How Pakatan aims to finance its budget

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Rakyat today defended its prosperity for all budget, saying that the fund to finance its RM220 billion allocation would come from various existing revenue sources, loans and other measures to improve income.

The oppositions 2012 shadow budget was criticised for being too simplistic, with some analysts saying the amount was plucked out of thin air and not based on realistic estimations.

Yesterday, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, who unveiled Pakatans budget, said that as much as RM220 billion will be spent to implement measures that will add 20% value into the rakyats money.

PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli told a press briefing that the amount set by Pakatan is not far from the Barisan Nasionals, which is expected to be in the region of RM230 billion.

Based on improved tax collection and increased revenues from oil and gas in 2011, Rafizi said Pakatan expects total government income for next year to stand at RM181 billion, which will not be far from Putrajayas estimate.

Although the estimation will not be much, Rafizi said the focus should not be on the difference in income projections but on the ability to reduce dependence on the profit of national oil company Petronas.

The extent of difference in the amount of government revenue projection will be decided by BNs discipline to keep its hands off from Petronas coffers in the form of dividends he said.

In June, Petronas, whose RM30 billion dividend payout last year formed nearly half the governments revenue, had reached an understanding with the government to fix the dividend payout ratio at 30% of net profits.

Capping Petronas payout

The move, expected to take ! effect i n 2013, came after Petronas said that the dividend payouts are a constraint on the groups growth plans as significant re-investments are necessary to generate future revenues.

Rafizi said Pakatan is committed to helping Petronas achieve its objective and cap the payout to RM26 billion for 2012 as a measure to inject fiscal discipline.

Pakatan also aims to spend RM6.9 billion to provide senior citizens a bonus of RM1,000 per annum; pay RM1,000 to qualified home-makers yearly; pay RM550 to increase welfare aid per recipient; and giving out RM1,000 childcare allowance for qualified families.

The coalition will also spend an additional RM5.9 billion on public services emolument with the payment of RM500 allowance to all teachers and also implementing a mininum wage policy of RM1,100 which would immediately benefit some 300,000 civil servants.

This will be financed by low loans, Rafizi said, adding that other policies to increase income like auctioning off approved permits (APs) will also be implemented.

Auctioning off APs can give us an extra of at least RM1.5 billion, he said, adding that an additional RM5 billion to RM6 billion can easily be acquired by stopping wastage and leakages of public funds.

BNs budget to cost more

The loans will also help Pakatan finance its plans to maintain RM22 billion worth of subsidies on basic goods which, it said, is necessary to contain inflation.

Therefore, BN criticisms that Pakatan has no means of funding the budget merely exposes the BN to ridicule when the governments own budget is expected to cost a lot more, Rafizi said.

DAP international secretary Liew Chin Tong denied that Pakatans budget is populist in nature.

Liew, the Bukit Bendera MP, said the minimum wage policy and increased salary for civil servants are necessary steps to push Malaysia to become a high-income nation.

The move is expected to trigger salary adjustments resulting in higher wages across the board thr! oughout the public and private sectors and this will help the economy by strengthening domestic consumption, he said.

Calendar or Bookmark?

ANYTAKERS

The 3 M - Who's the richest man?

The mounting pressure from 18 days of historic protests finally drove Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from office, after 30-years as his nations iron-fisted ruler. But the dictator should not shed a single drop of tear because the fortune he amassed is more than enough to finance his retirement comfortably. It would be nice and jaw-dropping if Forbes can compile the worlds richest dictators or politicians simply because it would put worlds richest man, Mexican Carlos Slim (worth about US$54 billion) and Bill Gates (net worth about US$53 billion) to shame.

Armed with suspended constitution for 30 years, Hosni Mubarak was in virtually every piece of business deal in the country thanks to guaranteed profit from monopolies, red-tape fees, bribery fees, nepotism and whatnot. The British Guardian newspaper estimated the wealth of Mubarak and his family at somewhere between US$40 billion and US$70 billion. Thats about US$1 billion to US$2 billion net profit annually on average, not bad for a job as a president ruling a nation with GDP per capita of just $6,300.

In fact, Mubarak knew it was game over when the protesters persisted even after he cut the nations internet access and use of forces to intimidate the tens of hundreds of protesters. And his delayed exit was definitely not to pray for a dignified exit but rather to buy time to move money around and hide significant parts of his fortune. If former Philippine President Marcos had US$684 million on deposits in various Swiss banks alone, expect nothing less than that from Mubaraks Swiss accounts. The Swiss government has said it is temporarily freezing any assets in Swiss banks that could be linked to Mubarak.

Believed to have flown to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, much of Mubaraks wealth were from! investm ent deals in British and Swiss banks or tied up in upmarket real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast, not to mention commissions from arm deals. Mubaraks half-Welsh wife, Suzanne and their sons, Gamal and Alaa, accumulated wealth through partnerships with foreign investors and companies. Mubaraks wifes fortune alone was estimated at about US$5 billion.

Regardless whether Mubaraks wealth is US$40 billion, US$70 billion or more, the fact remains that tracking the money trail would be almost impossible,let alone claiming it back to the people of Egypt. If the Philippine government couldnt even bring back billions of dollars plundered by former dictator Marcos more than 20 years after his death, what more can the new government of Egypt do to recover it with todays information technology?

Obviously top army officials were on Mubaraks payroll judging from his ease of exit from the country. Mubarak may no be the President of Egypt anymore but his tentacles are still in the country. His worry is not about money but more on possible prosecution or assassination. But if you think Hosni Mubarak is the richest man on earth, wait till you hear what has former dictator Mahathir Mohamad plundered. How about US$100 billion?

Using the same rule of thumb that Mubarak earned about US1 billion to US2 billion annually, Mahathirs wealth easily top US$22 to US$44 billion over his 22-year of iron-fist rule. However Malaysia has more natural resources than Egypt and economically, Malaysia is richer although not necessary less corrupted than Egypt. Just like Egypt, corruption in Malaysia is so entrenched that every institutions are tainted from the monarchy, judiciary, executive, legislature to the! lowest ranking policemen on the street. Hence Mahathir is easily worth more than that.

If theres one factor that is separating Malaysia from Egypt, thats unemployment. The present government of Malaysia may be more corrupt than previous Mubaraks administration but Malaysias ruling party is smart enough to generate jobs in various government departments especially to cater for the ethnic-Malay, though the jobs created are not needed. If theres one group that would take to the street just like the Egypt uprising, it would be the ethnic-Malay themselves.

As long as the Malaysia government can provide them with jobs, the scale of demonstration seen in Egypt would not happen in Malaysia. And as long as PM Najib Razak and his mentor Mahathir Mohamad can keep the pace in feeding these mouths and play the racial cards in their divide and rule doctrine,they can rule the country for many more decades and in the process continue to plunder the country.

By the time theyre ousted from the country the same way as Marcos and Mubarak, provided there would be an uprising of the same scale as Egypt in the first place, Mahathir and his followers could easily become the richest man on earth. And if theres an uprising in Malaysia, do not expect any friendly police or military men in sympathy of the demonstrators. Again, Malaysia is very different from Egypt so an uprising of such stamina and scale is very distant.

Finance Twitter

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Who make Malaysia famous? Lim Goh Tong (Every tourist come to Malaysia ask to visit Genting.)

Who give Malaysia a bad name and act treason to the country? Mahathir Kutty (Corruption and Racism! .)

Submarines and sex sink Najib

Mariam Mokhtar
12:13PM Oct 3

It is worthy of a spy novel and has all the elements of a crime thriller - sex, scandal, sabotage involving models, fast cars, Swiss bank accounts and clandestine dealings from Paris to Putrajaya, Chile to Cherbourg and Mazagon to Macao.

The only difference is that the talk by the French lawyer Joseph Breham (left) in London last Friday, Sept 30, was not a work of fiction but was centred around the Malaysian government and its dealings with French politicians over the sale of submarines and weapons.

Allegations of corruption to secure a sale and the cover-up of the corruption have serious implications for the citizens and governments of both nations.

Although details of the case are mired in secrecy for the time being, the reaction of the Malaysian government has veered from mild indifference, when it refused to order an investigation into the irregular dealings surrounding the submarine sales, to abject panic, when the French lawyer William Bourdon, who was also handling the complaint on behalf of the Malaysian NGO Suaram, was deported from Malaysia last July.

Breham who is a part of the Solicitors International Human Rights Group (SIHRG), together with Suaram's director, Cynthia Gabriel, presented the latest findings on the high-profile investigation into kickbacks allegedly paid by the French state-owned shipbuilder, DCN, to Malaysian officials, including Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The talk was poorly attended, despite the importance of this chapter of Malaysian history. A group of 50 people turned up and Najib might take comfort from this! , and th ink that no one really cares about the outcome of the Scorpene trials.

Najib made the fall guy?

It is possible that Najib might be relieved. On the other hand, he might be saddled with the thought that the trial, which might only happen in the next two to five years, is reason enough for the chief puppeteer, former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed, to make him the fall-guy, for sake of party unity, before GE-13.

Suaram had requested French lawyers to file a complaint against DCN in Paris in December 2009 and again in February 2010.

During the talk, Breham presented the developments in the corruption case whilst Gabriel provided the setting of the case in the wider context of corruption involving Malaysian government officials.

Breham said that the Scorpene-class of diesel submarines sold by DCN to India, Pakistan, Chile and Malaysia were all mired in controversy. There have been several deaths in Taiwan and Pakistan.

A Taiwanese naval officer who was about to divulge secrets about the deal, died in mysterious circumstances. In Karachi, several French engineers died in what was initially thought to be an Al-Qaeda plot but was later believed to be the work of the Pakistan military brass, in retaliation for their kick-backs being withheld.

