Screenshots

March 1 is a special day for consumers of water in Selangor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur.

A group of consumers, comprising the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) and 13 others under the Coalition Against Water Privatisation ( CAWP - www.monitoringglobalisation.org ), have applied to seek leave from the High Court to declare the Auditor-General’s report on non-revenue water as public document.

The AG's report forms the very basis for the recent 15% water rate increase affecting the areas.

High Court Justice Wan Afrah Ibrahim is scheduled to hear the application tomorrow. It will be good if you could make time to follow the proceeding.

Date: March 1, 2007 - Thursday
Time: 9am
Venue: Jalan Raya - Bangunan JKR - Rayuan dan Kuasa-Kuasa Khas 2

The judicial review was filed at the Appellate and Special Powers Division yesterday. The applicants have named the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry, the Selangor and Federal governments as respondents.

The applicants claimed that, as consumers of water in Selangor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur, they had the right to access the audit report and the concessionaire agreement between Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) -- the concessionaire for privatised water supply services in Selangor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur -- and the Federal and state governments.

The agreement allows Syabas to raise the tariff by 15% if it manages to reduce non-revenue water (NRW) by 5%.

On January 16, the CAWP applied for a court order to make public the state's agreement with Syabas, and the Auditor-General's report on Syabas' reduction of NRW.

However, the government responded by stating that the concession agreement could not be made public as it has recently been classified under Official Secret Act (OSA).

The consumers' application for a judicial review is the first step towards making those documents public.

Relevant media reports:
1 ) theSun (Feb 4, 2007): Water deal terms revealed in 2005?
2 ) theSun (Feb 4, 2007): Poser over what qualifies as official secret
3 ) Farish A. Noor (Feb 8, 2007): Malaysia’s closet of secrets
4 ) Malaysiakini (Feb 5, 2007): OSA probe a cover for gov’t incompetency

NOTE: NRW (Non-revenue water) is the difference between water produced and water lost due to leakage, faulty meters and thefts.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Market Close, 17:10hr:

SOURCE: OSK188.com

Shanghai market rebounded.

Shortly afterwards, Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop said Malaysia was not worried about the heavy sell-off in the stock market, adding that he saw no sign of a liquidity crisis nor any need for temporary capital controls and the correction in the last two days was due entirely to external circumstances.

Nor Mohamed said that state investment agencies had been buying stocks during the sell-off, but this was based on valuations and not on any need to support the market.

UPDATED VERSION. Thailand's military-backed government suffers a further blow to its credibility with investors.

Its error-prone Finance Minister cum Deputy Prime Minister, Pridiyathorn Devakula, resigned today amidst global market tumbles.

Pridiyathorn, a former Bank of Thailand governor, and a US-trained economist who was tapped as finance minister to buoy confidence after a Sept. 19 military coup, announced in Bangkok he had disagreed with "some" Cabinet ministers, and he was against the appointment of Somkid Jatusripitak as an economic adviser.

Somkid, a former deputy to Thailand's deposed premier, resigned after a week on the job earlier this month.

No replacement has been named for Pridiyathorn.

Meanwhile, Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin, army chief and chairman of the Council for National Security (CNS), voiced his opposition to the possibility of CNS assistant secretary-general Gen Saprang Kalayanamitr stepping down to become a deputy prime minister in charge of security.

ORIGINAL POSTING.

Let's take a chronological look at Malaysian market where T+3 trading rule is practised.

• February 19: Prime Minister cum Finance Minister said it was up to Malaysians to “push hard” to achieve 1,350 points on KLCI.
• February 21: The first day of trading after the Lunar New Year holidays, share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed sharply higher at 1,278.22 points, up 16.13 points, while the volume was pushed to 4.699 billion worth RM4.066 billion -- a record high in 13 years.
• Buoyed by the bull run, those who went in on February 22 (Thursday) would have got it in the T+3 trap, more so if they played on margin and had to force-sell when the market tumbled yesterday.
• February 27: The T+3 Day, Bursa Malaysia closed with KLCI dropping to 1237.08 points, shedding 35.79 points (-2.81%) -- the biggest drop in more than five years. It wiped off RM38.38 billion of market capitalisation in one day.
• February 28: The KLCI fell 62.97 points to 1,174.11 within the first 30 minutes.

  The KLCI fell as much as 100.56 points to 1,136.52 at 9.12am.

By noon break, KLCI stood at 1162.91 points, shedding 74.17 points. Losers led gainers by 1,152 to 21, with 26 remaining unchanged. Genting, top loser by %, lost RM4.00 dropping from a day high of RM37.50 to day low of RM34.50, before settling at RM34.75 by noon.

What hit you? Who hit you? Ask the retail players.

"Our only concern is that the sharp fall would have an effect on retail investors. Some of them entered the market just last week and it is not good to be hit like this,'' said OSK Securities research chief Kenny Yee via StarBiz.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (0)

UPDATED VERSION. When China sneezes, the world gets the cold.

MSNBC.com: Bulls insist pullback is temporary; bears fear more trouble ahead

.

As we wake up this morning, the benchmark index on New Zealand's NZX, tumbled 2.9% in the first market to open in Asia, reports Bloomberg.

UPDATES: Nikkei index went down 690.69 points, or 3.81%, within 20 minutes on market opening, reports Yahoo Finance 08:29hr Malaysia Time

Australian stockmarket in freefall, says Sydney Morning Herald at 07:21hr Malaysia time:

Australia's All Ordinaries Index plunged by 212 points to 5773 at the 10.15am open today, wiping about $45 billion from the value of the Australian stockmarket.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index had dropped 206.9 points to 5786.9.

Bloomberg 07:39hr Malaysia Time: Companies that rely on sales to China, including BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group, led declines.

The business portal is watching closely if the markets will tumble in regional benchmarks such as Japan's Nikkei 225, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index.

Yesterday, we we slept through it, U.S. stocks plunged to their worst one-day performance since 2001. Quote AP via SF Chronicle::

The Dow fell 546.02, or 4.3 percent, to 12,086.06 before recovering some ground in the last hour of trading to close down 415.86, or 3.29 percent, at 12,216.40, according to preliminary calculations. Because the worst of the plunge took place after 2:30 p.m., the New York Stock Exchange's trading limits, designed to halt such precipitous moves, were not activated.

The decline was the Dow's worst since Sept. 17, 2001, the first trading day after the terror attacks, when the blue chips closed down 684.81, or 7.13 percent.

CNBC.com: Stocks Dive in Worst Selloff in Four Years on Fears of Global Slowdown

Key European indexes also fell sharply, reports BusinessWeek Online.

Crude oil price went up to US$61.51 per barrel last night. As traders stop selling Japanese yen, the US$-Yen trading has retreated to 118.74 vs 122 a day ago. See the Yahoo Chart.

* * *

Think-tank Khoo Kay Peng, who has been having a public spat with a Gerakan deputy minister over the "feel good economic indicators", may feel vindicated. He had reiterated in Malaysiakini that stock market is not a yardstick for economic performance.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

After promising results at Telekom Malaysia, TNB and Malaysia Airlines, this is by far the lousiest performance report from a giant GLC.

Yesterday, Proton Holdings Bhd. reported a third straight quarterly loss as sales slumped to their lowest in (at least) the last seven years!

What excuses has the Proton management cooked up this time?

According to Bloomberg, the Proton management blamed discounts from rivals as total losses this financial year worsened to US$169 million. Quote Proton warning signs via The EdgeDaily:

"The group's operating conditions will remain difficult due to the higher components costs, as experienced by the industry and margins will come under pressure from competition," it said.

And Proton Managing Director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir is again reciting his old tune. "The next 12 months will see a better Proton,'' he said in a statement yesterday.

The overall question is what are we going to do with Proton. But after the third consecutive quarterly losses, the more immediate question is :What are we going to do with Proton chairman and his CEO?

Look at the numbers, the bleeding hadn't stopped.

The fiscal third-quarter loss was RM281.5 million (US$81 million) in the period ended Dec. 31, compared with a profit of RM86.5 million a year earlier.

Sales fell 55% to RM962.3 million.

More numbers. Shares of Proton have gained 11% this year, under-performing if compared with a 13% rise by the benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index. The stock closed today at RM7.30, valuing Proton at RM4 billion.

In contrast, Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Nasional Sdn. Bhd, or Perodua, overtook Proton as the country's largest passenger carmaker last year with a 41.6% market share, according to the Malaysian Automotive Association. Proton's market share fell to 32% in 2006 from 40% in 2005.

Put aside the talks with Volkswagen AG and PSA Peugeot Citroen about an alliance, how many years will it take to return Proton to profit?

"Even if a partner emerged tomorrow, it's going to take at least eight quarters to turn around the business,'' said Hwang-DBS Vickers Research analyst Chong Lee Len, who has a "fully valued" rating for Proton stock.

The government controls Proton through a 43% stake held by investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd. But remember, the taxpayers financed this government.

Backgrounder: Vehicle sales in Malaysia, the largest passenger car market in Southeast Asia, fell 15% in January, as higher lending rates and lower consumer confidence deterred buyers, the Malaysian Automotive Association said on Feb. 21.

It was the 12th consecutive monthly decline from a year earlier, said Bloomberg.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

Bursa Malaysia closed today with KLCI dropping to 1237.08 points, shedding 35.79 points (-2.81%) -- the biggest drop in more than five years.

It wiped off RM38.38 billion of market capitalisation in one day.

Intraday, the KLCI went down as much as 52.68 points to 1,220.19. By market close, losers led gainers by 1157 to 42, and 68 counters unchanged.

Shanghai bourse: Worst drop in 10 years

Also today, the Shanghai bourse closed 8.84%, or 282.43 points lower, to 2.771.79, erasing US$140 billion (RM489.37 billion) of its market capitalisation. Wire agencies said it was the biggest single-day fall in 10 years.

The smaller Shenzhen Component index fell even further, dropping 797.87 points, or 9.3%, to 7,790.82.

Reports said market tumbles in China could have been triggered by concerns that the government would crack down on illegal investments that had helped drive the benchmark indexes to record highs.

IMF chief warns of yen carry trades

Meanwhile, there is yet another significant development in Japan.

According to Bloomberg, the yen gained for a third day on speculation that a narrowing yield advantage for U.S. bonds will discourage Japanese investors from sending funds overseas.

The currency also climbed at a time as International Monetary Fund Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato said carry trades, where investors borrow in Japan and buy higher-yielding assets, may cause "exchange-rate misalignments".

SOURCE: CNN.com: IMF chief warns of yen carry trades

De Rato was noted for making his strongest statement, which was delivered as prepared remarks last night before Harvard Business School alumni in Washington.

"Disorderly global imbalances could be worsened by the increased usage of the 'yen carry trade','' he said. He also urged Japan to make clear that deflationary pressures are being rooted out.

Bloomberg also also quoted ABN Amro Holding NV as saying that the yen will appreciate 4.5% over the next month as stronger-than-expected economic reports trigger traders to bet on a faster pace of rate increases by the Bank of Japan.

Will that signal hedge fund managers will start to shift the hot money here and pour it into the Japanese bond markets soon?

This is the third glimpse of Japanese yen I have taken in seventeen days. This blog first highlighted the issue of yen carry trade on February 10.

* * *

P/S: Think-tank Khoo Kay Peng, who has been having a public spat with a Gerakan deputy minister over the "feel good economic indicators", reiterated in Malaysiakini that stock market is not a yardstick for economic performance

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Executive Editor of Bernama Economic Service, Yong Soo Heong, will be Bernama's new Editor-in-Chief with effect from March 1.

With that, Yong sets the record as the first non-Malay EIC since the national news agency was incorporated 40 years ago.

Incumbent EIC, Azman Ujang, will be reassigned as Bernama's General Manager from the same date.

That quelled earlier speculations that Zakaria Abdul Wahab, a former Press Secretary of Dr Mahathir and current Bernama Deputy EIC, would fill the position.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Security Commission (SC) has somewhat responded to an Internet scam that Screenshots raised on February 25, titled: Boiler Room Scam: Can SC tell us more?

The industry regulator says the scam is being investigated for possible breaches of the Anti Money Laundering Act 2001.

The SC has since frozen two accounts with fund worth RM1.6mil, closed two websites and questioned several individuals believed to be linked to a global Internet investment scam run by Cambridge Capital Trading.

The SC also says it secured the assistance of the National ICT Security and Emergency Response Centre (NISER) to close two websites linked to Cambridge Capital Trading that were hosted via an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Malaysia.

However, it warns that the two websites -- www.cambridgecapitaltrading.com (Cambridge Capital Trading) and www.dubaiex.com (Dubai’s Options Exchange) -- are still accessible as they are now hosted by a foreign ISP.

The SC also cautions investors on a third fake website linked to Cambridge Capital Trading which is the United Arab Emirates Commodity Futures Board, or www.uaecfb.com.

Details in The Star today.

Thank you SC for responding swiftly.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The last one played Jan 27. Is this fortnightly next-change as on-the-dot as menstrual cycle?

Yesterday, Movement for Democracy and Anti-Corruption (Gerak) chairperson Ezam Mohd Nor exposed several explosive allegations, ranging from corruption to sexual crimes, made against Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general Zulkipli Mat Noor by one retired ACA officer who had identified himself.

Zulkipli, a former Special Branch officer, was appointed ACA DG six years ago, making him the first police officer to have assumed the post.

Ezam told the Press yesterday an ACA file was first opened on Zulkipli way back in 1997, when he was Johor police chief, for allegedly “in possession of properties disproportionate to his known source of income” and had indulged in "immoral and criminal" activities.

The whistle-blower was said to have notified the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the attorney-general, the auditor-general and director-general of the civil service of Zulkipli's records since 2003.

Ezam questioned why the Prime Minister had extended Zulkipli’s tenure in 2005.

Details in Malaysiakini. (Graphics courtesy Malaysiakini)

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

TNB and LensaMalaysia will be hosting Eric Peris to a photography talk at 9.30am sharp, March 10.

RSVP is on. Details here.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Idris Jala seems to have managed to stop the bleeding at Malaysia Airlines. His formula is somewhat similar to what Che Khalib Mohamad Noh employed in TNB -- revenue creation and cost reduction.

And significantly, Idris is as much an 'Outsider' to the airline industry as Che Khalib is to energy and utility. But they both scored big!

Yesterday, Malaysia Airlines announced a net profit of RM121 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2006.

Single-minded on Business Turnaround Plan (BTP)

This was its second consecutive profitable quarter since the unveiling of its business turnaround plan in February last year. In Q4 2006, the national airline recorded an operating profit of RM94 million.

For the full year of 2006, Malaysia Airlines managed to exceed the RM1.1 billion profit target contained in the business turnaround plan (BTP). It posted an after tax loss of only RM136 million for the entire year, which meant a RM1.6 billion improvement over the RM1.7 billion loss suffered in 2005.

According to a Bernama story, Idris said Malaysia Airlines' strong performance in 2006 was mainly driven by two key factors -- a marked increased in passenger revenue and cost reduction.

Passenger revenue went up 18% to RM2.55 billion from RM2.173 billion in Q4 2005; while cost saving totalled RM138 million due to reductions in fuel cost as a result of lower consumption attributed to its network restructuring and more efficient fuel practices despite higher fuel prices and adjustment to sales incentives.

Idris said: "This single-mindedness had enabled us to achieve so much in just one year. We have exceeded all our BTP financial targets for Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4.

"We have succeeded in significantly reducing our annual losses by beating the RM1.1 billion BTP target through revenue enhancement and cost reduction. In fact, we would have made a net profit of RM676 mln this year if the fuel price and aircraft leases had remained constant,"

Idris also said that cargo subsidiary MASKargo's record profits this year was a major contributor to the group's financial performance.

Revenue Creation and Cost Reduction

This is how revenue creation and cost reduction has given Idris the magic to resuscitate the national carrier. Quote:

Revenue Increase

For its full year's 2006 results, Idris said the improvement was the result of a considerable increase in revenue due to major improvements in passenger and cargo yields, network restructuring, improvement in productivity and cost savings.

Under the two key projects -- route profitability and revenue enhancement -- implemented to improve the revenue and yield for the passenger business, Malaysia Airlines improved its year-on-year yield.

