And as Raja Petra Kamarudin -- the last brave one of the Royals? -- wrote his last will/testament, I thank him for sharing with Malaysians, mostly commoners of humble origins, yes, working dust to dust from morn till dusk, the "dark" secret some decades ago when an UMNO leader led his regime/regimen to try to bring down the Monarchy. (It's such irony these same UMNO warlords are crying "traitors" of those who opposed UMNO's illegal, illegitimate, illicit takeover of the demoocratically elected Pakatan Rakyat government led by PAS' Mohd Jamaluddin Nizar, but that's another act still playing out.)
FROM malaysia-today.net:
My message to Royalty: ubah atau rebah
Posted by admin
Monday, 13 April 2009 16:33
When I die I want to be cremated and for my ashes to be scattered into the sea. There will be no sign that I ever existed or a ‘monument’ that I had lived. I shall revert to dust from where I had come. This is my last will and testament.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
No, I did not create that heading, ubah atau rebah. I ‘stole’ it. Many of you who followed the new Prime Minister’s ‘maiden’ speech will probably know I stole it from there. I may not agree with the new Prime Minister on many things. But I will certainly agree that Umno needs to ubah (change) or else rebah (fall). And that is the same message I want to send to the many Royal Families, in particular the nine Palaces or Royal Households of Malaysia.
But this message is not new. This message was already delivered to the Royal Households more than 20 years ago at the height of the Constitutional Crisis. Although the informal meeting was not a full quorum but merely those from Kedah, Perlis, Perak, Terengganu and Selangor, nevertheless, the five out of nine Royal Households agreed that the Monarchy was under threat and that Malaysia was in danger of being turned into a Republic if nothing were done to arrest the situation.
Another thing the five Royal Households agreed was that the predicament the Monarchy was facing at that time was the Rulers’ own doing. The Rulers are the Monarchy’s worst enemies. Only the Monarchy can save itself. It can’t expect the rakyat to come to its defence. The rakyat, in fact, was anti-Monarchy, the result of a very successful and intensive mainstream media campaign engineered by Umno to turn the rakyat against the Monarchy.
I was tasked with the job of preparing the ‘working paper’ to present to the five Royal Households. And since it was my paper, I was told I should present it, which I did. At the end of the presentation, not a single of the five expressed any disagreement with what I had presented. They fully agreed and were of one mind that the Monarchy’s days may in fact be numbered.
I was told to take back all the working papers and destroy them. No one outside that room was to know that we held our informal ‘Rulers’ Conference’ and about what was discussed and agreed. We all went home with only one thing in mind. The Rulers and all the members of the many Royal Families must, from that day on, behave itself. That would be the only way to save the Monarchy and prevent the formation of the Republic of Malaysia.
That was more than 20 years ago. And for more than 20 years I have remained silent and never revealed how the Monarchy panicked when it saw its future very dim indeed. I never revealed the story of how we met at a secret location more than 20 years ago to explore how we could save the Monarchy; until now, that is.
But the story has to now be told. And it has to be told because the Rulers are beginning to forget the ‘agreement’ we made more than 20 years ago when it came under attack from Umno and when the Monarchy faced the danger of being abolished.
There are some within the Selangor and Perak Royal Families who feel I do not have that right or authority to tegur or reprimand the Rulers or the members of the Royal Family. I would beg to differ (patek mohon durhaka). I certainly have that right. In fact, I have earned that right. When we met more than 20 years ago it is because we love the Monarchy. We wanted to save the Monarchy -- but more to save it from itself rather than from Umno, which was ruthlessly attacking the Rulers.
Would we have bothered, more than 20 years ago, to rally to the Monarchy’s side if we did not love the Monarchy? After all, the predicament it was facing was the result of its own actions. Sure, Umno was attacking the Rulers. But it was able to attack the Rulers only because they had opened themselves to attack. If the Rulers had behaved, there would have been nothing Umno could have used against them.
This was the message to the five Royal Households and it was a message that was clearly understood and readily accepted. And they agreed that we must watch the Rulers closely. And if any Ruler was to step out of line, then we are to tegur that Ruler so that he returns to the straight and narrow and ceases putting the entire Monarchy in the line of fire.
In short, if one buffalo is muddy, then the entire herd becomes muddy as well, as the Malay proverb goes. One Ruler’s transgression puts the entire Monarchy at risk. So that one Ruler needs to be taken to task for the sake of all the Rulers.
I do not really bother about the misdemeanours of the Rulers or members of the Royal Families. I am not bothered about their gambling, drinking, frolicking with loose women, and whatever other transgressions. That is their business, not mine. Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone. But when it involves the wishes of the rakyat, then I have to step in. Matters that involve the rakyat become my business. And this is because the fate and future of the Monarchy, and whether Malaysia becomes a Republic or not, lies in the hands of the rakyat.
Okay, I did not say I am a noble person. I am not doing this for the sake of the rakyat. I do not have the interest of the rakyat at heart. I am only doing this to guarantee the continuation of the Monarchy and to ensure that no one starts harbouring thoughts of turning Malaysia into a Republic. For that I am not sincere in my actions and, in a sense, I have a hidden agenda or, as the Malays would say, udang sebalik batu.
Nevertheless, whatever I do, I do in the service of the Crown. But, now, I am being branded a treasonous person, a traitor (penderhaka), for speaking out against the Sultan of Perak. And the party branding me a treasonous person is none other than the Selangor Royal Family to which I belong.
I am loyal to the Monarchy. I am not the treasonous person or traitor that my family considers me to be. But I also have my pride and dignity. I will never apologise, relent, or go down on my knees to beg for forgiveness. I did no wrong. What I did was for the good of the Monarchy. Yes, I took the side of the rakyat against the Perak Palace in the Nizar versus Zambry matter. But I believed that the rakyat was right while the palace was wrong. Under those circumstances how could I have done otherwise?
My family expects me to take the side of the Palace in the Perak Constitutional Crisis. I am a member of the Selangor Royal Family so I must think and act like a Royalist. I must not bring shame to the family. A Royalist stands behind the Rulers even if the Rulers may be wrong. And since I refuse to do that then I am to be classified an outcast.
I accept the judgement that I am treasonous. I will not dispute this or appeal against it. And they need not even punish me for my ‘crime’. As a loyal subject of the Rulers I will accept, without a whimper, my punishment for displeasing the Palace. And the punishment will be banishment from the State of Selangor and persona non grata from the State of Perak until the day I die. This has been the traditional punishment for all those members of the Royal Family before me who have displeased the Palace.
In case many of you are not aware, my grandfather, Sultan Musa Ghiatuddin Riayat Shah ibni al-Marhum Sultan Ala'eddin Suleiman Shah, was also banished from the State of Selangor back in 1945 for being ‘too independent’. The British exiled him to the Cocos Islands, a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean, and appointed his younger brother, Tengku Hisamuddin Alam Shah, the son of Sultan Ala'eddin Suleiman Shah’s second wife, as the Sultan of Selangor.
Sultan Musa actually had another brother, Tengku Badar, from the same mother, who was the Tengku Ampuan Selangor. But he too was by-passed in favour of Tengku Alam Shah, his half-brother, whose mother was not the Tengku Ampuan Selangor but Cik Hasnah binti Pelong, a ‘commoner’. Musa was allowed back into Selangor in 1955 just a few months before he died.
Selangor history does not officially acknowledge the existence of Sultan Musa who was the Sultan of Selangor from 1942 to 1945 and was the Seventh Sultan. The present Sultan, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, is listed as the Ninth Sultan when he is actually the Eleventh. That is because Sultan Alam Shah was both the Sixth and Eight Sultan with Sultan Musa sandwiched in between as the Seventh.
I suppose, if even Sultan Musa can be banished from Selangor and sent into exile in the Cocos Islands, who am I to expect less than that? I am not even in the Royal Council let alone close to the Throne.
I am a proud person, too proud to beg for clemency. Hidung tak mancung, pipi tersorong sorong, as the Malays would say. That is just not me. Those who know me will know that that is not me. I know when I am not wanted. If I am not wanted then I move on. And it does not concern me one bit to know I am not wanted. Let it be known that Raja Petra the son of Raja Kamarudin never begged and that he stubbornly held his head up high with pride and dignity.
