My Anthem

Sunday, May 31, 2015

End-MAY poem dedicated to all the MAYS I know...

I celebrate the poetic month of MAY each year
with tehtarik, cowboys&gals and song,
NO,  knot the TRaditional WIne, WOmen and SOng
NON-DESI like elements do, did and will do

Me, no ditto

MY FAVOURITES:

MAY each day bring thee good health and lovin'
MAY every happy moment be treasured like forever
MAY every lament be transitory and short
LIKE and if possible, LOVE Ev'ry MAY
that crosses thy path, enriching both, like MAY and I

MAY Ye remember fondly the sentiments of THE First of MAY
That fragrant first kiss in the half moonlight
AND you whisper sweet nothings in his/her ears
That stir the hot blood coursing theough thy young veins
RAISING the body temperature by a few degrees
Wit' some of you lucky ones, you touched heavenly Ecstasy

MAY day not, when two bodies entwined as one
O" LORD, MAY This date at night never end
BUT that is asking too much
For too much of Ecstasy kills they brain cells, don't you know
SO Desi says, use thy GOD-gifted mind
BE kind to him/her, BE KIND to the MAYs you love

Saturday, May 30, 2015

1MDB Is Winding down...

ONE full page of the STAR today PAGE 1 carries the stark headline ENLARGED BELOW;
 :(



                    1MDB 
                    1Malaysia Development Berhad
               Winding down 

 AT first reaction, DESI on reading the PRINT COPY thought he was just being ignorant that the day marks either :        



THE DEATH OF A DIGNITARY

or

THE DEMISE OF A NATIONAL ICON


MAYBE the Star editor-in-chief/editors do have a sense of humour after all!

THE 1MDB IS indeed an ICON, YES!


THE three-liner body paragraph follows: 

The controversial 1MDB is set to wind down as early as next year in a move to stave off the
relentless attacks on the Government, particularly the Prime Minister. The plan is to  reduce its debt by almost one-third with funds coming from Abu Dhabi. > SEE reports on PAGE 2 
(PS FROm DESi: I have a copy for which I Paid RM1.50 this mouRning, so if any ER wants to buy it off me, hey, bank into DESi's AC RM1,500!)

PPS (DESI THInking ALoud, STill ALlowed hear!:) 

A badder headline would be:

           1MDB BEING WOUND UP

___I will explain WHY later cun?! HINT: READ my 4-parter >>>> "WHY I SAY MALYSIA IS HEADING TOWARDS THE ABYSS". THE KEY WoRD IS "Unravelling" from the first paragraph of PART I via http://desiderata2000.blogspot.com/2015/03/why-i-say-malaysia-is-moving-towards.html ___________________________________

FROM Page 2, The Star:

1MDB to scale down ops

PETALING JAYA: 1Malaysia Development Bhd that has come under relentless attack for its financial transactions will be wound down by early next year.
According to sources, a programme is being crafted whereby Abu Dhabi will inject sovereign funds of up to US$4.5bil (RM16.4bil) into 1MDB – money that would be used to reduce its debts of RM42bil.
“The first tranche of the money will come in next week. The announcement is already out. The remaining amounts will come in batches and by early next year 1MDB will be wound down,” said a source.
The reduction of its debts will allow 1MDB to “downsize” its operations significantly and transfer the remaining liabilities to its three subsidiary companies, which are into property development and generation of electricity.
“The subsidiaries have assets and can hold some amount of debt. The holding company does not have adequate assets and that is why it faces cash-flow problems to service its debt obligations,” said sources.
The power generation company, which is Edra Global Energy, has three major power plants worth some RM13bil.
The property subsidiaries are broken into two – one holding the Tun Razak Exchange Development and the other the 200.3ha Sungai Besi airport land that is to be developed into Bandar Malaysia.
“The value of the land in TRX and Bandar Malaysia is estimated to be RM4.3bil,” said a source.
Yesterday, 1MDB announced that it had entered into an agreement with International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and Aabar Investments whereby the Abu Dhabi companies would inject US$1bil (RM3.6bil) into the Malaysian fund.
By early next year, it is estimated that an additional sum of US$3.5bil (RM12.6bil) would be pumped in as part of the agreement.
In return, the Abu Dhabi companies would take over some of the assets held by 1MDB, including the “units” held in Singapore’s BSI Bank.
1MDB, established in 2009, is the brainchild of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. It was supposed to spearhead Malaysia into projects that bring high impact to the economy.
However, it has come under scrutiny for its opaque financial transactions with companies based in the Middle East.

Among them is Petro Saudi International (PSI), which was the first joint venture partner that 1MDB locked up with in 2009.