Passenger revenue was up 10 per cent to RM9.308 billion compared to RM8.501 billion during the year under review despite a reduction in capacity.

Yield increased 21 per cent to 24.3 sen/RPK compared to 20 sen/RPK.

RASK grew 17 per cent to 16.8 sen/ASK from 14.4 sen/ASK despite a 2.1 percentage point reduction in seat factor. RASK grew by 17 per cent, which clearly showed that despite a slight reduction in load factor, the yield improvement had more than compensated for the reduction. As a result, revenue increased by some RM807 million.

Cost Savings

The national carrier also reduced its manpower by 15 per cent or by over 3,000 employees through a mutual separation scheme, retirement and expiry of contracts to enhance productivity.

For the financial year of 2006, MAS secured a total cost savings of RM310 million due to various cost cutting measures, including reducing advertising and corporate sponsorship as well as adjustments to commission and sales incentives.

Despite a 16 per cent increase in the price of jet fuel, costs only grew 2.8 per cent (excluding additional cost) due to the inclusion of the domestic business.

Malaysia Airlines managing director Idris Jala told a press conference here that the national carrier was positive that it could stage an outstanding performance by chalking up a profit of up to RM700 million in 2007.

Nevertheless, Idris also said Malaysia Airlines is not out of the woods yet, and he hopes the company could stage an outstanding performance by chalking up a profit of up to RM700 million in 2007.

"If we can achieve a profit of between RM50 and RM99 million (for 2007), it will be on target. If the profit goes up between RM100 million and RM299 million, it would be exceeding our target. If we could achieve between RM300 million and RM700 million, it would be an outstanding performance," he said.

Download the PDF for details:
1 ) Idris Jala's Media Presentation on Q42006 Results
2 ) Media Release: Q42006

Well done, Idris! Hope FireFly is coming out soon though The Star, trailing Screenshots, is hinting at Asmara Air.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Abdullah Damascus. Najib Madinah. Abdullah in Syria, Najib in Saudi Arabia.

Momentarily, the world has tilted.

But, experts at the UN largely say huge global liquidity, inflated asset values and tremendous speculative pressures on regional currencies could destabilise regional economies, as happened 10 years ago.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

It's official and final from industry regulator Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC):

No if no but. No live shows and no delayed telecast. Sensasi is now banned from screening on TV3 totally.

For context, download the MCMC press release, dated February 26, 2007, to view details. And read on...

According to MCMC, it was the collectively decision taken by the Jawatankuasa Penyelarasan Pemantauan Siaran Televisyen dan Radio Awam dan Swasta (JKPPSTRAS), which comprises representatives from 14 ministries, including the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, Ministry of Information, the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and the Censor Board.

The Coordinating Committee for the Monitoring of Public and Private Television and Radio Broadcasting (JKPPSTRAS) decided that the TV3 programme did not reflect moral characteristics and good values practised in the country, and that it was against the concept of Islam Hadhari.

The Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications, which chaired the JKPPSTRAS meeting on February 16, abides by the decision, and industry regulator MCMC is empowered to execute the decision.

Media Prima CEO informed of ban via letter

Incidentally, MCMC says it has conveyed the JKPPSTRAS decision to the CEO of Media Prima Network in a letter dated February 23, 2007, and MCMC had issued a related press statement on the same day.

However, TV3 personnel refuted the ban in media reports dated February 24.

Subsequently, actress Rosnah Mat Aris who made a controversial remark that landed TV3 in hot soup has asked people, through Mingguan Malaysia yesterday (Feb 25), not to blame her for the authority's censure of Sensasi.

"Kalau tidak ada soalan, tidaklah ada jawapan. Cuma mungkin, baik saya mahupun pihak pengacara telah membuat kenyataan dan mengeluarkan soalan tanpa menyedari sensitiviti," she said.

The Star & mStar both accurate

For the record, both The Star and mStar had been accurate in their earlier reports on the matter with headlines that said Sensasi has been banned..

And it's one up for MCMC for asserting the importance of the Rule of Law.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

UPDATED VERSION. The second time in two months, The Star's Wong Chun Wai again reiterated the power of bloggers reporting truthfully on the bureaucratic delivery system in the Abdullah Administration:

It must be taken seriously because her complaints have made its rounds among Jakarta’s press fraternity and bloggers who have become a new but important and powerful alternative media source.

Jakarta? Melancong Yuk broadcast journalist Nila Tanzil, who also blogs on nilatanzil.blogspot.com, has used her blog to report on the sloppy-floppy work of the Tourism Malaysia folks in Seberang.

The thing is, Nila Tanzil's unpleasant experience in Malaysia did not happen last night. Ong Hock Chuan, a Malaysian blogger based in Jakarta, had Unspun it on February 13, thirteen days ahead of Chun Wai.

So, soon after Chun Wai's copy appeared in The Star this morning, Unspun took time to recap the whole issue. Apparently, our tourism guys in Jakarta had allowed the debacle to brew and blow up. Nila Tanzil has since lost her TV host freelance assignment.

Mind you, Nila Tanzil is a double knock-out. She has a personal blog and a corporate blog to sing about Tourism Malaysia in Indonesia.

Flashback Chun Wai, January 28.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

2007 is report-card year for head honchos at GLCs, who were appointed to their respective positions sometime around July 2004 after the ascension of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as the prime minister.

Most of their 3-year contracts would have expired by June 31, but several of them have got their tenure renewed ahead of expiry date. First, you have Khazanah chief Azman Mokhtar, whose term has been extended for another 3 years; last week, DAWO got his re-appointment to lead Telekom Malaysia for another 3-year term.

The latest is Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) Group President & CEO Che Khalib Mohamad Noh (picture below), whose tenure has also been extended for another 3 years, starting from July 1, 2007.

Financial weekly The Edge runs a frontpage feature on TNB and Che Khalib this week to highlight the milestones dotted by the utility giant, resuscitated with a "TNB Outsider" at the helm.

TNB President & CEO at the launching of its Chinese New Year TV commercials...
LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

I used the word 'resuscitation' because the TNB was like Siberia when Che Khalib was assigned there. Everybody knows where Siberia is, but nobody wants to go there. TNB, then, was regarded as the toughest GLC to manage and reform.

The 'toughest' GLC to manage and reform

First, TNB staff force was said to be resistant to outsiders, they would only welcome CEOs being promoted from among their rank of senior engineers in charge of key positions in power generation, transmission and distribution -- all highly specialised technical fields. Che Khalib is an accountant by profession.

We noticed that, unlike many head honchos at other GLCs, Che Khalib hadn't brought in his troop of "crony subordinates" from his old place into his new placement. He, instead, leads the pack by embracing them into working teams to deliver the numbers.

Secondly, TNB's 2004 balance sheet looked ugly. It inherited cumulative debts of RM31 billion, most were denominated in US dollars, while cash flows were just sufficient to finance CapEx and OpEx.

Thirdly, foreign shareholding was less than 5%, making immediate term effort to reduce gearing, especially via placement, less feasible.

Fourthly, cost containment was not working well, and the escalating operating costs had eaten into the bottomline. For example, for FY ending August 31, 2004, net profit fell 23.3% YoY despite a 7.6% increase in revenue.

Fifthly, the haunting ghosts of the IPPs (Independent Power Producers) -- a Frankenstein created during the Mahathir Administration, and Public Enemy No. 1 in Screenshots' eyes. At a time when the country had continual excess of produced energy -- reserve margin stood at an alarming 40% and perhaps more -- the IPPs continued to charge TNB exorbitant capacity payment. In other words, the IPPs have the right to charge TNB for capacity when energy is not required to be produced in an excess situation!

Sixthly, bad corporate decisions made during the time of previous administration. We are talking about TNB's acquisition of a coal mine in Indonesia during the time of Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis as its President and Pian Sukro as the CEO. Now, TNB has to take a haircut by disposing of the bad venture at a loss.

That was three years then. Three years now, as the record shows, Che Khalib was able to get the footing right in reforming TNB, and stop the bleeding by means of severe cost control and value creation. We hope he would also focus a little more on customer satisfaction contact points in the new financial year.

Screenshots was told that, for example, TNB managed to cut the production cost of its 2007 Chinese New Year TV commercials by 50%. Che Khalib used its own in-house staff as talents, and its in-house facilities as locations and props.

The 'Outsider' with his senior management at the launch of TNB CNY TV commercials

TNB staff who appear as talents in the TV commercials... LensaPress photos by Jeff Ooi

With that, espirit de corp and self-esteem among the thousands of Warga TNB were restored. It was like hitting two birds with one stone -- reducing costs and fostering harmonious employee relations.

Get a copy of The Edge (Issue No.640, February 26, 2007) to see what TNB senior management plans to do, moving forward.

How had Che Khalib and his management team tackled those six major challenges? Or perhaps, how are they coping with the recalcitrant problems for now?

• CHALLENGE #1: OUTSIDE REFORMIST: We have briefly touched on the harmonisation programmes involving Human Resource and Employee Relations strategies. (As a reference, in October, LensaMalaysia featured the 'dodol' making by and for TNB staff, which had a TV3 live cross-over.)
• CHALLENGE #2: BLEEDING BALANCESHEET TNB's debt has dropped by about 25% since 2004, achieved through a stronger ringgit against the US dollar, and paring down of liabilities. A merchant bak has been appointed to advise the management to retire some of TNB's US dollar bonds.
• CHALLENGE #3: FOREIGN SHAREHOLDING TO BOOST INVESTOR CONFIDENCE: Significantly, too, total foreign shareholding in TNB has improved from below 5% in 2004 to 26% at the moment -- the highest in TNB's history.

  TNB has also been assigned the "BUY" counter for its stock. TNB's share price, which floated around RM8 in 2006, closed 40% higher on the last trading day in 2006. Last week, it hovered around RM12.30.

• CHALLENGE #4: COST CONTAINMENT: Value and revenue creation seems to be the strategy that worked well. TNB has resorted to cost-cutting and productivity enhancement to achieve the dual-impact. Thus far, TNB has chalked up RM900 million and RM800 million in the last two years, with RM1 billion set as the target.

  It involved the cutting of workers' overtime claims, a move which was initially met with lobbies for the removal of Che Khalib.

  However, for FY2006, TNB managed to record a turnover of over RM20 billion, giving it a net profit growth of 66.2% YoY, or a net profit of RM2.1 billion.

  While people may argue that the FY2006 profit growth was due to the 12% tariff increase effective June 1, 2006, analysts have cited that TNB's cost-cutting exercise as among the main reason for the improved financial performance and ultimate turnaround.

  They pointed out that even before the tariff hike, net profit had already improved under Che Khalib's term to the preFY2004 level.

• CHALLENGE #5: IPP CONTRACTS AND OPEN TENDERS: Transparency and Accountability is easier said than done, as can be seen in most GLCs.

  However, according to The Edge, TNB had for the first time in its history called for open tenders in the 300MW Sabah coal-fired power plant project, which attracted the participation of 13 companies.

  Previously, IPP licenses were awarded through direct negotiations with politically well-connected parties.

• CHALLENGE #6: CLEARING BAD DECISIONS OF THE PAST: The Indonesian coal mine acquired during the time of Jamaludddin Jarjis-Pian Sukro administration will be disposed off.

  Significantly, Che Khalib said:
  

  There are two lessons to be learnt in the process of overseas investments. Firstly, we have to invest in business we know best. Secondly, we have to be comfortable with the country we are investing in."

Admittedly, it's not roses all the way for TNB despite the accolades.

Screenshots may try to discuss the various challenges it faces, notably the 40% over capacity and the IPPs tariff chargeable to TNB, which ultimately burdens the energy consumers at commercial and residential levels.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

A new local airline will operate from the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas by April, revealed Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy yesterday.

Is love getting air-borne for Asmara Air finally? Or is it FireFly this time?

Meanwhile, a Malaysian youth leader is lecturing AirAsia that its "current uniform is not appropriate with our (identity and) culture".

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBacks (0)

Australian newspaper The Age reported February 23 that international regulators have arrested people involved in a so-called boiler room scam that targeted Australian and Singaporean investors, resulting in an estimated loss of at least $US600,000 ($A760,150).

Incidentally, Malaysia is implicated. The Age reported that unsuspecting investors have been duped into transfering money to a bank account in Malaysia. Quote:

Three were arrested in Malaysia following an international investigation led by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), which is led by former Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman David Knott.

When it caught them, the Malaysian Securities Commission froze $US350,000 in an account linked to the scammers.

There was also one arrest in Dubai last week after the DFSA obtained court orders and closed down the sham websites.

Can the Security Commission (SC) tell us more since it has acted?

Talk of a Malaysian bank account being involved in the scam, can Bank Negara shed some light in the name of transparency?

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Was it the industry regulator that made a U-Turn on law enforcement, or was it The Star / mStar that had been misreporting?

Feb 23, mStar.com.my said TV3's Sensasi has been banned. So did The Star on February 24, confirming that Sensasi has been banned.

The story has also been picked up by wire agency, Agencie France Presse (AFP) and distributed worldwide.

TV3: 'Sensasi not banned'

According to Malaysiakini on February 24, TV3 officers denied that was a ban order. They said Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) didn't ban the Sensasi programme, but only prohibited it from being telecast live.

Quote:

TV3 popular live talk-show Sensasi has not been banned, producer Jamil Hassan clarified yesterday.

“No, there was no directive from the authorities to stop airing the programme. They (Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission or MCMC) only requested that the programme be done on a ‘recorded’ basis,” he told malaysiakini in a telephone interview. [...]

Echoing his TV3 colleague Jamil, the station's entertainment director Azhar Borhan said the notice from MCMC was an ‘advice’ that Sensasi be changed to the 'recorded' format.

“We accept that advice. It is also a form of precaution to prevent future controversies,” he said.

In the same story, Malaysiakini said MCMC could not be immediately reached for further comment, though yesterday was a working day.

However, The Star reported a U-turn on February 25:

It was reported that the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) found the programme's live show on Jan 30 had failed to abide by the approval conditions.

TV3 had been asked to stop the live broadcast of the show with immediate effect.

MCMC corporate communications head Adelina Iskandar said the programme was not banned, but TV3 could not air the programme live.

Which, and whose version is correct -- The Star's? mStar's? TV3's via Malaysiakini? Or MCMC's contradicting versions (as reported on Feb 24 and 25, respectively)?

It suffices to say that The Star, which owns mStar, can do anything within its means to prove to us that it advocates responsible journalism by reporting accurately, and printing an errata when it kaboomed.

But MCMC being the industry regulator, the issuer of the CASP individual license for broadcasters, and the de facto custodian of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, should clarify in no uncertain terms.

It concerns the rule of law. MCMC's silence can only prove the lack of it.

Meanwhile, actress Rosnah Mat Aris who made a controversial remark that landed TV3 in hot soup has, through Mingguan Malaysia today, asked people not to blame her for the authority's censure of Sensasi.

"Kalau tidak ada soalan, tidaklah ada jawapan. Cuma mungkin, baik saya mahupun pihak pengacara telah membuat kenyataan dan mengeluarkan soalan tanpa menyedari sensitiviti," she said.

Journo-blogger Fathi Aris Omar ( Patah Balek ) has a personal take on this issue.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

People behind WALK WITH US (researchers? observers? law students? journalists?) have a somewhat strange analysis of things we don't normally think of.

I'm quite alarmed.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:31 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday, Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) chairman Ir. Md Radzi Mansor announced that the tenure of Datuk Abdul Wahid Omar (DAWO) as the Group Chief Executive Officer has been extended for another 3-year term effective from July 1, 2007.

This is despite a shortfall of RM0.6 billion in the headline KPI for group revenue set for FY2006.

TM also announced that the group has recorded higher PATAMI (Profit After Tax and Minority Interest) of RM2.069 billion for the financial year ended 31 December 2006.

1 ) Revenue increased by 17.6% to RM16.4 billion
2 ) EBITDA improved to RM7.5 billion
3 ) Group’s mobile customers surpassed 28 million (Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia & Bangladesh)

The group also highlighted its 2006 headline KPI achievements:

1 ) Revenue: - From RM 13.9 billion (FY2005 Actual) to RM 16.4 billion (FY2006 Actual) - FY2006 KPI: RM 17.0 billion

2. ) Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) Margin
- From 43.7%* (FY2005 Actual) to 45.9% (FY2006 Actual)
- FY2006 KPI: 45.9%
- The FY2005 Actual EBITDA Margin is excluding provision for DeTe Asia claim

3 ) Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) where ROCE is defined as EBIT / Average capital employed
- From 9.3% (FY2005 Actual) to 11.7% (FY2006 Actual)
- FY2006 KPI: 10.6%%

Meanwhile, TM Board of Directors has proposed to declare a final gross dividend of 30 sen per share less tax of 27%, amounting to RM744.1 million.

