SUARAM Activist Under ISA

Pinky and the Brain (or lack thereof) are at it again.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - One Is An Idiot, The Other's Insane

I suppose they've lost all credibility among the educated Malaysians that nothing matters anymore, except for votes from the sampah masyarakat of Malaysia.

So they make more arrests in the name of internal security.

A 26-year-old activist has been arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) tonight following a report she made accusing the police of abuse of power in yesterday’s controversial eviction of a squatter colony in Johor.

Cheng Lee Whee, a self-employed programmer who is a volunteer for human rights group Suaram, lodged the police report at the Permas Jaya police station in Johor Bharu at about 3pm yesterday.

The report was made in response to the forced eviction of squatters in Kampung Baru Plentong Tengah - a predominantly Malay village akin to Kuala Lumpur’s Kampung Baru - and the arrest of 27 individuals for attempting to stop the demolition of the settlement.

Cheng was summoned by inspector Azman Mustafa to the state police headquarters in Seri Alam at around 8pm so that her statement could be taken relating to her police report.

Four of her friends accompanied her to the police station, among them were Suaram Johor Bahru coordinator Nyam Kee Han, Parti Socialis Malaysia central committee member Choo Shinn Chei and Suaram volunteer See Siew Min. The three were arrested yesterday at the forced eviction.

At around 10.45pm, after Cheng had her statement recorded by the police, she was informed by Criminal Investigation Department chief DSP Mohd Nor Rasid that she had been arrested under section 28 of the ISA for "spreading false information".

Section 28 of the ISA involves the dissemination of false reports.

According to the section, "Any person who, by word of mouth or in writing or in any newspaper, periodical, book, circular or other printed publication or by any other means spreads false reports or makes false statements likely to cause public alarm, shall be guilty of an offence."

According to lawyers, section 28 does not empower the police to detain a suspect without trial. The suspect must be brought to court within 24 hours either to be charged or be further remanded to facilitate police investigation.

Of course, I'm wondering if the Brain (or lack thereof) will explain it all away as being for her own protection. It's entirely possible he could get original - and more ludicrous.

Bapak Demokrasi

March 2009

So Abdullah says he will step down in March, four years before his term ends.

It's not the first announcement. But with each announcement, the time limit draws closer.

Pak Lah is slowly but surely stirring in his sleep. One of these days, he may even stretch and yawn.


Frankly, I've never met anyone so out of touch with reality. How important it is, to surround oneself with the right company (and advisors) when one is in a position of power.

The calls to step down have been relentless since BN got so badly trounced in March 2008.

Abdullah will not defend his post as party president in March to "save the party from splitting". Instead, he will nominate Najib Razak as president.

Oh goody. I can't wait to embrace Najib as our new leader.

Not.

We're also going to run out of dinner conversation.

No longer will we be able to debate on what Jeanne Danker does to Pak Lah at night that he can't stay awake in the day.

Enforcement And Abuse

This Race Relations Act has got to be the most freaking-stupid-thing I've heard in a while.

One thing's for sure. Pinky and the Brain (or lack thereof) never fail to cook up elaborately asinine ideas.

We have lived together for over 50 years. At some point, we learned to give and take. We've survived through racist policies like the NEP.

And you think we need an Act to keep us in line?

No Act or Law in the world can protect anyone, if it is abused or enforced unjustly.

You and I know how good the BN government is at the 'divide and rule' policy, and abusing every Law in sight.

To Cover Up

I happened to wander into Lulu's blog when I saw this:


Now Lulu thinks that they're smelling something unpleasant. :)

Somehow, I don't think so.

Some of you know that I am a voracious reader. I read practically everything. When I was a student, it used to drive my parents crazy because unfortunately, rather low on the list of reading priorities were my textbooks.

But something jogged my memory on the topic of psychology as I studied the picture.

They're not covering their noses, though it looks like it. It's actually a subconscious attempt at covering their mouths. You know why?

Those two creeps are lying. Check out How To Spot a Liar:

1. No eye contact. His eyes will look away. If the room has a means of egress - that's where they'll look.
2. Crossing of arms and/or legs (a protective instinct).
3. The pupils of the eyes will narrow. Lying is stressful.
4. Hands on the face, especially the mouth. They are "covering" the lie.
5. Talking fast. A liar wants to get it over with.
6. Sometimes the head will nod a "no" when answering a "yes" question or visa versa. This is a subconcious movement.
7. Mispronouncing the words or mumbling. A liar kinda thinks he is not lying when he pronounces words incorrectly or mumbles.
8. Overstated friendliness/laughing. He wants you to believe and he wants you to like him so you will believe him.

If you're still skeptical, check out this site on behavioural psychology:

They cover their mouth as if to cover the lie. A lot of face touching in general is not a good sign.

I really wonder what they were lying about.

Economic Impact Of PM's Leadership

It's not the first time the Wall Street Journal is commenting on our sorry state of political affairs.

Late last year, there was a piece in response to Abdullah's op-ed regarding the arrests of the HINDRAF 5 under the draconian ISA.

It certainly did not flatter the man. This one doesn't either.

WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced this week that he has enough parliamentary support to unseat the current government, led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. If he does, Abdullah’s lacklustre economic management will be largely to blame.

The prime minister has not introduced any substantive reforms during his nearly five years in office, preferring to rely instead on opening up the government purse. Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan announced in 2005, he expanded public-sector spending to RM200 billion annually from RM160 billion. In his Midterm Plan Review this year, he increased this outlay to RM240 billion. The national debt now stands at RM285 billion, up from RM192 billion in 2004. The official fiscal deficit has risen to 4.8% of GDP this year, from 3.2% last year. Revenue is being spent faster than it is coming in.

It’s hard to argue that these outlays have served the broad public interest. Much of the funding has been channelled to elites in the majority Malay community, under the country’s pro-Malay affirmation action programme. That has created discontent with many Malays who don’t see the full benefits of the programme, and among the minority Chinese and Indians, who are excluded from it altogether.

Abdullah’s stewardship has had a real impact on the economy. Capital flight has risen sharply; Malaysian investment abroad now exceeds inward foreign investment. The Kuala Lumpur stock exchange has lost almost one-fifth of its value this year to date. Malaysia’s currency, the ringgit, saw its biggest one-month loss last month since the end of the dollar peg in 2005. Although GDP growth has averaged a robust 5% annual growth under Abdullah, that record is now under threat. Inflation reached a record 8.5% this summer. Job creation has reached record lows, as unemployment, particularly among young majority Malays, remains high. Ironically, only the opposition-led state governments are attracting new foreign investment - and without the federal government’s help, no less.

Abdullah’s 2004 attempts to promote growth and investment - such as through the promotion of the biotechnology and agricultural industries - have failed. He also fumbled discussions with the United States on a free trade agreement, which have now stalled. What Malaysia really needs is education reform and the liberalisation of its labour markets to improve its economic competitiveness.

The political opposition, in the form of Anwar and his Pakatan Rakyat coalition, have seized on these issues. They have promised to root out corruption and to implement a new economic policy to address the concerns of all ethnic communities in Malaysia. Their platform aims to move beyond populist spending to introduce structural reforms in government procurement programmes and in the management of government-linked companies.

When Abdullah assumed office in 2004, he inherited an economy in need of structural reform. Malaysians have had to pay for his poor stewardship through higher prices, stagnating wages and growing private sector debt. Soon, Abdullah may have to pay the political price for that record.

Kickdefella Taken In

Pinky and the Brain (or lack thereof) strike again.

This time, it's Kickdefella who has been nabbed. I presume it is over the issue of flying the flag upside down. I would really love to hear what Brain (or lack thereof) has to say this time.

This country has turned into a circus.

As usual, I am unable to see any connection to how an upside down flag constitutes sedition, which is what Kickdefella has been charged with.

Bear in mind, Khir Toyo and Ahmad Ismail who invoked the wrath of Malaysians nationwide by racial and religious accusations still roam free.

It is possible that UMNO has been strategising. But evidently devoid of brain cells (due to lack of usage) the only political action they could cough up, was to switch portfolios.

The Defence Ministry has now come under Abdullah's jurisdiction and Finance Ministry under Najib. It is evident that Abdullah has both the police and military under his purview.

Very, very dangerous. Perhaps Pinky is not as stupid as he looks.

I suspect the final option will be put into play. Emergency Rule.

One Is An Idiot, The Other's Insane

I've lost it. I really have.

I thought I had gone beyond the threshold of livid rage at the unbelievable stupidity of the government to attempt another Ops Lallang simply to remain in power.


But this media statement by the police takes the cake.

It's not the police that I'm angry at. Oh no, they're just running dogs, and severely retarded ones at that.

Two imbeciles - Pinky and the Brain (or lack thereof) - are what drive me up the wall.

Pinky just might have woken up from his slumber, but he still seems to be in a daze. Or denial.

And Brain (or lack thereof)? He's still shooting his mouth off, babbling incoherently and making a complete and utter fool of himself.

Malaysians were recently informed by Brain (or lack thereof) that random citizens can be arrested under the draconian Internal Security Act for their own protection.

I guess when you're busy trying to take over the world at night, your performance during the day takes a beating. After all, they say lack of sleep can cause brain damage.

Some may argue that one must firstly possess a brain before one can suffer brain damage. A good point in question.

The ISA was the last straw. I simply cannot believe that BN has played right into the hands of PR by using the ISA to arrest innocent civilians. It's a whole new level of 'stupid'.

Heck, BN has single-handedly elevated stupidity and self-destruction into an artform.

But with the arrests of RPK, Teresa Kok and Tan Hoon Cheng, they have incurred the wrath of a nation, and for that they are doomed.

Go, BN. Get lost, mo-fus.

EVIL??

It was Fergie who helped me see the light.

"AND what does the PM mean by EVIL???" she asked.

It got me thinking.

Now there are heaps of more impressive words that could be used besides evil. This list, in fact, is hardly exhaustive.

Besides, the last time I checked, it was more hip and happening to call bloggers unemployed women, monkeys and goblok. So why evil, all of a sudden?

