Screenshots

UPDATED VERSION. According to The Star, Chui Kah Peng, wife of former chief minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon, was quoted as saying that Persatuan Bunga Tanjung, the state organisation for wives of Barisan Nasional assemblyman and MPs which Chui chaired, has been dissolved and the remaining funds donated to charity organisations and Bakti.

Chui was further quoted as saying that RM350,000 were donated to Bakti while the remainder were given to the charity organisations.

She was reported to identify the organisations which received the money, totalling amounting to RM590,665, to include the Bureau of Learning Difficulties, Penang Cheshire Home, Penang Mental Health Association and Mount Miriam Hospital.

I just checked with the Mount Miriam Hospital, which specialises in cancer treatment, had yet to receive any amount greater than RM2,572.63, which was paid cash on April 1, 2008.

Meanwhile, sources close to the Cheshire Home and Penang Mental Health Association said the two charity organisationbs only received RM1,000 each.

What happened to the balance of RM590,665 purportedly "donated" to these charity organisations? Can Madam Chui clarify for the benefit of the Penang people?

For the benefit of the public, can other recipient organisations Chui mention please confirm if they had receive the money as reported in the media?

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (18) | TrackBacks (0)

SPEAKER'S FIRST DAY IN OFFICE. The Speaker slipped by first stating he wouldn't allow supplementary questions (soalan tambahan) due to time constraint.

When cornered by the Opposition, the Speaker changed tune by saying he did not say supplementary questions are banned (diharamkan).

The PM asked the Speaker to consider one or two supplementary questions to be allowed. The Speaker gave in.

Later, the Speaker slipped again by disallowing more than one supplementary question, quoting "convention" (which convention?) when he made the ruling for no supplementary question. Karpal said the House should follow "Point of Order" as instituted, and not "Convention". Jangan main-main, Karpal warned.

The point in contention Karpal referred to was contained in Standing Orders of the Dewan Rakyat 24(3) which states "Tuan Yang Di-Pertua boleh membenarkan ahli-ahli mengeluarkan tidak lebih daripada tiga pertanyaan tambahan bagi setiap pertanyaan..." to which the Speaker said it was trivial and technical by nature.

The Opposition insisted it involves the Point of Order.

UPDATE: I was just officially informed that one of my Oral Questions had been rejected. I wanted to ask questions on conflict of interest involving a former minister who had the power to issue WiMAX license. The Legal Division of Parlimen Malaysia is of the opinion that it involved "business of private companies". I will consult on the matter.

UPDATE: The Setiausaha Dewan Rakyat stated in earlier circulars that all Oral and Written Questions must not exceed 40 words. However, the Opposition pointed out that the question submitted by the member from Kinabatangan (PR-1211-L12189) and accepted by the Setiausaha exceeded 40 words.

When the fireworks ensued, Member for Rembau said the question submitted by the Opposition Leader (Permatang Pauh) -- PR-1211-L12049 -- and accepted by the Setiausaha Dewan Rakyat also exceeded 40 words.

An Umno backbencher proposed both MPs from Bukit Gelugor and Puchong to be dealt with in accordance with the Standing Order. The Speaker declined to invoke the penalty clause.

The Speaker said questions allowed for the current session, no matter they had exceed 40 words as stipulated, should be proceeded with as scheduled.

In the cross fire, Kinabatangan was referred to as Big Foot, and Bukit Glugor was referred to as Big Monkey, while Pasir Mas (Independent) asked Batu Gajah to 'Shut Up'. Please check the Hansard tomorrow.

Is this First World Parliament for you?

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)

Abdullah Badawi looks more a cool cucumber compared to his deputy, Najib Abdul Razak, as far as I could see in the last two days.

On March 28, Dr Shaariibuu, the father of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu who was murdered on Malaysian soil, made an appearance at the Parliament House, trying to meet Najib. Of course, he failed.

Yesterday, when the Agong was about to deliver the Royal Address in the House, a letter of appeal from the Mongolian Minister of Foreign Affairs was circulated to all Members of the Parliament.

The minister, S. Oyun, said the government of Mongolia, in accordance with its objective to protect the legitimate rights of its citizen abroad, is following "this severe criminal case with particular attention from its early occurence and along the legal procedures". By the letter to all Malaysian MPs, the minister again appealed to us to "continue observing this case and insure the court procedures to be fair and free from any political influence".

When I shook Najib's hand after greeting the Agong and the PM, he still looked tensed.