Breham explained that DCN often use eight to 12 percent of its total receipts as "commission" - another word for corruption. However, in this particular sale, Malaysia paid around US$1.5 billion to buy two Scorpenes and one declassified submarine for training.

Another US$114 million had been paid to Perimekar for "supporting the contract", another euphemism for unexplained costs, and also for "housing the crew" of the submarine, in France.

Breham expressed incredulity that such a vast sum of money could be paid to Perimekar, a company with close links to the ! then def ence minister, who is now the PM, Najib Abdul Razak.

Around 30 percent of the shares in Perimekar are held by KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd, a company that was set-up just before the payout of US$114 million and has done little since.

Perimekar's main shareholder is a woman, whose husband is Razak Baginda, Najib's confidante. Razak was charged with and acquitted of the murder of translator Altantuya Shaaribuu.

Breham likened the US$114 million obtained by Ombak Laut with the total amount of money paid by France to all of its primary school teachers for one year.

He also revealed that the former finance director of DCN had written memos, in which he alleged that US$31 million out of the US$114 million had been used for "commercial engineering", a term Breham acknowledged held no meaning.

Breham said that in France, before 2002, any money used to bribe foreign officials was tax deductible. When the former finance director of DCN made a claim for the US$31 million used to bribe the Malaysians for the purchase of the Scorpenes, the Minister of Budget questioned such a large bribe, although he did eventually authorise the tax break.

The French lawyer then mentioned a possible third commission, which arose because of the different mechanisms with which submarines dived in hot and cold water.

The Malaysian submarines had to be modified to operate in tropical waters and this meant altering the technical specifications. A variation order was made which incurred a further US$2.5 million.

Breham concluded that the only doubt about the US$114 million payment, which is reflected in Perimekar's financial stat! ements, was whether the payment was for valid reasons or unethical ones.

However, when the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) convention was signed, it became a crime to bribe foreign public officials in international business transactions. Therefore, the alleged bribery by a French company of Malaysian officials became an offence under French law.

Suaram had approached the French lawyers with evidence from the French Hansard. The French lawyers approached the French judges with this.

The French legal system is different from Britain's or Malaysia's. There has to be a preliminary enquiry run by the prosecutor. The prosecutor in France is under the control of the Minister of Justice. As long as the case is under preliminary enquiry, no one has access to the files, so that any information the police have obtained cannot be shared.

Criminal and civil trials to be held

In April 2010, Suaram filed a plainte avec constitution de partie civile' complaint, which is a criminal prosecution with a concurrent independent action for civil damages.

The result of this, is that there will be two trials: One is a criminal trial and the second is a civil trial for compensation.

This has two great advantages. First, an independent instruction judge is appointed for the civil case. Second, Suaram becomes a party to the case and it can then have access to all the files about the case and can ask questions of the instruction judge and request that he investigates on its behalf.

There is a huge struggle in France between the prosecution and the instruction judge. President Sarkozy is also under question from "Karachigate" and he wants to avoid the appointment of an instruction judge, in this case. The political power in France wants to erase the instruction judge so that it can keep these huge cases under control.

Nevertheless, both Breham and Suaram are confident that an instruction judge will be appointed before the end of this mont! h.
Breham says that unlike a prosecutor, this independent judge has investigative powers to subpoena officials from DCN, and access documents in the DCN offices to obtain evidence of commissions. The judge can also request "mutual criminal assistance" from the Malaysian authorities for purposes of information and cooperation.

The instruction judge could make inquires about plane tickets and immigration details and could investigate the politicians with whom Altantuya travelled to Macau.

He could also ask why Malaysian officials forgot about the maintenance contract for the submarines.

He could question why the Malaysians omitted to buy weapons for the submarines, one of which one cannot dive.

The Malaysian government may not comply with the requests of the instruction judge, but the Malaysian government is not the only possible source of information.

YTL Corp Shares - Another Target by KWSP

Dear Tan Sri,

Good morning.

It is noted that KWSP has been accumulating YTL Corp shares. It is further noted that while PNB is targeting SPSetia and may be some other companies KWSP is also accumulating shares of certain companies including YTL. You will definitely have observed this 'piratization' of the corporate sector and would have taken appropriate remedial measures to retain control of YTL gems. However it may not be easy to fight/compete with the two giants controlled by a single party. Even AMMB shares are not being spared. Controlling shareholders of Sunway and YNH are buying their own shares but then how long will they be able to hold, It looks like political connections may not come to assist this time around for any one corporate leaders. The common denominator in all these companies is that the assets are undervalued and thus ready for picking. The new owners may make these gems to rocks and loss making appears to be of little concern to them. Just look at the six plantation profitable companies which were merged under Sime Darby [which is substantially owned by PNB under Synergy Drive] which can be deemed to be disasters compared to their original values.

Unknown source

Chinese English oldie

You might like this. It's so hilarious... ..even an Englishman could not construct sentences using numeric, which is exclusive only to Malaysians and Singaporeans.

Ah Lek was asked to make a sentence using 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10. Not only did he do it 1 to 10, he did it again from 10 back to 1.

This is what he came up with.... 1 day I go 2 climb a 3 outside a house to peep. But the couple saw me, so I panic and 4 down. The man rushed out and wanted to 5 with me. I ran until I fell 6 and threw up. So I go into 7-eleven and grabbed some 8 to throw at him. Then I took a 9 and try to stab at him. 10 God he run away.

10 I put the 9 back and pay for the 8 and left 7-eleven. Next day I called my boss and told him I was 6. He said 5 , tomorrow also no need to come back 4 work. He also asked me to go climb a3 and jump down! I don't understand. I am so nice 2 him but I don't know what he 1.

Soalan & Jawapan YB Nurul Izzah-MP Lembah Pantai Penggal Ke-4 Mesyuarat Ke-3

NO. SOALAN : 43

PEMBERITAHUAN PERTANYAAN DEWAN RAKYAT

PERTANYAAN : LISAN

DARIPADA : PUAN NURUL IZZAN BINTI ANWAR

[ LEMBAH PANTAI ]

TARIKH : 3 OKTOBER 2011 (ISNIN)

SOALAN :

Puan Nurul Izzah Binti Anwar [ Lembah Pantai ] minta PERDANA MENTERI menyatakan milik siapa pesawat Airbus A319-IIX yang digunakan semasa percutian YAB. Perdana Menteri di Perth, Australia serta kekerapan penggunaan pesawat dan kos terbabit.

JAWAPAN : (DATO SERI MOHAMED NAZRI BIN ABDUL AZIZ)

Tuan Yang Di-Pertua,

Mulai 3 Ogos 2007, Kerajaan telah menyewa sebuah Pesawat Airbus A319 daripada Syarikat Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad (PMB) untuk kegunaan VVIP Kerajaan meliputi Seri Paduka Baginda yang di-Pertuan Agong, YAB Perdana Menteri dan YAB Timbalan Perdana Menteri.

Bagi tempoh Januari sehingga Ogos 2011 kekerapan penggunaan pesawat adalah meliputi 155 sektor di dalam dan luar negara dengan kos penggunaan berjumlah RM9,158,430.45 yang meliputi kos bahan api pesawat, parking & handling charges, sajian dan logistic krew pesawat.

Sekian, terima kasih.

Perkasa minta siasat transaksi saham Sime Darby-E&O

KUALA LUMPUR: Pertubuhan Peribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa) hari ini mengemukakan aduan kepada Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) berhubung isu pembelian 30 peratus ekuiti syarikat Eastern & Oriental Berhad (E&O) bernilai RM776 juta oleh Sime Darby Berhad (Sime Darby).

Laporan itu dibuat oleh Ketua Penerangan Perkasa Ruslan Kasim di Bangunan SPRM Wilayah Persekutuan, Jalan Cochrane di sini petang tadi.

Bercakap kepada pemberita, Ruslan berkata siasatan terperinci perlu dibuat jika wujudnya krisis kepentingan, penyelewengan dan salah laku penjawat awam ke atas transaksi dagang dan pembelian saham terbabit yang berharga RM2.30 seunit.

Ruslan berkata, transaksi berprofil tinggi dalam jangka masa singkat menunjukkan timbulnya keraguan tentang peranan yang dimainkan oleh Pengerusi Suruhanjaya Sekuriti (SC) Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar dalam transaksi yang melibatkan suaminya sendiri yang juga Pengerusi Bukan Eksekutif E&O Datuk Azizan Abdul Rahman.

Insider trading

Beliau mendakwa wujud aktiviti dagangan dalaman (insider trading) memandangkan beberapa pengarah E&O termasuk Datuk Azizan didapati telah membeli saham syarikat tersebut sebelum diumumkan pembelian 30 peratus oleh Sime Darby.

Walaupun Zarinah terpaksa mengumumkan beliau tidak campur tangan dalam siasatan berkaitan dengan urusan tersebut, tetapi apakah tiada kemungkinan imej dan pengaruh yang dimilikinya sebagai Pegerusi SC dapat pula mempengaruhi sebarang tindakan dan keputusan sepanjang siasatan dilakukan.

Kenapa dalam keadaan baru lepas menanggung kerugian berbilion ringgit, Sime Darby sanggup membayar sehingga 60 peratus lebih dari har! ga pasar an E&O?, soal Ruslan selain turut membangkit persoalan penglibatan individu yang menjadi dalang dalam permainan transaksi ini.

Sehubungan itu, beliau mendesak SPRM bertindak dengan segera menyiasat isu ini tanpa pilih bulu sama ianya melibatkan ikan paus atau ikan bilis dan mengheret mereka yang terlibat ke muka pengadilan jika terbukti wujudnya salah guna kuasa.