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

You see, he'd called us bloggers evil, because we'd flown our flags upside down. So Pak Lah wanted in on a piece of action, too.

If you notice, the word E-V-I-L spelt backwards is L-I-V-E!! It's an encryption code, which only I (with the help of Fergie) have deciphered. (I'll accept my Nobel Peace Prize later.)

So what Pak Lah actually means is Bloggers Live!! As in Hidup Bloggers! Or maybe he'd even moot the idea of Bloggers Siaran Langsung, since he's gone into taking train rides these days.

Anything can happen, man.

So basically, since we flew our flag upside down, he put his word backwards. I'll have to send him my thanks. Though I'll probably have to run it through morse or radio-encrypt it. How about the NATO phonetic alphabet?

Alfa Alfa Bravo, do you read me?


Damn, he's out again.

Putrajaya, we have a problem.

Who Can Lead Us?

A frequent reader of CRANKSHAFT dropped by and left a comment in response to my post, Malaysia Is In Distress:

..I am at a loss as to how to get our country going again .. put an end to corruption and be governed by people with integrity who have the citizens' welfare at heart. Can anyone think of such a leader?

It is a pertinent question indeed, Fergie.

In the face of a glaring lack of leadership, we yearn for someone to fill in the space. In his own words, this guy says he wouldn’t mind having Hishammuddin Hussein as the Prime Minister.

I've probably agreed with him numerous times over his opinion of Abdullah Badawi - heck, I think half the country thinks he should vacate his seat as PM. In fact, I think it is a miracle of brown-wooly-mammoth-proportions that Abdullah is still in office.

But under no circumstances am I going to vote Hishammuddin Hussein into office. With his keris-waving stunts, he has certainly not endeared himself to me.

Even Malik Imtiaz Sarwar has taken to dark ruminations about statemanship and the lack of faith in any political candidate in Malaysia to run this country the way it should be run.

To steal his thunder, is there a statesman in the house?

Of course there is. In fact, there are many. Because of the many shortcomings of our leaders, we are fooled into thinking we are just as incompetent.

But if the truth be told, I think most of us are even better than some of our foreign counterparts from the USA, Australia and Europe. After having worked abroad, I personally find myself to be on par with my contemporaries.

And yet, compared to some of my Malaysian friends, I am in fact, a shrinking violet.

But most of these friends of mine have made plans or are making plans to move on to greener pastures. A place where we are accepted for who we are and the skills we bring.

Not what ethnic group we belong to, or which God we worship.

And the fact is, Malaysians are incredibly mobile, adaptable and versatile. We're practically in every corner of the planet.

We're in demand because of our skills all over the world - except for Malaysia, that is, where what is more important is who you know and rub shoulders with, and what colour your skin is.

So why doesn't a competent Malaysian stand up and take charge of bringing about change?

For starters, that's easier said than done. Most self-respecting Malaysians wouldn't want to be associated with politics. And why would they, when politics is more about rambling nincompoops with sole expertise in sodomy, corruption and brown-nosing than leading a nation?

Politics, all over the world, is dirty, but in Malaysia, it is the very depths of the cesspool.

That being said, I still think we have hope.

There are young potentials involved in politics like Hannah Yeoh, Nathaniel Tan and Nik Nazmi.

And for what it's worth, leaders aren't born, they're made. When young Malaysians start seeing people they'd want to emulate, only then will we start seeing talent within the political pool - and perhaps, world-class statesmen.

Until then, it's going to be a long way uphill.

After Our Holier-Than-Thou Image

Political Sex Scandals Rock Modest Malaysia

By THOMAS FULLER
Published: August 4, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Government censors in this majority Muslim nation have upheld an ethos of modesty by snipping sex scenes from films and banning entertainers from wearing outfits that reveal too much on Malaysian stages; bare belly buttons and figure-hugging outfits are off limits.

But these days Malaysians looking to avoid R-rated content might be advised to steer clear of news reports about their own leaders. Two top politicians are embroiled in scandal, one accused of sodomy and the other of romantic links to a Mongolian woman gruesomely killed in 2006.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia, right, with his deputy, Najib Razak. Mr. Najib’s name has surfaced in connection with the case of a woman who was killed in 2006.

Reports on the finer points of a rectal examination and revelations about the sexual preferences of the dead woman make other sex scandals that once shocked people here — including Monica Lewinsky and her blue dress — seem almost Victorian.

This is not the first time that sex and politics have collided in Malaysia. In the 1990s, the sodomy trial of Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister, featured, among other highlights, a bloodstained mattress being hauled into the courtroom.

This time, wider use of the Internet has helped disseminate documents, facts and rumors that would otherwise have been filtered out of the mainstream news media that are tightly controlled by the government.

The scandals encompass much more than sex; each is a potential career-ender for a man vying to become Malaysia’s next prime minister, with control over a political patronage system that dominates the economy.

Mr. Anwar is now facing new accusations of sodomy — a crime punishable here by up to 20 years in prison — at a time when he is making strides toward unseating the governing coalition, which has run Malaysia since its independence from Britain 51 years ago. His principal political rival, Najib Razak, the deputy prime minister and anointed heir to the current prime minister, has been persistently linked to the slain Mongolian woman, despite his insistence that he never even met her. She was shot and her body obliterated with explosives in the jungle outside Kuala Lumpur.

