Die Lynas, But Don't Bother To Rest In Peace

Sometimes when time just flies past, it's hard to remember that the Bentong MP, Wong Tack, started out as an activist against Lynas, back in 2012 and even before that.

First they threatened to block Kuantan Port, then they protested a celebration of Australia Day.

If you're going to ask why all that was necessary, you have your answer HERE; brilliantly compiled by Walla.

All that protesting appears to be fruitful as Lynas could possibly be closed down.

The Australian Commissioner to Malaysia calls this closure a 'tragedy'. I know there are a lot of Malaysians who have migrated to Australia for a better life and now call Australia home, but seriously, Australia can go to hell.

Wong Tack does tell them so himself, though in not so many words. "The further threat by the High Commissioner that the closure of Lynas will result in a pullout of Australian investments in Malaysia is an insult to the intelligence and dignity of the Malaysian people."

Does Australia think they are so important to Malaysia? Seriously? Most of the time I don't even remember that Australia exists; they are that insignificant.

Lynas appears to be a welfare queen, on top of that:

a) They were given tax breaks for 12 years by the previoius regime
b) They have no plans to remove their radioactive waste out of Malaysia
c) They have not even paid up their security deposit of USD50mil.

This shows what levels of greed people can stoop to, firstly the previous Malaysian regime who approved everything without considering the needs of its own citizens, the Australian politicians and then finally corporate Australia for whom Malaysian lives do not matter.

Piss off Lynas, and take Australia with you.

Noted

I thought Australia had completely gone to the dogs.

But it looks like there's hope, in the form of Senator Scott Ludlam of the Green Party.



A brilliant speech against fascism and bullying.

For more thoughts on this: Scott Ludlam has created the exact speech Gen Y was looking for

There Are Good Australians

From Malaysiakini:

Australians join Malaysians in opposing Lynas TOL

1:10PM Sep 13, 2012

Two members of the Western Australian Green Legislative Council have joined together with the large number of Malaysians who oppose the imminent shipment of radioactive ore from Mount Weld in Australia, to be processed at the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) in Gebeng, Kuantan.

Lynn MacLaren from the South Metropolitan Region and Robin Chapple for the Mining and Pastoral region, in their joint statement, said the history of the Lamp plant has been fraught with difficulty and opposition from Malaysians.

“They are unwilling to be recipient of Australia's contaminated wastes and have consistently protested the plant in various gatherings of up to 15,000 people. Despite the widespread concerns on the plant and its disposal of its radioactive wastes, a two-year temporary licence has been issued,” they said.

Chapple further added this approval seems like the sanctioning of an Australian mining company making use of lax environmental controls and governance arrangements in a developing country.

“To my mind it has not gone through a rigorous environmental process and should not have been issued. This is a poor representation of Australian notions of ‘fair play’ and good corporate citizenship and one that it seems our state government is paying little mind to,” he said.

Guess What Happened at CHOGM Perth?

Najib got his ass kicked -- yet again!!!

At this point, I am really beginning to feel sorry for him. Governments around the world meet to discuss world issues and guess which nation brings up their issues which were prohibited from being voiced in their home country?

Yes -- Malaysia!!

In Perth, the police evidently don't brutalise citizens for exercising their democratic right to protest on the streets!

Malaysians around the world have not forgotten the acts of the BN government. And Najib is going to feel the heat wherever he goes.

None of the protesters were handcuffed or beaten up like those in Malaysia were. So it obviously pays to demonstrate and air all grievances in a foreign country. Najib might want to think twice about going abroad again.

He is going to be embarrassed everywhere by good ole Malaysians who have decided that enough really is ENOUGH!!!

Go for it, Chin Huat!!

See the whole set of pictures by Trevor Morgano HERE.

Why Exchange Refugees Anyway?

I just read Chris Kenny's commentary on the refugee swap between Malaysia and Australia. I am honestly surprised to note that the Australians are this perceptive to the state of affairs in Malaysia.

Frankly, I am not the only Malaysian who has been protesting the refugee exchange programme between Malaysia and Australia. It originally sounded quite beneficial for Malaysians - after all Australia will take 4000 of our refugees in exchange for only 800 of theirs per year.

But of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Australia is offloading most of their troublemakers and the extremists to Malaysia.

And what does Malaysia stand to gain? The truth is, the average citizen has everything to lose, while UMNO is banking on the support of these new-comers, the Muslims. Perhaps UMNO is hoping to reinforce the divide between the Muslims and non-Muslims.