Karpal Singh spoke on the Mongolian minister's letter at a press conference yesterday. (I am not sure if it saw the daylight on the mainstream media.)

Is Muhyiddin also observing all this?

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Did I say Bunga Tanjung?

Grab a copy of theSun and The Star today. Penang now equals Khir Toyo.

By the way, Balkis' accounts were not finalised before the RM9.9 million funds were transferred out to Bakti, The Star reported.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

As a result of the judgment delivered by the SAR on January 22, the plaintiffs in the NSTP & Others VS Jeff Ooi defamation suit had wanted to seek an interlocutory judgment against me.

My lawyers and I have come to the decision to file a holding defence, among other things.

Today, as the Parliament starts we will start to serve the relevant papers to the relevant parties.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Looking around the BN side of the House, with 140 members over there, I gather that BN is aging with a majority of old cocks. Where are the Youth Wing members?

I have Charles Santiago on my left, and Tony Pua on my right. Our block should be lively. Charles will take waterissues while I will focus on energy and Communications (IPP and MCMC). We want to learn a thing or to from Minister Shaziman, who made 'penembak curi' an infamous label for bloggers in Malaysia.

Tony will most probably partner me in Finance (Petronas Revenue and Abdullah mega corridor projects), I believe. For a start, we blogged live together this morning.

HINDRAF 5 & Other ISA Detainees. Today, Saudara Lim Kit Siang issued a notice to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker under Standing Order 18(2) to move an urgent motion under Standing Order 18(1) on the Hindraf 5 and other ISA detainees on Wednesday. The motion sounds like this:

28 April 2008

Menerusi Faks

Yang di Pertua,
Dewan Rakyat,
Parlimen.

YB Tan Sri,

Per: Notis Peraturan Mesyuarat 18 - Hindraf 5 dan lain-lain tahanan ISA

Ini adalah untuk memberikan notis di bawah Peraturan Mesyuarat 18(2) untuk mengusulkan perkara tertentu berkenaan kepentingan orang ramai yang berkehendaki disegerakan pada hari Rabu, 30 April 2008, seperti berikut:

“Bahawa Dewan mengizinkan YB Lim Kit Siang untuk menangguhkan Dewan mengikut Peraturan Mesyuarat 18(1) untuk merundingkan perkara tertentu berkenaan kepentingan orang ramai yang berkehendaki disegerakan mengenai penahanan Hindraf 5 serta lain-lain tahanan di bawah ISA.

“Bahawa Dewan ini mengesa pentadbiran YAB Perdana Menteri menghormati dan mematuhi kehendak rakyat yang digambarkan dalam tsunami politik 8hb Mac tahun ini yang mahu melihat satu masyarakat Malaysia yang lebih demokratik, akauntabel dan maju dan membebaskan lima pemimpin Hindraf (Hindraf 5) - M Manoharan iaitu ADUN DAP kawasan Kota Alam Shah, P. Uthayakumar, V. Ganabatirau, R. Kenghadharan dan T. Vasantha Kumar - yang berada di bawah tahanan ISA sejak Disember 2007 serta lebih dari 60 tahanan ISA lain, ada antaranya yang telah berada dalam tahanan ISA lebih dari enam tahun.

“Penahanan Hindraf 5 Disember lepas yang berdasarkan dakwaan bahawa mereka adalah ‘pengganas’ telah dibuktikan langsung tidak berasas. Pemimpin MIC, Datuk Seri Samy Velu sendiri telah mengakui fakta in semasa diwawancara oleh media negara India dalam bulan Januari tahun ini.

“Dalam kes Hindraf 5, ISA digunakan untuk menafikan peluang masyarakat India menyuarakan rasa tidak puas hati mereka kerana gagal dilayani secara adil oleh kerajaan BN sejak 50 tahun merdeka. Apa yang diminta adalah ruang menyertai pembangunan negara yang saksama, serta peluang menikmati pendidikan yang berkualiti dan kebebasan agama yang selaras dengan hak-hak seseorang rakyat yang termaktub dalam Perlembagaan Malaysia.

“Sama juga dengan penahanan ISA yang lain, yang sekiranya didapati memang mengancam keselamatan negara, sepatutnya dibicarakan di mahmakah terbuka dan bukannya menafikan kebebasan para tahanan dan membiarkan mereka menderita di bawah ISA.

“Keengganan kerajaan membebaskan Hindraf 5 serta berpuluh-puluh tahanan ISA yang lain menunjukkan kehendak rakyat supaya kerajaan mengubah sikapnya yang angguh, menghapuskan dasar-dasar yang tidak demokratik dan tidak adil masih tidak diendahkan.”