I have always said I want to be buried in the Royal Mausoleum in Kelang when I die. This is where my father, uncles, aunties, grandfathers and grandmothers are also buried. I was told I would be denied permission to be buried there. I would instead have to be buried in Sungai Buloh, not far from where I live, and where the unidentified victims of ‘May 13’ are also buried.
I leave this as my last will and testament. Since I shall not be buried in the Royal Mausoleum in Kelang beside my family, then I refuse to be buried at all. When I die I want to be cremated and for my ashes to be scattered into the sea. There will be no sign that I ever existed or a ‘monument’ that I had lived. I shall revert to dust from where I had come. This is my last will and testament.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sometimes Desi ventures into terrortry where even angels...
fear to tread. And BUMmers' terrain qualifies as one such because you may be shouthed down even if you are gifted wit' HI-desibelles like wan YL Chong.
"And what's BUM?", you may raise your impatient "V"oice, at daylight or at midnight. I prefer the latter because then you have to restrain yourself in case you wake up the 'hole neighbourhood -- neigh, NEIGH!
I just celebrated my fourth birthday the recent Ides of March -- seiLOL, Desi so olde ah? -- at My Blue H'aven. Now since the past year brightened up when I tap-danzed on the aweOFhelen's photographic skills. Helen bestowed on Desi the PL of speaking in ***DDC aka as "speaking in tongue-in-chic". She, as a civil society promoter, noticeable has downsized her own input @allofhelen.blogspot.com while Desi's Place UPstages himself IGNORAMUS-ing all critical commenters:(
What's Desi mumbling all about this mundane moUrn when most labourers would be wishing May Day is upon them. Ah,not me because I ain't no fooltimer -- I earn some B&B just putting pen to paper aka mousing the PC tap-danzing wit' thy fingers....
Okay, now to unravel the ***Da Desi Code a byte, be a GOoD childe or BUMmer, surf to bum2009.wordpress.com:
April 13, 2009...7:43 am
Bloggers’ Universe Malaysia (BUM) 2009 Takes Off at Starter’s Blog!
KUALA LUMPUR: About five weeks from now, BUM2009 will tap-dance in again at The Lake View Club, Subang Jaya, and the Organising Committee is giving you good notice to keep yourself free for a date at Da Bloggers’ Event of Da Year!
And we will have an extra session on top of last year’s two as we believe the new media scene has attracted a lot of interest after its power and influence and impact at the March 8, 2008 General Elections were duely noted by many quarters, both political and social.
Mark Saturday, May 16, 2009 in your diary. The BUM2009 Organising Committee has gathered at the Starter’s Block, and with these vibrant members all fired up to make the Event memorable for all BUMmers, with many who served at last year’s BUM2008 — does this Logo strike a chord with you? REF: bum2008-desiderata.blogspot.com -–
*****************
making a re-apprearance.
Chairman: Sdr YL Chong aka Desiderata
Co-chairman: Sdr Ahirudin Attan aka rockybru
Bahasa Malaysia Chair: Sdri Helen Ang
Treasurer: Sdri Helen Hoh
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Liew Hui Mei, ES Shankar aka donplaypuks, Capt Yuosf Ahmad aka ancient mariner, Dr SM Yeoh aka maverickysm, Chris Chew aka mob1900, Frances Yee aka primrose.
ADVISER: Dr Lim Teck Ghee
****************************************
BUM2009 will feature the following:
THEME: 4th and 5th Estates — on Collision Course?
(1) Morning Session’s Topic:
The Media - Civil Society’s Perspectives
(2) Afternoon Session’s Topic:
This session will feature mainly Bloggers writing in Bahansa Malaysia
and the Chair coordinating this will soon announce the topic — Stay tuned!
(3) Evening Session’s Topic:
Has The Old Media Failed Civil Society?
*****************************
The BUM2009 OC — that’s for Organising Committee! — will try to keep the Entrance charge as low as possible, like maybe at last year’s BUM2008’s at RM50 per person, or an additional RM10 as there is an extra session this year! Of course, it’s FREE for our OC for all their hard work, and for the esteemed speakers, who cometh with special roles like lending their minds and thrust-and-parry with all comers durng the entertaining Q and A session.
PS: One morsel of information I must leave with you before I temporarily take leave: Desi heard on the grapevine for the May 16, 2009 dinner, THREE LAMBS are headed for the Warren Buffet’s table at da Lake View Club, Subang Jaya! Details of the programme will be posted within a week from now.
STAY TUNED!
YL Chong,
Chair
BUM2009 Organising Committee
13 April 2009
*******************************************
About Us
Bloggers’ Universe Malaysia Gathering 2009 will feature three brainstorming sessions involving Speakers and Audience with the general theme of “4th and 5th Estates — On Collision Course?”.
This annual initiative — the third such outing in three years — is mainly by a group of bloggers — in association with the Centre for Policy Initiatives — acting on the Third Annual Event in May to mark World Press Freedom Day which falls on 3rd May. At BUM2007, the Organising Committee indicated it would like to pass the baton to the National Alliance of Bloggers Committtee (All-Blogs) to organise such events perhaps on an annual basis, but since All-Blogs’ official registration is still pending, this Group of “lazy” BUMmers quite excited with Blogosphere making the limelight nowadys, unashamedly take on the task to organise BUM2009.
We wish to emphasise that we do not represent any particular group of bloggers/writers affiliated with any particular political party as we serve in the BUM2009 OC in our individual capacities.
From year one’s outing that was BUM2007, the Programme as first mooted by blogger Howsy, is focused on Socio-Political (SoPo) Bloggers, and Civil Society activists, are are often encouraged by one Taiko-blogger’s — he’s now also an MP – motto “Thinking Aloud, THINKING ALLOWED“.
"And what's BUM?", you may raise your impatient "V"oice, at daylight or at midnight. I prefer the latter because then you have to restrain yourself in case you wake up the 'hole neighbourhood -- neigh, NEIGH!
I just celebrated my fourth birthday the recent Ides of March -- seiLOL, Desi so olde ah? -- at My Blue H'aven. Now since the past year brightened up when I tap-danzed on the aweOFhelen's photographic skills. Helen bestowed on Desi the PL of speaking in ***DDC aka as "speaking in tongue-in-chic". She, as a civil society promoter, noticeable has downsized her own input @allofhelen.blogspot.com while Desi's Place UPstages himself IGNORAMUS-ing all critical commenters:(
What's Desi mumbling all about this mundane moUrn when most labourers would be wishing May Day is upon them. Ah,not me because I ain't no fooltimer -- I earn some B&B just putting pen to paper aka mousing the PC tap-danzing wit' thy fingers....
Okay, now to unravel the ***Da Desi Code a byte, be a GOoD childe or BUMmer, surf to bum2009.wordpress.com:
April 13, 2009...7:43 am
Bloggers’ Universe Malaysia (BUM) 2009 Takes Off at Starter’s Blog!
KUALA LUMPUR: About five weeks from now, BUM2009 will tap-dance in again at The Lake View Club, Subang Jaya, and the Organising Committee is giving you good notice to keep yourself free for a date at Da Bloggers’ Event of Da Year!
And we will have an extra session on top of last year’s two as we believe the new media scene has attracted a lot of interest after its power and influence and impact at the March 8, 2008 General Elections were duely noted by many quarters, both political and social.
Mark Saturday, May 16, 2009 in your diary. The BUM2009 Organising Committee has gathered at the Starter’s Block, and with these vibrant members all fired up to make the Event memorable for all BUMmers, with many who served at last year’s BUM2008 — does this Logo strike a chord with you? REF: bum2008-desiderata.blogspot.com -–
*****************
making a re-apprearance.
Chairman: Sdr YL Chong aka Desiderata
Co-chairman: Sdr Ahirudin Attan aka rockybru
Bahasa Malaysia Chair: Sdri Helen Ang
Treasurer: Sdri Helen Hoh
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Liew Hui Mei, ES Shankar aka donplaypuks, Capt Yuosf Ahmad aka ancient mariner, Dr SM Yeoh aka maverickysm, Chris Chew aka mob1900, Frances Yee aka primrose.
