Desi sued to flag off as a Chinoserie bloodline, maybe in a jestfool manner, or was it self-deprecation as is ingerent in Chinese culture? You ask me, I really don't know. With some things, nothing is for sure what's cause, what is effect. But Desi's delighted to read of the following -- I may now put up a sign as welcoming gesture in vengence to those olde days when the matsalleh put up "Dogs and Chinese Not Allowed!" -- at a restron I'm planning when/if I retire from penning for my supper -- "Engrishmen and pups not allowed! Onkay, bitches are!"
Hey, take this post as prelude to tomorrow's celeb:) If yu knoweth not what I am about, it's okay -- Bloggers aren't the best of communicarors, they sometimes indulge their egos more than their readers. They may call thee "esteemed", but at the back of their mind...Nah mind, I ain't gonna sperr it ooouch!:(
Experts: Britain may be at mercy of Chinese technology
LONDON, March 30 –- China has the ability to shut down Britain’s vital services, including food or power supplies, because its companies are involved in upgrading telecommunications systems, according to intelligence officials.
Ministers have been warned that a new £10bn communications network being developed by BT is vulnerable to a potential attack from within the Communist state because it uses equipment supplied by Chinese telecoms firm Huawei.
Although the risk of anyone in China exploiting the capability is currently low, intelligence experts believe the impact of any such attack would be very high. Computers at the Foreign Office and other Whitehall departments were attacked from China in 2007 and the threat from foreign governments and big companies is believed to be greater than that posed by terrorists.
Alex Allan, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), it thought to have briefed members of the ministerial committee on national security about the threat from China at a Whitehall meeting in January. Ministers were told steps to curb the potential threat have made little difference.
Huawei is China’s biggest phone company and a major world supplier. Under a multi-million pound deal signed in 2005, it is providing key components for BT’s new 21CN network which will use internet technology to speed up communications on behalf of thousands of public agencies and businesses.
Among those who will be relying on the new network are the government’s own intelligence agency GCHQ, Whitehall departments and the military.
BT would not comment on the issue and a Cabinet Office spokesman would only say the that government was working on ways to improve the security of Britain’s key systems. Huawei, whose UK division is based in Basingstoke, Hants, was unavailable for comment.
Ministers have been reluctant to replace Huawei with a British supplier, citing the cost and the government’s policy on competitive tendering for contracts.
The Whitehall meeting heard that Huawei components that form key parts of BT’s new network might already contain malicious elements that could be activated by China and which could “remotely disrupt or even permanently disable the network”, according to a report. Such action would have a “significant impact on critical services” such as power and water supplies, food distribution, the financial system and transport, which were dependent on computers using the communications network to operate.
An attempt by Huawei to merge with United States company 3Com, which provides computer security systems for the Pentagon, was blocked last year after US intelligence officials warned that it would not be in national security interests. The Pentagon is reported to believe Huawei is a key part of the potential threat from China and has close ties with the People’s Liberation Army.
However, a telecom industry source said: “There must be millions of systems containing Chinese technology all over the world the BT network wouldn’t be more or less vulnerable than any other.” – Daily Telegraph
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
An interesting take for morning BF...
for Bluesy Mondae ... and Desi indeed is falling behind some DEADlines!:(
From the MI-South China Morning Herald, heralding troubled times ahead for Opposition Leader DSAI...that is just from most UMNO politikuses' lenses quite clouded. Others like YL tend to disagree; even myGOoDfriend Sdr Yong Thye Chong would think so. So Chong and Chong maketh song 2singAlong:):)
But wait till you hear from mGf Kim Quek later -- some CEO is headed for the guillotine in the Rakyat's court of public opinion...in Desi's vain opinion! Can wait or knot? -- YL
Umno leaders’ embrace at party congress spells trouble for Anwar
Published by The Malaysian Insider:
KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 – The past, present and future prime ministers of Malaysia put years of backstabbing and badmouthing aside when they embraced at the Umno party’s congress – and that could spell trouble for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
It was a stunning moment of public unity for Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad and incoming leader Najib Razak, a trio whose brawling has been a boon for the opposition.
The moment came on Saturday after Dr Mahathir – who resigned from the United Malays National Organisation in 2007 out of anger with Abdullah – walked into the venue with his wife, Dr Siti Hasmah.
Abdullah was winding up proceedings on the final day of the five-day congress of the party, which has dominated Malaysian politics.
The delegates cheered the elderly couple and Abdullah, repeatedly labelled “good for nothing” by Dr Mahathir, saw them coming. He praised Dr Mahathir as a great leader – and invited him up on stage. Dr Mahathir formally shook hands with his successor, but Abdullah broke the ice, pulling Dr Mahathir in and embracing him warmly. Najib joined them in the embrace – and delegates went wild.
The Malay language Mingguan Malaysia ran the photograph under the banner headline: “Finally, united again!”.
Denison Jayasooria, political scientist at the National University of Malaysia, said the moment may prove vital.
“I think their rapprochement is for real, and has been forced on them by the political realities that Umno is politically retreating and also because the Umno grass roots are demanding they close rank,” he said.
“From here on, they will consolidate and train their guns on Anwar … Anwar is the key, he is the glue that is holding the opposition together.”
Anwar, who goes on trial for sodomy this month, was repeatedly attacked during the Umno meeting.
Former Umno youth wing leader Hishamuddin Hussein led the charge last Tuesday, accusing him of various “crimes” including criticism of Malaysia’s royal families, generating negative media reports in the international press and tarnishing the country in foreign forums.
Najib, who is taking over as prime minister on Thursday, lambasted Anwar’s morality.
“As opposition leader he claims to be as innocent as angels … like a newborn baby, but we know who he really is,” Najib said, without naming Anwar.
Tian Chua, a senior leader in Anwar’s Keadilan party, said the repeated targeting of Anwar was “sad”.
“They demonised him, and made veiled threats of entrapment and imprisonment,” he said, adding that he believed the rise of Najib would herald a new era of repression.
Chua cited a recent ban on two opposition publications, the suspension of opposition lawmakers and police action to break up opposition rallies as examples of the hardline policies favoured by Najib.
“Repression will worsen after Najib takes power,” he said. “Anwar is prepared for the worst.”
Umno will face its next electoral test on April 7, with three simultaneous by-elections. In Bukit Gantang in Perak state, a seat in the national assembly is up for grabs. The other races are for state legislature seats.
Some 15,000 opposition supporters and 5,000 from the ruling National Front coalition turned out yesterday to nominate their candidates. – South China Morning Post
UPDATEd @2.10PM because Desi has nothing badder to do but keep my ER UPDATEd bespite my missing DEADlines wit' Miss destiny and Her childe!:( via cpiasia.net ~~~~~~~ brought hear by port dickson not 100%-altruistic waves:)
Najib must be Screened by a Royal Commission of Inquiry
Columnists
Written by Kim Quek
Monday, 30 March 2009 13:53
At a heated press conference at the end of the UMNO Annual Assembly on March 28, the newly crowned President of UMNO Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak failed to dispel swirling rumours of his alleged links to the murder of Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu.
This press conference had attracted unusually intense foreign press attention, due to heightened international media coverage over the scandal as Najib’s anticipated ascension to premiership nears. And as the name of Altantuya splashes in news features that pop up all over the world from France to Australia and from US to India, Najib seems to be irretrievably linked to this sex-corruption-murder scandal in which a multi-billion dollar Government arms purchase featured prominently.
Answering a barrage of questions from foreign journalists whether these persistent aspersions would undermine his premiership, Najib only repeatedly said: “These are malicious and baseless lies. I have already given my answers, but they persist. This is an opposition ploy.”
Najib sounded as if he had already given all the necessary explanations to exonerate himself from his apparently strong connection to the case, but actually all he had done was the repeated uttering of these few words: “I had never met the Mongolian woman, I had never known her”, full stop. In fact, he swore in public several times, using words to the same effect.
SERIOUS QUESTIONS
If Najib thought those few words were sufficient to quell the mountain of suspicion arising from the myriad of burning questions as yet unanswered - in the face of dubious action or inaction by the law enforcers - he must have been terribly naïve, and he completely underestimated the intelligence of the public. Just to pick a few of these at random to demonstrate how serious these questions are:
Private investigator P. Balasubramaniam and his family mysteriously disappeared a day after he revealed in a sworn statement intimate details incriminating Najib to the murder case in July 2008. Despite promises to investigate, the police have remained silent over the contents of this affidavit. And the court had also barred the admission of this document. Why did the police and the court keep a safe distance from this document that could have led to a break-through of this trial? What has happened to Bala and family – as nobody seemed to know their whereabouts?
Why did the court – prosecutors, defence lawyers and judge – acting in unison, block further evidence from Altantuya’s cousin Burmaa Oyunchinmeg when she testified that Najib appeared in a photograph with Altantuya?
Why did the court block further evidence upon revelation in court that Malaysian immigration records of Altantuya and her two Mongolian companions had been mysteriously erased? Shouldn’t such erasure have been considered an important lead and an indication that some VVIP was involved?
Why were Najib and his aide-de-camp Musa Safri not investigated and called to the witness stand, since it was Musa Safri who gave instruction to the first accused (first and second accused were Najib’s bodyguards) to take care of third accused Razak Baginda’s ‘woman problem’. Now that Razak Baginda (a close associate of Najib) had been declared innocent, the court is left with the bizarre scenario of a murder without a motive, since the first two accused had no motive on their own to kill the victim.
It does not take a Sherlock Holmes or a legal expert to smell a rat in the handling of this murder case – a possible conspiracy to cover up for the real culprit.
During the press conference, not satisfied with Najib’s simplistic answers, journalists repeatedly asked the same questions. Finally, Najib snapped: “We will deal with it, we know how to handle it.” When asked whether this means possible crack-downs against his political opponents, Najib protested: “It is not fair to prejudge me. Give me a chance to take office first. Judge me by my action.”
So, Najib is pleading to be allowed to become the prime minister first, then judge him for what he does.
But is it fair to ask the nation to accept the risk of appointing a prime minister when such formidable dark clouds clearly hang over his head? If there is indeed incriminating evidence, would it not act as a potential time bomb that could cause the PM to be prosecuted or subject to blackmail by those in possession of such evidence? Even if such evidence is non-existent, Najib has no way of running away from this taint, which would surely undermine his standing and effectiveness as prime minister at home and abroad, so long as he refuses to submit himself to a proper investigation and subsequent vindication in a court of law.
INDEPENDENT INQUIRY A MUST
It is therefore imperative that a royal commission be set up to clear Najib of such suspicion before his appointment as PM (if he is innocent) to safeguard national interests. That would mean a delay of a few months to his impending appointment.
I can see no possible reason to object to such a postponement, as incumbent Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, whose term does not end until 2013, is fully capable of helming the state, fresh from accolades heaped upon him by his party for rendering invaluable service to the nation.
Najib in particular should welcome such an authoritative process to free him from the current tag and enhance his credibility as future premier, and he should therefore have no objection to such a postponement to the highest office of the land. Unless of course, for reasons only known to himself, he cannot afford to be so probed; neither could he afford not to be at the pinnacle of power at this very moment.
As for the nation at large, such an independent inquiry should bring a sigh of relief that the future premier is cleared of at least the taint of suspicion in relation to a high-profile murder of a foreign national.
Private investigator P. Balasubramaniam and his family mysteriously disappeared a day after he revealed in a sworn statement intimate details incriminating Najib to the murder case in July 2008. Despite promises to investigate, the police have remained silent over the contents of this affidavit. And the court had also barred the admission of this document. Why did the police and the court keep a safe distance from this document that could have led to a break-through of this trial? What has happened to Bala and family – as nobody seemed to know their whereabouts?
Why did the court – prosecutors, defence lawyers and judge – acting in unison, block further evidence from Altantuya’s cousin Burmaa Oyunchinmeg when she testified that Najib appeared in a photograph with Altantuya?
Why did the court block further evidence upon revelation in court that Malaysian immigration records of Altantuya and her two Mongolian companions had been mysteriously erased? Shouldn’t such erasure have been considered an important lead and an indication that some VVIP was involved?
Why were Najib and his aide-de-camp Musa Safri not investigated and called to the witness stand, since it was Musa Safri who gave instruction to the first accused (first and second accused were Najib’s bodyguards) to take care of third accused Razak Baginda’s ‘woman problem’. Now that Razak Baginda (a close associate of Najib) had been declared innocent, the court is left with the bizarre scenario of a murder without a motive, since the first two accused had no motive on their own to kill the victim.
It does not take a Sherlock Holmes or a legal expert to smell a rat in the handling of this murder case – a possible conspiracy to cover up for the real culprit.
During the press conference, not satisfied with Najib’s simplistic answers, journalists repeatedly asked the same questions. Finally, Najib snapped: “We will deal with it, we know how to handle it.” When asked whether this means possible crack-downs against his political opponents, Najib protested: “It is not fair to prejudge me. Give me a chance to take office first. Judge me by my action.”
So, Najib is pleading to be allowed to become the prime minister first, then judge him for what he does.
But is it fair to ask the nation to accept the risk of appointing a prime minister when such formidable dark clouds clearly hang over his head? If there is indeed incriminating evidence, would it not act as a potential time bomb that could cause the PM to be prosecuted or subject to blackmail by those in possession of such evidence? Even if such evidence is non-existent, Najib has no way of running away from this taint, which would surely undermine his standing and effectiveness as prime minister at home and abroad, so long as he refuses to submit himself to a proper investigation and subsequent vindication in a court of law.
INDEPENDENT INQUIRY A MUST
It is therefore imperative that a royal commission be set up to clear Najib of such suspicion before his appointment as PM (if he is innocent) to safeguard national interests. That would mean a delay of a few months to his impending appointment.
I can see no possible reason to object to such a postponement, as incumbent Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, whose term does not end until 2013, is fully capable of helming the state, fresh from accolades heaped upon him by his party for rendering invaluable service to the nation.
Najib in particular should welcome such an authoritative process to free him from the current tag and enhance his credibility as future premier, and he should therefore have no objection to such a postponement to the highest office of the land. Unless of course, for reasons only known to himself, he cannot afford to be so probed; neither could he afford not to be at the pinnacle of power at this very moment.
As for the nation at large, such an independent inquiry should bring a sigh of relief that the future premier is cleared of at least the taint of suspicion in relation to a high-profile murder of a foreign national.
From the MI-South China Morning Herald, heralding troubled times ahead for Opposition Leader DSAI...that is just from most UMNO politikuses' lenses quite clouded. Others like YL tend to disagree; even myGOoDfriend Sdr Yong Thye Chong would think so. So Chong and Chong maketh song 2singAlong:):)
But wait till you hear from mGf Kim Quek later -- some CEO is headed for the guillotine in the Rakyat's court of public opinion...in Desi's vain opinion! Can wait or knot? -- YL
Umno leaders’ embrace at party congress spells trouble for Anwar
Published by The Malaysian Insider:
KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 – The past, present and future prime ministers of Malaysia put years of backstabbing and badmouthing aside when they embraced at the Umno party’s congress – and that could spell trouble for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
It was a stunning moment of public unity for Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad and incoming leader Najib Razak, a trio whose brawling has been a boon for the opposition.
The moment came on Saturday after Dr Mahathir – who resigned from the United Malays National Organisation in 2007 out of anger with Abdullah – walked into the venue with his wife, Dr Siti Hasmah.
Abdullah was winding up proceedings on the final day of the five-day congress of the party, which has dominated Malaysian politics.
The delegates cheered the elderly couple and Abdullah, repeatedly labelled “good for nothing” by Dr Mahathir, saw them coming. He praised Dr Mahathir as a great leader – and invited him up on stage. Dr Mahathir formally shook hands with his successor, but Abdullah broke the ice, pulling Dr Mahathir in and embracing him warmly. Najib joined them in the embrace – and delegates went wild.
The Malay language Mingguan Malaysia ran the photograph under the banner headline: “Finally, united again!”.
Denison Jayasooria, political scientist at the National University of Malaysia, said the moment may prove vital.
“I think their rapprochement is for real, and has been forced on them by the political realities that Umno is politically retreating and also because the Umno grass roots are demanding they close rank,” he said.
“From here on, they will consolidate and train their guns on Anwar … Anwar is the key, he is the glue that is holding the opposition together.”
Anwar, who goes on trial for sodomy this month, was repeatedly attacked during the Umno meeting.
Former Umno youth wing leader Hishamuddin Hussein led the charge last Tuesday, accusing him of various “crimes” including criticism of Malaysia’s royal families, generating negative media reports in the international press and tarnishing the country in foreign forums.
Najib, who is taking over as prime minister on Thursday, lambasted Anwar’s morality.
“As opposition leader he claims to be as innocent as angels … like a newborn baby, but we know who he really is,” Najib said, without naming Anwar.
Tian Chua, a senior leader in Anwar’s Keadilan party, said the repeated targeting of Anwar was “sad”.
“They demonised him, and made veiled threats of entrapment and imprisonment,” he said, adding that he believed the rise of Najib would herald a new era of repression.
Chua cited a recent ban on two opposition publications, the suspension of opposition lawmakers and police action to break up opposition rallies as examples of the hardline policies favoured by Najib.
“Repression will worsen after Najib takes power,” he said. “Anwar is prepared for the worst.”
Umno will face its next electoral test on April 7, with three simultaneous by-elections. In Bukit Gantang in Perak state, a seat in the national assembly is up for grabs. The other races are for state legislature seats.
Some 15,000 opposition supporters and 5,000 from the ruling National Front coalition turned out yesterday to nominate their candidates. – South China Morning Post
UPDATEd @2.10PM because Desi has nothing badder to do but keep my ER UPDATEd bespite my missing DEADlines wit' Miss destiny and Her childe!:( via cpiasia.net ~~~~~~~ brought hear by port dickson not 100%-altruistic waves:)
Najib must be Screened by a Royal Commission of Inquiry
Columnists
Written by Kim Quek
Monday, 30 March 2009 13:53
At a heated press conference at the end of the UMNO Annual Assembly on March 28, the newly crowned President of UMNO Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak failed to dispel swirling rumours of his alleged links to the murder of Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu.
This press conference had attracted unusually intense foreign press attention, due to heightened international media coverage over the scandal as Najib’s anticipated ascension to premiership nears. And as the name of Altantuya splashes in news features that pop up all over the world from France to Australia and from US to India, Najib seems to be irretrievably linked to this sex-corruption-murder scandal in which a multi-billion dollar Government arms purchase featured prominently.