**The joint venture with PSI started with an initial sum of US$1bil. But the investment later ballooned to US$2.32bil (RM8.5bil) that was parked with funds based in the Cayman Islands.

*A portion of the funds came back last year, according to 1MDB. But an amount of US$1.1bil (RM4bil) that was supposed to find its way back to help 1MDB redeem its debts was placed with BSI Bank in Singapore. The Finance Ministry has said the sum was in the form of “units”.

Apart from the investment with PSI, the fund has also come under fire for the high cost incurred in raising US dollar debt papers.

***It raised US$3.5bil (RM12.7bil) in 2012 and another US$3bil (RM10.9bil) on March 19, 2013 – just a few weeks before the general election.
The funds were raised with a high degree of collateral and cost, something that is not usual for an entity such as 1MDB that is fully backed by the Government.

According to sources, the Cabinet was briefed that 1MDB has become a political hot potato to the extent that it is hurting Umno.
“The party comes above everything else for Najib. That is why he is deciding to wind down 1MDB,” said the source.
Related  stories:
Abu Dhabi to inject RM3.6bil lifeline
Dr M says losses must be accounted ford don't mind beinga capitalist
Shahrir defends meeting with Arul

NOTE: I WILL Resume this piece peacefully IF I Survive HI-TEA! 

Back the day after because I was behaving like a Kapitalist yesterday evening -- I did say DESI is socialist on most weekdays, and often become a KAPitalist on wickedends -- an outstation buddy who wanna be a KOboi like DESi the sext life came down from Kajang to FUrong to buy me Seefood; hey, didn't you know I can eat two kilos of crab at one go, what is uneaten is tapau-ed lah!  PLUS endless rounds of Chinoserie TEA; NO liquor for me, as I am a teatotaller -- I totally drink ALL Teas-- especially when my matey brings the best  Pu-erh from Yunnan....Sorry I Digress and make thee salivate!

*************************************

NOW back to the subject as informed by The STAR in the report reproduced above here: My reaction after the first complete reading is that the PM heading the SHIP OF FOOLS and his CRONIES heading 1MDB think we Malaysians all are still at Kindergarten! The editors of MSM may be "KINDer", but we the well read Malaysians are able to digest critically what we read, and make our own INTELLIGENT CONCLUSIONS. 

LET me highlight some points as rebuttal: 

1. THE smartalecks at 1MDB get a company -- from Abu Dhabi, the MIDDLE EAST again! -- to additionally invest, the first tranche to be injected into 1MDB next week of about RM4billion. TO "URGENTLY" PAY BACK RM3.6BILLION DUE SOON! 
DIGRESSING, BUT RELEVANT: Did the 1MDB inform us WHY DID THE GERMAN CONSORTIUM OF BANKS LED BY DEUTSCHE BANK ASK FOR EARLY re-payment of RM3.6billion BY THREE MONTHS OF THE ONE-YEAR LOAN? My common sense CONCLUSION IS THE BANKS MUST KNOW MUCH MORE THAN WE KNOW - AND following a REVIEW, had come to a CONCLUSION that 1MDB IS a RISKY BORROWER some nine months later, and it's Desi's educated GUESS that it's GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE! ~~ it's better and more prudent to ask for pre-payment, maybe sacrificing some or all of the interest in the process?

SO WRT to this para, *"A portion of the funds came back last year, according to 1MDB. But an amount of US$1.1bil (RM4bil) that was supposed to find its way back to help 1MDB redeem its debts was placed with BSI Bank in Singapore. The Finance Ministry has said the sum was in the form of “units”, Desi concludes: THE LAST mentioned "units" from the highlighted para are not LIQUID AT ALL! AND THE BEAUTIFUL THING IS THE PM TOLD A "LIE" IN PARLIAMENT THAT IT WAS "CASH", now RESURRECTED AS "UNITS" BY THE DEPUTY FINANCE minister who shifted the "Mistake" to 1MDB's 6-MONTH-OLD RENOWNED BANKER IMPORTED FROM YES! ABU DHABI>>>CEO ARUL KANDA KANDASAMY. DESI hopes against all hopes the "LIARS" would serve jail time for MISLEADING THE AUGUST HOUSE called PARLIAMENT, its proceedings oversighted by a pliant SPEAKER PANDIKAR WHO WANTED to resign, but said "NO",  THEN ADMITTED "YES", he prepared a letter of resignation, BUT STOPPED BY THE PM FROM PRESENTING IT. DID I SAY SHIP OF SHIT OR BN FOOLS?

