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well done,he is the best of the worst leader in the country,he was even playing golf in Perth.

good job!

pak lah says,"thank you to the majority of malaysian for voting BN. pls continue to vote for BN in the next GE so that my cronies will get richer at the expense of you voters. accumulating wealth by the masses is the easiest way to become very wealthy. thank you once again, malaysians. hidup BN.saya cinta padamu."

Johoreans are not babies. They do not require a babysitter PM for their flood woes.
Natural disasters occur at random (Tsunami) or predicted (johore floods).
If you have a friend or relatives affected by the floods either in Johore or Kelantan, best you contribute directly to them financially or provide them with shelter for temporary period.
Do not give donations to charity as it will be wasted. (Only a small percentage of donations given to Tsunami relief fund actually go to their victimes. A huge portion of donations will go to managing these funds or buying things that are wasteful).
There is no money to be made during the floods. That is why the authorities locally and at federal level do not bother.
Next time you decide on a property, please take into account their historical tendency for natural disasters.

Opening a restaurant while Segamat floods + 'If you want to use the Highway you pay ' = Gues who I am voting in the next GE ???

how nice....the people in Johor are suffering, and you go to Perth to open a nasi kandar shop, which cannot even compare to Lineclear in Penang.

“There was no problem. During the floods, Najib discharged his duties and I monitored the situation from abroad. Anyway, I am back now,” he was quoted as saying in Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau January 9.

That does not mean you can simply turn your back on the flood victims, Pak Lah.

Those are voters, election's in the next year. Do the math!

Although AAB might err as a leader
but IMO there is a limit on pointing fingers at him.
I disagree with some of his doings but I dont see why people have to go to the extend of digging out every little details of his activities and use it to label him "bad"

it is still reasonable to say he is responsible for some "bad" national policies like limited media freedom and price hikes but trying to shed a bad light on him by using news of nasi kandar business (and some cases, photo of touching michelle yeoh) just doesnt make sense and itz totally childish.

AAB is not perfect, he is human. and he has only 2 hands and 2 legs. he can be only in one place at a time.

criticise him if it is necessary but dont shed bad light on him or make him a scapegoat using news like nasi kandar and michelle yeoh. that is just simply immature.... like PAS extremists. Is he the one solely to blame just because he is not at the right place at the right time? Besides, this blaming is non constructive, more to destructive IMO.

in this case, at least he is trying to promote something malaysian to the world. you could have give a point for such an effort.

sorry Jeff, I do not agree with you sometimes.

JEFF OOI says: We cam agree to disagree so long as you don't kill the messenger. Now, how about sparing some Brahim's-spiced nasi kandar for theflood-stressed puteris in Johor?

Work with me, not for me so said Pak Lah. Pordah!!

While everyone trying to work together to help out the flood victims, Pak Lah is helping himself with a good hot meal down under. If the leader of Malaysia is helping himself and friends to enrich themselves without a thought for the cold and the hungry victims, what hope can we have for this guy.

We are screwed and going to be screwed for the next few years.

How much resources e.g. military rescue equipment DPM mobilise when Dollah remote monitor the situation? From all the news report, it seems negligible.

With a annual spending around 2% GDP on military, this is indeed shocking. When disaster, this is the time that the government use the military to test the coordination, instead of letting those resources rot/rust inside the warehouse. It is a good time to find out how good/bad the military carried out their job on relieve works. Otherwise, when something serious happens, bad coordination
will render ALL SOLDIER to one way ticket route - DEATH.

Unfortunately he IS the prime minister of Malaysia, if you guys forget. He is required to give moral support and motivation, mobilised machineries and raise hope and (money) for the victims. He is the head honcho and he CANNOT say he can do that remote control! He must do the job and to be seen as doing the job properly. He is the PM for god's sake, and the Johor flood is one of the worst we've ever seen for a long time. Promoting Nasi Kandar can wait. Why wasn't it postposed? Lame...too lame.

the aid is on the way, although it should have arrived earlier. you can call it spiced rendang but it is more than that. It is not purely financial aid as basic necessities will be provided (so the issue of pocketing the money is not relevant here).

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/1/11/nation/16537212&sec=nation&focus=1

we normal folks are invited to help the johor victims :)

JEFF OOI says: Do good, but just remember to avoid one of the three peribahasa I just shared and you know which one.

moo_t, military budget all finished on old ass submarines and fighter plane no one know how to fly.

the rest of it... well, someone has to broker these deals right?

on a spicier note, for the leader of the country to go on holiday when the nation is clouded by disaster is something only Malaysian politicians can do. hell, when the water recedes will semuanya be OK? so the tonnes of produce/livestock that comes out of Johor can be negated? niaaaaa-maaahhh!

is it really necessary? to fly all the way to Perth to officiate a bloody restaurant? really? the restaurant cannot tahan for 2 weeks ah? wait till things get better at home before they do their big opening la. cannot ah? soft launch first la. i'm sure PM knows all about soft launch, judging by the way these gomen departments spend money.