Answering a barrage of questions from foreign journalists whether these persistent aspersions would undermine his premiership, Najib only repeatedly said: “These are malicious and baseless lies. I have already given my answers, but they persist. This is an opposition ploy.”
Najib sounded as if he had already given all the necessary explanations to exonerate himself from his apparently strong connection to the case, but actually all he had done was the repeated uttering of these few words: “I had never met the Mongolian woman, I had never known her”, full stop. In fact, he swore in public several times, using words to the same effect.
SERIOUS QUESTIONS
If Najib thought those few words were sufficient to quell the mountain of suspicion arising from the myriad of burning questions as yet unanswered - in the face of dubious action or inaction by the law enforcers - he must have been terribly naïve, and he completely underestimated the intelligence of the public. Just to pick a few of these at random to demonstrate how serious these questions are:
Private investigator P. Balasubramaniam and his family mysteriously disappeared a day after he revealed in a sworn statement intimate details incriminating Najib to the murder case in July 2008. Despite promises to investigate, the police have remained silent over the contents of this affidavit. And the court had also barred the admission of this document. Why did the police and the court keep a safe distance from this document that could have led to a break-through of this trial? What has happened to Bala and family – as nobody seemed to know their whereabouts?
Why did the court – prosecutors, defence lawyers and judge – acting in unison, block further evidence from Altantuya’s cousin Burmaa Oyunchinmeg when she testified that Najib appeared in a photograph with Altantuya?
Why did the court block further evidence upon revelation in court that Malaysian immigration records of Altantuya and her two Mongolian companions had been mysteriously erased? Shouldn’t such erasure have been considered an important lead and an indication that some VVIP was involved?
Why were Najib and his aide-de-camp Musa Safri not investigated and called to the witness stand, since it was Musa Safri who gave instruction to the first accused (first and second accused were Najib’s bodyguards) to take care of third accused Razak Baginda’s ‘woman problem’. Now that Razak Baginda (a close associate of Najib) had been declared innocent, the court is left with the bizarre scenario of a murder without a motive, since the first two accused had no motive on their own to kill the victim.
It does not take a Sherlock Holmes or a legal expert to smell a rat in the handling of this murder case – a possible conspiracy to cover up for the real culprit.
During the press conference, not satisfied with Najib’s simplistic answers, journalists repeatedly asked the same questions. Finally, Najib snapped: “We will deal with it, we know how to handle it.” When asked whether this means possible crack-downs against his political opponents, Najib protested: “It is not fair to prejudge me. Give me a chance to take office first. Judge me by my action.”
So, Najib is pleading to be allowed to become the prime minister first, then judge him for what he does.
But is it fair to ask the nation to accept the risk of appointing a prime minister when such formidable dark clouds clearly hang over his head? If there is indeed incriminating evidence, would it not act as a potential time bomb that could cause the PM to be prosecuted or subject to blackmail by those in possession of such evidence? Even if such evidence is non-existent, Najib has no way of running away from this taint, which would surely undermine his standing and effectiveness as prime minister at home and abroad, so long as he refuses to submit himself to a proper investigation and subsequent vindication in a court of law.
INDEPENDENT INQUIRY A MUST
It is therefore imperative that a royal commission be set up to clear Najib of such suspicion before his appointment as PM (if he is innocent) to safeguard national interests. That would mean a delay of a few months to his impending appointment.
I can see no possible reason to object to such a postponement, as incumbent Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, whose term does not end until 2013, is fully capable of helming the state, fresh from accolades heaped upon him by his party for rendering invaluable service to the nation.
Najib in particular should welcome such an authoritative process to free him from the current tag and enhance his credibility as future premier, and he should therefore have no objection to such a postponement to the highest office of the land. Unless of course, for reasons only known to himself, he cannot afford to be so probed; neither could he afford not to be at the pinnacle of power at this very moment.
As for the nation at large, such an independent inquiry should bring a sigh of relief that the future premier is cleared of at least the taint of suspicion in relation to a high-profile murder of a foreign national.
Private investigator P. Balasubramaniam and his family mysteriously disappeared a day after he revealed in a sworn statement intimate details incriminating Najib to the murder case in July 2008. Despite promises to investigate, the police have remained silent over the contents of this affidavit. And the court had also barred the admission of this document. Why did the police and the court keep a safe distance from this document that could have led to a break-through of this trial? What has happened to Bala and family – as nobody seemed to know their whereabouts?
Why did the court – prosecutors, defence lawyers and judge – acting in unison, block further evidence from Altantuya’s cousin Burmaa Oyunchinmeg when she testified that Najib appeared in a photograph with Altantuya?
Why did the court block further evidence upon revelation in court that Malaysian immigration records of Altantuya and her two Mongolian companions had been mysteriously erased? Shouldn’t such erasure have been considered an important lead and an indication that some VVIP was involved?
Why were Najib and his aide-de-camp Musa Safri not investigated and called to the witness stand, since it was Musa Safri who gave instruction to the first accused (first and second accused were Najib’s bodyguards) to take care of third accused Razak Baginda’s ‘woman problem’. Now that Razak Baginda (a close associate of Najib) had been declared innocent, the court is left with the bizarre scenario of a murder without a motive, since the first two accused had no motive on their own to kill the victim.
It does not take a Sherlock Holmes or a legal expert to smell a rat in the handling of this murder case – a possible conspiracy to cover up for the real culprit.
During the press conference, not satisfied with Najib’s simplistic answers, journalists repeatedly asked the same questions. Finally, Najib snapped: “We will deal with it, we know how to handle it.” When asked whether this means possible crack-downs against his political opponents, Najib protested: “It is not fair to prejudge me. Give me a chance to take office first. Judge me by my action.”
So, Najib is pleading to be allowed to become the prime minister first, then judge him for what he does.
But is it fair to ask the nation to accept the risk of appointing a prime minister when such formidable dark clouds clearly hang over his head? If there is indeed incriminating evidence, would it not act as a potential time bomb that could cause the PM to be prosecuted or subject to blackmail by those in possession of such evidence? Even if such evidence is non-existent, Najib has no way of running away from this taint, which would surely undermine his standing and effectiveness as prime minister at home and abroad, so long as he refuses to submit himself to a proper investigation and subsequent vindication in a court of law.
INDEPENDENT INQUIRY A MUST
It is therefore imperative that a royal commission be set up to clear Najib of such suspicion before his appointment as PM (if he is innocent) to safeguard national interests. That would mean a delay of a few months to his impending appointment.
I can see no possible reason to object to such a postponement, as incumbent Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, whose term does not end until 2013, is fully capable of helming the state, fresh from accolades heaped upon him by his party for rendering invaluable service to the nation.
Najib in particular should welcome such an authoritative process to free him from the current tag and enhance his credibility as future premier, and he should therefore have no objection to such a postponement to the highest office of the land. Unless of course, for reasons only known to himself, he cannot afford to be so probed; neither could he afford not to be at the pinnacle of power at this very moment.
As for the nation at large, such an independent inquiry should bring a sigh of relief that the future premier is cleared of at least the taint of suspicion in relation to a high-profile murder of a foreign national.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
One theft,one semi-, one Rakyat's dilemma...
Desiderata stole from mGf ancient mariner's shipto try to land on dry Malaysian shore.
I half-stole from cpiasia.net because part of the loot was mine anyway.
BUT THE DILEMMA THE RAKYAT FACE ALL ORIGINATES FROM A ROTTEN APPLE -- UMNO in Malaysiana just as Adam and Eve faced the slimy one a long time ago in the Garden of Eden, that isjust one version of the origin of species, and human SIN. Sorry I tiptoed into terrortry that even angels fear to tread -- but it's ****Tuesday morn, and Morrie's wit is wit' Desi, hence inspired. -- YL, nu'eshound of Jurassick age.:)
ERRATA @8.37AM the dae after!:
I realised I was semi-asleep when I penned this piece in the devilish hours of the moUrn when normally only angels and thieves roam...so DesiFOOLofERRATA witnessed a correction to Saturdae 28 MARCH 2008 when new robber barons ascend the collapsing PWTC Stage where they also stage Sandy Goes to War to entertain hard-pressed Rakyat who can't, except for those robbers and barren! -- go to the Hiltons for such...
***********************************
Friday, March 27, 2009
Winners and Losers
By Capt Yusof Ahmad aka ancient mariner
An anonymous reader wrote a one-liner in my blog recently: "Kamulah Melayu yang akan meranapkan bangsa sendiri". He didnt elaborate on how he came to this earth shattering conclusion so I consigned his remark to the trash bin.
It didnt strike this twit that UMNO, a party corrupt to the core, has lost its moral authority to govern the country and are destroying the Malays.
Najib, Muhyiddin, Hishamuddin, Zahid and that Sabah fellow whatshisname. A "dream team", my ass.
A big bunch of delusional and misguided 'youths' with Class F contractors and mat rempit mindsets elected Khairy Jamaludin, found guilty of "money politics" - a glorified term for bribery and corruption if you ask me, as the new UMNO Youth head. This makes him a prime candidate for a post in Najib's new cabinet.
The others voted in UMNO's Majlis Tertinggi are nobodies who do not really inspire much confidence, either.
Winners all perhaps but the losers are definitely the rakyat.
And former prime minister Tun Dr M did indeed vow that he will work to oust incoming premier Najib should he appoint "corrupt leaders" in his cabinet.
Over to you, Tun.
Logged by The Ancient Mariner
*********************************************
DESI's LOVE NOTE TO AM, penned @8.33AM the dae after!
"Dear AM:
It's GOoD morn - with corrupt leaders elected into new UMNO majlis the faster the RIP template would be planted at THSAT place where we can lay some flowers -- is it wreath or writhe? -- and ZZ can join them for a sleeping forever journey one way -- Utara ke, Selatanke2? -- YL, DesiFOOLofErotica as this is a wickedend and I'm inspired. UMNO OhNo! --swett four-letter words like sh*t! can now expire..."
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From cpiasia.net a not totally altrustic theft!:(
Home Media Monitor A Consolidated Post on UMNO new Chief and his Team
A Consolidated Post on UMNO new Chief and his Team
Media Monitor
Written by Various
Friday, 27 March 2009 15:32
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/090326/3/3y6z5.html
"Unknown" Najib ready to be Malaysian PM
by Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is set to be Malaysia's sixth prime minister, has been in Parliament for over 30 years, yet outside of a close coterie of friends and family he is an enigma. Yesterday, the 55-year-old, who is the son of Malaysia's second premier, was endorsed as the leader of Umno, the main party in the Barisan Nasional coalition that has ruled the country for 51 years.
The position effectively guarantees him leadership of the country as well.
Although Najib trained as an economist at a British university, he has little direct experience of economic management. He has held the defence and education portfolios as well as his current posts of deputy prime minister and finance minister.
''Najib is the most known unknown,'' said Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia specialist at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
He has promised to use the current global economic downturn to boost the Southeast Asian country up the economic value chain and to liberalise services, reduce dependence on commodities and oil exports as well as low-end electronics.
He has however provided few clues on how he can do that in an economy that relies on millions of cheap immigrant labourers to produce electronics that account for nearly 40 per cent of the country's exports.
Whether he can do that in a country of 27 million people that imprisons people without trial, divides on racial lines and with a ruling coalition that is still wounded from its worst ever election losses at national and state level a year ago, is also moot.
He has been labelled as a hardliner by the opposition which cites recent sedition charges against one of its lawmakers, a ban on their newspapers and pressure on opposition-supporting websites as evidence of a coming crackdown.
Najib initially appeared to promise action to end economic and social privileges for the 60 per cent of the population that is Malay and that have been criticised for nurturing corruption and hampering economic growth. But he recently backed off any ''drastic'' move.
In his previous ministerial posts he spent lavishly and as finance minister unveiled Malaysia's biggest ever budget spend of RM60 billion to help stave off recession and layoffs in an economy that is the third most dependent on exports in Asia after Hong Kong and Singapore.
The composition of the budget spending showed caution. Only RM15-17 billion was new government spending, the rest came from various investment funds and bank guarantees.
That measure was criticised by some economists for lack of transparency or impact, but it cannily preserved Malaysia's credit rating and cash for a prolonged downturn where more firepower may be needed as government revenues slide.
Najib is said by people who work for him to have a strong appetite for detail and he is also popular with his staff.
Married for a second time, Najib has five children and plays golf with close political allies from Malaysia's elite and has close links to business, including his brother who heads Malaysia's second largest bank, CIMB.
Najib has taken his time to get to the top job, perhaps learning lessons from the fall of former Deputy PM Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who was over-eager in his bid to oust then-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and ended up out of government and in jail.
Some say that while Najib is good at details he lacks the capacity for decisive action.
Dr Mahathir, who led the country for 22 years and is still an influential force, damned him with faint praise in a recent interview with Reuters, although much of his anger was reserved for incumbent Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who succeeded him.
''Najib can do well, but we will have to see, because when I asked Abdullah to appoint him as deputy I had a lot of hope for him, but he did not perform the way I expected,'' Dr Mahathir said.
There are also issues of character. Najib has been mauled on opposition-supporting Internet sites which have linked him to the lurid murder of a Mongolian model, although there has been no evidence and Najib has repeatedly denied involvement.
Nonetheless it provides a rallying point for the opposition and any in Umno who may wish to attack Najib's suitability to be prime minister. Those attacks are in public and becoming more intense, with an opposition legislator recently being banned from Parliament for shouting ''murderer'' at Najib.
The honeymoon for Najib will be short, with one parliamentary by-election and two state seat by-elections on April 7. ''Throughout his political career, Najib has never had to fight like this before,'' said political analyst Ong Kian Ming. — Reuters
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All the president’s men
by Carolyn Hong, STS
MARCH 27 — When Deputy Premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak appealed to Umno delegates to vote him a good team, he had an unspoken list in mind. By the time the two-day party elections closed, it appeared that he did get most of what he wanted.
Indeed, he seems to have a fairly formidable team. A strong slate of the president's men will mean that Najib can count on the support of loyalists, and unite a fractious Umno that has been locked in leadership tussles for a year.
Just as important, the newly elected team is likely to be acceptable to many Malaysians. They are mostly in line with the choices named by Malaysians in a survey by the independent Merdeka Centre.
Najib, who became Umno president yesterday, never did disclose his preferences, but subtle signals were enough to prompt educated guesses.
The delegates picked up the right signals.
They voted in International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Umno deputy president.
All the three vice-presidents who won are also seen as Najib's men. They are Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi; Education Minister Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein; and National Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal.
These wins have given much-needed breathing space to Najib as he sets out to unite Umno and push the party to undertake the reforms he has promised. He will have less of a task to deal with the factionalism that so often arises after a bitterly fought contest in the party.
It makes up for the disappointments of Wednesday when it was perceived that the winners of the top post of the Youth and Wanita wings may not have been Najib's choices.
A supporter of the Deputy Premier told The Straits Times that “the Youths did not heed the DPM's call” although it was never clear what Najib himself thought of new Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.
Some also said the new chief of the Wanita wing, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil, was not his choice but this is not entirely clear.
Clearly, the poll results yesterday show that Najib has a firm control of the party, thanks to his long political career that began at the age of 23. He climbed up the ranks over 30 years, creating a vast network of loyalists that permeates to the grassroots.
The Deputy Prime Minister is now likely to start consolidating his strength in Umno. And analysts expect him to do so by sticking to the time-honoured tradition of appointing the poll winners to his Cabinet.
Since most are acceptable to Malaysians, there is less risk of a public outcry.
The winners may not be wholly reformist — very few in Umno are truly so — but neither are too many of them severely tainted by corruption or hardline champions of the Malay agenda.
Tourism Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said, who is under investigation for graft, lost her seat in the supreme council.
“Iron Lady” Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, tainted with corruption allegations, also suffered a shock defeat as the Wanita chief.
Despite all the bad press, many see Khairy — the 33-year-old son-in-law of outgoing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi — as falling in both the reformist and tainted categories. In victory or defeat, he stirs mixed feelings.
Muhyiddin as deputy president falls into the neutral category. He does not have a particularly reformist image, but is seen as moderate and reasonable.
The one and only clear-cut reformist candidate — Foreign Minister Datuk Rais Yatim — did not make it as vice-president.
Najib's main difficulty will be a Cabinet post for Khairy. The outgoing Prime Minister's son-in-law will be a controversial choice for a Cabinet post, but leaving him out in the cold could invite trouble.
“People always swing to the new president, but trouble starts if they are not accommodated despite winning party posts,” said analyst Khoo Kay Peng.
Khairy's entry into government will spark criticism, undoubtedly partly led by former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. His dislike for Khairy is legendary.
But the Youth chief himself is tainted, having received a warning from the party's disciplinary board for money politics.
Still, some analysts say Khairy may actually be good for reforms. The Oxford-educated leader was one of the very few in Umno who had articulated liberal ideas and multiracial ideals.
His baggage: his ultra-Malay past, whispers about his finger being in every lucrative business pie, and the mixed messages he sends out.
Merdeka Centre director Ibrahim Suffian believes that Khairy has actually been the most consistent in advocating an Umno more open to criticism.
“It also helps the party by having a more multifaceted approach towards rejuvenating its image and incorporating representation from different sides of the party, and to avoid group think,” he said.
All in, yesterday was a good day for Najib. — Straits Times
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Umno's new line-up
By Zedeck Siew, The Nut Graph
THAT Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is Umno deputy president is probably a good thing for Malaysia's largest political party.
Analysts have been looking to him as the most competent contender for the deputy president's post, especially since Umno's deputy president is almost certain to be made deputy prime minister, as tradition dictates. With his vast experience in politics and government, Muhyiddin, who is also International Trade and Industry Minister, was the clear favourite.
Another reason for the confidence in Muhyiddin stemmed from his declaration that the party needs to reform. Speaking of change, Muhyiddin said: "There is no choice. If you don't change, they will change you. If we wait for 10 more years there will be nothing left."
While not as radical as he could be, Muhyiddin's reasoning is a clarion call when contrasted with the relative conventionality — and dubious baggage — of his erstwhile rival Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib.
A poll by the Merdeka Centre found that of three candidates before Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam was barred because of money politics, Muhyiddin had the highest approval ratings among the Malaysian public.