Siasatan ini amat diperlukan sekaligus bagi melindungi dan menjamin ketelusan, kewibawaan dan integriti sebuah badan pengawas selia kewangan sektor awam berprofil tinggi seperti SC, katanya.

Isu membabitkan Azizan timbul selepas beliau didakwa telah membeli kira-kira 450,000 saham syarikat hartanah daripada pasaran terbuka membabitkan lima transaksi berasingan sejak April dan Ogos tahun ini.

Tiga daripada transaksi dibuat antara Julai dan Ogos dan transaksi terakhir membabitkan pembelian 100,000 saham pada 12 Ogos lalu.

Penguasaan itu menjadikan Sime Darby sebagai pemegang saham terbesar dalam syarikat hartanah yang memiliki Hotel E&O di Pulau Pinang.

Sementara itu, SC yang diketuai dua pegawai kanannya Datuk Francis Tan dan Datuk Gumuri Hussain telah mula melakukan siasatan menyemak transaksi saham E&O-Sime Darby sejak bulan lalu, manakala Zarinah terpaksa menarik diri dalam siasatan itu.

Analysts pour cold water on shadow budget

PETALING JAYA: While lauding Pakatan Rakyat for announcing its shadow budget for 2012, several analysts said the budget failed to address many fundamental issues plaguing the nations economy.

Yesterday, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim announced its RM220 billion shadow budget, themed Prosperity for All, which he said was aimed at overhauling the countrys flawed macro and micro economic management.

Anwar also said that, among others, the Pakatan budget would look into assisting the poor by allocating RM22 billion in subsidies for basic goods and ensuring long-term fiscal survival which would focus on trimming the nations deficit.

Calling it a populist budget, analyst Khoo Kay Peng said the budget was too focused on pleasing the civil servants at the expense of the nations coffers.

While other countries such as Greece and Japan were trimming down their civil service, Khoo said Malaysias political parties were more focused on increasing the civil servants perks to fish for votes.

I have no issue with increasing their salaries but we must remember that our civil service is over-bloated, said Khoo.

He added that to solve the problem, a massive structural reform was needed to reduce the dependence on foreign labour.

Strong political will needed

Khoo said the problem arose when the private sector, in a bid to reduce costs, hired foreigners to fill its vacancies at the expense of locals.

As a result, he said, the local skilled and unskilled workforce was deprived of jobs.

And fearing a political backlash, the government absorbs these unemployed locals into the civil service, he said.

Khoo added that to solve the problem, bo! th the g overnment and private sector must come together to create jobs and ensure only locals are hired.

But a strong political will is needed, he said.

Centre for Strategic Development chief executive officer Fui K Soong said Pakatans budget should find ways of increasing the nations revenue base instead of being too focused on expenditure.

She said one way was for Pakatan to formulate policies that would promote growth in the private sector to increase the tax base that would eventually generate more income for the country.

Plucked out of thin air

Praising Pakatan for introducing a minimum wage for civil servants, Fui reminded the opposition pact that the policy must be linked to an increase in productivity.

We must remember that a minimum wage policy is a tool to prevent abuses by employers and to look after the workers welfare; it is not a way to eradicate poverty, she said.

Soong also said that the shadow budget, while explaining expenditure, did not elaborate much on how much income is to be collected to foot the bill and the sources of revenue.

It didnt address on how to expand our revenue base as well, she said.

Bursa Malaysia director Mohd Tap Salleh said the RM220 billion figure seemed to have been plucked out of thin air.

We can always say we can give this and that but where is the money coming from? asked Mohd Tap.

On the RM22 billion subsidy bill, Mohd Tap said Pakatans budget should address the need to reduce subsidy instead of increasing it as the government would be unable to sustain the subsidies due to escalating prices in the global market.

Our subsidy level is one of the highest in the region. If you dont reduce it, our deficit will soar to an alarming level, he said.

As of 2009, Malaysias deficit stood at 7% of the Gross Domestic Product.

On the proposed pay hike for civil servants, Mohd Tap said it would be best if the funds were channelled to development projects.

Its bes! t we use the funds to improve our public transport system and other development projects, he said.

Also read:

Bajet 2012 Pakatan realistik

Pakatans prosperity for all budget

Thailand rushes condoms to flood victims

BANGKOK: Thailand scrambled Wednesday to airlift condoms and other emergency health supplies to victims of its worst floods in decades to prevent a feared surge in unplanned pregnancies.

Five helicopters began transporting medicine and other provisions from the Public Health Ministry in Bangkok to seven locations in the central province of Lop Buri, which has been severely inundated.

Local volunteers told us that villagers have nothing to do during the floods, so to prevent a baby boom we added condoms too, an official at the Emergency Medical Institute of Thailand told AFP.

The unusually severe monsoon floods have killed 237 people and affected three-quarters of the country, including the northern city of Chiang Mai and the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, both popular tourist destinations.

Millions of people have suffered damage to their homes or livelihoods because of the floods, which are several metres deep in places.

The military has been deployed to help victims and army camps are being opened to evacuees.

Authorities were battling to stop the floods reaching the centre of low-lying Bangkok, as forecasters warned of more stormy weather to come.

Science and technology minister Plodprasop Suraswadi admitted the government was fighting a losing battle.

We cant stop it raining and its difficult to drain water into the sea. We have done everything we can but its not enough, he told reporters.

-AFP

Perodua hopes to export to South Africa soon

RAWANG: Perodua hopes its plan to export its vehicles to South Africa will become a reality in the next one or two years, managing director Aminar Rashid said today.

Perodua, through Daihatsu, is currently in preliminary discussions with certain parties in South Africa for that purpose, he said.

We would love to go to South Africa but it is not finalised yet. We are in preliminary talks via Daihatsu on various issues like the models to be exported and whether it will be under Perodua brand or Daihatsu brand.

If its under Perodua, there are a lot to be done such as branding and identification of distributors. If we export under Daihatsu brand, well just ride through the existing network.

Hopefully, it will become a reality in the next one or two years, its within our five-year roadmap, he told Bernama in an interview.

Under the roadmap, Perodua aims to export between 20,000 and 25,000 vehicles by 2015, he said.

In meeting the target, Aminar said Perodua planned to increase its export to the countries it was currently exporting and also expand its export market to other right-hand-drive countries.

While focusing on the right-hand-drive countries, he said Perodua would also venture into left-hand-drive nations within Asia, including Vietnam, Cambodia and Middle East countries.

Our focus is the right-hand-drive and existing countries where we are now. We want to manage the business, the after-sales business, image and branding. The left-hand-drive countries will come after that, he said.

Aminar stressed that the main criterion was that the cars should be manufactured at its plants in Malaysia.

The vehicles must have world standard. We also want to see the standards in these countries are the ! same as Malaysias and therefore, easy to export, he said.

Aminar said the export number for this year would be 8,000 units of which 4,000 units are exported to Sri Lanka.

Perodua exports under its Perodua brand to seven countries, namely Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, Singapore, Brunei, Mauritius, Fiji and Nepal.

A total of 650 units are currently exported to the UK while the rest to the other five countries.

The company exports 3,000 units to Indonesia under the Daihatsu brand.

He also said Peroduas move to launch the new 1.3 litre Myvi in Mauritius and Sri Lanka soon was in sync with its plan to sell bigger engine models in the two countries.

We want to test the market. Our Viva, with 4,000 units in Sri Lanka, is quite a big market. We want to have a slightly bigger engine, he said.

Aminar said Perodua was currently working on its export number for next year.

Weve not done the (export) number for next year due to the uncertainties in the global economy. Well be crunching a lot of numbers with our distributors in the next three to four months and will announce the number by year-end or early next year, he said.

Aminar said Perodua also exported engine components to Pakistan, Indonesia and Japan and expected RM45 million revenue for this year from these components.

- Bernama

Because of ex-Minister's house, MRT tunnel realigned...

A comparison between the original alignment and the revised alignment.
Diagram courtesy of Tony Pua

Pakatan Rakyat MPs have questioned the double standards of the Land Public Transport Commission (or Spad by its Malay acronym) in realigning the MRT tunnel near Damansara in order to bypass property belonging to a VIP.

Petaling Jaya Utara Tony Pua revealed at a press conference in the Parliament lobby today that the luxury mansion - which was in the path of the MRT tunnel in the original project plan - has been mysteriously saved.

original alignment

"The original plans clearly show the tunnel passing underneath the VIP bungalow... However for reasons best known to the authorities, the work on the original site (was) stopped (and) the tunnel portal relocated," he said. Asked for the identity the property owner, Pua would not reveal it.

He showed the media copies of what he claimed were the before and after plans for the tunnel. This, he claimed, happened via a variation order that was issued even though work was in progress, requiring the contractor to realign the tunnel away from the property located near Jalan Damansara and Jalan Duta.

revised alignment

The government must explain its hypocrisy and double standards in dealing with the issue, he said. Pua pointed out that other property are slated to be acquired by Spad, as the MRT tunnel will run below buildings in Jalan Bukit Bintang, Taman Tun Dr Ismail and the heritage-rich Jalan Sultan.

Spad had previously argued that it cannot deviate from its plans, a stance that has apparently been flouted in this case.

"The costly and last-minute change flies in the face of Spad and Pemandu's arguments that the tunnel route has been optimised and finalised and no longer subject to change," decried Pua.

Political intervention

Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, who was present, said the incident bodes ill for the public perception of Spad which, as this case has painted, seems to be open to political intervention.