Sekian, terima kasih.

Yang benar,

Lim Kit Siang
Ipoh Timur

Let's see how the Abdullah Administration reacts.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 04:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Balkis' equivalent in Penang is called Pertubuhan Bunga Tanjung, which used to be chaired by the former Chief Minister's wife before the change of state government after March 8.

Bunga Tanjung has in its coffers about RM350,000. Is it also gone?

theSun's frontpage story today is about "globe-trotting VIP wives'.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

UPDATED VERSION. I am taking my oath as an elected Member of Parliament this morning. The swearing-in of the Members of Parliament is done in batches of foursome. It will be some time before my turn. So, here I am and I blog.

It's amusing to see a sea change two metres away from my seat. They, facing the Speaker, are the ex-Ministers and axed Ministers, namely Ku Li, Ong Ka Ting and that Fat Lady on the front row; and Fong Chan Onn, Azmi Khalid and JJ on the second row.

I am amused to hear several Umno ministers miss/omit the words 'menunaikan kewajipan-kewajipan saya (sebagai yang demikian) dengan JUJUR'.. Not believing my ears, I double checked with Charles Santiago, who sits besides me, and he confirmed what I heard.

Jujur!

UPDATES. Immediately after the Ministers had taken their oath and before the deputy ministers took theirs, MP Karpal Singh alerted the Speaker that some of the Members of Parliament were just sworn in without seeing them raising their hands. The Speaker issued a reminder and the Opposition side thumped the desk.

Not mentioning the words 'dengan jujur', and now no raising the hands when taking oath. Aaah!

MORE UPDATES. When it comes to Karpal's turn around 12.00 noon, he informed the Speaker that, in order not to arouse any objection from the floor, he could only raise his left hand taking oath as his right hand had been inconvenienced due to the accident. The house thumped desk again.

The last MP to take the oath was Ibrahim Ali, an independent candidate from Kelantan who stood on a borrowed ticket as his party platform in GE2008. He turned up in his trademark yellow suit. Ghapur Salleh, MP from Kalabakan, referred to Standing Order 41 by saying that Ibrahim did not wear a lounge suit or baju kebangsaan, hence in breach of the SO. However, the Speaker allowed it as Ibrahim is considered a Calon Bebas.

UPDATES. The seats are not configured for computing to support good posture. It's not very computing friendly as the laptop screen couldn't be open to optimal angle while the height of the table-top will hurt computer users in the long run.

The bandwidth, networked with Cat-5 cable, is reasonably efficient circa 1.5Mbps, though I would prefer a soft cable for better flexibility.

But latching onto the Internet is not just about blogging. I would want to Google on-the-spot if any of the Ministers are misleading the House with wrong facts. Also, checking Hansard archives would be in a jiffy as the Parliament sitting goes on live.

That's Parliament in the Internet Age.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

No, we are not talking about the popular TV series.

We are talking about Khor Toyo's wife, Zaharah Kechik, and wives of other former politikus of the Barisan Nasional government, as narrated by Citizen Nades and Terence Fernandez today, titled: RM10m gone in 3 days.

The duo exposed that three days after their husbands lost power to rule Selangor, the wives got into the act – plotting to dissolve the Association of Wives of State Assemblymen and Members of Parliament in Selangor (Balkis) -- touted as a welfare body -- and remove almost RM10 million from its bank accounts.

According to documents sighted by theSun, Khir Toyo's wife had on March 11 -- three days after the GE2008 Polling Day -- convened an extraordinary general meeting of the committee to dissolve Balkis and close its bank accounts.

The following day, the accounts were closed, with the money transferred to another account and then to Bakti – the federal Organisation of Wives of Ministers which Balkis is affiliated to.

Subsequently, on March 13, the former exco members of Balkis issued a notice of dissolution to the Registrar of Societies (ROS), which included amending the constitution of Balkis and establishing a new organisation – Balkis-BN, is among the names suggested.

“This was to prevent the Balkis premises (Kompleks Wawasan Balksi - KWB) and the association itself from being taken over by the new state government,” said theSun quoting an insider. “Once this was done, then the money will be transferred back to the new organisation,” the insider added.

However, the ROS in a letter stated that Balkis' application for dissolution was incomplete and gave it 30 days to furnish additional information.

When that surfaced, Selangor Mentri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim intervened and wrote to the ROS to question the validity of the decision to dissolve Balkis.