Therefore, his convincing win may also be read as the party thinking ahead to the expected cabinet line-up under soon-to-be Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. It appears that the wishes of the leading party in the Barisan Nasional (BN) coincided with the wishes of a majority of Malaysians. At least in this instance.
Such inclusiveness may signal an end to Umno's perceived callousness towards those outside its ranks or race. And if that is the case, it is a step towards making good outgoing Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's recommendation that "the loyalty of every Malaysian irrespective of race must always be appreciated."
The new VPs
The new vice-presidents also deserve a look, as this will divine Umno's internal atmosphere from here on out.
Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's 1,592-vote win was seen by many observers to be inevitable. Popular within the party, observers saw Ahmad Zahid as being able to appeal to all Umno factions. His entrance into the upper echelons may accompany a willingness in the party to set aside differences and present a unified front.
However, as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of Islamic affairs, Ahmad Zahid has been at the forefront of championing a particular brand of Islam that views the use of "Allah" by non-Muslims, for example, as a challenge to Muslims.
Indeed, in certain circles, he is seen to have an ultra-religious streak in him. Prior to the "Allah" issue, Ahmad Zahid was clear in warning groups not to question the fatwa on pengkid.
Whether Ahmad Zahid's determined promotion of such restrictions, and the imposition of rules that have caused Malaysians distress, will influence how Umno approaches such matters in future will be something to watch out for.
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein also went on to secure a vice-presidency with 1,515 votes despite some initial doubt.
After having been gifted the Panca Warisan by Umno Youth, Hishammuddin implied that the tradition of unsheathing the keris had left the wing with him — and will follow him into Umno proper. "I am now responsible to bring it to the main body if, God willing, I manage to secure a place at a higher level in the party," Hishammuddin, who was the wing's chief until the night of 25 March 2009, said.
hat statement bears with it a degree of ominousness — and it now appears that his stance remains popular within the party. The supping of non-Malay Malaysian viscera, however, may be at a temporary end. The Umno Youth assembly saw Hishammuddin preferring to turn down racial dichotomies, sticking to opposition party-bashing instead.
The reasons for Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal's 1,445-vote victory are clear-cut. Umno has voted him as the third vice-president, the highest post an East Malaysian has ever held within the party. By doing so, the party appears to be facing down the criticism that Sabah and Sarawak have been unfairly treated in BN-led Malaysia, in terms of development and representation.
The issue of equal suffrage for the East Malaysian states gained immediacy following March 2008. The BN's success in Sabah and Sarawak offset its setbacks in the peninsula, and helped the coalition keep a parliamentary majority. The situation has since allowed Sabahan and Sarawakian politicians from the BN to have more leverage in its negotiations with the central leadership in the peninsula.
While last year's new cabinet featured the most East Malaysian faces in Malaysian history, such politicians were still given portfolios with relatively light political weight. Shafie, for example, was appointed to head the culture, arts, heritage and national unity ministry. Now, his ascendancy in Umno may be read as being indicative of the party's awareness of its weaknesses, and its willingness to address them.
The golden question now, of course, is whether the new line-up of Umno leaders will really be conducive to Najib's stated aim of party rejuvenation. Will Umno — and therefore the BN — be able to regain some of its relevance? Only time will tell.
And, with the grave misgivings that Najib brings into his premiership of the country, it's still left to be seen whether the rest of us will be able to live with our new prime minister and deputy prime minister.
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KJ's win spells end of UMNO?
By Rocky Bru
March 26, 2009
Or light at the end of the Umno tunnel? Two newspapers called for my views earlier today on Khairy Jamaluddin's victory. First to call was Harakah. The journo asked me if KJ's win was a petanda buruk (bad omen) for Umno. Sure, I had a nightmare last night [read about my meeting with KJ at a Muslim cemetary in the comment box here] but the outcome of the Youth chief contest is an opportunity for Umno.
Firstly, it is a chance for KJ himself to prove everyone wrong. That he is not averse to change. That he ain't as bad as they (and I) claimed.
Secondly, it is an opportunity for Najib Razak, Umno's new President, to help Pemuda to close ranks (remember, KJ garnered only about 35 per cent of the delegates who voted last night; the remaining went to losers Khir Toyo and Mukhriz Mahathir). To rapatkan saf, Najib could appoint KJ and Mukhriz to his Cabinet and Khir to the Supreme Council. Conditional, of course, on their being cleared of all corruption charges.
Thirdly, it is also a signal for the party to move fast and adopt a review of the voting system. The 1 member = 1 vote system will make Umno the most democratic party in the country, help abolish money politics, and even encourage Malays who have shunned Umno all this while to join the party.
The Oriental Daily reporter told me that the MCA debated the 1 member = 1 vote system and found that it would be costly and time-consuming. I said whatever the cost, it would not be greater than the cost of losing the next General Election because of the party's failure to fight money politics and corruption in the party.
In short, I see a silver lining ahead for Umno. And yes, if you allow each Umno member one vote to elect the party's leaders in 2012, I would consider signing up as an Umno member.
But if they elect in Muhammad Muhammad Taib as the Deputy President tonight, I will have to take back my words.
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CPI EDITOR'S COMMENTARY:
The above is a sampling of news reports and commentaries from various sources on the results flowing from the just concluded UMNO party elections which was postponed from a year ago, and it marked a changing of the guards with outgoing UMNO President-cum-Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi handing over the nation's chief exceutive's baton to deputy UMNO President-cum-DPM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who inherited the UMNO presidency witout contest.
Except for two "exceptional" wins by Khairy Jamaludin, former deputy UMNO chief, in defeating Mukhriz Mahathir and Khir Toyo, in capturing the top youth wing's post, and by Sharizat Abdul Jalil in upsetting incumbent Rafidah Azizfor the top Wanita UMNO's post, the rest of the contests saw mainly victories for the new President's men. This point was well noted by Carolyn Hong of the Sinpore's Staits Times too. Another point made by Carolyn worthy of stress which this Editor concurs with is: "Still, some analysts say Khairy may actually be good for reforms. The Oxford-educated leader was one of the very few in Umno who had articulated liberal ideas and multiracial ideals.
But past UMNO politics has witnessed much shortfall, distortion and non-complaince between pledges made and performance and delivery of those pledges, epitomised by the euphoria premised on promises of all-round "change" for the better created by outgoing Prime Minister Pak Lah when he swept into a landslideelectoral victory in leading his first general elections in 2004 after inheriting UMNO captaincy from Dr Mahathir Mahathir, followed by a damning March 8, 2008 electoral performance, with Barisan Nasional losing for the first time its two-thirds majority in Parliament.
We have heard a lot of the UMNO leaders' promises of a clean, responsible and accountable government before, and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi knows he had to pay a huge price in giving up the nation's CEO post for lacklustre performance -- an outstanding example of the potential power of the Rakayt/People in punishing the Leader's failure of "walking the talk".
Will the new UMNO President Najib and his team prove to the Rakyat that they have learnt well a lesson from his (Najib's) precedessor's fate, especially concerning instituting "reforms" that are essential to improving all branches of Government, to enure truly responsible, transparent and accountable service delivery, especially in the Judiciary, the Police and Civil Service? The Rakyat's patience will be sorely tested for the next three to four years in a new and ever-changing political and challenging economic environment to which many of Pak Lah's old team could not rsie up to. Najib's work has indeed been cut out for him. -- YL Chong
I half-stole from cpiasia.net because part of the loot was mine anyway.
BUT THE DILEMMA THE RAKYAT FACE ALL ORIGINATES FROM A ROTTEN APPLE -- UMNO in Malaysiana just as Adam and Eve faced the slimy one a long time ago in the Garden of Eden, that isjust one version of the origin of species, and human SIN. Sorry I tiptoed into terrortry that even angels fear to tread -- but it's ****Tuesday morn, and Morrie's wit is wit' Desi, hence inspired. -- YL, nu'eshound of Jurassick age.:)
ERRATA @8.37AM the dae after!:
I realised I was semi-asleep when I penned this piece in the devilish hours of the moUrn when normally only angels and thieves roam...so DesiFOOLofERRATA witnessed a correction to Saturdae 28 MARCH 2008 when new robber barons ascend the collapsing PWTC Stage where they also stage Sandy Goes to War to entertain hard-pressed Rakyat who can't, except for those robbers and barren! -- go to the Hiltons for such...
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Friday, March 27, 2009
Winners and Losers
By Capt Yusof Ahmad aka ancient mariner
An anonymous reader wrote a one-liner in my blog recently: "Kamulah Melayu yang akan meranapkan bangsa sendiri". He didnt elaborate on how he came to this earth shattering conclusion so I consigned his remark to the trash bin.
It didnt strike this twit that UMNO, a party corrupt to the core, has lost its moral authority to govern the country and are destroying the Malays.
Najib, Muhyiddin, Hishamuddin, Zahid and that Sabah fellow whatshisname. A "dream team", my ass.
A big bunch of delusional and misguided 'youths' with Class F contractors and mat rempit mindsets elected Khairy Jamaludin, found guilty of "money politics" - a glorified term for bribery and corruption if you ask me, as the new UMNO Youth head. This makes him a prime candidate for a post in Najib's new cabinet.
The others voted in UMNO's Majlis Tertinggi are nobodies who do not really inspire much confidence, either.
Winners all perhaps but the losers are definitely the rakyat.
And former prime minister Tun Dr M did indeed vow that he will work to oust incoming premier Najib should he appoint "corrupt leaders" in his cabinet.
Over to you, Tun.
Logged by The Ancient Mariner
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DESI's LOVE NOTE TO AM, penned @8.33AM the dae after!
"Dear AM:
It's GOoD morn - with corrupt leaders elected into new UMNO majlis the faster the RIP template would be planted at THSAT place where we can lay some flowers -- is it wreath or writhe? -- and ZZ can join them for a sleeping forever journey one way -- Utara ke, Selatanke2? -- YL, DesiFOOLofErotica as this is a wickedend and I'm inspired. UMNO OhNo! --swett four-letter words like sh*t! can now expire..."
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From cpiasia.net a not totally altrustic theft!:(
Home Media Monitor A Consolidated Post on UMNO new Chief and his Team
A Consolidated Post on UMNO new Chief and his Team
Media Monitor
Written by Various
Friday, 27 March 2009 15:32
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/090326/3/3y6z5.html
"Unknown" Najib ready to be Malaysian PM
by Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is set to be Malaysia's sixth prime minister, has been in Parliament for over 30 years, yet outside of a close coterie of friends and family he is an enigma. Yesterday, the 55-year-old, who is the son of Malaysia's second premier, was endorsed as the leader of Umno, the main party in the Barisan Nasional coalition that has ruled the country for 51 years.
The position effectively guarantees him leadership of the country as well.
Although Najib trained as an economist at a British university, he has little direct experience of economic management. He has held the defence and education portfolios as well as his current posts of deputy prime minister and finance minister.
''Najib is the most known unknown,'' said Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia specialist at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
He has promised to use the current global economic downturn to boost the Southeast Asian country up the economic value chain and to liberalise services, reduce dependence on commodities and oil exports as well as low-end electronics.
He has however provided few clues on how he can do that in an economy that relies on millions of cheap immigrant labourers to produce electronics that account for nearly 40 per cent of the country's exports.
Whether he can do that in a country of 27 million people that imprisons people without trial, divides on racial lines and with a ruling coalition that is still wounded from its worst ever election losses at national and state level a year ago, is also moot.
He has been labelled as a hardliner by the opposition which cites recent sedition charges against one of its lawmakers, a ban on their newspapers and pressure on opposition-supporting websites as evidence of a coming crackdown.
Najib initially appeared to promise action to end economic and social privileges for the 60 per cent of the population that is Malay and that have been criticised for nurturing corruption and hampering economic growth. But he recently backed off any ''drastic'' move.
In his previous ministerial posts he spent lavishly and as finance minister unveiled Malaysia's biggest ever budget spend of RM60 billion to help stave off recession and layoffs in an economy that is the third most dependent on exports in Asia after Hong Kong and Singapore.
The composition of the budget spending showed caution. Only RM15-17 billion was new government spending, the rest came from various investment funds and bank guarantees.
That measure was criticised by some economists for lack of transparency or impact, but it cannily preserved Malaysia's credit rating and cash for a prolonged downturn where more firepower may be needed as government revenues slide.
Najib is said by people who work for him to have a strong appetite for detail and he is also popular with his staff.
Married for a second time, Najib has five children and plays golf with close political allies from Malaysia's elite and has close links to business, including his brother who heads Malaysia's second largest bank, CIMB.
Najib has taken his time to get to the top job, perhaps learning lessons from the fall of former Deputy PM Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who was over-eager in his bid to oust then-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and ended up out of government and in jail.
Some say that while Najib is good at details he lacks the capacity for decisive action.
Dr Mahathir, who led the country for 22 years and is still an influential force, damned him with faint praise in a recent interview with Reuters, although much of his anger was reserved for incumbent Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who succeeded him.
''Najib can do well, but we will have to see, because when I asked Abdullah to appoint him as deputy I had a lot of hope for him, but he did not perform the way I expected,'' Dr Mahathir said.
There are also issues of character. Najib has been mauled on opposition-supporting Internet sites which have linked him to the lurid murder of a Mongolian model, although there has been no evidence and Najib has repeatedly denied involvement.
Nonetheless it provides a rallying point for the opposition and any in Umno who may wish to attack Najib's suitability to be prime minister. Those attacks are in public and becoming more intense, with an opposition legislator recently being banned from Parliament for shouting ''murderer'' at Najib.
The honeymoon for Najib will be short, with one parliamentary by-election and two state seat by-elections on April 7. ''Throughout his political career, Najib has never had to fight like this before,'' said political analyst Ong Kian Ming. — Reuters
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All the president’s men
by Carolyn Hong, STS
MARCH 27 — When Deputy Premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak appealed to Umno delegates to vote him a good team, he had an unspoken list in mind. By the time the two-day party elections closed, it appeared that he did get most of what he wanted.
Indeed, he seems to have a fairly formidable team. A strong slate of the president's men will mean that Najib can count on the support of loyalists, and unite a fractious Umno that has been locked in leadership tussles for a year.
Just as important, the newly elected team is likely to be acceptable to many Malaysians. They are mostly in line with the choices named by Malaysians in a survey by the independent Merdeka Centre.
Najib, who became Umno president yesterday, never did disclose his preferences, but subtle signals were enough to prompt educated guesses.
The delegates picked up the right signals.
They voted in International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Umno deputy president.
All the three vice-presidents who won are also seen as Najib's men. They are Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi; Education Minister Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein; and National Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal.
These wins have given much-needed breathing space to Najib as he sets out to unite Umno and push the party to undertake the reforms he has promised. He will have less of a task to deal with the factionalism that so often arises after a bitterly fought contest in the party.
It makes up for the disappointments of Wednesday when it was perceived that the winners of the top post of the Youth and Wanita wings may not have been Najib's choices.
A supporter of the Deputy Premier told The Straits Times that “the Youths did not heed the DPM's call” although it was never clear what Najib himself thought of new Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.
Some also said the new chief of the Wanita wing, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil, was not his choice but this is not entirely clear.
Clearly, the poll results yesterday show that Najib has a firm control of the party, thanks to his long political career that began at the age of 23. He climbed up the ranks over 30 years, creating a vast network of loyalists that permeates to the grassroots.
The Deputy Prime Minister is now likely to start consolidating his strength in Umno. And analysts expect him to do so by sticking to the time-honoured tradition of appointing the poll winners to his Cabinet.
Since most are acceptable to Malaysians, there is less risk of a public outcry.
The winners may not be wholly reformist — very few in Umno are truly so — but neither are too many of them severely tainted by corruption or hardline champions of the Malay agenda.
Tourism Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said, who is under investigation for graft, lost her seat in the supreme council.
“Iron Lady” Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, tainted with corruption allegations, also suffered a shock defeat as the Wanita chief.
Despite all the bad press, many see Khairy — the 33-year-old son-in-law of outgoing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi — as falling in both the reformist and tainted categories. In victory or defeat, he stirs mixed feelings.
Muhyiddin as deputy president falls into the neutral category. He does not have a particularly reformist image, but is seen as moderate and reasonable.
The one and only clear-cut reformist candidate — Foreign Minister Datuk Rais Yatim — did not make it as vice-president.
Najib's main difficulty will be a Cabinet post for Khairy. The outgoing Prime Minister's son-in-law will be a controversial choice for a Cabinet post, but leaving him out in the cold could invite trouble.
“People always swing to the new president, but trouble starts if they are not accommodated despite winning party posts,” said analyst Khoo Kay Peng.
Khairy's entry into government will spark criticism, undoubtedly partly led by former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. His dislike for Khairy is legendary.
But the Youth chief himself is tainted, having received a warning from the party's disciplinary board for money politics.
Still, some analysts say Khairy may actually be good for reforms. The Oxford-educated leader was one of the very few in Umno who had articulated liberal ideas and multiracial ideals.
His baggage: his ultra-Malay past, whispers about his finger being in every lucrative business pie, and the mixed messages he sends out.
Merdeka Centre director Ibrahim Suffian believes that Khairy has actually been the most consistent in advocating an Umno more open to criticism.
“It also helps the party by having a more multifaceted approach towards rejuvenating its image and incorporating representation from different sides of the party, and to avoid group think,” he said.
All in, yesterday was a good day for Najib. — Straits Times
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Umno's new line-up
By Zedeck Siew, The Nut Graph
THAT Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is Umno deputy president is probably a good thing for Malaysia's largest political party.
Analysts have been looking to him as the most competent contender for the deputy president's post, especially since Umno's deputy president is almost certain to be made deputy prime minister, as tradition dictates. With his vast experience in politics and government, Muhyiddin, who is also International Trade and Industry Minister, was the clear favourite.
Another reason for the confidence in Muhyiddin stemmed from his declaration that the party needs to reform. Speaking of change, Muhyiddin said: "There is no choice. If you don't change, they will change you. If we wait for 10 more years there will be nothing left."
While not as radical as he could be, Muhyiddin's reasoning is a clarion call when contrasted with the relative conventionality — and dubious baggage — of his erstwhile rival Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib.
A poll by the Merdeka Centre found that of three candidates before Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam was barred because of money politics, Muhyiddin had the highest approval ratings among the Malaysian public.