The defendants in that case are a former political adviser to Mr. Najib and two commandos who were bodyguards for Malaysia’s top leaders.

Tampering is suspected in both cases. Testimony revealed that immigration records of the slain woman had been deleted. Witnesses have dropped from sight, including a private investigator, Balasubramaniam Perumal, who said in a sworn statement in early July that the Mongolian woman was Mr. Najib’s mistress. He retracted his allegations the next day in a hastily convened news conference, and then disappeared, along with his wife and three children. The family’s two Rottweilers were left behind in their cages.

“It’s obvious what has happened here,” said Americk Sidhu, the investigator’s lawyer. “You don’t need to be a rocket scientist. Somebody needed him to shut up.”

Mr. Balasubramaniam, who worked for the Najib adviser now on trial, Abdul Razak Baginda, spent two months writing and revising a 16-page declaration about the case, based on conversations he had with Mr. Abdul Razak and, before her death, with the woman, Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Many of the most salacious facts and rumors about both cases have been funneled into the public realm by one prolific blogger, Raja Petra Kamarudin, formerly a political associate of Mr. Anwar’s wife.

Citing sources in military intelligence, he issued a sworn declaration in June alleging that Mr. Najib’s wife was present at Ms. Altantuya’s killing. Mr. Najib called it “total lies, fabrication and total garbage” and a “desperate and pathetic attempt to discredit and taint my political image.”

Mr. Raja Petra was also responsible for leaking a medical report relating to the sodomy case against Mr. Anwar. The accuser, a 23-year-old former campaign volunteer, went to a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur hours before lodging a police report charging that Mr. Anwar had sodomized him. The medical report said he complained of a piece of plastic being inserted into his anus. The doctor who wrote the report, Mohamed Osman, said he found no active bleeding, no pus, tear or scar.

Since then, Dr. Osman also has disappeared. The hospital says he will be back on Monday.

The government has charged Mr. Raja Petra with criminal libel, invoking a law that lawyers say has not been used in recent memory in Malaysia and that, unlike civil defamation, can carry a two-year prison term. He has also been charged with sedition, and his house has been raided several times.

Mr. Anwar, who announced Thursday that he would run for Parliament in his quest to become prime minister, said in an interview that he expected to be arrested soon.

He said he had refused to give a DNA sample because he believed that it would be used against him. “There’s nothing stopping them from fabricating evidence again,” Mr. Anwar said.

Although Malaysians enthusiastically share the latest developments in both cases, some have grown tired of the graphic details.

“A good word is disgust — whether it’s sodomy or blowing up the Mongolian lady,” said the Rev. Wong Kim Kong, executive adviser of the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, a group of Protestant churches. A narrow majority of Malaysians are Muslim, but the country has sizable Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh minorities.

Mr. Wong said the constant barrage of accusations made by bloggers, paired with the government’s steady denials, had left Malaysians pining for clarity.

“People just cannot trust the word of any of these people,” Mr. Wong said. “They cannot distinguish who is telling the truth.”

The scandals come at a time of great political uncertainty in Malaysia. The governing coalition, and the ethnic-based system of politics that it represents, is in disarray. There is simmering resentment among the majority Malays and the minority Chinese and Indians, and corruption within the government is rampant, despite promises by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to clean up the system.

Mr. Anwar has vowed to remake the country’s politics and revoke the authoritarian laws that, among other things, ban students from protesting, keep the media controlled and allow the government to lock up dissidents without trial. But he remains a polarizing figure who is not trusted by many in the elite.

“I think there will at some point be a crisis of legitimacy,” said Ibrahim Suffian, the director of the Merdeka Center, a polling agency. “The leaders seem to feel that they can get away with a lot of things so long as the masses are satisfied with the economic opportunities given to them.

“But the economy is so bad that people are losing faith. There is a feeling that maybe it’s time for major changes.”

The Whole Two Years

Everyone and his dog has blogged about Pak Lah's announcement of abdicating the throne to make way for Najib in two years' time.

That, my friends, is a very long time indeed.

Forget about the fact that our system is technically a democracy (though some would very fiercely disagree with me), and that we head for the ballot boxes - to choose our elected representatives and consequently, the Number One man - about once in every five years.

Pak Lah has certainly forgotten about that.

Really, I don't know if I can bear this man for 5 minutes longer.

This is the incompetent fool who claimed that the roadblocks were put into place to reduce hindrances and traffic jams.

To those of you who were caught in those awful, massive traffic jams on your way to work, combusting copious amounts of RM2.70/litre worth of petrol, be informed: those roadblocks were to ensure that "disturbances" would not occur.

To those of you who witnessed the heavy police presence, you may be forgiven for thinking that the Gestapo had collaborated with the Hamas to take over Kuala Lumpur city.

Not quite. It was merely in anticipation of protests ahead of a motion of no confidence in the PM. And to keep Anwar Ibrahim off a 5km radius of the Parliament.

My mother was impressed. "Is the government really *that* afraid of Anwar?" she asked.