2. BUT DIDN"T THE INITIAL TROUBLE AT 1MDB COME FROM THE SAME SOURCE -- THAT WELL-OILED MONEY MACHINE NAMED (Petro Saudi International (PSI). BUT, AS SHOWN BY THIS PARA ** The joint venture with PSI started with an initial sum of US$1bil. But the investment later ballooned to US$2.32bil (RM8.5bil) that was parked with funds based in the Cayman Islands.

HEY, smartalecks at the 1MDB, you are getting more FUNDS to cover an impending loan whose payment is due soon, very soon! ISN'T THAT LIKE COVERING ONE HOLE AND ANOTHER LARGER HOLE APPEARS AT THE SAME TIME?  

SEE, THESE IDIOTS AT 1MDB THINK WE ARE ALL STILL AT KIDERGARTEN STILL, BUT WE MORE THEY HAVE CREATED A MULTI-HEADED MONSTER  -- BEWARE THE "HYDRA"  OF GREEK MYTH, AND IT'S SO IRONIC THAT "GREECE IS IN FINANCIAL STATE SO DIRE THE IMF AND EU BANK HAVE TO BAIL IT OUT OF IMPENDING BANKRUPTSY!" AND OH, HYDRA RHYMES WITH ANOTHER 1MDB'S CREATIVE CREATURE NAMED EDRA (GLOBAL ENERGY) TO BE LISTED SOON! IT Is LISTING NOW - THAT SHIP OF FOOLS!

3. Ah, MORE nuggets of INFORMATION ARE BECOMING TO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, VIA para MARKED *** ABOVE, BUT YOU SMARTALECKS AT 1MDB did not think such information is of importance to the people. THEY tried to make SUCKERS OF TABUNG HAJI,  but when nuggets of data were publicised by MPs like TONY PUA and RAFIZI RAMLI, the authorities threatened them with the SEDITION ACT. AND we saw PM Directing 1MDB to quickly dispose of the land the 1MDB first sold to TABUNG HAJI put on the market, with another smartaleck whose name rimes with O" GEEZzz at TH saying they had a ready buyer at a price yielding R5Million profit over their RM188.5million cash SMART INVESTMENT. THIS 'RATTISH DEAL"  FOR A MISERABLE PIECE OF LAND AT TUN RAZAK EXCHANGE WHICH THE GOVERNMENT BESTOWED TO 1MDB at a say HAI! PRICE OF RM64psf, AND PM NAJIB STRESSED IT WAS A "PROFITBLE" INVESTMENT SOUL"D TO THE SUCKERS AT TABUNG HAJI AT RM2,800psf! IF "PROFITABLE", MR PM, TELL TH TO KEEP IT LA to reap maybe RM50million a year from now, NO?!

HEY, TO my esteemed Wakil Rakyat, ZA YOU! ZA YOU! ALSO, TO THE PEEPS @"SARAWAK REPORT" , WHO HAS BEEN BREAKING LOTS OF SCANDALS BESIEGING THE PM'S PET PROJECT NAMED 1MDB, RUN BY MANY LAPDOGS, DESI TOASTS CHEERS!:)Step up the gear, the RAKYAT and PEOPLE'S POWER ARE WIT' THEE, YES, YOU ER WHO READS DESI2! yl, desi, KNOTTYaSsusual
  
Desi's parting: I would be starting a new series on the NELSON MANDELA OF MALYSIA, Who can stop Malaysia from careening towards the ABYSS arising from the unravelling of 1MDB and the concurrent unravelling of the NAJIB RAZAK's  adminstration. 

Meanw'ile, my most esteemed readers, don't be suckered again, and again, 
and be a GOOD citizen, 

pray very heART to thy GOD-- however you deem HIM to be -- that we remain alert and safe from blood suckers in 1MDB and its DADDY&MUM. GODbless, my fellow countrymen&women&boys&gals2, Amen.

 

Rohingya Muslims Issue: Two Sides to the Coin

FRom THe STar ONline:

Speak out on Rohingya, Dalai Lama urges Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi

The Asian country’s pro-democracy leader has been mostly silent on the persecuted minority, but “I feel she can do something,” says the Dalai, a fellow Nobel Laureate, warning the world cannot ignore their growing plight.

The Dalai Lama at a school in India on Wednesday. He says he has twiced discussed the plight of Burma's persecuted Rohingya Muslims with  pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.  "She told me she found some difficulties, that things were not simple but very complicated."
Ashwini Bhatia / AP
The Dalai Lama at a school in India on Wednesday. He says he has twiced discussed the plight of Burma's persecuted Rohingya Muslims with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. "She told me she found some difficulties, that things were not simple but very complicated." 