Therefore, his convincing win may also be read as the party thinking ahead to the expected cabinet line-up under soon-to-be Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. It appears that the wishes of the leading party in the Barisan Nasional (BN) coincided with the wishes of a majority of Malaysians. At least in this instance.
Such inclusiveness may signal an end to Umno's perceived callousness towards those outside its ranks or race. And if that is the case, it is a step towards making good outgoing Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's recommendation that "the loyalty of every Malaysian irrespective of race must always be appreciated."
The new VPs
The new vice-presidents also deserve a look, as this will divine Umno's internal atmosphere from here on out.
Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's 1,592-vote win was seen by many observers to be inevitable. Popular within the party, observers saw Ahmad Zahid as being able to appeal to all Umno factions. His entrance into the upper echelons may accompany a willingness in the party to set aside differences and present a unified front.
However, as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of Islamic affairs, Ahmad Zahid has been at the forefront of championing a particular brand of Islam that views the use of "Allah" by non-Muslims, for example, as a challenge to Muslims.
Indeed, in certain circles, he is seen to have an ultra-religious streak in him. Prior to the "Allah" issue, Ahmad Zahid was clear in warning groups not to question the fatwa on pengkid.
Whether Ahmad Zahid's determined promotion of such restrictions, and the imposition of rules that have caused Malaysians distress, will influence how Umno approaches such matters in future will be something to watch out for.
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein also went on to secure a vice-presidency with 1,515 votes despite some initial doubt.
After having been gifted the Panca Warisan by Umno Youth, Hishammuddin implied that the tradition of unsheathing the keris had left the wing with him — and will follow him into Umno proper. "I am now responsible to bring it to the main body if, God willing, I manage to secure a place at a higher level in the party," Hishammuddin, who was the wing's chief until the night of 25 March 2009, said.
hat statement bears with it a degree of ominousness — and it now appears that his stance remains popular within the party. The supping of non-Malay Malaysian viscera, however, may be at a temporary end. The Umno Youth assembly saw Hishammuddin preferring to turn down racial dichotomies, sticking to opposition party-bashing instead.
The reasons for Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal's 1,445-vote victory are clear-cut. Umno has voted him as the third vice-president, the highest post an East Malaysian has ever held within the party. By doing so, the party appears to be facing down the criticism that Sabah and Sarawak have been unfairly treated in BN-led Malaysia, in terms of development and representation.
The issue of equal suffrage for the East Malaysian states gained immediacy following March 2008. The BN's success in Sabah and Sarawak offset its setbacks in the peninsula, and helped the coalition keep a parliamentary majority. The situation has since allowed Sabahan and Sarawakian politicians from the BN to have more leverage in its negotiations with the central leadership in the peninsula.
While last year's new cabinet featured the most East Malaysian faces in Malaysian history, such politicians were still given portfolios with relatively light political weight. Shafie, for example, was appointed to head the culture, arts, heritage and national unity ministry. Now, his ascendancy in Umno may be read as being indicative of the party's awareness of its weaknesses, and its willingness to address them.
The golden question now, of course, is whether the new line-up of Umno leaders will really be conducive to Najib's stated aim of party rejuvenation. Will Umno — and therefore the BN — be able to regain some of its relevance? Only time will tell.
And, with the grave misgivings that Najib brings into his premiership of the country, it's still left to be seen whether the rest of us will be able to live with our new prime minister and deputy prime minister.
**********
KJ's win spells end of UMNO?
By Rocky Bru
March 26, 2009
Or light at the end of the Umno tunnel? Two newspapers called for my views earlier today on Khairy Jamaluddin's victory. First to call was Harakah. The journo asked me if KJ's win was a petanda buruk (bad omen) for Umno. Sure, I had a nightmare last night [read about my meeting with KJ at a Muslim cemetary in the comment box here] but the outcome of the Youth chief contest is an opportunity for Umno.
Firstly, it is a chance for KJ himself to prove everyone wrong. That he is not averse to change. That he ain't as bad as they (and I) claimed.
Secondly, it is an opportunity for Najib Razak, Umno's new President, to help Pemuda to close ranks (remember, KJ garnered only about 35 per cent of the delegates who voted last night; the remaining went to losers Khir Toyo and Mukhriz Mahathir). To rapatkan saf, Najib could appoint KJ and Mukhriz to his Cabinet and Khir to the Supreme Council. Conditional, of course, on their being cleared of all corruption charges.
Thirdly, it is also a signal for the party to move fast and adopt a review of the voting system. The 1 member = 1 vote system will make Umno the most democratic party in the country, help abolish money politics, and even encourage Malays who have shunned Umno all this while to join the party.
The Oriental Daily reporter told me that the MCA debated the 1 member = 1 vote system and found that it would be costly and time-consuming. I said whatever the cost, it would not be greater than the cost of losing the next General Election because of the party's failure to fight money politics and corruption in the party.
In short, I see a silver lining ahead for Umno. And yes, if you allow each Umno member one vote to elect the party's leaders in 2012, I would consider signing up as an Umno member.
But if they elect in Muhammad Muhammad Taib as the Deputy President tonight, I will have to take back my words.
**********
CPI EDITOR'S COMMENTARY:
The above is a sampling of news reports and commentaries from various sources on the results flowing from the just concluded UMNO party elections which was postponed from a year ago, and it marked a changing of the guards with outgoing UMNO President-cum-Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi handing over the nation's chief exceutive's baton to deputy UMNO President-cum-DPM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who inherited the UMNO presidency witout contest.
Except for two "exceptional" wins by Khairy Jamaludin, former deputy UMNO chief, in defeating Mukhriz Mahathir and Khir Toyo, in capturing the top youth wing's post, and by Sharizat Abdul Jalil in upsetting incumbent Rafidah Azizfor the top Wanita UMNO's post, the rest of the contests saw mainly victories for the new President's men. This point was well noted by Carolyn Hong of the Sinpore's Staits Times too. Another point made by Carolyn worthy of stress which this Editor concurs with is: "Still, some analysts say Khairy may actually be good for reforms. The Oxford-educated leader was one of the very few in Umno who had articulated liberal ideas and multiracial ideals.
But past UMNO politics has witnessed much shortfall, distortion and non-complaince between pledges made and performance and delivery of those pledges, epitomised by the euphoria premised on promises of all-round "change" for the better created by outgoing Prime Minister Pak Lah when he swept into a landslideelectoral victory in leading his first general elections in 2004 after inheriting UMNO captaincy from Dr Mahathir Mahathir, followed by a damning March 8, 2008 electoral performance, with Barisan Nasional losing for the first time its two-thirds majority in Parliament.
We have heard a lot of the UMNO leaders' promises of a clean, responsible and accountable government before, and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi knows he had to pay a huge price in giving up the nation's CEO post for lacklustre performance -- an outstanding example of the potential power of the Rakayt/People in punishing the Leader's failure of "walking the talk".
Will the new UMNO President Najib and his team prove to the Rakyat that they have learnt well a lesson from his (Najib's) precedessor's fate, especially concerning instituting "reforms" that are essential to improving all branches of Government, to enure truly responsible, transparent and accountable service delivery, especially in the Judiciary, the Police and Civil Service? The Rakyat's patience will be sorely tested for the next three to four years in a new and ever-changing political and challenging economic environment to which many of Pak Lah's old team could not rsie up to. Najib's work has indeed been cut out for him. -- YL Chong
Thursday, March 26, 2009
UMNO Youth new chief KJ starts on right note...
"KJ disagrees with barring new media" was the cheery (Rhymes with Khairy eh?) headline in Malaysiakini.com that greeted Desi when I did my morning house call at the news centre, and I guess I was impressed.
If this is the representative potential of the new head helming the UMNO Youth movement following yesterday's crucial party elections, there is some hope yet for a party that is seen largely as heading towards Doomsville. I won't write off the racist coterie of so-called Malay-centric politicians yet, and maybe this Oxford-trained "youth"ful leader might be the medicine the inward-bound older generation of UMNO pilitikuses can learn from to keep up with the times. Yes, recalling an olde Bob Dylan's refrain still relevant, although sounding cliche but still current -- especially how and where ICT impacts 21st century society is concerned -- The times they're a-changing...
KJ disagrees with barring new media
Mar 25, 09 3:38pm
Calling it a strategic error, he says the party leadership will be asked to review the decision to bar six publications, including Malaysiakini, from covering the AGM. [VIDEO INSIDE] MORE
This is the trend of the future
'We're not discussing secret matters'
If this is the representative potential of the new head helming the UMNO Youth movement following yesterday's crucial party elections, there is some hope yet for a party that is seen largely as heading towards Doomsville. I won't write off the racist coterie of so-called Malay-centric politicians yet, and maybe this Oxford-trained "youth"ful leader might be the medicine the inward-bound older generation of UMNO pilitikuses can learn from to keep up with the times. Yes, recalling an olde Bob Dylan's refrain still relevant, although sounding cliche but still current -- especially how and where ICT impacts 21st century society is concerned -- The times they're a-changing...
KJ disagrees with barring new media
Mar 25, 09 3:38pm
Calling it a strategic error, he says the party leadership will be asked to review the decision to bar six publications, including Malaysiakini, from covering the AGM. [VIDEO INSIDE] MORE
This is the trend of the future
'We're not discussing secret matters'
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
If I Had a Second Chance at Career Choice...
I wanna be a different sort of Man of Letters! I envy David L, so for laughs and love and l've, hear's leeting wan out of the doggie bag!:)
Plucked from The Malaysian Insider:
Related Articles
Jimmy Fallon makes his debut as ‘Late Night’ host
Joaquin’s Letterman appearance is instant classic
David Letterman doesn’t only play it for laughs
O’Brien, Fallon see late-night challenges ahead
David Letterman secretly married
LOS ANGELES, March 24 — Late-night TV comic David Letterman has quietly married his long-time girlfriend, telling audience members of his show yesterday that he almost missed the ceremony because his truck was stuck in mud.
Letterman, 61, and Regina Lasko tied the knot during a courthouse ceremony near their Montana ranch last Thursday. The couple, who have been dating since 1986, were accompanied by their 5-year-old son, Harry.
“ ... I had avoided getting married pretty good for, like, 23 years, and I — honestly, whether this happened or not — I secretly felt that men who were married admired me ... like I was the last of the real gunslingers,” Letterman said, according to a “Late Show” transcript provided by a spokesman.
But the afternoon ceremony at the Teton County Courthouse in Choteau was delayed by an hour because the family’s pickup truck was stuck in mud two miles from their house. Letterman was forced to walk back in a howling gale to get the car.
“So then we get in the car and Harry says, ‘Are we still going into town?’ and I said, ‘Yes, we are,’ and he gets very upset because Mom had told him if I wasn’t back in an hour, the deal was off.”
Letterman’s spokesman declined to reveal any details about the ceremony, or to give Lasko’s age. Letterman, who was married once before, is intensely private, and is rarely photographed with his family.
The news of his nuptials was first broken by celebrity tabloid US Weekly. — Reuters
Plucked from The Malaysian Insider:
Related Articles
Jimmy Fallon makes his debut as ‘Late Night’ host
Joaquin’s Letterman appearance is instant classic
David Letterman doesn’t only play it for laughs
O’Brien, Fallon see late-night challenges ahead
David Letterman secretly married
LOS ANGELES, March 24 — Late-night TV comic David Letterman has quietly married his long-time girlfriend, telling audience members of his show yesterday that he almost missed the ceremony because his truck was stuck in mud.
Letterman, 61, and Regina Lasko tied the knot during a courthouse ceremony near their Montana ranch last Thursday. The couple, who have been dating since 1986, were accompanied by their 5-year-old son, Harry.
“ ... I had avoided getting married pretty good for, like, 23 years, and I — honestly, whether this happened or not — I secretly felt that men who were married admired me ... like I was the last of the real gunslingers,” Letterman said, according to a “Late Show” transcript provided by a spokesman.
But the afternoon ceremony at the Teton County Courthouse in Choteau was delayed by an hour because the family’s pickup truck was stuck in mud two miles from their house. Letterman was forced to walk back in a howling gale to get the car.
“So then we get in the car and Harry says, ‘Are we still going into town?’ and I said, ‘Yes, we are,’ and he gets very upset because Mom had told him if I wasn’t back in an hour, the deal was off.”
Letterman’s spokesman declined to reveal any details about the ceremony, or to give Lasko’s age. Letterman, who was married once before, is intensely private, and is rarely photographed with his family.
The news of his nuptials was first broken by celebrity tabloid US Weekly. — Reuters
CSM: Hear's a plug for English:)
also as collateral benefit, a plug for a newspaper from across the Causeway.
It's also a plug for a GOoD causeforMalaysians striving hard to compete on the international stage -- Global Village, remember?
It's also Desi's community service for the likes/ilks of ex-MBs whose "I don't know English" helped him get off a BIG multi-million dollar offence Down Under. I don't know if it's time enough to increase his chances of becoming UMNO number 2-too. See, YL loves his enemy as well as his lovely neighbour's dog, Man's Best Friend. Woof, woof!:):)
Home > Breaking News > Singapore > Story
March 24, 2009
Help for weak in English
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_353948.html
By Felicia Wong, The Straits Times
IN EACH cohort of Primary 1 pupils, 12 to 14 per cent are 'very weak' in English and some could not complete the English alphabet, Minister for Education Ng Eng Hen has revealed.
These pupils were not able to recognise simple English words and were also unable to understand simple oral instructions in English, he added.
To address this problem, the Ministry of Education (MOE) identifies these pupils each January through the Learning Support Programme (LSP), a specialised early intervention scheme that aims to teach these children basic language and literacy skills, said Dr Ng in his written response to questions from Dr Ong Seh Hong, MP for Marine Parade GRC, in Parliament on Monday.
Implemented by Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) who are qualified teachers specially trained by MOE for this programme, the LSP is implemented in all primary schools at Primary 1 and Primary 2 levels.
Dr Ng said about 45 per cent of children in the programme are able to pass their schools' English language examinations and read at a level that commensurate with their age by the end of Primary 1. Another 20 per cent are able to do by the end of Primary 2.
Although the reading gap had not been totally eliminated, the minister said that the remaining pupils made 'considerable improvements' in their reading skills. While the programme does not extend formally beyond Primary 2, students would continue to be supported through school-based supplementary and remedial lessons.
To address the causes of this lack of proficiency in English, Dr Ng said his ministry is 'working upstream' as data from MOE showed that children from lower income households who do not attend preschool are 'more likely to experience difficulties'.
As such, since 2006, MOE has focused its efforts and resources on helping children, especially those from lower-income families, to attend preschool, to help them 'level up opportunities early in life'. Dr Ng said that preliminary joint efforts by MOE, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and grassroots organisations are bearing results: the percentage of those entering Primary 1 without any preschool education was reduced from more than four per cent to about 2.5 per cent.
In addition, MOE also runs a scheme to help second year kindergarten students who have difficulties with English. Dubbed the FLAiR project (Focused Language Assistance in Reading), the programme helps children in speaking and reading English through through dedicated one-to-one or small group sessions, the minister said.
MOE will continue to look into ways to further improve the FLAiR project, said Dr Ng.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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It's also a plug for a GOoD causeforMalaysians striving hard to compete on the international stage -- Global Village, remember?
It's also Desi's community service for the likes/ilks of ex-MBs whose "I don't know English" helped him get off a BIG multi-million dollar offence Down Under. I don't know if it's time enough to increase his chances of becoming UMNO number 2-too. See, YL loves his enemy as well as his lovely neighbour's dog, Man's Best Friend. Woof, woof!:):)
Home > Breaking News > Singapore > Story
March 24, 2009
Help for weak in English
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_353948.html
By Felicia Wong, The Straits Times
IN EACH cohort of Primary 1 pupils, 12 to 14 per cent are 'very weak' in English and some could not complete the English alphabet, Minister for Education Ng Eng Hen has revealed.
These pupils were not able to recognise simple English words and were also unable to understand simple oral instructions in English, he added.
To address this problem, the Ministry of Education (MOE) identifies these pupils each January through the Learning Support Programme (LSP), a specialised early intervention scheme that aims to teach these children basic language and literacy skills, said Dr Ng in his written response to questions from Dr Ong Seh Hong, MP for Marine Parade GRC, in Parliament on Monday.
Implemented by Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) who are qualified teachers specially trained by MOE for this programme, the LSP is implemented in all primary schools at Primary 1 and Primary 2 levels.
Dr Ng said about 45 per cent of children in the programme are able to pass their schools' English language examinations and read at a level that commensurate with their age by the end of Primary 1. Another 20 per cent are able to do by the end of Primary 2.
Although the reading gap had not been totally eliminated, the minister said that the remaining pupils made 'considerable improvements' in their reading skills. While the programme does not extend formally beyond Primary 2, students would continue to be supported through school-based supplementary and remedial lessons.
To address the causes of this lack of proficiency in English, Dr Ng said his ministry is 'working upstream' as data from MOE showed that children from lower income households who do not attend preschool are 'more likely to experience difficulties'.
As such, since 2006, MOE has focused its efforts and resources on helping children, especially those from lower-income families, to attend preschool, to help them 'level up opportunities early in life'. Dr Ng said that preliminary joint efforts by MOE, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and grassroots organisations are bearing results: the percentage of those entering Primary 1 without any preschool education was reduced from more than four per cent to about 2.5 per cent.
In addition, MOE also runs a scheme to help second year kindergarten students who have difficulties with English. Dubbed the FLAiR project (Focused Language Assistance in Reading), the programme helps children in speaking and reading English through through dedicated one-to-one or small group sessions, the minister said.
MOE will continue to look into ways to further improve the FLAiR project, said Dr Ng.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ads by Google
English Listening Fast
The Secrets To Understanding English Faster. Free Email Course.
LearnRealEnglish.com
Free Virtual Classroom
Teach Students Live on the Internet Free Up to 50 Attendees
WiZiQ.com/Virtual_Classroom.aspx
See Urgently
Here are the 7 Sponsoring Videos They Hid From You! Free Access Now.
www.MagneticSponsoring.com/Videos
English Language Courses
General English,Exam prep,Business Top English School, Central London
www.lsbf.org.uk
Kits4Kids Foundation
Providing special education service and teachers training for all
www.kits4kids.org
Be afraid,be very afraid! Najib is Kambing!
and for many, Kamunting is beckoning...