ADVISER: Dr Lim Teck Ghee
****************************************
BUM2009 will feature the following:
THEME: 4th and 5th Estates — on Collision Course?
(1) Morning Session’s Topic:
The Media - Civil Society’s Perspectives
(2) Afternoon Session’s Topic:
This session will feature mainly Bloggers writing in Bahansa Malaysia
and the Chair coordinating this will soon announce the topic — Stay tuned!
(3) Evening Session’s Topic:
Has The Old Media Failed Civil Society?
*****************************
The BUM2009 OC — that’s for Organising Committee! — will try to keep the Entrance charge as low as possible, like maybe at last year’s BUM2008’s at RM50 per person, or an additional RM10 as there is an extra session this year! Of course, it’s FREE for our OC for all their hard work, and for the esteemed speakers, who cometh with special roles like lending their minds and thrust-and-parry with all comers durng the entertaining Q and A session.
PS: One morsel of information I must leave with you before I temporarily take leave: Desi heard on the grapevine for the May 16, 2009 dinner, THREE LAMBS are headed for the Warren Buffet’s table at da Lake View Club, Subang Jaya! Details of the programme will be posted within a week from now.
STAY TUNED!
YL Chong,
Chair
BUM2009 Organising Committee
13 April 2009
*******************************************
About Us
Bloggers’ Universe Malaysia Gathering 2009 will feature three brainstorming sessions involving Speakers and Audience with the general theme of “4th and 5th Estates — On Collision Course?”.
This annual initiative — the third such outing in three years — is mainly by a group of bloggers — in association with the Centre for Policy Initiatives — acting on the Third Annual Event in May to mark World Press Freedom Day which falls on 3rd May. At BUM2007, the Organising Committee indicated it would like to pass the baton to the National Alliance of Bloggers Committtee (All-Blogs) to organise such events perhaps on an annual basis, but since All-Blogs’ official registration is still pending, this Group of “lazy” BUMmers quite excited with Blogosphere making the limelight nowadys, unashamedly take on the task to organise BUM2009.
We wish to emphasise that we do not represent any particular group of bloggers/writers affiliated with any particular political party as we serve in the BUM2009 OC in our individual capacities.
From year one’s outing that was BUM2007, the Programme as first mooted by blogger Howsy, is focused on Socio-Political (SoPo) Bloggers, and Civil Society activists, are are often encouraged by one Taiko-blogger’s — he’s now also an MP – motto “Thinking Aloud, THINKING ALLOWED“.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
dejected ... and jaded
no "long" post today because i had some depressing news via sms:
someone absconded, which translates into losing around 2,400,knot pounds or rupiahs, nor is it floowed by millions --- desi is knot in that league. nyet.
i feel jaded. and this refrain keeps ringing in my mind:
Elvis Presley
Return to Sender Lyrics:
I gave a letter to the postman
He put it in his sack
bright and early next morning
He brought my letter back
She wrote upon it:
Return to sender, address unknown
No such number, no such ZONE
We had a quarrel, a lover's spat
I write I'm sorry but my letter keeps coming back.
So when I dropped it in the mailbox
[ Find more Lyrics on www.mp3lyrics.org/BM ]
And sent it special D.
bright and early next morning
It came right back to me.
She wrote upon it:
Return to sender, address unknown.
No such person, no such ZONE
This time I'm gonna take it myself
And put it right in her hand.
And if it comes back the very next day
Then I'll understand
The writing on it
Return to sender, address unknown.
No such number, no such ZONE.
Return to sender.
Return to sender.
Return to sender.
Return to sender.
End wit' GOoD nu'es: Desi's still (but?) alive and kicking, May you be2, GBless us Awe ~~ amen:)
someone absconded, which translates into losing around 2,400,knot pounds or rupiahs, nor is it floowed by millions --- desi is knot in that league. nyet.
i feel jaded. and this refrain keeps ringing in my mind:
Elvis Presley
Return to Sender Lyrics:
I gave a letter to the postman
He put it in his sack
bright and early next morning
He brought my letter back
She wrote upon it:
Return to sender, address unknown
No such number, no such ZONE
We had a quarrel, a lover's spat
I write I'm sorry but my letter keeps coming back.
So when I dropped it in the mailbox
[ Find more Lyrics on www.mp3lyrics.org/BM ]
And sent it special D.
bright and early next morning
It came right back to me.
She wrote upon it:
Return to sender, address unknown.
No such person, no such ZONE
This time I'm gonna take it myself
And put it right in her hand.
And if it comes back the very next day
Then I'll understand
The writing on it
Return to sender, address unknown.
No such number, no such ZONE.
Return to sender.
Return to sender.
Return to sender.
Return to sender.
End wit' GOoD nu'es: Desi's still (but?) alive and kicking, May you be2, GBless us Awe ~~ amen:)
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Calling NSTman, where art thou?
Also, WHO ART THOU?
I'm taking liberties in assuming I can reprise NSTman's comment I sighted at another Blogger's because I think I have met him(BUMmer?) but not IDed him. A remore possibility -- Could be a her?
Anyway, I encountered him as fellow conversationist at certain popular Comments sections, and often our wavelengths overlapped.
We even enjoyed Hey Jude in the "bad and badder" way, and of ourse, I urged him to duet wit' Desi in LET IT BE a couple of times.Maybe I did not offer enough dimes.
This following Comment by NSTman reflected my sentiments about the new cabinet--See the lower case!:( Yes, most of these members should be closeted ... like skeletons oin the cupboard. But ENJOY a fellow Beatles fan-ny:)
"7 nstman 10 April 2009 @ 8:05 pm
First things first. I dont like KJ. But put things in perspective. KJ won the the Youth prize. That by extension means he has the support of the Youth movement. His opponents lost, but were rewarded with government posts. What logic is that? If you want to compare brains, then it’s strictly no contest. KJ has more brains than the whole Cabinet put together. I admire the way he presents his views, I admire his spoken English. Frankly, he is PM material, whether one likes it or not. Najib has resorted to political expediency to resolve the imbroglio started by Mahathir. Now you wonder why young Malay professionals are gravitating towards Keadilan and Pas. Once again Umno has shot itself in the foot. Once again Umno has imploded. Umno Bodoh."
PS only to NSTman, knot the rest of ER: As an act of AP, if NSTman cares to ID himself wit' a short/long note to chongyl2000@yahoo.com, he may get an INVITE worth RM60.00 so-ON! -- YL, Desi,knottyaSssual HINT: BUM2009...3 kambing?
UPDATEd @4.34PM:
To BEATLES fans like NSTman, xpyred, howsy dan maverick, mGf first matey ancient mariner and second matey Stu Russell still on the Yellow Submarine: LET'S ALTOGETHER NOW for olde times'shakes, raise the desibelles!
"The Fool On The Hill"
(Lennon/McCartney)
Day after day, alone on the hill
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him
They can see that he's just a fool
As he never gives an answer
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
Well on the way, head in a cloud
The man of a thousand voices talking percetly loud
But nobody ever hears him
Or the sound he appears to make
And he never seems to notice
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
And nobody seems to like him
They can tell what he wants to do
And he never shows his feelings
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
He never listen to them
He knows that they're the fools
They don't like him
The fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
*******************************
From cyusof.blogspot.com:) a thievery in the steal of da Furong knight:(
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Fools on the Hills
At this stage of my life, I do not suffer fools gladly.
Desi intercepts: "Me2, ditto, Desidodadey!:):)"
When the by-election results were announced late last night with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) winning 2 out of 3 seats, the first thing that struck me quite honestly was those 14 independent candidates on the two bukits, who all lost their deposits ... what were they thinking? Or do I smell rats here.
I was also probably the only non pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) blogger at a lunch meeting yesterday, where the quiet consensus was that BN would win 3-0. These poor misguided youngsters will have to eat humble pie now.
And Muhyiddin has the gall to say that 'the feel-good factor' from Najib coming to power on Friday is still 'too new and has not sunk in.'
What 'feel good factor'? The only people who must have felt good about it are the UMNO/BN ship of fools, a delusional former apa nama prime minister, and of course those impoverished dayaks in Batang Ai, who obviously now truly deserve the government they have got.
The writing is already on the wall and the word is: CHANGE.
And change we must, lest we become a Nation of Fools too.