Legal experts quoted by theSun are saying that, by right, following the events of March 8, the exco headed by Zaharah should have convened an emergency meeting to discuss the handing over of Balkis to a new exco – with the new president being Abdul Khalid’s wife Salbiah Tunut.

As it is, sources in the state government argue that since Mohamad Khir is no longer MB, Zaharah is no longer the president and has no power whatsoever to dissolve the association or liquidate its funds. Incidentally, the constitution also states that the organisation must remain apolitical.

I am now checking if there are also Desperate Housewives in Penang.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBacks (0)

The Bar Council website uses theSun story about a molest report lodged against ex-minister who served in the 2004 Abdullah Administration. Crime scene was reported to be at a hotel restaurant in Brickfields.

The ex-minister is still an MP for the current term. He is a Muslim and he can't be drunk in a public place, can he?

How long is the arm of law in Malaysia, if we may ask?

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (18) | TrackBacks (0)

Rustam A. Sani passed away at 3am this morning, April 23, at his home in Gombak, Kuala Lumpur. He was 64.

The funeral will be held this afternoon after Zohor prayers.

I will remember him as a noted academician (he has served on Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaya and the Institute of Strategic and International Studies), newspaper columnist, poet/writer (he was awarded the prestigious Hadiah Sastera Negara in the late 1980s), political commentator and a blogger (Vox Populi and Suara Ku).

He also dabbled in politics, having served as the vice-president of PRM when it merged with Parti Keadilan Nasional to form Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), and then served as a member of the central leadership council of the new party. It must have been due to poor health that forced him to be less active in recent years.

Al-Fatihah.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

UPDATED VERSION. Former Lord President Tun Salleh Abas. Former Supreme Court judges Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin, Tan Sri Wan Hamzah Mohamed Salleh, Datuk George Seah. And former Supreme Court judges, the late Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawan Teh and Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader.

These are the six senior judges who were suspended -- three were ultimately sacked with three reinstated. The chapter took place in 1988 when Barisan Nasional was the government.

Twenty years later and two nights ago, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced "goodwill ex-gratia payments to the six sacked judges and their surviving families as recognition to th country.

And Abdullah said: “I do not presume to equate your contributions, pain and loss with mere currency, but I hope that you could accept this as a heartfelt and sincere gesture to mend what has been.”

Now, there is a strong disquiet that says no amount of money could compensate the pain and suffering endured by the fallen members of the Bench.

More so when the money came from the party that thought money could buy people's votes and hearts.

Sorry seems such a difficult word for Putrajaya. Correct, correct, correct?

Judicial Appointments Commission. Now that Malaysia is said to be setting up an independent panel to help appoint new judges as part of legal reforms in the wake of high-level judicial scandals, I will wait and see.

Thursday, Abdullah borrowed a Bar Council platform to announce the plan as part of his pledge to clean up the judiciary, which has been plagued by allegations of favoritism, corruption and influence-peddling, the IHT reported.

I need to see how the members to the Commission will be selected. If Haidar, a key player involved in the 1987 judicial crisis, can be appointed to head the commission to investigate the Lingam Tape scandal with sanitised framework of reference, you need to let imagination run wild a little when you deal with Malaysia.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Remember Francis Yeoh, who got one of the first Independent Power Producer (IPP) licenses -- Terengganu and Johor -- during Dr Mahathir's time? Remember the Francis Yeoh who swiftly dumped Dr Mahathir soon after Abdullah took the helm in 2004? Remember the Francis Yeoh who proposed the RM10 billion "bullet train to reach Singapore in 90 minutes"?

Citizen Nades had an earful for this Francis yesterday. Quote:

Yeoh was quoted by the NST as saying: "This project is economically viable, so I think the government will listen to the people and put this project an urgent basis again."

Well said! The key phrase is "listen to the people". There were also other clichés like "environment-friendly"; "save the government billions in fuel subsidies"; and "the government is supportive of this project". Anyone can give a thousand and one reasons for the project to go ahead, but very importantly, two questions have to be answered: One, do we need such a link, and two, can we afford it?

The people, I dare say, do not want their hard-earned money to go into land acquisition, soft loans and one-sided contracts and agreements. The people, I dare say, want their money to be used prudently to meet their needs – not those of businesses. The people, I dare say, want an efficient public transport system and not some form of luxury travel which they cannot afford and to which they become unwitting and unwilling contributors to a monopoly.