SRJK just opened in Malaysia... go officiate that la. forget Malaysia and run around opening restaurants in other places. they don't care...it's that simple. pm can't give two hoots if we drown or float (pardon the puns).

all this opening restaurant work can be done. noooo harm, but the developed world does it like this, Pak Lah... nation first, everything else second. you always go down under, sure you know that this is how it's done there.

One day when the country comes under attacked by an enemy and the PM is cutting ribbon somewhere outside the country He will monitor remotely because his DPM and MoD is handling it.

Hellooooo, Mr PM wake up!!!
A leader should be with his people when there is a calamity such as the major flood down south not experienced before.

When you are No. 1 in the country your priorities changes. The country and people come first.

Life Feel,
I understand that it's probably not good to protray Pak Lah in a bad light. However, don't you think he has his priority misplaced in this case? Flood situation vs opening of a restaurant? Come on, am I the only person with my reasoning/logical thinking distorted here?

I am sure if we really want to dig out EVERY LITTLE DETAILS OF HIS ACTIVITIES, it would be even mind-blowing. We are not even digging at all now, it was all reported
by the press(foreign one though, don't expect to see it here).

Nobody blames him to open nasi kandar business. But nobody(especially the flood victims) would agree that the PM can still be holiday-ing somewhere when a large group of his rakyat are begging for help in his country.

In the case of the monsoon cup dinner, it was not just about where he touches Michelle Yeoh. Perhaps PAS/some alternative press has purposely highlighted/emphasized the touching part(that's how newspapers editorial 'sensationalizes' their headlines to gain more readers), their ultimate goal is to tell more supporters/readers how Pak Lah are wasting the rakyat money or even possibly corrupted.

Yes, no human is perfect. But is Pak Lah good enough to be a PM of a country? Should he waste his limited resource/time on those non-beneficial projects/activities? Can he at least prioritize the activities(disaster coordination vs. promoting curry to the world)??
In the case of the Perth curry house, he can send a representative(I am pretty sure there are other VIPs holidaying in Perth/AUS during that period) to open it, or record a video to open REMOTELY(or video conference).

I suggest Jeff to express your EXACT opinion on the news, so that the visitors (who can't get your message 'tersirat', especially if they are used to mainstream media) won't be confused and thinks you are trying to do those gimmicks like a PAS extremist.

JEFF OOI says: I don't think I need to insult the intelligence of my readers as to shaping their thinking explicitly.

Brilliant coverage, Jeff!

Life Feel,

So he is not perfect, but still he can open a nasi kandar restaurant... Hmmm... I don't see Bush coming to Malaysia and open some Burger King restaurant during Katrina.

Maybe we can list down the name and background of the 17 casualties and hope it will make more sense to him!

Pak Lah is now in the Philipines

news link

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/1/11/nation/16533395&sec=nation

well, he is there for diplomatic duty while the is a flood. Maybe he is suppose to stay back for the johoreans right? :)

heres another link related to the role of Prime Minister

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_minister

yes, I do agree that the timing does seem right but it has not stated that it is his required duty to stay back. Therefore his flaw in this case is failing to satisfy the expectation of rakyat, not neglet of duty.
I am being objective here on this issue, not trying to throw blames emotionally.

so happen he is a prominent figure and people tend to get angry at the head when he is doing something off timing.

what I am say is that when we want to criticise, it is appropriate to do so objectively and the criticism should be relevant, not just hurling anger at a person by mingling his other wrongs with this petty news.
I am not saying he is doing the right thing either.

I just find it not appropriate to hit him just because of the nice timing, so happen he is doing things the wrong place, wrong time. and the hitting is just emotional outburst form of various accusation. Besides there are other ministers who are dealing with the problems, so is he the one SOLELY to be hit? or we just want to find scapegoat to express unhappiness?

It would be better if we criticise when there is a base like statistic etc. but I do not agree with the criticism on this post. that is it.

Ya la Jeff! Steve is right, I most of the times cannot get 'makna tersurat', let along makna yang tersirat. And sarcasm, that one also. So write it as it is lah.

Anyone got a picture of him playing golf Down Under? I need photographic proof!