Logged by The Ancient Mariner
I'm taking liberties in assuming I can reprise NSTman's comment I sighted at another Blogger's because I think I have met him(BUMmer?) but not IDed him. A remore possibility -- Could be a her?
Anyway, I encountered him as fellow conversationist at certain popular Comments sections, and often our wavelengths overlapped.
We even enjoyed Hey Jude in the "bad and badder" way, and of ourse, I urged him to duet wit' Desi in LET IT BE a couple of times.Maybe I did not offer enough dimes.
This following Comment by NSTman reflected my sentiments about the new cabinet--See the lower case!:( Yes, most of these members should be closeted ... like skeletons oin the cupboard. But ENJOY a fellow Beatles fan-ny:)
"7 nstman 10 April 2009 @ 8:05 pm
First things first. I dont like KJ. But put things in perspective. KJ won the the Youth prize. That by extension means he has the support of the Youth movement. His opponents lost, but were rewarded with government posts. What logic is that? If you want to compare brains, then it’s strictly no contest. KJ has more brains than the whole Cabinet put together. I admire the way he presents his views, I admire his spoken English. Frankly, he is PM material, whether one likes it or not. Najib has resorted to political expediency to resolve the imbroglio started by Mahathir. Now you wonder why young Malay professionals are gravitating towards Keadilan and Pas. Once again Umno has shot itself in the foot. Once again Umno has imploded. Umno Bodoh."
PS only to NSTman, knot the rest of ER: As an act of AP, if NSTman cares to ID himself wit' a short/long note to chongyl2000@yahoo.com, he may get an INVITE worth RM60.00 so-ON! -- YL, Desi,knottyaSssual HINT: BUM2009...3 kambing?
UPDATEd @4.34PM:
To BEATLES fans like NSTman, xpyred, howsy dan maverick, mGf first matey ancient mariner and second matey Stu Russell still on the Yellow Submarine: LET'S ALTOGETHER NOW for olde times'shakes, raise the desibelles!
"The Fool On The Hill"
(Lennon/McCartney)
Day after day, alone on the hill
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him
They can see that he's just a fool
As he never gives an answer
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
Well on the way, head in a cloud
The man of a thousand voices talking percetly loud
But nobody ever hears him
Or the sound he appears to make
And he never seems to notice
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
And nobody seems to like him
They can tell what he wants to do
And he never shows his feelings
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
He never listen to them
He knows that they're the fools
They don't like him
The fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
*******************************
From cyusof.blogspot.com:) a thievery in the steal of da Furong knight:(
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Fools on the Hills
At this stage of my life, I do not suffer fools gladly.
Desi intercepts: "Me2, ditto, Desidodadey!:):)"
When the by-election results were announced late last night with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) winning 2 out of 3 seats, the first thing that struck me quite honestly was those 14 independent candidates on the two bukits, who all lost their deposits ... what were they thinking? Or do I smell rats here.
I was also probably the only non pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) blogger at a lunch meeting yesterday, where the quiet consensus was that BN would win 3-0. These poor misguided youngsters will have to eat humble pie now.
And Muhyiddin has the gall to say that 'the feel-good factor' from Najib coming to power on Friday is still 'too new and has not sunk in.'
What 'feel good factor'? The only people who must have felt good about it are the UMNO/BN ship of fools, a delusional former apa nama prime minister, and of course those impoverished dayaks in Batang Ai, who obviously now truly deserve the government they have got.
The writing is already on the wall and the word is: CHANGE.
And change we must, lest we become a Nation of Fools too.
Logged by The Ancient Mariner
Friday, April 10, 2009
Beholdenism is a key Malaysian political tool
Coming in last not so bad after all
Posted by admin
Friday, 10 April 2009 09:14
By Chan Kok Leong, The Edge
In Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s maiden government lineup announced yesterday, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, the third son of the country's fourth prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, stood out conspicuously as the new appointee to the executive branch.
While this was not entirely unexpected, the absence of newly elected Umno Youth chief and son-in-law of former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Khairy Jamaluddin, will be a talking point for many.
Mukhriz was appointed as one of two deputy ministers in the high-profile Ministry of International Trade and Industry, which is now headed by Datuk Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah.
Adding salt to injury, Umno Youth vice-chief Datuk Razali Ibrahim was also made a deputy minister. He will join MCA’s Wee Jeck Seng in Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek’s Youth and Sports Ministry.
When contacted, Khairy said that he was pleased with the new cabinet and was proud that Razali was included in the new lineup.
“I was informed by the prime minister on Wednesday night that he wanted me to put my full attention towards strengthening the Youth movement.
“Based on the declining support for Barisan Nasional among young voters, we agreed that this responsibility was a full-time commitment. Free from any government duties, I will be able to focus all my attention towards this task,” the Rembau MP told The Edge Financial Daily yesterday.
During Umno elections last month, Khairy defeated Datuk Seri Dr Khir Toyo and Mukhriz. Khairy picked up 304 votes to Khir’s 254 and Mukhriz's 232 votes.
Newly elected Wanita chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil was appointed as the new minister in charge of women, family and community development while Puteri chief Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin was picked as a deputy minister for the health ministry.
Leading up to Najib’s announcement yesterday, former premier Dr Mahathir had wrote in his blog that he was confident that the new prime minister would not include Khairy in his lineup.
In a veiled threat, Dr Mahathir also said that he would quit Umno again if he saw remnants of Abdullah’s followers in the new cabinet.
In the run-up to the Umno elections recently, Khairy was among 15 members, including Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, who were found guilty by the party's disciplinary board of being involved in money politics.
However, the punishment meted out was different depending on the severity of the allegations and the board's findings, and while Mohd Ali was barred from contesting, Khairy was only given a warning. Khairy has maintained his innocence.
DESIDERATA: My only comment to add is the TITLE OF THIS POST.
From da dick -- and mamaMIA,please don't accuse Desi of profanity! "pro-FUN-d yes, I PG!:(" -- online, here's what the key word, from thefreedictionary.com, is about:
be·hold·en (b-hldn)
adj.
Owing something, such as gratitude, to another; indebted.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Middle English biholden, past participle of biholden, to observe; see behold.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
beholden
Adjective
indebted; obliged: I am beholden to you
Collins Essential English Dictionary 2nd Edition 2006 © HarperCollins Publishers 2004, 2006
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj. 1. beholden - under a moral obligation to someone
obligated - caused by law or conscience to follow a certain course; "felt obligated to repay the kindness"; "was obligated to pay off the student loan"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2008 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
beholden
adjective indebted, bound, owing, grateful, obliged, in debt, obligated, under obligation
Collins Essential Thesaurus 2nd Edition 2006 © HarperCollins Publishers 2005, 2006
Posted by admin
Friday, 10 April 2009 09:14
By Chan Kok Leong, The Edge
In Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s maiden government lineup announced yesterday, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, the third son of the country's fourth prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, stood out conspicuously as the new appointee to the executive branch.
While this was not entirely unexpected, the absence of newly elected Umno Youth chief and son-in-law of former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Khairy Jamaluddin, will be a talking point for many.
Mukhriz was appointed as one of two deputy ministers in the high-profile Ministry of International Trade and Industry, which is now headed by Datuk Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah.
Adding salt to injury, Umno Youth vice-chief Datuk Razali Ibrahim was also made a deputy minister. He will join MCA’s Wee Jeck Seng in Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek’s Youth and Sports Ministry.
When contacted, Khairy said that he was pleased with the new cabinet and was proud that Razali was included in the new lineup.
“I was informed by the prime minister on Wednesday night that he wanted me to put my full attention towards strengthening the Youth movement.
“Based on the declining support for Barisan Nasional among young voters, we agreed that this responsibility was a full-time commitment. Free from any government duties, I will be able to focus all my attention towards this task,” the Rembau MP told The Edge Financial Daily yesterday.
During Umno elections last month, Khairy defeated Datuk Seri Dr Khir Toyo and Mukhriz. Khairy picked up 304 votes to Khir’s 254 and Mukhriz's 232 votes.
Newly elected Wanita chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil was appointed as the new minister in charge of women, family and community development while Puteri chief Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin was picked as a deputy minister for the health ministry.