I think I speak for the majority – We would rather spend six hours on a slow train than watch fellow citizens suffer, unable to pay for medical treatment. How many hospitals and how many rural clinics can we build with that kind of money?

If Yeoh and YTL still want to proceed with it, please go ahead without touching our money. You do the feasibility study; you acquire the land at your cost and pay the prevailing market price; you don’t ask for soft loans or handouts from the government, or letters of guarantee for that matter and don’t even ask for protection by asking the existing efficient bus service to be restricted to keep you in business.

After all, Yeoh himself has said that "nobody looks at it as a mega project, an artificial project that you do for prestige". If that’s the case, it’s time to put your money where your mouth is.

Remember this Francis Yeoh? I ain't. But I do remember the quo pro quo in the rich KTM land bank around the Tanjung Pagar train station.

Follow the money! And the gravy train.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

I need to see Si Pin pinned down for his blatant errors. He is the son of Lim Keng Yaik, the ex-minister in charge of Internet governance in Malaysia. He lost to Tian Chua by over 9,000 votes in the Batu parliamentary seat during the recent general election.

This is what was printed on Page 6 of theSun yesterday (April 14, 2008):

It's factually wrong for Si Pin to imply that my blog -- Screenshots -- was "only set up three years ago", or circa 2005.

And for that matter, Shahrir Samad, when he started to have a web presence as a laundryman-turned-golf-equipment supplier, he didn't have a blog. He just had a personal website. Online observers all know this.

Social-political blogging started in Malaysia on January 1, 2003 with Oon Yeoh taking the lead. I started mine one day AFTER his, on January 2, 2003. Oon is still alive to testify this.

I first started Screenshots on blogger.com, then migrated to my own server in May the same year, after visitor traffic increased tremendously.

Umno mouthpiece Berita Harian was swift to hammer me the blogger in October 2004. Blogosphere then took to a new dimension in 2006 when journalist started to blog with eyes open, and names open. After GE2008, even monkeys who used to call bloggers monkeys are now monkeying with blogs.

The rest, like they say, is history, but Si Pin is not part of it.

Just a wild thought. Perhaps, one way to make this son-of-an-ex-minister look smart is to, as soon as possible, get someone throw him a 20% shareholding in one wireless WiMAX company, and another 30% in another wireless WiMAX company, plus perhaps a business radio license to boot. Then we talk blogs.

See pinned?

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

The defamation suit against me, the blogger, is over one year old and no new grounds had been made to face off the plaintiffs -- NSTP & Others -- in the open court.

With or without judiciary reforms in Malaysia, I have decided to take the offensive and take them on, one by one, big man or small man.

I have been asked to set aside another RM12,000.00 for the out-of-pocket cost (paperwork, photostating, filing expenses etc) in defending myself, and I am determined to clear my name. Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan, Hishamuddin Aun and Brendan Pereira, who sued me alongside the listed company, the NSTP, must be prepared to see me to the last drop. It's also time to say all that should be said in the court, with evidence.

Ketuanan Rakyat

Yesterday, April 14, Anwar Ibrahim completed his political jail sentence. One of his keynotes is that the Pakatan Rakyat coalition will be championing people's supremacy (ketuanan rakyat) and will bring about changes to the economy, education and political systems.

People's Power crushed Umno supremacy in five states. Tell me, what else People's Power cannot do to crush Umno's mouthpieces in the print media in this blogger-Internet epoch?

WALK WITH US and watch this space.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

It's stressful to visit Singapore every now and then. Distressing news are bountiful when I dropped in again earlier this week. Harry Lee looks rather bearable as his speed of thoughts has slowed somewhat compared to surfing speed in the broadband world inthe Little Red Dot.

As I am struggling with my sometime-good-sometime-bad broadband (wireless and fixed copper, browned out at below 1Mbps), SingTel just made this shattering news April 9 that it is upgrading its network, and within two years, it will offer wireless broadband speeds of 40 megabits per second -- read FORTY -- which is six times faster than what Singaporeans are enjoying now.

Importantly, the upload speeds, essential for YouTube and rich content auteurs, will also be faster.

The announcement was made by SingTel CEO Allen Lew at the WiMAX Forum Congress Asia. He said the speeds would put Singapore on par with countries like South Korea, which currently has an 18.4Mbps wireless service.

It was also disclosed that, as a trans-regional operator, SingTel would guinea-pig Australia in its new-speed wireless broadband roll-out, to be followed by the Philippines and Singapore. It will then go to India, Indonesia, Thailand and Pakistan.