Possibly terrified. Possibly not.

But you can probably anticipate what's going to happen within these next two years.

The Truth Is Like Pink Bananas

When someone like Abdullah Ahmad Badawi claims that there are no threats against Anwar Ibrahim's life and that the government promises protection for him, there is only one suitable response that comes to mind:

Dude. Plug that hole.

And I'm referring to his mouth, and not the other end, lest you think I am suggesting he go get himself sodomised.

Though it wouldn't be a bad idea considering how sodomy has become so in vogue these days.

But I digress.

It astounds me that Pak Lah even bothers to declare assurances anymore. Everyone knows he lies as fluently as he snores.

Any occasion where Pak Lah utters the truth (even by accident) would be an occasion to celebrate. A moment to commemorate. Time to bring out the champagne and make a toast..

It would be as rare, unexpected, unbelievable - perhaps even confusing as, say ... pink bananas.


Now Pak Lah is either ignorant of the reputation he possesses, or in severe denial. I'd say the latter is a higher possibility.

It doesn't, however, stop him from getting offended when the USA stated that it would oppose any politically motivated investigation or prosecution against Anwar.

"The United States seems to harbour prejudice against us. The Government will not intervene in any investigation. The team carrying out the probe are professionals and they know their duties."

In your dreams. Liar.

There are no professionals left in the police force. The judiciary has its hands tied behind. This investigation is probably an exercise in futility.

I expect to see mattresses being brought to court again.

But Pak Lah cannot take the credit for being the biggest liar yet. Someone else takes the cake:

Malaysian deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak also assailed the American government for implying that the investigation could be biased.

"It is not politically motivated. The thought never even crossed our minds," he said.

I was still laughing 3 hours later.

As I said, the truth is like pink bananas.

ISA Inmate Released - BSA Tahir

Yesterday one ISA inmate was released from Kamunting.

Unlike most of the other inmates, this guy is no political activist. He was wanted by the US government for being part of a nuclear arms deal with Iran.

I dug up some old bits of info from The Washington Post about this Buhary Syed Abu Tahir and those involved with him.

And when I speak of involvement, I speak of Scomi. Read on.

Tahir, a product of many worlds, was the ideal middleman. Born in India, he moved to Sri Lanka as a child and then to Dubai when his family opened a company, SMB Group, in that Persian Gulf emirate. Today, the firm, which he and his brother own, is involved in computers and information technology.

Tahir, however, had turned his attention to Malaysia, marrying the daughter of a former Malaysian diplomat in a society wedding in 1998 and gaining permanent residency there.

He also saw business opportunities. Though he had planned in 2001 to manufacture centrifuge components in Turkey with a Turkish associate, police said, Tahir changed his mind and suggested that the parts be produced by a politically connected Malaysian company, Scomi Precision Engineering.

Does that name ring any bells in your mind?

That company, set up in December 2001, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Scomi Group Berhad, which is involved primarily in the oil and gas business. Its two main shareholders are Kamaluddin Abdullah, the son of Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and Kamaluddin's former classmate, Shah Hakim Zain. The pair are controlling shareholders in two investment companies that hold the majority of stock in Scomi Group.

Another major shareholder in one of the investment companies until earlier this year was Tahir's wife, Nazimah Syed Majid. After Malaysian authorities began investigating Scomi's involvement with Khan's nuclear network, company officials asked her to sell her shares to Kamaluddin and his business partner, a Scomi spokeswoman said.

Strange bedfellows, you say? Purely coincidence?

In April 2002, Tahir recommended that the company bring in a 39-year-old Swiss consultant, Urs Friedrich Tinner, to help set up a new plant for Scomi Precision Engineering in the Shah Alam industrial area near Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. Tinner's father, Friedrich Tinner, was a mechanical engineer who had done business with Khan since the 1980s and had helped supply centrifuge components for Libya, the report said.

Through his father, brother and other business contacts, Urs Tinner imported highly specialized machines to produce the components called for in the business plan Tahir had reportedly offered Scomi.

On the shop floor, Tinner was secretive, taking back his component drawings once a part was finished and erasing technical drawings in factory computers, the report said, telling workers he was seeking "to safeguard trade secrets." When Tinner left in October 2003, he took his computer's hard disk and his files.

The materials to make the components, a total of 330 tons of quality aluminum, were purchased from Bikar Metal Pte Ltd. a German firm in Singapore, the police said. The aluminum bars and tubes were not controlled material that would arouse suspicions about their intended purpose, police said.

At the factory, workers turned them into a dozen types of components for export, including flanges, clamp holders, molecular pumps and crash rings. The parts, worth $3.4 million, were shipped to Dubai in four batches between December 2002 and August 2003, according to police and company statements.

The report said that none of the firm's 30 employees knew that on Oct. 4, 2003, a German ship called the BBC China had been boarded and searched in Taranto, Italy, and that investigators had seized five containers bound for Libya that held components for centrifuge units. The containers bore Scomi's logo.

No kidding. Caught red-handed, were we? This happened only a few months after Pak Lah assumed office.