From The Malaysian Insider:
Pakatan says Najib’s crackdown has begun
By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani
Kuala Lumpur, March 24 — Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today that the banning of opposition newspapers and the crackdown on last night’s Pakatan Rakyat (PR) rally in Kedah marks the beginning of what he says is Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s repressive regime.
Last night Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) forces fired tear gas and used water cannons on thousands gathered at a ceramah in Bukit Selambau just as Anwar was beginning his speech.
He alleged today that thousands of his supporters were “mercilessly attacked” by the FRU but the police have claimed that the rally was illegal.
“When I was giving my speech, I saw the anti riot police out in the field. There was no riot. The riot police is only needed when there is a riot.
“If they wanted to take action under the law it is clear that if the rally had no permit then they should have given us notice. I would have stopped. They were gathering peacefully but the onslaught almost went on for an hour,” he explained.
Anwar also mentioned that the suspension for three months of Suara Keadilan and Harakah by the Home Minisitry resembles the “cruel and authoritarian” style of leadership under which Malaysians have experienced under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s administration..
“Last evening, Suara Keadilan and Harakah was not given the permission to be distributed for three months because of negative news. It is negative because it touches on the case of Datuk Seri Najib in the murder of Altantuya.
“The whole world has reported, Liberation in France, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Forum Indonesia, London Sunday Times, Philippine Star. If they were all publishing in Malaysia, their permit will be rejected,” he explained.
Anwar said that the recent moves by the government was a very disturbing trend which shows clear intolerance to opposing parties.
“This shows a pattern, a new phase of repression to be used by Datuk Seri Najib and his ruling colleagues when he assumes office.
“I trust the wisdom of Malaysians to continue their desire for change and reforms and we will work very hard in the three by-elections to show the formidable draconian measures by Barisan Nasional will not be tolerated,” he added.
In a separate statement, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang cited the suspension of Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo and Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh being charged under the Sedition Act 1948 as examples of Najib’s crackdown before he assumes premiership.
“The unethical, undemocratic, illegal and constitutional power grab in Perak on 5th February 2009, personally orchestrated by the PM-in-waiting has confirmed the worst fears that his ascension as the sixth Prime Minister would see a return of Mahathirism and a Najib crackdown,” Lim said.
From The Malaysian Insider:
Pakatan says Najib’s crackdown has begun
By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani
Kuala Lumpur, March 24 — Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today that the banning of opposition newspapers and the crackdown on last night’s Pakatan Rakyat (PR) rally in Kedah marks the beginning of what he says is Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s repressive regime.
Last night Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) forces fired tear gas and used water cannons on thousands gathered at a ceramah in Bukit Selambau just as Anwar was beginning his speech.
He alleged today that thousands of his supporters were “mercilessly attacked” by the FRU but the police have claimed that the rally was illegal.
“When I was giving my speech, I saw the anti riot police out in the field. There was no riot. The riot police is only needed when there is a riot.
“If they wanted to take action under the law it is clear that if the rally had no permit then they should have given us notice. I would have stopped. They were gathering peacefully but the onslaught almost went on for an hour,” he explained.
Anwar also mentioned that the suspension for three months of Suara Keadilan and Harakah by the Home Minisitry resembles the “cruel and authoritarian” style of leadership under which Malaysians have experienced under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s administration..
“Last evening, Suara Keadilan and Harakah was not given the permission to be distributed for three months because of negative news. It is negative because it touches on the case of Datuk Seri Najib in the murder of Altantuya.
“The whole world has reported, Liberation in France, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Forum Indonesia, London Sunday Times, Philippine Star. If they were all publishing in Malaysia, their permit will be rejected,” he explained.
Anwar said that the recent moves by the government was a very disturbing trend which shows clear intolerance to opposing parties.
“This shows a pattern, a new phase of repression to be used by Datuk Seri Najib and his ruling colleagues when he assumes office.
“I trust the wisdom of Malaysians to continue their desire for change and reforms and we will work very hard in the three by-elections to show the formidable draconian measures by Barisan Nasional will not be tolerated,” he added.
In a separate statement, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang cited the suspension of Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo and Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh being charged under the Sedition Act 1948 as examples of Najib’s crackdown before he assumes premiership.
“The unethical, undemocratic, illegal and constitutional power grab in Perak on 5th February 2009, personally orchestrated by the PM-in-waiting has confirmed the worst fears that his ascension as the sixth Prime Minister would see a return of Mahathirism and a Najib crackdown,” Lim said.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
An Oppressive Regime Just Round the Bend!
Yesterday's post on the newspapers run by two federal Oppoistion parties -- PKR's and PAS' -- being suspended immediately for THREE LONG MONTHS, and now another MEDIA BAN ON UMNO ASSEMBLY'S COVERAGE BY SEVERAL NEW MEDIA***, doesn't instill any confidence of better times ahead.
Just around the bend in one week's time, DPM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak takes over as head of BN Government from Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and these two developments are two ominous signs that Malaysia will soon beget a more repressive regime. Deja Vu for Mahathir fans and rivals alike? I think Desi must rush to the toilet -- I smell the worst of UMNO SHIT again!
***New media denied passes by Umno
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/100853
Rahmah Ghazali | Mar 24, 09 1:36pm
At least six new media publications including Malaysiakini have been denied media accreditation by Umno to cover the party's annual general meeting beginning today.
No official reasons were given for the party's decision in denying official access to these news organisations to cover the five-day meet.
Apart from Malaysiakini, the other organisations denied official access are The Nut Graph, Malaysian Insider, Siasah, Merdeka Review and Chinese website Laksou.
Malaysiakini submitted its applications on Feb 27 and was unofficially informed yesterday that it would not be granted accreditation.
Officials at the party headquarters today informed Malaysiakini journalists that the decision to deny the official media tag was made at a higher level.
It is believed that the instruction to reject the applications was given by Umno secretary Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (right).
"They had a meeting on which media are entitled for the media tags, and there are six ‘bloggers' that they have decided to leave out," said Umno media officer Abdul Hamid Satar.
Interestingly, some of these media outfit, including Malaysiakini, have the Information Ministry's approved media tags.
Malaysiakini Editor-in-Chief Steven Gan expressed disappointment over Umno's rejection of the online daily's application for press passes.
"I find it strange that though we were finally recognised by the government last year, the party is now out of step in its dealings with the new media."
He said that despite the restrictions on Malaysiakini journalists, the website will not be deterred from filing reports on the assembly.
"We have been covering the Umno general assembly without fail since 2000 and this year is no exception".
No entry to certain areas
Traditionally, media outlets without accreditation cards from the Information Ministry are not given media passes for the Umno general assembly. Despite this, Malaysiakini has consistently applied for media passes to cover the annual meeting.
However, in 2007, Umno issued press passes to online news portal Agenda Daily.
According Agenda Daily editor Rosli Ismail, the Malay political website has been issued press passes again this year. It is perhaps the only new media organisation to be given the passes.
Without the Umno media pass, Malaysiakini journalists would not be allowed access into the main halls of the meeting. Even access to press conferences by party leaders would be difficult.
However, Malaysiakini journalists would still be able to mingle outside the meeting halls at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur where the assembly will be held.
The Umno meeting this year is an important event as it will see the passing of leadership baton from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to his deputy, Najib Abdul Razak.
The party polls are also expected to bring about some unexpected results.
Malaysiakini's run-in with Umno has been on-going since the former was launched almost 10 years ago.
The news organisation was previously barred from covering the party's supreme council meetings, a ban which was lifted about a year ago.
UPDATEd on March 25, 2009 @9.26AM:
From mGf Sdr Ahirudin Attan aka rockybru, Co-chair of BUM2009!:)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
In defence of Harakah, Suara Keadilan
1. I defended Utusan Malaysia against the suits by politicians, here.
2. I condemned political parties that barred New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia from covering the official functions of their parties and the states they now govern.
3. And I read in disbelief last night about the three-month suspension of Harakah and Suara Keadilan. I didn't think we still do that in this day and age (click here)
I expect those who defended the politicians in (1) and the political parties in (2) to also support the Government in suspending the newspapers.
Just around the bend in one week's time, DPM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak takes over as head of BN Government from Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and these two developments are two ominous signs that Malaysia will soon beget a more repressive regime. Deja Vu for Mahathir fans and rivals alike? I think Desi must rush to the toilet -- I smell the worst of UMNO SHIT again!
***New media denied passes by Umno
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/100853
Rahmah Ghazali | Mar 24, 09 1:36pm
At least six new media publications including Malaysiakini have been denied media accreditation by Umno to cover the party's annual general meeting beginning today.
No official reasons were given for the party's decision in denying official access to these news organisations to cover the five-day meet.
Apart from Malaysiakini, the other organisations denied official access are The Nut Graph, Malaysian Insider, Siasah, Merdeka Review and Chinese website Laksou.
Malaysiakini submitted its applications on Feb 27 and was unofficially informed yesterday that it would not be granted accreditation.
Officials at the party headquarters today informed Malaysiakini journalists that the decision to deny the official media tag was made at a higher level.
It is believed that the instruction to reject the applications was given by Umno secretary Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (right).
"They had a meeting on which media are entitled for the media tags, and there are six ‘bloggers' that they have decided to leave out," said Umno media officer Abdul Hamid Satar.
Interestingly, some of these media outfit, including Malaysiakini, have the Information Ministry's approved media tags.
Malaysiakini Editor-in-Chief Steven Gan expressed disappointment over Umno's rejection of the online daily's application for press passes.
"I find it strange that though we were finally recognised by the government last year, the party is now out of step in its dealings with the new media."
He said that despite the restrictions on Malaysiakini journalists, the website will not be deterred from filing reports on the assembly.
"We have been covering the Umno general assembly without fail since 2000 and this year is no exception".
No entry to certain areas
Traditionally, media outlets without accreditation cards from the Information Ministry are not given media passes for the Umno general assembly. Despite this, Malaysiakini has consistently applied for media passes to cover the annual meeting.
However, in 2007, Umno issued press passes to online news portal Agenda Daily.
According Agenda Daily editor Rosli Ismail, the Malay political website has been issued press passes again this year. It is perhaps the only new media organisation to be given the passes.
Without the Umno media pass, Malaysiakini journalists would not be allowed access into the main halls of the meeting. Even access to press conferences by party leaders would be difficult.
However, Malaysiakini journalists would still be able to mingle outside the meeting halls at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur where the assembly will be held.
The Umno meeting this year is an important event as it will see the passing of leadership baton from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to his deputy, Najib Abdul Razak.
The party polls are also expected to bring about some unexpected results.
Malaysiakini's run-in with Umno has been on-going since the former was launched almost 10 years ago.
The news organisation was previously barred from covering the party's supreme council meetings, a ban which was lifted about a year ago.
UPDATEd on March 25, 2009 @9.26AM:
From mGf Sdr Ahirudin Attan aka rockybru, Co-chair of BUM2009!:)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
In defence of Harakah, Suara Keadilan
1. I defended Utusan Malaysia against the suits by politicians, here.
2. I condemned political parties that barred New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia from covering the official functions of their parties and the states they now govern.
3. And I read in disbelief last night about the three-month suspension of Harakah and Suara Keadilan. I didn't think we still do that in this day and age (click here)
I expect those who defended the politicians in (1) and the political parties in (2) to also support the Government in suspending the newspapers.
Monday, March 23, 2009
MI is bearer of bad news -- should we call for its ban?
Harakah and Suara Keadilan banned
By Shannon Teoh
KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — In a move that appears to be geared towards handicapping the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) machinery ahead of the three by-elections on April 7, Suara Keadilan and Harakah have been banned for three months by the Home Ministry with immediate effect.
The party organs of Pas and PKR respectively were informed of the decision around 5pm this evening by fax with no reason given.
This effectively bars them from covering the Umno general assembly and the Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau and Batang Ai by-elections.
The letter to Harakah was addressed to Pas secretary-general Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar, who told The Malaysian Insider that the suspension would put PR campaigns at an unfair disadvantage.
“This comes at a time when it is most crucial for us to disseminate information to supporters,” he said.
“Such moves do not give us confidence in the future administration given the events of recent weeks,” he said referring to what has been perceived as strong arm tactics by incoming prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, especially with regards to the Perak power grab on Feb 5.
He added that the party would appeal to Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar to reinstate Harakah.
Suara Keadilan editor Zulkiflee Anwar Al-Haq told The Malaysian Insider that until a decision was made by the party leadership, it would continue operations.
He added that PKR leaders would announce its decision at a press conference to be held at Parliament tomorrow.
In the aftermath of the Perak crisis last month, thousands of copies of both publications were seized.
On Feb 26, the Home Ministry had also ordered Harakah to show cause over the offences of public distribution and publishing content on current issues as its printing permit allowed it to distribute within party premises and report on party matters only.
DESIDERATA: Oh SH*T! BN-UMNO is SH*T!
To UMNO, everyone who tries to report the Truth or bears bad news, the UMNO GOONS SHOOT THE COMPETITOR and MESSENGER!
Maybe they should also BAN all dissenting News Online like Mkini and MI, and blogs like....... ah, I'm not telling!:(
Oh SH*T! Sweet 4-letter word like UMNO...
By Shannon Teoh
KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — In a move that appears to be geared towards handicapping the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) machinery ahead of the three by-elections on April 7, Suara Keadilan and Harakah have been banned for three months by the Home Ministry with immediate effect.
The party organs of Pas and PKR respectively were informed of the decision around 5pm this evening by fax with no reason given.
This effectively bars them from covering the Umno general assembly and the Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau and Batang Ai by-elections.
The letter to Harakah was addressed to Pas secretary-general Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar, who told The Malaysian Insider that the suspension would put PR campaigns at an unfair disadvantage.
“This comes at a time when it is most crucial for us to disseminate information to supporters,” he said.
“Such moves do not give us confidence in the future administration given the events of recent weeks,” he said referring to what has been perceived as strong arm tactics by incoming prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, especially with regards to the Perak power grab on Feb 5.
He added that the party would appeal to Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar to reinstate Harakah.
Suara Keadilan editor Zulkiflee Anwar Al-Haq told The Malaysian Insider that until a decision was made by the party leadership, it would continue operations.
He added that PKR leaders would announce its decision at a press conference to be held at Parliament tomorrow.
In the aftermath of the Perak crisis last month, thousands of copies of both publications were seized.
On Feb 26, the Home Ministry had also ordered Harakah to show cause over the offences of public distribution and publishing content on current issues as its printing permit allowed it to distribute within party premises and report on party matters only.
DESIDERATA: Oh SH*T! BN-UMNO is SH*T!
To UMNO, everyone who tries to report the Truth or bears bad news, the UMNO GOONS SHOOT THE COMPETITOR and MESSENGER!
Maybe they should also BAN all dissenting News Online like Mkini and MI, and blogs like....... ah, I'm not telling!:(
Oh SH*T! Sweet 4-letter word like UMNO...
se7en days is a LONG time in politics...
RECENTLY, a long time ago, my favourite blogger -- I'm sure of many of my ER2! -- wrote that 14 days is a long time in politics, meaning that anything can happen, implying that Najib Tun Razak may be stopped in his tracks from becoming Prime Minister, confirming the wish of my bud Kim Quek that the DPM waiting feverishly in the wings on the PWTC Stage MUST BE STOPPED.
And we all know the only "issue" that can stop Najib is somehow linked to a lady named ALTANTUYA. Yes, the late Altantuya left behind more than one issue, and it's making Malaysians asking one question after another, and another ... you just repeat after Desi and you will understand why the next se7en dies is a long, long, long, long, long, long, long time. Yes, se7en is my favourite number, and it rhymes wit' heaven. Mitch Albom has an affinity with this fan's fave number2, and 2 hear stands for "too", you Ignoramus!
For more Ignoramus-esout there/dare, Desi has this theory to offer when one concerned Malaysian deemed me qualified to give my vain opinion: How is KQ's wish/mission to stop Najib ascending the CEO's throne -- the time bomb is ticking away...
AND THAT BLARDY "PHOTOGRAPH" of tea4three -- I can't write tea43, can I? -- caricatured by Sdr Tian Cua remains a prized caricature although highly esteemed sources like a court witness and Pete -- ah, RPK is Pete-lah to buds if you must know, busybodies, luckily not dead by virtue of C4! -- -- had elegantly hinted about.
NOW CAN SOMEBODY OUT HEAR -- withing hearing of Desi's distance -- just upload that picture if you have it in your mail/male box if you have the balls. Yes, using an English idiom the idiotic way, the ball is now in your court.
Meanwhile, have FUN-D, come to BUM2009 -- you can throw pies at RPK's (Pete's) handsome face. Even Desi's winsome wan, especally IF THOU HAVE THE PHOTOGRAPH! No,not of RPK and Desi at BUM2008 (REF: bum2008-desiderata.blogspot.com) or at BUM2007 (REF: bum2007.wordpress.com).
What is Desi saying about BUM2009, you Ignoramice oouch there dare aRsEk?
STAY TUNED...
I have ofTEN preached -- yes, ten also rimes wit' se7en and My Blue H'aven! -- Miss patience as being miss virtuous... ala like being a virgin like Madonna. You don wanna become pregnant and give forth more damning issue, or you do?
Let's re-visit one evening by the beah in Port Dickson wit' Ziana singing Hosanna in the HI-est desibelles even the angels come out from where devils fear to tread.
If you don undersatnd 30% of what I've writ, it's alright. I've got NO SATISFACTION, satusfying you,my dear; and I've run out of PuErh2! Bye, buy some heap stocks as I hear Daim Z is back in the market... This is jest a rumour, but in NegaraKu, rumour is GOoD humour, it buys thee points when ascending the stairway to heaven...Bonus is giften out on the way down...YL, Desi, knottyaSsusual:)
UPDATEd @8.32PM, from malaysia-today.net:
Arms deal link to death of model
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/19505/84/
Posted by admin
Sunday, 22 March 2009 11:45
The scandal exploded last week after the French newspaper Libération alleged that the submarines deal and the murder of Altantuya Shariibuu, 28, were connected.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Michael Sheridan and Matthew Campbell, The Sunday Times
A FRENCH arms company is at the centre of a deepening scandal involving the sale of three submarines, the murder of a beautiful Mongolian interpreter and the man most likely to become prime minister of Malaysia next month.