Combined with the interim dividend of 16 sen per share less tax of 28% paid on 18 September 2006, the total dividend payout in respect of financial year 2006 would amount to RM1.135 billion. This represents a payout ratio of 55% which is within the dividend payout policy of 40% to 60% of PATAMI.

Download the PDF to see the financial results in detail.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Is the bull run real?

Oriental Daily News Executive Editor-in-Chief Ko Kek Hock, who is also a senior business editor in the Chinese press, offers a timely reminder on the rudiments for market players:

"When everybody is rushing into the market, it's time to exit; when everyone is rushing out, it's time to enter."

「當每個人都想進場時，就是出場時點；當每個人都急著出場時，就是進場時點。」

Admitting that the current bull run is real, Ko also says the share market is another dream factory not unlike the world of entertainment. "There is an abundance of people who wanted to realise their dreams in the market. Just that some got their dreams fulfilled, some had to leave heart-broken."

Over the last three days, daily trading volume on Bursa Malaysia has dropped from a record high of 4.699 billion shares February 21 to 3.1992 billion shares yesterday, a sign of the market entering a correction phase.

KLCI closed at 1283.47 point for the week yesterday, with 382 gainers vs 651 losers, 179 counters unchanged, 102 counters without transactions..

Yesterday's intra-day high was at 1283.8 points, low at 1270.52. Active counters were Genting, CIMB and CIMB Warrants.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 04:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

CASE STUDY ( 1 ):

SOURCE: The Star Online, Feb 23, 2007

The Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) had found Dr Mohd Azam Rauzan contravening Section 2.1.4 of the council’s code of professional conduct, and had him struck off its register. The doctor is no longer allowed to practise medicine in Malaysia with effect from December 28.

MMC president and Health Ministry director-general Dr Ismail Merican has gone on record by saying that Dr Mohd Azam's offence concerned the supposed delivery of four babies at his clinic, but records in the clinic did not show any such entry.

The official statement from MMC also said that Dr Mohd Azam had admitted to “abusing his professional privilege as a registered practitioner by causing untrue information to be provided to the Registry of Births in reports certified and signed by him.”

QUESTION: Registration of birth comes under the National Registration Department, which comes under the Home Affairs Ministry. Are they, and probably the Police, taking over where MMC has left off?

What is the law's stand on this?

CASE STUDY ( 2 ):

SOURCE: mStar Online, Feb 23, 2007

Regulator of the broadcast industry, Malaysia Commission of Multimedia and Communications (MCMC) has banned TV3's Sensasi programme over actress Rosnah Mat Aris for making a controversial remark by touching, in a sensitive manner, the age of Prophet Mohammed's wife, Siti Khadijah.

February 2, reported Bernama, the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) requested a copy of the Sensasi programme before taking any action.

Today, MCMC issued a statement saying that TV3 has breached Requirement 3.1 & 5.5 (i) in the approval for live and delayed telecasts, and that the private TV station was found to have "failed in editing or controlling undesirable content" ( "gagal mengambil langkah menyunting atau mengawal kandungan yang tidak sesuai" ).

It is noted that the controversial remark has been spread far and wide, thanks and no thanks to YouTube.com -- also here and here -- and the blogs (here, here and here).

QUESTION: Who is the greater offender in this issue? The actress who made the controversial remark, or the TV station that aired the programme, which contained the said controversial remark that reached millions of viewers?

What is the law's stand on this?

CAVEAT

Incidentally, Dr Mohd Azam Rauzan in Case ( 1 ) is a Barisan Nasional (Umno) state assemblyman for Penawar, Johor; whereas the TV station in Case ( 2 ) is owned by Media Prima, which is linked to Malaysia's dominant party, Umno.

Whatever the political patronage, let's believe that the Law will not be discriminatory, and/or will not be seen discriminatory, in either of the cases.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

A casual conversation, in which I was an eye-witness, became the gist of an AFP story yesterday:

A Malaysian blogger sued by a newspaper for defamation denied Thursday that his articles were anti-government.

The government-linked New Straits Times Press (NSTP) filed a legal suit against Ahirudin Attan and another blogger, Jeff Ooi, over a series of items critical of government policy that were published on their sites last year.

"I don't write anti-government articles. (Articles) critical of the government, yes," Ahirudin told AFP.

Thanks AFP for bringing up an important perspective.

Bloggers, especially those who chose the socio-political genre of blogs, write for the sake of the country. I don't think Rocky's blog is anti-government. He is just plain pro-Malaysia. He offers critical commentaries on governance issues because he wants to see a better Malaysia. Just like most of us who put up a public face the day we started blogging.

Bloggers not shopping for revolution, but mindset can change

Bloggers, even when are are critical on governance issues, are not shopping for revolution to unseat the government.

What they actually do is leveraging the potentials of Internet and relevant technologies and applications to get the nation talking to itself. Very much the same notion Arthur Miller said in 1961.

Blogs and bloggers had become more and more relevant in Malaysia as the mainstream newspapers are being dominantly controlled by political parties that run the country, and business cartels aligned to them. So long as the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 is not reformed or repealed, practitioners in the mainstream media have to toe the line, and master-slave imagery becomes a fixture in the daily pages.

Blogs, on the other hand, could become the de facto medium to get the nation talking to itself, and we slowing witnessing this phenomenon buttressing in the opinion space.

Use blogs to give context to issues

Now, take the case of the privatised expressway concessions that Samy Velly had tried to OSA.

Starting yesterday, folks in mainland Penang are reeling in a new culture shock that Klang Valley folks have grown fatigue of fighting on. Outer Ring Roads have come to roost in their backyard in Butterworth -- Sungai Nyior, Bagan Jermal and Prai -- where expressway traffic will be discharged into existing infrastructure through four exits, namely Singai Dua, Sungai Puyu, Bagan Ajam and Bagan Dalam.

What the largest circulation English newspaper could afford was a 6-paragraph story, quoting DAP SecGen Lim Guan Eng. Can the active minds be muted while key questions remained unanswered?

And the question is: How did the construction cost of the Butterworth Outer Ring Road (BORR) jump from RM410 mil lionto RM700 million?

Previously, Samy Vellu had given a figure of RM410 million in Parliament when he responded to a question by Bagan MP Lim Hock Seng.

Next, in the name of transparency that the present administration seemingly advocates, will the concession agreement between the Government and BORR concession holder, Lingakaran Luar Butterworth Sdn Bhd, be made public?

That's a small context for bloggers to ponder a little. Because, as of now, the mainstream papers can only give you token column cm for a news story, while the Op-Ed sectiion shies away from most issues and ceases to play the role fit for the thinking generation.

The larger picture staring at you

Take the case of the privatised, expressway toll concessions again. Remember, these concessions award the operators some 32 years of rent-seeking.

A 25-year-old young graduate should realise that you have some good 30 years of career life. However, the toll will still eat into your pension for two more years after you have retired at 55 years of age.

Your children will take over where you left of upon your retirement, as new expressways will be built, and new concessions will continue to be given to the rent-seekers.

Bottom line, you get the quality of governance you deserve if you don't think aloud when thinking is still allowed.

How do we change our fate? How do we make a 50-year-old great nation greater? Let's get the nation talking to itself over this matter.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)

The hearing of blogger Rocky's application to strike out the defamation suit by the New Straits Times Press (NSTP) and four others has been adjourned to April 2.

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Hishamuddin Yunus made the decision in chambers today after hearing the request for adjournment from Rocky’s lawyers Edmund Bon and Malik Imtiaz Sarwar.

January 4, The NSTP, its deputy chairperson Kalimullah Hassan, chief executive officer Syed Faisal Albar, group editor-in-chief Hishamudin Aun and former group editor Brendan Pereira filed a defamation suit against Rocky, and the Statement of Claims was served on Rocky subsequently.

The plaintiffs also applied for an inter-parte injunction to require Rocky, a former editor of the Malay Mail within the NSTP Group, to remove 48 articles from his weblog and restrain him from further publishing articles defamatory to them.

January 25, Rocky applied to have the suit struck out on the basis that the claims by the plaintiffs were 'fatally deficient'.

"We had applied to have the suit struck out on the ground that the plaintiffs had not pleaded their defamation suit as clearly as they ought to under the law," said Bon, Rocky's lawyer, when he recapped the legal process for the benefit of reporters who covered the hearing yesterday. (See YouTube videoclip for Bon's statement yesterday.)

Edmund Bon explaining the latest development to reporters... LensaPress photo

'Some documents served hours before hearing started'

Subsequently, the plaintiff amended the claims, and it was learned that three volumes of the amended documents were served by Messrs. Shearn Delamore on Rocky's solicitors, Chooi & Co., last Friday (February 16), a day ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays.

According to barrister Bon, the plaintiffs' lawyers had also served his firm the fourth volume of documents -- plaintiffs' reply to affidavits -- around 11.00am this morning, practically hours before today's hearing was scheduled to begin at 2.30pm. [ See Bernama for a related story. ]

As such, Bon said, the amendments have to be looked at closely before a decision on the next course of action can be made.

However, Bon added that, under the law, the plaintiffs could continue with their amendments so long as the defence has not closed the case.

According to parties familiar with the suit, Rocky has two options for his next course of action.

ONE: Rocky may continue with his application to have the suit struck out.

TWO: Rocky may withdraw his application to strike out the suit. The next step would then be the hearing proper of the case.

“We would have to look and see if it is satisfactory to our purposes and proceed with one or the other option,” Bon told Malaysiakini when contacted yesterday.

March 6: Hearing of Jeff Ooi's strike-out application

The hearing of another defamation suit against this blogger -- who was also sued by The NSTP, two employees and one former employee -- has been scheduled for March 6.

The plaintiffs had also amended their original Statement of Claims after this blogger applied to have the suit struck out.

Rocky has an entry on today's hearing in chambers. He said the suit has not distracted him from blogging.

Bloggers United... Sebulan gagung

Someone was very kind to bring along a cake to commemorate the First-month anniversary of Bloggers United.

Parti Keadilan Information Chief Tian Chua, who was attending the hearing of the 10-year-old APCETII case on the same floor of the High Court, popped by the canteen to share our Blogger United cake.

Pictures courtesy Shahabudeen Jalil ( shahabudeenjalil.blogspot.com )

Columnist-blogger MarinaM, who had earlier joined us for Kak Maria's mee rebus in the morning, helped us place the candle at the tight place.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 10:00 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Quite a lot of people know I am a big sucker for mee rebus (the Malaysian concoction of spaghetti in potato sauce). I have hunted it down from Kedah to Johor, including Mee Abu (Alor Setar), Mee Agong (Penang), Mee Shaukat Ali (Puchong) and mee rebus Batu Road -- which are now either defunct or being carried on in different flavours. My surviving favourite is the one in Setulang Laut, JB, but it's so far away from daily routine.

[ My last forum entry on mee rebus was in September 2004, USJ.com.my ]

Mee rebus gravy is tedious to make, and they cannot be stored overnight. So, the seller must have a steady stream of patrons to make the labour, and the business, worth the while. Over the years, we have seen the art of mee rebus making giving way to cookie-cutter instant meals, so much so that mee rebus may die in my generation.

There used to be a great mee rebus stall at Uncle Don in front of the Wisma Denmark High Court, where Rocky and I hear our defamation suits. But Uncle Don has been torn down to make way for development, and its 'franchisee' in Bukit Bintang had since disappeared. My gian thus became less easy to satisfy.

Today, Rocky is again prepared for his hearing at Wisma Denmark, 2.30pm. As a substitute to all great mee rebus, he has arranged for a mee rebus session among bloggers at Kafe-Four-teen, (Opposite the PJ Section 14 mosque, besides Bank Islam), 11am.

We had to RSVP as Kak Maria's mee rebus is only in short supply. I heard MarinaM is joining us.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

PM and Finance Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is never known as a market punter, but on the second day of the Year of the Boar, he told people attending the festive celebrations at the Penang Chinese Assembly Hall that if KLCI is "pushed" past 1,350 points, Malaysia will have created a new record.

Yesterday, the first day of trading after the Lunar New Year holidays, share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed sharply higher at 1,278.22 points, up 16.13 points, while the volume was pushed to a record high of 4.699 billion, reports Bernama.

The Star says the KLCI benchmark and trading volume were a record high in 13 years.

Notably, the record trading volume of 4.699 billion shares is worth RM4.066 billion, compared to 2.821 billion shares worth RM2.749 billion when the market closed for the festive season last Friday.

While trading was led by the blue-chip counters, and buying was active across the board, a dealer was quoted by Bernama as saying that buying interest has spread to lower liners with active participation from foreign and local funds.

theSun reports that penny stocks and warrants top the 20 most active counters, while Oriental Daily News reports that retail players were scarce yesterday.

Japan raises interest rates

Also yesterday, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) decided to raise interest rates for the first time in seven months, taking its cue from recent robust economic data.

According to OhMyNews, BoJ had raised the interest rate, by a quarter percentage point to 0.5%, in an attempt to rectify what the central bank itself views as the "abnormal" state of the credit policy.

The BOJ's nine-member policy board, including governor Toshihiko Fukui, made the decision to raise its key short-term interest rate by a vote of 8-1 on Wednesday at the end of its two-day meeting.

Around February 10,the BOJ was still divided in raising interest rate and kept the key overnight call rate target unchanged at 0.25% at in its January policy meeting. It was a rare split vote of 6-3.

How long can the party last, especially for hedge funds which bought into Malaysian stocks using cheap Yen? “We are again in a framework where carry trades work very well. As long as expectations of BOJ hikes remain moderate then shorting yen may be still in the market for some time,” said Umberto Alvisi, currency strategist at Credit Suisse.

BFE server slows down

Saudara Lim Guan Eng may have to hold his breath for a little longer. Punter or not, Abdullah has sighted 1,350 on his radar-screen.

And the market is so hot that, these two days, the BFE server at Bursa Malaysia just could not cope with the huge quantity of orders, and as a result, the updating, matching and confirmation of the orders are slow to reflect on the brokers' trading terminals.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Columnist-Blogger Marina Mahathir is given a full-page feature in Oriental Daily News today (Feb 21, Page A6), one main story and 6 side-bars in which she shares her thoughts on a variety of topics.

1 ) 'I treasure Dad's experience as most precious; I'm most concerned for his health'
2 ) 'No patronage from Dad, I write as I see fit'
3 ) National mindset: 'Malaysians too lazy to learn, lack global worldview'
4 ) Dr M autocratic? 'He tolerates dissenting views'
5 ) Racial relations: 'There should be equality in a universal world'
6 ) Dr M's children: 'We ignore public attention and live as commoner'
7 ) Being a blogger: 'Internet widens our perspectives'

Details are only available in the print version.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

UPDATED VERSION. According to emerging media reports, Tony Blair will soon announce a new timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, with 1,500 to return home in several weeks, and with a total of about 3,000 by the end of 2007.

The BBC said Blair is not expected to say when the rest of Britain's forces will leave Iraq. Currently, Britain has about 7,100 soldiers there.

Meanwhile, Denmark is also expected to announce plans to begin withdrawing its 460-troop contingent from Iraq.

In contrast, the US Congress is now caught in a new quagmire over Bush's planned deployment of 21,500 additional combat troops to Iraq.

Three days ago, the Republicans foiled a Democratic bid to repudiate Bush's new deployment plan. The Senate narrowly rejected -- 56 vs 34 -- a renewed effort to force debate on a resolution opposing President Bush’s troop buildup in Iraq.

So, will Bush change his mind now that Blair is calling it quits before Britons quit supporting Labour Party? "Bush has ignored everybody in the past, so what makes Blair so special that he shouldn't be ignored?: so said US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, or something to that effect.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

We are Malaysian Bloggers. We blog for Malaysia.