NEW DELHI—The Dalai Lama has urged Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s pro-democracy icon and a fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, to speak out to protect her country’s persecuted Rohingya Muslims amid a human trafficking crisis, a newspaper reported Thursday.
The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, told The Australian newspaper that the world cannot ignore the plight of the more than 3,000 desperate migrants who have landed on the shores of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in recent weeks, often abandoned by human traffickers or freed after their families paid ransoms.
“It’s not sufficient to say: ‘How to help these people?’” the newspaper quoted him as saying in an interview in the Indian hill town where he lives in exile. “This is not sufficient. There’s something wrong with humanity’s way of thinking. Ultimately we are lacking concern for others’ lives, others’ wellbeing.”
The refugees are a mixture of poor Bangladeshis in search of work and Rohingya Muslims fleeing widespread persecution from Myanmar’s Buddhist majority. The Dalai Lama said he had discussed the Rohingya in earlier meetings with Suu Kyi.
“I mentioned about this problem and she told me she found some difficulties, that things were not simple but very complicated,” he was quoted as saying. “But in spite of that I feel she can do something.”
Suu Kyi became an international hero during her years of house arrest for speaking out against the generals who long ruled Myanmar. She entered politics after her 2010 release, when the junta handed over power to a nominally civilian government.
In a predominantly Buddhist country where there is much animosity toward the Rohingya Muslims, she has remained silent about their persecution.
She now says she never sought to be a human rights champion. Critics say that defending the Rohingya could cost her support if she runs for president.


*********************************************



Myanmar Buddhist nationalists plan anti-boat migrant rally
Tuesday May 26, 2015
08:18 PM GMT+8
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Myanmar's mission to help Muslim Rohingya has stirred outrage among Buddhist nationalists, who have been increasingly prominent in Myanmar in recent years. — Reuters picMyanmar's mission to help Muslim Rohingya has stirred outrage among Buddhist nationalists, who have been increasingly prominent in Myanmar in recent years. — Reuters pic

YANGON, May 26 — Myanmar Buddhist nationalists vowed to protest against international pressure on the country to help boat people, a prominent monk said today, as humanitarian efforts to rescue desperate migrants stir festering anti-Muslim animosity.
The rally planned for tomorrow in Yangon is being held in response to calls for Myanmar to provide aid to the migrants and address the root causes of an exodus from its shores as well as neighbouring Bangladesh.
"We will protest against some foreign countries trying to pressure (Myanmar) to accept refugees as if they are from our country although they are boat people from Bangladesh," said Pamaukkha, a Buddhist monk activist who goes by one name and is part of the group organising the protest.
A migrant crisis has gripped Southeast Asia for weeks as more than 3,500 Bangladeshi economic migrants and stateless Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar arrive on Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian soil.
Thousands more are still thought to be stranded in open waters with diminishing supplies of food and water after a crackdown in southern Thailand fractured a vast human trafficking network.
Myanmar's navy found exhausted and hungry men and boys, mainly thought to be from Bangladesh, crammed in the rusting hull of a smugglers' boat in waters off its coast last week.
They have been held in a border region of western Rakhine state, where Muslim Rohingya live in abject conditions after 2012 communal violence that left the region deeply segregated and sparked a deadly wave of anti-Muslim attacks.
But the mission to help the group has stirred outrage among Buddhist nationalists, who have been increasingly prominent in Myanmar in recent years.
"We do not want anyone here posing as refugees or Bengalis, trying to swallow the nation or its people. They need to be sent back now," said Pamaukkha.
Myanmar's roughly 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims are largely seen as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and referred to as 'Bengali', despite many tracing their ancestry in the country back for generations.
They have left Rakhine in droves to escape years of restrictions limiting their access to employment, basic services like education and healthcare and even family size.
Deadly bloodshed between local Buddhists and Rohingya in Rakhine three years ago dramatically worsened the situation, leaving around 140,000 homeless and trapped in bleak camps.
The recent boat crisis has done little to soften the stance of hardline nationalists, including several monastic organisations who have championed a raft of legislation seen as targeting women and minority Muslims across the country. — AFP
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/myanmar-buddhist-nationalists-plan-anti-boat-migrant-rally#sthash.nLmWGedH.dpuf

