somewhere out there
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Some catchUP on Multi-Ethnic Malaysia...
I am now reading a ***BOOK gifted me by SIRD chief, a fellow socialist named Pak Chong by his fans, so we do share quite a lot in common. Here's a reading from cpiasia.net:
1Malaysia, Bangsa Malaysia or multiethnic Malaysia?
Sunday, 18 October 2009 12:17
The ***book ‘Multiethnic Malaysia – Past, Present and Future’ was officially launched at University College Sedaya International (UCSI) on Oct 16.
It is a compilation of essays edited by Dr Lim Teck Ghee, Dr Alberto Gomes and Dr Azly Rahman, and published by UCSI and SIRD.
The book launch was hosted by the Malaysian Institute of Development and Asian Studies (Midas), an organization in UCSI where Dr Lim is also resident professorial research scholar.
Included in the day’s programme was a discussion by five panelists – former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan, Dr Asma Abdullah who is a USM, UPM and UUM graduate school lecturer, UKM academic Dr Helen Ting, UMS director Dr Beth Baikan and Tricia Yeoh who is research officer for the Selangor Menteri Besar – on various aspects of the ethnicity debate. The dialogue was moderated by Dr Lim while the intervener was Dr Gomes.
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was also present to give the keynote address.
Below is the full text of his speech:-
MEMORY, RACE AND HOPE
OCT 16 — I am honoured that you have asked me to address you today. I am not a scholar. All I can offer today are the personal views of a Malaysian who has seen a little of the history of this marvellous country, and tried to play my part in it.
I say a marvellous country, because Malaysia, for all its frustrations and perils, is truly special. We are a coming together of communities, cultures, traditions and religions unlike anything anywhere else. It is not in political sloganeering or in tourist jingo that we find our special nature. We recover it only by paying attention to the concrete details of our everyday life and our particular history. Wonder is found in the details.
Remembering our stories
Let me tell you a story:
I grew up in Kota Baru. My father was fond of Western cuisine and had a Hainanese cook who prepared the dishes he enjoyed.
One day, while the cook was feeding the tigers in our home, a piece of meat got stuck in between the bars of the cage. — I should explain that we had a mini zoo in our home. My father was fond of animals and we shared a home with tigers, a bear, crocodiles and other creatures in the compound. The animals were very fond of my father. The tigers would come up to him to have their backs stroked. The bear would accompany him on his walks around the garden. The crocodiles made their escape in one of Kota Baru’s annual floods, which I always remember as a happy time because of the water sports it made possible.
My father sent us out to look for them. What he expected us to do when we found them I am not sure.
To return to my story, one day the cook was feeding the tigers, and a piece of meat got stuck between the bars of the cage. The cook tried to dislodge it. As he did so, he failed to notice the tiger. The tiger swatted his hand. Within 24 hours, our poor cook was dead from the infection caused by the wound.
Our family was in grief. He was dear to us all. He had no known relatives. So my father took it upon himself to arrange a full Chinese funeral for the cook, complete with a brass band and procession, and invited all the cook’s friends. We children followed in respect as the procession wove its way through the town.
Your own stories, if you recall the actual details, will be no less strange than my own. Some of the details here might scandalise people in these supposedly more enlightened times. They don’t fit into the trimmed down, sloganised narratives of who we are and how we came to be. This is over the years we have allowed politics to tell us who we are and how we should remember ourselves. We have let political indoctrination, jingoism, and a rising tide of bad taste overcome our memory of ourselves. We have let newspapers, textbooks and even university courses paint a crude picture of who we are, what we fear and what we hope for. This depletes our culture, but there is also a political consequence: The picture that our current politics paints of us is devoid of wonder, and therefore of possibility.
Our politics has become an enemy of our sense of wonder. Instead it has sown doubt, uncertainty and fear. These are disabling emotions. It is not by accident that authoritarian regimes everywhere begin their subjugation of people by cutting them off from their past. Systematically, they replace the richly textured memories of a community that make people independent, inquisitive and open with prefabricated tales that weaken them into subjugation through fear and anxiety. They destroy the markers of memory, the checks and balances of tradition and institution, and replace them with a manufactured set of images all pointing to a centralised power.
Our path to the recovery of a sense of nationhood is not through an equally crude reaction, but through a retrieval of our personal and collective memory of living in this blessed land and sharing it each other. The work done by the contributors to this volume are part of a civilising project to bring to light the fine detail of who we are, against the politicised and commercialised caricatures that have made our racialised politics seem natural and inevitable.
Our own stories, individually and as a country, are full of curious processions, walking bears, and escaped crocodiles. We should begin to wonder again at this amazing country we find ourselves sharing. In that wonder we shall recover what it is we love about being who we are, who we are amongst, and we shall more fiercely defend not just our own, but each others’ freedoms.
A Constitution of Consensus
One place for us to begin this process together is our Federal Constitution.
The spirit in which Malaysia came to be is captured in our Constitution. At the moment of our independence, Malaysia possessed firm foundations in the rule of law and was permeated with a spirit of constitutionalism.
The pledge contained within the proclamation of Independence says that “...with God’s blessing [Malaysia] shall be forever a sovereign democratic and independent State founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among all nations.”
The Constitution is the ultimate safeguard of our fundamental liberties. These are liberties which cannot be taken away.
One view put out by those who are impatient with these safeguards is that our Constitution is an external and Western imposition upon us, that it is the final instrument of colonialism. People have drawn on this view to subject the Constitution to some higher or prior principle, be it race, religion or royalty. Of course, the proponents of such views tend to identify themselves with these higher principles in order to claim extra-constitutional powers. These are transparent attempts at revisionism which erode the supremacy of the Constitution. We should have the confidence to reject such moves politely but firmly, whoever advocates them, whatever their social or religious status.
The truth is that our Constitution was built by a deliberately consultative process aimed at achieving consensus. The Reid Commission was proposed by a constitutional conference in London attended by four representatives of the Malay Rulers, the Chief Minister of the Federation, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and three other ministers, and also by the British High Commissioner in Malaya and his advisers. This conference proposed the appointment of an independent commission to devise a constitution for a fully self-governing and independent Federation of Malaya. Their proposal was accepted by the Malay Rulers and Queen Elizabeth.
The Reid Commission met 118 times in Kuala Lumpur between June and October 1956, and received 131 memoranda from various individuals and organisations. The commission submitted its working draft on Feb 21, 1957, which was scrutinised by a working committee. The working committee consisted of four representatives from the Malay Rulers, another four from the Alliance government, the British High Commissioner, the Chief Secretary, and the Attorney-General.
On the basis of their recommendations, the new Federal Constitution was passed by the Federal Legislative Council on Aug 15, 1957, and the Constitution took effect on Aug 27.
As you can tell from this narrative, the Commission solicited the views of all sections of our society and had, throughout, the support and participation of the Malay Rulers and the Alliance government. The process preserved the sovereignty of the Malay Rulers The resulting document, like all things man-made, remains perfectible, but most certainly it is ours. It brought our nation into being, and it is our document.
The question of whether the Federation should be an Islamic state, for example, was considered and rejected by the Rulers and by the representatives of the people. Had we wanted to be ruled by syariah, the option was on the shelf, so to speak, and could easily have been taken, because prior to this the states were ruled by the Sultans according to syariah law. The fact that we have a constitution governed by common law is not an accident nor an external imposition. We chose to found our nation on a secular constitution after consultation and deliberation.
Our country was built on the sophisticated and secure foundation of a Constitution that we formed for ourselves. For us to continue to grow up as a country we need to own, understand and defend it.
Sadly part of the memory we have lost is of our Constitution and of the nature of that Constitution. Today, in the aftermath of the scene-shifting election results of March 2008, people are restless and uneasy about the ethnic relations, and about their future. There is a sense of anxiety about our nation that is often translated into fear of ethnic conflict.
I think we should not fear. On an inviolable foundation of equal citizenship, the rights of each and every community are protected. These protections are guaranteed in the Constitution. What we should be uneasy about is not so much ethnic discord, which is often manufactured for political ends and has little basis in the daily experience of our citizens, but the subversion of our Constitution. Such subversion is only possible if we forget that this Constitution belongs to us, protects us all, and underwrites our nationhood and we fail to defend it.
Our country had a happy beginning in being built on firm foundations in the rule of law. A strong spirit of constitutionalism guided our early decades. The components of that spirit are respect and understanding for the rule of law, and the upholding of justice and liberty. That spirit is antithetical to communal bickering and small-minded squabbling over fixed pie notions of education, economy or whatever. That spirit has declined and with it has come all kinds of unease. It is time we recovered it. With its recovery will come our confidence as a nation once more.
The political framework of this country cries out for reform. But reform is not about the blind embrace of the new. That would be to fly from disorder to confusion. Our path to reform must come from a recovery of the “old” living spirit of constitutionalism, and the “old” values of freedom and justice, and the “old” memories each of us carries in themselves of what is good about our nation.
So far I have spoken more generally about principles. I want to turn now to some examples of how these can work out in pursuing particular reforms.
National reform must begin with reform of our party system. This is because one of the chief reasons this nation is sick is that we have a diseased party system. A diagnosis of the disease of the party system finds that the parties are sick because they have strayed from the constitutional principles that govern them (they are subject to the Societies Act). In doing so they have become undemocratic. In becoming undemocratic they have lost legitimacy. In losing legitimacy they have lost public support and the ability to rejuvenate themselves. The cure, surely, is for them to conform themselves again to constitutional principles.
I have warned that Umno, like any other political party that has been in power for so long, must reform, or it will be tossed out by the people. The people themselves have had a taste of the power of their free vote. They know that parties and governments answer to the people, and not vice versa, they want a repeal of draconian laws, and they have lost patience with corruption. They seek accountability, justice and rule of law. The people are ahead of the government of the day, but the principles they want to see applied are universal, and they are enshrined in our Constitution.
It is not just Umno that needs to reform. The entire political system needs to change, to be in greater conformity with our Constitution and in the spirit of the Rukun Negara, which says from these diverse elements of our population, we are dedicated to the achievement of a united nation in which loyalty and dedication to the nation shall over-ride all other loyalties.
We should not expect our political parties to reform of their own accord. Leaders who owe their position to undemocratic rules and practices are the last people to accept reform. The people must demand it. I say we need a movement embraced by people at all levels and from every quarter of our rakyat, to establish a national consensus on how our political parties should conduct themselves from now on. In the spirit of the Rukun Negara, that consensus should be based on a set of principles such as the following:
1. All political parties are required to include in their constitutional objectives the equality of citizenship as provided for in the Federal Constitution.
2. An economic and political policy that political parties propagate must not discriminate against any citizen.
3. All parties shall include and uphold constitutional democracy and the separation of powers as a fundamental principle.
4. It shall be the duty of all political parties to adhere to the objectives of public service and refrain from involvement in business, and ensure the separation of business from political parties.
5. It shall be the duty of all political parties to ensure and respect the independence of the judiciary and the judicial process.
6. All parties shall ensure that the party election system will adhere to the highest standards of conduct, and also ensure that the elections are free of corrupt practices. Legislation should be considered to provide funding of political parties.
7. It shall be the duty of all parties to ensure that all political dialogues and statements will not create racial or religious animosity.
8. All parties undertake not to use racial and communal agitation as political policies.
9. To remove and eradicate all barriers that hinder national unity and Malaysian identity.
10. To uphold the Federal and State Constitutions and their democratic intent and spirit, the Rule of Law, and the fundamental liberties as enshrined in Part II of the Malaysian Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
What we need now is the rise of an empowered public. Democracy in Malaysia is fragile so long as public opinion remains weak. Our hope for a more democratic future depends on our ability to build a strong public opinion. It’s good news that a vigorous body of public opinion, aided by information and communication technologies, is in making on the Internet. I myself rely on it through my blog. If not for my blog, what I say would scarcely get out in the mainstream media. We need a freedom of information Act, and I call for the repeal of the Printing Presses Act. It is silly that we limit the number of newspapers while every person with a blog or a twitter account can publish to the world. In limiting the printed media we have only succeeded in dumbing it down, so that those who rely only on the printed mass media and the terrestrial broadcast channels are actually the poorer for it.
Race and hope
Let’s end by returning to the theme of racial harmony. I repeat: the constitutional guarantees are ironclad. We ought to feel secure in the Constitution’s protections of our rights. A free people must be a secure people.
Another story:
In 1962, when I was a delegate to the United Nations, the late Tun Ismail and I went out one evening to a posh restaurant on New York’s East Side. The maitre d’ turned us away firmly. No, he said, the restaurant was closed for a private function. We could see clearly that the restaurant was open. We understood that we were being denied entry because were “coloured”. This is despite the fact that our reservation had been made by the UN’s offices.
Today, in 2008, an African-American man is President of the United States. He has just won the Nobel Peace Prize. In 46 years, and well within my lifetime, how far things have come. Had you told me in 1962, after that incident, that a black man would be president in my life time, I would not have believed you. This change did not happen without struggle.
From Leo Tolstoy to Henry Thoreau to Gandhi to Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, we see a thread of conviction about the overriding ethical claims of our common humanity. It is more important that we are alike in being sons and daughters of God than that we are different. This is also the thread of a spirit and method of resistance. Where all reasonable persuasion fails, the final “No” to wrongdoing, the place at which the citizen stands up to defend something fundamental, is through peaceful resistance. I allude to this only as a reminder of the final redoubt of the free citizen. Things may or may not have come to such a bad state that we must rise in this fashion, but let us be conscious of the power we hold in knowing just who we are and what we are capable of as ordinary citizens.
If the authorities continue to do what is unjust, to ride roughshod over constitutional rights, to deny the sovereignty of the rakyat and the primacy of our Constitution, we rest secure in the knowledge that history shows us that the just cause, defended stoutly, persistently and peacefully, will prevail. And sooner than you might expect.
The above was the keynote speech delivered by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at the launch of the book “Multiethnic Malaysia” at UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur.
1Malaysia, Bangsa Malaysia or multiethnic Malaysia?
Sunday, 18 October 2009 12:17
The ***book ‘Multiethnic Malaysia – Past, Present and Future’ was officially launched at University College Sedaya International (UCSI) on Oct 16.
It is a compilation of essays edited by Dr Lim Teck Ghee, Dr Alberto Gomes and Dr Azly Rahman, and published by UCSI and SIRD.
The book launch was hosted by the Malaysian Institute of Development and Asian Studies (Midas), an organization in UCSI where Dr Lim is also resident professorial research scholar.
Included in the day’s programme was a discussion by five panelists – former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan, Dr Asma Abdullah who is a USM, UPM and UUM graduate school lecturer, UKM academic Dr Helen Ting, UMS director Dr Beth Baikan and Tricia Yeoh who is research officer for the Selangor Menteri Besar – on various aspects of the ethnicity debate. The dialogue was moderated by Dr Lim while the intervener was Dr Gomes.
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was also present to give the keynote address.
Below is the full text of his speech:-
MEMORY, RACE AND HOPE
OCT 16 — I am honoured that you have asked me to address you today. I am not a scholar. All I can offer today are the personal views of a Malaysian who has seen a little of the history of this marvellous country, and tried to play my part in it.
I say a marvellous country, because Malaysia, for all its frustrations and perils, is truly special. We are a coming together of communities, cultures, traditions and religions unlike anything anywhere else. It is not in political sloganeering or in tourist jingo that we find our special nature. We recover it only by paying attention to the concrete details of our everyday life and our particular history. Wonder is found in the details.
Remembering our stories
Let me tell you a story:
I grew up in Kota Baru. My father was fond of Western cuisine and had a Hainanese cook who prepared the dishes he enjoyed.
One day, while the cook was feeding the tigers in our home, a piece of meat got stuck in between the bars of the cage. — I should explain that we had a mini zoo in our home. My father was fond of animals and we shared a home with tigers, a bear, crocodiles and other creatures in the compound. The animals were very fond of my father. The tigers would come up to him to have their backs stroked. The bear would accompany him on his walks around the garden. The crocodiles made their escape in one of Kota Baru’s annual floods, which I always remember as a happy time because of the water sports it made possible.
My father sent us out to look for them. What he expected us to do when we found them I am not sure.
To return to my story, one day the cook was feeding the tigers, and a piece of meat got stuck between the bars of the cage. The cook tried to dislodge it. As he did so, he failed to notice the tiger. The tiger swatted his hand. Within 24 hours, our poor cook was dead from the infection caused by the wound.
Our family was in grief. He was dear to us all. He had no known relatives. So my father took it upon himself to arrange a full Chinese funeral for the cook, complete with a brass band and procession, and invited all the cook’s friends. We children followed in respect as the procession wove its way through the town.
Your own stories, if you recall the actual details, will be no less strange than my own. Some of the details here might scandalise people in these supposedly more enlightened times. They don’t fit into the trimmed down, sloganised narratives of who we are and how we came to be. This is over the years we have allowed politics to tell us who we are and how we should remember ourselves. We have let political indoctrination, jingoism, and a rising tide of bad taste overcome our memory of ourselves. We have let newspapers, textbooks and even university courses paint a crude picture of who we are, what we fear and what we hope for. This depletes our culture, but there is also a political consequence: The picture that our current politics paints of us is devoid of wonder, and therefore of possibility.
Our politics has become an enemy of our sense of wonder. Instead it has sown doubt, uncertainty and fear. These are disabling emotions. It is not by accident that authoritarian regimes everywhere begin their subjugation of people by cutting them off from their past. Systematically, they replace the richly textured memories of a community that make people independent, inquisitive and open with prefabricated tales that weaken them into subjugation through fear and anxiety. They destroy the markers of memory, the checks and balances of tradition and institution, and replace them with a manufactured set of images all pointing to a centralised power.
Our path to the recovery of a sense of nationhood is not through an equally crude reaction, but through a retrieval of our personal and collective memory of living in this blessed land and sharing it each other. The work done by the contributors to this volume are part of a civilising project to bring to light the fine detail of who we are, against the politicised and commercialised caricatures that have made our racialised politics seem natural and inevitable.
Our own stories, individually and as a country, are full of curious processions, walking bears, and escaped crocodiles. We should begin to wonder again at this amazing country we find ourselves sharing. In that wonder we shall recover what it is we love about being who we are, who we are amongst, and we shall more fiercely defend not just our own, but each others’ freedoms.