So, I have to thank those 'jaga periuk nasi' politicians who had advised me, mostly through third parties, to lay off topics that relate to issues on governance, and inadvertently, the politics that contradict this administration from the previous one.

This year, you see, I received the Lunar New Year greetings in SMS and emails from an awful lot more from Malay friends whom I never got to connect with before. They treat me like their brother. Real brother.

There's a silver lining in the dark cloud, so that say. The defamation suits that Rocky and I were made to face, and that made us walk together, had made readers see me in different light. There are two mainstream newspapers which tried hard in their editors' columns to portray this blogger as a racist. But my Malay and Indian friends see me differently. They see this blogger as an Anak Malaysia.

From their out-of-the-blue emails and SMS, I can feel they have largely regarded me as a Joe Public who blogs for Malaysia, for Malaysians.

Breaking free

This is understandable. Internet is now the common language for people who have broken free from the grasp of mainstream media. Those who now read online have started to discard the print and free-to-air TVs, and switch over to the New Media. They now formulate their own opinion and insulate themselves from the influence of the spin-doctors. They now shout back when statistics are used to slant perspectives. They are now well educated enough to read economic figures and indicators in their real-life implications on the country's fiscal health than to get their thoughts sold wholesale.

For example, to the Internet citizen, the 2006 Magic Trillion trade volume is the aggregate when you add the value of exports at RM588.949 billion to RM480.493 billion of imports. In real sense, it merely denotes an effective value-added of RM108.456 billion if you take the value of exports at RM588.949 billion, MINUS RM480.493 billion of imports. When the net value-added is worth a mere RM108 billion, how could they possibly justify all that RM1 trillion we don't all own to buy us x-numbers of super airports and x-numbers of mega projects?

Faced with the shameless spins, even anonymous bloggers are capable of asking the right question: How much of this RM108 billion of value-added is parked overseas, or repatriated to the coffers of the overseas global headquarters of the Malaysia-based SBUs of the electrical and electronic industry (E&E) and semiconductor giants?

To those 'jaga periuk nasi' politicians, I want to remind them that these are not Malay issues. These is Malaysian malaise that affects each and every Malaysian.

Sit up and take heed

Hence, when Malay bloggers like A Kadir Jasin, Ruhanie Ahmad and Rocky's Bru start to put the latest bloopers in context, you better sit up and take heed. Mind you, they are all former journalists attached to mainstream media directly and/or indirectly owned by Umno.

In a no-nonsense manner, they are touching on a common sense issue that relates to every Joe Public.

They are asking how justify this kind of modern day governance, that ( A ) it's not expensive to buy a RM200 million belon -- minus the recurring MRO expenditure -- if only to serve a select group of people, and that ( B ) it's too expensive to sustain a RM100 million school textbook project that will benefit thousands of low-income parents?

The latest twin-bloopers happened concurrently on February 18, the first day of the Year of the Boar. ( A ) Read this Bernama story on the robust economy and development agenda, and ( B ) read this Bernama special feature on why there will not be subsidised textbooks for the primary and secondary school children.

Since when has education and related aids been classified as not an development agenda during robust economy>

Again, let me tell you this, these are not issues specifically for the Malay bloggers, and for that matter, Malay bloggers who have been blogging for less than one calendar year!

Should we blog, we blog for Malaysia. And be proud of what we do.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

February 20. Bloggers United is exactly one month old.

The message has Internet wings. It flew across geographical and psychological boundaries that others could only visualise all things in the old-world paradigm

Today, incidentally, is just two days ahead of the court proceedings in one of the Mainstream Media vs. Bloggers lawsuits.

The hearing of NSTP & 4 Others against Ahirudin Attan is scheduled for Thursday, Feb 22, 2007, at 2.30 pm at Wisma Denmark, Kuala Lumpur.

The plaintiffs had amended their original Statement of Claims and, a few days before the long Chinese New Year weekend, had a soft copy of which emailed to the defence lawyers.

Defence lawyers had earlier called the claims "fatally deficient" and had applied to have the case struck out.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:14 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

We flocked into Penang for the Lunar New Year. Random shots...

The scroll says: "May every year be blessed with stability and roaring fortunes"

A tourist trying her hands on the 24-Season Drums that augur well for every harvest

A tourist in contrast and in context of the red-themed CNY deco

An Arab trying his hands to conduct the Senior Citizen choir oozing CNY tunes

A cultural dance presented by the acrobatic group from Si-Chuan, China

A family from India in obvious appreciation of the cultural performances, with the State Secretary standing in attendance

This Canadian couple told me they have been spending six CNY celebrations in Penang

Our brethren showing up for Malaysian solidarity and harmony

More of our brethren showing up for Malaysian solidarity and harmony

Well wishers and some Screenshots readers posing with a Penang state assemblyman

Global tourists love us for everything Malaysia. Let's not make a pig of ourselves in this Year of the Boar.

Let not the politicians 'change face' ( 变脸 ) (picture above) so easily by stoking up racial fires to splint our hard-earned 50-year accord and harmony.

Event: The Chinese New Year reception at Fort Cornwallis, Penang. LensaPress photos by Jeff Ooi

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

I has been a tedious Year of the Dog, and I am signing off.

Feel free to download and display the Bloggers Unite CNY Banner on your blog, courtesy Kickdefella.

Screenshots will be back next Monday. Xin Nien Kuai Le, Wan Shi Ru Yi.

Please save some of your ang pows for the Bloggers Legal Fund. ;-)

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

Screenshots was told that a think-tank managed by academics at a local university was commissioned by the PM's Office to collect feedback on the public's perception about corruption.

That's three solid years after the pledge to catch the Big Fish was eternalised in the BN General Election Manifesto, and people are getting restless with the report card.

The closed-door Monday meeting was said to have included leaders from the various chambers of commerce, selected NGOs and members of Pemudah.

While the country is actively talking about Ali Baba (minus the 40 thieves), straight-talkers like Megat Najmuddin Khas of Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance, and the likes of Zaid Ibrahim in other forums, were said to have pulled no punches whenever they took on the microphone.

A quotable quote from the floor was :"It may require a revolution to make things change."

* * *

Two fortnights ago, the EU ambassador to Malaysia, Thierry Rommel, had a very frank and bold presentation at Parti Gerakan's White Coffee Talk series. He had several members of the government among his live audience.

Intelligence officers should feedback to their bosses how a certain political party has been seen as being racist from the global perspective.

OK, Dr Goh Cheng Teik, who once famously said a generation of non-Bumiputras must be sacrificed for the sake of NEP, may still beg to differ.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

From Kelantan, a Screenshots reader sent me this picture taken with his Sony Ericsson K750i.

The message:

Jeff

Every night at Pantai Timur store in Taman Bendahara, Pengkalan Chepa, lion dance performance was presented and most of the kelantanese (mainly malay muslims) watch and enjoy the show. I was there from 12/2/ - until 15/2/2007.

I really appreciate the reader's effort in sharing his cultural experience in this country.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Yes, in theSun, it's another field day for the wags.

And after theSun, Oriental Daily News runs its editorial on the 'Silly & Rubbish' circus in a similar tone.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

UPDATED VERSION. January 29, when PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made a frontal attack on bloggers, he was quoted as saying:

"I know there are people who are trying their best to ridicule me. They make a mountain out of a molehill. They just want to rubbish me."

Apparently, rubbish there was, and the 'THEY' had to come from the Home Affairs Minister, who is also the secretary-general of the Prime Minister political party, Umno.

As the rubbish story goes, the new Home Affairs Minister (Radzi Sheikh Ahmad) had cancelled the "Jom Tukar dan Menang" MyKad Lucky Draw campaign launched during the time of his predecessor (Azmi Khalid) whose portfolio was changed during last year's Valentine's Day cabinet reshuffle.

Radzi called the lucky draw "silly and rubbish".

That the "Rubbish" story came up on another Valentine's Day, yesterday, is very uncanny.

UPDATE via Star SMS Alert dispatched at 21:38hr Feb 15:

"Azmi Khalid agrees with the decision to scrap the raffle draws."

UPDATE via Bernama, timestamped 21:51hr Feb 15:

Azmi Khalid said he had postponed the MyKad lucky draw long before Radzi Sheikh Ahmad took over as Home Affairs Minister.

He said he was transfered to his current ministry in February 2006 and forgot to inform Radzi of the postponement.

According to Bernama, others in the Home Affairs Ministry also forgot to do so.

How the 'rubbish' began

The "Jom Tukar dan Menang" lucky draw was announced by Azmi on August 24, 2005 when he was still Home Affairs Minister. Azmi was re-designated the Natural Resources and Environment Minister a year ago when the PM reshuffled his Cabinet on February 14.

The lucky draw, which was to have offered various prizes totalling RM300,000 with the first prize being a Myvi car valued at RM50,000, was targeted at the 16 million applicants and holders of MyKad before November 30, 2005.

Two draws were held at the end of September and October, 2005, each offering 80 prizes. However, the last draw scheduled for end of November was not held until today.

theSun spot on

Free-paper theSun was right in what it said in the editorial today, titled: Think, then announce decisions, that

While the incumbent home minister may have announced the decision after prior consultation with his predecessor, the impression that is given is that he had not done so and the wags are having a field day.

Actually, theSun has also been very witty by ranking itself among the wags. It gave the "New Minister rubbishing Old Minister" circus two frontpage leads on two consecutive days:

• February 14: Ministries suffer withdrawal symptoms! (Radzi cancels silly lucky draw for MyKad applicants)


• February 15: Perlis MB: Not right to say MyVi draw 'silly and rubbish'

That said, it's heartening to note that theSun has put things in their perspectives, and we should look at them from several angles:

1 ) Will the 'Minister-rubbishing-Minister' issue, a circus royale, reflect badly on our public administration?

2 ) Are Minister Radzi and Minister Azmi, both from Malaysia's tiniest state Perlis, caught in the midst of conflicting decisions by their bureaucrats?

3 ) Giving away MyVi and other prizes as carrots to the citizens for converting their ICs to MyKads, had it been implemented with sufficient thought put into it?

4 ) Or was it, the lucky draw and all, merely one of those utterances by the politicians that, borrowing theSun's words, "somehow became a programme involving the public"?

5 ) The lucky draw, irrespective of whether the cost of the prizes were borne by the government, did the implementing agency follow "the usual standards of auditing and good governance"? Can everything be accounted for?

6 ) The question of fair play. The thousands of people who had come forward to participate in the lucky draw didn't ask for the prizes. It was the Government who was willing to give in the first place.

What do we have for now? The government (to be precise, under the present Abdullah Administration) has introduced the lucky draw. And now, the same government (to be precise, it's still under the present Abdullah Administration) had cancelled it.

"'What rubbish!" the people may yell.

Moral of the story?

Moral of the story? Perlis Menteri Besar Shahidan Kassim, who is also the chief for the state Umno, where Radzi and Azmi come from, has this to say to Bernama:

"He should not describe the earlier measure as stupid. If he wants to change what Azmi did, then do so but do not call it stupid and rubbish," he said.

"I don't agree with this at all," he added.

Shahidan said being the minister who took over Azmi's portfolio, Radzi should not have opposed all action carried out earlier.

By the way, rubbishing thy predecessor, incidentally, draws an eerie parallel to the neo-political culture of how Dr Mahathir has been demonised by people who advised, or are advising, his anointed successor. I don't invent this observation and I am just borrowing repeated public testimonies made by the former PM at his press conferences I attended over the last eight months.

* * *

And the words keep blowing in the head-wind... "I know there are people who are trying their best to ridicule me. They make a mountain out of a molehill. They just want to rubbish me."

And the tail-wind billows... "Jom Tukar dan Menang".

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

Bloggers who blog anonymously, whatever you may call them, some may be doing it with the Zorro's mask due to occupational hazards of kinds.

Don't kill the Messenger. It's the message that matters if these anonymous bloggers talk sense consistently.

About "good times" that Reuters headlined as "Malaysian Spin", Aisehman, one of the rare few anonymous bloggers I admire, has two entries that critically ask you to get all the facts, and come to your own conclusion:

1 ) Spinning Tales Of The Tape
2 ) Easy Does It

Read and recommend them to your friends who are bothered about the wellbeing of this country.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

You just need to Google it. A Valentine's Day news report says the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) is set to emerge as a substantial shareholder in construction firm PECD Bhd.

The purpose of the buy-in is reportedly this: Umno will buy 25% of PECD, a loss-making firm with a RM1.4 billion order book, a move that could help the company settle its disputes with government-related bodies.

Is Umno in the business of doing business or for a true-blood political struggle? Tell me.

But obviously, good times are back for some people at the right time, the right places, and enjoying the right technical know-who on everyday Valentine's.

Go read Aisehman's Boomtown Rats.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

That's the intro para of Malaysiakini's latest editorial, crafted by its editor, Steven Gan. He talks about Press vs. Blogs. Quote:

Yes, there has been a lot of bad blood between bloggers and journalists. It’s time to put an end this war.

The Malaysiakini editorial, like good blogs and good bloggers, give the issue a context for the readers to chew on. And here's the context Malaysiakini highlighted:

Clearly, the media landscape is being irreversibly altered. There is growing fragmentation of information. Old media no longer has a complete monopoly on the truth. To top this, those who were once spectators have now invaded the pitch and are demanding to join in the game too - giving rise to the new phenomenon of ‘citizen journalism’. [...]

There’s no doubt that bloggers have played a very important role in improving journalism. They help check bad journalism. They pinpoint mistakes and inaccuracies. They provide alternative viewpoints.

But bloggers will have to live up to the very standards they demand from journalists - in getting the facts right, in exercising similar discipline in the verification process, in not peddling hearsay as news.

The crux of the Malaysiakini editorial is the new media eco-system, a topic that Dr Jay Rosen had said many Internet years ago in Bloggers vs. Journalists is Over.

More quotes from Malaysiakini:

Would we want to live in a world where there are only bloggers and no journalists? Surely not.

After all, everyone has an opinion and many do-it-yourself journalists can really do it much better than the so-called lords of the profession. Yet most independent accounts of local and global events have come from professional journalists. It is imperative that these continue to come from them.

On the other hand, would we want to live in a world populated by only journalists and no bloggers? Again, no.

In the few cases where bloggers have helped break news, it was then often left to journalists to follow up. It is this kind of partnership which can push an opaque government to come into the clear.

Consider the case of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s ‘private’ jet. Bloggers were the first to raise the issue. But it was journalists who took it to the next level by pressing Abdullah on the matter.

It is this sort of synergistic partnership that will invariably shape our new media world.

The editorial emphasised, and re-emphasised, that bloggers, like Malaysiakini's online journalists, will have to build their credibility by staying true to their craft - and holding dear to the principles demanded by the profession.

That's exactly what Rosen mentioned in January 2005 when he attended the the Blogging, Journalism & Credibility Conference organised by Harvard Law School. That, credibility is key for both mainstream journalists and the bloggers if they want to cast influence on public opinion.

I dread to think of the so-called bloggers who often mix facts with fiction, run them in dozens of episodes, and yet failed to make a distinction between the blogger (the online writer who owns a domain name to publish his personal journal) and the commenters (blog readers, often posting behind anonymity, who respond to a particular blog topic by leaving their POVs on the readers' feedback section).

These pseudo bloggers just called 'the blogger' and 'the commenters' colossally, and naively, as bloggers. All and sundry.

That gives us real bloggers the shit. Abdullah's ministers simply generalised us as Penembak Curi who try to hide from the laws -- who aren't the same as those responsible bloggers who put up a public face.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

So, good times are back huh?

Last week, you have been hearing a series of feel-good news in the mainstream media. The ' healthy' economy indicators (minus the national debts figures). The yet-to-be-confirmed 5.8% GDP growth for 2006. And the so-called 'magic trillion' trade volume in 2006.

All these did not escape the probing eyes of the wire agencies. Look at the Reuters headline in a story filed its KL-based correspondent Jalil Hamid. It reads: Malaysian spin on economy sparks poll talk.

It's too late for the Putrajaya boys to press on active denial mode as the news item has been picked up by Reuters' subscribers the world over, and permanently indexed by Google.

Who ordered the spin? Apparently, some editors had attended a government briefing and you get all the news that matter. Reuters offers a clue:

More such stories are on the cards, said one editor, who attended a government briefing recently.