"They seem to bend to the political will of the powers-that-be," she said. More importantly, Nurul said, it shows that well-connected individuals are given special consideration by the government, which then ignores the plight of hundreds of other property owners affected by arbitrary land acquisition by Spad.

Fong Kui Loon, DAP's Bukit Bintang parliamentarian, said that if such realignment was possible to "save" the VIP's house, then similar detours can be made for more noble reasons.

Rerouting the MRT tunnel through Jalan Tan Cheng Lok would save some 38 heritage buildings in Jalan Sultan, he added.

source:malaysiakini

Terowong MRT dilencong bagi elak rumah VIP

MRT line changed to save ex-ministers house, claim Pakatan MPs

Sesiapa yang tahu nama ex-Minister tu tolong2 kongsi mai....

cheers.

Because of VIP's house, MRT tunnel realigned...

Pakatan Rakyat MPs have questioned the double standards of the Land Public Transport Commission (or Spad by its Malay acronym) in realigning the MRT tunnel near Damansara in order to bypass property belonging to a VIP.

Petaling Jaya Utara Tony Pua revealed at a press conference in the Parliament lobby today that the luxury mansion - which was in the path of the MRT tunnel in the original project plan - has been mysteriously saved.

original alignment

"The original plans clearly show the tunnel passing underneath the VIP bungalow... However for reasons best known to the authorities, the work on the original site (was) stopped (and) the tunnel portal relocated," he said. Asked for the identity the property owner, Pua would not reveal it.

He showed the media copies of what he claimed were the before and after plans for the tunnel. This, he claimed, happened via a variation order that was issued even though work was in progress, requiring the contractor to realign the tunnel away from the property located near Jalan Damansara and Jalan Duta.

revi! sed alig nment

The government must explain its hypocrisy and double standards in dealing with the issue, he said. Pua pointed out that other property are slated to be acquired by Spad, as the MRT tunnel will run below buildings in Jalan Bukit Bintang, Taman Tun Dr Ismail and the heritage-rich Jalan Sultan.

Spad had previously argued that it cannot deviate from its plans, a stance that has apparently been flouted in this case.

"The costly and last-minute change flies in the face of Spad and Pemandu's arguments that the tunnel route has been optimised and finalised and no longer subject to change," decried Pua.

Political intervention

Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, who was present, said the incident bodes ill for the public perception of Spad which, as this case has painted, seems to be open to political intervention.

"They seem to bend to the political will of the powers-that-be," she said. More importantly, Nurul said, it shows that well-connected individuals are given special consideration by the government, which then ignores the plight of hundreds of other property owners affected by arbitrary land acquisition by Spad.

Fong Kui Loon, DAP's Bukit Bintang parliamentarian, said that if such realignment was possible to "save" the VIP's house, then similar detours can be made for more noble reasons.

Rerouting the MRT tunnel through Jalan Tan Cheng Lok would save some 38 heritage buildings in Jalan Sultan, he added.

source:malaysiakini

Terowong MRT dilencong bagi elak rumah VIP
cheers.

Quantas strike: Airline executives receive death threats

SYDNEY: Qantas boss Alan Joyce has received a death threat, managers have been sent menacing letters and strike-breaking workers bullied amid a bitter industrial dispute, the airline said Wednesday.

Qantas is facing industrial revolt from all three of its staff unions the Transport Workers Union and those representing pilots and engineers after announcing plans to cut 1,000 workers as it focuses business towards Asia.

The carrier said Joyce had been the victim of threats, without going into details, but one letter reportedly told the Irish chief executive: Its coming soon Paddy. You cant even see it.

The Unions will fight you Qantas is our airline, started & staffed by Australians, not foreign filth like you, the Sydney Daily Telegraph reported the typed threat as reading in part.

The letter said Joyces evil plans would come back to haunt him and he would be kicked out of the country, the Telegraph reported.

The paper also said senior Qantas staff had their car windows smashed and houses damaged after refusing to strike.

A spokeswoman for the airline confirmed that Joyce had received a death threat but added: We cant go into any details.

Qantas corporate affairs director Olivia Wirth, who admitted she had also received threats, said workers who chose not to take part in strike action had been bullied and intimidated.

Joyce said Qantas management had received menacing correspondence, including to their homes in what he described as abhorrent, and illegal acts.

Those who are in the business of using threats, violence and intimidation to obtain their industrial ends should know this: these tactics are cowardly and deplorable, Joyce wrote in a memo to 35! ,000 sta ff.

They will not work. Anyone who is caught will face the full consequences.

Unions are locked in protracted contract talks with Qantas and its Asia restructuring plans have inflamed tensions, with workers demanding guarantees on pay and conditions under the airlines new strategy.

Qantas doubled its annual net profit to Aus$250 million ($239 million) in August and upped Joyces pay by 71 percent to Aus$5 million, angering staff facing job cuts.

But the unions denied any involvement in the threats and questioned Qantas decision to make them public.

Union officials have also been on the receiving end of threatening messages, Transport Workers Union (TWU) national secretary Tony Sheldon said.

Sheldon showed nine emails to reporters in Sydney, including one which read: You lazy dirty bunch of scabs. Pulling strikes at this time of year has finally made all TWU members the most hated in the country.

Another said: The next bus leaves at midday BE UNDER IT.

Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association federal secretary Steve Purvinas said threatening behaviour was unacceptable and should be taken to the police.

He said it was a possibility the threats had been concocted to garner public support for the airline, which is considered a national icon.

But I dont think that Alan (Joyce) has written a letter to himself for that purpose, he told ABC Radio.

Without naming the company or people involved, New South Wales police said they had investigated a threatening letter sent to a senior executive in May.

The author was identified and the matter finalised, a spokeswoman said.

Police were still investigating an incident last month in which an employee received a threatening letter and several phone calls at their home address which were hung up once answered, she said.

Officials are also attempting to confirm reports of malicious damage to cars at a company car park, she added.

-AFP

My wish-list for Budget 2012

FMT LETTER

From Faizah Zainal, via e-mail

The 2012 budget will be tabled by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak this Friday. Meanwhile Pakatan Rakyat tabled their own shadow budget yesterday.

Im not anticipating Najib to listen to any suggestions by the people to improve the living standards of the people as previous budgets had very much focussed on benefiting high income earners.

Perhaps this year there will be more goodies for the people but I expect it to be more beneficial to government servants rather than private sectors employees or ordinary citizens

My proposals are for low income and medium income citizens:

1 Tax free eye wear

Abolish the tax for eye wear and spectacle frames to cut down the prices. A double focal lens for short sighted and long sighted person may cost at least RM400. This means with the frame and other requirements such as ultra-violet coating and anti-glare coating, it will cost more than RM500. Even for a person earning RM2,000 per month, this will be more than one fourth his salary.

2 Abolish tax of spare parts for motorbikes below 150cc

Even though motorbike models below 150cc are assembled locally, most of the spare parts are sourced from Japan and China. By abolishing this tax, more Malaysians will be able to afford to buy motorbikes. The prices of major motorbike models from Japan below 110cc increased extensively the past eight years, from RM3,000 plus to RM6,000 plus.

3 Abolish various government taxes for cars below 1,800cc including import cars

This will create more people to afford to buy quality cars and have wider options as car ownership is not seen as luxury anymore but a necessity. Currently car selling prices include 40% of various government taxes including sales tax and excise tax. A car sold for RM100,000 actually only cost RM60,000 without taxes.

Its ironic that our national car Pro! ton and Perodua are sold cheaper in the UK even if we convert their currency to ringgit.

4 Buy over the stage bus operation or give incentives

The government under former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad had merged all the independent bus companies into two major consortiums which eventually became a failure. The once reliable stage bus operations between intra-district are now nowhere to be seen in small towns in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Malacca.

People and students without transport are suffering in many parts of nation. So its the responsibility of the government to revive again once popular stage bus services by taking over these stage buses.

Alternatively, the government should give a five-year profit tax exemption for the companies to be stable since it will take few years for the people to familiarise and rely on the state bus services again.

Tax exemptions also can be given to purchase new buses for the state bus routes as it will take at least 10 years for them to recoup their investment. It will cost about a half million to import a bus.

5 Stop the rice and sugar monopoly

The government must stop the rice and sugar monopoly that is only enjoyed by one or two particular companies at the moment, and let the open market determine the prices.

I choose not to include few other proposals like toll abolishment and reducing electricity tariffs as these are already a popular proposal by Pakatan.

Critics may say if too many tax exemptions are given, it may affect the governments cash flow. However, I believe there is sufficient income for government from the tax payers and other investments to absorb all those tax exemptions proposed by me but the government is not prudent enough in spending.

British home gets Sistine Chapel makeover

BRIGHTON: A retired British decorator has transformed his home by covering its interior in renaissance-style murals to emulate the Sistine Chapel after being inspired by a book about the Vatican.

Robert W Burns, 64, swapped his roller for a more delicate paintbrush after buying the book from a car boot sale.

Id never painted anything, I mean other than I was a decorator, Burns said. With a bit of sort of trial and error, I surprised myself that I can actually paint a renaissance picture.

He began the ambitious redecoration of his council-owned home in 2003.

Eight years later, nearly every surface in his state-owned two-bedroom house in Brighton, on Britains south coast, is covered in intricate paintings in the style of famous masters such as Michelangelo.

Unlike the artists who inspired his work, Burns paints in watercolour, not oil.

He also allowed himself some modern touches including a portrait of his wife and another of controversial British actor Russell Brand as Jesus.

During the transformation, Burns questioned whether he had gone too far, but his wife urged him to see it through.

I had to say to her, at one stage, is this a bit over the top, because the house was sort of slowly morphing into the Vatican, and she said, No, youve started, carry on!