A Constitution of Consensus
One place for us to begin this process together is our Federal Constitution.
The spirit in which Malaysia came to be is captured in our Constitution. At the moment of our independence, Malaysia possessed firm foundations in the rule of law and was permeated with a spirit of constitutionalism.
The pledge contained within the proclamation of Independence says that “...with God’s blessing [Malaysia] shall be forever a sovereign democratic and independent State founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among all nations.”
The Constitution is the ultimate safeguard of our fundamental liberties. These are liberties which cannot be taken away.
One view put out by those who are impatient with these safeguards is that our Constitution is an external and Western imposition upon us, that it is the final instrument of colonialism. People have drawn on this view to subject the Constitution to some higher or prior principle, be it race, religion or royalty. Of course, the proponents of such views tend to identify themselves with these higher principles in order to claim extra-constitutional powers. These are transparent attempts at revisionism which erode the supremacy of the Constitution. We should have the confidence to reject such moves politely but firmly, whoever advocates them, whatever their social or religious status.
The truth is that our Constitution was built by a deliberately consultative process aimed at achieving consensus. The Reid Commission was proposed by a constitutional conference in London attended by four representatives of the Malay Rulers, the Chief Minister of the Federation, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and three other ministers, and also by the British High Commissioner in Malaya and his advisers. This conference proposed the appointment of an independent commission to devise a constitution for a fully self-governing and independent Federation of Malaya. Their proposal was accepted by the Malay Rulers and Queen Elizabeth.
The Reid Commission met 118 times in Kuala Lumpur between June and October 1956, and received 131 memoranda from various individuals and organisations. The commission submitted its working draft on Feb 21, 1957, which was scrutinised by a working committee. The working committee consisted of four representatives from the Malay Rulers, another four from the Alliance government, the British High Commissioner, the Chief Secretary, and the Attorney-General.
On the basis of their recommendations, the new Federal Constitution was passed by the Federal Legislative Council on Aug 15, 1957, and the Constitution took effect on Aug 27.
As you can tell from this narrative, the Commission solicited the views of all sections of our society and had, throughout, the support and participation of the Malay Rulers and the Alliance government. The process preserved the sovereignty of the Malay Rulers The resulting document, like all things man-made, remains perfectible, but most certainly it is ours. It brought our nation into being, and it is our document.
The question of whether the Federation should be an Islamic state, for example, was considered and rejected by the Rulers and by the representatives of the people. Had we wanted to be ruled by syariah, the option was on the shelf, so to speak, and could easily have been taken, because prior to this the states were ruled by the Sultans according to syariah law. The fact that we have a constitution governed by common law is not an accident nor an external imposition. We chose to found our nation on a secular constitution after consultation and deliberation.
Our country was built on the sophisticated and secure foundation of a Constitution that we formed for ourselves. For us to continue to grow up as a country we need to own, understand and defend it.
Sadly part of the memory we have lost is of our Constitution and of the nature of that Constitution. Today, in the aftermath of the scene-shifting election results of March 2008, people are restless and uneasy about the ethnic relations, and about their future. There is a sense of anxiety about our nation that is often translated into fear of ethnic conflict.
I think we should not fear. On an inviolable foundation of equal citizenship, the rights of each and every community are protected. These protections are guaranteed in the Constitution. What we should be uneasy about is not so much ethnic discord, which is often manufactured for political ends and has little basis in the daily experience of our citizens, but the subversion of our Constitution. Such subversion is only possible if we forget that this Constitution belongs to us, protects us all, and underwrites our nationhood and we fail to defend it.
Our country had a happy beginning in being built on firm foundations in the rule of law. A strong spirit of constitutionalism guided our early decades. The components of that spirit are respect and understanding for the rule of law, and the upholding of justice and liberty. That spirit is antithetical to communal bickering and small-minded squabbling over fixed pie notions of education, economy or whatever. That spirit has declined and with it has come all kinds of unease. It is time we recovered it. With its recovery will come our confidence as a nation once more.
The political framework of this country cries out for reform. But reform is not about the blind embrace of the new. That would be to fly from disorder to confusion. Our path to reform must come from a recovery of the “old” living spirit of constitutionalism, and the “old” values of freedom and justice, and the “old” memories each of us carries in themselves of what is good about our nation.
So far I have spoken more generally about principles. I want to turn now to some examples of how these can work out in pursuing particular reforms.
National reform must begin with reform of our party system. This is because one of the chief reasons this nation is sick is that we have a diseased party system. A diagnosis of the disease of the party system finds that the parties are sick because they have strayed from the constitutional principles that govern them (they are subject to the Societies Act). In doing so they have become undemocratic. In becoming undemocratic they have lost legitimacy. In losing legitimacy they have lost public support and the ability to rejuvenate themselves. The cure, surely, is for them to conform themselves again to constitutional principles.
I have warned that Umno, like any other political party that has been in power for so long, must reform, or it will be tossed out by the people. The people themselves have had a taste of the power of their free vote. They know that parties and governments answer to the people, and not vice versa, they want a repeal of draconian laws, and they have lost patience with corruption. They seek accountability, justice and rule of law. The people are ahead of the government of the day, but the principles they want to see applied are universal, and they are enshrined in our Constitution.
It is not just Umno that needs to reform. The entire political system needs to change, to be in greater conformity with our Constitution and in the spirit of the Rukun Negara, which says from these diverse elements of our population, we are dedicated to the achievement of a united nation in which loyalty and dedication to the nation shall over-ride all other loyalties.
We should not expect our political parties to reform of their own accord. Leaders who owe their position to undemocratic rules and practices are the last people to accept reform. The people must demand it. I say we need a movement embraced by people at all levels and from every quarter of our rakyat, to establish a national consensus on how our political parties should conduct themselves from now on. In the spirit of the Rukun Negara, that consensus should be based on a set of principles such as the following:
1. All political parties are required to include in their constitutional objectives the equality of citizenship as provided for in the Federal Constitution.
2. An economic and political policy that political parties propagate must not discriminate against any citizen.
3. All parties shall include and uphold constitutional democracy and the separation of powers as a fundamental principle.
4. It shall be the duty of all political parties to adhere to the objectives of public service and refrain from involvement in business, and ensure the separation of business from political parties.
5. It shall be the duty of all political parties to ensure and respect the independence of the judiciary and the judicial process.
6. All parties shall ensure that the party election system will adhere to the highest standards of conduct, and also ensure that the elections are free of corrupt practices. Legislation should be considered to provide funding of political parties.
7. It shall be the duty of all parties to ensure that all political dialogues and statements will not create racial or religious animosity.
8. All parties undertake not to use racial and communal agitation as political policies.
9. To remove and eradicate all barriers that hinder national unity and Malaysian identity.
10. To uphold the Federal and State Constitutions and their democratic intent and spirit, the Rule of Law, and the fundamental liberties as enshrined in Part II of the Malaysian Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
What we need now is the rise of an empowered public. Democracy in Malaysia is fragile so long as public opinion remains weak. Our hope for a more democratic future depends on our ability to build a strong public opinion. It’s good news that a vigorous body of public opinion, aided by information and communication technologies, is in making on the Internet. I myself rely on it through my blog. If not for my blog, what I say would scarcely get out in the mainstream media. We need a freedom of information Act, and I call for the repeal of the Printing Presses Act. It is silly that we limit the number of newspapers while every person with a blog or a twitter account can publish to the world. In limiting the printed media we have only succeeded in dumbing it down, so that those who rely only on the printed mass media and the terrestrial broadcast channels are actually the poorer for it.
Race and hope
Let’s end by returning to the theme of racial harmony. I repeat: the constitutional guarantees are ironclad. We ought to feel secure in the Constitution’s protections of our rights. A free people must be a secure people.
Another story:
In 1962, when I was a delegate to the United Nations, the late Tun Ismail and I went out one evening to a posh restaurant on New York’s East Side. The maitre d’ turned us away firmly. No, he said, the restaurant was closed for a private function. We could see clearly that the restaurant was open. We understood that we were being denied entry because were “coloured”. This is despite the fact that our reservation had been made by the UN’s offices.
Today, in 2008, an African-American man is President of the United States. He has just won the Nobel Peace Prize. In 46 years, and well within my lifetime, how far things have come. Had you told me in 1962, after that incident, that a black man would be president in my life time, I would not have believed you. This change did not happen without struggle.
From Leo Tolstoy to Henry Thoreau to Gandhi to Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, we see a thread of conviction about the overriding ethical claims of our common humanity. It is more important that we are alike in being sons and daughters of God than that we are different. This is also the thread of a spirit and method of resistance. Where all reasonable persuasion fails, the final “No” to wrongdoing, the place at which the citizen stands up to defend something fundamental, is through peaceful resistance. I allude to this only as a reminder of the final redoubt of the free citizen. Things may or may not have come to such a bad state that we must rise in this fashion, but let us be conscious of the power we hold in knowing just who we are and what we are capable of as ordinary citizens.
If the authorities continue to do what is unjust, to ride roughshod over constitutional rights, to deny the sovereignty of the rakyat and the primacy of our Constitution, we rest secure in the knowledge that history shows us that the just cause, defended stoutly, persistently and peacefully, will prevail. And sooner than you might expect.
The above was the keynote speech delivered by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at the launch of the book “Multiethnic Malaysia” at UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Ponder II: A Father's Anguish
From malaysia-today.net, my Malaysian folk hero:
Warning to the Malaysian government
Posted by admin
Tuesday, 27 October 2009 15:32
Today, Barisan Nasional is in power so it has the power of life and death over its citizens. Well, who knows, one day Barisan Nasional might be kicked out and Malaysia will see a new government.
NO HOLDS BARRED
By Raja Petra Kamarudin
No, today, it is not going to be a long cheong hei article. Today, it is going to be short, though not sweet. Today is about how my son is going to be turned into collateral damage.
To those who walk in the corridors of power, I wish to inform you that I know you are beating up my son in the Sungai Buloh Prison. Every day he is being subjected to beatings to force him to withdraw his not guilty plea and to plead guilty to the various charges he is facing.
I also know he is being subjected to these daily beatings to force him to withdraw his not guilty plea and instead plead guilty because there is no evidence against him and the charges are merely trumped-up charges.
Furthermore, I know he is being threatened with six additional charges to the ones he is already facing and he is being beaten up to force him to plead guilty to these charges as well.
My son has informed me he can no longer stand these daily beatings and he wants to plead guilty to the charges. I have advised him to do so although we both realise that this means he will be spending at least ten years or so in jail.
My son is aware he is being subjected to this torture to induce me to surface and he is prepared to plead guilty and spend ten years in jail if that means it will save me from the powers-that-be.
Today, Barisan Nasional is in power so it has the power of life and death over its citizens. Well, who knows, one day Barisan Nasional might be kicked out and Malaysia will see a new government.
Those behind the effort of torturing my son with these daily beatings had better hope that Barisan Nasional stays on as the government for a long, long time to come. If not, and if Barisan Nasional falls, then rest assured it will be retribution time and all those people who are using my son to get to me will be made to pay for it.
And, please, this is not a threat. This is a promise. And that is all I wish to say about the matter.
DESIDERATA: I can say no words except I now know, a Father's love can be as great as the Mother's for their children. "God bless RPK and family." -- Amen
Warning to the Malaysian government
Posted by admin
Tuesday, 27 October 2009 15:32
Today, Barisan Nasional is in power so it has the power of life and death over its citizens. Well, who knows, one day Barisan Nasional might be kicked out and Malaysia will see a new government.
NO HOLDS BARRED
By Raja Petra Kamarudin
No, today, it is not going to be a long cheong hei article. Today, it is going to be short, though not sweet. Today is about how my son is going to be turned into collateral damage.
To those who walk in the corridors of power, I wish to inform you that I know you are beating up my son in the Sungai Buloh Prison. Every day he is being subjected to beatings to force him to withdraw his not guilty plea and to plead guilty to the various charges he is facing.
I also know he is being subjected to these daily beatings to force him to withdraw his not guilty plea and instead plead guilty because there is no evidence against him and the charges are merely trumped-up charges.
Furthermore, I know he is being threatened with six additional charges to the ones he is already facing and he is being beaten up to force him to plead guilty to these charges as well.
My son has informed me he can no longer stand these daily beatings and he wants to plead guilty to the charges. I have advised him to do so although we both realise that this means he will be spending at least ten years or so in jail.
My son is aware he is being subjected to this torture to induce me to surface and he is prepared to plead guilty and spend ten years in jail if that means it will save me from the powers-that-be.
Today, Barisan Nasional is in power so it has the power of life and death over its citizens. Well, who knows, one day Barisan Nasional might be kicked out and Malaysia will see a new government.
Those behind the effort of torturing my son with these daily beatings had better hope that Barisan Nasional stays on as the government for a long, long time to come. If not, and if Barisan Nasional falls, then rest assured it will be retribution time and all those people who are using my son to get to me will be made to pay for it.
And, please, this is not a threat. This is a promise. And that is all I wish to say about the matter.
DESIDERATA: I can say no words except I now know, a Father's love can be as great as the Mother's for their children. "God bless RPK and family." -- Amen
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Worth Pondering Over, Malaysians Who Care...
New hotel owner hounded by racism charges
Hispanic employees protest after being told to change their first names
Melanie Dabovich / AP
Hotel owner Larry Whitten has caused a stir by Anglicizing the Spanish first names of some employees and asking Hispanic employees to not speak Spanish in his presence.
updated 12:10 p.m. ET Oct. 26, 2009
TAOS, N.M. - Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel.
The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names.
No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark.
Story continues below ↓
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
advertisement | your ad here
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whitten's management style had worked for him as he's turned around other distressed hotels he bought in recent years across the country.
The 63-year-old Texan, however, wasn't prepared for what followed.
His rules and his firing of several Hispanic employees angered his employees and many in this liberal enclave of 5,000 residents at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, where the most alternative of lifestyles can find a home and where Spanish language, culture and traditions have a long and revered history.
"I came into this landmine of Anglos versus Spanish versus Mexicans versus Indians versus everybody up here. I'm just doing what I've always done," he says.
Former workers, their relatives and some town residents picketed across the street from the hotel.
"I do feel he's a racist, but he's a racist out of ignorance. He doesn't know that what he's doing is wrong," says protester Juanito Burns Jr., who identified himself as prime minister of an activist group called Los Brown Berets de Nuevo Mexico.
New owner comes in
The Virginia-born Whitten had spent 40 years in the hotel business, turning around more than 20 hotels in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and South Carolina, before moving with his wife to Taos from Abilene, Texas. He had visited Taos before, and liked its beauty. When Whitten saw that the Paragon Inn was up for sale, he jumped at it.
The hotel sits along narrow, two-lane Paseo del Pueblo, where souped-up lowriders radiate a just-waxed gleam in the soft sunshine as they cruise past centuries-old adobe buildings. One recent afternoon, a woman slowly rode her fat-tire bicycle along a cracked sidewalk, oversized purple butterfly wings on her back and a breeze blowing her long, blonde dreadlocks.
The community includes Taos Pueblo, an American Indian dwelling inhabited for over 1,000 years, and an adobe Catholic church made famous in a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.
After he arrived, Whitten met with the employees. He says he immediately noticed that they were hostile to his management style and worried they might start talking about him in Spanish.
"Because of that, I asked the people in my presence to speak only English because I do not understand Spanish," Whitten says. "I've been working 24 years in Texas and we have a lot of Spanish people there. I've never had to ask anyone to speak only English in front of me because I've never had a reason to."
Some employees were fired, Whitten says, because they were hostile and insubordinate. He says they called him "a white (N-word)."
Click for related content
Vote: Should employees be forced to change names?
'I'm professional the way I am'
Fired hotel manager Kathy Archuleta says the workers initially tried to adjust to his style. "We had already gone through four or five owners before him, so we knew what to expect," Archuleta says. "I told (the workers) we needed to give him a chance."
Then Whitten told some employees he was changing their Spanish first names. Whitten says it's a routine practice at his hotels to change first names of employees who work the front desk phones or deal directly with guests if their names are difficult to understand or pronounce.
"It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything," Whitten says.
Martin Gutierrez, another fired employee, says he felt disrespected when he was told to use the unaccented Martin as his name. He says he told Whitten that Spanish was spoken in New Mexico before English. "He told me he didn't care what I thought because this was his business," Gutierrez says.
"I don't have to change my name and language or heritage," he says. "I'm professional the way I am."
'Over the top'
After the firings, the New Mexico chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a national civil rights group, sent Whitten a letter, raising concerns about treatment of Hispanic workers. Whitten says he sent them a letter and posted messages on the hotel marquee, alleging that the group referred to him with a racial slur. LULAC denied the charge.
The messages and comments he made in interviews with local media, including referring to townsfolk as "mountain people" and "potheads who escaped society," further enflamed tensions.
Taos Mayor Darren Cordova says Whitten wasn't doing anything illegal. But he says Whitten failed to better familiarize himself with the town and its culture before deciding to buy the hotel for $2 million. "Taos is so unique that you would not do anything in Taos that you would do elsewhere," he says.
Whitten grew subdued as a two-hour interview with The Associated Press progressed. He said he was sorry for the misunderstanding and insisted he has never been against any culture.
"What kind of fool or idiot or poor businessman would I be to orchestrate this whole crazy thing that's costed me a lot of time, money and aggravation?" Whitten said.
Whitten should have dealt with the situation differently, especially in a majority Hispanic town, said 71-year-old Taos artist Ken O'Neil, while sipping his afternoon coffee on the town's historic plaza.
"To make demands like he did just seems over the top," he says. "Nobody won here. It's not always about winning. Sometimes, it's about what you learn."
Hispanic employees protest after being told to change their first names
Melanie Dabovich / AP
Hotel owner Larry Whitten has caused a stir by Anglicizing the Spanish first names of some employees and asking Hispanic employees to not speak Spanish in his presence.
updated 12:10 p.m. ET Oct. 26, 2009
TAOS, N.M. - Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel.
The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names.
No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark.
Story continues below ↓
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
advertisement | your ad here
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whitten's management style had worked for him as he's turned around other distressed hotels he bought in recent years across the country.
The 63-year-old Texan, however, wasn't prepared for what followed.
His rules and his firing of several Hispanic employees angered his employees and many in this liberal enclave of 5,000 residents at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, where the most alternative of lifestyles can find a home and where Spanish language, culture and traditions have a long and revered history.