All three have been linked in a sensational sequence of revelations that has convinced many Malaysians that the woman was killed to silence her demands of a share in the rewards of the transaction.
The scandal exploded last week after the French newspaper Libération alleged that the submarines deal and the murder of Altantuya Shariibuu, 28, were connected.
A glamorous, cosmopolitan woman, Altantuya grew up in St Petersburg, spoke Russian, Chinese, Korean and English, moved in elite circles and has been dubbed “a Far Eastern Mata Hari”.
She became the mistress of a Malaysian political fixer and was allegedly trying to extort money from him at the time of her violent demise.
Two members of an elite Malaysian police unit that protects top politicians are on trial in Kuala Lumpur, accused of shooting her in the jungle and then blowing up her body with military explosives.
Azilah Hadri, 32, and Sirul Azhar Umar, 36, officers in the Special Branch, could go to the gallows if convicted of abducting and murdering Altantuya on October 19, 2006. A verdict is expected early next month.
Their trial is unfolding as Najib Razak, the country’s deputy prime minister, stands on the verge of taking over as premier after a ruling-party leadership election, due within days.
Najib was accused by a young opposition MP, Gobind Singh Deo, in parliament, of involvement in the murder. Deo was suspended by the Speaker for making the remark. The deputy prime minister has strongly denied any involvement.
Testimony in an earlier court case has established an intimate personal and financial connection between the dead woman and a close aide to Najib, who was minister of defence at the time of the submarine deal.
The aide, Abdul Razak Baginda, was acquitted by a court last November of being an accessory in the murder. He has since been working on a doctorate at Trinity College, Oxford.
Baginda admitted that the dead woman was his mistress for about a year and prosecutors said she had pestered him for money after their break-up.
Just before her death she arrived in Kuala Lumpur, accompanied by a Mongolian shaman, who was to put a curse on Baginda if he did not pay up.
Altantuya was dragged away from outside Baginda’s home by two Special Branch officers, but he was acquitted after maintaining that he never gave orders for her to be harmed.
The Libération exposé linking the murder to the shadowy world of arms contracts has embarrassed the French war-ship firm DCNS. Armaris, a firm now merged with DCNS, sold the three submarines to Malaysia in 2002 for £937m.
Attention has centred on why Armaris paid £107m to a Malaysian company called Perimekar in 2006.
Opposition leaders alleged in parliament that the payment was a “commission” for intermediaries and that Perimekar was secretly owned by Baginda. Najib replied that it was not a “commission” and that Perimekar was a “project services provider”.
Libération has alleged that Altantuya, who toured France with Baginda in a Ferrari, wining and dining at expensive restaurants, learnt of the payment. It said she was demanding $500,000 (£345,000).
DCNS has refused to comment. It is already the subject of a French judicial investigation into corrupt practices, thanks to a whistleblower who has detailed bribery and industrial espionage allegations.
Last week, efforts to contact Baginda, a self-styled political analyst, at his new home in Oxford were unsuccessful.
Najib has avoided public comment but his politically influential wife, Rosmah Mansor, told the French news agency AFP that she was “shocked” by attempts to link her husband and her to the case.
Additional reporting: Alex Yong in Kuala Lumpur
And we all know the only "issue" that can stop Najib is somehow linked to a lady named ALTANTUYA. Yes, the late Altantuya left behind more than one issue, and it's making Malaysians asking one question after another, and another ... you just repeat after Desi and you will understand why the next se7en dies is a long, long, long, long, long, long, long time. Yes, se7en is my favourite number, and it rhymes wit' heaven. Mitch Albom has an affinity with this fan's fave number2, and 2 hear stands for "too", you Ignoramus!
For more Ignoramus-esout there/dare, Desi has this theory to offer when one concerned Malaysian deemed me qualified to give my vain opinion: How is KQ's wish/mission to stop Najib ascending the CEO's throne -- the time bomb is ticking away...
AND THAT BLARDY "PHOTOGRAPH" of tea4three -- I can't write tea43, can I? -- caricatured by Sdr Tian Cua remains a prized caricature although highly esteemed sources like a court witness and Pete -- ah, RPK is Pete-lah to buds if you must know, busybodies, luckily not dead by virtue of C4! -- -- had elegantly hinted about.
NOW CAN SOMEBODY OUT HEAR -- withing hearing of Desi's distance -- just upload that picture if you have it in your mail/male box if you have the balls. Yes, using an English idiom the idiotic way, the ball is now in your court.
Meanwhile, have FUN-D, come to BUM2009 -- you can throw pies at RPK's (Pete's) handsome face. Even Desi's winsome wan, especally IF THOU HAVE THE PHOTOGRAPH! No,not of RPK and Desi at BUM2008 (REF: bum2008-desiderata.blogspot.com) or at BUM2007 (REF: bum2007.wordpress.com).
What is Desi saying about BUM2009, you Ignoramice oouch there dare aRsEk?
STAY TUNED...
I have ofTEN preached -- yes, ten also rimes wit' se7en and My Blue H'aven! -- Miss patience as being miss virtuous... ala like being a virgin like Madonna. You don wanna become pregnant and give forth more damning issue, or you do?
Let's re-visit one evening by the beah in Port Dickson wit' Ziana singing Hosanna in the HI-est desibelles even the angels come out from where devils fear to tread.
If you don undersatnd 30% of what I've writ, it's alright. I've got NO SATISFACTION, satusfying you,my dear; and I've run out of PuErh2! Bye, buy some heap stocks as I hear Daim Z is back in the market... This is jest a rumour, but in NegaraKu, rumour is GOoD humour, it buys thee points when ascending the stairway to heaven...Bonus is giften out on the way down...YL, Desi, knottyaSsusual:)
UPDATEd @8.32PM, from malaysia-today.net:
Arms deal link to death of model
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/19505/84/
Posted by admin
Sunday, 22 March 2009 11:45
The scandal exploded last week after the French newspaper Libération alleged that the submarines deal and the murder of Altantuya Shariibuu, 28, were connected.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Michael Sheridan and Matthew Campbell, The Sunday Times
A FRENCH arms company is at the centre of a deepening scandal involving the sale of three submarines, the murder of a beautiful Mongolian interpreter and the man most likely to become prime minister of Malaysia next month.
All three have been linked in a sensational sequence of revelations that has convinced many Malaysians that the woman was killed to silence her demands of a share in the rewards of the transaction.
The scandal exploded last week after the French newspaper Libération alleged that the submarines deal and the murder of Altantuya Shariibuu, 28, were connected.
A glamorous, cosmopolitan woman, Altantuya grew up in St Petersburg, spoke Russian, Chinese, Korean and English, moved in elite circles and has been dubbed “a Far Eastern Mata Hari”.
She became the mistress of a Malaysian political fixer and was allegedly trying to extort money from him at the time of her violent demise.
Two members of an elite Malaysian police unit that protects top politicians are on trial in Kuala Lumpur, accused of shooting her in the jungle and then blowing up her body with military explosives.
Azilah Hadri, 32, and Sirul Azhar Umar, 36, officers in the Special Branch, could go to the gallows if convicted of abducting and murdering Altantuya on October 19, 2006. A verdict is expected early next month.
Their trial is unfolding as Najib Razak, the country’s deputy prime minister, stands on the verge of taking over as premier after a ruling-party leadership election, due within days.
Najib was accused by a young opposition MP, Gobind Singh Deo, in parliament, of involvement in the murder. Deo was suspended by the Speaker for making the remark. The deputy prime minister has strongly denied any involvement.
Testimony in an earlier court case has established an intimate personal and financial connection between the dead woman and a close aide to Najib, who was minister of defence at the time of the submarine deal.
The aide, Abdul Razak Baginda, was acquitted by a court last November of being an accessory in the murder. He has since been working on a doctorate at Trinity College, Oxford.
Baginda admitted that the dead woman was his mistress for about a year and prosecutors said she had pestered him for money after their break-up.
Just before her death she arrived in Kuala Lumpur, accompanied by a Mongolian shaman, who was to put a curse on Baginda if he did not pay up.
Altantuya was dragged away from outside Baginda’s home by two Special Branch officers, but he was acquitted after maintaining that he never gave orders for her to be harmed.
The Libération exposé linking the murder to the shadowy world of arms contracts has embarrassed the French war-ship firm DCNS. Armaris, a firm now merged with DCNS, sold the three submarines to Malaysia in 2002 for £937m.
Attention has centred on why Armaris paid £107m to a Malaysian company called Perimekar in 2006.
Opposition leaders alleged in parliament that the payment was a “commission” for intermediaries and that Perimekar was secretly owned by Baginda. Najib replied that it was not a “commission” and that Perimekar was a “project services provider”.
Libération has alleged that Altantuya, who toured France with Baginda in a Ferrari, wining and dining at expensive restaurants, learnt of the payment. It said she was demanding $500,000 (£345,000).
DCNS has refused to comment. It is already the subject of a French judicial investigation into corrupt practices, thanks to a whistleblower who has detailed bribery and industrial espionage allegations.
Last week, efforts to contact Baginda, a self-styled political analyst, at his new home in Oxford were unsuccessful.
Najib has avoided public comment but his politically influential wife, Rosmah Mansor, told the French news agency AFP that she was “shocked” by attempts to link her husband and her to the case.
Additional reporting: Alex Yong in Kuala Lumpur
Sunday, March 22, 2009
This is masculine pespective on a sensitive topic...
which *MCPs are welcome to read and enjoy, but *2feminists and bra-burners (like Frigid Buttdo?) are warned they read this post at their own peril. They may even in the extreme case become *3DDC converts ... Ha ah, I may be able to start a harem of meditationers for a vacation on the long I-LAND called
spirite
DESI
tination.
This morning conversation began with a question raised by one of my *4Y&A partners who sought my vain opinion if it wasokay to give preference to lesspretty gals a priority to job placement as advocated by menteri besar Nik Aziz of Kelantan, who explained the rationale that guys would provide handsomely for the pretty maidens, so the "ugly" ones -- not the guys but the maids! -- should be given a helping hand by the State.
I said that's good policy for it's akin to King Solomon's wisdom ...remember he who in testing ownership of a child contested by two quarreling women ordered the child be slain, and the genuine mumon instinct begged the wise one to spare the child's life and she'd forgo the claim to ownership. My quotation of something bibical won me a new fan and I think I added a new reader to cpiasia.net as I flagged (not bragged, OK!:( that I earn bread&butter, and henceforth more vvisedom, at that one-year-old plus child started by Dr Lim Teck Ghee. IF THOU BE AN OBEDIENT *5ER, PLEASE VISIT cpiasia.net once more to help chalk up VISITOPRS RATE so Ican justify my existence as cnributing to the healthy growth of a child who may yet turn out Y&A!:)
DESIDERATA:
*Glossary -- defined as a place where if have time to kill on a hazy, lazy mazy Furong Sunday, you read FURTHER to understand what DDC (da Desi Code) is about. If Miss dime is not on thy side, don't bother. You or I won't be richer or porrer for it. :)OR :(
* MCP: Malayan Communist Party cadre, definitely not Male Chauvinist Pig
*2 feminist: normally NGO activist who raises a hue-&-cry when African children starve on one root meal a die while the activist, usually of the "fairer" gender -- who wants no sex please, we are not Frenchflies! -- who thrives on rut bir dan french fries dan french caps five times a day, especially on a holy dae.
*3 DDC is Da Desi Code, sumthin' I serve wit' Sundae CON BF -- whcih is Sunday Continental Breakfast which Just finished wan! -- one of my ER says it's good for the soul,may not be for the body, whether Brigitte's or Frigid, Desiree:) or Desi's...:(
*4: Y&A: young and articulate, usually fe-mail
*5: ER stands for Esteemed Reader -- who usually take my advice as a Solomonesque, pronounced S0-Lo-Men-Nurse ending with a K for kick! --
spirite
DESI
tination.
This morning conversation began with a question raised by one of my *4Y&A partners who sought my vain opinion if it wasokay to give preference to lesspretty gals a priority to job placement as advocated by menteri besar Nik Aziz of Kelantan, who explained the rationale that guys would provide handsomely for the pretty maidens, so the "ugly" ones -- not the guys but the maids! -- should be given a helping hand by the State.
I said that's good policy for it's akin to King Solomon's wisdom ...remember he who in testing ownership of a child contested by two quarreling women ordered the child be slain, and the genuine mumon instinct begged the wise one to spare the child's life and she'd forgo the claim to ownership. My quotation of something bibical won me a new fan and I think I added a new reader to cpiasia.net as I flagged (not bragged, OK!:( that I earn bread&butter, and henceforth more vvisedom, at that one-year-old plus child started by Dr Lim Teck Ghee. IF THOU BE AN OBEDIENT *5ER, PLEASE VISIT cpiasia.net once more to help chalk up VISITOPRS RATE so Ican justify my existence as cnributing to the healthy growth of a child who may yet turn out Y&A!:)
DESIDERATA:
*Glossary -- defined as a place where if have time to kill on a hazy, lazy mazy Furong Sunday, you read FURTHER to understand what DDC (da Desi Code) is about. If Miss dime is not on thy side, don't bother. You or I won't be richer or porrer for it. :)OR :(
* MCP: Malayan Communist Party cadre, definitely not Male Chauvinist Pig
*2 feminist: normally NGO activist who raises a hue-&-cry when African children starve on one root meal a die while the activist, usually of the "fairer" gender -- who wants no sex please, we are not Frenchflies! -- who thrives on rut bir dan french fries dan french caps five times a day, especially on a holy dae.
*3 DDC is Da Desi Code, sumthin' I serve wit' Sundae CON BF -- whcih is Sunday Continental Breakfast which Just finished wan! -- one of my ER says it's good for the soul,may not be for the body, whether Brigitte's or Frigid, Desiree:) or Desi's...:(
*4: Y&A: young and articulate, usually fe-mail
*5: ER stands for Esteemed Reader -- who usually take my advice as a Solomonesque, pronounced S0-Lo-Men-Nurse ending with a K for kick! --
Friday, March 20, 2009
Hear's Something FFFF...
And it's not sumthin' obscene just because It wrote a 4-letter word beginning wit' "F". Tom Jones sang that number, and the refarin maketh Desi remember some Y&A like Sabbie,and Crystal (I call 'em PP Tan-ny twins:):) -- Kyels and Primrose et al. And yes, vvvvvvve sometimes don't get to write or blog -- touch base via Email2 or 3 or 4! -- because of the following, borrowing from pavlovaramblings.wordpress.com... :
Writer’s Block
March 16, 2009 in Uncategorized
As some of you may have noticed, my posts are becoming more sparse these days.
Yes, I’m suffering from a writer’s ( blogger’s) block.
I don’t know what to say anymore these days. Sometimes I just feel it’s a little pointless to talk about certain issues, e.g the economy.
Everyday you pick up the newspaper or reading the online edition and it becomes the same old rhetoric– the economy is BAD. Brace yourself for the worst.
What can one do? You try to spend very wisely ( to a point where you’re starting to become a stinge) and you are afraid to spend. Yet your spending is contributing to the lack of growth in the economy.
So we can’t win.
And my job?? Well my job is just, a job. I can now truly understand what people say when they say “Your job is just A JOB. It pays the bills. Period”
I have been taught not to complain anymore. Nobody really wants to listen to your complaints these days, to be honest. The more you complain, the more you’re deemed “whinger”.
So, best to keep to yourself or write it in the diary, at best.
At the moment my existence is a little empty. I blame myself for that. I lack the motivation to do things anymore.
Even going out to meet friends is a feat. I have to organise it weeks, if not months ahead to prepare myself to go out there.
I lack the energy to do the things I once enjoy, e.g going out for coffee, hanging out with friends.
These days I just work, go home, watch TV, sleep and do some house chores from time to time.
I can’t even get through a decent book for a month. I don’t have the concentration to read through them. Like how I mentioned in my previous post, I just return it to the library without finishing it.
Yet I always get a book out after returning the unfinished book. Perhaps to tell myself that I must try to get through this one, this time around.
Everybody around me tells me I should count my blessings. At least I have what I need at the moment.
And I truly do, to be honest. I do count myself considerably more fortunate than a lot of people. In fact, NZ as a whole is much, much better off than the American counterparts. Our unemployment statistics aren’t as bad as those in the US, UK.
Somehow, things really need to be better soon. Real soon, in fact.
Yet on some days, I think this downturn has a silver lining. Makes housing/ business affordability much better.
If you’ve got the cash, this is perhaps the best time to buy.
Anyway… did I say I was suffering from a writer’s block? This post doesn’t seem like it… (by mGf down under or up somew'ere -- Sabrina Tan, who drills teeth for a living, and like Desi, sometimes, writ'es for some loving?...:)
Writer’s Block
March 16, 2009 in Uncategorized
As some of you may have noticed, my posts are becoming more sparse these days.
Yes, I’m suffering from a writer’s ( blogger’s) block.
I don’t know what to say anymore these days. Sometimes I just feel it’s a little pointless to talk about certain issues, e.g the economy.
Everyday you pick up the newspaper or reading the online edition and it becomes the same old rhetoric– the economy is BAD. Brace yourself for the worst.
What can one do? You try to spend very wisely ( to a point where you’re starting to become a stinge) and you are afraid to spend. Yet your spending is contributing to the lack of growth in the economy.
So we can’t win.
And my job?? Well my job is just, a job. I can now truly understand what people say when they say “Your job is just A JOB. It pays the bills. Period”
I have been taught not to complain anymore. Nobody really wants to listen to your complaints these days, to be honest. The more you complain, the more you’re deemed “whinger”.
So, best to keep to yourself or write it in the diary, at best.
At the moment my existence is a little empty. I blame myself for that. I lack the motivation to do things anymore.
Even going out to meet friends is a feat. I have to organise it weeks, if not months ahead to prepare myself to go out there.
I lack the energy to do the things I once enjoy, e.g going out for coffee, hanging out with friends.
These days I just work, go home, watch TV, sleep and do some house chores from time to time.
I can’t even get through a decent book for a month. I don’t have the concentration to read through them. Like how I mentioned in my previous post, I just return it to the library without finishing it.
Yet I always get a book out after returning the unfinished book. Perhaps to tell myself that I must try to get through this one, this time around.
Everybody around me tells me I should count my blessings. At least I have what I need at the moment.