Now its complete, Burns is delighted with the outcome.

Im very proud of it, Id show anybody around the house, which I do, even when workmen come in, I always do the tour. Theyre actually blown away!

Burns is worried his hard work may be erased should he and his wife move out of their home.

Obviously, you have to leave the house in the condition that you found it, so Ill probably have to paint it out, just white ceilings and magnolia walls, Burns said.

He is now painting on canvasses so he will have something to take away if they choose to relocate.

But the council say they will not ask Burns to repaint for new tenants.

A council spokeswoman said: Mr Burns de! coration would not be painted over if and when the property became available to be re-let.

However, in such exceptional circumstances as these, if the incoming tenant objected to the designs, the council could offer some assistance with the cost of redecorating.

Until then Burns is looking for a way to keep his precious paintwork in place permanently.

Id like to try and get the national newspapers in to buy it for the nation, he said.

- AFP

Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 (Part 8 of 10)

7 Thrust 3: Empowering Malaysians

7.1 Political Reforms- Democracy Now
Five decades on, democracy as practised in Malaysia today is little more than a shade of its former glory as various key public institutions have been routinely compromised by an unchecked Federal Government. Thus, Pakatan Rakyat is committed to immediately implementing the following reforms:

• To revoke all existing emergency proclamations and repeal all laws that provide for detention without trial, as outlined in the draft Emergency Revocation Act (Akta Pemansuhan Darurat) submitted by Pakatan Rakyat in the March 2011 parliamentary session.

• To restructure the Public Complaints Bureau (Biro Pengaduan Awam) into an Ombudsman institution.

• To place key public institutions including the Auditor-Generals Department, Department of Statistics, Judicial Appointments Commission, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (SPRM), the Election Commission (SPR), and the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM), and an Ombudsman institution under the purview of Parliament.

• To ensure freedom of the media by removing all discretionary licensing requirements via the repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984. In lieu of this, an independent and self-regulating media council will be put in place.

• Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) as an institution will be managed by media professionals, based on the example of the BBC, and placed under the purview of Parliament.

• To restore academic freedom and autonomy of Malaysian universities by repealing the University and University Colleges Act (AUKU) 1971, thereby freeing students from the stranglehold of the Student Affairs Department (HEP). Leadership of public universities will be based on merit.

• To abolish the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and enact a Freedom of Information Act at all levels of government, equipped with the necessary infrastructure. This w! ill ensu re access to all information of public interest, with the exception being matters genuinely connected to national security.

• A white paper on strategic defence issues and geopolitical challenges will be prepared.

• Procurement shall be governed by strict spending procedure to weed out wastage and mark ups.

• Reduce defence development expenditure by 20% and increase defence ersonnel and soldiers salary by 5% and an improved after service safety net.

While the reforms listed above are far from exhaustive, Pakatan Rakyat believes that these areas present the greatest opportunity to return the countrys democratic practise to health.

7.2 Sabah and Sarawak: Firm Focus on East Malaysia
Despite being equal partners with Malaya during the formation of Malaysia nearly half a century ago, it is evident that Sabah and Sarawak has not enjoyed the level of development and prosperity that rightfully belongs to East Malaysia.

Based on the additional income acquired through the 20 percent oil royalty reserved for Sabah and Sarawak, Pakatan Rakyat envisions the following:

• Improving the existing road networks and providing better access to rural communities. For example, until this day, Sarawaks first trunk road from Kuching to Lawas is still poorly maintained. Pakatan Rakyat is committed to upgrading this crucial infrastructural link for the benefit of all Sarawakians;

• Strengthening the electrical grid network infrastructure to reduce the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) levels in Sabah, while refocusing priorities from large hydroelectric dams to sustainable and efficient micro hydro power plants and solar farms for all rural communities in Sarawak;

• Enhancing education and skills development through increasing broadband access by 2015;

• Revamping the existing flying doctors service and emergency medical services in Sarawak via an additional all! ocation of RM100 million.

Pakatan Rakyat will ensure that the skills and talents of Sabahans and Sarawakians will be used as far as possible to implement these ideas.

7.3 Youths- The Forefront of Change
Pakatan Rakyat recognizes the crucial role that the youth play in realising a better and more democratic Malaysia.

Pending a thorough review and comprehensive investigation on the expenditure and curriculum structure, the National Service programme will be replaced with a schoolbased extracurricular or community programmes. The RM 747 million, as was allocated to the National Service in the previous year, will instead be channelled into this new initiative.

A total amount of RM100 million will be allocated for a Youth Choice programme (Pilihan Anak Muda), involving Malaysians under 30 years old, to implement projects and programmes of their choice through a balloting process.

RM50 million will be allocated to a special fund to promote youth involvement in creativity and in the creation of more recreational spaces for young people.

Pakatan Rakyat will also ensure that all future housing projects under the Prime Ministers Department (JPM) and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT), with the cooperation of local governments, will be allocated sufficient space for sports and recreational activities and better maintenance of existing facilities.

[Pakatan Rakyat Budget 2012 released by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on behalf of PR in Kuala Lumpur on 4th October 2011. Part 8 of 10]

[<< Part 7] [Part 9 >>]

SAMM edar risalah cincin Rosmah

PETALING JAYA: Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) akan mengedarkan risalah buku kecil minggu depan mengenai pembaziran dan kemewahan melampau khususnya mengenai dakwaan cincin berlian bernilai RM24.45 juta yang dipakai oleh isteri Perdana Menteri, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

Pengerusinya Badrul Hisham Shaharin atau lebih dikenali sebagai CheguBard berkata, risalah kecil ini menerangkan isu-isu pembaziran yang melibatkan Rosmah yang menggayakan hidup mewah.

Beliau berkata demikian dalam satu kenyataan media hari ini berikutan jawapan bertulis daripada Menteri Di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Dato Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.

Dalam jawapan bertulisnya kepada Ahli Parlimen DAP-Segambut di Parlimen semalam, Nazri berkata pihak Jabatan Kastam mengesahkan tiada urusan jual beli berlaku dan cincin tersebut telah dikembalikan kepada tuan punya.

CheguBard yang juga Ketua PKR Cabang Rembau menyifatkan jawapan tersebut hanya seperti melepaskan batuk di tangga sahaja.

Beliau menegaskan bahawa beliau tidak menuduh tetapi dengan kewujudan bukti dan pembelaan puak pengampu yang menambah kecelaruan fakta maka lebih menuntut Rosmah untuk tampil memberi penjelasan, bukan hanya menyatakan itu semua fitnah dan mereka dengki dengan saya.

Ketika rakyat sedang bergelut dengan pelbagai tekanan hidup, khususnya kelompok pekerja muda yang sedang membina kerjaya dan keluarga, kesombongan dan imej mewah Rosmah yang cuba menyamar sebagai wanita pertama negara seperti mencurah garam ke luka rakyat.

Itu belum lagi mengambil kira gelang tangan bernilai RM1.65 juta yang ada gambar dipakai oleh Rosmah dari syarikat yang sama mengeluarkan cincin. Kini terpulang pada rakyat untuk menilainya, ujar beliau.

Colonised debate: Muhyiddin seeks closure

KUALA LUMPUR: Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin says that Malaysia was a British colony, refuting recent claims by scholars.

However, the Deputy Prime Minister was evasive over controversial independence fighter Mat Inderas status in history.

He was responding to supplementary questions by Gombak MP Azmin Ali (PKR) and Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar (PAS) regarding Mat Indera.

The question as to whether we were colonised, the answer is yes. I take that stand, even though there are some parties that say we were never colonised, he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Muhyiddin said this was shown by the Sultans of Malaya being forced to accept the advice of their respective British Residents at the time.

Lenggong MP Shamsul Anwar Nasarah had originally asked Muhyiddin what the Education Ministry was doing to ensure that Malaysian students understood history, and if it was satisfied with the focus on history as well as suggestions to review historical facts today.

To this, Muhyiddin confirmed that a committee formed by the ministry on May 3 last year found that the current historical syllabus used in schools was still relevant, but need to be looked at for claritys sake.

The debate over Malayas independence started last month when PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu had hailed the efforts of communists fighters in gaining independence from the British.

He had said that Mat Indera, a local leader who played a vital role in the attack of the Bukit Kepong police station in Johor in 1950, was a true nationalist and rubbished the role played by Umno politicians.

A spin-off from this lead to further debates on whether Malaya was ever colonised by the British with several mainstream academic! s and s cholars arguing that technically that was not the case. This argument even found support from former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

'Guan Eng didn't mount racist attacks against Utusan'

An Utusan Malaysia news editor has conceded in the Penang High Court that DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had not made specific remarks that led to an allegedly defamatory article being published in the daily.

Under cross-examination by Jagdeep Singh Deo , Zulkiflee Bakar told the court yesterday that he had been assigned to write the article, headlined Kebiadaban (arrogance of) Guan Eng, published on Dec 20 last year.

Zulkiflee, who has worked 18 years with Utusan, said he had discussed the assignment with his chief editor who shared his ideas, but that the article was his own writing.

Lim has sued the Umno-owned daily for defamation, following the article based on his speech themed 'A People's Government for the Real Malaysians', delivered at the Pakatan Rakyat convention in Kepala Batas on Dec 19 last year.

He is seeking general damages, aggravated and exemplary damages, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court. He was not at the hearing as he is in Japan on a two-day working trip.

Zulkiflee, when asked if he had experienced the bloody race riots of May 13, 1969, said he had not as he was about a year old then. However, he had learnt about what happened.