"I came into this landmine of Anglos versus Spanish versus Mexicans versus Indians versus everybody up here. I'm just doing what I've always done," he says.
Former workers, their relatives and some town residents picketed across the street from the hotel.
"I do feel he's a racist, but he's a racist out of ignorance. He doesn't know that what he's doing is wrong," says protester Juanito Burns Jr., who identified himself as prime minister of an activist group called Los Brown Berets de Nuevo Mexico.
New owner comes in
The Virginia-born Whitten had spent 40 years in the hotel business, turning around more than 20 hotels in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and South Carolina, before moving with his wife to Taos from Abilene, Texas. He had visited Taos before, and liked its beauty. When Whitten saw that the Paragon Inn was up for sale, he jumped at it.
The hotel sits along narrow, two-lane Paseo del Pueblo, where souped-up lowriders radiate a just-waxed gleam in the soft sunshine as they cruise past centuries-old adobe buildings. One recent afternoon, a woman slowly rode her fat-tire bicycle along a cracked sidewalk, oversized purple butterfly wings on her back and a breeze blowing her long, blonde dreadlocks.
The community includes Taos Pueblo, an American Indian dwelling inhabited for over 1,000 years, and an adobe Catholic church made famous in a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.
After he arrived, Whitten met with the employees. He says he immediately noticed that they were hostile to his management style and worried they might start talking about him in Spanish.
"Because of that, I asked the people in my presence to speak only English because I do not understand Spanish," Whitten says. "I've been working 24 years in Texas and we have a lot of Spanish people there. I've never had to ask anyone to speak only English in front of me because I've never had a reason to."
Some employees were fired, Whitten says, because they were hostile and insubordinate. He says they called him "a white (N-word)."
Click for related content
Vote: Should employees be forced to change names?
'I'm professional the way I am'
Fired hotel manager Kathy Archuleta says the workers initially tried to adjust to his style. "We had already gone through four or five owners before him, so we knew what to expect," Archuleta says. "I told (the workers) we needed to give him a chance."
Then Whitten told some employees he was changing their Spanish first names. Whitten says it's a routine practice at his hotels to change first names of employees who work the front desk phones or deal directly with guests if their names are difficult to understand or pronounce.
"It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything," Whitten says.
Martin Gutierrez, another fired employee, says he felt disrespected when he was told to use the unaccented Martin as his name. He says he told Whitten that Spanish was spoken in New Mexico before English. "He told me he didn't care what I thought because this was his business," Gutierrez says.
"I don't have to change my name and language or heritage," he says. "I'm professional the way I am."
'Over the top'
After the firings, the New Mexico chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a national civil rights group, sent Whitten a letter, raising concerns about treatment of Hispanic workers. Whitten says he sent them a letter and posted messages on the hotel marquee, alleging that the group referred to him with a racial slur. LULAC denied the charge.
The messages and comments he made in interviews with local media, including referring to townsfolk as "mountain people" and "potheads who escaped society," further enflamed tensions.
Taos Mayor Darren Cordova says Whitten wasn't doing anything illegal. But he says Whitten failed to better familiarize himself with the town and its culture before deciding to buy the hotel for $2 million. "Taos is so unique that you would not do anything in Taos that you would do elsewhere," he says.
Whitten grew subdued as a two-hour interview with The Associated Press progressed. He said he was sorry for the misunderstanding and insisted he has never been against any culture.
"What kind of fool or idiot or poor businessman would I be to orchestrate this whole crazy thing that's costed me a lot of time, money and aggravation?" Whitten said.
Whitten should have dealt with the situation differently, especially in a majority Hispanic town, said 71-year-old Taos artist Ken O'Neil, while sipping his afternoon coffee on the town's historic plaza.
"To make demands like he did just seems over the top," he says. "Nobody won here. It's not always about winning. Sometimes, it's about what you learn."
High income, Mr PM, but what about those with hardly any income?
The day after Najib Tun Razak delivered his first national budget, I had writ:
"The Star haedlined it as Budget of gifts,
and the opening paragraph truly makes the average Malaysia feel "prosperous" since he/she is assumed nigh high-income...if you take His word for it. I am not the "average" Malaysia, I don't. Is Desi digressing?
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's maiden Budget focused on the well-being of the people. Base (sic, from Star Online version...) on his "1Malaysia, Together We Prosper" concept, the Budget 2010 is aimed at making Malaysia a high-income economy and ensuring holistic and sustainable development.
My first reaction was: Since when has the BN Government been thinking along "holistic" and sustainable modes in policy-making?
Continuing the critique today, after more rumination:
When I wrote "...since he/she is assumed nigh high-income...",it is questioning the basis of the PM's goal of making Malaysia a high-income economy...". Of course Desi was being sarcastic -- I need to state this case because some of the BN leaders are prettyNdumb -- when I posed:
"Since when has the BN Government been thinking along "holistic" and sustainable modes in policy-making?"
Also relevant are some points raised by the MTUC chief, and one R Navaratnam who wears many hats sometimes Desi doesn't know hwere he's comoing from or heading, but for once, I agree with his opinions as carried in the Star report which is reproduced from its Online edition:)
Tuesday October 27, 2009
MTUC disappointed Budget did not address income levels
PETALING JAYA: Budget 2010 was aimed at making Malaysia a ‘high-income society’ but MTUC has expressed disappointment that minimum wage was not ad-dressed.
Its president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud said: “Income levels must be raised in view of the rise in the cost of living in the country.”
Syed Shahir said MTUC would continue to push the Government to introduce a minimum wage of RM900 for private sector workers in the country.
Meanwhile, ASLI’s Centre of Public Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said: “On one hand the Prime Minister wants to raise income but there is no provision for a minimum wage in the budget.”
Navaratnam also said that the fastest way to raise income without going through the pangs of economic transformation was by introducing a minimum wage.
He said a minimum wage would also help fight poverty and make a breakthrough in the present mid-income trap that it faces.
“The minimum wage can be based on the poverty threshold of RM700 a month,” he suggested.
He also said at present many shunned low-income jobs as they had to work so hard for so little.
“Because of this, some engage in undesirable activities such as crime in order to get a quick buck.
“Also, the dependence on foreign workers can be reduced if there is a minimum wage that provides for a decent standard of living,” he added.
Earlier, Navaratnam had written an open letter to the government calling for the introduction of a basic wage.
PS: In fact YL Chong raised this issue with then Labour Minister Lee San Choon when I was still a young and eager newsdog sniffing out the Pearl of the Orient then still in pristine glory. But eon years later, the BN Government still sells a lot of PR stories but hardly delivers.
To average Joe and Jane Malaysian which includes Desi, don't talk to us of aiming for HIGH-INCOME when large sections of the population are still living below hardcore poverty and poverty lines. And for pensioners and retirees and homeless without the extended family networks, who the blardy hell cares for them?
"The Star haedlined it as Budget of gifts,
and the opening paragraph truly makes the average Malaysia feel "prosperous" since he/she is assumed nigh high-income...if you take His word for it. I am not the "average" Malaysia, I don't. Is Desi digressing?
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's maiden Budget focused on the well-being of the people. Base (sic, from Star Online version...) on his "1Malaysia, Together We Prosper" concept, the Budget 2010 is aimed at making Malaysia a high-income economy and ensuring holistic and sustainable development.
My first reaction was: Since when has the BN Government been thinking along "holistic" and sustainable modes in policy-making?
Continuing the critique today, after more rumination:
When I wrote "...since he/she is assumed nigh high-income...",it is questioning the basis of the PM's goal of making Malaysia a high-income economy...". Of course Desi was being sarcastic -- I need to state this case because some of the BN leaders are prettyNdumb -- when I posed:
"Since when has the BN Government been thinking along "holistic" and sustainable modes in policy-making?"
Also relevant are some points raised by the MTUC chief, and one R Navaratnam who wears many hats sometimes Desi doesn't know hwere he's comoing from or heading, but for once, I agree with his opinions as carried in the Star report which is reproduced from its Online edition:)
Tuesday October 27, 2009
MTUC disappointed Budget did not address income levels
PETALING JAYA: Budget 2010 was aimed at making Malaysia a ‘high-income society’ but MTUC has expressed disappointment that minimum wage was not ad-dressed.
Its president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud said: “Income levels must be raised in view of the rise in the cost of living in the country.”
Syed Shahir said MTUC would continue to push the Government to introduce a minimum wage of RM900 for private sector workers in the country.
Meanwhile, ASLI’s Centre of Public Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said: “On one hand the Prime Minister wants to raise income but there is no provision for a minimum wage in the budget.”
Navaratnam also said that the fastest way to raise income without going through the pangs of economic transformation was by introducing a minimum wage.
He said a minimum wage would also help fight poverty and make a breakthrough in the present mid-income trap that it faces.
“The minimum wage can be based on the poverty threshold of RM700 a month,” he suggested.
He also said at present many shunned low-income jobs as they had to work so hard for so little.
“Because of this, some engage in undesirable activities such as crime in order to get a quick buck.
“Also, the dependence on foreign workers can be reduced if there is a minimum wage that provides for a decent standard of living,” he added.
Earlier, Navaratnam had written an open letter to the government calling for the introduction of a basic wage.
PS: In fact YL Chong raised this issue with then Labour Minister Lee San Choon when I was still a young and eager newsdog sniffing out the Pearl of the Orient then still in pristine glory. But eon years later, the BN Government still sells a lot of PR stories but hardly delivers.
To average Joe and Jane Malaysian which includes Desi, don't talk to us of aiming for HIGH-INCOME when large sections of the population are still living below hardcore poverty and poverty lines. And for pensioners and retirees and homeless without the extended family networks, who the blardy hell cares for them?
Monday, October 26, 2009
Freedom of CHOICE...
In blogosphere, one -- be a Blogger or Reader him, her or it -- quickly realises it's the most democratic medium of writing and INTERACTION. An iconic example of Freedom of CHOICE. You choose what you want to read, ignore, curse or applaud.
I "digressed" from Yesterday's post half done on Freedoms to break away -- that's my personal practice of an individual's freedom to CHOOSE.
So here's fair/fare from a China daily -- far advanced from its closed-door Maoist days (is DIES badder?) some two to three deacades ago. It features now a wholoe range of topics which previosuly were closed to its citizenry. In some ways, China has made quantum leaps forward in CHOICES, but some quarters in NegaraKu are going off tangent OR in the opposititr direction -- BACKWARDS. You want examples? How about banning sexy shows like Beyonce and a hip wriggling Indonesian songstress (I forget her name, but oh, she raises my temperature on a cold day like no caffeine can!:)? Hey, you Malaysians may not wanna watch Beyonce or IndonGal, but many tourists here/hear and Indon workers and expats in the country do. Lert them have a CHOICE okay!
****************************To share:)
Gay movies help change taboo
By Christine Laskowski and Zhao Yanrong (China Daily)
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/metro/2009-10/26/content_8846609.htm
Updated: 2009-10-26 09:04 Comments(0) PrintMail
Volunteers promote gay movies at The Boat on Beijing's Liangmahe Road. [China Daily/Feng Yongbin]
Two Saturdays ago, a modest crowd gathered at The Boat on Beijing's Liangmahe road because they wanted to watch queer films. Not an easy thing to do in China says the screening's organizer, Xiao Gang, of China Queer Film Talk (CQFT), but through their efforts and those of others, this taboo is starting to change.
"Many people don't really have a chance to see Chinese queer films," said Xiao. "It's hard to get them online."
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And while several local LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) groups try to hold monthly film screenings, this one goes on tour throughout China and will be in Shanghai and Suzhou next month. A native of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Xiao, like many of those responsible for organizing or in attendance that day, came to Beijing from other parts of China. Disseminating support and knowledge of queer culture to those in areas less likely to receive it, is of paramount importance. One way he does this is through the CQFT screenings; the other is through his online LGBT talk show called Queer Comrades.
Xu Bin, founder of Common Language, which is a Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender group for women in Beijing, who is also closely involved with organizing the CQFT screenings, said that in many areas the discussion of the LGBT community comes hand-in-hand with AIDS/HIV education alone. This fuels the stigma.
But even in a place like Beijing where people tend to be more accepting of queer culture, and according to Xu Bin, boasts about a dozen active LGBT groups, getting the public to come is a difficult matter.
"Most people will go to a gay club, but it's a closet," said Xiao in response to the 30 people in attendance. "People just go from one closet to another closet. You need more courage to go to a cultural event. Here," he says, gesturing to the clusters of people in the room, "you're out."
The screening that day was of "Mei Mei," a documentary film following the life of a Beijing drag queen in 2004. Mei Mei, who was invited to the screening and stayed to answer audience questions, is a testament to the growing size of the LGBT, or queer community, outing themselves not only to the world, but to each other.
Han, a personable 20 year-old student from the Renmin University of China, told METRO he came to the CQFT event in order to meet interesting people before exposing a guilty look on his face. "And potential partners," he said, before erupting into laughter.
"I only realized I was gay two years ago," Han told METRO. "For a lot of Chinese, they are bisexual because they feel pressure to have a family. So they hide themselves from society. I chose to come out. Well, I'm out to 80 percent of my friends. Three of my roommates treat me differently, but it doesn't bother me."
Queer film festival promotes social acceptance
For young people coming to terms with their sexuality, the films provide an important source of information, not just on queer culture, but on the growing acceptance in today's society. Han said he was shocked that Mei Mei's family accepted her.
"If my parents knew, they wouldn't let me into the house, I think," Han said.
For Ma Qiang, a 30 year-old independent dance director in Beijing and another attendee at the screening, his sexual identity and the social pressure to have a family are issues he struggles with. When he spoke to METRO, he admitted, "I have never attended an event like this before."
Luck Zhao, chief editor of GaySpot magazine who worked as a volunteer for the event, believes gay movies are an enormous part of a culture. "What we are doing is promoting the culture," he explained. "I hope one day, we can put our movies on the big screen and let more people know about queer people here." He pauses for a moment and then adds, "But there is still a long way to go in China."
Identifying yourself as a queer person in China, which Xiao Gang defines as "not just being about gays and lesbians but includes all sex and gender minorities," is about as difficult as getting queer-themed films successfully screened. While homosexuality was first legalized in China in 1997, China's psychiatric association only removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses in 2001.
This replaced the 1989 edition that defined homosexuality as a "psychiatric disorder of sexuality."
As such, holding a queer film festival is no light achievement, especially considering the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in 2001 and the Gay Cultural Festival in 2005, both of which were shut down. The Beijing Queer Film Festival 2009 made headlines this year precisely because it was not. Many feel the choice to hold it in the Songzhuang art district, an area far outside the city and therefore low-key, was the real reason.
What absolves this particular event from similar problems?
"We don't call it a festival," explains Xiao Gang with a smile. "We keep it small."
CQFT will be holding their final screening of queer-themed Chinese films this coming Saturday, starting at 3 pm.
This screening will feature three films. The first, titled Queer China, Comrade China, is a feature-length documentary following the sk development of the LGBT community in China since the late 1970s, and will be followed by two short films about queer relationships in China.
The films' directors will answer questions in a question-and-answer session after the films. Attendance is 30 yuan, but includes a free drink. Films and T-shirts are available for purchase.
*************** For Desi's own consumption, for I have a fixation on any gal named Nicole. You dare aRsEk WHY? Go disturb aweofhelen if thou can track her down in eeeehPOH!:( -- YL, Desi, knottyaSsusual...
Nicole's sex roles betray women in the real world(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-26 09:15 Comments(0) PrintMail
On the face of it, Nicole Kidman would seem to be a rum choice to be talking about violence against women. After all, she's been raped in one film (Dogville), and had kinky sex with Tom Cruise in another (Eyes Wide Shut). She had a bath with a rather young boy (in Birth) and shagged Billy Zane in Dead Calm, her Hollywood debut – all in the name of art, of course. But Nicole isn't just a highly successful actress who's managed her career so brilliantly she now earns over £7m a film; she's decided to do her bit for the less fortunate by becoming a "goodwill ambassador" for the UN Development Fund for Women.
A new piece of legislation aimed at tackling the global abuse of women (the International Violence Against Women Act) has got stuck in the US Congress – and Nicole pitched up in her goodwill role to plead its case. This is undoubtedly an important cause – Amnesty International claims that one in three women are beaten and abused during their lifetime, with the figure rising to 70 per cent in some countries. Clearly, these are shocking statistics, and women deserve better. But using Nicole Kidman to front a campaign – no matter how worthwhile – really does call into question the whole dubious notion of goodwill ambassadors.
Over the past decade, the number of "ambassadors" has grown like Topsy, as the UN tries to capitalise on our obsession with celebrity culture. A quick trawl on the internet reveals what a motley bunch they have become – once a small group, which included people like Roger Moore, Nelson Mandela and Leslie Caron, now the list is endless. All the various UN agencies – from Unesco and Unicef to the parts of the organisation dealing with culture and science, education, population control, famine, refugees and women's rights – have their bizarre list of goodwill ambassadors ready to fly around the world drumming up media coverage by being photographed in some of the poorest and most deprived places on the planet.
These unpaid worthies, according to the UN, "use their fame to draw attention to important issues". I question whether the majority of these actors, singers, sports stars, minor members of royalty, prime ministers' wives and high-profile dress designers really add anything worthwhile to the UN's cause. Do women the world over think twice about birth control because Geri Halliwell is an ambassador for the UN Population Fund? Do governments listen to the thoughts of a woman who chose to have a baby without including the father, who is still waffling about "girl power" rather than real power.
Other figureheads seem equally random choices – Unicef has just appointed Orlando Bloom, and Unesco can boast some assorted discus throwers, Shirley Bassey, Pierre Cardin, and Celine Dion. Other goodwill ambassadors include Claudia Schiffer, Charlie Boorman and the businessman Duncan Bannatyne. Claudia Cardinale promotes women's rights – now, that's a surprise. And we hardly dare make a donation these days without double-checking that Bono has deemed the cause worthwhile.
Nicole Kidman might claim that she has never taken a role which demeans women, but she's working in an industry where women are routinely chucked on the scrap heap after the age of 40, consigned to play character roles and ageing mums, while leading men in their sixties still have on-screen sex with girls young enough to be their granddaughters. The film industry is run by men, financed by men and marketed by men. Apart from Jane Campion and Agnès Varda, has any high-profile woman made a successful film recently? The whole notion of choosing well-known actresses to speak up for the rights of underprivileged and abused women in the developing world sucks.