***************************


FROM The Irish TImes Online:~~~





Burmese Buddhist nationalists protest over boat people

Demonstration against calls to grant citizenship to Muslim Rohingya minority

Buddhist nationalists demonstrate against the UN and the return of Rohingya Muslims, in Yangon, Burma. Photograph:  Jonas Gratzer/Getty Images Buddhist nationalists demonstrate against the UN and the return of Rohingya Muslims, in Yangon, Burma. Photograph: Jonas Gratzer/Getty Images
Wed, May 27, 2015, 22:13
Some 150 Buddhist nationalists took part in a protest in Rangoon yesterday against international pressure for Burma (Myanmar) to grant citizenship to the stateless Rohingya minority, as well as what they claim is pro-Muslim bias in Western news coverage.
A core group of some 70 protesters carried banners bearing both English- and Burmese-language slogans. They wore T-shirts that read “Boat people are not Myanmar” and bandanas emblazoned with “UN” with a line crossed through it.
The protest was organised by hardline groups who claim the population that identifies as Rohingya, estimated at about a million, do not have any legitimate historical claim to citizenship in Burma. The protesters consider Rohingya Muslims to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
Thousands of Rohinya Muslims have fled what they say is persecution in Burma, and many remain cast adrift at sea due to an unwillingness on the part of neighbouring countries to take them in.
While yesterday’s protest was relatively small in size, the groups behind it are not lacking in political clout.
U Parmoukkha, a Buddhist monk and prominent figure in the Ma Ba Tha movement, delivered an address to the crowd. Ma Ba Tha, a Burmese acronym for “Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion”, is an influential group that has risen to prominence in the last two years. It has agitated for a package of legislation including population control, monogamy and religious conversion laws.
While the country’s most prominent controversial monk, U Wirathu, was not able to attend the protest due to preaching commitments, DVDs of his sermons – most of which argue that Burma’s Theravada Buddhism is under threat of being eclipsed by Islam – were distributed at the protest site.
“In 2,200 years of Myanmar history, there is no such thing as the word Rohingya. Rohingyas are a made-up race”, said Ko Thar Wa, one of the five spokespeople authorised by organisers to speak to the media at the rally.
The migrant boat crisis playing out off the western coastlines of Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia has thrust the issue to the fore of the regional agenda, with talks set to take place in Bangkok today.
In recent weeks, the discovery of mass graves in the jungles of Thailand and Malaysia has shed light on the scale of the region’s people-smuggling and extortion rackets, while the ensuing crackdown on trafficking rings has seen thousands abandoned at sea.
“As a human and as a Buddhist, I feel sorry for these people. But as a Myanmar citizen I cannot accept that more than 3,000 people could be let into Myanmar – it’s a huge concern. The international community is trying to send a lot of people to Myanmar”, said Ko Thar Wa. “People around the world need to understand these people are not Myanmar citizens. They are Bangladeshi. It would be too controversial to accept the non-citizens, for any country.”
While a vast number of those caught up in the boat crisis are Bangladeshi migrants, those who identify as Rohingya have resided in Myanmar for gen rations.
The majority of the Rohingya reside in Rakhine State, in the west of Myanmar. aysia borderIn 2012, two waves of violent rioting saw entire villages razed and more than 150 people killed.

DESIDERATA: THE ROHINGYA MUSLIMS issue has grabbed international media headlines the past few days. IT is NOT AN issue to truly understand the "REAl causes" Behind the increasingly life-threatening problem, as the "Migrants/refugees" taking to the high seas risk their lives before they could reach friendly foreign shores. AT the same time, they also could fall victim to HUMAN TRAFFICKERS, AS EVIDENCED by  the DEATH CAMPS DISCOVERED in recent days at the Thailand-Malaysia border.

 This problem is compounded by the "ECOCOMIC MIGRANTS" from BANGLADESH joining in the exodus of boat people seeking a better life in the THREE ASEAN COUNTRIES, with  the problem exerpated by the bastardly HUMAN TRAFFICKERS!
 
I Hope the leading lights in the ASEAN REGION would put their creative minds together, working closely with the leaders in MYANMAR, and would be able to map  oational attention to this ut  an URGENT ACTION PLAN TO ADDRESS THIS CRISIS GROWING MORE DIRE BY EACH PASSING DAY.There is NO ROOM FOR any of the peace-loving peoples of the world TO IGNORE WHAT IS ESSENTIALLY A HUMANITARIAN ISSUE BESIEGING NOT JUST MYANMAR ROHINGYA MUSLIMS, but also similar migrants in other parts of the world heading for foreign shores in Europe.

MAY GOD -- however you DEEM HIM to be -- have mercies on these boat people, and guide them to safety. DESi essentially is a "Socialist" by political leaning, so I utilise my writing craft to draw international attention to this huge problem besetting the ROHINGYA MUSLIM people.