"You said your article was written to reply to racist attacks against Utusan ... At (the) convention ... did Lim (raise) the topics mentioned in your article (in which you said) Utusan wanted to reply to the attacks?" asked Jagdeep.

Zulkiflee eventually conceded that the speech did not mention the issues raised in his article, explaining that it was more of a wrap-up (rumusan) of the speech.

Asked if the speech contain! ed false claims, Zulkifli answered in the negative.

He agreed that the daily has not taken any legal action to date against Lim for the alleged contents of the speech and further, that

Lim had defended the rights of Malaysians ."But do you agree that you said that all Utusan did was to struggle for 3Rs - race (Malay), religion (Islam) and Raja (king) - (but in reality it is) only meant for one ethnic group?" asked Jagdeep.

"We are defending the (federal) constitution," replied Zulkiflee.

He was also asked if Malays would be upset if he had written a false report involving demolition of Malay hawker stalls and eviction of the community.

Zulkiflee tried to explain himself but was told by Justice GV Varughese to state yes or no.

"I agree that, if my report was false, it would upset the Malays," he replied.

Zulkiflee also agreed that Lim would look like a racist if the report was false and that this would cause the Malay community to be upset.

Impact on daily

Under re-examination by his lawyer Mohana Kumar, Zulkiflee said the article was written so that the newspaper's supporters and readers would know that Lim's "wild accusations" were baseless.

He added that Lim's accusations could affect the newspaper's circulation and financial position as a publisher.

State environment, health, welfare and caring society committee chairperson Phee Boon Poh and state finance department administration assistant officer Jamiliah Harun have also testified at the hearing.

Both denied that funds for the RM100 awarded under the senior citizens programme had come from the Turf Club.

The hearing continues on Oct 17, with the defence to produce two more witnesses.

source:malaysiakini

cheers.

Macho man in bid to get MCA battle-ready

Some say that a bird sings not because it has an answer, but because it has a song. Similarly, MCAs 58th annual general assembly did not provide answers to the question of how its leadership might meet the difficult challenges it is facing, but it gave an opportunity for the flexing of vocal cords.

Only 76 percent of the 2,361 national delegates attended the assembly, but they were entertained with what we might call war songs verbal bashing of the Pakatan Rakyat opposition bloc, in particular DAP and PAS. Perhaps the aim was to whip up a frenzy of hatred so strong that it would make the membership forget the weaknesses of the leadership.

An observer quipped: A butterfly beating its wings in Kelantan started a hurricane in BN and Putrajaya. The reference was to the recent resurrection of the hudud issue.

Anyhow, party president Dr Chua Soi Lek seemed determined to put his nimble tongue to good use to get MCA into electable shape.

To achieve that, one of his most urgent tasks is to rid MCA of its image as Umnos wimp. Observers cannot fail to notice that he has lately been trying to show himself off as the macho man in BN. One of the latest manifestations of this was his threat to pull his party out of the coalition if Umno even considered imposing the hudud provisions of Islamic law.

The touch of machismo was not missing in his keynote address at the assembly. Mr Prime Minister, he said in a tone made to sound like a tough challenge to Najib Tun Razak, I urge you to take one giant step forward and offer all Malaysians a new deal for the future, a new deal that epitomises the very core expectations and aspirations of the people at large.

In reality, that supposed challenge was a mere expansion ! on Najib s own recent statements about BNs alleged commitment to turn Malaysia into a true democracy.

Indeed, Chua did not forget to record his gratitude to the prime minister for his promises of financial allocations and approvals for community and educational projects for the Chinese.

I would like to record my sincere thanks to the prime minister on his decision to offer scholarships to all students with eights As in their SPM examination, regardless of their ethnicity.

I would also like to record our appreciation to 1Malaysia Development Bhd for awarding scholarships to the top 50 Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) holders pursuing higher education.

And then he called on the government to admit UEC graduates into public universities and upgrade Tunku Abdul Rahman College to the status of a university college.

More hay for the horse

To stand any chance of improving its performance in the coming election or at least surviving it, MCA must depend on some kind of magic, and one of the rabbits from the hat is the education of Chinese youth, for education is an obsession with the community.

And no one knows MCA better than does its political master, Umno. The prime minister may not be aware of the Chinese saying, ye yao ma er hao, ye yao ma er bu chi cao, but he probably knows that if he wants the horse to be good, he must give it more than hay.

With both eyes on the Chinese vote and the return of a two-thirds BN majority in Parliament, Najib has shown a willingness to be generous to MCA.

It is likely that MCA will be allowed to keep its quota of 40 parliamentary seats and 90 state seats to contest in the coming election. In 2008, the party won only 15 of those parliamentary seats and 31 of the state seats.

In promising the approvals and financial allocations, especially for Chinese education, Najib must have hoped to silence the rumblings within the MCA leadership and thereby motivate the second largest BN party to heal th! e splits within it and take a quicker pace in preparing for the next election.

But Chua is too shrewd a politician to make the boast that MCA is fully united.

Factions remain at some divisional levels, he said in his address. We have to put our differences aside and confront our enemies as one team. We should all be big-hearted and compassionate. The best gift to your enemy is forgiveness, and to your opponent, tolerance. If we practise these values, the MCA will be stronger with each passing day.

Yet, he has a strange way of forgiving his nemesis, Ong Tee Keat. He wants to drop Ong as a possible candidate for Pandan, the only parliamentary seat in Selangor that MCA won in the last election. According to gossip whispered during the general assembly, he also wants to drop Ong Ka Chuan as candidate for the Tanjong Malim parliamentary seat.

Perhaps for the first time in the history of MCAs annual general assemblies, no past presidents attended last weekends event. Lee San Choon, Tan Koon Swan, Dr Ling Liong Sik, Ong Ka Ting and Ong Tee Keat were all absent. Was this a sign that MCA leaders excel at the character destruction of their opponents?

If so, we can accuse Chua of making a hollow statement when he said: MCAs opponents are not our own comrades, but Pakatan Rakyat. We must stay focused on our objectives.

He pledged to turn Pakatan Rakyats determination to march to Putrajaya into a mere dream.

Jury still out on Najib

That confidence is shared by his deputy, Liow Tiong Lai, who praised Najibs opening address at the general assembly. The prime ministers speech is very comprehensive, not just motivating the party, but he is very committed to transforming the nation, he said. We believe he can deliver.

A few delegates also had that confidence, describing Najib as a better prime minister than his predecessor.

Yet, some delegates had reservations. We have to wait and see, said a delegate from Selangor.

Our division has to! watch f or later developments. That was an oblique reference to the broken promises of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the previous prime minister.

Asked if many delegates shared his reservation, the reply was: You can judge from the enthusiasm of the delegates. Only about 200 to 300 delegates (out of 1,807) came back to the hall after lunch. The rest all left early.

Stanley Koh is a former head of MCAs research unit. He is a FMT columnist.

Jurors hear of propofol shipments to Jackson doctor

LOS ANGELES: Michael Jacksons doctor had packages of the powerful anesthetic propofol sent to his girlfriends home while he was caring for the singer in the spring of 2009, a Los Angeles court heard yesterday.

Dr Conrad Murray is on trial on a charge of involuntary manslaughter stemming from Jacksons death on June 25, 2009, from an overdose of propofol and sedatives.

Prosecutors told jurors last week that Murray received 255 propofol vials at the apartment of girlfriend Nicole Alvarez, containing a total of more than 4 gallons (15 litres) of the substance.

Alvarez testified yesterday that after she gave birth to his son, the physician was living with her in the beach city of Santa Monica and treating Jackson at the singers rented Los Angeles mansion.

She acknowledged receiving packages from a pharmacy in Las Vegas but said she did not know what they contained.

I do remember receiving shipments every now and then, Alvarez said in a sometimes testy exchange with prosecutors.

Tim Lopez, the former owner of Applied Pharmacy in Las Vegas, said on the witness stand that he sent 255 vials of propofol by express delivery to the Santa Monica apartment after Murray, who had practices in Texas and Nevada, told him it was the address for his medical office in California.

Murray did not have a medical office in the state, according to authorities.

Lopez testified that on one occasion in May, he was headed to Los Angeles and offered to personally deliver drugs to what he thought was Murrays office.

He said there was no need to do that, just use the delivery system as always, Lopez said. He added that he again sent the package by express shipping.

Murray admits giving the Thri! ller sin ger a small dose of propofol as a sleep aid but denies involuntary manslaughter.

Defence attorneys claim Jackson, 50, caused his own death by giving himself an extra dose of the anesthetic, and sedatives, without Murrays knowledge.

Prosecutors yesterday also brought to the witness stand two other women whom Murray knew socially and either spoke to on the phone or texted on the day Jackson died.

But jurors heard little about the nature of their relationships with Murray. Attorneys for Murray have sought to exclude evidence concerning that part of his life on the grounds that it would prejudice jurors against him.

- Reuters

Delay in abolishing ISA undermines reform process

FMT LETTER

From E Nalini, via e-mail

Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) and Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA (GMI) are of the view that the delay announced by the government to repeal the Internal Security Act (ISA) is a cause for concern. We believe that it undermines the reform process as being a mere political gimmick for the upcoming general election.

We are also perplexed to learn that the government failed to conduct reasonable study and stakeholder consultation prior to the announcement of this historic and important political change.

We would also like to remind the Prime Minister that over the past several decades, thousands of people were detained without trial under the ISA, not for what they did or said, but based on anonymous and often false accusations from third parties.

Suaram and GMI also view the announcement on the two new Acts to replace the Internal Security Act with concern as all security laws must not allow for detention without trial, and the safeguards of rights and fundamental liberties must be protected.