Leading up to Najib’s announcement yesterday, former premier Dr Mahathir had wrote in his blog that he was confident that the new prime minister would not include Khairy in his lineup.
In a veiled threat, Dr Mahathir also said that he would quit Umno again if he saw remnants of Abdullah’s followers in the new cabinet.
In the run-up to the Umno elections recently, Khairy was among 15 members, including Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, who were found guilty by the party's disciplinary board of being involved in money politics.
However, the punishment meted out was different depending on the severity of the allegations and the board's findings, and while Mohd Ali was barred from contesting, Khairy was only given a warning. Khairy has maintained his innocence.
DESIDERATA: My only comment to add is the TITLE OF THIS POST.
From da dick -- and mamaMIA,please don't accuse Desi of profanity! "pro-FUN-d yes, I PG!:(" -- online, here's what the key word, from thefreedictionary.com, is about:
be·hold·en (b-hldn)
adj.
Owing something, such as gratitude, to another; indebted.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Middle English biholden, past participle of biholden, to observe; see behold.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
beholden
Adjective
indebted; obliged: I am beholden to you
Collins Essential English Dictionary 2nd Edition 2006 © HarperCollins Publishers 2004, 2006
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj. 1. beholden - under a moral obligation to someone
obligated - caused by law or conscience to follow a certain course; "felt obligated to repay the kindness"; "was obligated to pay off the student loan"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2008 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
beholden
adjective indebted, bound, owing, grateful, obliged, in debt, obligated, under obligation
Collins Essential Thesaurus 2nd Edition 2006 © HarperCollins Publishers 2005, 2006
Thursday, April 09, 2009
MURDER most fouled...Agatha Christie would have dunITbadder!
From The Star Online @about12.15PM, I read the headline saying the two accused were found guilty and sentenced to death, so I picked up the story, but am writing this commentary at the start of post without reading the news report beyong the HEADLINE.
DESIDERATA:
When Razak Baginda was acquitted of the abetment tomuder charge, I had already cast doubt on the court case which reminded Desi very much of DS Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial a deacde earlier -- Kangaroo court away from Down Under.
I have had the benefit of some Criminal Law education for one academic ear and many aMore years while earning B&B as a reporter, including coverging the court&crime beat.
From a layman's ground perspectives, here's some 3sen's worth of my look at this Altantuya's case:
FIRST, in order to commit a crime, there is the requisite for mens rea, basically meaning the "motive" for doing the wrongful act.
In the case of Razak Baginda, the AG's office put the cart before the horse by treating him as a secondary player WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE PRINCIPAL AND HENCE TO BE PROSUCUTED FOR MURDER, definitely not the accessory act to murder.
WHY? Because Razak had what could easily be determined as having mens rea -- having known the murder victim, even acknowledging having an affair with her, and also engaging her services as official interpreter using her language skills in his various arms deals.
If there was any charge the present two now found guilty of murder they could have been guilty of, theirs was as accomplices to the principal in committing murder. BUT NO, THE TWO BLIGHTERS WERE INSTEAD GIVEN "STAR" TREATMENT instead of playing minor roles (in Kantonis, we call it CareLeFare!)
The two convicted could have been fall guys who did not know the victim in the first place before the Mongolian girl became a real player on the Malaysian scene; they were merely roped in at a later stage in a Play featuring Razak Baginda and Altantuya(and OTHERS...?) and became what I would term as COLLATERAL DAMAGE to some body's else' "firing gun". "Gun" here can been figuratively used as well if you know what Desi knottily means...:(
The other OUTSTANDING features of events leading up to yesterday's CONVICTION of the duo, I would recall -- I stand corrected on this -- some outstanding features:
*** Prosecution team was replaced at the last minute by a completely new team with npo good rime or reason given;
*** WHY WERE CERTAIN KEY PEOPLE NAMED IN COURT EVIDENCE not produced in court to explain their roles and relationships with the players involved?
*** And WHY WERE THE ERASURES OF IMMIGRATION RECORDS SHOWING ENTRY INTO MALAYSIA OF ALTANTUYA AND HER RELATIVE/S OR FRIEND/S NOT INVESTIF=GATED. Such a lead could be useful in following a trail that leads to POWERFUL OFFICES and you know where and what are the power centres in NegaraKu, don'tyou?
As an Agatha Christie's HERCULE POIROT and Sir Arthur Conon Doyle's SHERLOCK HOLMES fan Desi, says a finale prayer: DARE IS MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE, DR WATSON. I rest my case. I hope poor Altantuya can also rest ... in peace or in pieces. May God have no mercy on the real muderer/s! Amen
Altantuya murder: It's death for Azilah and Sirul (Update)
SHAH ALAM: Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri,32, and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 36, were found guilty and sentenced to death for the murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu three years ago, wrapping up the country's longest trial ever.
Judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin said that the two had failed to cast any doubt on the prosecution's case and that they only blamed each other.
He said that he had analysed and tested all submissions by all the parties.
Defense counsels said they would appeal.
Azilah, 33, is represented by two counsels, Datuk Hazman Ahmad and J. Kuldeep Kumar while Sirul Azhar, 37, who is represented by Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin, Hasnal Redzua Marican and Ahmad Zaidi Zainal.
In the high profile trial that hogged the local and international media, the duo were charged with murdering Altantuya, who was 28 then, between Lot 12843 and Lot 16735 Mukim Bukit Raja near here, between 10 pm, Oct 19 and 1 am, Oct 20, 2006.
Initially they were tried together with the Executive Director of Malaysian Strategic Research Centre (MSRC), Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, 48, who was charged with conspiring in the murder of Altantuya.
However on Oct 31, 2008, the political analyst walked out a free man after the court found that the prosecution had failed to furnish proof on an important element on the conspiracy charge.
Abdul Razak since has left to United Kingdom and is said to be taking up PhD at Oxford University.
While Azilah and Sirul Azhar who pleaded not guilty are hoping to be released, the prosecution is going all out to prove they are the ones behind Altantuya's murder and the disposal of her remains using explosives.
The prosecution team consisting of Deputy Public Prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah, Noorin Badaruddin, Manoj Kurup and Hanim Rashid stressed in their submissions that Azilah and Sirul Azhar are the people behind Altantuya's murder.
Based on the evidence gathered from prosecution witnesses, the explosive used to blow up Altantuya's body was probably placed in her mouth.
Manoj noted at the end of the prosecution's case that both accused had the motive to kill and it was a preplanned crime.
Manoj noted that several circumstantial evidence that the prosecution tried to prove were never denied, explained or answered by both defendants.
"Several of the strong evidence deduced from the testimonies when spun together will make two ropes that are strong enough to hang each one of them.
"The prosecution has proven beyond reasonable doubt on the actions of the duo calls for their conviction on the murder carried out with the common intention," he had said.
Azilah who started his testimony on Jan 15 stated that he had no motive to kill or destroy the woman and instead he only met Altantuya to advise her politely not to harass Abdul Razak or create a ruckus outside the latter's home.
Azilah also told the court that he was ordered by a superior, DSP Musa Safri to help Abdul Razak and thus he would not have done something stupid like killing and what more when he was a policeman.
While defending himself Sirul Azhar broke down a few times and related to the court that he has been made the 'sacrificial lamb' in the murder.
The case has set many records including being the most number of days for hearing (159 days) and 84 witnesses at the prosecution stage and two at the defence stage, and it remained the high profile case for almost two years before Abdul Razak was released.
According to records, Azilah has been incarcerated at the Sungai Buloh Prison for 891 days while Sirul Azhar 895 days.
While there are many conspiracy theories still going around, the verdict on Sirul Azhar and Azilah may put to an end many of these theories.
PS: A relevant, maybe irreverent:(, borrowing from malaysia-today.net wit' tacit agreement of the author:)
Evidence, or the lack of it
Posted by admin
Thursday, 02 April 2009 20:56
Christopher Fernando told the court that Anwar Ibrahim was placed in a most unusual situation where the defence had to prove his innocence instead of the prosecution having to prove his guilt.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
There are those who are of the view that Najib Tun Razak should first be cleared of any involvement in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder before he be allowed to take over as Prime Minister. And the way to do this, they feel, would be through a Royal Commission of Inquiry.