Nicole told the Congress committee that violence against women was "the most widespread human rights violation in the world". Funny then, that she continues to work in an industry that chooses to routinely depict women as objects which can be tortured, treated like sex toys and disposed of in all manner of gruesome ways, and all in the name of entertainment.
******************* And for your I-I only!:):)
Swiss model Saner wins Elite Model final 2009 in Sanya(Xinhua/CFP)
Updated: 2009-10-19 13:56 Comments(4) PrintMail
GO TO: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2009-10/19/content_8811709.htm
Manon from France, Ravaglia from Italy, Saner from Switzerland and Emily from Britain (L to R) are seen during the Elite Model Look 2009 final, Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, Oct. 18, 2009. [CFP]
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Freedoms -- Worth Your Fight For!
In a democratic society that Malaysia claims to be, the citizens -- including YOU and me! -- inherently enjoy certain FREEDOMS that a parliamentary democracy system bestows upon the citizenry. If some of these freedoms are with held or compromised, usually it's the LEADERS who are the offending culprits, and then it h=behhoves the citizens to reclaim these freedoms from their abusers-leaders.
Peninsular Malaysians obtained their Indeopence 52 years ago, on 31st August 1957 from their coloniat masters called the British, whose leaders once prided themselves calling their country Great Britain. Some diehards still do, living in delusion like many of our Malaysian counterparts. Sabahans and Sarawkains, whose states along with Singapore joined peninsular Malaysia to form the larger entity as equal partners in 1963 on SEPTEMBER 16, truly did not get due recognition until after some 46 yaers because it was just days ago that September 16 was declared a Public holiday from next year onwards. So if Sarawakians and Sabahans felt they have been traeted shoddily, I can't blame them. They of course have chiefly to blame their own STATE LEADERS who act in cahoots with the ruling Federal regime in the peninsula to deny them their rightful placeof equality as in being EQUAL PARTNERS with peninisular Malaysians. Singaporeans -- curse or bless them -- flew away, or were kicked out, in less than blowing the birdday candles five times, but that's another sad or lifting story.
Now, back to FREEDOMS...
I'll come back to pen more/aMore after a CON brunch,OK!:)
Peninsular Malaysians obtained their Indeopence 52 years ago, on 31st August 1957 from their coloniat masters called the British, whose leaders once prided themselves calling their country Great Britain. Some diehards still do, living in delusion like many of our Malaysian counterparts. Sabahans and Sarawkains, whose states along with Singapore joined peninsular Malaysia to form the larger entity as equal partners in 1963 on SEPTEMBER 16, truly did not get due recognition until after some 46 yaers because it was just days ago that September 16 was declared a Public holiday from next year onwards. So if Sarawakians and Sabahans felt they have been traeted shoddily, I can't blame them. They of course have chiefly to blame their own STATE LEADERS who act in cahoots with the ruling Federal regime in the peninsula to deny them their rightful placeof equality as in being EQUAL PARTNERS with peninisular Malaysians. Singaporeans -- curse or bless them -- flew away, or were kicked out, in less than blowing the birdday candles five times, but that's another sad or lifting story.
Now, back to FREEDOMS...
I'll come back to pen more/aMore after a CON brunch,OK!:)
Saturday, October 24, 2009
After Delivering Feel Good Budget 2010 -- Is Najib Ready ...
to call for GE13th? 13 is a jump of 5 grades from the 8th by-election win at the recent Bagan Pinang re-emergence of tainted ex-MB Mohd Isa Samad in Negri Sembilan, my homey state.
The Star haedlined it as Budget of gifts,
and the opening paragraph truly makes the average Malaysia feel "prosperous" isince he/she is assumed nigh high-income...if you take His word for it. I am not the "average" Malaysia, I don't. Is Desi digressing?
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's maiden Budget focused on the well-being of the people. Base (sic, from Star Online version...) on his "1Malaysia, Together We Prosper" concept, the Budget 2010 is aimed at making Malaysia a high-income economy and ensuring holistic and sustainable development.
My first reaction was: Since when has the BN Government been thinking along "holistic" and sustainable modes in policy-making?
I know the five years for a parliament term is a long way off from March 8, 2008-- BUT MAY BE NAJIB TUN RAZAK WANTS TO PROVE HE's HIS OWN MAN WITH HIS IMAGE WELL BURNISHED SINCE TAKING OVER FROM APRIL 3, 2009 FROM SLEEPY-EYED NICE GUY Pak Lah. Frankly I think Najib is emboldened enough to call for the next General Elections should Barisan Nasional win CONvincingly in the impedning SARAWAK STATE ELECTIONS. If Isa's "tainted" but CASH-RICH candidacy could win big in BP over PAS' State Commissioner by 5.435 votes -- a quantum leap from 2,333 votes last year, there's NO REASON WHY THE SAME RECIPE -- WHICH DOES NOT RULE OUT MONEY POLITICS -- THAT WORKED MAGIC AMONG RURAL NEGRI SEMBILAN KAMPONG FOLKS WOULD NOT ALSO WORK IN THE SARAWAK BOONDOCKS AND SEMI-URBANISED STATE CONSTITUENCIES RULED FOR THREE DECADES BY A CASH-COW -- Ooops, correct that to CASH-RICH! -- that's Taib Mahmud.
The Star haedlined it as Budget of gifts,
and the opening paragraph truly makes the average Malaysia feel "prosperous" isince he/she is assumed nigh high-income...if you take His word for it. I am not the "average" Malaysia, I don't. Is Desi digressing?
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's maiden Budget focused on the well-being of the people. Base (sic, from Star Online version...) on his "1Malaysia, Together We Prosper" concept, the Budget 2010 is aimed at making Malaysia a high-income economy and ensuring holistic and sustainable development.
My first reaction was: Since when has the BN Government been thinking along "holistic" and sustainable modes in policy-making?
I know the five years for a parliament term is a long way off from March 8, 2008-- BUT MAY BE NAJIB TUN RAZAK WANTS TO PROVE HE's HIS OWN MAN WITH HIS IMAGE WELL BURNISHED SINCE TAKING OVER FROM APRIL 3, 2009 FROM SLEEPY-EYED NICE GUY Pak Lah. Frankly I think Najib is emboldened enough to call for the next General Elections should Barisan Nasional win CONvincingly in the impedning SARAWAK STATE ELECTIONS. If Isa's "tainted" but CASH-RICH candidacy could win big in BP over PAS' State Commissioner by 5.435 votes -- a quantum leap from 2,333 votes last year, there's NO REASON WHY THE SAME RECIPE -- WHICH DOES NOT RULE OUT MONEY POLITICS -- THAT WORKED MAGIC AMONG RURAL NEGRI SEMBILAN KAMPONG FOLKS WOULD NOT ALSO WORK IN THE SARAWAK BOONDOCKS AND SEMI-URBANISED STATE CONSTITUENCIES RULED FOR THREE DECADES BY A CASH-COW -- Ooops, correct that to CASH-RICH! -- that's Taib Mahmud.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Y&A has something to say about Lingam's...
And it's knot about Lingam's Curry House, along Paul Street, Furong. --YL Chong, Desi, knottyaSsusual:)
Weak reasons for dropping Lingam case
By John Lee
OCT 23 — The anti-climactic resolution of the V.K. Lingam saga has not been getting a great deal of press time, even in the alternative media. It’s not a particularly sexy issue anymore, and the quiet whimper with which the government has dismissed it is enough to lull one into a false sense of complacency. But make no mistake about it: this is one of the most disastrous things to have ever happened in our country — so disastrous that once you fully understand its implications, you cannot see things in the same way ever again.
There is quite a bit of background to the case, which is why it might be hard initially to appreciate its full ramifications. To make a long story short, former Chief Justice Tun Eusoff Chin and prominent lawyer V.K. Lingam were photographed holidaying together in New Zealand about 15 years ago. This is actually quite bad, because it is an accepted ethical rule that judges do not fraternise with lawyers who are acting in cases which the judges will hear — Lingam represented tycoon Vincent Tan in his suit against journalist M.G.G. Pillai, a case eventually heard by a Federal Court panel which Eusoff chaired.
Both Lingam and Eusoff knew that if this was true, this would be a serious breach of ethics, so they denied it all. They claimed they just happened to bump into each other in New Zealand, and were not at all acquainted, as Eusoff claimed: “I bumped into him there. As a Malaysian in a foreign country, I was happy to see a fellow countryman.” Of course, this turned out to be completely nonsense — Eusoff and Lingam booked tickets on the same flights to and from Singapore to New Zealand, as well as flights within New Zealand. They were behaving unethically and they knew it.
But without a smoking gun proving corruption or tampering with the process of justice, the tourism scandal died down. What revived it was a video of Lingam on the phone with then Chief Judge of Malaya Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim. The video showed promising Ahmad Fairuz that he could make him Chief Justice because he was in cahoots with Eusoff to fix the appointments of judges. Because of Lingam’s links with the Prime Minister and other Cabinet members instrumental in the judicial appointment process, he told Ahmad Fairuz that he could rest assured he would get the job — and, of course, he did.
So, in other words, the top judicial posts in our country were being sold and passed around like datukships or goreng pisang. Imagine if we elected our members of Parliament by getting men like Lingam to give them to their friends. Heck, imagine if we picked our Prime Minister and Cabinet in this manner — that’s exactly how we picked our top judges.
This is no joking matter, so even our government had no choice but to appoint a royal commission to probe the matter. The royal commission looked into evidence of corruption in the judicial system, especially the recordings of Lingam’s conversations with Eusoff. This was big news, if you can remember — and the royal commission’s findings were even bigger. If you need a refresher, the royal commission recommended that the authorities investigate former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Eusoff and Ahmad Fairuz, former Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Vincent Tan, and Lingam for offences under the Sedition Act 1948, the Prevention of Corruption Act 1961, the Legal Profession Act 1976, the Official Secrets Act 1972 and the Penal Code.
To recap: there is strong evidence that two of the most powerful politicians in the country, two of the most powerful judges in the country, one of the richest men in the country, and one of the most prominent lawyers in the country violated some of the most strict laws of the land — the Sedition Act and the Official Secrets Act, among others! And their defence to all this was the shabbiest imaginable. Lingam variously claimed that he was not the man in the videotape, that he was drunk, or that he could talk whatever cock he liked in his own house. Whenever they faced a hard question during the royal commission grilling, both Eusoff and Dr Mahathir would insist they just couldn’t remember.
When the most powerful and intelligent Malaysians you can think of can’t even muster a mildly convincing defence to save their skins, you know something’s wrong. The Cabinet again had no choice but to approve the royal commission’s recommendations in investigating these six men for their potential crimes. And now, a year later, the Cabinet has quietly approved the dropping of all investigations, saying there’s just not enough proof.
You have the smoking gun — you have a top lawyer on the phone with a top judge, and they’re openly talking about how the whole government is rigged to ensure justice is done only for the highest bidder. You’d need an equally huge smoking gun to reject this evidence — and yet without any fanfare, the government has decided to drop the whole matter. Our administration of justice has been indicted of corruption to its very core, and the government can’t even care enough to explain what’s so compelling that they must drop the case. And people still wonder why I don’t believe in Barisan Nasional or 1Malaysia.
NOTE: John Lee is a third-year student of economics at Dartmouth College in the United States. He has been thinking aloud since 2005 at infernalramblings.com.
Weak reasons for dropping Lingam case
By John Lee
OCT 23 — The anti-climactic resolution of the V.K. Lingam saga has not been getting a great deal of press time, even in the alternative media. It’s not a particularly sexy issue anymore, and the quiet whimper with which the government has dismissed it is enough to lull one into a false sense of complacency. But make no mistake about it: this is one of the most disastrous things to have ever happened in our country — so disastrous that once you fully understand its implications, you cannot see things in the same way ever again.
There is quite a bit of background to the case, which is why it might be hard initially to appreciate its full ramifications. To make a long story short, former Chief Justice Tun Eusoff Chin and prominent lawyer V.K. Lingam were photographed holidaying together in New Zealand about 15 years ago. This is actually quite bad, because it is an accepted ethical rule that judges do not fraternise with lawyers who are acting in cases which the judges will hear — Lingam represented tycoon Vincent Tan in his suit against journalist M.G.G. Pillai, a case eventually heard by a Federal Court panel which Eusoff chaired.
Both Lingam and Eusoff knew that if this was true, this would be a serious breach of ethics, so they denied it all. They claimed they just happened to bump into each other in New Zealand, and were not at all acquainted, as Eusoff claimed: “I bumped into him there. As a Malaysian in a foreign country, I was happy to see a fellow countryman.” Of course, this turned out to be completely nonsense — Eusoff and Lingam booked tickets on the same flights to and from Singapore to New Zealand, as well as flights within New Zealand. They were behaving unethically and they knew it.
But without a smoking gun proving corruption or tampering with the process of justice, the tourism scandal died down. What revived it was a video of Lingam on the phone with then Chief Judge of Malaya Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim. The video showed promising Ahmad Fairuz that he could make him Chief Justice because he was in cahoots with Eusoff to fix the appointments of judges. Because of Lingam’s links with the Prime Minister and other Cabinet members instrumental in the judicial appointment process, he told Ahmad Fairuz that he could rest assured he would get the job — and, of course, he did.
So, in other words, the top judicial posts in our country were being sold and passed around like datukships or goreng pisang. Imagine if we elected our members of Parliament by getting men like Lingam to give them to their friends. Heck, imagine if we picked our Prime Minister and Cabinet in this manner — that’s exactly how we picked our top judges.
This is no joking matter, so even our government had no choice but to appoint a royal commission to probe the matter. The royal commission looked into evidence of corruption in the judicial system, especially the recordings of Lingam’s conversations with Eusoff. This was big news, if you can remember — and the royal commission’s findings were even bigger. If you need a refresher, the royal commission recommended that the authorities investigate former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Eusoff and Ahmad Fairuz, former Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Vincent Tan, and Lingam for offences under the Sedition Act 1948, the Prevention of Corruption Act 1961, the Legal Profession Act 1976, the Official Secrets Act 1972 and the Penal Code.
To recap: there is strong evidence that two of the most powerful politicians in the country, two of the most powerful judges in the country, one of the richest men in the country, and one of the most prominent lawyers in the country violated some of the most strict laws of the land — the Sedition Act and the Official Secrets Act, among others! And their defence to all this was the shabbiest imaginable. Lingam variously claimed that he was not the man in the videotape, that he was drunk, or that he could talk whatever cock he liked in his own house. Whenever they faced a hard question during the royal commission grilling, both Eusoff and Dr Mahathir would insist they just couldn’t remember.
When the most powerful and intelligent Malaysians you can think of can’t even muster a mildly convincing defence to save their skins, you know something’s wrong. The Cabinet again had no choice but to approve the royal commission’s recommendations in investigating these six men for their potential crimes. And now, a year later, the Cabinet has quietly approved the dropping of all investigations, saying there’s just not enough proof.
You have the smoking gun — you have a top lawyer on the phone with a top judge, and they’re openly talking about how the whole government is rigged to ensure justice is done only for the highest bidder. You’d need an equally huge smoking gun to reject this evidence — and yet without any fanfare, the government has decided to drop the whole matter. Our administration of justice has been indicted of corruption to its very core, and the government can’t even care enough to explain what’s so compelling that they must drop the case. And people still wonder why I don’t believe in Barisan Nasional or 1Malaysia.
NOTE: John Lee is a third-year student of economics at Dartmouth College in the United States. He has been thinking aloud since 2005 at infernalramblings.com.
Petrol prices to rise again?
A Starbiz report today speculated that “rising crude oil prices in the international market may up the pressure on the Government to review local pump prices to rein in the country’s huge subsidy bill”.
The report (++++Govt may be pressured to review prices of petrol) also noted that crude oil the day before retreated from a high of US$82 per barrel in New York overnight, but remained above the US$80 mark during Asian trading hours that day. At the current level, crude oil had surged 15% since the start of October and more than doubled from a low of US$34 per barrel in March.
The Starbiz report seemed to prepare the public for a scenario soon to justify the Government’s raising local pump prices. But the case is built on incomplete or false comparisons when reference is made to when the oil price was at a low of US$34 per barrel in March. The report omitted the fact that oil prices traded to a high of some US$150 per barrel not so longer ago. Also bear in mind that Malaysia is a producer of petroleum, which is of higher grade and hence commands a premium price, and that we are also a nett exporter of oil. The people at large have a right to ask why the Government is always using the “subsidies” element to justify any price increase at the pump but never sharing the profits the nation’s oil resources during oil price boom times when the world prices hovering at US$150 were almost twice the current price of US$80 per barrel.
It’s a case of “Heads I win, tails you lose” for the Government-cum-Petronas versus the Malaysian consumer. The media too must paint a balanced picture whenever the price at the pump issue crops up as any price increase always leads to a spiral of other price increases starting with “transportation” which is dependent on oil and gas, and this “transport” element features in almost all supplies of goods and services. The Government must be reminded that this commodity called petroleum is a national resource, and Petronas — the national oil corporation– is supposed to hold this resource in trust on behalf of the people.
****************************************************
++++From star.com.my:
Friday October 23, 2009
Govt may be pressured to review prices of petrol
By IZWAN IDRIS
Crude oil prices up 15% since start of October
PETALING JAYA: Rising crude oil prices in the international market may up the pressure on the Government to review local pump prices to rein in the country’s huge fuel subsidy bill.
Crude oil yesterday retreated from a high of US$82 per barrel hit in New York overnight, but remained above the US$80 mark during Asian trading hours yesterday.
At the current level, crude oil had surged 15% since the start of October and more than doubled from a low of US$34 per barrel in March.
The current pump price for the RON95 petrol has been set at RM1.80 a litre since the grade was officially introduced last month.
Prior to Sept 1, a number of select pump stations around Klang Valley were selling the petrol at RM1.75 per litre. The hike was to take into account the higher crude oil price since the plan to introduce RON95 was announced early this year.
However, Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumer Affairs Ministry secretary-general Datuk Zain Mohd Dom said last month the Government would cap the RON95 price at RM1.80 for the rest of the year.