Why such a spin? Reuters offers another clue:

The PR drive and promises of higher spending on state projects could help Abdullah fend off challenges posed by two big thorns in his side -- bloggers and his outspoken old boss, Mahathir Mohamad.

The former premier has called Abdullah's government "gutless", giving vent to a host of bloggers who have often targeted Abdullah personally, accusing him of pampering himself while raising living costs.

"The PM is now on the offensive," said one media strategist who advises several ministers. "With the feel good factor, Mahathir will have no or the slightest impact on voters."

Read the Reuters story here. Just don't ask me for a counter-spin.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBacks (0)

That magic figure: RM1,069,000,000,000.

A Malaysiakini reader says that RM1 trillion figure insult to our intelligence. It was the top Letter to Editor yesterday.

Read it alongside the Reuters story on spin.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

LG Electronics launched three new luxury versions of the bestselling Black Label 'Chocolate' series in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, targeting at stylish consumers.

There are the LG Chocolate Gold, LG Platinum -- both are variants of KE800 -- and a 3G handset, LG KU800.

IG Kim, CEO and Managing Director of LG Electronics (M) Sdn Bhd at the launch.

LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

The Chocolate Gold and Platinum handsets, which carry an upgraded 2 mega-pixel camera, come with an upgraded class-leading MP3, MPEG-4 and A2DP stereo Bluetooth functionality. With the addition of an external micro SD memory card, a 5-band graphic equaliser and an FM radio, these two models also act as stylish music players for those who crave for music on the move.

On the other hand, the 3G Chocolate handset (KU800) is a mere 1.8mm thicker than the regular Chocolate. It offers a palette of advanced functions you would expect from a 3G phone, including a full web browser, video telephony, video/audio streaming a 2 mega pixel camera and a camcorder. There is a micro SD memory slot for storing more music and movies.

More pictures of the launch are available on LensaMalaysia.com.

The original ‘Black Label’ version has sold over 8 million handsets worldwide since its launch in May last year, according to IG Kim, CEO and Managing Director of LG Electronics (M) Sdn Bhd.

However, Chocolate Gold is a limited edition, as only 6,000 units were made for worldwide distribution.

As of to-date, there are nine variants of the LG Chocolate phone, namely LG Chocolate, LG Chocolate Deep Wine, LG Chocolate Pure White, LG Chocolate Sexy Pink, LG Chocolate Gold KE800, LG Chocolate Platinum KE800, LG Chocolate Folder KG810, LG Chocolate Card KE820 and LG Chocolate 3G KU800.

The LG Chocolate Gold phone and the LG Chocolate Platinum phone will retail for RM1999.00 and RM1,499.00 respectively, while the LG Chocolate 3G KU800 is priced at RM1,599.00.

These phones will be available from February 28 onwards through LG Mobile Dealers and Zitron Dealers.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

How would the voting pattern if the general election were held tomorrow?

Close to two-thirds of Chinese Malaysian voters are likely to vote for opposition parties in the next general election, or so revealed a recent poll conducted by independent opinion research firm Merdeka Centre'.

Interestingly, the same Merdeka Centre opinion poll also indicates that businessmen (63%) and those in the private sector (46%) have the highest likelihood of voting for the opposition.

According to a Malaysiakini story today, which quotes the report, 60% of Chinese respondents who took part in the poll said the time has come for them to vote for the opposition so that their concerns are voiced. In contrast, only 22% of the group disagreed.

Of the Malay and Indian respondents, one-third, or 32% and 33% respectively, are likely to vote for the opposition.

This is a consolation for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), as it indicates that it will continue to enjoy support from these groups.

The poll, conducted between October and December last year and involved 1,025 respondents aged 16 and above, attempted to examine the voting trend in the next general election.

If the Merdeka Centre's findings are anything to go by, the likely casualties will be the Chinese-based component parties in the BN, namely the MCA and SUPP, and the constitutionally multi-racial Parti Gerakan.

Chinese respondents appear to have a strong desire for change as they were the least supportive of the government and most dissatisfied with the its ability to satisfy public aspirations, says Malaysiakini.

So, has a swing taken place? Merdeka Centre director Ibrahim Suffian told Malaysiakini that it hasn't. He was also of the view that Chinese-based political parties in the BN are capable of countering the negative sentiments before the general election.

The general election is not due until April 2009. However, political pundits predict that an election will be called by early next year.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (38) | TrackBacks (0)

Though the TypeKey Team has responded to my complaints over the commenter authentication problem, they are all cookie-cutter templated answers which didn't help me solve the issue.

It was our trusted webmaster -- he has silently volunteered his time to help me since 1999 -- who got it fixed. He analysed and isolated the problem by updating the resolv.conf, and by resetting the nameserver to Jaring, Screenshots' existing web host located in the core of MSC.

On the surface, it was related to an effort, last week, by the local ISPs to streamline Internet traffic flow within the country. Subsequently, the server for jeffooi.com couldn't access, and ping, to any server outside, including the servers running the TypeKey authentication process in the US.

I am now made fully aware of what actually had transpired. We are looking at the digital trail very closely.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (0)

In my numerous lectures and presentations on blogs, both locally and internationally, I alway stressed the rudiments of blogs as encased by such pioneers like Dan Gillmor -- Blogs give context to issues that are unfolding, and de-mystify the spin-doctoring that goes around them.

That's the sacred job of a "responsible blogger".

I am pleased that journo-blogger The Scribe has demonstrated that context-giving role of Malaysian bloggers in a refreshing angle, which we could loosely categorise as "political economy" onion-peeled.

In his latest post, The Scribe gives a context to PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi 's strong-hold to the national coffers, a whooping RM46.6 billion allocated for the 9th Malaysia Plan.

In the context of "political economy", according to The Scribe, it means Abdullah is "the most powerful Prime Minister" this country has ever had "since he has at his disposal a large amount of development funds to be spent".

For the benefit of readers who don't read the Malay language that well, he has laboured for an English summary here.

RM46.6 billion of taxpayers' money! According to Rocky's Bru, another journo-blogger, that's how much Abdullah the Prime Minister has empowered himself to approve for you and I.

That's more than double Dr M's budget as PM under the previous 5-year plan (RM20.8 billion), he said..

Net net, taxpayers' money will buy Abdullah lots of political recognition and mileage, thus entrenching the neo-feudal patronage system in the generation general election to come.

Context, my friends, context!

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I was taken by surprise that DR, Denmark's equivalent of government-own BBC World Service, is paying keen attention to the defamation suits hurled at Rocky and I.

Yesterday, it dispatched a Singapore-based foreign correspondent to interview me. His entry into and exit from Malaysia was so swift that it was completed within two hours.

"My country is following your case very closely," the correspondent told me.

I told him I couldn't speak on the merits of the case under the present circumstances. He questioned me on the issue of blogs-mainstream media phenomenon instead.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

In the final part of his exclusive interview with Oriental Daily News, former Proton Group CEO Tengku Mahaleel Tengku Ariff gave an "F" for the performance of the national car maker under the present management.

At a time when the country's economy is registering tremendous growth, he said it's inconceivable to see Proton suffering huge losses.

He said Proton had failed in the last one year for being slow in responding to the market.

He said there are four parameters to measure Proton's competitiveness in the automobile industry, namely Cost, Quality, New Products and Time to Market.

Some 16 months after leaving the national car maker, Tengku Mahaleel gave the present Proton management the following report card: Cost (GOOD); Quality (PASSED); New Products (PASSED); Time to Market (FAILED).

"Nothing moved in Proton in the last one year," he told Oriental Daily. "When you have other players moving so swiftly (in the same market condition), it means an "F" for speed in Proton".

Referring to the years he helmed Proton (1996 - 2005), he emphasised that the old management of Proton did not register any losses, including the period of the Asian Financial Crisis.

"But why now, when we have 5% economy growth, Proton is making losses one after another? This is unbelievable, " he said.

According to media reports, as at FY 2007/Q2, Proton registered a loss of RM251.1 million.

Compared to 2002, Proton achieved RM1.1737 billion profit before tax.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Albert Mah, 82, a former CPO of Penang and a former Member of Parliament, died without gaining consciousness three days after he was attacked by robbers who broke into his home in Bukit Gasing, Petaling Jaya.

The death of the retired CPO triggered some thoughts.

According to media reports, the Police did not answer his family's stress call within the benchmarked time-frame.

According to Oriental Daily News, the robbers had parked their getaway car in front of the house of the Prime Minister's son, which is merely doors away from Mah's.

Will the Prime Minister, who is also the Internal Security Minister who oversees the Police, consider the setting up of another 23-member Special Task Force to Bust Crime ala Pemudah, and give them 6 months to accomplish the task?

Well, IPCMC is now another matter not so fashionable to talk about anymore. In fact, Mah's neighbourhood communities of Section 5, Petaling Jaya, has beaten Putrajaya by announcing the setting up of the Albert Mah Foundation to Fight Crime, in his honour.

JUXTAPOSITION. During his police career, says Bernama, Mah had fought the communists, rid Ipoh of triads' menace, and tackled labour riots in Kuala Lumpur besides communal riots in Penang.

It's incredible to think that someone who had served in the police force for over 35 years still need to die fighting crime, all by himself.

To date, the robbers are still at large.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

Folks at Naza, DRB-Hicom and Sime Darby will not be too pleased hearing this.

Tengku Mahaleel Tengku Ariff says if the controlling stake in the national car maker is given to any of the local suitors, who are essentially automobile assemblers, Proton will be as good as dead.

Read the second part of his exclusive interview with Oriental Daily News for details.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is noted for signing a decree strictly banning privatisation of the press in any form. But on Friday, he hosted the country's highest-level online chat, answering questions about everything from corruption to his personal life.

Associated Press described it as a clear break from old-style communism in the rapidly changing country.

Questions for the 2-hour online chat were preselected from more than 20,000 sent from across Vietnam and abroad.

Fielding a few live questions, the 57-year-old premier did not shy away from thorny issues, including the lack of press freedom, the Vietnam War and government seizure of farmers' land for development.

The Ap story highlighted that Internet use is tightly controlled in Vietnam. Cyber dissidents have been jailed after posting pro-democracy messages online, and Vietnam requires identification at Internet cafes, where users are monitored and some sites are blocked.

Interestingly, two-thirds of Vietnam's 84 million people are under 30, and those online largely ignore the rules as Web use is booming in the country.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Not knowingly, CY Leow has just turned 60! Commemorating with the once-a-lifetime achievement, he and his General marched to Auckland for a short vacation on NZ's Waitangi Day (Feb 6).

What are you left with that pair of knees at 60? "Instead of my trusty Canon 30D, and the two L lenses which can feel like a ton after you are on your feet for 7 hours, I decided to pack the itsy-bitsy Canon G7 and the Nikon Coolpix 8400 with the ultra-wide WC-E75 accessory lens attached."

And stunning pictures he had with those point-and-shoot!

Happy 60, sifu!

See CY's latest photoblog here.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It has been one of the luckiest weekends in my life!

LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

Never did I dream that I would bump onto Magnum photographer Simon Wheatley, to greet him, too shoot him, and to get rewarded with an autographed large format print of his picture on display!

Magnum is the magnum opus for all photo-journalists as the co-operative was founded by non other than Henri Cartier Brasson. You need to get nominated, and adjudged, before you are accepted as a Magnum photographer.

Simon was in the region, and Schmidt Marketing Asia swiftly brought him to town to showcase his Malaysian-themed pictures shot on Leica M8. Yes, Simon uses two Leica Sixes, and he was made an ambassador for M8. (See LensaMalaysia.)

I was allowed to choose any one picture in the Gallery, and I gleefully settled for one that I thought has encased Malaysia in a nutshell, where the Makcik and her daughter interacted with a typical Chinaman handphone merchant along a Pertama Complex type of shop.

'Malaysian roots'

It was also great to know that Simon was born in Singapore to his Penang-born mother, was partly raised in Budapest and now based in London. He told us he came back to Malaysian in the mid 1990s to trace his Malaysian roots, applied to be a photo journalist with The NST but was rejected for "asking too many questions".

Simon is an expert in photo-stories about the youth sub-culture, notably those in the ghettos of UK and France.

It's heartening to know that Simon does read my blog. He knew I wasn't distracted by the defamation suit hurled at me and would continue enjoy shooting, using photography as a medium for chronicling and expression.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Should Doomsday come, at least a seed bank will be there to preserve the agricultural lifeline for mankind.

Over the weekend, the Norwegian government began to reveal the final design for a "doomsday" vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops.

Named the Svalbard International Seed Vault, it will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole. Construction begins in March, and the seed bank is scheduled to open in 2008.

The vault aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change.

The Norwegian government is paying the US$5m (£2.5m) construction costs of the vault, which will have enough space to house three million seed samples.

It's modern day Noah's Ark though the Next Calamity may largely be self-inflicted by the feuding human beings.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Screenshots reader SC Khoo, who was doing research for his academic work, stumbled upon a new record for Malaysia -- we occupy the top negative position in the “Blue Lantern” checks conducted by the US State Department during FY 2002 through 2004.

Under the Blue Lantern programme, U.S. embassy personnel, and sometimes Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) personnel, engage in probes overseas to investigate suspicious export license requests and post-shipment reports of misuse or diversion.

Most of the unfavorable determinations impacting Malaysia are said to be related to aircraft parts.

Nevermindlah. Hong Kong and Singapore are only two notches below us.

See details in ExportLaws Blog, whose editor-in-chief is Clif Burns, a partner at Powell Goldstein LLP in Washington, DC, and an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center.
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Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

"Malaysia's Mahathir back at heart hospital."

Contrary to the alarming headline planted by Singapore-based ChannelNewsAsia, Dr Mahathir is fine, his aide told Screenshots a while ago.

"He's having a slight flue, but we are taking every orecaution," said Sufi Yusoff, Dr M's press secretary.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Quoting Dr Mahathir Mohamad, via Reuters India, February 10, 2007:

Speaking at a forum in the southern city of Johor Baru, he also warned Abdullah, whose son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin is an ambitious politician, against forming a political dynasty.

"Don't try to make your son or son-in-law as the PM," Mahathir, who in September asked Abdullah to resign, told the 400-strong crowd at a function.

"I hope all Malaysians would oppose any attempts to start a dynasty. In our country anybody can become the PM even the fisherman." [...]

"I feel very sad because UMNO has now changed. Today it is not ready to hear what it doesn't want to hear," he said. "There's climate of fear."

If Mahathir is accurate in spotting the next PM, is he actually hinting that Najib, the current No. 2, is finished?

RIGHT OF REPLY. According to Reuters, "Abdullah's aides could not be immediately reached for comments".

The Star, however, reports from a different angle that contrasts that of the wire-agency.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Former Proton Group CEO Tengku Mahaleel Tengku Ariff throws the present management a challenge: "Who will Proton partner with - a winner or a loser?"

He also posed four questions to the Government, which owns Proton on behalf of the taxpayers, to clarify mounting doubts among the public.

VW the best strategic choice

In an exclusive interview published in the Oriental Daily News today, Tengku Mahaleel says: "Volkswagen is the best strategic choice. When Proton cars are German cars, Malaysians' confidence level will come back instantly; if it is a French car, then Malaysians may cry 'aiyah'!"

By choosing Volkswagen, he said Proton could instantly access the Asean automobile market with annual sales of 1.5 million cars. With that, Proton deals, which now number about 400, can be re-categoried to distribute different brands of the Volksvagen marque.

According to media reports, there are at least four suitors from overseas and three more from local conglomerates which had expressed their interest to take strategic control of Proton, the ailing national car maker.

Names of foreign suitors cited by the Press include Volkswagen (Germany), Peugeot-Citroen (France), General Motors (USA), and Daimler-Chrysler (Germany).

The local stalkers of Proton's 42.7% controlling stakes, now held by Khazanah Inc., are from the Naza Group, which is controlled by AP King SM Nasimuddin SM Amin, and DRB-Hicom controlled by dominant shareholder Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.

The third local suitor is the Sime Darby Group, which is a GLC currently caught in a mega-merger to make it the world's biggest plantation-based giant. It is said that with the mega-merger, its automobile business (BMW, will be asset-stripped to a new group of beneficiaries.

The scramble for Proton's controlling stake which involved the seven parties will be finalised by next month.