Anwar Ibrahim was once convicted of corruption and sodomy and was sentenced to 15 years and seven months in jail not because there was evidence he had in fact committed a crime. The court found him guilty because there was just an allegation he had committed a crime and Anwar was not able to prove otherwise.
In short, the burden of proof was placed on Anwar, the accused, and not on the prosecution. And Anwar was made to prove his innocence instead of the prosecution having to prove his guilt.
Now, if they apply the same standards of burden of proof on Najib as they had on Anwar, not only would Najib not be able to become the next prime minister, as what happened to Anwar, but he would also be sent to jail, as what happened to Anwar.
The issue here is not the evidence of a crime having been committed but the lack of evidence of a crime not having been committed. That was how they denied Anwar the job of Prime Minister and sent him to jail. Should that not also be what Najib is subjected to?
Anyway, to demonstrate what I mean, I am republishing below the court transcripts of Anwar’s trial of 25 March 2003 as argued by his lawyers.
***************************************
The burden of proof is on the prosecution but was shifted to the defence instead
An accused person is not required to prove his innocence. Instead, his accusers have to prove his guilt. In Anwar Ibrahim’s case, however, he was placed in an unenviable position of having to prove his innocence.
Anwar was charged for ‘committing sodomy one night, at 7.45pm, between 1 January 1993 and 31 March 1993’. Even with such a wide and vague charge, Anwar still managed to provide alibis for all those 90 days except one.
Yet, the judge still insisted that Anwar had not established his alibi. But the judge was not able to say which one of those 90 days Anwar’s alibi had not been established.
“All an accused person has to do is to create reasonable doubt,” said Christopher Fernando. “He does not have to prove anything or establish his defence beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“He is not required to prove anything conclusively with respect to his defence of alibi. But the judge held he had to and the he had not proved it 'conclusively'.”
“Conclusive proof is a standard even higher than beyond reasonable doubt.”
Fernando then told the court that Anwar was placed in a most unusual situation where the defence had to prove his innocence instead of the prosecution having to prove his guilt.
“This is most unusual; alien to the law,” argued Fernando
“All Dato’ Seri Anwar had to do was to raise reasonable doubt.”
“Between 4 February and 31 March 1993, Dato’ Seri Anwar managed to establish his alibi, except for 19 February 1993, said the judge.”
“There was no rebuttal at all by the prosecution to counter Dato’ Seri Anwar’s alibi.”
“The prosecution failed to observe this very basic principle of law.”
“Dato’ Seri Anwar had to prove he was not in the Tivoli Villa in the 90 days between 1 January and 31 March 1993.”
“Instead, it should have been the prosecution’s task to prove that he was there.”
The burden of proof was on the prosecution, argued Fernando. But in Anwar’s case it was the other way around.
“In spite of the monumental task to prove Dato’ Seri Anwar was not there (Tivoli Villa) the defence still managed to do so.”
“Yet the judge still insisted the defence did not establish his alibi.”
“But the judge did not say which one day over the 90 days the alibi was not established.”
“From 1 January 1993 to 3 February 1993 the apartment was under renovation.”
“So, from 4 February 1993 onwards, the alibi needs to be proven, and it was proven.”
“Witnesses were brought to testify and documents submitted to support the alibi.”
“The judge’s mind was cluttered. He was very confused and could not see the wood for the trees.”
“Tivoli Villa was not occupied. It had no furniture and was under renovation and the prosecution never rebutted this alibi.”
“The prosecution said Sukma had free access to the apartment but this was never proven.”
Azizan Abu Bakar had testified that he had been sodomised in the Tivoli Villa and that the act had taken place on a bed in a fully-furnished apartment, complete with carpets and all. He further testified that the act had taken place prior to 1993.
The defence, in turn, managed to prove that the apartment was under renovation from 1 January 1993 to 3 February 1993, and that from 4 February 1993 to 31 March 1993 Anwar was never in the apartment.
“The judge tried to buttress the evidence. He was trying to prop up a case that was so weak and unconvincing.”
“He said Azizan’s evidence is as strong as the Rock of Gibraltar.”
“Preposterous is too mild a word to use.”
“No judge in the history of this nation has gone this far to build up the credibility of a witness such as this – a witness who has no credibility whatsoever.”
Fernando explained that if there is any benefit of the doubt, it should have been given to the accused, not the prosecution. Instead, it was the opposite in Dato’ Seri Anwar’s case.
“This is a basic fundamental principle of law.”
“Azizan should have been impeached. This is not difficult as clearly he lied.”
“If Azizan had been impeached, the hearing would have ended then and there as the entire trial hinged on Azizan’s testimony.”
UPDATEd @8.22AM April 10, 2009,
BECAUSE Desi is at THY SERVICE,
and RPK is at OUR MAJESTIC SERVICE:)~~ YL, Desi, knottyaSsusual:(
The Altantuya murder: snippets from The Times of UK
Posted by admin
Thursday, 09 April 2009 17:36
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/20406/84/
Now that the court has delivered its verdict as to whether the two UTK officers are guilty of murdering Altantuya Shaariibuu, maybe we can flashback on just some of the things that The Times of UK wrote about the matter since the story first broke in late 2006. And why The Times of UK? Well, The Times of UK would not lie like how Malaysian Bloggers normally would.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
10 November 2006
An inquiry into the disappearance of a Mongolian model, who was apparently shot before her body was blown apart with explosives, was ordered by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Malaysian Prime Minister, yesterday.
His intervention came after police held a prominent political analyst in connection with the case that has caused a sensation in the country. Abdul Razak Baginda, 46, a member of the World Economic Forum, is the fourth person to be remanded in custody in connection with the death of the 28-year-old Altantuya Shaariibuu, whose body was found on Monday. He is a member of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, a television political pundit in Malaysia, and is studying for a doctorate at Oxford.
The others held after Miss Shaariibuu’s body was found on wasteland near Shah Alam are a police chief inspector and two police lance corporals, one male and one female. Mr Badawi said he had told the inspector-general of police to “investigate the case thoroughly and properly through due process”.
It has been reported that Mr Baginda met Miss Shaariibuu in Mongolia two years ago and the two had a relationship. The girl’s father in Mongolia said he believed they were married and that Mr Baginda was the father of her baby son.
His arrest sent Malaysian society reeling. Unnamed politicians and intellectuals described him as a “good” and “affable” man to the Malaysian Star newspaper. One said that Mr Baginda had showered Miss Shaariibuu with diamonds and other jewellery and had deposited $30,000 in her bank account. They had been on holiday together to Europe and South Africa.
“The father of murdered model Altantuya Shaariibuu will come with the marriage certificate to prove that they were married. He will also bring his grandson to undergo DNA tests to prove he is Abdul Razak’s son,” Mongolia’s honorary consul, Syed Abdul Rahman Alhabshi, said.
18 June 2007
An adviser to Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister ordered two police officers from an elite bodyguard unit to murder his beautiful Mongolian lover, a politically-charged murder trial heard today.
The remains of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old translator, part-time model, and unmarried mother of two from Mongolia, were found blown up by explosives in a jungle clearing near Kuala Lumpur late last year.
Abdul Razak Baginda, 47-year-old father of a teenage daughter, planned the murder, prosecutors said in what promises to be the most closely-followed trial in Malaysia for years. Mr Abdul Razak and the two police officers face the gallows if found guilty.
Mr Abdul Razak is alleged to have turned to the police officers – from a unit charged with protecting Malaysia's leaders - after Miss Shaariibuu began blackmailing him when their relationship turned sour.
He was well known in Kuala Lumpur as a high-flier close to the ruling party and a friend of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has been forced to deny any knowledge of the case.
The trial, which has already been postponed in controversial circumstances, is being widely seen as a test case for a judicial system, which has often been criticised in the past as vulnerable to political interference.
Tun Majid Tun Hamzah, for the prosecution, told the High Court in Shah Alam that Mr Abdul Razak abetted the police officers "in planning and giving instructions so that the deceased is killed." He denies the charge.
He said that the officers, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 30, and Constable Sirul Azhar Umar, 35, carried out the killing and that Sirul had confessed. The two officers are charged with her murder.
After their arrest, Mr Azilah had led police to the clearing where Miss Shaariibuu’s remains were found.