Myanmar's mission to help Muslim Rohingya has stirred outrage among Buddhist nationalists, who have been increasingly prominent in Myanmar in recent years. — Reuters picMyanmar's mission to help Muslim Rohingya has stirred outrage among Buddhist nationalists, who have been increasingly prominent in Myanmar in recent years. — Reuters picYANGON, May 26 — Myanmar Buddhist nationalists vowed to protest against international pressure on the country to help boat people, a prominent monk said today, as humanitarian efforts to rescue desperate migrants stir festering anti-Muslim animosity.
The rally planned for tomorrow in Yangon is being held in response to calls for Myanmar to provide aid to the migrants and address the root causes of an exodus from its shores as well as neighbouring Bangladesh.
"We will protest against some foreign countries trying to pressure (Myanmar) to accept refugees as if they are from our country although they are boat people from Bangladesh," said Pamaukkha, a Buddhist monk activist who goes by one name and is part of the group organising the protest.
A migrant crisis has gripped Southeast Asia for weeks as more than 3,500 Bangladeshi economic migrants and stateless Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar arrive on Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian soil.
Thousands more are still thought to be stranded in open waters with diminishing supplies of food and water after a crackdown in southern Thailand fractured a vast human trafficking network.
Myanmar's navy found exhausted and hungry men and boys, mainly thought to be from Bangladesh, crammed in the rusting hull of a smugglers' boat in waters off its coast last week.
They have been held in a border region of western Rakhine state, where Muslim Rohingya live in abject conditions after 2012 communal violence that left the region deeply segregated and sparked a deadly wave of anti-Muslim attacks.
But the mission to help the group has stirred outrage among Buddhist nationalists, who have been increasingly prominent in Myanmar in recent years.
"We do not want anyone here posing as refugees or Bengalis, trying to swallow the nation or its people. They need to be sent back now," said Pamaukkha.
Myanmar's roughly 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims are largely seen as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and referred to as 'Bengali', despite many tracing their ancestry in the country back for generations.
They have left Rakhine in droves to escape years of restrictions limiting their access to employment, basic services like education and healthcare and even family size.
Deadly bloodshed between local Buddhists and Rohingya in Rakhine three years ago dramatically worsened the situation, leaving around 140,000 homeless and trapped in bleak camps.
The recent boat crisis has done little to soften the stance of hardline nationalists, including several monastic organisations who have championed a raft of legislation seen as targeting women and minority Muslims across the country. — AFP
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/myanmar-buddhist-nationalists-plan-anti-boat-migrant-rally#sthash.nLmWGedH.dpuf

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

MAY DAY arrested for SIA, MAY DAY forever FOR MAS!

AR THOU SURPRISED? DESI"S IS knot!:)

FRom the malaysianinsider.com, my fave ONLine newsdaily:)~~~

Close call for Shanghai-bound SIA flight after double engine failure


Published: 27 May 2015 8:04 AM

A potential tragedy was averted last Saturday when a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight to Shanghai suffered a loss of power to both engines.

Singapore's Straits Times reports that the incident on SIA flight SQ836 occurred at an altitude of 39,000 feet, about 3.5 hours into the flight amid bad weather.

"Both engines experienced a temporary loss of power and the pilots followed operational procedures to restore normal operation of the engines" the airline's spokesman was quoted as saying by the daily.

There were 194 on board – comprising 182 passengers and 12 crew – the flight which was operated by an Airbus A330-300, with Rolls-Royce engines.

According to Reuters, aviation websites reported on the incident, stating that power to both engines was restored after the pilots staged a partial descent.

An Airbus spokesman told Reuters, "we are in contact with the airline and Rolls-Royce to determine the cause of this incident,"

The Straits Times report added that no anomalies were found when the engines underwent a thorough inspection and testing upon arrival in Shanghai. – May 27, 2015.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/close-call-for-shanghai-bound-sia-flight-after-double-engine-failure#sthash.NWqa8n9f.dpuf


8888888888888888888888888888888888888

BLOGGER DESI'S NOTE: NOW> BE a goode boy/gal/inbtWIN, PLS GO TO THE malaysianinsider.com news site and read the TWO MAY DAY ITEMS,  namely: MAS EMPOLYEES UNION FACES DISSOLUTION! & WANTON WASTE AND DECLINE OF THE MALAYSIAN AIRLINE SYSTEM through the DECADES after the SINgapore/MALAysian airline split when SINGAPURA WAS SACKED TWO YEars after joining the UNIOn! AH, remember the goode olde days? when privatisation was profitable, later thened by UMNO_OH-NO! into PIRATISATION! MAYBE we should invite JOHNNY DEPP TO ru(I)n the ship eh!

MAY DAY1 for MAS!