4 questions for the government

Tengku Mahaleel also demanded the government to disclose all details of negotiations with the suitors before the announcement of the ultimate winner of the partnership with any of the seven suitors courted.

Going by the records, forerunner Volkswagen had called off its joint-venture plan with Proton in January 2006, which subsequently caused the Proton counter and market share to plunge.

Volkswagen CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder was quoted by the Press that it would not consider a joint venture with Proton in the future as there was no accord on the JV plan among Proton, the Malaysian Government and Khazanah Inc.

"What is the government's thinking now? If the givernment doesn;t say it out, how do we solve the problems?" Tengku Mahaleel asked. "The controlling stake in Proton is the major hurdle of the issue."

He listed out four key questions that the government should answer:
1 ) Is the automobile industry important to our national economy?
2 ) Do we want to pritect our human capital (for the automobile industry)?
3 ) Do we want to give Malaysians a high-level career opportunity?
4 ) Do we still want to create the entrepreneur spirit from tyhe mold of Small and Medium-scale Industries?

Tengku Mahaleel said whatever the government decides on the four questions, the answers will be polarised.

If the answer is yes, the solution factor will be Y; if it's the opposite, the solution factor will be X.

The cliff-hanger from Tengku Mahaleel is this: "The government must be very clear: what do you actually want for this country?"

Click here to read excerpts of the Tengku Mahaleel interview. Full text is only available on the print version of today's Oriental Daily.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rocky's Bru and Mr Brown were responding to a February 3 Singapore Straits Times story, titled: PAP moves to counter criticism of party, Govt in cyberspace. Quote:

THE People's Action Party (PAP) is mounting a quiet counter-insurgency against its online critics.

It has members going into Internet forums and blogs to rebut anti-establishment views and putting up postings anonymously.

Sources told The Straits Times the initiative is driven by two sub-committees of the PAP's 'new media' committee chaired by Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen.

One sub-committee, co-headed by Minister of State (Education) Lui Tuck Yew and Hong Kah GRC MP Zaqy Mohamad, strategises the campaign.

The other is led by Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Baey Yam Keng and Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Josephine Teo. Called the 'new media capabilities group', it executes the strategies.

The context is this, from the Singapore Straits Times: An Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) study conducted last year found that younger and better-educated Singaporeans relied on information from the Internet when shaping their voting choices at the last GE..

Is there a "monkeys see, monkey do" tender being given to someone out there?

Over the last few months, Putrajaya has colossally defined online people who hide behind anonymity as "snipers" and "irresponsible bloggers".

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Even I couldn't sign in to the TypeKey authentication over the last few days, until this morning. I hope it's back to normal now.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

UPDATED VERSION. What powered the bull run that drove up KLCI to 1240 points?

According to MIMB Investment Bank, which was quoted by Oriental Daily News, it's due to substantial amount of hedge funds getting into the Malaysian stock market. Quote:

These hedge funds usually borrowed money from Japan, which offers exceptionally low interests. They had the Japanese Yen converted into ringgit, and then bought into the ringgit-based counters.

As a result, when the ringgit strengthens, and when the stock market goes up, these hedge funds will enjoy double gain.

Now, don't ask me if the current bull run can sustain.

But economic theories generally remind us that, in scenario like this, the situation hinges on whether the Japanese Yen will strengthen, and how soon.

If the Japanese Yen goes up against the ringgit, the hedge funds which bought into Malaysian stocks will start to lose money. The faster the Japanese Yen goes up, the faster will these hedge funds throw out their positions denominated in ringgit.

We have seen this happen before.

UPDATE: A reader alerted Screenshots of the following:

Bank of Japan (BOJ) is still divided in raising interest rate. The BOJ kept the key overnight call rate target unchanged at 0.25% at in its January policy meeting in a rare split vote of 6-3.

BOJ cited recent softness in consumption and prices as the main reason for holding off on a rate hike. The term is called "carry trade play"

The next BOJ policy board meeting is Feb 20-21. The environment for carry trades is likely to continue for the next two months!

Meanwhile, Oriental Daily News reported February 11 that Japanese Finance Minister Koji Omi has hinted at increasing the interest rates in response to European economies' concerned over the sluggish Japanese forex.

Original report in Oriental Daily News (Feb 9):

MIMB投資銀行研究經理馮庭秀表示，大馬股市未來的走勢主要胥視匯市的狀況而定，尤其是日圓走勢。

他透露，在過去3個月，看到有相當大數目的避險基金開始進入大馬股市，而這些基金通常都在日本借錢(因為日本的利率非常低)，然後把日圓轉換成令吉，再買入以令吉為基礎的資產。

因此，在令吉走強，以及股市飆升的情況下，這些避險基金將享有雙重獲利。

不過，最為關鍵的問題是日圓會否轉強，馮庭秀指出，如果日圓上漲，這代表投入馬股的避險基金將開始虧錢；更甚的是，若日圓快速走強，這些避險基金將會拋售以令吉計價的資產。

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tomorrow, Oriental Daily News will carry an exclusive interview with Tengku Mahaleel Tengku Ariff focusing on Proton, whose market-share has shrunk in last one year, and the coffers are bleeding hard.

Notably, Tengku Mahaleel has again chosen Oriental Daily as his preferred media to break news on Proton. The last time he talked to his preferred paper, the cesspool stirred hard.

Most importantly, his past observations about Proton's dire straits have turned out to be mostly true. It hurts the parties who were unable to prove him wrong in the last 18 months.

Tengku Mahaleel left Proton in June 2005, after he disagreed to the employment contract offered by the new board led by Mohammed Azlan Hashim.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

KLCI is riding high in the region of 1240, and the government mouthpieces are singing good times are back.

Technopreneur and 2-blog blogger Tony Pua, an Oxford-trained who held the record for being the youngest Malaysian CEO for a Singapore-listed company, decided to sell off all his shares in the company he founded 10 years ago.

Yesterday, Tony declared "Now there's just a few more loose ends to tie up".

What's he gonna do next? Joceline Tan must be stalking him by now.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

First, the ' healthy' economy indicators (minus the national debts figures).

Next, the yet-to-be-confirmed 5.8% GDP growth for 2006.

Next, the so-called 'magic trillion' trade volume in 2006.

'Magic Trillion'? You and I know that, if you take the value of exports at RM588.949 billion, MINUS RM480.493 billion of imports, the 'magic trillion' actually computes a value-added of only RM108.456 billion, and we do not know how much of this value-added is parked overseas as no statistics were issued officially.

However, with the help of the mainstream media, the government has painted a rosy picture of the country’s economy. On this, Malaysiakini reports today that a survey has discovered that the sentiments on the ground are rather thorny:

The continued rise in living costs and inflation top the list of concerns among voters, according to the survey by independent opinion research firm Merdeka Centre. It was conducted from October to December last year.

Of the 1,025 respondents, 32 percent said they feel the effects of the country’s economic performance.

As for the ‘top issue of the day’, respondents listed, among others, price hikes, inflation, economic slowdown, unemployment, poverty and development issues.

“Although the economy has always been the top concern for a large number of voters, this however has heightened since the hike in fuel prices in the first quarter of 2006 and has remained high since then,” said Merdeka Centre director Ibrahim Suffian when contacted.

Significantly, Merdeka's Ibrahim also said the discontent over this issue was already apparent in a poll conducted last April, a month after the price hike was announced, where more than 60% of the respondents said the economy affected them the most.

And this is the summary of another independent survey carried out by Merdeka Centre, themed: The most important issue facing Malaysians right now:

SOURCE: Merdeka Centre

Economic situation brews discontent

According to Malaysiakini, the latest Merdeka Centre survey revealed that the economy had varied effects on the different communities:
- Malay respondents: 60% satisfied, 39% dissatisfied
- Chinese respondents: 55% satisfied, 41% dissatisfied
- Indian respondents: 34% satisfied, 63% dissatisfied

Overall, the dissatisfaction for the government’s economic management rose from 39% last March to 47% in October, the survey reveals.

Discontent is brewing. That's exactly what Screenshots has been highlighting in the last 11 months!

This morning, Screenshots also highlighted that, in public governance, It's about how the excesses (surplus) of the economy are spent -- for and on the rakyat -- that counts. The figures themselves lack context if the aspect of benevolence benefitting the rakyat is submerged in opaqueness.

Click here to read the Malaysiakini report in full (subscription required).

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The country’s economic growth is expected to have reached or exceeded the 5.8% target for 2006, and the Government is confident the stock market rally can be sustained as well.

So said Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop.

Last year, Malaysia’s total trade volume has surpassed the magical trillion ringgit mark to a record RM1.069 trillion, a 10.5% rise over that in 2005. The historic figure reflected the increased trade flow. where exports totalled RM588.949 billion last year while imports stood at RM480.493 billion.

So said a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.

Now, show us the money.

So said the rakyat.

(Rakyat who still dream of improved public transport, higher tax rebates for children's higher education, incentives for personal re-education for masters/PhD degrees, incentives for technopreneurs, income tax rebates for web-hosting of personal blogs etc... dream on as your dreams get sweeter. Good times are back. London gets a facelift, for a start.)

Joe Public told me it's not about an economy that has to improve in tandem to current trends in neighbouring countries. It's about how you spend the excesses for and on the rakyat. that counts.

In other words, good times are back but for whom?

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Last week, the New York Times ran a story about our oil palm plantations being an environmental threat. Quote:

But last year, when scientists studied practices at palm plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia, this green fairy tale began to look more like an environmental nightmare.

Rising demand for palm oil in Europe brought about the clearing of huge tracts of Southeast Asian rainforest and the overuse of chemical fertilizer there.

Worse still, the scientists said, space for the expanding palm plantations was often created by draining and burning peatland, which sent huge amounts of carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

A free alert for Minister Peter Chin. Previous counter bad PR efforts are
available here - www.palmoiltruthfoundation.com.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I think we are facing TypeKey authentication problem again. Several readers have emailed me screenshot of the error message whenever they tried to post their comments.

No wonder the number of Conversations pieces have dwindled. I had thought it was due to the
"chilling-effect". (But how come some did get through?)

I will notify TypeKey team.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I asked two friends for their views on the latest imperative uttered by the Prime Minister today:

Six months is the deadline given to the newly established Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (Pemudah) to show results and “make a difference”.

The responses are worlds apart:
- One said the PM is acting tough, no nonsense, demanding results. Good for the nation.
- The other said "6 months" means adhoc-ism, stop-gap measure, fire-fighting, general election is near.

I am not sure if the country is equally split in halves on this. But these two business friends of mine are.

Sec-Gens, DGs & Ministers

Several readers also emailed to ask me if certain ministers, whose heads of bureaucracy were singled-out to be enlisted for the Task Force, are actually lackeys that had posed problems to the Business Sector?

They said the Task Force comprised secretaries-general, directors-general and a chief executive from 7 ministries, namely three from the PM's Department:

1 ) Public Service Department director-general Ismail Adam;
2 ) PM’s Department Implementation Co-ordination Unit director- general Khalid Ramli;
3 ) Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu) director-general Yaacob Hussin;

One from the Finance Ministry:

4 ) Treasury secretary-general Izzuddin Dali;

Two from the Ministry of International Trade & Industry:

5 ) International Trade and Industry secretary-general Abdul Rahman Mamat;
6 ) Small-Medium Industries Development Corporation (Smidec) chief executive Hafsah Hashim;
7 ) Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (Mida) director- general R. Karunakaran;

Two from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government:

8 ) Housing and Local Government Ministry secretary-general Ahmad Fuad Ismail;
9 ) Local Government Department director-general Datin Arpah Abdul Razak;

and one each from the Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment, Ministry of Human Resources, and Ministry of Federal Territories:

10 ) Natural Resources and Environment Ministry secretary-general Suboh Mohd Yasin;
11 ) Human Resources Ministry secretary-general Thomas George M.S. George; and
12 ) Federal Territories Ministry secretary-general Ahmad Pheisal Talib.

I have no answer, but some PR may be seriously needed here.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Is this a public admission of governance failure? How come the government's delivery system is a crawl when the Cabinet has been expanded to XL-size (32 portfolios) some three years ago?

I sincerely hope the 22-member Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (Pemudah), a remedial (not corrective) measure announced yesterday, can achieve what the system had failed miserably.

Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be in Johor Baru this Saturday (February 10) to delivery a keynote address, themed: "Cabaran Umno Menghadapi Wawasan 2020" (Umno's Challenge in Facing Vision 2020).

The forum was postponed after he suffered a mild heart attack late last year. Johor Baru is the place around which the current PM wanted to be remembered for -- a mammoth development project built on "my own ideas".

After reading the gist of his latest interview with Malaysiakini, there must be some new input on how to run this country, though he won't charge a hefty consultant fee for his advice.

NOTE: The seminar starts at 10am at the Grand Ballroom (level 25) of Hotel New York. The hotel is located at No: 22, Jalan Dato' Abdullah Tahir, JB. Tel: 07-3311588.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

At the closing of the PGPO Expose War Crimes: Criminalise War conference, Dr Mahathir highlighted blogs as a tool for mobilising the mass media to spread the anti-war message. Quote Malaysiakini:

"It's difficult to compete with the present print media but there is an opportunity for us to make use of blogging in order to build up opinion because we can reach anyone anywhere around the world.

"As you all know we can even transmit moving pictures so it is possible for us to communicate to tell the truth about what's happening," he added.

Dr Mahathir likened this channel as the second superpower -- the power of public opinion.

"We need the help of bloggers and the internet. Help to tell the truth and to make a case for us." That's what 3540 Jalan Sudin recorded in her blog after attending Mahathir's Press Conference yesterday.

PUBLIC bulletin board at the Criminalise War Exhibition: Those who died innocent in wars
shall not perish in vain... LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

LensaMalaysia photographers have some interesting pictures of the Criminalise War exhibition -- some may require readers' discretion -- currently being held at 4th Floor PWTC till this Sunday. Click here.

Bullets and bombs know no divides. So must humanity... LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

Try to catch John Lennon's 'Imagine' when you walk through the exhibits.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday, while summing the 3-day PGPO Expose War Crimes: Criminalise War conference, Dr Mahathir said the situation in Iraq today should make the US understand that "no one should hegemonise this world, dictate, change regime, or do what they like”.

He reminded the US president that sending more troops to Iraq will only end up in more American soldiers going home in corpse bags.

An exhibit depicting the collatoral damage in wars... LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

He also "congratulated" the Iraqi resistence forces fighting the US-led military occupation of Iraq, urging them to "make sure the Americans pay a very high price for their adventure".

His remarks were met by resounding applause.

It came at the end of the preliminary proceedings of the War Crime Commission, and the Tribunal, that the conference has set-up to try and punish ‘warmongering’ leaders and governments of aggressor nations guilty of war crimes.

Commander-in-Chief in absentia

In his closing speech, Mahathir also said he supported war only if they were conducted as in the past when commanders-in-chiefs, unlike US president George W Bush, who declared war on other nations were at the forefront of the battle. Quote Malaysiakini:

"If Bush is willing to lead his army from the front, by all means, let’s all go to war," said Mahathir, deriding "commander-in-chiefs" who give battle orders "5,000 miles away".

Later at a press conference, Mahathir said there was no contradiction between his call for the Iraqi resistence to continue killing US servicemen and his statements that "war is never an option for the settlement of disputes."

"If it is a defensive war, then it is justified. The Iraqis are fighting to defend their own country," said Mahathir.

"If Iraqis invaded the US, I would support the US," he added.

LensaMalaysia photographers have some interesting pictures -- some may require readers' discretion - of the Criminalise War exhibition currently being held at 4th Floor PWTC till this Sunday. Click here.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

On behalf of Rocky and I -- we both are now the defendants in defamations suits wrought by a media organisation and its leadership -- would like to thank DAP leaders for pledging their solidarity behind us. I hope I can thank them on behalf of other fellow bloggers for their warm gestures.

We thank the Parliamentary legislators who had made time to the Silencing Cyberspace: The Final Frontier? public forum held on February 6. They were YB Lim Kit Siang, YB Tan Seng Giaw, YB Teresa Kok and YB Tan Kok Wai.

YB Tan said when the Parliament sitting reconvenes next month, he will initiate the setting up of a Parliamentary Select Committee to look at the attempts by certain parties to regulate the Internet, and to determine whether they hold valid grounds.