Miss Shaariibuu had threatened Mr Abdul Razak's child unless Mr Abdul Razak paid her, the prosecutor said.
Mr Tun Majid said that a pathologist's report would show that the cause of death was 'probable blast-related injuries'. A pair of slippers found in Mr Sirul's house were stained with what DNA tests proved was Miss Shaariibuu's blood, he said.
The trial had been scheduled to start earlier this month but was postponed after the attorney general replaced the prosecutor after he was seen playing badminton with the judge.
Before the trial started it had become a political football, with former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim calling for fairness and lamenting what he described as the failure of police to question Deputy Prime Minister Najib.
No evidence has emerged to link Mr Najib with the case and the Deputy Prime Minister issued a statement insisting that he had had no involvement with the dead woman.
Malaysia's judiciary has often been the subject of criticism. Nearly ten years ago Mr Anwar was himself dismissed by then premier Mahatir Mohammad and convicted of corruption and sodomy, a decision which was widely criticised abroad.
Mr Anwar has said that the judiciary and police are on trial in today's case, and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has pledged there will be no cover-up.
22 March 2009
A FRENCH arms company is at the centre of a deepening scandal involving the sale of three submarines, the murder of a beautiful Mongolian interpreter and the man most likely to become prime minister of Malaysia next month.
All three have been linked in a sensational sequence of revelations that has convinced many Malaysians that the woman was killed to silence her demands of a share in the rewards of the transaction.
The scandal exploded last week after the French newspaper Libération alleged that the submarines deal and the murder of Altantuya Shariibuu, 28, were connected.
A glamorous, cosmopolitan woman, Altantuya grew up in St Petersburg, spoke Russian, Chinese, Korean and English, moved in elite circles and has been dubbed “a Far Eastern Mata Hari”.
She became the mistress of a Malaysian political fixer and was allegedly trying to extort money from him at the time of her violent demise.
Two members of an elite Malaysian police unit that protects top politicians are on trial in Kuala Lumpur, accused of shooting her in the jungle and then blowing up her body with military explosives.
Azilah Hadri, 32, and Sirul Azhar Umar, 36, officers in the Special Branch, could go to the gallows if convicted of abducting and murdering Altantuya on October 19, 2006. A verdict is expected early next month.
Their trial is unfolding as Najib Razak, the country’s deputy prime minister, stands on the verge of taking over as premier after a ruling-party leadership election, due within days.
Najib was accused by a young opposition MP, Gobind Singh Deo, in parliament, of involvement in the murder. Deo was suspended by the Speaker for making the remark. The deputy prime minister has strongly denied any involvement.
Testimony in an earlier court case has established an intimate personal and financial connection between the dead woman and a close aide to Najib, who was minister of defence at the time of the submarine deal.
The aide, Abdul Razak Baginda, was acquitted by a court last November of being an accessory in the murder. He has since been working on a doctorate at Trinity College, Oxford.
Baginda admitted that the dead woman was his mistress for about a year and prosecutors said she had pestered him for money after their break-up.
Just before her death she arrived in Kuala Lumpur, accompanied by a Mongolian shaman, who was to put a curse on Baginda if he did not pay up.
Altantuya was dragged away from outside Baginda’s home by two Special Branch officers, but he was acquitted after maintaining that he never gave orders for her to be harmed.
The Libération exposé linking the murder to the shadowy world of arms contracts has embarrassed the French war-ship firm DCNS. Armaris, a firm now merged with DCNS, sold the three submarines to Malaysia in 2002 for £937m.
Attention has centred on why Armaris paid £107m to a Malaysian company called Perimekar in 2006.
Opposition leaders alleged in parliament that the payment was a “commission” for intermediaries and that Perimekar was secretly owned by Baginda. Najib replied that it was not a “commission” and that Perimekar was a “project services provider”.
Libération has alleged that Altantuya, who toured France with Baginda in a Ferrari, wining and dining at expensive restaurants, learnt of the payment. It said she was demanding $500,000 (£345,000).
DCNS has refused to comment. It is already the subject of a French judicial investigation into corrupt practices, thanks to a whistleblower who has detailed bribery and industrial espionage allegations.
Last week, efforts to contact Baginda, a self-styled political analyst, at his new home in Oxford were unsuccessful.
Najib has avoided public comment but his politically influential wife, Rosmah Mansor, told the French news agency AFP that she was “shocked” by attempts to link her husband and her to the case.
The Times is published by a member of the News International Group. News International Limited, 1 Virginia St, London E98 1XY, is the holding company for the News International group and is registered in England No 81701. VAT number GB 243 8054 69.
DESIDERATA:
When Razak Baginda was acquitted of the abetment tomuder charge, I had already cast doubt on the court case which reminded Desi very much of DS Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial a deacde earlier -- Kangaroo court away from Down Under.
I have had the benefit of some Criminal Law education for one academic ear and many aMore years while earning B&B as a reporter, including coverging the court&crime beat.
From a layman's ground perspectives, here's some 3sen's worth of my look at this Altantuya's case:
FIRST, in order to commit a crime, there is the requisite for mens rea, basically meaning the "motive" for doing the wrongful act.
In the case of Razak Baginda, the AG's office put the cart before the horse by treating him as a secondary player WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE PRINCIPAL AND HENCE TO BE PROSUCUTED FOR MURDER, definitely not the accessory act to murder.
WHY? Because Razak had what could easily be determined as having mens rea -- having known the murder victim, even acknowledging having an affair with her, and also engaging her services as official interpreter using her language skills in his various arms deals.
If there was any charge the present two now found guilty of murder they could have been guilty of, theirs was as accomplices to the principal in committing murder. BUT NO, THE TWO BLIGHTERS WERE INSTEAD GIVEN "STAR" TREATMENT instead of playing minor roles (in Kantonis, we call it CareLeFare!)
The two convicted could have been fall guys who did not know the victim in the first place before the Mongolian girl became a real player on the Malaysian scene; they were merely roped in at a later stage in a Play featuring Razak Baginda and Altantuya(and OTHERS...?) and became what I would term as COLLATERAL DAMAGE to some body's else' "firing gun". "Gun" here can been figuratively used as well if you know what Desi knottily means...:(
The other OUTSTANDING features of events leading up to yesterday's CONVICTION of the duo, I would recall -- I stand corrected on this -- some outstanding features:
*** Prosecution team was replaced at the last minute by a completely new team with npo good rime or reason given;
*** WHY WERE CERTAIN KEY PEOPLE NAMED IN COURT EVIDENCE not produced in court to explain their roles and relationships with the players involved?
*** And WHY WERE THE ERASURES OF IMMIGRATION RECORDS SHOWING ENTRY INTO MALAYSIA OF ALTANTUYA AND HER RELATIVE/S OR FRIEND/S NOT INVESTIF=GATED. Such a lead could be useful in following a trail that leads to POWERFUL OFFICES and you know where and what are the power centres in NegaraKu, don'tyou?
As an Agatha Christie's HERCULE POIROT and Sir Arthur Conon Doyle's SHERLOCK HOLMES fan Desi, says a finale prayer: DARE IS MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE, DR WATSON. I rest my case. I hope poor Altantuya can also rest ... in peace or in pieces. May God have no mercy on the real muderer/s! Amen
Altantuya murder: It's death for Azilah and Sirul (Update)
SHAH ALAM: Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri,32, and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 36, were found guilty and sentenced to death for the murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu three years ago, wrapping up the country's longest trial ever.
Judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin said that the two had failed to cast any doubt on the prosecution's case and that they only blamed each other.
He said that he had analysed and tested all submissions by all the parties.
Defense counsels said they would appeal.
Azilah, 33, is represented by two counsels, Datuk Hazman Ahmad and J. Kuldeep Kumar while Sirul Azhar, 37, who is represented by Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin, Hasnal Redzua Marican and Ahmad Zaidi Zainal.
In the high profile trial that hogged the local and international media, the duo were charged with murdering Altantuya, who was 28 then, between Lot 12843 and Lot 16735 Mukim Bukit Raja near here, between 10 pm, Oct 19 and 1 am, Oct 20, 2006.
Initially they were tried together with the Executive Director of Malaysian Strategic Research Centre (MSRC), Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, 48, who was charged with conspiring in the murder of Altantuya.