Tahir told police that the ship also carried a consignment from Gunas Jireh, a Turk who supplied "aluminum casting and dynamo" to Libya for its effort to develop its own nuclear machinery workshop, the report said.

That seizure was part of the Proliferation Security Initiative, an international effort to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and it helped break open the network.

U.S. and British intelligence brought that evidence to Malaysia's attention in November, police said.

In his speech last week, Bush noted that Khan used the Malaysia factory to produce key parts for centrifuges. Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar complained Friday that Bush had unfairly singled out Malaysia.

"Malaysia should not be dragged into the debate of being a country that is involved in the supply of components or otherwise for weapons of mass destruction, " the foreign minister "We have no capability."

Really? I can fully believe that the Malaysians were not technologically involved in processing the radioactive elements, e.g. isotope separation itself.

After all, they had the Swiss and the Libyans for that. Scomi just had to pretend that they were just providing some vague bits of engineering service and had no full knowledge of what actually was going on.

But seriously, it is ludicrous to assume that the Scomi Group had no inkling of what it was involved with. Nuclear production is no simple process. It involves dangerous radioactive chemicals which need proper handling.

I presume that Uranium was the radioactive material that was being processed judging from the method of using centrifuges to purify it.

And for centrifuges, you would need high quality component parts with high safety factors to ensure structural integrity. Scomi Precision Engineering was building just that.

The police report said that, apart from Tahir and Tinner, who served as a technical consultant to Scomi from April 2002 to October 2003, Scomi employees did not know the intended use of the components they were making.

Police investigators concluded that, "to untrained eyes, such components would not raise any concern as the components are similar to components that could be used by the 'petrol-chemical industry' and 'water treatment' and various other industries," the report said.

I find it highly suspicious that while BSA Tahir spends some quality time in Kamunting, his counterparts in high places have gone off scot-free.

How is it that this has been so conveniently pushed under the carpet? Scomi was clearly involved in the nuclear black market scandal.

So was this guy put away for 4 years to keep his mouth shut or because he was genuinely a threat to national (international, more like) security??

Making Profit From Cash Rebates

A lot of people welcomed the fuel rebate of RM625 for cars below 2000cc and RM150 for motorcycles.

In fact, there were monstrous lines formed in a painstaking wait to collect the money from the nearest post office.

I did wonder, why withdraw the fuel subsidy and instead give out cash rebates to vehicle owners, some of whom may not even be using their cars and motorcycles?

Now I have my answer.

ECM Libra Financial Group Berhad has a stake in Pos Malaysia Berhad (PMB) through it's acquisition of Avenue Capital Resources in 2006 through some very dodgy bit of insider trading.

If the name ECM Libra rings a bell, you will be right to remember Kera Jantan, more commonly known as the Prime Minister's son-in-law. KJ was a Director of Investment in ECM Libra in 2004 before making a disappearing act when sh!t hit the fan.

But all is not ended. Kalimullah Hasan, of plagiarism and sue-you-for-speaking-the-truth fame, is now the Chairman and CEO of ECM Libra.

Same guy who spins faithfully for Pak Lah on the mainstream media, namely New Straits Times. The money trail isn't going too far off now, is it?

But back to the issue at hand, so why was PMB was given the job of giving out the cash rebates to replace of fuel subsidy? Some say it was out of convenience, as post offices are easily available and accessible.

Pak Lah and KJ would have you think so.

It is quite odd on why JPJ was not given this role but instead it was given to a postal service company. Heck, the JPJ is where I go to renew my road tax, not the post office.

Instead of the more efficient and more relevant job function of the JPJ, these cash handouts responsibility were thrusted into the already mountainous variety of services PMB had to handle.

But now, let's see how Pak Lah and his cronies get extra money out of this purportedly 'for the rakyat' act of selflessness.

For every transaction, PMB will get 10 sen commission on every RM10 of that RM625 and RM150 (for cars and motorcycles respectively). That means, for every transaction, PMB will get RM6.25 for cars and RM1.50 for motorcycles in the form of transaction fees.

From what I know, there are approximately 11 million cars and 8 million motorcycles in this country at the moment. Let's do the math:

RM6.25 x 11 millions = RM68.8 million (for cars)

RM1.50 x 8 millions = RM12 million (for motorcycles)

A cool total of RM81 million for the entire exercise per year.

With RM117 million already paid out during the first day, I wonder how much PMB will collect by March 2009. This role was given to PMB and not JPJ because PMB is a public listed company (read: profit oriented) while JPJ is a government-owned entity (read : no cost to public).

This nefariously cunning way of trying to 'help' the poor while at the same time enriching oneself is very much prevalent in Pak Lah's administration.

What's worse, they are emptying the nation's coffers (from the Treasury) in the form of cash rebates and transfer a significant percentage of it into their own pockets (through fees paid into PMB and ultimately into ECM's bank accounts).

Such selfless generosity is unprecedented.

Fuel Price Up In Malaysia

I think Pak Lah knows he's going to be kicked out of office soon.

And so, the dude has to rake in the money and fast before he has no more access to the funds.

The easiest way, is to reduce the fuel subsidy - with the predictably empty promises that this money will be channelled into improving public transportation or some such.