This is a sorry state of affairs.

Related: Malaysia trading 4,000 non-Muslims for 800 Muslims in asylum swap, says top Aussie paper

Lynas - Go Back To Australia!!!

I have, in the past, stated that I am a firm believer of progress and development.

But a rare earth refinery plant is not my idea of progress. Not in a small town like Kuantan, in a small country like Malaysia. There are too many risks involved and not worth the perks.

Lynas is an Australian company based in Sydney. Most of the material comes from Mount Weld in Western Australia, the richest known deposit of Rare Earths in the world.

So why are they refining it in Malaysia, across the sea - far, far away? Why don't they just refine it in Australia?

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: AUSTRALIA

Enclosed by giant rats, babykiller dingos, scorpions, and scorching desert is a whole lot of ... nothing.

That, in my opinion, is a fine place to build a refinery.

Sure, it will be grossly inconvenient to have to transport up the raw materials there, to convince people to go and work there, and to build the facilities to support the operations.

But at least any waste disposal in the middle of nowhere, in my opinion, would not be harmful to the people, not in the same magnitude that unmanaged waste would be in Kuantan.

You see, it is prestty clear to me, that at the end of the day, it is not about human safety. It is about profits. It costs far more to pay Australian labour than cheap Malaysian labour.

It would be more costly to transport materials into the middle of nowhere and build those facilities - even if it is safer for human beings.

If you ask me, I don't think the Australians would put up with those sort of risks. They are much firmer with their government than we are with ours. We have given our government too much leeway.

People, we need to protest this as strongly as we can. Lynas must never go into operations in Malaysia.

RELATED: Special Delivery

We Believe Them

Julia Gillard says:

"Malaysia has assured the [Australian] Government that asylum seekers will be well treated."

Has the Malaysian government assured the Australian government that they will not abuse their refugees?

Ah. Let's put that in perspective.

Ted Bundy has assured the Americans that he will never go on his serial killing rampage.

George Soros has assured the financial circles that he will never speculate on currency again.

Bill Gates has assured the IT industry that he will never touch a mouse again.

Utusan Melayu has assured the Malaysian public that it will never make false allegations.

And of course we believe them.

Refugees To Be Brought To Malaysia

I really don't know what to say, because at the end of the day, it is true that Malaysia does treat its refugees very badly.

From The Independent:

-------------------------------

Australia's latest initiative to deter asylum-seekers by sending them to Malaysia was roundly condemned yesterday, with critics noting that Kuala Lumpur has refused to sign the United Nations Refugee Convention and has a record of mistreating refugees.

Under pressure to act tough on "boat people", the Prime Minister, Julia Gilllard, said at the weekend that the next 800 asylum-seekers to arrive in Australia would be taken to Malaysia, where they will join a long queue to have their claims processed by UN officials.

Ms Gillard said the new deal would be a major blow to people-smugglers who ship asylum-seekers to Australia via Malaysia and Indonesia. "The key message this will deliver to people-smugglers and those seeking to make the dangerous journey to Australia is: do not get on that boat," she said.

"Under this arrangement, if you arrive in Australian waters and are taken to Malaysia, you will go to the back of the queue."

But the plan was attacked by Amnesty International Australia's refugee co-ordinator, Graham Thom, who said: "If you're looking for a country in the region that has some of the harshest policies towards refugees and asylum-seekers, then you couldn't really go past Malaysia."

An Amnesty report last year said Malaysia's detention centres were filthy and overcrowded. "Detainees lack proper healthcare, sufficient food and clean drinking water," it said. "Children under 18 are held with adults, and abuse by detention staff is rife."

The UN refugee agency, meanwhile, says refugees in Malaysia are vulnerable to arrest, and "may be subject to detention, prosecution, whipping and deportation".

And You Thought Malaysian Politicians Were Stupid

Most of you know that this is a Malaysian blog dedicated to whipping Malaysian politicians into shape.

But every now and then, out pops a foreign politician that makes you slap your forehead in dismay.

I don't know about you, but I think this politician from Australia needs a refresher course in the world of technology.

Thinking he was sending a private message to a journalist, he posted it in public. On twitter.

If you have a twitter account, you would know how fast news travels. It was sensitive information, and harmful to party image - not just that of the politician in question.