And I truly do, to be honest. I do count myself considerably more fortunate than a lot of people. In fact, NZ as a whole is much, much better off than the American counterparts. Our unemployment statistics aren’t as bad as those in the US, UK.
Somehow, things really need to be better soon. Real soon, in fact.
Yet on some days, I think this downturn has a silver lining. Makes housing/ business affordability much better.
If you’ve got the cash, this is perhaps the best time to buy.
Anyway… did I say I was suffering from a writer’s block? This post doesn’t seem like it… (by mGf down under or up somew'ere -- Sabrina Tan, who drills teeth for a living, and like Desi, sometimes, writ'es for some loving?...:)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
D-Day for Teaching of Science & Maths in English...
This is not an altruistic post -- it's a plug for www.cpiasia.net where I serve as Editor, and the just past Ides of March 2009 marked a first year yeoman's service, in my own esteemed assesment-lah since my dear ER did not remember...
Following is a TOPIC which Malaysian parents should not ignore; so please spend time and understand the pros and cons of what will soon be decided by your elected Government following a review of an important Education Policy.
Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English?
Featured Themes
Written by Various
Wednesday, 18 March 2009 10:18
Consolidated post on Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English
The current topic involving the nation's Education Policy under much public scrutiny and debate for some time now is the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English. CPI in this post consolidates several viewpoints on the issue culled from several media, representing the perspectives seen by various groups and individuals, and indeed the Government is placed in a dilemma of its own making. Its present review of this policy will soon result in a key decision that will continue to impact -- for better or worse -- almost every Malaysian family with a school-going child. -- YL Chong, Editor, CPI
Take 1 from The Borneo Post:
No other language but English
By E P Yeo, The Borneo Post
Friday, 13 March 2009
I HAVE always restrained from making any comments when it concerns religion or education matters.
The only time when I do so is perhaps during my leisure hang-outs with friends — from both the political and social circles — which I daringly do so because of the immense wrath that I may earn if I go public for the fact that these two subjects are ultra sensitive which could touch one’s nerves.
So this week I finally decided to pen my views concerning the issue of teaching of Science and Mathematics in English language which has caused endless debates since its inception six years ago.
Now that the final decision is yet to be made by the Cabinet which is still awaiting a report from the Ministry of Education, with facts and figures I supposed, on whether to continue the teaching of the two subjects in English, it is just fair for every concerned Malaysian like me to voice out the issue.
I am deeply enraged by a group of protesters who had taken to the street in Kuala Lumpur recently to protest the use of English in Science and Mathematics as this group of protesters does not represent the majority Malaysians who have remained silent.
The only thing that this group of protesters could earn my little respect is when they knew how to exercise their universal right of freedom of expression albeit for the wrong reason as far as I am concerned.
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was a visionary and far-looking statesman who earns every Malaysian’s respect for building the nation to what it is today and for his decision as a Prime Minister in implementing the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English despite the many criticisms levelled against him.
I agree with many out there who keep silent and whom I have spoken with on this issue that the government ought to continue the use of the international lingua franca as a medium of instruction in these two subjects.
Many friends of mine have acknowledged that the English language standard among the younger generation is deteriorating compared to yesteryears when the medium of instruction was in English before it was eventually switched to the Malay language.
Just ask any employers about the standard of English among jobseekers and you may hear the common laments on the deplorable standard which does not need my further berating.
I must count myself lucky that my parents decided to send me to the La Sallian mission school throughout my primary and secondary level where I enjoyed the privilege of having a conducive environment which allowed me to use English language extensively.
While the arguments on the right approach will continue, I kind of agree with a friend who is an Australian graduate in his 40s that the government should go back to the previous education system where mother tongues were used to teach Science and Mathematics at primary school level.
As these students go to the secondary level, all the subjects will be taught in English language and I must say this is the best way to address the stalemate which has kept the government being indecisive for too long for fear of political backlash.
Of course efforts must also be taken to encourage the use of other languages such as Chinese due to the fact that China is an economic super powerhouse now which requires one to master the language.
But the government and politicians must understand that whatever decision made would have repercussions in the long-run and if any decision made is based solely on political consideration, then these politicians are just being selfish and not fit to occupy the higher-up for they cannot see what the future lies if a wrong decision is made.
I must stress that the use of English in the education system neither makes us less Malaysian nor disloyal to the country.
I was not surprised when having a long conversation and discussion with two diplomatic officers from Singapore who were in the city last year to find that they speak impeccable English with confidence.
But the same cannot be said of some of our civil servants who struggle to construct even a simple grammatically correct English conversation.
But who are we to blame for this sorry state of English standard if we, for any selfish reason, object to the use of English in our education system?
The fingers of course cannot be solely pointed at politicians as we too should bear the responsibility for we all know that politicians are only concerned about getting their most treasured votes to stay in power.
I rest my case that English is the way to go.
*******************
Take 2 from a blogger Ancient Mariner:
Language Controversy
By Capt Yusof Ahmad aka ancient mariner
9 March 2009
My late father Haji Ahmad Abdul Jalal was a nationalist. A school teacher who was active in the national Malay Teachers Union, he had fought hard together with his contemporaries for the establishment of a chair for Malay studies at the University of Malaya many years ago. He had shed tears when he was invited to Pantai Valley to witness the launching ceremony and would have cried in anguish if he was still alive today to see his fellow teachers being bombarded with water cannons and teargassed by the police at Saturday's protest march (photo), for fighting for what he and his peers had fought valiantly for, half a century ago. (Read the Malaysiakini report, here)
But my father was also a pragmatist. My siblings and I grew up learning English by reading the Straits Times and the occasional copies of Readers Digest and the Dandy and Beano comics which he could barely afford with his meager salary. We didnt do too badly, I think. How many Malay parents would do the same today, I wonder.
Some years ago, I believe I did my bit for the national language when I served on a Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka committee to translate English nautical and shipping terms into bahasa. It was indeed a learning and eye-opening experience for me when I discovered that it was almost next to impossible to deal with many of the English words and terms without simply bastardising the same. Perhaps for this reason only that the courses at the Akademi Laut Malaysia (ALAM) in Melaka, for example, are still being taught exclusively in English.
What I am really against is the 'flip-flopping' on the issue of the language to be used in the teaching of science and mathematics in schools, despite denials from the prime minister. This will be very hard on our children. (Read my earlier posting: "Don't belok-belok", here). On the other hand, high handed government action on peaceful dissent on the matter are not going to make things any better, either.
Perhaps Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah or Ku Li is the only UMNO leader worth listening to nowadays, but sadly nobody in the party appears to be listening to him. I agree with Ku Li when he says, here, that "UMNO is utterly alienated from its meaning, purpose and spirit. No longer the party of the Malay schoolteacher but of the power that directs water cannons and teargas at them. No longer the grassroots party of the Malays, but of opportunists who hide behind the Rulers while they fan hatred between the people."
******************
Take 3 from thestar.com.my:
Division chief: Don’t revert to Bahasa Malaysia for teaching Science and Maths
16 March 2009
PASIR PUTEH: More than 1,000 people here, including teachers as well as Parent-Teacher Association members, are in favour of using English to teach Science and Mathematics in schools.
“The Education Ministry should not bow to pressure from Malay language academicians to revert to using Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction for both subjects,” said Pasir Puteh Umno division chief and former teacher Zawawi Othman.
“The future of the younger generation is at stake here. The medium of instruction in English is the way forward,” he told reporters before handing over a memorandum to support the present system to state deputy education director Ishak Ismail at SMK Kamil here yesterday.
Zawawi said if the Education Ministry bowed to pressure, it would certainly affect those teachers earning RM300 per month teaching English after school hours.
“In fact, the present system had been proven to be good in enabling pupils from the rural schools to master English. It is further proven by the UPSR and SPM results.
“I cannot see how the present system can affect Bahasa Malaysia as the national language,” he added. Ishak said he would also hand over the memorandum to Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein as soon as possible.
**************
Take 4 from thestar.com.my:
Decision known by mid-April on language for Maths and Science next month
By Karen Chapman, The Star
Wednesday 18 March 2009
PETALING JAYA: The Cabinet is expected to make a decision on the language of instruction for Mathematics and Science in mid-April.
Education Minister Datuk Seri Hisham-muddin Tun Hussein said this was the earliest he could possibly present it to Cabinet, in reference to whether the teaching of the two subjects continues in English or reverts to Bahasa Malaysia and mother tongue (Chinese and Tamil).
“It is not possible to table it this Friday as a memorandum is being circulated to various ministries for feedback.
“There is also time to hear what the delegates have to say at the Umno assembly next week,” he told The Star.
Hishammuddin said parent-teacher associations nationwide were also holding their annual meetings and he had asked that they make this a part of their agenda.
“There is no hurry anyway as we have spent more than RM3bil since the introduction of the policy in 2003,” he said.
Almost 100,000 teachers were involved and over six million students had gone through the policy, he added.
“Two-and-a-half months since the release of the UPSR results for the first cohort (who were taught the two subjects in English from Year One in 2003) is not long,” he said.
On a report in online news portal, Malaysian Insider, quoting sources that the policy was likely to revert to Bahasa Malaysia and mother tongue for primary schools, Hishammuddin said this was not possible.
“Any policy decision must go through the Cabinet. The decision in 2003 was also made by the Cabinet,” he said.
Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom urged the public to refrain from speculating on the policy.
“A memorandum on the policy was circulated to several ministries for feedback last week,” he said.
The Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English (ETeMS or better known by its Malay acronym, PPSMI) policy was implemented in phases, beginning with Year One, Form One and Lower Six students in 2003 during the tenure of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
It was reported last week that Dr Mahathir defended the use of English to teach Science and Mathematics, saying it was necessary to ensure Malaysia could keep up with the rest of the world.
He said it would be better for people to know the language so they could get the information themselves.
***************
Take 5 from nst.com.my:
Wee: Change can't be done overnight
9 March 2009
KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry should not be demonised for the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English as the decision was made by the cabinet seven years ago.
Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said those seeking to scrap the policy should check their facts before pointing fingers.
"We don't make decisions on the behalf of the government. We are only the executing authority. The decision to use English for the teaching of Science and Mathematics was a collective decision made by the cabinet in 2002."
He urged detractors of the policy to be patient until Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein tabled a working paper on the matter.
Cabinet members are expected to make a decision based on the paper.
Wee, who was responding to Saturday's march by some 5,000 protesters against the policy, added that Hishammuddin was upset by allegations made in a police report that he had a hidden agenda in pushing for the move.
"It's as though people are not looking back into history. To set the record straight, Hishammuddin was appointed to the post in 2004 and he is just continuing an existing policy."
Wee added that even if the cabinet decided to scrap the teaching of the subjects in English, the implementation of the new policy could not be carried out overnight.
"It's not as easy as a 'yes' or 'no' answer. Education is a very risky business. If the cabinet decides to do away or make alterations with the next five-year policy, there are subject syllabuses to review and construct besides textbooks to prepare."
On the protest, Wee said the stakeholders in the issue were given ample time to voice misgivings at roundtable talks.
"Many days and months had been spent on discussions and roundtable talks.
"The minister recently tasked education officials to prepare a paper that incorporates those views."
*************
Related story:
Nine out of ten answered in English
By Karen Chapman, The Star
Wednesday March 11, 2009
KUALA LUMPUR: Nine out of 10 candidates candidates who sat for the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) examination last year opted to answer the Science and Mathematics papers in English.
Malaysian Examinations Council (MEC) chairman Tan Sri Prof Dzulkifli Abdul Razak said a total of 49,722 or 92.7% of the 53,638 candidates answered in English, an increase of 0.8% compared to 2007.
5A students: (From left) Cheh Ghoon Hoong, Mark Wong Siang Kai, Neo Jia Hui, Nicholas and Foo Jong Yi looking at their certificates yesterday. Picture taken from the Star.
“Candidates don’t take risks in examinations. If they had not been comfortable, they would not have answered in English,” he said when announcing the STPM 2008 results here.
Since 2004, candidates have been given the choice of answering the Science and Mathematics papers – Mathematics S, Mathematics T, Further Mathematics T, Computing, Physics, Chemistry and Biology – in English or Bahasa Malaysia, or both languages.
MEC chief executive Omar Abu Bakar said candidates were not penalised if they answered a question in both English and Bahasa Malaysia.
He added that there was no data to show the breakdown of candidates who answered the Science and Mathematics papers in both languages, or solely in Bahasa Malaysia.
In terms of candidates’ overall performance in urban and rural areas, Prof Dzulkifli said there was still an obvious difference.
“Urban candidates performed better than their rural counterparts, with 10.39% obtaining three to five As compared with 6.77% in rural areas,” he said.
But, he added that for the first time, candidates in the science stream from rural areas did better than those in the urban areas.
“About 14.18% of rural candidates obtained three to five As compared with about 12.99% of those in urban areas.”
Prof Dzulkifli, who is also Universiti Sains Malaysia vice-chancellor, said that although candidates were allowed to take five subjects, the majority took four in 2008, as the Higher Education Ministry’s requirement for entry into public universities was four subjects, including the General Paper.
He said 13 candidates obtained As in all the five subjects they took, compared with 25 in 2007.
“This includes five candidates from the science stream who obtained all As in the papers they took, which are General Paper, Mathematics T, Physics, Chemistry and Biology,” he said.
Thirty-one candidates who sat for five subjects obtained four As, while 223 who took four subjects obtained four As.
Prof Dzulkifli said 259 candidates obtained a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 4.0, compared with 437 in 2007.
There was a decrease in the number of STPM candidates last year – 53,638 compared with 66,048 in 2007.
The results for eight subjects, namely Usuluddin, Geography, Economics, Commerce, Further Mathematics T, Computing, Sports Science and Visual Arts, showed an improvement. No subject showed a decline of more than 3%.
Related:
Math and Science: The case for BM (2)
Math and Science: The case for BM (1)
Following is a TOPIC which Malaysian parents should not ignore; so please spend time and understand the pros and cons of what will soon be decided by your elected Government following a review of an important Education Policy.
Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English?
Featured Themes
Written by Various
Wednesday, 18 March 2009 10:18
Consolidated post on Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English
The current topic involving the nation's Education Policy under much public scrutiny and debate for some time now is the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English. CPI in this post consolidates several viewpoints on the issue culled from several media, representing the perspectives seen by various groups and individuals, and indeed the Government is placed in a dilemma of its own making. Its present review of this policy will soon result in a key decision that will continue to impact -- for better or worse -- almost every Malaysian family with a school-going child. -- YL Chong, Editor, CPI
Take 1 from The Borneo Post:
No other language but English
By E P Yeo, The Borneo Post
Friday, 13 March 2009
I HAVE always restrained from making any comments when it concerns religion or education matters.
The only time when I do so is perhaps during my leisure hang-outs with friends — from both the political and social circles — which I daringly do so because of the immense wrath that I may earn if I go public for the fact that these two subjects are ultra sensitive which could touch one’s nerves.
So this week I finally decided to pen my views concerning the issue of teaching of Science and Mathematics in English language which has caused endless debates since its inception six years ago.
Now that the final decision is yet to be made by the Cabinet which is still awaiting a report from the Ministry of Education, with facts and figures I supposed, on whether to continue the teaching of the two subjects in English, it is just fair for every concerned Malaysian like me to voice out the issue.
I am deeply enraged by a group of protesters who had taken to the street in Kuala Lumpur recently to protest the use of English in Science and Mathematics as this group of protesters does not represent the majority Malaysians who have remained silent.
The only thing that this group of protesters could earn my little respect is when they knew how to exercise their universal right of freedom of expression albeit for the wrong reason as far as I am concerned.
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was a visionary and far-looking statesman who earns every Malaysian’s respect for building the nation to what it is today and for his decision as a Prime Minister in implementing the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English despite the many criticisms levelled against him.
I agree with many out there who keep silent and whom I have spoken with on this issue that the government ought to continue the use of the international lingua franca as a medium of instruction in these two subjects.
Many friends of mine have acknowledged that the English language standard among the younger generation is deteriorating compared to yesteryears when the medium of instruction was in English before it was eventually switched to the Malay language.
Just ask any employers about the standard of English among jobseekers and you may hear the common laments on the deplorable standard which does not need my further berating.
I must count myself lucky that my parents decided to send me to the La Sallian mission school throughout my primary and secondary level where I enjoyed the privilege of having a conducive environment which allowed me to use English language extensively.
While the arguments on the right approach will continue, I kind of agree with a friend who is an Australian graduate in his 40s that the government should go back to the previous education system where mother tongues were used to teach Science and Mathematics at primary school level.
As these students go to the secondary level, all the subjects will be taught in English language and I must say this is the best way to address the stalemate which has kept the government being indecisive for too long for fear of political backlash.
Of course efforts must also be taken to encourage the use of other languages such as Chinese due to the fact that China is an economic super powerhouse now which requires one to master the language.
But the government and politicians must understand that whatever decision made would have repercussions in the long-run and if any decision made is based solely on political consideration, then these politicians are just being selfish and not fit to occupy the higher-up for they cannot see what the future lies if a wrong decision is made.
I must stress that the use of English in the education system neither makes us less Malaysian nor disloyal to the country.
I was not surprised when having a long conversation and discussion with two diplomatic officers from Singapore who were in the city last year to find that they speak impeccable English with confidence.
But the same cannot be said of some of our civil servants who struggle to construct even a simple grammatically correct English conversation.
But who are we to blame for this sorry state of English standard if we, for any selfish reason, object to the use of English in our education system?
The fingers of course cannot be solely pointed at politicians as we too should bear the responsibility for we all know that politicians are only concerned about getting their most treasured votes to stay in power.
I rest my case that English is the way to go.
*******************
Take 2 from a blogger Ancient Mariner:
Language Controversy
By Capt Yusof Ahmad aka ancient mariner
9 March 2009
My late father Haji Ahmad Abdul Jalal was a nationalist. A school teacher who was active in the national Malay Teachers Union, he had fought hard together with his contemporaries for the establishment of a chair for Malay studies at the University of Malaya many years ago. He had shed tears when he was invited to Pantai Valley to witness the launching ceremony and would have cried in anguish if he was still alive today to see his fellow teachers being bombarded with water cannons and teargassed by the police at Saturday's protest march (photo), for fighting for what he and his peers had fought valiantly for, half a century ago. (Read the Malaysiakini report, here)
But my father was also a pragmatist. My siblings and I grew up learning English by reading the Straits Times and the occasional copies of Readers Digest and the Dandy and Beano comics which he could barely afford with his meager salary. We didnt do too badly, I think. How many Malay parents would do the same today, I wonder.