You and I know that's bull.

Ladies and gentlemen, mark my words - that money will go into the pockets of our esteemed politicians.

In other words, we will be paying for their luxurious lifestyles which we have been advised to abstain from to cope with the inevitable rise in cost of living.

Food prices will escalate, the cost of public transportation (inadequate as it currently is) will also increase, and even the rates for electricity.

So now we'll have to limit our food intake, refrain from going anywhere except for the regular trips between the house and the office, and get rid of the air-conditioning and replace it with fans.

Better still, fold up the A4-size advertisement flyers people leave on your windshield and fan yourself frantically before you fall asleep in the naturally heated 18th storey of your apartment which has just seen 10 hours of sun beating down on it.

Only the profoundly stupid will believe that the government cannot afford to sustain the current subsidy. After all, we are an oil-producing country.

We own a company called Petronas which unearths (literally) copious amounts of petroleum off our very own shores. We export this very high grade petroleum in exchange for lower grade petroleum from the Middle East.

They have bigger oil reserves, but ours are of better quality. So we actually make a profit when it comes to our oil ventures.

Petronas belongs to the Malaysian people. No one can stake a claim on what belongs to a nation.

However, NO information pertaining to Petronas has been made accessible to the public.

Why? I think deep down inside, we all know the answer. A lot of the profits are vanishing into personal accounts, and a select, exclusive number of individuals have become wealthy.

Immensely wealthy.

So now, you and I are going to be paying RM2.70 for a liter of petrol so that someone out there can maintain his status quo and life of relative luxury which he feels he is entitled to.

Beautiful world we live in.

Charge Me, Baby!

Big talk from a big boy!

But we all know good ole Dr M is guilty of a lot of things, judicial manipulation being the least of them.

He's got presence. He's got moxy. Even one hell of a sense of humour. And when the need arises, selective memory.

If it comes to a match between Abdullah and Mahathir, you can expect a whole lot of mud-slinging.

Detention Under ISA

With the inflation rate skyrocketing, it appears that our government must have decided to give us free entertainment by flaunting and parading their stupidity in full view of all and sundry.

Except no one is laughing because the situation is getting critical. And those in power are outdoing themselves by trying to explain away their demented actions that serve their selfish goals.

Take this village idiot, for example. He goes by the monicker Musa Hassan, but it makes you wonder who died and appointed him as the Inspector General of Police?!

Because for the love of God, he is nothing but an utter embarrassment to anyone who identifies himself as Malaysian!!


This man is the reason why our police force, the law enforcement of our nation is in such a pathetic state.

When our forefathers drew up the Constitution, they stipulated that the Executive, Legislative and Judicial bodies be independent of each other - to protect democracy and prevent abuse of power.

It is common knowledge that in Malaysia, this part of the Constitution (among others) has been completely disregarded, with tyranny reigning supreme within the government.

To make matters worse, instead of remaining independent to protect the rights of the citizens, Law Enforcement is in bed with the government. They are having a massive orgy to ensure that they collectively remain in power until kingdom come.

The easiest way to do that is to remove potential threats. Now these are not potential threats to the country. These are threats to the individuals in power, whose lofty position is destabilised by the presence of those threats.

So what do they do? They detain anyone who poses a threat (not to national security but for personal gain), under the draconian Internal Security Act which is frankly a barbaric law with no purpose anymore, in this day and age.

This is how arrogant the current ruling coalition has become, to repeatedly ignore the calls for change. These imbeciles have become so fixated on remaining in power that they have shown their tragic lack of wisdom when it comes to ruling our country.

Both the government and police blatantly deny that detaining without giving fair trial is cruel.

In the case of the latest ISA detainees (HINDRAF 5) who were arrested merely because they spoke of the discrimination against themselves, there was insufficient investigation carried out beforehand.

This makes their arrest ILLEGAL.

The government is not holding these men for the nation's security; it is keeping them behind bars to scare the hell out of people and to serve as a warning that anyone who goes against the government will receive due punishment.

Our government is criminal.

One of the HINDRAF 5, Uthayakumar is in very critical condition. He is a diabetic, one with very high blood sugar levels. He has also developed a disturbing skin allergy and is experiencing heart problems.

If there are insufficient doctors available even for the National Service trainees, would you expect that a detention centre for individuals who have fallen short of the government's good graces would dispense of sufficient medical treatment and attention??

You must be out of your mind if you think so.

The newspapers claim that Uthayakumar's condition is reportedly stable after being treated by doctors, but I highly doubt it.

Detainees of the Internal Security Act are in Kamunting because it is illegal for the government to exterminate them, though if given the opportunity, I'm certain more C4 explosives would be utilised.

Of course, the government hasn't disposed of them because it is illegal to do so. It is merely because they have become public figures and someone would certainly question their sudden disappearance.

Otherwise, I am sure the government and its concubine, the police force, would certainly eliminate its threats in blissful silence.

Treachery - Our Tabloids Spin Themselves Dizzy!

Apparently March 15 is World Treachery Day. This is according to our tabloids (which are often mistaken for mainstream media).