Of course, it begs the question: Why was he supplying a journalist with that information in the first place?

The problem with this group of paramecia we call politicians is that we let them roam freely among the good citizens of this world.

Rightfully, they should be locked up in some gardens with a leash around their necks. They should be provided with bibs during mealtimes so they don't soil their clothes.

God knows we all need protection from them. Heck, they need protection from themselves!

We Need A Zombie Walk

Don't say the Australians aren't creative. To raise money for the Brain Foundation, over thousands participated in a 'Zombie Walk' in Brisbane.

I felt a smile creep over my face as I read various news articles and browsed through some of the pictures.

And then I realised a Zombie Walk couldn't be more relevant to us Malaysians, because if you think about it, we Malaysians are walking zombies after all.


Our minds have been taken over by continuous brain-washing by the mainstream media. In schools, children are taught not to question history - like the infamous May 13 incident, for instance.

Even as adults, we're threatened with bloodshed if certain 'sensitive' issues like race and religion are brought up.

Consequently, our rights to freedom of expression have been hijacked. The government sprays chemical-laced water and fires tear gas at those who dare voice their dissatisfaction.

Heck, the Malaysian police even beat bloody those they can get their hands on.


So most Malaysians opt to remain as zombies even if some inquisitively attempt to push boundaries.

Perhaps I don't even have to remind you that regardless of whether we protest our ill-treatment or not at the hands of the government, our throats are perpetually being slashed by the blatant corruption that is so rampant in this country.


We're hounded by the LHDN to pay up our taxes, only for all that money to be bled steadily into someone's pocket.

I don't know about you, but my breath is sucked out of me when I hear a computer costs RM43,000 to purchase, according to the Malaysian government.

So many questions are begging answers. Why did Altantuya die? How did Teoh Beng Hock die? Who killed Nurin Jazlin? Where is Sharlinie?

Disturbingly, a lot of them have to do with death.


Unfortunately the dead don't talk, so even if we sacrifice a limb or two to ask those questions, we'll never get any answers.

Chaser's APEC Conference

It's no secret that the Malaysian government and law enforcement are screwed three ways to Sunday.

When it comes to adminstration of this country, they have no aim, goals & direction and wouldn't be able to acquire one even if you gave them a map, a compass and a GPS system.

And they are spectacularly incompetent.

You just know it by the way they randomly establish roadblocks, brutalise protestors at peaceful demonstrations and more recently, arrest young cyclists to intimidate them.

But there are also other governments, who need some work on their erm... skills.



A stunt like that would be a hoot in Malaysia, except that if we saw Osama bin Laden, a whole bunch of people like PEWARIS and the mamak boys from Penang will be rushing to embrace him.

The Mother Tongue Education Debate

A few of you may know that I've travelled a bit.

When I travel, I make it a point to experience the culture and everyday routine of the people in the country I visit.

I'm really not into visiting popular places of interest.

Those kind of tours require one to offer a frozen smile for the camera at each stop so that when one returns, one has mountains of photos to bore one's long-suffering friends and relatives with.

That's just not me.

So when I was visiting my colleague Tim in Australia, his wife Chris was obliging enough to arrange for me to come around and visit one of their playgroups for toddlers (which Chris organises).

That was where I met Evie and John.

Evie is an Indonesian Chinese woman who migrated to New South Wales about nine years ago. Her youngest son John, is two years old and Australian-born.

She speaks halting but almost conversational English. But what struck me most about her was that she told me that she'd insisted on bringing up her children to be bilingual.

Fair enough, I thought. Most Chinese ensure their children have a decent command of Mandarin or another local dialect.

But it wasn't Chinese that I heard Evie speaking to John. It was Bahasa Indonesia!

Coming from Malaysia, I was shocked.

Because top on the Malaysian-Chinese priority list of education is Maths and Science. And if Dong Jiao Zong has its way, it should be taught in Chinese, apparently.

These people have gone to the extent of threatening to launch a massive protest. I wonder if that would merit the water-cannon and tear gas. Perhaps someone ought to warn them.

Now I'm not claiming that the current national type education system is the answer to the solution. Frankly, this is a system that ensures that its students don't learn how to think, debate or be critical.

Sure, the Chinese vernacular schools probably build a solid foundation of knowledge in Maths and Science, while no amount of cramping students together is going to create national unity.

In fact, KTemoc gives an insightful opinion on why vernacular schools have flourished.