'Defamation suits and judicial reforms'

We also appreciate that Bar Council president Yeo Yang Poh had made time to present his thoughts about defamation suits, and how Common Laws countries, like the UK, Australia, Canada and Singapore, approach such civil suits. He also explained the defence platforms available in defamation suits.

It was quite illuminating when Yang Poh talked candidly about judicial reforms. He said such reforms should seriously consider the issuance of an apology or correction as sufficient legal remedies for most defamation cases. Quote Malaysiakini:

“Its not about money. Its about restoration of reputation,” he said.

“Certainly, damages is the wrong way of going about, let alone mega damages. There must be much less emphasis on monetary compensation, unless of course its deliberate,” he added.

A more elaborate report is available on Malaysiakini Chinese Edition, in which Yang Poh emphasised the Canadian practice in giving precedent to the Right of Reply.

However, I need a Chinese expert to help us translate what Yang Poh was quoted as saying in Malaysiakini:

他也提议检讨或扩大遭起诉一方的抗辩类型，以及检讨出版诽谤文字的出版社或部落客是否应受到与作者不同的对付。

我国司法制度必须获得改善，因为我国法律不了解言论自由的重要性。否则，就算我们拥有最好的诽谤法令，但是如果法官的思想不进步的话，这也是没有用。

Sdr Kit Siang, who was an ISA internee under the 1987 Operasi Lalang, reminded the audience that media freedom in the first three years of the Abdullah Administration has been far worse that the first six years of the Mahathir Administration (1981-1986). He pointed to our plunging positions in the 2007 RSF Press Freedom Index to state his case.

Should the government gag the cyberspace, Kit emphasised, ratings by the global financial analysts will surely take a dip, and it will affect foreigners' investment sentiments in the country.

Last but not least, we thank Sonia Randhawa, DAP Sec-Gen Sdr Lim Guan Eng, chairperson Robyn Choi from KL Bar, the two friends from Singapore who spoke, and the audience for making time with us.

We appreciate that. Because when the public understands the fundamental issues involved, what we bloggers say are no longer that important. Good thoughts would have been transferred to the masses, and the country would move forward with an emancipated mindset.

P/S: Oriental Daily News (Feb 8, Page A16) has a full-page special feature on this public forum. It highlighted the fact that I made a recording of my presentation in public -- an act I never did whenever I spoke during the Mahathir Administration.

All LensaPress photos by Paul Choo

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Expose War Crimes: Criminalise War exhibition organised by Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO) recently is currently being held at 4th Floor PWTC (Feb 5 - 11). Admission is free from 10.00 am to 6.00pm daily.

Peeping into the history of War Crimes

LensaPress photos by Jeff Ooi

Subsequently, the Tourism Ministry will take over the exhibits for public display throughout the country.

LensaMalaysia photographers -- Leonard, Paul and I -- visited the exhibition recently, courtesy PGPO. We have uploaded a series of pictures, and more will be added from time to time.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

UPDATED VERSION. American journalists who doubted Ali Shalal (picture below) as the "Prisoner in the Hood" -- standing on a box, electrical wires attached to his outstretched arms, electrocuted thrice -- should have come listen to his gripping testimony at the PGPO "Criminalising War" conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Ask him some probing questions, if necessary, but the American atrocities in Abu Ghraib remain a war crime story to be told and re-told.

Significantly, Ali Shalal chose to speak from a text sworn under Malaysia's Statutory Declaration Act 1960, before a Commissioner for Oaths in Kuala Lumpur.

Ali's statutory declaration was endorsed by Abbas Z. Abid, a survivor of the Fallujah Massacre, who interpreted his Arabic text into English.

The audience that filled Dewan Merdeka to the brinks held their breath listening to Ali Shalal, who gave a live testimony of torture as a direct-hit victim while he was custody in the infamous Aby Ghraib prison, in the US-occupied Iraq.

His statutory declaration will be deposited with the War Crimes Commission as one of the petitions from War Crime Victims. Subsequently, Ali Shalal's petition is expected to be forwarded for deliberation by the War Crimes Tribunal, which will begin its preliminary deliberation later in the afternoon.

When the War Crimes Commission sits for the preliminary proceedings at 9.00am this morning , War Crimes victims will present their petitions and give their witnesses' accounts.

They include war crimes victims from the war in Afghanistan aka The Global War on Terror; war in Iraq including the Fallujah Massacre; war in Lebanon, and war in Palestine.

New York Times retracted story

March 11 last year, The New York Times ran a dramatic front-page story that matched the infamous photo: the chilling shot of an Abu Ghraib prisoner, hooded, standing on a box, electrical wires attached to his outstretched arms.

The "Prisoner in the Hood" was identified by the NY Times as Ali Shalal Qaissi.

However, the story was challenged by online magazine Salon. On March 18, the NY Times acknowledged that its story was flat wrong, and the paper admitted that the prisoner in the photograph was not Qaissi, who has reportedly admitted to the falsehood.

In an editor's note, the NY Times said "the Times did not adequately research Mr. Qaissi's insistence that he was the man in the photograph" and "should have been more persistent in seeking comment from the military.

And the story died instantly in America's media.

The matter was raised at the pre-Conference press briefing on Sunday, to which Dr Mahathir, chairman of PGPO, answered: "The US military will naturally deny everything because you would not know who is behind the hood. But we believe that Ali Shalal is the man behind the hood that you saw in the picture."

The torture

When Ali Shalal took the podium yesterday, he displayed several video clips of the tortures in Abu Ghraib, laid with soundtracks of Iraqi music. In the dark, I could figure out he was wearing an academic's suit, but complete with a songkok that's typically Malaysian. The session's moderator, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, later confirmed what I had guessed. It was indeed a songkok.

Then he began to speak, albeit in a monotonous, emotionless tone. What can you expect from a person who went through hell several times, only to tell the world his first-hand account of war crimes.

I could understand his first sentence in Arabic. "Ana ALI SH. ABBAS". He was saying he is Ali Sh. Abbas alias Ali Shalal, 45, who is now residing in Amman, Jordan.

Despite Ali's monotone articulated through his native language, and the time-lapse the slipped while I tried to catch what he meant, I felt chills up my spine. It was human torture of the sadistic kind.

These are some images I took as I sat on the floor listening to him by reading the English translation of his testimony, which was actually his Statutory Declaration. Quote:

In the morning, an Israeli stood in front of me and took the bag from my head and told me in Arabic that he was an Israeli (who) had interrogated and tortured detainees in Palestine.

Worse was to come. Ali was later electrocuted on three separate occasions. On the first two sessions, he was electrocuted twice, each time lasting a few minutes. And on the last session, as he was being electrocuted, he accidentally bit his tongue and was bleeding from the mouth.

There wasn't mercy, even from doctors. Quote:

The doctor just poured some water u=into my mouth and used his feet to force open my mouth. He then remarked: "There is nothing serious, continue!" Then he left the room. However, theguard stopped the electrocution as I was bleeding profusely from my mouth and blood was all over my blanket and body. But they continue to beat me. After some time, they stopped beating me and put me back to my cell.

Throughout the time of my torture, the interrogators would take photographs.

After that incident, Ali was left alone in his cell for 49 days, and the interrogators stopped torturing him. Quote:

I was released in the beginning of March 2004. I was put into a truck and taken to a highway and then thrown out. A passing car stopped and took me home.

All these, because Ali was arrested by the American troops on October 13, 2003 while he was going to a prayer in the mosque of Al-Amraya, and later transferred to Abu Ghraib prison.

All these, because Ali had refused to confess to his captor's question whether he was a Sunni or Shia Muslim.

All that Ali was willing to answer was that he was an Iraqi Muslim, an answer that his captors refused to accept. He was instead charged for the following "offence", as contained in paragraph 11 of the Statutory Declaration:

a ) That Ali was anti-Zionist and Anti-Semitic
b ) He supported the resistance
c ) He instigated the people to oppose the occupation
d ) that he knew the location of Osama bin Laden

The captors refused to considered his plea that he was a disabled person and had an injured hand. Instead, the interrogators accused him of injuring his hand while attacking the American soldiers.

At the point of his capture by the American troops, Ali was a lecturer in Islamic education in the city of Al-Alamiya, Iraq.

Life reclaimed

Now that Ali has reclaimed his life, he vowed to do something good for his countrymen who went through the same fate. He has decided to to establish an association to assist all torture victims, with the help of 12 other tortured victims.

At the end of his presentation, Ali told this to the audience who were still enthralled by his gory, gripping account:

I feel very sad that I have to remember and relive this horrible experience again and again, and I hope that the Malaysian people will answer our call for help. God willing.

Fortunately, I could still grasp some Arabic words which I learned during my trip to Tunisia in 2005. Ali ended his presentation with 'Shukran Malaysia' (Thank you, Malaysia).

It was a standing ovation... amidst revelation by Tun Hasmah that it wasn't really an easy task getting Ali into Malaysia to speak.

In a way, Ali Shalal is a lucky war victim. His torture and misery were made enduring the world over only because of media snafu in the USA. There are a lot more silent, but no less inhuman, war crimes stories unheard and unspoken of elsewhere, which will be unending so long as warmongers and war criminals remain roaming free on this earth.

The job cut out for the War Crimes Tribunal has just begun.

All LensaPress photos by Jeff Ooi

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 01:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

From the 81-year-old man who understands the power of Internet and Web2.0. He filmed himself in front of a computer using a regular webcam, and the aides got it uploaded on YouTube!

The topic is on Saying No to War.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

EPF declared 5.15% dividend for 2006 income, short of 5.3% that Oriental Daily News reported a day earlier.

An English tabloid went to town with a frontpage, claiming that the statistics show our economy is stronger now and more resilient than ever:

* Per capita income: RM12,079 (1998) >> RM18,039 (2005)
* Foreign direct investments: RM13.063b (1998) >> RM17.88b (2005)
* Gross Domestic Product: RM182.2b (1998) >> RM277.2b est. (2006)
* International reserves: US$30.85b (1999) >> US$70.48b (2005)
* KLCI Index: 262.7pts (9/1/98) >> 1,225.73pts (yesterday)

Something awkwardly missing

Note that, very awkwardly, one critical ingredient of economic indicator is not included: Where are the statistics about our domestic and foreign debts? How do they look like?

How much had the government borrowed from Tabung Haji, Amanah Saham, EPF and the likes through the various debts instruments besides government papers and bonds? How much of the GDP are we using to service cumulative foreign debts? All these, plus other factors, will answer the question how much of each ringgit earned goes into servicing our national debt, which is another critical indicator of economy, but a question that is muted.

National debts will, one way or another, determine how much taxes you have to pay in excise duties on locally produced products, and levy on imported goods and services. I don't have to explain in details why you are paying excessively even for made-in-Asean cars, for example.

Also note that, the lower-end benchmark used by that tabloid, as encased in the above comparison, was recorded during the time of the Asian Financial Crisis, where none of major economies in the region were shielded from the fiscal meltdown. The regional economy generally contracted, with some economies facing tailspin, and the affected countries each took years of pain and hardwork to recover fully.

Malaysia, then under Dr Mahathir, bit the bullet and put in the capital control and dollar-peg measures to artificially insulate the country's economy from instability in relation to global trade. The rest, as they say, is history. But we survived without selling off ourselves to IMF rescue package.

Absolute caution

It's here that we need to look at the EPF's 2006 dividends juxtaposed against the current indicators of economy with absolute caution. Besides statistics and indicators of the economy, there's the issue of fiscal spending, ROI and corporate governance that impacts your EPF dividends.

You have to remember this important context as statistics, especially those framed contexts which can also be argued differently using different methodologies, can be a big bastard. Quote from Andrew Lang: "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts -- for support rather than illumination." On the ambiguity of statistics, I don't have to quote the oft-quoted Benjamin Disraeli, do I?

More significantly, those who have been contributing to the EPF, and still surviving, will point out that the best EPF dividend paid out in Malaysian history was the four years between 1984 through 1987 -- a record 8.5%.

Flashback to 20 years ago. What was our per capital income then? What was the FDI landed? What was the GDP? What were the international reserves and current account deficits? What was the KLCI reading?

And yet EPF paid us 8.5%!

I am seeing it from the perspective of the Joe Public workers who, by mandatory compulsion, must contribute to the Tabung Mass Tua Anda.

Those earning more than one income can dispute this line of argument. But we are the majority EPF contributors. We ask: Had EPF reserves been used to invest in ventures that made lousy returns compared to the 1980s, and hence we are over 3 percent-point off-target from our best track record?

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

At the PGPO Media Centre...

That's how Dr Mahathir's boys regard New Media being on par with Old Media? Mind you, Mahathir has, again, given Malaysiakini an exclusive interview. The first part is published here and here, with an 11-minute video here.

In the second part of the interview, which Malaysiakini will publish on February 7, Mahathir gave his views on how the economy should be managed, launched another round of attacks on his handpicked successor Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and defended some of the decisions made during his 22-year rule.

Reacting to bloggers, Khazanah's boys seems to get the cue, on cue.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

NEWSFLASH. Two police officers, with search warrants, were seen raiding Tian Chua's office, which is co-located with Parti KeADILan's Information Office in Brickfields at 3.05pm today.

The news has been confirmed by SUARAM officers. Updates available on Malaysiakini Chinese edition.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (23) | TrackBacks (0)

A glow in the dark... a global peace effort by a treasured son from Malaysia.

Dr Mahathir's keynote address at the third series of the Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO) conference this morning was 70 paragraphs long, taking him some 60 minutes to deliver. It's titled: Criminalising War.

It was an impactful presentation as he had cleverly interspersed the speech with two well-crafted video clips, one on the horrors of depleted uranium (DU), and the other on what was inside the infamous Abu Ghraib prison and human torture.

Despite his age at 81, Mahathir is still a deft hand in reading from the tele-prompter, effortlessly. That made his well-knitted thoughts perfectly articulated with numerous emphatic pauses and accentuations at the right places.

According to Malaysiakini, some 3,000 people had packed the Merdeka Hall of the Putra Wold Trade Center (PWTC), while about 1,000 people were outside the hall watching his speech on the large television monitors.

This series of the PGPO Conference is a follow through to The Kuala Lumpur Initiative to Criminalise War which concluded last year.

At the end of the conference, a declaration will be made to invite international jurists of repute to establish an International War Crimes Tribunal, where laws and its jurisdiction will be proposed.

People-run Tribunal for War Crimes

Mahathir said conventions such as the Geneva Convention had been inadequate in identifying crimes of warmongers who ultimately caused brutalities in countries they waged wars in.

Mahathir also underscored the fact that laws, the concept of laws, justice and jurisdiction of national laws have changed over time.

"Now, certain nations enforce their laws extra-territory," he added. "The US invaded Panama to capture Noreiga and to bring him before a US court for trial and punishment under US laws."

Hence in the case of criminalising war, he added, laws must now be enacted not by the Government, but by the people, their organisations and the jurists.

"In a world where powerful countries can decide on regime change for other countries, the laws that are designed to criminalise wars are no more unusual than the regime change laws, the laws to legitimise the attacks against Afghanistan and Iraq, the extra-territorial laws," Mahathir said.

"These laws of the people are as legitimate as can be," he added.

Blair, Bush and 'pocket' Bush

The key task of the Tribunal is to try, in absentia if necessary, the war criminals as identified by the victims and the countries which have suffered from ther attacks ordered by the leaders of the invading countries identified.

Not mincing his words, Mahathir had cited George Bush, Tony Blair, and John Howard as targets for trial by the Tribunal for their roles in waging atrocities in modern Iraq.

"Bush and Blair are now totally reviled and condemned by the world and by their own people," he said. "To a certain extent, they have been tried and sentenced by their own people and media."

He equated that as a trial in absentia.

However, should the trio be found guilty by the people's Tribunal, death sentence was obviously not on his mind. Quote:

History should remember Blair and Bush as the Killer of Children or as the Lying Prime Minister and President. What Blair and Bush had done is worse that what Saddam had done. We should not hang Blair if the Tribunal finds him guilty but he should always carry the label War Criminal, Killer of Children, Liar.

And so should Bush and the pocket Bush of the bushlands of Australia.