The view on the definition of terrorism and public order is also another concern as we learn from many jurisdictions that the term terrorist were liberally interpreted to criminalise legitimate dissent and protest activities and groups.

The similar is said on public interest protection mechanism as we recall the recent ban on Bersih 2.0 as an example of arbitrary ban on a legitimate peoples initiative on free and fair election.

Suaram and GMI also would like to point out that in the past Malaysia have legislated to include terrorism-related offences in the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code in 2006. By virtue of the Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2003, a new Chapter VIIA entitled Offences Relating To Terrorism was inserted and this came into force on March 6, 2007.

Similarly, by virtue of the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Act 2006, a new ChapterXIIA entitled Ancillary Inv! estigati ve Powers In Relation To Terrorism Offences was inserted and came into force on March 6, 2007. Malaysia also passed legislation dealing with anti-terrorism financing in the form of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 (Act 613).

We view that the two new legislations as proposed by the Prime Minister must take into account the body of security laws in existence and the protection of fundamental liberties before it chooses to add new security laws and its impact on fundamental liberties.

As such, Suaram and GMI calls upon the Prime Minister to effect a moratorium on the Internal Security law and release all the detainees pending the total recall. We also call upon the government to stop legislating laws which allows detention without trial and to deal the terrorism issues with the existence laws.

The writer is Suaram coordinator

Will Pakatan, Hindraf team up?

Hindraf Makkal Sakti and its offspring Human Rights Party (HRP) are blithely wooing Pakatan Rakyat to forge an electoral alliance to face its common enemy Umno-helmed Barisan Nasional in the fast-approaching 13th general election.

But signs are clear that Pakatan is not interested.

Pakatan allies PKR, DAP and PAS and, to a certain extent, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) may have realised that Hindraf was the most influential factor that convince the Indian voters to shift their traditional allegiance with BN in the last general election.

Many Pakatan candidates were seen then working hand-in-hand with Hindraf activists to secure votes.

The Indian swing contributed to Pakatans massive electoral gains at the expense of BN.

But post-2008 election, Pakatan has practically decided to end its marriage with Hindraf, especially after the formation of HRP.

Pakatan is aiming to win over the Indian votes without Hindrafs support.

Pakatans body language signals that it is happy with current set-up and does not want to include Hindraf and its political offspring HRP.

Fed up with Pakatan

HRP and Hindrafs constant criticisms, justified in many cases, against Pakatan state governments for not doing enough or nothing at all for the Indian community, have not gone down well with Pakatans top brass, especially the Indian elected representatives.

Apparently ethnic Malay and Chinese leaders in Pakatan do not want an Indian-based party in their fold.

They would rather prefer ethnic Indian individuals to join PKR or DAP.

In that way, the Pakatan top brass dominated by Malays and Chinese can control, tame, weaken and breed the! Indian elected representatives as their mandores.

Pakatan definitely did not want a strong grassroots movement championing the Indian cause within its sphere, said a political observer.

But despite Pakatans virtual rejection, the Hindraf-HRP axis still dreams of teaming up with Pakatan merely to vote out Umno-BN from Putrajaya.

Hindraf-HRP adviser N Ganesan told newsmen last week that the groups immediate political objective was to remove Umno from power.

This is important to enable us to achieve our long-term goal to eliminate racist and religious supremacist state-sponsored policies trampling on the rights of minorities, he said.

Both Hindraf and HRP have realised that this could not be achieved without forging close working ties with Pakatan.

Indications are that the next general election could be quick snap polls and just around the corner.

Pakatan to lose states

If recent Hindraf brainstorming session in Singapore is anything to go by, Pakatan would fail to capture its holy grail, Putrajaya.

According to Hindrafs analysis, Pakatan stands to lose between 22 and 50 state seats and 10 and 18 parliamentary constituencies across the country in a 20 to 50 percent Indian vote swing.

Hindraf claims Pakatan would lose Kedah and Selangor, and would not regain Perak.

Hindraf analysts also claimed that eight cabinet ministers risked losing their seats. Even some segments of Pakatans own grassroots believed in the computation.

They conceded that Hindraf-HRP could make a decisive difference in the next election.

But, unlike in 2008 when Hindraf gave a free lunch to Pakatan by throwing its support behind the opposition coalition, this time it wants Pakatan to make some seat concessions for HRP.

Hindraf has Indian support

Critics, however, argued that Hindraf was taking too much credit for Pakatans electoral success in 2008.

Of course,! Indian votes alone did not win the day for Pakatan.

Significant shifts in Malay and Chinese votes were also a major reason for Pakatans win.

That explains why Pakatan leaders now prefer to play into the popular bi-racial gallery comprising the ethnic Malay and Chinese vote banks, rather than actualising the multi-racial concept.

Critics have also argued that Pakatan and Hindraf were not competent for each other because of the latters Indian agenda.

But then both groups were competent in 2008.

Hindraf-HRP claims that it can move Indian votes for Pakatan, especially the working class Indians who make up some 70 percent of the community.

Hatred for Umno

Critics argued that most well educated Indians were not with Hindraf-HRP because they despised racist politics.

Educated Indians feel they would be better off under Pakatan than Hindraf, they said.

But a random survey among educated Indians revealed most backed Hindrafs Indian stance and acknowledged that Pakatan had done very little for the Indians.

Indeed, most argued that the Malays and Chinese have gained the most from the 2008 political change, while ethnic Indians, who were instrumental for it, were largely sidelined and isolated.

For Pakatan, Malay issue is a national issue and Chinese issue is a multi-racial issue.

But an Indian issue is a racial issue, said a national school Indian teacher.

Their hatred for Umno is the only factor stopping these well educated Indians from going back to BN.

The Pakatan strategy is to capitalise on this sentiment to fish educated Indian votes without Hindraf-HRP support.

But the Hindraf-HRP alliance believes Pakatan would fail without it.

Tricky question

The alliance is putting its faith in Indian voters whom they believe will respond to it in the next polls as they did the last time.

Pakatan and Hindraf-HRP must work together to end Umnos rule, insisted Gane! san.

Hindraf-HRP has already offered an olive branch to Pakatan to work together for the next polls to oust Umno and company from the federal government.

But Pakatan is unlikely to entertain it because some leaders and supporters believe that HRP candidates would lose their deposits if they contested alone.

But Hindraf-HRP leaders believe they have nothing to lose and, moreover, they would gain more political strength by taking the centre-stage in the next general election.

They insist that it is Pakatan which has more to lose with non-cooperation.

It looks like this is shaping up to be a one-upmanship political game between Pakatan and the human rights socio-political movement.

With election around the corner, any cooperation would have to take place fast.

For cooperation to happen, it will take a great deal of wisdom to shake off egos, arrogance and short-sighted thinking.

Whether Pakatan will ever accept Hindraf-HRP axis into its fold will remain a tricky question.

PROTON Telah Mendera Rakyat Malaysia Selama 25 Tahun

KLIK IMEJ

Idea kereta Nasional ini adalah idea Dr. Muhammad Iskandar Kutty, mantan Perdana Menteri dan Presiden UMNO.

Waktu itu adalah sekitar 1983-84, yakni tak lama selepas Dr. Mahathir menjadi Perdana Menteri Malaysia.

Pada masa itu, penasihat2 antarabangsa telah pun memberi amaran kepada Dr. Mahathir bahawa negara Malaysia tidak sesuai untuk diadakan kereta nasional. Namun, nasihat2 tersebut ditolak mentah2 oleh beliau. Ini kerana Dr. Mahathir ini adalah seorang yang bongkak dan sombong. Beliau sering merasa beliau paling handal dalam mentadbir ekonomi negara sedangkan beliau tiada sedikit pun ilmu berkaitan dengan ekonomi negara.

Maka, PROTON pun dihasilkan pada tahun 1984 dengan membelanjakan wang negara yang sebegitu banyak. Pada 1985, PROTON mula dijual (rujuk artikel di atas) yang pada mulanya harga PROTON cuma sekitar RM17-19k.

Malangnya, PROTON tidak laku. Rakyat Malaysia lebih suka membeli Nissan Sunny, Volkswagen, Fiat ataupun TOyota Corolla. Kilang Proton pada masa itu terpaksa memendekan shif pengeluaran kepada separuh masa. Pekerja2 Proton pada waktu itu hanya duduk-duduk kerana pengeluaran begitu lambat akibat tiada permintaan.

Maka, Dr Mahathir mengambil langkah drastik. Demi menyelamatkan idea gila UMNO ini, semua duti import ke atas segala kereta dinaikkan sekitar 100%-250%. Kereta yang asalnya harga RM20,000 terpaksa dijual sehingga RM80k-RM90k.

Akibat Proton yang rugi dan tidak laku di pasaran antarabangsa, ia dijual 20-40% lebih murah dari kereta import yang telah dinaikkan cukai menggila-gila itu. J! adilah k ereta Proton Wira yang rendah kualiti dan tak berguna tu harga sampai RM60-70k.

Masaalah dgn kereta adalah setiap sen yang kita belanja untuk kereta, kita tidak akan dapat balik. Nilai sesebuah kereta itu merosot setiap tahun walaupun kita tidak memandunya. Namun, di MAlaysia, harga kereta samada sama atau lebih mahal dari harga rumah kos sederhana. Bezanya, rumah kos sederhana nilainya semakin menaik, tidak seperti kereta.

NAIK HARGA KERETA, NAIK JUGA HARGA BARANG

Oleh kerana barang-barang diangkut dengan kenderaan, maka apabila naik harga kereta/kenderaan, harga barang turut naik sama.

Semua "spare-parts" juga dikenakan duti impot yang begitu tinggi menyebabkan penyelengaraan kenderaan juga naik kosnya.