Unfortunately, I have noticed that in vernacular schools, the emphasis on Chinese culture and perpetual glorification of China is detrimental to the products of its education system who mistakenly walk around thinking that the world revolves around China or Chinese.

It does not.

I have met Chinese who pride themselves in not being able to speak Malay fluently. "It's not important lah," they say.

Which is why it's such a far cry from Evie who has chosen to relocate to a foreign country but still takes pride in the country she grew up in.

Not the country her ancestors came from.

Boys & Girls

When I was in Australia, my friend Tim decided to take me to the zoo to give me a comprehensive education on native Australian animals.

Now I'm fairly certain that peafowl are not native to Australia, so frankly, I have no idea what they were doing in that zoo.

Nevertheless, they were quite entertaining to observe.


For one, the male is really very attractive and majestic.

And the female? She's disturbingly ugly and haughty to boot.

This one in particular looked at Tim rather disdainfully as he snapped pictures of her, while the male had posed for the camera quite obligingly.

And then, without a word, she stalked off without so much as a goodbye, leaving the hopeful male surprised at her sudden departure.

"Where did she go, mate?" Tim asked the woe-begone peacock. "She's left you, has she?"

Both Tim and I tried to spot the peahen, but she obviously had some privacy issues to defend. Not a trace of her.

The peacock was obviously not going to get lucky. Not today, anyway. "Better luck next time, mate."

Seaplane In Sydney

The seaplane at the Barrenjoey Boathouse at Palm Beach.


If I'm not mistaken, it's a deHavilland amphibious Beaver.

Friendly Reminder

It's relatively easy to recognise an Asian-owned store in Australia. Every square inch of space is occupied with items for sale except for the token space necessary for customers to walk.

The Hot Dollar shop in Eastwood was no exception.

You obviously got your money's worth here.

But a good bargain always attracts the menagerie. And sometimes they have dirty hands.

So Hot Dollar is compelled to put out a sign in impeccable English as a friendly reminder to ...


... actually, I have really no idea what it means.

Possibly, "Do not open".

No Holds Barred...

... not even in Australia.


Abolish the Internal Security Act.

Beach Bum

I met her at Shelly Beach, in Manly.

She'd just laid her eggs and was burying them in the sand. Of course, I didn't want to get too near just in case she took offense at the intrusion of her privacy.

With legs like that, I reckon she could run pretty fast.

The Kiama Blowhole

It looks like an ordinary hole in the rocks by the sea.


But it's no ordinary hole. It's a blowhole, and possibly the world's largest one. It can be found in an otherwise sleepy little village of Kiama in New South Wales.


It channels water from the treacherous and fearsome sea, spraying it up to 25 metres into the air.

It all happens when waves enter the mouth of the cave and the pressure within the cave chamber funnels it all up. Way up into the sky.

No small feat indeed.

Getting too close can be dangerous. Especially during stormy weather conditions.


It was awesome.

Malaysians may be forgiven for thinking there are no blowholes in their land.

Geographically, it may be true.

Politically, blowholes remind me of Barisan Nasional in particular, whose politicians - under pressure - make sky-high promises that never materialise into anything.

We Need Bicycle Lanes Too

An Indonesian ex-colleague of mine once mentioned in passing that we Malaysians expect to be dropped off at the doorstep of our destination. That's why we drive everywhere in our prized little cars.

It's true.

I realise a portion of Malaysians dislike walking and thus sweating (God forbid we release a drop of fluid from our glands!!). But another portion dislikes dying.

And yes, given our lack of proper facilities (like sidewalks and bridges) for pedestrians, we could easily get run over by a truck or bus, you know, and die!


But you know what I really like about Australia?

They have special lanes for their cyclists - even on the highway!

They encourage people to use renewable energy (calories) instead of non-renewable forms of energy like petrol. This is a country that is sincere in its efforts to go green.

Now when do you expect to see that in Malaysia?

Australian Idol At Opera House

I've never been a big fan of singing - either good, bad or horrendous.

Even less a fan of reality shows.

Much less, any of the Idol shows.

But when I was at the Opera House on Saturday, I caught them rehearsing for the grand finale which was scheduled for Sunday at 7.30pm.

Sunday happened to be one of the coldest days since the winter. I don't know how the spectators survived it but they did. Wes Carr won it, in case you're wondering who did.

It was actually quite intriguing watching all that happen live.