International crude oil price was traded within US$65 and US$75 per a barrel in August and September. Crude oil price averaged about US$74 per barrel over the past three weeks of October. Some estimates put that based on the average price, the Government has to fork out 39 sen in subsidy for every litre of RON95 sold at local pumps.
Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Malaysia spent RM9bil on subsidies for petrol, liquefied petroleum gas and diesel, but did not specify any time period.
“The Government may revamp the existing fuel and food subsidy structure to bring down its budget deficit,” Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd senior economist Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin said.
Malaysia’s budget deficit was forecast to widen to 7.6% this year, but was projected to be lower in 2010 by cutting down on operating expenditure that includes spending on subsidies.
The Government was also reported to be considering “a more discriminatory system” where the bulk of the subsidies would be chanelled to lower income groups.
Crude oil in New York fell below US$81 per barrel yesterday after the US dollar rebounded from a 14-month low against a basket of six major currencies.
“The US dollar is stronger today, that’s why crude is down,” Frank Schallenberger, head of commodities research at Germany-based Landesbank Baden-Württemberg told Bloomberg yesterday.
The US dollar had been on a slide over the past few months as investors’ risk appetite improved amid signs the global economy is recovering.
The report (++++Govt may be pressured to review prices of petrol) also noted that crude oil the day before retreated from a high of US$82 per barrel in New York overnight, but remained above the US$80 mark during Asian trading hours that day. At the current level, crude oil had surged 15% since the start of October and more than doubled from a low of US$34 per barrel in March.
The Starbiz report seemed to prepare the public for a scenario soon to justify the Government’s raising local pump prices. But the case is built on incomplete or false comparisons when reference is made to when the oil price was at a low of US$34 per barrel in March. The report omitted the fact that oil prices traded to a high of some US$150 per barrel not so longer ago. Also bear in mind that Malaysia is a producer of petroleum, which is of higher grade and hence commands a premium price, and that we are also a nett exporter of oil. The people at large have a right to ask why the Government is always using the “subsidies” element to justify any price increase at the pump but never sharing the profits the nation’s oil resources during oil price boom times when the world prices hovering at US$150 were almost twice the current price of US$80 per barrel.
It’s a case of “Heads I win, tails you lose” for the Government-cum-Petronas versus the Malaysian consumer. The media too must paint a balanced picture whenever the price at the pump issue crops up as any price increase always leads to a spiral of other price increases starting with “transportation” which is dependent on oil and gas, and this “transport” element features in almost all supplies of goods and services. The Government must be reminded that this commodity called petroleum is a national resource, and Petronas — the national oil corporation– is supposed to hold this resource in trust on behalf of the people.
****************************************************
++++From star.com.my:
Friday October 23, 2009
Govt may be pressured to review prices of petrol
By IZWAN IDRIS
Crude oil prices up 15% since start of October
PETALING JAYA: Rising crude oil prices in the international market may up the pressure on the Government to review local pump prices to rein in the country’s huge fuel subsidy bill.
Crude oil yesterday retreated from a high of US$82 per barrel hit in New York overnight, but remained above the US$80 mark during Asian trading hours yesterday.
At the current level, crude oil had surged 15% since the start of October and more than doubled from a low of US$34 per barrel in March.
The current pump price for the RON95 petrol has been set at RM1.80 a litre since the grade was officially introduced last month.
Prior to Sept 1, a number of select pump stations around Klang Valley were selling the petrol at RM1.75 per litre. The hike was to take into account the higher crude oil price since the plan to introduce RON95 was announced early this year.
However, Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumer Affairs Ministry secretary-general Datuk Zain Mohd Dom said last month the Government would cap the RON95 price at RM1.80 for the rest of the year.
International crude oil price was traded within US$65 and US$75 per a barrel in August and September. Crude oil price averaged about US$74 per barrel over the past three weeks of October. Some estimates put that based on the average price, the Government has to fork out 39 sen in subsidy for every litre of RON95 sold at local pumps.
Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Malaysia spent RM9bil on subsidies for petrol, liquefied petroleum gas and diesel, but did not specify any time period.
“The Government may revamp the existing fuel and food subsidy structure to bring down its budget deficit,” Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd senior economist Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin said.
Malaysia’s budget deficit was forecast to widen to 7.6% this year, but was projected to be lower in 2010 by cutting down on operating expenditure that includes spending on subsidies.
The Government was also reported to be considering “a more discriminatory system” where the bulk of the subsidies would be chanelled to lower income groups.
Crude oil in New York fell below US$81 per barrel yesterday after the US dollar rebounded from a 14-month low against a basket of six major currencies.
“The US dollar is stronger today, that’s why crude is down,” Frank Schallenberger, head of commodities research at Germany-based Landesbank Baden-Württemberg told Bloomberg yesterday.
The US dollar had been on a slide over the past few months as investors’ risk appetite improved amid signs the global economy is recovering.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Agatha Christie Thriller...
Frontpaged by most print media today -- and rightly so! -- and hot news beeak yesterday by most online news sites, was THAI FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST EXPERT DR PORNTIP'S TESTYIMONY AT THE TEOH BENG HOCK'S INQUEST THAT THE POLITICAL AIDE'S DEATH WAS PROBABLY A HOMICIDE (80 PERCENT) versus SUIXCIDE (20 PERCENT).
As a student going back not so longer though I once was described as a Jurassic scribe a decade ago, Desi is a fan of all murder mysteries, with Sherlock Holmes on B&W TV a firm favourite when growing up (my growing up, maybe Sir Arthur Conan DSoyle's too:).
So to out in cone=text, let me quote the first few paras from the Nut Graph relying on Bernama's:
80% chance of homicide in Teoh’s case
21 Oct 09 : 6.57PM
Teoh Beng Hock suffered several injuries before his fall
SHAH ALAM, 21 Oct 2009: Well-known Thai pathologist Dr Porntip Rojanasunan told the coroner's court here today that there was an 80% possibility of homicide and 20% chance of suicide in the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock.
Testifying in English, she said Teoh suffered several injuries before he suffered a fall and died after being questioned by the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC).
She said the injuries on Teoh included a penetration in the anal region, an abrasion on the thigh and strangle bruises on the neck, and they were incompatible with a fall from a height.
The 54-year-old expert, who was asked by the Selangor government to testify on the cause of Teoh's death, said her findings were based on the autopsy reports of Dr Khairul Azman and Dr Prashant Naresh Samberkar and post-mortem pictures made available to her.
Teoh, the political aide of Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on 16 July on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam, after giving a statement in the case of alleged misuse of state allocations at the Selangor MACC office. The MACC office is located in Plaza Masalam.
Dr Porntip is now director-general of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, Thailand, and has 27 years experience in the field of forensic science.
The Thai expert came to the court at 8.50am wearing a tight top, long black skirt and boots, with a funky red and light brown streaked hairstyle.
She also prepared a slide presentation for the court to better understand her testimony.
"From the post-mortem picture, I found that there was a contusion on the right side of the neck, which we (pathologists) call a handle bruise, and this injury is compatible with injury caused by manual strangulation," said Dr Porntip, who has conducted more than 10,000 post-mortems.
She said the injury was not indicated in the autopsy reports prepared by Dr Khairul Azman and Dr Prashant, which were given to her for examination.
"I also found penetration injury in the anal region which can be caused by inserting an object in that particular part. I have never seen such injury in cases of a fall from a height," she said, pointing to the post-mortem pictures displayed on the slide.
She said she also found an abrasion on an upper thigh of Teoh which could have been caused by beating.
"Another injury which I found was fracture of the skull, which may have been caused by a direct blunt force to the skull prior to the fall," said Dr Porntip, who is the 30th witness at the inquest.
She said it was possible that Teoh was unconscious when he fell from the fifth floor, based on the absence of reaction injuries on the body. She added that the wounds looked like pre-fall injuries, and the severe chest injury was the result of the primary impact on the ground.
When asked by counsel for the Selangor government, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, as to the abrasion mark found under Teoh's shoe, the forensic expert said: "It looks like the body was dragged.
"In normal cases of a fall from a height, the shoes would not have left an abrasion mark like this," she explained.
When asked by coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas whether the floor surface could have caused the dragging effect, Dr Porntip replied: "Hard and rough surface."
"However my forensic team did not find anything that may have caused this effect when they examined the 14th floor (MACC office) the last time," she said. — Bernama
DESIDERATA:
I pray the late Teoh's family would agree to a second belated post-mortem to be conducted by Dr Porntip to shed a truer light on Teoh's injuries and help us understand more iif certain parties had been "misleading" the peoiple of Malaysia and betraying their professional training and themselves along the way TO SEEK JUSTICE for a young Malaysian life taken away frighfully before his time.
May God guide Teoh's family in their wisdom at a crosssroads of decision making. We will understand whatever the final path they choose. God bless all Truth-seekers, Amen
********************************
UPDATEd on Oct 23, 2009 @1.46PM, with a little from Dr Rafick of rights2write.wordpress.com, famed for his CSI-Malaysia series on TBH!:)
Death at MACC: My CSI XVI – Making sense of the 80% probability
22/10/2009 by drrafick
1. I guess everyone is still shocked with the imported Pathologist from Thailand, Dr Porntip Rojanasunan (Dr PR) revelation that there is 80% probability that TBH died from Homicide and not suicide. As usual, I prefer to analyze the exact facts reveal during inquest by visiting the AG Chamber website but I found that the “Nota Keterangan” has not been updated since 14 Aug 2009. The video recording was has a poor audio quality and I really need to read the “Explanatory Notes” to digest what was asked and what was said by all parties.
2.. As I do not have access to the crucial information, I have to rely on what was printed in the MSM as well as on the online media. To ensure consistency, I use The Star, NST, Malaysian Insider, Malaysiakini and Malaysian Mirror as my source of reference.
3. Some people are wondering on how Dr PR came to this 80% conclusion. I can safely say that is based on facts and her own personal experience. She would then make a guesstimate on the probability that TBH was murdered and did not commit suicide. We must appreciate that Dr PR came to the conclusion without examining the actual body but based on document review which includes photos, reports and the reports by her 2 assistance that came over several months back. I will try to explain in the simple manner on how Dr PR arrived at this conclusion.
4. Dr PR concluded that that TBH was unconscious and was already injured when he exited the window based on the type, severity and location of injuries. It appears that TBH has two types of injuries. One is due to the fall and the other is due to physical abuses. She concluded that in the absence of reactive injury when the late TBH impacted the floor, he must be unconscious.
5. Firstly, Dr PR concluded that he was unconscious because she expected that someone that is conscious during a fall would cushion his/her fall with an outstretched hand. This is a common sense which I believe many people who had slipped would have experience injuries on the hand or wrist as a result of the body reflex where the person hand would automatically be outstretched. At the height, speed and momentum, one would expect severe injuries to the hands but in this case there were none. For this reason she concluded TBH was unconscious. This is a fair, simple and acceptable argument.
6. The second issue is that whether TBH has injuries consistent with a fall from height. In this aspect, Dr PR agreed with Malaysian doctors that there is substantial evidence to show that there is a fall from height. Among others, these include the leg and hip fractures. Again this is a reasonable and fair conclusion.
7. The other significant comment that was highlighted by Dr PR that indicates that TBH was brutalized before being thrown out of the window is based on several signs on the body. The first being the skull fracture where she said is consistent with a blunt trauma. In this case, the skull injury does not match those that are due to the fall. Personally, I think both side of the camp can split hair and probably there is a strong probability that both parties are right in the sense that it is hard to differentiate the outcome of an injury due to a fall and due to a blunt trauma.
8. The most damaging evidence came from the findings of Dr PR on the signs of strangulation around the neck. A quick review of the pathologist report (Item No 5, pg 7 and Item under heading of injuries on page 3) showed that the Malaysian Pathologist acknowledge the presence of the wound but did not account for the reason of the wound. Certainly, Dr PR has a point as she demonstrated how the wound would have come about i.e. by manual strangulation.
9. Another interesting interpretation by Dr PR is with regards to the anal wound. Again the Malaysian Pathologist noted the presence of a penetrating wound injury measuring 2cmx6cm (Item 7 and 8, page No4) (item 7, 8 page No8 ) but did not take into account the cause of this injury when making their conclusions. Dr PR claim such a longitudinal wound must have been due to a penetrating injury rather that the fractures around the hip. This is also logical
10. From Dr PR findings, it is obvious that the Malaysian doctors actually saw what Dr PR saw but did not take into account the seriousness of the two injuries at the neck and anus. Is there a possibility that they had intentionally omitted their conclusions on these two injuries? If there is such a possibility, then why did they do it? A senior pathologist like Dr Khairul surely could not have concluded that the injury especially in the neck is due to a fall from height.
11. Based on Dr PR explanation, I believe the Malaysian doctors need to revisit their findings again and analyze it. They need to find a solid argument to counter the findings of Dr PR. I would say they are in a better position to do so because they examined the body and Dr PR did not. Finding a solid yet acceptable argument may not be easy in light of things that have happened.
12. Based on my own analysis, I concur with Dr PR that TBH was unconscious when he exited the window. I concurred with her findings that TBH sustained some injuries that is due to a fall from height. I have no access to the body and post mortem pictures but Dr PR has seen TBH post mortem pictures. In that aspect, I gave her the vote that TBH was brutalized before being thrown out of the window. My position remains the same unless the Malaysian Pathologist can provide some simple, reasonable and logical explanation with regards to the injury of the neck and anus. In the meantime, the general feeling is that the people believe that that there is an interdepartmental collaboration to COVER UP rather than to solve the crime.
Reference
TBH Post Mortem report
AG Chambers website- TBH Inquest proceeding
Previous CSI Series
As a student going back not so longer though I once was described as a Jurassic scribe a decade ago, Desi is a fan of all murder mysteries, with Sherlock Holmes on B&W TV a firm favourite when growing up (my growing up, maybe Sir Arthur Conan DSoyle's too:).
So to out in cone=text, let me quote the first few paras from the Nut Graph relying on Bernama's:
80% chance of homicide in Teoh’s case
21 Oct 09 : 6.57PM
Teoh Beng Hock suffered several injuries before his fall
SHAH ALAM, 21 Oct 2009: Well-known Thai pathologist Dr Porntip Rojanasunan told the coroner's court here today that there was an 80% possibility of homicide and 20% chance of suicide in the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock.
Testifying in English, she said Teoh suffered several injuries before he suffered a fall and died after being questioned by the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC).
She said the injuries on Teoh included a penetration in the anal region, an abrasion on the thigh and strangle bruises on the neck, and they were incompatible with a fall from a height.
The 54-year-old expert, who was asked by the Selangor government to testify on the cause of Teoh's death, said her findings were based on the autopsy reports of Dr Khairul Azman and Dr Prashant Naresh Samberkar and post-mortem pictures made available to her.
Teoh, the political aide of Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on 16 July on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam, after giving a statement in the case of alleged misuse of state allocations at the Selangor MACC office. The MACC office is located in Plaza Masalam.
Dr Porntip is now director-general of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, Thailand, and has 27 years experience in the field of forensic science.
The Thai expert came to the court at 8.50am wearing a tight top, long black skirt and boots, with a funky red and light brown streaked hairstyle.
She also prepared a slide presentation for the court to better understand her testimony.
"From the post-mortem picture, I found that there was a contusion on the right side of the neck, which we (pathologists) call a handle bruise, and this injury is compatible with injury caused by manual strangulation," said Dr Porntip, who has conducted more than 10,000 post-mortems.
She said the injury was not indicated in the autopsy reports prepared by Dr Khairul Azman and Dr Prashant, which were given to her for examination.
"I also found penetration injury in the anal region which can be caused by inserting an object in that particular part. I have never seen such injury in cases of a fall from a height," she said, pointing to the post-mortem pictures displayed on the slide.
She said she also found an abrasion on an upper thigh of Teoh which could have been caused by beating.
"Another injury which I found was fracture of the skull, which may have been caused by a direct blunt force to the skull prior to the fall," said Dr Porntip, who is the 30th witness at the inquest.
She said it was possible that Teoh was unconscious when he fell from the fifth floor, based on the absence of reaction injuries on the body. She added that the wounds looked like pre-fall injuries, and the severe chest injury was the result of the primary impact on the ground.
When asked by counsel for the Selangor government, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, as to the abrasion mark found under Teoh's shoe, the forensic expert said: "It looks like the body was dragged.
"In normal cases of a fall from a height, the shoes would not have left an abrasion mark like this," she explained.
When asked by coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas whether the floor surface could have caused the dragging effect, Dr Porntip replied: "Hard and rough surface."
"However my forensic team did not find anything that may have caused this effect when they examined the 14th floor (MACC office) the last time," she said. — Bernama
DESIDERATA:
I pray the late Teoh's family would agree to a second belated post-mortem to be conducted by Dr Porntip to shed a truer light on Teoh's injuries and help us understand more iif certain parties had been "misleading" the peoiple of Malaysia and betraying their professional training and themselves along the way TO SEEK JUSTICE for a young Malaysian life taken away frighfully before his time.
May God guide Teoh's family in their wisdom at a crosssroads of decision making. We will understand whatever the final path they choose. God bless all Truth-seekers, Amen
********************************
UPDATEd on Oct 23, 2009 @1.46PM, with a little from Dr Rafick of rights2write.wordpress.com, famed for his CSI-Malaysia series on TBH!:)
Death at MACC: My CSI XVI – Making sense of the 80% probability
22/10/2009 by drrafick
1. I guess everyone is still shocked with the imported Pathologist from Thailand, Dr Porntip Rojanasunan (Dr PR) revelation that there is 80% probability that TBH died from Homicide and not suicide. As usual, I prefer to analyze the exact facts reveal during inquest by visiting the AG Chamber website but I found that the “Nota Keterangan” has not been updated since 14 Aug 2009. The video recording was has a poor audio quality and I really need to read the “Explanatory Notes” to digest what was asked and what was said by all parties.
2.. As I do not have access to the crucial information, I have to rely on what was printed in the MSM as well as on the online media. To ensure consistency, I use The Star, NST, Malaysian Insider, Malaysiakini and Malaysian Mirror as my source of reference.