Maka, segala kenaikan kos yang tidak perlu ini dipindah kepada pengguna.

Tak heranlah, teh tarik dulu cuma 50 sen segelas, skrg ini dah naik jadi RM1.50. HIDUP UMNO!!! HIDUP BN!!!

BUAT JALAN BANYAK2, TINGGALKAN PENGANGKUTAN AWAM

Demi memastikan rakyat Malaysia terus menerus membeli kereta, pengangkutan awam diabaikan.

Apa yang Mahafiraun/UMNO buat adalah membina sebanyak-banyak jalan yang boleh. Konsesi diberi kepada PLUS, ELITE, LITRAK dsbnya untuk membina sebanyak2 jalan yang boleh.

Atas sebab kerajaan tiada duit untuk membina jalan yang sebegitu banyak, tol pula dikenakan. Dah lah, harga kereta mahal sangat2, kena bayar tol pula. Ke sana ke mari pasti ada tol. Tol sudah jadi lumrah hidup rakyat Malaysia.

Padahal, adalah jauh lebih murah kalau UMNO menggunakan wang yg digunakan membina PROTON dan jalan2raya ini untuk dibina sistem LRT/MRT. Pada tahun 1985, harga tanah masih murah dan masih mudah untuk membina sistem pengangkutan awam.

Namun, oleh kerana rakyat Malaysia pada masa itu amat kagum dengan Dr Mahathir Muhammad Iskandar Kutty dan UMNO, maka kita terus men! erus mem berikan dokongan kepada idea gila beliau itu.

HARGA MINYAK PULAK NAIK!!!!

Sudah lah harga kereta mahal, tol berlambak-lambak, sekarang ni harga minyak pula mahal.

Maka, harga barang naik melambung2. Dah lah naik sebab duti impot yang UMNO buat untuk melindungi PROTON. Harga barang turut naik sebab harga minyak naik.

Hasilnya, rakyat Malaysia kena:

1.0 Bayar harga kereta yang lebih mahal dari harga rumah kos sederhana

2.0 Bayar tol yang berlambak-lambak

3.0 Bayar road tax

4.0 Bayar insurans

5.0 Bayar harga barang makananan yang naik sbb harga kenderaan naik

6.0 Bayar kenaikan harga barang sebab harga minyak naik

7.0 Bayar harga kenaikan barang kerana pengangkut barang2 terpaksa bayar tol.

8.0 Bayar harga barang makanan kerana lesen impot makananan diberikan kepada kroni/UMNOPUTRA

Jelasnya, projek PROTON telah MENJAHANAMKAN HIDUP RAKYAT MALAYSIA. Kita kena tipu hidup2 dgn Mahafiraun dan UMNO.

Kalau takda UMNO, hidup kita akan jelas lebih aman damai tenang sejahtera.

Tulang Besi

UMNO/APCO-BN MAHU LARI KE MANA?

Biarpun semua yang diucapkannya hanya mengulangi pernyataan kontroversi Lee Kuan Yew dan statistik PDRM sendiri menunjukkan bahawa jenayah di Johor lebih teruk daripada di Pulau Pinang, Lim Guan Eng memohon maaf kepada sultan dan rakyat negeri Johor. Namun, permohonan maaf yang disertakan dengan pernyataan akan menyaman media UMNO telah menimbulkan histeria baru dalam kalangan pemimpin UMNO/APCO. Mereka, termasuklah pencacai-pencacai dari menara gading dan media alternatif menyifatkannya sebagai tidak ikhlas. Usaha mutakhir ini merupakan satu lagi propaganda untuk cuba meracuni pemikiran rakyat agar membenci Pakatan Rakyat. Sebaik mana sekalipun perkara itu dicanangkan, rakyat akan membenci UMNO/APCO-BN kerana hakikatnya merekalah yang terpalit dengan pelbagai kegiatan yang menghina agama dan bangsa.

Pernahkah UMNO/APCO memohon maaf kepada Raja-Raja Melayu yang pernah mereka hina dan kurangkan kuasa? Tidak pernah. Yang berlaku adalah apabila rasa terdesak, mereka akan berselindung di sebalik raja. Sudahkah individu yang pengikutnya merujuk kata "NATANG" kepada raja memohon maaf? Sampai sekarang pun belum lagi. Sudahkah Ali Rustam yang menghina Kelantan memohon maaf ? Dia hanya diam seribu bahasa apabila diajukan persoalan itu. Sudahkah semua pemimpin UMNO/APCO yang menghina hukum Allah berhenti melakukannya? Hakikatnya mereka bukan sahaja terus berbuat demikian tanpa rasa bersalah sedikit pun malahan juga membuatkan golongan bukan Islam semakin bertambah takut kepada hukum hudud. Sudahkah UMNO/APCO memohon maaf kepada orang Melayu yang mereka khianati? Nahe! Nahe!! Nahe!!!

Yang kita dengar hanyalah pernyataan-pernyataan yang menyatakan kebimbangan yang amat sangat terhadap kemerosotan sokongan Melayu kepada UMNO/APCO. Mereka tidak berasa kesal sedikit pun. Sebaliknya mereka mahu menyusun strategi baru untuk memikat golongan itu supaya kembali menyokong mereka dalam PRU Ke-13 nanti. Semua kerja jahat mereka simpan. Mereka tutup. ! Yang dit onjolkan ialah sisi-sisi ungkitan kebaikan mereka dan beraneka kejahatan musuh yang semakin hari semakin mendapat sokongan rakyat. Kesemuanya bermotifkan politik, iaitu mempertahankan kuasa.

Sememangnya mereka sudah merasakan bahang kemarahan rakyat. Setiap hari ada-ada saja bukti kejahatan UMNO/APCO didedahkan kepada rakyat. Kesemuanya tidak boleh ditepis dengan hujah yang meyakinkan rakyat. Lantaran itu mereka mempergiatkan penyebaran fitnah dan propaganda untuk mengatasinya, termasuklah memperlekehkan musuh dan masuk bakul angkat sendiri!!! Pemikiran yang terkebelakang ini dapat dihidu dengan mudah oleh rakyat yang bermaklumat. Mereka sudah mampu mengakses dan menilai apa-apa juga maklumat yang disampaikan. Sehubungan itu, UMNO/APCO sudah buntu untuk mencari teknik dan taktik yang mujarab bagi mengatasinya. Demikianlah nasib sebuah parti yang tidak sedar diuntung walaupun sudah diberi peluang selama lebih lima puluh tahun untuk mengemudi negara.

Kita dapat melihat dengan jelas kecelaruan pemikiran para pemimpin UMNO/APCO. Peningkatan pernyataan "yes bos" semakin nyata sekarang ini kerana pilihan raya umum sudah dekat. Aktiviti merebut jawatan pun semakin menjadi-jadi. Wujudlah sikap berpuak-puak untuk menyuburkan budaya cantas. Buah-buah inilah yang akan memusnahkan UMNO/APCO. Namun, di sebalik itu, penambahan bodekan terhadap rakyat semakin menjadi-jadi ketika ini. Memang inilah kerja mereka sejak dulu, kini, dan selamanya. Melayu masih di tahap itu-itu juga. Apabila Melayu bising kuota ekuiti mereka akan dihapuskan, dengan segera penafian dibuat. Kalau musuh yang membuat penafian, seluruh gerombolan bangun mencaci. Bila bos sendiri menafi, pijak semut pun tak mati. Itulah imej hipokrit yang terpahat pada wajah UMNO/APCO.

MCA terus menghina hukum Islam. UMNO/APCO senyum sahaja kerana tak perlu kata apa-apa. Alangkah munafiknya mereka. Was-was, syak wasangka, dan resah gelisah memang terselit dalam lipatan per! asaan ma nusia sebegini. Oleh sebab itu, tidak hairanlah jika terdapat dalam kalangan mereka yang meragui kemampuan mereka untuk memenangi pilihan raya umum yang akan datang. UMNO/APCO sendiri sudah mula gentar apatah lagi MCA. MIC, Gerakan, PPP, dan selainnya tidak payah ceritalah. Hakikatnya ialah semakin mereka takut, akan semakin kuatlah propaganda dan fitnah yang akan melakari dunia politik tanah air. Inilah gerakan cuba membodoh-bodohkan rakyat yang diulang dari masa ke masa oleh UMNO/APCO tanpa sedikitpun improvisasi untuk mengangkat nilai umpppnya.

Rakyat Malaysia sememangnya mahu melihat UMNO/APCO-BN berkecai dalam pilihan raya umum nanti. Apa-apa jua bentuk gula-gula yang akan diberikan dalam Bajet 2012 nanti sukar mengubah persepsi negatif mereka terhadap kerajaan yang bobrok sekarang ini. Mereka akan melihat situasi pelik akan berlaku. Dalam keadaan ekonomi dunia yang bercelaru ketika ini, kerajaan UMNO/APCO-BN tiba-tiba mempunyai kemampuan yang luar biasa memberi itu dan ini kepada rakyat. Adakah rakyat akan melupakan begitu sahaja kenaikan kos sara hidup, peningkatan kes jenayah, keruntuhan moral akibat lemahnya pegangan terhadap agama, berleluasanya pembaziran dan rasuah dalam kalangan pemimpin, dan sebagainya dengan pemberian yang bersifat kosmetik itu? Jawapannya anda semua sudah tahu. Ini bukan tahun 60-an, 70-an, 80-an, dan 90-an. Tahun-tahun 2000-an ini, orang kampung pun sudah keluar dari bawah tempurung!!! UMNO/APCO mahu lari ke mana?