No room for staff unions as MAS ‘reboot’ takes off in September
BY MD IZWAN
Published: 27 May 2015 6:59 AM
 The pillar of the airlines... the employees of MAS will not be allowed to be represented in the newly-restructured national carrier which takes over operations from September 1 this year. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, May 27, 2015.MAS Employees Union (Maseu), the airline's biggest and most powerful workers union, will effectively cease to exist once Malaysia Airlines (MAS) completes its restructuring exercise.
 Maseu, which represents some 13,500 MAS employees, is expected to be dissolved as the new management has indicated that the union did not have a place in the new company, which will start operations on September 1.
The union, resigned to this for the moment, is looking at turning itself into a cooperative in the new entity.
Maseu executive secretary Mohd Jabarullah Abd Kadir confirmed this and told The Malaysian Insider that two extraordinary general meetings had been held recently to discuss the possible dissolution of the union.
"We've decided in the meeting that firstly, we will have to dissolve the union and secondly, maybe turn it into a cooperative," he said.
Jabarullah said although the union had held two extraordinary general meetings, the most recent being on May 18, the matter would still need to be discussed further and members will have to vote at another meeting.
"We will make this a secret ballot to find out what the members want," he said.
Jabarullah said the union had to take this drastic measure because under Khazanah Nasional Berhad's plan to return the troubled airline to profit, the new management does not recognise the union.
"We have to do this because the new management does not recognise us as a union," he said.
Saddled with debts and the twin tragedies of MH370 and MH17, the government through its investment arm Khazanah Nasional, is on a last-ditch effort to revamp ailing MAS.
It was reported that the service of 20,000 MAS employees would be terminated but two-thirds would be re-hired by a new company, MAS Bhd, which will begin operations on September 1.
It was understood that the new company wants to form a union consisting of their own people, those who are friendly to the management.
Jabarullah said the new management's reluctance to recognise Maseu as a union stems from the new MAS Act which is at odds with the Employment Act 1955.
It was reported that MAS has an existing workforce of 20,000, of which some 6,000 to 8,000 are expected to be laid off by Khazanah as part of its RM6 billion restructuring plan.
There are at least nine workers unions and associations in MAS. Apart from Maseu, others include National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) which represents about 1,500 cabin crew members, Malaysia Airlines Employees Union Peninsular Malaysia and the Malaysia Airlines Pilot Association.
Jabarullah said staff will probably receive two letters – the first one for termination of their services with MAS and the second, either an offer to join MAS Bhd or to report to the Corporate Development Centre (CDC), set up to retrain the sacked workers.
Meanwhile, a MAS engineer identified as Shukri said that with the dissolution of Maseu, he and the others are worried whether the welfare of workers will be protected in the new company.
"It seems that the union can’t do anything, they're going to have to be dissolved.
"With MAS gone, automatically the union will be finished. Most likely the new company might not have any union at all," he said.
 Meanwhile, Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) secretary-general N. Gopal Kishnam (pic) said Maseu should not take such a drastic measure.
"It is not proper, why do they want to dissolve the union. They should continue to fight for the workers' rights?" he said.
This came after Khazanah unveiled a 12-point plan to enable MAS to achieve sustained profitability within three years of de-listing, by the end of 2017.
Its managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said the plan involved a comprehensive overhaul of the airline and has four categories which are governance and financial framework, operating business model, leadership and human capital, and regulatory and enabling environment. – May 27, 2015.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/no-room-for-staff-unions-as-mas-reboot-takes-off-in-september#sthash.xNwOg9Zz.dpuf

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MAY DAY2 for MAS!