3. Some people are wondering on how Dr PR came to this 80% conclusion. I can safely say that is based on facts and her own personal experience. She would then make a guesstimate on the probability that TBH was murdered and did not commit suicide. We must appreciate that Dr PR came to the conclusion without examining the actual body but based on document review which includes photos, reports and the reports by her 2 assistance that came over several months back. I will try to explain in the simple manner on how Dr PR arrived at this conclusion.
4. Dr PR concluded that that TBH was unconscious and was already injured when he exited the window based on the type, severity and location of injuries. It appears that TBH has two types of injuries. One is due to the fall and the other is due to physical abuses. She concluded that in the absence of reactive injury when the late TBH impacted the floor, he must be unconscious.
5. Firstly, Dr PR concluded that he was unconscious because she expected that someone that is conscious during a fall would cushion his/her fall with an outstretched hand. This is a common sense which I believe many people who had slipped would have experience injuries on the hand or wrist as a result of the body reflex where the person hand would automatically be outstretched. At the height, speed and momentum, one would expect severe injuries to the hands but in this case there were none. For this reason she concluded TBH was unconscious. This is a fair, simple and acceptable argument.
6. The second issue is that whether TBH has injuries consistent with a fall from height. In this aspect, Dr PR agreed with Malaysian doctors that there is substantial evidence to show that there is a fall from height. Among others, these include the leg and hip fractures. Again this is a reasonable and fair conclusion.
7. The other significant comment that was highlighted by Dr PR that indicates that TBH was brutalized before being thrown out of the window is based on several signs on the body. The first being the skull fracture where she said is consistent with a blunt trauma. In this case, the skull injury does not match those that are due to the fall. Personally, I think both side of the camp can split hair and probably there is a strong probability that both parties are right in the sense that it is hard to differentiate the outcome of an injury due to a fall and due to a blunt trauma.
8. The most damaging evidence came from the findings of Dr PR on the signs of strangulation around the neck. A quick review of the pathologist report (Item No 5, pg 7 and Item under heading of injuries on page 3) showed that the Malaysian Pathologist acknowledge the presence of the wound but did not account for the reason of the wound. Certainly, Dr PR has a point as she demonstrated how the wound would have come about i.e. by manual strangulation.
9. Another interesting interpretation by Dr PR is with regards to the anal wound. Again the Malaysian Pathologist noted the presence of a penetrating wound injury measuring 2cmx6cm (Item 7 and 8, page No4) (item 7, 8 page No8 ) but did not take into account the cause of this injury when making their conclusions. Dr PR claim such a longitudinal wound must have been due to a penetrating injury rather that the fractures around the hip. This is also logical
10. From Dr PR findings, it is obvious that the Malaysian doctors actually saw what Dr PR saw but did not take into account the seriousness of the two injuries at the neck and anus. Is there a possibility that they had intentionally omitted their conclusions on these two injuries? If there is such a possibility, then why did they do it? A senior pathologist like Dr Khairul surely could not have concluded that the injury especially in the neck is due to a fall from height.
11. Based on Dr PR explanation, I believe the Malaysian doctors need to revisit their findings again and analyze it. They need to find a solid argument to counter the findings of Dr PR. I would say they are in a better position to do so because they examined the body and Dr PR did not. Finding a solid yet acceptable argument may not be easy in light of things that have happened.
12. Based on my own analysis, I concur with Dr PR that TBH was unconscious when he exited the window. I concurred with her findings that TBH sustained some injuries that is due to a fall from height. I have no access to the body and post mortem pictures but Dr PR has seen TBH post mortem pictures. In that aspect, I gave her the vote that TBH was brutalized before being thrown out of the window. My position remains the same unless the Malaysian Pathologist can provide some simple, reasonable and logical explanation with regards to the injury of the neck and anus. In the meantime, the general feeling is that the people believe that that there is an interdepartmental collaboration to COVER UP rather than to solve the crime.
Reference
TBH Post Mortem report
AG Chambers website- TBH Inquest proceeding
Previous CSI Series
Monday, October 19, 2009
CSM: Eye on PKR Brews in Sabah and Sarawak
Desi is doing a Community Service Message not for compleatly altruistic motivation. He tries to accumulate Brownie points so he can be promoted to a Scout.
PRESS RELEASE
19 OCTOBER 2009
Clarifications on alleged discord in Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Sabah, Azmin Ali and Zaid Ibrahim
In light of the exaggerated, slanted and half truth reporting in both the mainstream and new media on alleged serious discord in PKR on Sabah, Azmin Ali and Zaid Ibrahim arising from last Tuesday’s political bureau meeting, PKR wishes to clarify on some of the issues raised although these meetings are usually confidential.
Whilst it is true that there are some disagreements within the party on several issues including on the restructuring of PKR leadership in Sabah, it cannot be overemphasized that these are the usual disagreements within the party (as is normal in any worthy political party) and not anything so fundamental and serious to warrant the sort of press that it had undeservedly generated.
The purported heated political bureau meeting was actually quite uneventful. Both Azmin Ali and Mustafa Kamil were asked to report on the situation in Sabah and Sarawak where they have respectively been appointed to lead the Majlis Perhubungan Negeri (State Liaison Council) in order to assist in the states’ leadership restructuring and in representing the Majlis Pimpinan Pusat (MPP).
During the meeting, PKR Sabah did not hand over any memorandum of protest, Azmin did not throw any tantrum, nor was there any power tussle between Zaid and Azmin as reported. It is sufficient to state at this point that the PKR Sabah leadership is being restructured and is an ongoing process that will of course attract differences of opinions.
The only highlight of the meeting was about Gabriel Adit, Adun of Ngameh, Sarawak and his impending resignation from PKR and plan to form another party.
The political bureau meeting is a regular meeting held weekly among the top leaders to discuss many agenda including regular matters like situation reports on Sabah and Sarawak and urgent matters like Gabriel Adit.
As for Zaid taking leave from the political bureau and the MPP, this as explained by Zaid was merely to enable him to concentrate fully on drafting Pakatan Rakyat’s all important Common Policy Framework that will take the opposition coalition to the next level in challenging the BN as the Government of the Day.
Zaid it must be emphasized has not left PKR and is still a PKR leader, a valuable asset and committed to the various party activities as can be seen in his upcoming schedules.
Latheefa Koya
Information Chief of PKR
PRESS RELEASE
19 OCTOBER 2009
Clarifications on alleged discord in Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Sabah, Azmin Ali and Zaid Ibrahim
In light of the exaggerated, slanted and half truth reporting in both the mainstream and new media on alleged serious discord in PKR on Sabah, Azmin Ali and Zaid Ibrahim arising from last Tuesday’s political bureau meeting, PKR wishes to clarify on some of the issues raised although these meetings are usually confidential.
Whilst it is true that there are some disagreements within the party on several issues including on the restructuring of PKR leadership in Sabah, it cannot be overemphasized that these are the usual disagreements within the party (as is normal in any worthy political party) and not anything so fundamental and serious to warrant the sort of press that it had undeservedly generated.
The purported heated political bureau meeting was actually quite uneventful. Both Azmin Ali and Mustafa Kamil were asked to report on the situation in Sabah and Sarawak where they have respectively been appointed to lead the Majlis Perhubungan Negeri (State Liaison Council) in order to assist in the states’ leadership restructuring and in representing the Majlis Pimpinan Pusat (MPP).
During the meeting, PKR Sabah did not hand over any memorandum of protest, Azmin did not throw any tantrum, nor was there any power tussle between Zaid and Azmin as reported. It is sufficient to state at this point that the PKR Sabah leadership is being restructured and is an ongoing process that will of course attract differences of opinions.
The only highlight of the meeting was about Gabriel Adit, Adun of Ngameh, Sarawak and his impending resignation from PKR and plan to form another party.
The political bureau meeting is a regular meeting held weekly among the top leaders to discuss many agenda including regular matters like situation reports on Sabah and Sarawak and urgent matters like Gabriel Adit.
As for Zaid taking leave from the political bureau and the MPP, this as explained by Zaid was merely to enable him to concentrate fully on drafting Pakatan Rakyat’s all important Common Policy Framework that will take the opposition coalition to the next level in challenging the BN as the Government of the Day.
Zaid it must be emphasized has not left PKR and is still a PKR leader, a valuable asset and committed to the various party activities as can be seen in his upcoming schedules.
Latheefa Koya
Information Chief of PKR
Au,Gold! First A Consumer's Edict Holds...
That is, Caveat Emptor. BUYERS (of Au) BEWARE!
When you read, and digest this item from Daily Wealth which flows into my Inbox, yes, Daily. For Free-- so if you think there's steal such a thingy called a FREE LUNCH,go ahead >>>>>>> Eat slowly... Ruminate too!:):)
********************************
Dear DailyWealth Subscriber,
Before you buy a single ounce of gold or a gold stock, be sure to read Matt Badiali's eye-opening report, below.
Good Investing,
Brian Hunt
Editor in Chief, DailyWealth
Why Chinese Gold could pay 100% MORE than U.S. Gold over the Next 2 Years
Don't buy another ounce of gold until you read this report.
In short: The Chinese government has created a secret new gold investment. The last time the gov't did something like this, investors could have made 1,084%
Dear Reader,
China has gone crazy for gold.
In April, for example, the government's Foreign-Exchange Agency announced the purchase of an additional 16 MILLION ounces for state coffers.
And just a few months earlier, National Geographic Magazine reported that for the first time China had surpassed the U.S. as a buyer of gold jewelry.
But here's the amazing thing few investors realize...
Behind the scenes, in a move that has gone almost completely unreported in the Western press, the Chinese government has created a gold investment that could dwarf the returns of gold bullion, ordinary gold stocks, or any other type of gold investment you've heard of before.
I wouldn't be surprised if you see gains of 1,000% or more.
I realize that may sound impossible, but consider...
This is not the first time Beijing leaders have secretly created such an opportunity:
In the late 1990s, the Chinese government created two similar investments. One (to help the local insurance industry) went up more than 625% in just a few years... the other (to aid the energy sector) has gone up about 1,084% over a similar period.
But this is the first time Chinese officials have intervened in this way in the gold markets—and I expect the result will be a windfall for savvy investors over the next few years.
After all, gold is one of the only "buy and hold" investments in the world right now. It is also the only investment in the world that has gone up EVERY YEAR for the past five years straight. And, remember, China remains the fastest-growing economy on the planet, with the wealthiest government on Earth.
The point is, if you are interested in an extremely lucrative way to own gold, right alongside the Chinese government, this is something you should consider.
I can just about guarantee you will not hear about this opportunity in any mainstream media publication. I heard about it only because of a contact in the industry, who met recently with officials in Beijing.
I expect the word will soon get out. But until then, you have an incredible opportunity. Let me show you what's going on...
The most reliable
way to see 500%+
There's been perhaps only one truly reliable investment trend over the past 20 years.
Bull markets have come and gone. Stocks have done well during some periods... and crashed during others. Same with bonds and real estate.
But there's one type of investment that has continued to reliably pay an absolute fortune.
In short: When the Chinese government creates a new investment vehicle, by spinning off part of a government entity, early investors have made a killing.
When the Chinese government realized they needed to improve their insurance industry, for example, they broke up state-run agencies, and created China Life Insurance, the only company with a national license. Investors have made 625% in the past five years.
When the Chinese government realized they needed more industrial supplies for manufacturing, they spun off state operations and created a firm called Chalco... which paid more than 2,100% over a six year period. They did the same with mobile phones, turning state interests into a public company that has provided 583% gains since becoming available.
And they did the same thing not too long ago in the oil industry...
First oil... now gold
In the 1980s there basically was no "oil business" in China.
But the economy at the time was growing nearly 10% per year... and the government realized they had to become a major player.
The first thing they did was open up their own reserves for exploration. A government-created and partially government-owned business called China National Offshore Oil Corporation received an exclusive right to explore, develop, and produce oil with overseas partners. Investors have made more than 837% on this company since 2001.
Next, the Chinese government rewrote the energy rules, injected billions of dollars of capital, and in 1999 spun several new businesses out of the state-run China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
** PetroChina, for example, was set up with the help of Goldman Sachs. Early investors in Petro China made 1,084% in about four years.
** Another spin-off from the state-run oil monopoly was a company called Sinopec. The government still owns 70%. And investors who got in early made about 960% over a seven-year period.
The point is, China woke up to the fact that they needed to own and control as much oil as possible, to grow the economy and become a world power.
And now...
What the Chinese government did for oil over the past decade... they are today doing for gold.
This is a huge development.
You see, most investors don't realize that China is now the world's largest gold producer (they passed South Africa last year).
China is also one of the few countries in the world where known gold reserves are increasing... not shrinking.
That's why I predict that investing in China's government-created and partnered gold companies will be one of the easiest ways to get rich over the next few years.
Let me explain how it's all going down...
China's Secret Solution
For essentially the past 50 years, no one was allowed to touch gold in China... except for the government.
But today, that is changing... and in a hurry...
In short, the Chinese government wants more gold.
They realize gold is one of the only buy-and-hold investments in the world right now. And they've got a lot of money to spend... nearly $2 Trillion according to a recent report in The New York Times.
So the Ministry of Land and Resources has completely rewritten the country's mining laws (known as the Minerals and Resources Law) to encourage local and foreign companies to explore for and produce more gold.
The government has also recently created the Shanghai Gold Exchange, to allow anyone to trade gold, on the open market, without government interference.
But most importantly for you and me, the government has quietly gotten behind a handful of publicly traded gold companies.
I believe these deals could make you extraordinary amounts of money over the next few years.
Let me show you the specifics, and why I believe this could make you so much money.
Remember, this is all happening incredibly fast in China—just like it did in the oil industry, where investors in Sinopec made 360% in 10 months... investors in PetroChina made 140% in less than year... and investors in China National made 102% in five months.
Twenty years ago, China produced an inconsequential amount of gold. Today, China is the #1 gold-producing nation in the world...
And these new government deals are poised to make some smart investors quite wealthy, very soon...
Investment #1: Gold Partnering
with the government
When it comes to gold mining in China, it's a whole different world than what we're used to in America...
There's no such thing as a NI43-101 disclosure form for mining companies, like we have here at home. And instead of a handful of giant companies running the industy, like we're used to, it's basically thousands of small operations scattered across the country.
In short, it's like the American Wild West.
That's why having the government on your side can make all the difference in the world...
For example, there are two very small gold mining companies with government connections that have a very good chance at making you several times your money in the next few years...
GOVERNMENT GOLD PARTNER #1: Recently, the Chinese government helped create, and took nearly a 50% ownership stake in, a very small gold mining company, in order to develop a handful of the country's most promising gold projects.
Already, the company has two producing properties, and exploration permits for two of the countries most gold-rich, untapped areas.
What makes this investment so appealing is that normally, when you deal with investments in China, there are certain political risks.
Will the government approve your projects? Will you be allowed to explore and develop the most potentially lucrative territories?
But for this small company, the political risks are virtually non-existent. After all, the company is nearly half-owned by the government, so obviously it will have huge advantages.
That's why I believe there's a very good chance this company will eventually become one of the world's "major" developers. And if that happens, you could easily make 2,000% on a small investment stake today.
We saw what happened when the Chinese government got behind several promising oil companies. Investors made more than 1,000% gains over a several-year period.
Well, now I believe there's a very good chance the same thing is going to happen to this company in the gold business.
Consider that right now, this company sells for well under $5 a share. It was formed just a few years ago... and now has several projects in production, and several more on the way.
What's incredible, is that this company has never been written about in the The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, or any other U.S. newspaper or magazine.
GOVERNMENT GOLD PARTNER #2: The second company I want to tell you about was formed by key members of China's National Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Corporation, a state-owned company.
In other words, several Chinese government employees got together, and used their power, influence, and connections, to create a company that is now the biggest foreign gold producer in China (they also have a local Chinese partner, which maintains an 18% interest).
It's no surprise, of course, that this company (created by former government employees) became the first local-foreign company to develop a gold mine in China. Or that they are the largest gold producer in China today... and control the country 2nd largest mine.
In short, there's no foreign company in China that can get projects done like this company can. I think it's absolutely a no brainer to own the biggest foreign producer in the world's #1 gold-mining country.
Keep in mind, this is still, relatively speaking, a tiny, tiny stock. It costs less than $7 a share... and is much less than 1/10th the size of Barrick Gold, the world's biggest gold producer.
I believe this tiny company with China operations could return many times your money over the next few years. And I'm not the only one who thinks so...
A Canadian firm just bought 20% of the outstanding shares. And I believe they are probably willing to pay at least 50% more than the current share price for the rest of this small Chinese miner.
A buyout could quickly double your investment. But the truth is, I'd rather hold this company for the next few years and potentially see 500% gains or more.
And this brings me to a third government opportunity I haven't even mentioned yet...
Better than gov't-owned gold?
I've described how the Chinese government is creating partnerships and spinoffs to develop the local gold industry.
Well... they are also spending a fortune to develop the local silver industry.
In a nutshell, the government is bringing in an experienced business to consolidate small mines, and to make them more efficient and profitable (while remaining partially government-owned).
And the good news for us is, there's basically one tiny silver mining company from Canada that has quietly become the government's favorite partner.
As I'll show you, this company is growing at a wildly fantastic pace. It is extremely profitable. And yes, it has the government as a direct partner on several of it's holdings.
In the Ying mining disctrict, for example, this small Canadian company has worked with the Chinese government to consolidate a group of mines, and has since turned them into a very profitable operation.
Today, this company produces tens of millions of ounces of silver every year—all in China. It is the cheapest mining company of it's type in the world, by far. And it has partnered with the Chinese government in a handful of projects.
On each of these projects, they pay NO taxes for the first two years.
And get this: Despite operating for just three years, this company is already the largest silver producer in China-- yet today it is still completely unknown.
I cannot say this strongly enough: You may never get another chance like this in your investment career... to buy such a cheap and wildly profitable mining company at the very beginning of what I see as a huge uptrend.
Overall, this company has grown its resources by an incredible 360% in roughly four years.
That's remarkable. And impossible to do in the U.S. or Canada... or any other developed country.
That's why China is the absolute best place in the world to grow a new mining company. Better still, we have a business that has no debt, almost $70 million in cash, and in large part because they are partnered with the government, has NEVER been turned down for a mining license.
My extremely conservative estimate for this company is a 100% gain before the end of this year (remember, it's still a very small company, and costs less than $5 a share). After that, the sky really is the limit.