Had SingTel been allowed to get a license from MCMC, can I safely say that Malaysia will enjoy 40Mbps by 2010 too?

By the way, wireless broadband aside, Singapore is almost ready with its residential fibre-optics network.

By the way again, hot on the heels of Maxis guys, Celcom did send their engineers to meet me at 28th Floor Komtar to sort out the (cellphone-based) HSDPA wireless broadband speed issue in Georgetown area. They must have read my blog. No?

There was a service outage of Maxis wireless broadband on Thursday, actually.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

There are 467 responses to my call for the Research Assistant position to help me in my Parliament work.

I am sieving through the CVs, many of them are excellent ones while a few are long shots. I will get back to the shortlisted ones next week.

Many, many thanks.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am looking for ( 1 ) Little Birds and ( 2 ) a Research Assistant to help me in my duty as a Member of Parliament.

For the post of Research Assistant, the candidate could be a financial analyst or a journalist at the business desk, strong in English and have a penchant for poring volumes of documents and outputting concise executive summaries. It is a job on flexi-hours, working from remote stations using the Internet, and the candidate will be salaried using part of my MP allowance.

Specifically, I am looking for a person who will help me research on

1. Petronas revenue watch (how much revenue is earned, how much Petronas pays to the federal government, and how much it goes to the rakyat);


2. Independent Power Producers (the likes of Malakoff, Powertek, YTL Power, Genting Sanyen etc) and details on the concessionaire agreements; and


3. the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications (re MCMC and the awarding of various classes of licences, background information of real owners of these MCMC licencees, stunted roll-out of 3G and WiMAX services and implementation of Mobile Numbers Portability... and Dr Halim Shafie.)

You may contact me at my email exclusive for my parliamentary work at jelutong AT jeffooi.com.

The Parliament sits from April 28, 2008.

NOTE: I am slowly phasing out the old mobile number 019-3761397. It has been swarmed with over 500 SMSes and hundreds more missed calls, which HAD accumulated since the campaign period and I had no time to read... though Nokia N95 has the capacity to store such huge volume of data on the handset.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

In the aftermath of unprecedented and humiliating defeats in five states and the Federal Territory, will Umno resort to fascism to revive?

That's the concern of author and researcher Dr Ooi Kee Beng at the launching of his new book entitled ‘Lost in Transition: Malaysia under Abdullah’ in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Quote:

“Umno is like (Taiwan’s) Kuomintang (KMT) and other parties in the region who were responsible for independence and a lot of these parties had to reform itself like the KMT - a once dictatorial party is a totally a new party today with the same name.

“It is not given that if Umno reforms itself, it would reform like how KMT did - meaning liberalise and play the democratic game. Fascism is always close at hand.

“We don’t want that to be encouraged. We should work to not crush Umno but help it along in its reforming process,” he told the audience.

Kee Beng is a fellow at the Institute of South East Asian studies in Singapore.

The book is a compilation of articles he wrote on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s governance in the last two year. It is a follow up to his 2006 book, ‘Era of Transition: Malaysia After Mahathir’, which analysed Umno and tests faced by Abdullah after taking over his predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

FASCIST. Look out for potential fascists here, and while the Abdullah Administration is attempting to prosecute non-Muslims for khalwat, lawyer/blogger Malik Imtiaz Sarwar has a piece: A test for the Reform Cabinet.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I wrote in passing on March 15 that Maxis' Huawei-powered wireless broadband didn't give me the HSDPA speed. I noted that, de facto running at UMTS via Network 50212 particularly on March 12 and 13, the service couldn't move the packets at my office which is located on the 28th floor of Komtar, Penang. In desperation, I bought a Celcom/Vodafone version of the same 3.6Mbps application, and the packets did fly!

To my surprise, Maxis folks did read my blog and sent their engineers -- within a week of my blog -- to take the reading of throughput in my office, not once but thrice!

That was because I said reading throughput is like taking readings of blood pressure, once is never accurate. So the guys came back -- with the second and the third time armed with a product of their rival, a Celcom/Vodafone Huawei unit.

The insult is that performance of Celcom/Vodafone tanked at the material time Maxis engineers took comparative readings in my office, in front of my own eyes. Thus far, I have gone back to Maxis and two-time Celcom on on redundancy basis.

And surprisingly again, on the quiet, Maxis has started pumped up to HSDPA in Komtar and Burmah Road areas in Penang last Sunday, though the service was intermittent the whole last week and back to normal now.

I am obligated to give Maxis credit when credit is due.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)