The Doctor's Muse,

Whether he is playing golf Down Under or not, but he is not there when his own rakyat in down-under south or peninsular, down-under the water expecting much more effort from a leader of a country than relying on remote monitoring.

Where is the fighting kris when there is a real fight down-under in johor?

Okay, so let's convert the 'petty' news into the 'proper' one

"PM opens Curry House When disastrous floods hit Malaysia" => "PM to stay away(abroad) from helping flood victims"

"PM touched Michelle Yeoh" => "PM celebrated the success of Monsoon Cup which brought RM1million revenue to Terengganu(after RM300M spent)"

"PM went turkey to see his 30M yacht" => "PM personal wealth worth RMxxxxM"

....

So are all of us here just 'want to find scapegoat to express unhappiness'??

Priorities, I think these bunch of people do know their priorities.

For example; 1000 UMNO Youth leaders will be in Batu Talam for the by-election. The entire UMNO's machinery is to be started to fight.

Do we see or heard similar enthusiasm to help the flood victims? Only now, we able to see some of them beautifully dressed for photos sessions in areas where the water has receded.

THEY KNOW THEIR PRIORITIES! Just too bad, the flood victims were never one, and seems like never will be.

Life Feel,

It's hard to agree with your opinion. AAB is the PM, his JUDGEMENT is paramount. He had judged that officiating a Nasi Kandar in Perth is more important than staying back and help and elleviate the crisis at home. That is his JUDGEMENT, and imho, that's bloody wrong. The other ministers you say? If the PM as the Head of the Cabinet, is not even bothered to be around, why should the rest sacrifice their holiday? As much as I am sick of the attitude of ministers especially Johor ministers on their absence, I despise more the fact that the leader did not take a hands on and proactive stand on the issue. For me, that's what a Prime Minister should do - providing leadership by example.

Maksud tersirat? I think all of us are intelligent enough. Besides, I look upon this website as news-site, meaning dissemination of real relevent information instead of reading Jeff's view. For me the real news is not Jeff's view but the news itself.

JEFF OOI says: What also matters is the views of fellow Malaysians about governance and technologies -- my key focal areas. And admittedly, what matters even more is the quality of my readers' comments that sometimes can be gems and trash -- at the same time.

i think our PM just showed us that he doesn't really care much for his rakyat... would anyone monitor the condition for some one u care a few thousand miles away...
i really wonder if he really is a PM of the rakyat.
maybe his advisors just really messed up and didnot fathom the storm that this would stir up...

For bros here who can read Mandarin

http://www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2007-01-11&sec=malaysia&art=0111m29a24.txt

"The city council members blamed the Johor state government for postponing their oversea study trips which caused them unable to serve the flood victims. They suggest to the state government to approve their trips earlier in the future."

pardon my blurness, but nur fatin ibrahim does not in fact ring any bells. could someone kindly enlighten me as to who this person is? Thanks.

well life feel

it might be fine in your humble opinion that the priority of the PM might not have been misplaced in attending the Australia opening of nasi kandar store.

but what about the RM600 million that was virtually given to UMNOputras without prior approval by Parliament ?

Guys:

The best part is the PM & his honchos can ignore the people of Johor in their hours of need & yet this state is suppose to be the bedrock of UMNO's support where they got 100% of the parliamentary seats in last GE. Amazing....simply amazing. Just wonder what they will do if they got 100% of parliamentary seats for the whole country. Cemerlang, Gemilang & Terbilang:):)

guys,

don't forget about the cancellation of the new year celebration 2 years ago due to the observance of the plight of tsunami victims ...

where was the same compassion being shown to the 150,000 rakyat affected by the flood directly/indirectly if the PM himself can only remote control everything whilst enjoying his nasi kandar in Australia ?

Look at the show of force of the BN election machinery in Batu Talam ? How we wish the same is shown at the affected Johor area as well by the spending of good money on the right thing.

But since there is no election, at least the Johor rakyat gets a small token of appreciation of their plight with adopt a kampung !

what about the toll-hike ? you pay lah if u want to use ... as though we have a choice when the other original access roads were turned into toll roads ...

cakap tak serupa bikin ...

What if his holiday was in planned before the flood? I think everyone deserves a break. This is a bit like "not allowed to take off unless all the job done" but when the job is going to finish? Everyone deserves a break, so why not give him one?

He deserve his holiday when things are calm. No one goes on a holiday when there's a major project going on. Being the PM of a country should look after the welfare of the people. What he is doing right now is considered a political suicide. While Malaysians are suffering, he goes away and have his holiday. What image does that give it to the voters? So much for a caring PM.

nur fatin ibrahim is ibrahim ahmads daughter