I would not be surprised if this company ultimately becomes one of the most profitable stocks I recommend in my entire career.
Of course, I can't promise how much any of these companies are going to return over the next few years—there's no such thing as a guranteed investment.
But keep in mind: When mining companies get in early on new territories, they have a history of making investors an awful lot of money...
* A company called Rangold was instrumental in early mining operations in Mali. It has returned 634% in roughly the past five years.
* Keegan Resources got in early in Ghana, in West Africa, and has paid investors 489% in less than a year.
* A company called Buenaventure got in early in Peru's mining business... and has paid investors 1,293% over the past decade.
* And Barrick Gold... one of the companies that has made a business of being able to get in early in places like Peru, Argentina, and Tanzania, has returned a whopping 6,700% since going public.
I believe now is the perfect time to get in early on China's mining business, especially when you can have the government on your side.
And here's how I recommend you do it...
The New Secret of Getting
Rich in the Next 5 Years
My name is Matt Badiali. I'm a geologist.
I have a Masters of Science (M.Sc.) in geology and more than 13 years of industry and research experience.
You see, for years I wanted to take my expertise in resource companies and help people understand the business... and make some good money at the same time. So, a few years ago I joined a research team called Stansberry & Associates, which includes a PhD in finance, a former CitiGroup bond trader, several Johns Hopkins scientists, the former head of a California brokerage firm, and several Certified Financial Planners and hedge fund managers.
I learned their trade. And they learned a bit of mine.
And – for the past four years – I've leveraged my knowledge of the industry to help thousands of everyday Americans see huge gains by investing in precious metals and energy-related plays.
I've been studying China's gold (and silver) industry very closely for the past few years.
As I mentioned, China is the world's largest producer of gold in the world today, and the third-largest producer of Silver.
But this industry is still in its infancy.
"China represents one of the world's great remaining unexplored gold regions."
– Greg Jones, geologist
working in Southern China
When China's exploration and production techniques get better, China will dominate the world's gold production in an even bigger way. You have to remember that for basically the past 50 years, China had essentially NO precious metals industry.
But now the sleeping giant is waking up.
And I hope you'll join me for what I believe will be a very profitable ride. Remember, China is by far the richest government in the world (with about $1.95 TRILLION in reserves according to The New York Times). That's one of the reasons why I think this will probably be the easiest way to make a heck of a lot of money over the next few years.
I've done a ton of research on this opportunity over the past 6 months, and have put everything you need to know about gold and silver mining in China into my latest Research Report, called: Government-Backed Gold and Silver—How to Make 10-Times Your Money in China.
In this report, I carefully go over all of the gold and silver mining operations you need to know about in China. Then, I explain exactly which ones you should own immediately. I'll tell you how to do it... what price to pay... how to get the best deal... and approximately how long I think you'll be holding.
The best part is, I'd like to send you this report, free of charge.
In short, it's the first thing you will receive if you take a no-risk trial subscription to my monthly investment analysis, called The Stansberry & Associates (S&A) Resource Report.
You see, as a geologist, I focus not only on gold and silver, but also other natural resources including uranium, copper, natural gas, oil, water, and rare earth metals, just to name a few.
Right now, I'm particularly interested in several gold and silver opportunities.
I told you about the situation I've uncovered in China.
Well... there's another pretty extraordinary opportunity I'm very excited about too...
32,000%...?
I'm not sure how much you know about the precious metals business, but probably the best way to make money in this industry is not as an explorer... or producer.
Instead, it's to get a foothold on profitable mining royalties.
The way it works is, several smart geologists buy up the "royalty rights" to some of the world's most productive and lucrative mines.
And get this: These guys don't do any digging, production, or actual mining... they simply get paid lucrative "royalties" as the metals come out of the ground. It's an incredibly simple and lucrative business.
One of the first companies to do this in the gold industry was an operation called Franco-Nevada, which got its start in the mid-1980s.
This royalty set-up paid investors an average of 38% gains for 18 years! Absolutely incredible.
That means 2,404% after 10 years... and an incredible 32,000% over the full 18 years... which turns a $5,000 investment into $1.6 million!
Another company to set up a similar royalty business more recently was a firm called Royal Gold. Again, they don't do any mining, digging, exploring, etc. All they do is buy up royalty streams to lucrative mining operations, and wait for the money to roll in.
Since 2001, the company has returned a whopping 1,589%. In fact, Royal Gold has gone up even when everything else goes down.
"Even when everything else
went down in 2008,it returned a solid 55%..."
Consider: During the market meltdown of 2008, while just about every investment in the world got crushed, Royal Gold returned a solid 55% gain.
It's incredible. Owning royalty stakes in the world's best mining operations is a low-risk, inexpensive, and simple way to make an absolute fortune, especially in a precious metals bull market like we're in right now.
In fact, mining royalties may be the best business model in the world.
And I haven't even told you the best part...
Not too long ago, a company went public on the American Stock Exchange, which does the same thing... but with Silver royalties instead of gold.
Since going public, the shares are up 150%. But as we've seen with other royalty businesses... these gains are just the very tip of the iceberg.
Right now, the potential in silver is absolutely incredible... and this tiny silver royalty company is the only business of it's kind in the world. I expect a safe and simple investment today could return many times your money over the next few years.
If you'd like the details on this situation, I've published everything in my latest report: The Greatest Business in the World. Keep in mind: This company went public in the U.S. just a few years ago. They employ less than two-dozen people... yet bring in more than $150 million a year!
Again, this Research Repot will be among the first things I send you when you take a trial subscription to my monthly research advisory, called The S&A Resource Report.
Is the type of research I do appropriate for you?
I don't know. But let me tell you a little bit about it so you can decide for yourself...
The world's best-kept
mining secrets... REVEALED
My passion is research... and finding great investments no one else is talking about.
These are the opportunities you're not likely to hear about from mainstream news and media sources... the ones with the greatest potential for the biggest gains.
For example...
• In 2006, I uncovered a tiny company that owned the largest collection of in-the-ground silver resources on earth... an amazing 171 million ounces... plus an additional BILLION ounces it was working to confirm. The amazing this was, almost no one outside the mining community had even heard of this company, which gave my readers the chance to safely make 93% over the next 12 months.
• I also found a little-known copper company with a mine that had the longest remaining life of any major open-pit copper mine in the world. But what made this opportunity so interesting was that the company also had another world-class copper deposit, almost as big! Over the next 14 months, my readers had the chance to make 142% gains with this little-known stock.
• Just two months ago, I found a small company (Addax Petroleum) with an inside track on getting big oil contracts in Iraq. We made about 44% practically overnight when a big oil company offered to buy the firm out.
• Recently, I learned about a company that had secured the largest un-mined gold deposit in the world. When I found this, no one was talking about it yet. Since my recommendation, we are already up 56% in 4 months... with A LOT more to come.
In fact, over the past few years, I've helped my readers cash in on many great opportunities in the energy and mining fields, which are seldom covered by mainstream news sources.
For example...
93% on a small gold company called Cumberland Resources
195% on a Brazilian oil producer called Petrobras
100% on a small oil and gas explorer called Kodiak Oil & Gas
239% on unique gold company called Seabridge Gold
101% on an oil seismic mapping company called CGG Veritas
111% on a small oil producer called Occidental Petroleum
117% on a small deepwater drilling firm called Stone Energy
98% on a steel alloy technology for deep-sea drilling (Allegheny Technologies)
I don't know of another Research Service in the country that has a track record as good as ours today.
In fact, as of myu October issue, we had 16 recommendations in our portfolio. 14 of the 16 investments are making money, with gains ranging from 2% to nearly 70%.
This is probably why The S&A Resource Report research also has many mining and energy industry professionals who follow our work:
30-year Amoco Veteran:
"Matt Badiali's Report my favorite newsletter... and I would recommend it to anyone.
- Mike Hourihan, retired from BP/Amoco after 30-year career
Director Of NYSE Company
"Your letter, in many instances, has confirmed good ideas under consideration and at other times introduced new ideas, which have proven to be very profitable! I look forward to your report each month and find it to be extremely valuable. Keep up the good work!"
- Gerald Wilson, director of a NYSE listed E&P company.
9-Year Energy Industry Veteran
"I know all the big names in energy and energy services... but the S&A Resource Report has introduced me to faster growing, small energy service companies that are performing extremely well. I am very satisfied with the performance of these investments overall."
- Harold Dickens., PhD., 9-years in global energy services
Of course, I can't say for sure if the S&A Resource Report is right for you. But to help you decide, here's what I propose...
Try the S&A Resource Report for the next 4 months and make a decision whenever you are ready.
Here's what I mean...
Simply start trial subscription today, and you'll have instant access to:
• Research Report #1 – Government-Backed Gold and Silver: How to Make 10-Times Your Money in China
• Research Report #2 – The Greatest Business in the World.
Plus, every month you'll receive my Resource Report advisory letter, delivered to you on the second Tuesday of each month, first by e–mail, then by regular mail too. You'll also receive our daily market reports, sent by e-mail, also at no extra charge.
Over the next four months, take your time and decide if the S&A Resource Report is right for you. If not, I'll send you a FULL refund, and you can keep everything you've received up until that point.
How much does the S&A Resource Report cost?
I think it's ridiculously cheap, especially considering all you receive, and the time, money, and effort we put into this work. The truth is, just one of the investment ideas I'll share with you could help you make many times the subscription price.
And it's not just me saying this…
"I think that the S&A Resource Report provides the best financial advice I have ever had, bar none... Parker Drilling Co. I bought at $2.75 and now it is at $5.07 for an 84% increase. I have subscribed to several newsletters in the past but none have delivered the kind of returns I am seeing here."
-- Doug Patelli, Albany, NY
"Matt, I have used your advisories a lot. On Northern Dynasty Minerals I made 167% and on Parker Drilling Company 161%."
-- Karl Blanchard, Austin, TX
"I have bought stock in the four companies you mentioned and as of today my profits are in excess of $4,000. Far better results and profits than any previous service."
-- Jared Plumber, Tacoma, WA
"Sold Rowan Companies and a total of $2265.08. As you can see I'm away head of the game. Thanks to your letters... [I'm] up $31,552.93 to date for this year.
-- Jason Murdock, Dover, DE
Before I give you the details on how to get started, however, I'd like to tell you about one more exciting and overlooked opportunity you can take advantage of right now in the gold market...
A U.S. Gov't "loophole"
in the gold business
In recent months, I have been investigating an extraordinary situation...
It's another huge opportunity in the gold markets, which I recommend you take advantage of immediately...
In short: There's a U.S. government-created program that allows you to take ownership of some of the most valuable gold properties on Earth... for just a fraction of their true worth on the open markets.
What this translates to for you as an investor is the opportunity to make many, many times your original investment with very little risk.
The Washington Post calls it "One of the greatest boondoggles of all time."
And The LA Times says, "It's a tool [you] can use to make incredible amounts of money."
Already, thousands of regular Americans have used this government program to make an absolute fortune...
• On February 24th, government records indicate that Rising Sun, MD native Chet Walker used this opportunity to make $12,900 in a single day.
• One group of investors I know have made 2,015% thanks to this opportunity, over the past few years. Another group has made about 1,013% over roughly the same period.s
What's great about this U.S. government-created opportunity is that you can cash in on this gold opportunity directly through a unique type of investment on the U.S. stock market.
I believe you will be very happy with this investment over the next few years. I don't want to say much more about it here, because it is an extraordinary situation I'd prefer to reveal only to my subscribers.
But I explain everything you need to know in my new Research Report called: The Federal Gold "Loophole" of a Lifetime.
Again, you'll get all of the details as soon as you take a trial subscription to my monthly Resource Report advisory letter.
The price of The Resource Report, by the way, is $99 per year.
But today I'd like to offer you the chance to try my research for less than HALF the regular price. You'll pay just $39 for an entire year or my work, including everything mentioned here.
Why so cheap?
Well, I figure the best advertising for my research is to let you see the actual work and the results for yourself. And to encourage you to give it a try, I'd like to give you the opportunity to review The Resource Report at the cheapest price we've ever offered.
And remember: You'll have the next four (4) months to make up your mind.
In other words, by taking advantage of this offer, YOU ARE AGREEING ONLY TO TRY MY WORK, TO SEE IF YOU LIKE IT.
If not, we will simply part ways as friends, and you will be entitled to a FULL REFUND. You can keep everything I've sent you, my compliments.
I hope to hear from you right away. There are several extraordinary investment opportunities in gold and silver right now.
I hope you take advantage of them.
Good Investing,
Matt Badiali
Editor, The S&A Resource Report
October 2009
P.S. One more thing: Because of the fall in oil and energy prices over the past year, you have an extraordinary opportunity today to get into one of the world's great energy "hedge funds," at a ridiculously low price.
The guys running this investment have an incredible track record—recently returning about 389% over an 8-year period. They control many of the most valuable oil and natural gas properties in America... and have the world's greatest investor (Warren Buffett) as probably their biggest client. If you believe at all, as I do, that energy prices will go back up over the next decade and beyond, this is probably the one "no brainer" investment that's out there.
As soon as you start a subscription to my Resource Report, I'll send you my full report on this opportunity, called: How to Get Into One of America's Great Hedge Funds, for 60 cents on the Dollar.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tomyself:) ~~ You are receiving this message as part of a subscribers-only e-mail service covering the worlds of investing, finance, and economics. You are receiving this email because you subscribe to one of the investment newsletters published by Stansberry & Associates Investment Research.
When you read, and digest this item from Daily Wealth which flows into my Inbox, yes, Daily. For Free-- so if you think there's steal such a thingy called a FREE LUNCH,go ahead >>>>>>> Eat slowly... Ruminate too!:):)
********************************
Dear DailyWealth Subscriber,
Before you buy a single ounce of gold or a gold stock, be sure to read Matt Badiali's eye-opening report, below.
Good Investing,
Brian Hunt
Editor in Chief, DailyWealth
Why Chinese Gold could pay 100% MORE than U.S. Gold over the Next 2 Years
Don't buy another ounce of gold until you read this report.
In short: The Chinese government has created a secret new gold investment. The last time the gov't did something like this, investors could have made 1,084%
Dear Reader,
China has gone crazy for gold.
In April, for example, the government's Foreign-Exchange Agency announced the purchase of an additional 16 MILLION ounces for state coffers.
And just a few months earlier, National Geographic Magazine reported that for the first time China had surpassed the U.S. as a buyer of gold jewelry.
But here's the amazing thing few investors realize...
Behind the scenes, in a move that has gone almost completely unreported in the Western press, the Chinese government has created a gold investment that could dwarf the returns of gold bullion, ordinary gold stocks, or any other type of gold investment you've heard of before.
I wouldn't be surprised if you see gains of 1,000% or more.
I realize that may sound impossible, but consider...
This is not the first time Beijing leaders have secretly created such an opportunity:
In the late 1990s, the Chinese government created two similar investments. One (to help the local insurance industry) went up more than 625% in just a few years... the other (to aid the energy sector) has gone up about 1,084% over a similar period.
But this is the first time Chinese officials have intervened in this way in the gold markets—and I expect the result will be a windfall for savvy investors over the next few years.
After all, gold is one of the only "buy and hold" investments in the world right now. It is also the only investment in the world that has gone up EVERY YEAR for the past five years straight. And, remember, China remains the fastest-growing economy on the planet, with the wealthiest government on Earth.
The point is, if you are interested in an extremely lucrative way to own gold, right alongside the Chinese government, this is something you should consider.
I can just about guarantee you will not hear about this opportunity in any mainstream media publication. I heard about it only because of a contact in the industry, who met recently with officials in Beijing.
I expect the word will soon get out. But until then, you have an incredible opportunity. Let me show you what's going on...
The most reliable
way to see 500%+
There's been perhaps only one truly reliable investment trend over the past 20 years.
Bull markets have come and gone. Stocks have done well during some periods... and crashed during others. Same with bonds and real estate.
But there's one type of investment that has continued to reliably pay an absolute fortune.
In short: When the Chinese government creates a new investment vehicle, by spinning off part of a government entity, early investors have made a killing.
When the Chinese government realized they needed to improve their insurance industry, for example, they broke up state-run agencies, and created China Life Insurance, the only company with a national license. Investors have made 625% in the past five years.
When the Chinese government realized they needed more industrial supplies for manufacturing, they spun off state operations and created a firm called Chalco... which paid more than 2,100% over a six year period. They did the same with mobile phones, turning state interests into a public company that has provided 583% gains since becoming available.
And they did the same thing not too long ago in the oil industry...
First oil... now gold
In the 1980s there basically was no "oil business" in China.
But the economy at the time was growing nearly 10% per year... and the government realized they had to become a major player.
The first thing they did was open up their own reserves for exploration. A government-created and partially government-owned business called China National Offshore Oil Corporation received an exclusive right to explore, develop, and produce oil with overseas partners. Investors have made more than 837% on this company since 2001.
Next, the Chinese government rewrote the energy rules, injected billions of dollars of capital, and in 1999 spun several new businesses out of the state-run China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
** PetroChina, for example, was set up with the help of Goldman Sachs. Early investors in Petro China made 1,084% in about four years.
** Another spin-off from the state-run oil monopoly was a company called Sinopec. The government still owns 70%. And investors who got in early made about 960% over a seven-year period.
The point is, China woke up to the fact that they needed to own and control as much oil as possible, to grow the economy and become a world power.
And now...
What the Chinese government did for oil over the past decade... they are today doing for gold.
This is a huge development.
You see, most investors don't realize that China is now the world's largest gold producer (they passed South Africa last year).
China is also one of the few countries in the world where known gold reserves are increasing... not shrinking.
That's why I predict that investing in China's government-created and partnered gold companies will be one of the easiest ways to get rich over the next few years.
Let me explain how it's all going down...
China's Secret Solution
For essentially the past 50 years, no one was allowed to touch gold in China... except for the government.
But today, that is changing... and in a hurry...
In short, the Chinese government wants more gold.
They realize gold is one of the only buy-and-hold investments in the world right now. And they've got a lot of money to spend... nearly $2 Trillion according to a recent report in The New York Times.
So the Ministry of Land and Resources has completely rewritten the country's mining laws (known as the Minerals and Resources Law) to encourage local and foreign companies to explore for and produce more gold.
The government has also recently created the Shanghai Gold Exchange, to allow anyone to trade gold, on the open market, without government interference.