The 21 years of mismanagement that brought MAS to its knees
By RAM ANAND
Published: 27 May 2015 6:59 AM
National carrier MAS has suffered years of mismanagement and previous efforts to steer the company on to better fortunes failed to deliver the results hoped for, say most observers. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, May 27, 2015.National carrier MAS has suffered years of mismanagement and previous efforts to steer the company on to better fortunes failed to deliver the results hoped for, say most observers. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, May 27, 2015.Beginning September, Malaysia Airline System Bhd, the company Malaysians know as the national carrier since 1972, will cease to exist.
It would instead be replaced by a new company, Malaysia Airlines Bhd, to be fully owned by Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional before a planned re-listing in Bursa Malaysia by 2019.
This, however, is not the first time MAS has been subjected to a turnaround plan or a bid to save the airline. It has happened several times over the course of 22 years, beginning in 1994.
This is the most comprehensive restructuring plan that MAS has been subjected to though. One that will involve a rigorous cutting down of its air travel routes and its workforce, likely to reduce it to a regional airline.
But this will only work if the government and those helming this restructuring plan heed the lessons of the past.
It all began in 1994 when businessman Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli took loans from several government-linked companies totalling RM1.79 billion and then used the money to buy a controlling stake in MAS, a move that cost the government dearly some seven years later.
Then the CEO of MAS, Tajudin was badly affected by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the government eventually bought MAS back from Tajudin for RM8 a share - the exact price Tajudin had paid seven years before. The only difference was, this time, MAS was lingering near bankruptcy.
It had bled RM256 million in the fiscal year ending 1998 and by the fiscal year ending 2000, it bled a further RM255.7 million after tax losses. When the government bought back the controlling stake from Tajudin, the share price on the market was only RM3.68 per share.
Government linked company Danaharta eventually opted for an out of court settlement with Tajudin despite winning a legal case over the RM589 million in loans owed by Tajudin to the company.
Back in the government’s hands, MAS reported a loss of RM 1.3 billion in 2005, prompting another turnaround plan that saw them appoint current Performance and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) chief Datuk Seri Idris Jala (pic) as its CEO.
For many, Idris’ tenure was the only silver lining for a company that has otherwise made a habit of bleeding money annually.
In 2007, they recorded a profit of RM852 million, the highest in MAS history, and followed up with RM522 million profit in 2009, just before Idris took over as Pemandu CEO under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration.
But for DAP’s Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong, a keen observer of MAS history over the years, the current state of MAS necessitates calling into question the sustainability of what Idris did during his time helming the airline.
“His whole tenure should be called into question. It shows that his turnaround had not succeeded, as what he did was to basically cut the muscle of MAS – he cut the expenditure, killed the morale of the staff, and he killed that talent pool,” Liew told the The Malaysian Insider.
He said that for all of MAS’ troubles, the workers have become an easy “punching bag” for the company.
MAS is expected to sack their entire staff and only retain about two-thirds of them for the new company, meaning that more than 8,000 people stand to lose their jobs.
“The way Idris handled MAS, resulted in a huge number of talented people deciding to move away – it’s a vicious cycle. The current CEO (Christoph Mueller) is doing exactly the same thing,” he said.
Liew said that the company is currently merely “chopping people’s jobs” to have a turnaround of fortunes.
“You have to ask if MAS actually has the talent and the morale to carry on. After all, you are running a service industry,” he said.
Two years after Idris left his post, MAS suffered one of the most historic losses in aviation industry, a staggering RM2.5 billion in 2011.
They made a profit of RM430 million the following year, but lost RM1.16 billion in 2013.
In 2014, they lost two planes – first on March 8, flight MH370, en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, disappeared while leaving Malaysian airspace. What happened to the plane remains one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history.
Just four months later, on July 17, flight MH17, en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, was said to have been shot by a ground-to-air missile while flying 30,000 feet over a conflict zone in Ukraine. None of the 298 passengers and flight crew survived.
These incidents forced Khazanah to finally de-list MAS and take it private last year, paying RM1.38 billion to compensate minority shareholders, before embarking on this major restructuring plan.
The latest state injection into MAS, from Khazanah, will be RM6 billion.
But, this was not the first time the state has injected money into MAS. Over the past 10 years, MAS is estimated to have lost RM10 billion of state money that was injected into it, according to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Overall, it is estimated that MAS lost upwards of RM20 billion of taxpayers’ money since 1994.
When it recorded its RM1.16 billion loss in 2013, the airline was bleeding between RM4 million and RM5 million daily.
The latest injection may not be the first, but with MAS having suffered such heavy losses for two decades now, the latest revival attempt will likely be a final attempt at putting the national carrier’s accounts back in the black. – May 27, 2015.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/the-21-years-of-mismanagement-that-brought-mas-to-its-knees#sthash.c3VDor3H.dpuf



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ost powerful workers union, will effectively cease to exist once Malaysia Airlines (MAS) completes its restructuring exercise.
Maseu, which represents some 13,500 MAS employees, is expected to be dissolved as the new management has indicated that the union did not have a place in the new company, which will start operations on September 1.
The union, resigned to this for the moment, is looking at turning itself into a cooperative in the new entity.

Maseu executive secretary Mohd Jabarullah Abd Kadir confirmed this and told The Malaysian Insider that two extraordinary general meetings had been held recently to discuss the possible dissolution of the union. "We've decided in the meeting that firstly, we will have to dissolve the union and secondly, maybe turn it into a cooperative," he said.
Jabarullah said although the union had held two extraordinary general meetings, the most recent being on May 18, the matter would still need to be discussed further and members will have to vote at another meeting.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/no-room-for-staff-unions-as-mas-reboot-takes-off-in-september#sthash.WvZub00j.dpuf