in Advances in Financial Economics, Hirschey, John and Makhija eds, vol.9, 2004, Elsevier, ISBN 0-7623-1133-9.

3. " Politically-affiliated Business Groups in Malaysia" in Rethinking Malaysia - Malaysian Studies I, edited by Jomo K.S., published by Asia 2000 Hong Kong in collaboration with Malaysian Social Science Association, Kuala Lumpur, 1999

ACADEMIC JOURNAL:
1. “ Corporate Governance and Ownership Concentration; Firm-Level Evidence from Malaysia”, Advances in Financial Economics, vol. 8, 2004, Ohio State University Publication.

RESEARCH SERIES :
1. Ownership structure in the Malaysian Corporate Sector: It's impact on corporate governance, performance, financing and investment patterns. Centre on Regulation of Competition Working Paper Series, Paper No. 23, ISBN 1-904056-22-9, University of Manchester, United Kingdom, 2002. (article on website)

2. Bumiputera in the Corporate Sector - Three Decades of Performance, 1970-2000. CEDER Research Reports Series: Volume I, University of Malaya Library, ISBN 983-2085-36-5, Kuala Lumpur, 2002.

3. Performance of Group-Affiliated firms: A Study of Politically-Affiliated Business Group in Malaysia, UMI publication, 1997

ARTICLES:
1. “Financial Planning: Are you aware of your financial planning needs?” Maritime Malaysia Journal, vol 10, August 2005

2. "Creating a Personal Budget", Maritime Malaysia Journal, November 2004, pg 15 - 21, vol. 9,

3. "Creating Financial Goals That Work", Maritime Malaysia Journal, May 2004, pg 37 - 39, vol 8.

4. “Personal Financial Planning – Towards a Comfortable retirement”, pg 9 – 11, Maritime Malaysia Journal, Nov 2003, vol. 7

5. "EPF Savings - Survival After Retirement." Akauntan Nasional , pp 8 - 12, Akauntan Nasional, vol. 16, no.2, March 2003, Journal of Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). (article on website)

6. "Fundamentals and Stock Returns and the Impact of Accounting Differences on P/E ", pp. 5 -11, Akauntan Nasional, vol. 10, no. 6, June 1997, Journal of Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA).

7. "Accounting for Retirement Benefits in Malaysia." The Malaysian Accountant, pp. 9 - 18, April 1994.

INTERNET ARTICLES:
1. “Corporate Governance In Malaysia”, co-authors Abdul Hadi bin Zulkafli, M.Fazilah bt. Abdul Samad and Md Ishak Ismail, in Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance, http://www.micg.net/research.htm, 2005

PROCEEDINGS:
1. “Modelling and Forecasting of Bursa Malaysia Composite Index Using ARIMA Models and Kalman Filter”, co-author Hamzah Arof, 2005, Business Practices in the Digital Era, ISBN 983-2085-713

2. “An Overview of Corporate Governance in Malaysia” co-author Abdul Hadi Zulkafli, 2005, Business Practices in the Digital Era, ISBN 983-2085-713

3. “Property Investment and Inflation Hedge: Evidence from Malaysia”, co-author Shanti Rani, 2005, Advances in Global Business Research, vol. 2, no. 1, ISSN 1549-9332

4. “Does Weak Corporate Governance Lead to Weak Performance: Evidence from distressed firms in Malaysia”, co-authored with Lukman Mutalip and Shahrul Annuar Musa, Asia Finance Conference, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, December 18, 2004

5. Pengurusan Kewangan Keluarga: Tanggungjawab Suami Atauu Isteri? Prosiding Persidangan Seminar Pembangunan Keluarga Kebangsaan 2004, Universiti Malaya.

6. Retirement Benefit Scheme: A Case of Old Age Savings Pension Plan in Malaysia, in Conference Proceedings, 2004 Northeast Regional Meeting, American Accounting Association, edited by R. Wlash, Marist College, Albany, New york

7. Bumiputera in the Corporate Malaysia: Three Decades of Performances, 1970-2000, in The State, Economic, Development and Ethnic Co-Existence in Malaysia and New Zealand, edited by Gomez E. T. and Stephens R, CEDER, University of Malaya, 2003.

8. Performance of Group-Affiliated firms: A Study of Politically-Affiliated Business Group in Malaysia, In book of abstract, Ninth Annual PACAP Finance Conference in Shanghai, China, 1997

9. Second Board Companies: Prospects for the Future Growth in Malaysia. p 3, In Book of Abstract, Fifth Annual PACAP Finance Conference, June 1993

Website: http://www.freewebs.com/fazilahsamad

* Department: Department of Finance and Banking (UM)

If these figures are correct & the report was genuine, then why none of media published it so far?

I'm hoping these figures are true, but I have my doubts too.

mystory

you said...why none of media published it so far?

Would UMNO allow NST to publish it in the first place?

And would MCA brave enough to antagonise UMNO if it allows Star to publish it?

Hope that answers your question.

mystory,

you said: If these figures are correct & the report was genuine, then why none of media published it so far?

Come on, the research is done by well-qualified academic staff and was documented in university's libray.

I will ask: If these figures are NOT correct & the report was NOT genuine, then why not the media report it and government spoke person response and clarify on it?

mystory,

you said: If these figures are correct & the report was genuine, then why none of media published it so far?

Come on, the research is done by well-qualified academic staff and was documented in university's libray.

I will ask: If these figures are NOT correct & the report was NOT genuine, then why not the media report it and government spoke person response and clarify on it?

syedhs

do you mean to say that the NEP should be reactivated everytime the the wealth percentage of the bumi dip below 30% ?

not only the bumi wealth got affected during the 1997 crisis but all malaysians included

zzzz...who cares right now? all i know is that everywhere i see i only see the majority of the malays are struggling and depending on govt subsidies and planning. Whatever that was executed by the NEP was not meant for the majority. To put it crudely the whole thing was probably a conspiracy to make a few rich and never think about the poor in the first place. and when some can't gorge on the pie, they make all sorts of noise in the name of the "rakyat".

btw fairgame, anything that reflects on the govt will not be in the mass media. the govt will try to wipe their mouths clean of the mess that they make around their mouth while gorging on the pie, so when they are caught with their pants down, u can be assured that official channels will turn the other way around.