Mahathir said war criminals tried and found guilty by the Tribunal should be remembered for the crimes against humanity, for the people they kill, and the destruction they wrought. Quote:

"People and the NGO's for peace should make these War Criminals feel unwelcome wherever they go. They should be literally hounded. They should have full frontal and profile pictures put up everywhere as war criminals.

And historians should always refer to them as War Criminals in history books."

Knowing that truth about war is being muffled by ‘lies and propaganda’ of powerful media corporations ‘owned and controlled by warmongers’, Mahathir called for the establishment of an international network of activists and groups to counter such media-slanting to ensure that the people know the truth about war.

The 3-day conference will see scores of internationally-renowned researchers and specialists, present and former government officials, journalists and lawyers speak on the horrors of war and the ‘global military-industrial-financial-media’ complex behind global conflicts, Malaysiakini reported.

LensaPress photos by Jeff Ooi

In conclusion, Mahathir described war, a form of organised crime, as primitive and not in keeping with the stage of human civilisation we are in.

In pushing for the new approach to criminalise war crimes, Mahathir reasoned that a respectable and totally impartial Tribunal applying recognised laws will find its findings respected by the world, "just as the world respects the Nobel Laureates".

It was made known yesterday that Mahathir has been nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 2007 by four organisations in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (0)

How else can the potentials of blogs be tapped for disseminating information and sharing knowledge?

Someone has used blogs to compile information on defamation suits:

Defamation in Malaysia

- Malaysian cases: http://mavrkydefamation.blogspot.com
- Malaysia: http://mavrkylawofdefamation.blogspot.com
- International cases: http://mavrkydefamationcaselaw.blogspot.com

Blog on other rights-related laws: http://mavrkylawcenter.blogspot.com

If you come across more of such, please share it with our readers.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Not plagiarism! I cut-and-paste from Tony Pua's blog with his consent:

This forum is part of a event by the Democratic Action Party (DAP) to promote and protect the freedom of expression by the Malaysian civil society, particularly on the Internet.

SILENCING CYBERSPACE - THE FINAL FRONTIER?

Date: 6 February2007 (Tuesday)
Time: 7.30 pm
Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall

Speakers:

* Mr Yeo Yang Poh, President of the Malaysian Bar Council
* Mr Jeff Ooi, Pioneer Malaysian Blogger
* Ms Sonia Randhawa, Executive Director, Centre for Independent Journalism
* Mr Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader
* Mr Lim Guan Eng, Secretary-General of DAP

As of today, we have the Printing and Publications Act 1984which provides that it is a criminal offense to possess or use a printing press without a licence granted by the Internal Security Minister. The Minister is given "absolute discretion" in the granting and revocation of licences, which is required to be renewed on a yearly basis.

We do not require such an Act to govern us in the cyberspace. The Bill of Guarantees of the Multimedia Super Corridor project assures us, Malaysians, and the world that there will be no censorship of the Internet.

There are two personalities with legal training among the speakers. I will speak in my personal capacity as a Malaysian blogger.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Besides Elizabeth Wong on her blog, an online reader has uploaded today's anti-toll pictures here and here.

Pictures courtesy Chin Yan Keat

Don't get it wrong. The red sheets didn't say Gong Xi Fa Cai.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (18) | TrackBacks (0)

At the pre-PGPO Conference press briefing this afternoon, blogger Rocky asked Dr Mahathir for his views on his being nominated for Nobel Peace Price 2007, and whether he has accepted the nomination that came from former war victims in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

From his body language, I could sense that Mahathir was rather uneasy with Rocky's questions. Probed further by the blogger, Mahathir gave him a coy smile: "I don't know about these things. I don't know if I will be asked to accept it or not ... can we have some other more interesting questions?"

"I think the most important thing is the attempt we are trying to make, which is to criminalise war," emphasised Mahathir.

LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

In today's Sunday Star, executive editor June HL Wong had the scoop with her source traced to Dr Ejup Ganic, who was Vice-President of Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1990-96 and President of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina until March 2001.

It is now known that four non-governmental organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina have nominated Dr Mahathir -- the most demonised Prime Minister in Malaysian press history -- for the Nobel Peace Prize 2007.

Other nominees include former US Vice-President Al Gore, Finnish peace broker Martti Ahtisaari and Chinese dissident Rebiya Kadeer. Nominations to the Norwegian Nobel Committee closed on Feb 1.

Though prize initiator Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833 - 1896) was a Swede, he never told anybody why he didn't give a Swedish body the task of awarding the Peace Prize. In 1895, Nobel decided to give the task of selecting the peace prize committee to the Norwegian Parliament.

In his will Nobel wrote: "It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be Scandinavian or not."

So eminent is the status of the Nobel Peace Prize, and thus far, only three Asians had won it since 1901, namely Vietnam's Le Duc Tho (1973, co-winner with Henry Kissinger), the 14th Dalai Lama (1989) and Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi (1991) .

Endorsement from two Christian organisations

However, what made the Bosnia-Herzegovinan proposal significant is that Dr Mahathir is a Muslim, while the nomination was made by two Christian organisations -- the Serb Civic Council from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Croat National Council -- alongside the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology, and the Congress of Bosnik Intellectuals.

The move to nominate our former Prime Minister was spearheaded by Dr Ejup Ganic, who was Vice-President of Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1990-96 and President of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina until March 2001.

Dr Ganic had worked closely with Dr Mahathir in the 1990s when Malaysia provided economic, political and humanitarian support to a Bosnia-Herzegovina recovering from the trauma of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the 1992-95 civil war.

In the nomination paper signed by Dr Ganic, Dr Mahathir is described as the Third World’s “most illustrious contemporary” and its “most courageous advocate.” Quote:

Dr Ganic said that Dr Mahathir had influenced the world by leaving behind lessons on how diversity could be managed, conflicts reconciled and multi ethnicity harnessed to build a vibrant economic and political system.

He also highlighted Dr Mahathir’s “Prosper Thy Neighbour” policy, his enlightened vision of Islam and his work as an ambassador of peace in Iraq-Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina, southern Thailand, Philippines and Aceh.

The Star's revelation has indeed provided the PGPO's “Expose War Crimes: Criminalise War” Conference and Exhibition (Feb 5 - 7) the added highlights.

Rebuilding war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina

People from Bosnia-Herzegovina, who had gone the deepest end of miseries during the protracted Bosnian War after Yugoslavia collapsed in the 1990s. The war registered a casualty of around 100,000 killed (civilians and military) and 1.8 million displaced, and the country is currently under civilian peace implementation supervised by the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina selected by the Peace Implementation Council.

The whole country of Bosnia-Herzegovina is slowly picking up from the broken pieces of war history, and is in the process increasing self-governance, with the end goal of closing the Office of the High Representative by June 2007. It's going to be a re-birth.

That kind of reinforced my belief that you don't have to hire PR companies to keep publicising to the world that you are a good man. When you do good, people remember.

And in this case, the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Muslims and Christians alike, do seem to remember Dr Mahathir had indeed done them hell lot of good. They don't give a shit if Mahathir is the most demonised Prime Minister in the eyes of our responsible journalists!

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBacks (0)

After the first YouTube by Fatbidin.com, and a 2-minute mention in Sir David Frost's show, news about Malaysian bloggers being sued by mainstream newspaper has gone on the borderless TV circuit via the Internet.

This time, the immensely popular 'Cranky Geeks with John C. Dvorak' podcast (Episode 48) also talked about the Malaysian lawsuit. Someone in the UK saw it, had it cropped and posted on YouTube as well.

The anchor and the two guests -- Sebastian Rupley, Crank at Large and Dvorak's sidekick, and Lisa Stone, founder of BlogHer.org -- passed some serious opinions on Internet governance in Malaysia. One of them said we may go down the China way for blogging, and China stands for bad, bad Internet governance and occupies the nerve centre of Internet Black Hole.

Back in Malaysia, I have a strong advisory for budding and existing bloggers in the current situation -- if you are serious about blogging, then help prove that we are all responsible bloggers. Click tvPAS.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I stay in Subang Jaya, and I had witnessed how the immediate victims of toll hikes -- the Joe Public -- could stage a mass protest in a peaceful way even at a crowded place.

Somehow, I also read from the Internet -- the responsible journalists didn't report it in-depth -- that the police had roughed up and arrested a blogger at a peaceful assembly, and briefly detained an online journalist covering the event along the Grand Saga Tollway on January 21 2007. Several organisers were also detained, and according to South East Asia Press Alliance (SEAPA), the Opposition politicians were "grilled, threatened with prosecution for revealing government's contract with highway operator".

I read from Malaysiakini that today (Sunday February 4) there's going to be another anti-toll protest at the IOI Mall, in the Puchong township whose population is squeezed by not just one, but three concessionaires that had raised the toll rates.

I hope there will not be police brutality like what had been reported on the January 21 incident.

Federal-level legislator

I don't expect BN Member of Parliament for Puchong, Lau Yeng Peng, to join the local residents to protest against the toll hike, as he is federal-level legislator, and toll hikes are federal-level issues, so he should intermediate with his counterpart in the Parliament.

But I don't expect Lau to be there this afternoon to at least give a testimony of whether police brutality will recur, or police professionalism could prevail, just like the one I witnessed in my neighbourhood on January 7. Lau's presence will certainly thwart any possibility of brutality by the enforcers at the mass protest that, I was told, was intended for a peaceful staging.

By the way, my fellow residents had started to complain to me that they sorely missed Lau's company. Apparently, the new MP has stopped visiting his constituency in USJ 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 some ten months after we had put him in there in April 2004.

P/S: I also expected leaders of MCA Puchong , who gained their day of fame in the mainstream media for staging a 5-minute 'historic' protest in front of the LDP office in Bandar Sunway, to chicken out this time.

To this bunch of seasoned and seasonal politicians, 5 minutes were already a lifetime.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

January 31, via The Edge Daily:

Scomi Engineering Bhd is acquiring 10.4 million shares representing 40% stake in MTrans Transportation Systems Sdn Bhd from MTrans Corporation Sdn Bhd (MTC) for RM25 million cash.

"The management is confident that MTrans has good growth potential, based on its five-year business plan. The market demand for monorails and Light Rail Transits has increased both locally and overseas," Scomi Engineering said in a statement on Jan 31.

Three days later, February 3, via The Star:

A fresh bid to get the long-delayed monorail project back on track again will be made under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, Putrajaya Corporation chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said.

Keyword: Monorail. Not Scomi.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)

The 3rd series of the Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO) Conference will take place at the Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur, February 5 - 7. The theme is: EXPOSE WAR CRIMES: CRIMINALISE WAR.

For bloggers who would like to follow the event and blog live from the conference site, good news! I was told wi-fi and wired broadband access will be made available at the media room.

There will be a simple registration process so that you will be put on PGPO's records for future events.

Also, on Sunday Feb 4, Dr Mahathir will hold a pre-conference PC at the Legend Hotel (Helang Room) at 12.30pm. Be there if you can make time.

Details of the conference and guest speakers are available on the PGPO website.

For me, I look forward to seeing Ali Shalah live for his first-hand testimony for the being "The Man In the Hood" at the Abu Gharaib prison (see picture above). The man is likely to tell you his torture experience that Rummy, Dummy and Scummy had tried to poo-poo away.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Major surprise!

Dina Zaman was asked by Sir David Frost over Al-Jazeera (Feb 3, 8am) on the defamation suits Rocky and I are now facing.

Based on the backgrounder Dina gave, Frost wanted to know (QUOTE) "what the bloggers have written that made the government so troubled" (UNQUOTE).

See the repeats at 2pm and 7pm today over Astro Channel 20. Dina appears in the second half of the hour-long programme.

BTW, There is a new item on Internet Malaysiana.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is via Singapore Straits Times (February 1, 2007), datelined Kuala Lumpur:

Asked to comment on the government's lease of a jet that allegedly cost US$50 million (RM200 million), Tun Dr Mahathir said the government should have bought a bigger plane.

Bloggers and news portals had claimed that the Prime Minister is buying an Airbus A319 jet for his own use at a time when he is curbing public spending.

However, the Premier said on Monday that the jet is for the use of top officials, including the King.

He denied that the government is buying the plane, and said it would be leased from Penerbangan Malaysia Bhd (PMB), the parent company of national carrier Malaysia Airlines.

Datuk Seri Abdullah's explanation has been challenged by the opposition and bloggers who point out that PMB is a company owned by government investment fund Khazanah Nasional.

Tun Dr Mahathir's take on leasing a jet: 'It's necessary. I thought it should be a 747 or A380 but the government is being very careful because the government has no money. This plane costs only RM200 million.

'It is not bought by the government, it's bought by somebody else, and that somebody else is owned 100 per cent by the government.'

Journo-blogger The Scribe checked the Penerbangan Malaysia Bhd (PMB) website and concluded this:

In short, PMB, which is under the Finance Minister Inc, whose ultimate boss is the Prime Minister, bought the jet and leased it to the government, whose ultimate boss is also the Prime Minister.

In simple term, the Prime Minister, through PMB, bought the plane and leased it to the government, which he leads.

In case you missed the context, this is what national news agency Bernama reported the PM as saying:

And contrast this from PMB's website:

Blogs were right after all, weren't they? For Screenshots, a responsible blogger just needs to give what the responsible journalists reported a context to ponder.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBacks (0)

Wrong - if you think Thaipusam is all about devotees fulling their vows by means of mortification of the flesh, piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers.

LensaPress photos by Jeff Ooi

Thaipusam commemorates both the birthday of Lord Murugan (also Subramaniam), the youngest son of Shiva and Parvati, and the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (lance) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman, so says the wiki.

Two days ago, with some LensaMalaysia shutterbugs, I went for my first ever Thaipusam photography trip to feel the silent emotions amidst the dramatic colours of this festival that symbolise the good claiming triumphs over the evil in the Hindu belief system.

We virtually camped there, starting from 6.30pm on January 31, and didn't leave until 11.30am the next day, and put in another three hours for the train rides to-and-fro Subang Jaya. We managed to catch some three hours of catnap at the railway station compound and missed the arrival of the chariot from Jalan Bandar. But it was well worth the tired legs and aching body due to the equipment weights and the long walk. Some of my photo-essays are available here, here and here.

LensaMalaysia photographers, who have done a tireless round to promote VMY2007 and Eye On Malaysia, and the recent Floral Fest at Putrajaya, again have started to chronicle this year's Thaipusam through their diverse, colourful depiction through their lenses, click here.

Good triumphs over evil

There were so many topical features of Thaipusam that make excellent elements for photography. I was looking, as an insider, at the devotees who prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer and cleansing. After observing days of fasting, they shave their heads before they take the yearly pilgrimage to the temple at Batu Caves, engaging in various acts of devotion, notably carrying various types of kavadi, which signifies the carrying of burdens.

The kavadi ranges from the simplest form of one carrying a pot of milk, to the daunting types that involve the mortification of the flesh by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers. And I saw non-Chinese devotees performing this kavadi-bearing, though I failed to locate the Caucasians. who have been known to return to Batu Caves to fulfil their kavadi-bearing vows in the recent years.

I love the Hinduism themes of Good vanquishing the Evil. In Deepavali, Light triumphs over Darkness. In Thaipusam, Murugan triumphed over evil demon Soorapadman by using the lance his mother gave him.

The Good defeating the Evil seems to be a universal value, cutting across different belief systems of the world.

In the oft quoted battle of David vs. Goliath, the giant was the Philistine warrior who vanquished in the hand of David, the young Israelite boy who would later be chosen by God and anointed by Samuel to become the King of Israel. The account of David vs Goliath is so well-known that it was given significant mention in the Hebrew Bible and in the Qur'an. My Christian friend told me it was also mentioned in Bible 1 Samuel 17.

This universal value should change not, or else the world will suffer.

Let's pray for the country

P/S: As I stood at the foot of the 272 steps towards the cave, or the congested road towards the riverine, or even queuing for the gents, there were total strangers who identified my face and greeted me so warmly. We have never met each other, but they know what I blog for all these years. These Hindu devotees told me: "Jeff, tell Rocky, we will walk with you!"

I have nothing in particular to reciprocate their warm friendship, perhaps this photo that I took will suffice till we meet again. I believe you, too, can feel the silent emotion I had intended to capture in the image.

LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

Let's pray for our inner peace and pray for the wellbeing of this country.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)