Very few know that in Malaysia, there is no such thing as mainstream media, only government controlled tabloids, dodgy as that sounds.

Right on the front page of the New Straits Times, vague references to Brutus and Julius Caesar are drawn. Strategically located next to it are comparisons between Mahathir & Tunku and Mukhriz & Abdullah.

Like father, like son.

Mukhriz echoes his father in calling for Abdullah's resignation. The NST makes it seem like it was a turn about face. Not at all.

It was Mukhriz's stand from the beginning that Abdullah should step down. Our spin-doctors tried to alter the original meaning and hope the letter would never be found.

Their hopes were in vain. A copy of Mukhriz's letter to Mahathir was published in mypaper and every other blogger and his dog published it. That meant that every other net surfer, his brother and their collective dogs were circulating it and disseminating the information.

Read the letter at Rocky's Bru.


Abdullah evidently doesn't want to leave. Consistent to his "nice-guy" image, he has left the matter to UMNO Youth head Hishammuddin Hussein aka keris-waver.

They can't sacrifice Mukhriz as an MP because their numbers in parliament are few. Yet, the only recourse seems to be some form of disciplinary action.

But whatever. The bickering hardly bothers me. UMNO will be the death of themselves, bless their little black hearts.

Abdullah Stokes Racial Tension

I tried to stay away from this issue, but evidently I can't.


Penang is the first to set up government so obviously, it's doing a lot of trailblazing into a virgin territory of sorts. I find it impressive that Lim Guan Eng has set out to clean up his state immediately without sticking around to play PR games.

Obviously the Abdullah administration doesn't like it. So what does the head honcho do? Well, stoke flames of course. Try and incite racial tensions by implying Guan Eng is infringing on minority rights.

Let's dissect the news report of his lame rhetoric:

PUTRAJAYA: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was warned by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi not to make statements that could stoke racial tensions.

Lim, after his swearing-in as the new Penang Chief Minister on Tuesday, told reporters that the DAP-led state government would not practise the New Economic Policy (NEP).

Lim had also said that the NEP, which was introduced in 1971 after the May 13, 1969, racial riots to eradicate poverty and restructure society, was the source of “cronyism, corruption and inefficiency.”

I couldn't agree more. About time we stopped fooling ourselves that it has eradicated (or even come close to it) poverty.

Abdullah told Bernama in between meetings with top civil servants at his office here that the NEP had in fact benefited everyone.

“I would like to ask the DAP which community has been made poorer because of the NEP,” he said.

A very good question, Abdullah, which I can answer. The Malay community, of course. They have systematically been denied of equal education as the non-Malays by allowing them into sub-standard ones like matriculation instead of STPM.

This has created a domino effect, where they are forced to enter Malay dominated fields, such as government service or join the police, army, navy, air force, customs department, etc., where the salaries are very low.

Those who have managed to break into multi-national corporations are paid lower than their non-Malay counterparts because their skills are lacking and sometimes their command of the English language is left wanting.

Most are aware that they're not competent enough and have low self esteem. This kind of psychological distress is unnecessary.

Believe me, the NEP has done much more harm than good.

“The (Penang) state government must not try to create an atmosphere which can cause racial tensions,” warned Abdullah, who is also head of Penang Umno.

He also said that the new state government in Penang should not marginalise the Malays, who are the minority in the state, and other minority groups like the Indians.

“Do not marginalise the Malays. I want to ask Lim Guan Eng what his plans are for the Malays in Penang? What are his plans for the Indians in Penang? What are his plans for other minority groups in Penang?”

Now this is when yours truly gets royally pissed off. I have 3 words for Abdullah: GO TO HELL!!

I am warning you, Sir, do not drag the issue of Indians into this matter. The issue of Indians is the last thing on your mind unless you are intent on spraying more chemical-laced water or hurling tear gas on them for good measure.

I don't know about the Malays, but Indians would like to be treated merely as normal citizens with no additional, fringe benefits.

Indians are not retarded, so they do not need crutches and wheelchairs thrown at them under the disguise of 'help'. An equal policy, a transparent one will be enough to enable them to compete on equal footing. And they certainly do NOT need a 'special' plan based on skin colour.

The prime minister gave an assurance that the federal Government would continue to look after the lower-income groups in the state and would also continue with the special assistance programmes for the bumiputras.

Yeah sure. And pigs fly, too.

Of course, Abdullah's racist stance has obviously upset a few in Penang. However, UMNO could never be credited for being original. My personal take on that is because they ceased thinking a long time ago.

Nevertheless, a few have taken to the roads to demonstrate their protest against the non-practise of the NEP at Penang state level. Now these clowns have obviously no clue about the purpose of a protest, demonstration or rally.

BERSIH and HINDRAF took to the streets because for ages, their proposals and requests were made to deaf ears. So this disorganised little social gathering that UMNO put up (with the help of a few random banners) was unnecessary because Barisan Nasional controls the freaking media, after all!!

They also forgot their memorandum. :) Ah well.

It didn't perturb the Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who appeared not to have even batted an eyelash as he took it in his stride.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.

Of course, it seems to have escaped Barisan Nasional that street protests "are not our culture".