But most importantly for you and me, the government has quietly gotten behind a handful of publicly traded gold companies.
I believe these deals could make you extraordinary amounts of money over the next few years.
Let me show you the specifics, and why I believe this could make you so much money.
Remember, this is all happening incredibly fast in China—just like it did in the oil industry, where investors in Sinopec made 360% in 10 months... investors in PetroChina made 140% in less than year... and investors in China National made 102% in five months.
Twenty years ago, China produced an inconsequential amount of gold. Today, China is the #1 gold-producing nation in the world...
And these new government deals are poised to make some smart investors quite wealthy, very soon...
Investment #1: Gold Partnering
with the government
When it comes to gold mining in China, it's a whole different world than what we're used to in America...
There's no such thing as a NI43-101 disclosure form for mining companies, like we have here at home. And instead of a handful of giant companies running the industy, like we're used to, it's basically thousands of small operations scattered across the country.
In short, it's like the American Wild West.
That's why having the government on your side can make all the difference in the world...
For example, there are two very small gold mining companies with government connections that have a very good chance at making you several times your money in the next few years...
GOVERNMENT GOLD PARTNER #1: Recently, the Chinese government helped create, and took nearly a 50% ownership stake in, a very small gold mining company, in order to develop a handful of the country's most promising gold projects.
Already, the company has two producing properties, and exploration permits for two of the countries most gold-rich, untapped areas.
What makes this investment so appealing is that normally, when you deal with investments in China, there are certain political risks.
Will the government approve your projects? Will you be allowed to explore and develop the most potentially lucrative territories?
But for this small company, the political risks are virtually non-existent. After all, the company is nearly half-owned by the government, so obviously it will have huge advantages.
That's why I believe there's a very good chance this company will eventually become one of the world's "major" developers. And if that happens, you could easily make 2,000% on a small investment stake today.
We saw what happened when the Chinese government got behind several promising oil companies. Investors made more than 1,000% gains over a several-year period.
Well, now I believe there's a very good chance the same thing is going to happen to this company in the gold business.
Consider that right now, this company sells for well under $5 a share. It was formed just a few years ago... and now has several projects in production, and several more on the way.
What's incredible, is that this company has never been written about in the The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, or any other U.S. newspaper or magazine.
GOVERNMENT GOLD PARTNER #2: The second company I want to tell you about was formed by key members of China's National Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Corporation, a state-owned company.
In other words, several Chinese government employees got together, and used their power, influence, and connections, to create a company that is now the biggest foreign gold producer in China (they also have a local Chinese partner, which maintains an 18% interest).
It's no surprise, of course, that this company (created by former government employees) became the first local-foreign company to develop a gold mine in China. Or that they are the largest gold producer in China today... and control the country 2nd largest mine.
In short, there's no foreign company in China that can get projects done like this company can. I think it's absolutely a no brainer to own the biggest foreign producer in the world's #1 gold-mining country.
Keep in mind, this is still, relatively speaking, a tiny, tiny stock. It costs less than $7 a share... and is much less than 1/10th the size of Barrick Gold, the world's biggest gold producer.
I believe this tiny company with China operations could return many times your money over the next few years. And I'm not the only one who thinks so...
A Canadian firm just bought 20% of the outstanding shares. And I believe they are probably willing to pay at least 50% more than the current share price for the rest of this small Chinese miner.
A buyout could quickly double your investment. But the truth is, I'd rather hold this company for the next few years and potentially see 500% gains or more.
And this brings me to a third government opportunity I haven't even mentioned yet...
Better than gov't-owned gold?
I've described how the Chinese government is creating partnerships and spinoffs to develop the local gold industry.
Well... they are also spending a fortune to develop the local silver industry.
In a nutshell, the government is bringing in an experienced business to consolidate small mines, and to make them more efficient and profitable (while remaining partially government-owned).
And the good news for us is, there's basically one tiny silver mining company from Canada that has quietly become the government's favorite partner.
As I'll show you, this company is growing at a wildly fantastic pace. It is extremely profitable. And yes, it has the government as a direct partner on several of it's holdings.
In the Ying mining disctrict, for example, this small Canadian company has worked with the Chinese government to consolidate a group of mines, and has since turned them into a very profitable operation.
Today, this company produces tens of millions of ounces of silver every year—all in China. It is the cheapest mining company of it's type in the world, by far. And it has partnered with the Chinese government in a handful of projects.
On each of these projects, they pay NO taxes for the first two years.
And get this: Despite operating for just three years, this company is already the largest silver producer in China-- yet today it is still completely unknown.
I cannot say this strongly enough: You may never get another chance like this in your investment career... to buy such a cheap and wildly profitable mining company at the very beginning of what I see as a huge uptrend.
Overall, this company has grown its resources by an incredible 360% in roughly four years.
That's remarkable. And impossible to do in the U.S. or Canada... or any other developed country.
That's why China is the absolute best place in the world to grow a new mining company. Better still, we have a business that has no debt, almost $70 million in cash, and in large part because they are partnered with the government, has NEVER been turned down for a mining license.
My extremely conservative estimate for this company is a 100% gain before the end of this year (remember, it's still a very small company, and costs less than $5 a share). After that, the sky really is the limit.
I would not be surprised if this company ultimately becomes one of the most profitable stocks I recommend in my entire career.
Of course, I can't promise how much any of these companies are going to return over the next few years—there's no such thing as a guranteed investment.
But keep in mind: When mining companies get in early on new territories, they have a history of making investors an awful lot of money...
* A company called Rangold was instrumental in early mining operations in Mali. It has returned 634% in roughly the past five years.
* Keegan Resources got in early in Ghana, in West Africa, and has paid investors 489% in less than a year.
* A company called Buenaventure got in early in Peru's mining business... and has paid investors 1,293% over the past decade.
* And Barrick Gold... one of the companies that has made a business of being able to get in early in places like Peru, Argentina, and Tanzania, has returned a whopping 6,700% since going public.
I believe now is the perfect time to get in early on China's mining business, especially when you can have the government on your side.
And here's how I recommend you do it...
The New Secret of Getting
Rich in the Next 5 Years
My name is Matt Badiali. I'm a geologist.
I have a Masters of Science (M.Sc.) in geology and more than 13 years of industry and research experience.
You see, for years I wanted to take my expertise in resource companies and help people understand the business... and make some good money at the same time. So, a few years ago I joined a research team called Stansberry & Associates, which includes a PhD in finance, a former CitiGroup bond trader, several Johns Hopkins scientists, the former head of a California brokerage firm, and several Certified Financial Planners and hedge fund managers.
I learned their trade. And they learned a bit of mine.
And – for the past four years – I've leveraged my knowledge of the industry to help thousands of everyday Americans see huge gains by investing in precious metals and energy-related plays.
I've been studying China's gold (and silver) industry very closely for the past few years.
As I mentioned, China is the world's largest producer of gold in the world today, and the third-largest producer of Silver.
But this industry is still in its infancy.
"China represents one of the world's great remaining unexplored gold regions."
– Greg Jones, geologist
working in Southern China
When China's exploration and production techniques get better, China will dominate the world's gold production in an even bigger way. You have to remember that for basically the past 50 years, China had essentially NO precious metals industry.
But now the sleeping giant is waking up.
And I hope you'll join me for what I believe will be a very profitable ride. Remember, China is by far the richest government in the world (with about $1.95 TRILLION in reserves according to The New York Times). That's one of the reasons why I think this will probably be the easiest way to make a heck of a lot of money over the next few years.
I've done a ton of research on this opportunity over the past 6 months, and have put everything you need to know about gold and silver mining in China into my latest Research Report, called: Government-Backed Gold and Silver—How to Make 10-Times Your Money in China.
In this report, I carefully go over all of the gold and silver mining operations you need to know about in China. Then, I explain exactly which ones you should own immediately. I'll tell you how to do it... what price to pay... how to get the best deal... and approximately how long I think you'll be holding.
The best part is, I'd like to send you this report, free of charge.
In short, it's the first thing you will receive if you take a no-risk trial subscription to my monthly investment analysis, called The Stansberry & Associates (S&A) Resource Report.
You see, as a geologist, I focus not only on gold and silver, but also other natural resources including uranium, copper, natural gas, oil, water, and rare earth metals, just to name a few.
Right now, I'm particularly interested in several gold and silver opportunities.
I told you about the situation I've uncovered in China.
Well... there's another pretty extraordinary opportunity I'm very excited about too...
32,000%...?
I'm not sure how much you know about the precious metals business, but probably the best way to make money in this industry is not as an explorer... or producer.
Instead, it's to get a foothold on profitable mining royalties.
The way it works is, several smart geologists buy up the "royalty rights" to some of the world's most productive and lucrative mines.
And get this: These guys don't do any digging, production, or actual mining... they simply get paid lucrative "royalties" as the metals come out of the ground. It's an incredibly simple and lucrative business.
One of the first companies to do this in the gold industry was an operation called Franco-Nevada, which got its start in the mid-1980s.
This royalty set-up paid investors an average of 38% gains for 18 years! Absolutely incredible.
That means 2,404% after 10 years... and an incredible 32,000% over the full 18 years... which turns a $5,000 investment into $1.6 million!
Another company to set up a similar royalty business more recently was a firm called Royal Gold. Again, they don't do any mining, digging, exploring, etc. All they do is buy up royalty streams to lucrative mining operations, and wait for the money to roll in.
Since 2001, the company has returned a whopping 1,589%. In fact, Royal Gold has gone up even when everything else goes down.
"Even when everything else
went down in 2008,it returned a solid 55%..."
Consider: During the market meltdown of 2008, while just about every investment in the world got crushed, Royal Gold returned a solid 55% gain.
It's incredible. Owning royalty stakes in the world's best mining operations is a low-risk, inexpensive, and simple way to make an absolute fortune, especially in a precious metals bull market like we're in right now.
In fact, mining royalties may be the best business model in the world.
And I haven't even told you the best part...
Not too long ago, a company went public on the American Stock Exchange, which does the same thing... but with Silver royalties instead of gold.
Since going public, the shares are up 150%. But as we've seen with other royalty businesses... these gains are just the very tip of the iceberg.
Right now, the potential in silver is absolutely incredible... and this tiny silver royalty company is the only business of it's kind in the world. I expect a safe and simple investment today could return many times your money over the next few years.
If you'd like the details on this situation, I've published everything in my latest report: The Greatest Business in the World. Keep in mind: This company went public in the U.S. just a few years ago. They employ less than two-dozen people... yet bring in more than $150 million a year!
Again, this Research Repot will be among the first things I send you when you take a trial subscription to my monthly research advisory, called The S&A Resource Report.
Is the type of research I do appropriate for you?
I don't know. But let me tell you a little bit about it so you can decide for yourself...
The world's best-kept
mining secrets... REVEALED
My passion is research... and finding great investments no one else is talking about.
These are the opportunities you're not likely to hear about from mainstream news and media sources... the ones with the greatest potential for the biggest gains.
For example...
• In 2006, I uncovered a tiny company that owned the largest collection of in-the-ground silver resources on earth... an amazing 171 million ounces... plus an additional BILLION ounces it was working to confirm. The amazing this was, almost no one outside the mining community had even heard of this company, which gave my readers the chance to safely make 93% over the next 12 months.
• I also found a little-known copper company with a mine that had the longest remaining life of any major open-pit copper mine in the world. But what made this opportunity so interesting was that the company also had another world-class copper deposit, almost as big! Over the next 14 months, my readers had the chance to make 142% gains with this little-known stock.
• Just two months ago, I found a small company (Addax Petroleum) with an inside track on getting big oil contracts in Iraq. We made about 44% practically overnight when a big oil company offered to buy the firm out.
• Recently, I learned about a company that had secured the largest un-mined gold deposit in the world. When I found this, no one was talking about it yet. Since my recommendation, we are already up 56% in 4 months... with A LOT more to come.
In fact, over the past few years, I've helped my readers cash in on many great opportunities in the energy and mining fields, which are seldom covered by mainstream news sources.
For example...
93% on a small gold company called Cumberland Resources
195% on a Brazilian oil producer called Petrobras
100% on a small oil and gas explorer called Kodiak Oil & Gas
239% on unique gold company called Seabridge Gold
101% on an oil seismic mapping company called CGG Veritas
111% on a small oil producer called Occidental Petroleum
117% on a small deepwater drilling firm called Stone Energy
98% on a steel alloy technology for deep-sea drilling (Allegheny Technologies)
I don't know of another Research Service in the country that has a track record as good as ours today.
In fact, as of myu October issue, we had 16 recommendations in our portfolio. 14 of the 16 investments are making money, with gains ranging from 2% to nearly 70%.
This is probably why The S&A Resource Report research also has many mining and energy industry professionals who follow our work:
30-year Amoco Veteran:
"Matt Badiali's Report my favorite newsletter... and I would recommend it to anyone.
- Mike Hourihan, retired from BP/Amoco after 30-year career
Director Of NYSE Company
"Your letter, in many instances, has confirmed good ideas under consideration and at other times introduced new ideas, which have proven to be very profitable! I look forward to your report each month and find it to be extremely valuable. Keep up the good work!"
- Gerald Wilson, director of a NYSE listed E&P company.
9-Year Energy Industry Veteran
"I know all the big names in energy and energy services... but the S&A Resource Report has introduced me to faster growing, small energy service companies that are performing extremely well. I am very satisfied with the performance of these investments overall."
- Harold Dickens., PhD., 9-years in global energy services
Of course, I can't say for sure if the S&A Resource Report is right for you. But to help you decide, here's what I propose...
Try the S&A Resource Report for the next 4 months and make a decision whenever you are ready.
Here's what I mean...
Simply start trial subscription today, and you'll have instant access to:
• Research Report #1 – Government-Backed Gold and Silver: How to Make 10-Times Your Money in China
• Research Report #2 – The Greatest Business in the World.
Plus, every month you'll receive my Resource Report advisory letter, delivered to you on the second Tuesday of each month, first by e–mail, then by regular mail too. You'll also receive our daily market reports, sent by e-mail, also at no extra charge.
Over the next four months, take your time and decide if the S&A Resource Report is right for you. If not, I'll send you a FULL refund, and you can keep everything you've received up until that point.
How much does the S&A Resource Report cost?
I think it's ridiculously cheap, especially considering all you receive, and the time, money, and effort we put into this work. The truth is, just one of the investment ideas I'll share with you could help you make many times the subscription price.
And it's not just me saying this…
"I think that the S&A Resource Report provides the best financial advice I have ever had, bar none... Parker Drilling Co. I bought at $2.75 and now it is at $5.07 for an 84% increase. I have subscribed to several newsletters in the past but none have delivered the kind of returns I am seeing here."
-- Doug Patelli, Albany, NY
"Matt, I have used your advisories a lot. On Northern Dynasty Minerals I made 167% and on Parker Drilling Company 161%."
-- Karl Blanchard, Austin, TX
"I have bought stock in the four companies you mentioned and as of today my profits are in excess of $4,000. Far better results and profits than any previous service."
-- Jared Plumber, Tacoma, WA
"Sold Rowan Companies and a total of $2265.08. As you can see I'm away head of the game. Thanks to your letters... [I'm] up $31,552.93 to date for this year.
-- Jason Murdock, Dover, DE
Before I give you the details on how to get started, however, I'd like to tell you about one more exciting and overlooked opportunity you can take advantage of right now in the gold market...
A U.S. Gov't "loophole"
in the gold business
In recent months, I have been investigating an extraordinary situation...
It's another huge opportunity in the gold markets, which I recommend you take advantage of immediately...
In short: There's a U.S. government-created program that allows you to take ownership of some of the most valuable gold properties on Earth... for just a fraction of their true worth on the open markets.
What this translates to for you as an investor is the opportunity to make many, many times your original investment with very little risk.
The Washington Post calls it "One of the greatest boondoggles of all time."
And The LA Times says, "It's a tool [you] can use to make incredible amounts of money."
Already, thousands of regular Americans have used this government program to make an absolute fortune...
• On February 24th, government records indicate that Rising Sun, MD native Chet Walker used this opportunity to make $12,900 in a single day.
• One group of investors I know have made 2,015% thanks to this opportunity, over the past few years. Another group has made about 1,013% over roughly the same period.s
What's great about this U.S. government-created opportunity is that you can cash in on this gold opportunity directly through a unique type of investment on the U.S. stock market.
I believe you will be very happy with this investment over the next few years. I don't want to say much more about it here, because it is an extraordinary situation I'd prefer to reveal only to my subscribers.
But I explain everything you need to know in my new Research Report called: The Federal Gold "Loophole" of a Lifetime.
Again, you'll get all of the details as soon as you take a trial subscription to my monthly Resource Report advisory letter.
The price of The Resource Report, by the way, is $99 per year.
But today I'd like to offer you the chance to try my research for less than HALF the regular price. You'll pay just $39 for an entire year or my work, including everything mentioned here.
Why so cheap?
Well, I figure the best advertising for my research is to let you see the actual work and the results for yourself. And to encourage you to give it a try, I'd like to give you the opportunity to review The Resource Report at the cheapest price we've ever offered.
And remember: You'll have the next four (4) months to make up your mind.
In other words, by taking advantage of this offer, YOU ARE AGREEING ONLY TO TRY MY WORK, TO SEE IF YOU LIKE IT.
If not, we will simply part ways as friends, and you will be entitled to a FULL REFUND. You can keep everything I've sent you, my compliments.
I hope to hear from you right away. There are several extraordinary investment opportunities in gold and silver right now.
I hope you take advantage of them.
Good Investing,
Matt Badiali
Editor, The S&A Resource Report
October 2009
P.S. One more thing: Because of the fall in oil and energy prices over the past year, you have an extraordinary opportunity today to get into one of the world's great energy "hedge funds," at a ridiculously low price.
The guys running this investment have an incredible track record—recently returning about 389% over an 8-year period. They control many of the most valuable oil and natural gas properties in America... and have the world's greatest investor (Warren Buffett) as probably their biggest client. If you believe at all, as I do, that energy prices will go back up over the next decade and beyond, this is probably the one "no brainer" investment that's out there.
As soon as you start a subscription to my Resource Report, I'll send you my full report on this opportunity, called: How to Get Into One of America's Great Hedge Funds, for 60 cents on the Dollar.
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