Some years ago, I believe I did my bit for the national language when I served on a Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka committee to translate English nautical and shipping terms into bahasa. It was indeed a learning and eye-opening experience for me when I discovered that it was almost next to impossible to deal with many of the English words and terms without simply bastardising the same. Perhaps for this reason only that the courses at the Akademi Laut Malaysia (ALAM) in Melaka, for example, are still being taught exclusively in English.
What I am really against is the 'flip-flopping' on the issue of the language to be used in the teaching of science and mathematics in schools, despite denials from the prime minister. This will be very hard on our children. (Read my earlier posting: "Don't belok-belok", here). On the other hand, high handed government action on peaceful dissent on the matter are not going to make things any better, either.
Perhaps Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah or Ku Li is the only UMNO leader worth listening to nowadays, but sadly nobody in the party appears to be listening to him. I agree with Ku Li when he says, here, that "UMNO is utterly alienated from its meaning, purpose and spirit. No longer the party of the Malay schoolteacher but of the power that directs water cannons and teargas at them. No longer the grassroots party of the Malays, but of opportunists who hide behind the Rulers while they fan hatred between the people."
******************
Take 3 from thestar.com.my:
Division chief: Don’t revert to Bahasa Malaysia for teaching Science and Maths
16 March 2009
PASIR PUTEH: More than 1,000 people here, including teachers as well as Parent-Teacher Association members, are in favour of using English to teach Science and Mathematics in schools.
“The Education Ministry should not bow to pressure from Malay language academicians to revert to using Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction for both subjects,” said Pasir Puteh Umno division chief and former teacher Zawawi Othman.
“The future of the younger generation is at stake here. The medium of instruction in English is the way forward,” he told reporters before handing over a memorandum to support the present system to state deputy education director Ishak Ismail at SMK Kamil here yesterday.
Zawawi said if the Education Ministry bowed to pressure, it would certainly affect those teachers earning RM300 per month teaching English after school hours.
“In fact, the present system had been proven to be good in enabling pupils from the rural schools to master English. It is further proven by the UPSR and SPM results.
“I cannot see how the present system can affect Bahasa Malaysia as the national language,” he added. Ishak said he would also hand over the memorandum to Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein as soon as possible.
**************
Take 4 from thestar.com.my:
Decision known by mid-April on language for Maths and Science next month
By Karen Chapman, The Star
Wednesday 18 March 2009
PETALING JAYA: The Cabinet is expected to make a decision on the language of instruction for Mathematics and Science in mid-April.
Education Minister Datuk Seri Hisham-muddin Tun Hussein said this was the earliest he could possibly present it to Cabinet, in reference to whether the teaching of the two subjects continues in English or reverts to Bahasa Malaysia and mother tongue (Chinese and Tamil).
“It is not possible to table it this Friday as a memorandum is being circulated to various ministries for feedback.
“There is also time to hear what the delegates have to say at the Umno assembly next week,” he told The Star.
Hishammuddin said parent-teacher associations nationwide were also holding their annual meetings and he had asked that they make this a part of their agenda.
“There is no hurry anyway as we have spent more than RM3bil since the introduction of the policy in 2003,” he said.
Almost 100,000 teachers were involved and over six million students had gone through the policy, he added.
“Two-and-a-half months since the release of the UPSR results for the first cohort (who were taught the two subjects in English from Year One in 2003) is not long,” he said.
On a report in online news portal, Malaysian Insider, quoting sources that the policy was likely to revert to Bahasa Malaysia and mother tongue for primary schools, Hishammuddin said this was not possible.
“Any policy decision must go through the Cabinet. The decision in 2003 was also made by the Cabinet,” he said.
Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom urged the public to refrain from speculating on the policy.
“A memorandum on the policy was circulated to several ministries for feedback last week,” he said.
The Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English (ETeMS or better known by its Malay acronym, PPSMI) policy was implemented in phases, beginning with Year One, Form One and Lower Six students in 2003 during the tenure of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
It was reported last week that Dr Mahathir defended the use of English to teach Science and Mathematics, saying it was necessary to ensure Malaysia could keep up with the rest of the world.
He said it would be better for people to know the language so they could get the information themselves.
***************
Take 5 from nst.com.my:
Wee: Change can't be done overnight
9 March 2009
KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry should not be demonised for the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English as the decision was made by the cabinet seven years ago.
Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said those seeking to scrap the policy should check their facts before pointing fingers.
"We don't make decisions on the behalf of the government. We are only the executing authority. The decision to use English for the teaching of Science and Mathematics was a collective decision made by the cabinet in 2002."
He urged detractors of the policy to be patient until Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein tabled a working paper on the matter.
Cabinet members are expected to make a decision based on the paper.
Wee, who was responding to Saturday's march by some 5,000 protesters against the policy, added that Hishammuddin was upset by allegations made in a police report that he had a hidden agenda in pushing for the move.
"It's as though people are not looking back into history. To set the record straight, Hishammuddin was appointed to the post in 2004 and he is just continuing an existing policy."
Wee added that even if the cabinet decided to scrap the teaching of the subjects in English, the implementation of the new policy could not be carried out overnight.
"It's not as easy as a 'yes' or 'no' answer. Education is a very risky business. If the cabinet decides to do away or make alterations with the next five-year policy, there are subject syllabuses to review and construct besides textbooks to prepare."
On the protest, Wee said the stakeholders in the issue were given ample time to voice misgivings at roundtable talks.
"Many days and months had been spent on discussions and roundtable talks.
"The minister recently tasked education officials to prepare a paper that incorporates those views."
*************
Related story:
Nine out of ten answered in English
By Karen Chapman, The Star
Wednesday March 11, 2009
KUALA LUMPUR: Nine out of 10 candidates candidates who sat for the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) examination last year opted to answer the Science and Mathematics papers in English.
Malaysian Examinations Council (MEC) chairman Tan Sri Prof Dzulkifli Abdul Razak said a total of 49,722 or 92.7% of the 53,638 candidates answered in English, an increase of 0.8% compared to 2007.
5A students: (From left) Cheh Ghoon Hoong, Mark Wong Siang Kai, Neo Jia Hui, Nicholas and Foo Jong Yi looking at their certificates yesterday. Picture taken from the Star.
“Candidates don’t take risks in examinations. If they had not been comfortable, they would not have answered in English,” he said when announcing the STPM 2008 results here.
Since 2004, candidates have been given the choice of answering the Science and Mathematics papers – Mathematics S, Mathematics T, Further Mathematics T, Computing, Physics, Chemistry and Biology – in English or Bahasa Malaysia, or both languages.
MEC chief executive Omar Abu Bakar said candidates were not penalised if they answered a question in both English and Bahasa Malaysia.
He added that there was no data to show the breakdown of candidates who answered the Science and Mathematics papers in both languages, or solely in Bahasa Malaysia.
In terms of candidates’ overall performance in urban and rural areas, Prof Dzulkifli said there was still an obvious difference.
“Urban candidates performed better than their rural counterparts, with 10.39% obtaining three to five As compared with 6.77% in rural areas,” he said.
But, he added that for the first time, candidates in the science stream from rural areas did better than those in the urban areas.
“About 14.18% of rural candidates obtained three to five As compared with about 12.99% of those in urban areas.”
Prof Dzulkifli, who is also Universiti Sains Malaysia vice-chancellor, said that although candidates were allowed to take five subjects, the majority took four in 2008, as the Higher Education Ministry’s requirement for entry into public universities was four subjects, including the General Paper.
He said 13 candidates obtained As in all the five subjects they took, compared with 25 in 2007.
“This includes five candidates from the science stream who obtained all As in the papers they took, which are General Paper, Mathematics T, Physics, Chemistry and Biology,” he said.
Thirty-one candidates who sat for five subjects obtained four As, while 223 who took four subjects obtained four As.
Prof Dzulkifli said 259 candidates obtained a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 4.0, compared with 437 in 2007.
There was a decrease in the number of STPM candidates last year – 53,638 compared with 66,048 in 2007.
The results for eight subjects, namely Usuluddin, Geography, Economics, Commerce, Further Mathematics T, Computing, Sports Science and Visual Arts, showed an improvement. No subject showed a decline of more than 3%.
Related:
Math and Science: The case for BM (2)
Math and Science: The case for BM (1)
Monday, March 16, 2009
Lust night I had a lasting vision...
A vision of a regenerated Malaysian nation when only the purer breeds survive.
I just read an aricle about unuchs, the last -- or was it the lusty one? -- that China ever had, and this vision descended.
If all Malaysian politicians out of their great love for this country offered themselves to a LIE DETECTOR TEST once a month, and those who fail in six -- or is it sex? -- they should be eunuch-ed. Rendered incapable of reproducing their own kind. For better of NegaraKu, for worse of theirworst kind.
Then we can tlak about Vision 2020.
If I offend anyone with this outrageous -- or should in read as INrageous? -- proposal, no pardons needed, for I serve no sentence. Only WORDS...and I quote one of my fave BeeGIES' numbers, and
WORDS ARE ALL I HAVE
TO TAKE YOUR HEART AWAY!
Have a niCe Mondae, don't be blue
I only have you!:) -- for company-lah, w'atelse?
For non-CON BF at menkee
Where all the women folk are charitable and chirpy
And Desi talks cock -- or is it cork?
From the Malaysian Insider:
Related Articles
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Forbidden secrets: memories of China’s last eunuch
Jia Yinghua (left), the author of “The Last Eunuch of China”, poses with China’s last eunuch, Sun Yaoting, at Sun’s house in Beijing in this 1996 handout photo. – Reuters pic (Visualise please -- Desi)
By Emma Graham-Harrison
BEIJING, March 15 – Only two memories brought tears to Sun Yaoting’s eyes in old age – the day his father cut off his genitals, and the day his family threw away the pickled remains that should have made him a whole man again at death.
China’s last eunuch was tormented and impoverished in youth, punished in revolutionary China for his role as the “Emperor’s slave” but finally feted and valued, largely for outlasting his peers to become a unique relic, a piece of “living history”.
He had stories of the tortuous rituals of the Forbidden City, Emperor Pu Yi’s last moments there and the troubled puppet court run by the Japanese during the 1930s.
He escaped back to the heart of a civil war, became a Communist official and then a target of radical leftists before being finally left in peace.
This turbulent life has been recorded in the “The Last Eunuch of China” by amateur historian Jia Yinghua, who over years of friendship drew out of Sun the secrets that were too painful or intimate to spill to prying journalists or state archivists.
He died in 1996, in an old temple that had become his home, and his biography was finally published in English this year.
It unveils formerly taboo subjects like the sex life of eunuchs and the emperor they served, the agonising castrations often done at home and also often lethal, and the incontinence and shame that came with the promise of great power.
“He was conflicted over whether to tell the secrets of the emperor,” said Jia, adding that Sun preserved a loyalty to the old system because he had dedicated so much of his life to it.
“I was the only person he trusted. He did not even confide in his family, after they threw away his ‘treasure’,” Jia added, using traditional eunuchs’ slang for their preserved genitals.
They were discarded during the chaotic 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, when having anything from the “old society” could put lives at risk.
“He only cried about two things; when telling me about the castration and about the loss of his ‘treasure’,” said Jia, who works as an energy bureaucrat, but devotes all his spare time to chronicling the dying days of Imperial China after a childhood enthralled by the eunuchs and princes who were his neighbours.
Over years of painstaking research, he has gleaned arcane details about every aspect of palace life, along with secrets about the emperor’s sexuality and cruelty that would look at home on the front page of tabloid newspapers.
For centuries in China, the only men from outside the imperial family who were allowed into the Forbidden City’s private quarters were castrated ones. They effectively swapped their reproductive organs for a hope of exclusive access to the emperor that made some into rich and influential politicians.
Sun’s impoverished family set him on this painful, risky path in hopes that he might one day be able to crush a bullying village landlord who stole their fields and burnt their house.
His desperate father performed the castration on the bed of their mud-walled home, with no anaesthetic and only oil-soaked paper as a bandage. A goose quill was inserted in Sun’s urethra to prevent it getting blocked as the wound healed.
He was unconscious for three days and could barely move for two months. When he finally rose from his bed, history played the first of a series of cruel tricks on him – he discovered the emperor he hoped to serve had abdicated several weeks earlier.
“He had a very tragic life. He had thought it was worthwhile for his father, but the sacrifice was in vain,” Jia said, in a house stacked with old books, newspapers and photos.
“He was very smart and shrewd. If the empire had not fallen there is a high chance he would have become powerful,” Jia added.
The young ex-emperor was eventually allowed to stay in the palace and Sun had risen to become an attendant to the empress when the imperial family were unceremoniously booted out of the Forbidden City, ending centuries of tradition and Sun’s dreams.
“He was castrated, then the emperor abdicated. He made it into the Forbidden City then Pu Yi was evicted. He followed him north and then the puppet regime collapsed. He felt life had played a joke at his expense,” Jia said.
Many eunuchs fled with palace treasures, but Sun took a crop of memories and a nose for political survival that turned out to be better tools for surviving years of civil war and ideological turbulence that followed.
“He never became rich, he never became powerful, but he became very rich in experience and secrets,” Jia said. – Reuters
I just read an aricle about unuchs, the last -- or was it the lusty one? -- that China ever had, and this vision descended.
If all Malaysian politicians out of their great love for this country offered themselves to a LIE DETECTOR TEST once a month, and those who fail in six -- or is it sex? -- they should be eunuch-ed. Rendered incapable of reproducing their own kind. For better of NegaraKu, for worse of theirworst kind.
Then we can tlak about Vision 2020.
If I offend anyone with this outrageous -- or should in read as INrageous? -- proposal, no pardons needed, for I serve no sentence. Only WORDS...and I quote one of my fave BeeGIES' numbers, and
WORDS ARE ALL I HAVE
TO TAKE YOUR HEART AWAY!
Have a niCe Mondae, don't be blue
I only have you!:) -- for company-lah, w'atelse?
For non-CON BF at menkee
Where all the women folk are charitable and chirpy
And Desi talks cock -- or is it cork?
From the Malaysian Insider:
Related Articles
China ready with new stimulus, says PM
Symbolic dates have China on edge
The playboy, the BMW heiress and the sex blackmail
Forbidden secrets: memories of China’s last eunuch
Jia Yinghua (left), the author of “The Last Eunuch of China”, poses with China’s last eunuch, Sun Yaoting, at Sun’s house in Beijing in this 1996 handout photo. – Reuters pic (Visualise please -- Desi)
By Emma Graham-Harrison
BEIJING, March 15 – Only two memories brought tears to Sun Yaoting’s eyes in old age – the day his father cut off his genitals, and the day his family threw away the pickled remains that should have made him a whole man again at death.
China’s last eunuch was tormented and impoverished in youth, punished in revolutionary China for his role as the “Emperor’s slave” but finally feted and valued, largely for outlasting his peers to become a unique relic, a piece of “living history”.
He had stories of the tortuous rituals of the Forbidden City, Emperor Pu Yi’s last moments there and the troubled puppet court run by the Japanese during the 1930s.
He escaped back to the heart of a civil war, became a Communist official and then a target of radical leftists before being finally left in peace.
This turbulent life has been recorded in the “The Last Eunuch of China” by amateur historian Jia Yinghua, who over years of friendship drew out of Sun the secrets that were too painful or intimate to spill to prying journalists or state archivists.
He died in 1996, in an old temple that had become his home, and his biography was finally published in English this year.
It unveils formerly taboo subjects like the sex life of eunuchs and the emperor they served, the agonising castrations often done at home and also often lethal, and the incontinence and shame that came with the promise of great power.
“He was conflicted over whether to tell the secrets of the emperor,” said Jia, adding that Sun preserved a loyalty to the old system because he had dedicated so much of his life to it.
“I was the only person he trusted. He did not even confide in his family, after they threw away his ‘treasure’,” Jia added, using traditional eunuchs’ slang for their preserved genitals.
They were discarded during the chaotic 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, when having anything from the “old society” could put lives at risk.
“He only cried about two things; when telling me about the castration and about the loss of his ‘treasure’,” said Jia, who works as an energy bureaucrat, but devotes all his spare time to chronicling the dying days of Imperial China after a childhood enthralled by the eunuchs and princes who were his neighbours.
Over years of painstaking research, he has gleaned arcane details about every aspect of palace life, along with secrets about the emperor’s sexuality and cruelty that would look at home on the front page of tabloid newspapers.
For centuries in China, the only men from outside the imperial family who were allowed into the Forbidden City’s private quarters were castrated ones. They effectively swapped their reproductive organs for a hope of exclusive access to the emperor that made some into rich and influential politicians.
Sun’s impoverished family set him on this painful, risky path in hopes that he might one day be able to crush a bullying village landlord who stole their fields and burnt their house.
His desperate father performed the castration on the bed of their mud-walled home, with no anaesthetic and only oil-soaked paper as a bandage. A goose quill was inserted in Sun’s urethra to prevent it getting blocked as the wound healed.
He was unconscious for three days and could barely move for two months. When he finally rose from his bed, history played the first of a series of cruel tricks on him – he discovered the emperor he hoped to serve had abdicated several weeks earlier.
“He had a very tragic life. He had thought it was worthwhile for his father, but the sacrifice was in vain,” Jia said, in a house stacked with old books, newspapers and photos.
“He was very smart and shrewd. If the empire had not fallen there is a high chance he would have become powerful,” Jia added.
The young ex-emperor was eventually allowed to stay in the palace and Sun had risen to become an attendant to the empress when the imperial family were unceremoniously booted out of the Forbidden City, ending centuries of tradition and Sun’s dreams.
“He was castrated, then the emperor abdicated. He made it into the Forbidden City then Pu Yi was evicted. He followed him north and then the puppet regime collapsed. He felt life had played a joke at his expense,” Jia said.
Many eunuchs fled with palace treasures, but Sun took a crop of memories and a nose for political survival that turned out to be better tools for surviving years of civil war and ideological turbulence that followed.
“He never became rich, he never became powerful, but he became very rich in experience and secrets,” Jia said. – Reuters
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