However on Oct 31, 2008, the political analyst walked out a free man after the court found that the prosecution had failed to furnish proof on an important element on the conspiracy charge.
Abdul Razak since has left to United Kingdom and is said to be taking up PhD at Oxford University.
While Azilah and Sirul Azhar who pleaded not guilty are hoping to be released, the prosecution is going all out to prove they are the ones behind Altantuya's murder and the disposal of her remains using explosives.
The prosecution team consisting of Deputy Public Prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah, Noorin Badaruddin, Manoj Kurup and Hanim Rashid stressed in their submissions that Azilah and Sirul Azhar are the people behind Altantuya's murder.
Based on the evidence gathered from prosecution witnesses, the explosive used to blow up Altantuya's body was probably placed in her mouth.
Manoj noted at the end of the prosecution's case that both accused had the motive to kill and it was a preplanned crime.
Manoj noted that several circumstantial evidence that the prosecution tried to prove were never denied, explained or answered by both defendants.
"Several of the strong evidence deduced from the testimonies when spun together will make two ropes that are strong enough to hang each one of them.
"The prosecution has proven beyond reasonable doubt on the actions of the duo calls for their conviction on the murder carried out with the common intention," he had said.
Azilah who started his testimony on Jan 15 stated that he had no motive to kill or destroy the woman and instead he only met Altantuya to advise her politely not to harass Abdul Razak or create a ruckus outside the latter's home.
Azilah also told the court that he was ordered by a superior, DSP Musa Safri to help Abdul Razak and thus he would not have done something stupid like killing and what more when he was a policeman.
While defending himself Sirul Azhar broke down a few times and related to the court that he has been made the 'sacrificial lamb' in the murder.
The case has set many records including being the most number of days for hearing (159 days) and 84 witnesses at the prosecution stage and two at the defence stage, and it remained the high profile case for almost two years before Abdul Razak was released.
According to records, Azilah has been incarcerated at the Sungai Buloh Prison for 891 days while Sirul Azhar 895 days.
While there are many conspiracy theories still going around, the verdict on Sirul Azhar and Azilah may put to an end many of these theories.
PS: A relevant, maybe irreverent:(, borrowing from malaysia-today.net wit' tacit agreement of the author:)
Evidence, or the lack of it
Posted by admin
Thursday, 02 April 2009 20:56
Christopher Fernando told the court that Anwar Ibrahim was placed in a most unusual situation where the defence had to prove his innocence instead of the prosecution having to prove his guilt.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
There are those who are of the view that Najib Tun Razak should first be cleared of any involvement in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder before he be allowed to take over as Prime Minister. And the way to do this, they feel, would be through a Royal Commission of Inquiry.
Anwar Ibrahim was once convicted of corruption and sodomy and was sentenced to 15 years and seven months in jail not because there was evidence he had in fact committed a crime. The court found him guilty because there was just an allegation he had committed a crime and Anwar was not able to prove otherwise.
In short, the burden of proof was placed on Anwar, the accused, and not on the prosecution. And Anwar was made to prove his innocence instead of the prosecution having to prove his guilt.
Now, if they apply the same standards of burden of proof on Najib as they had on Anwar, not only would Najib not be able to become the next prime minister, as what happened to Anwar, but he would also be sent to jail, as what happened to Anwar.
The issue here is not the evidence of a crime having been committed but the lack of evidence of a crime not having been committed. That was how they denied Anwar the job of Prime Minister and sent him to jail. Should that not also be what Najib is subjected to?
Anyway, to demonstrate what I mean, I am republishing below the court transcripts of Anwar’s trial of 25 March 2003 as argued by his lawyers.
***************************************
The burden of proof is on the prosecution but was shifted to the defence instead
An accused person is not required to prove his innocence. Instead, his accusers have to prove his guilt. In Anwar Ibrahim’s case, however, he was placed in an unenviable position of having to prove his innocence.
Anwar was charged for ‘committing sodomy one night, at 7.45pm, between 1 January 1993 and 31 March 1993’. Even with such a wide and vague charge, Anwar still managed to provide alibis for all those 90 days except one.
Yet, the judge still insisted that Anwar had not established his alibi. But the judge was not able to say which one of those 90 days Anwar’s alibi had not been established.
“All an accused person has to do is to create reasonable doubt,” said Christopher Fernando. “He does not have to prove anything or establish his defence beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“He is not required to prove anything conclusively with respect to his defence of alibi. But the judge held he had to and the he had not proved it 'conclusively'.”
“Conclusive proof is a standard even higher than beyond reasonable doubt.”
Fernando then told the court that Anwar was placed in a most unusual situation where the defence had to prove his innocence instead of the prosecution having to prove his guilt.
“This is most unusual; alien to the law,” argued Fernando
“All Dato’ Seri Anwar had to do was to raise reasonable doubt.”
“Between 4 February and 31 March 1993, Dato’ Seri Anwar managed to establish his alibi, except for 19 February 1993, said the judge.”
“There was no rebuttal at all by the prosecution to counter Dato’ Seri Anwar’s alibi.”
“The prosecution failed to observe this very basic principle of law.”
“Dato’ Seri Anwar had to prove he was not in the Tivoli Villa in the 90 days between 1 January and 31 March 1993.”
“Instead, it should have been the prosecution’s task to prove that he was there.”
The burden of proof was on the prosecution, argued Fernando. But in Anwar’s case it was the other way around.
“In spite of the monumental task to prove Dato’ Seri Anwar was not there (Tivoli Villa) the defence still managed to do so.”
“Yet the judge still insisted the defence did not establish his alibi.”
“But the judge did not say which one day over the 90 days the alibi was not established.”
“From 1 January 1993 to 3 February 1993 the apartment was under renovation.”
“So, from 4 February 1993 onwards, the alibi needs to be proven, and it was proven.”
“Witnesses were brought to testify and documents submitted to support the alibi.”
“The judge’s mind was cluttered. He was very confused and could not see the wood for the trees.”
“Tivoli Villa was not occupied. It had no furniture and was under renovation and the prosecution never rebutted this alibi.”
“The prosecution said Sukma had free access to the apartment but this was never proven.”
Azizan Abu Bakar had testified that he had been sodomised in the Tivoli Villa and that the act had taken place on a bed in a fully-furnished apartment, complete with carpets and all. He further testified that the act had taken place prior to 1993.
The defence, in turn, managed to prove that the apartment was under renovation from 1 January 1993 to 3 February 1993, and that from 4 February 1993 to 31 March 1993 Anwar was never in the apartment.
“The judge tried to buttress the evidence. He was trying to prop up a case that was so weak and unconvincing.”
“He said Azizan’s evidence is as strong as the Rock of Gibraltar.”
“Preposterous is too mild a word to use.”
“No judge in the history of this nation has gone this far to build up the credibility of a witness such as this – a witness who has no credibility whatsoever.”
Fernando explained that if there is any benefit of the doubt, it should have been given to the accused, not the prosecution. Instead, it was the opposite in Dato’ Seri Anwar’s case.
“This is a basic fundamental principle of law.”
“Azizan should have been impeached. This is not difficult as clearly he lied.”
“If Azizan had been impeached, the hearing would have ended then and there as the entire trial hinged on Azizan’s testimony.”
UPDATEd @8.22AM April 10, 2009,
BECAUSE Desi is at THY SERVICE,
and RPK is at OUR MAJESTIC SERVICE:)~~ YL, Desi, knottyaSsusual:(
The Altantuya murder: snippets from The Times of UK
Posted by admin
Thursday, 09 April 2009 17:36
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/20406/84/
Now that the court has delivered its verdict as to whether the two UTK officers are guilty of murdering Altantuya Shaariibuu, maybe we can flashback on just some of the things that The Times of UK wrote about the matter since the story first broke in late 2006. And why The Times of UK? Well, The Times of UK would not lie like how Malaysian Bloggers normally would.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
10 November 2006
An inquiry into the disappearance of a Mongolian model, who was apparently shot before her body was blown apart with explosives, was ordered by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Malaysian Prime Minister, yesterday.
His intervention came after police held a prominent political analyst in connection with the case that has caused a sensation in the country. Abdul Razak Baginda, 46, a member of the World Economic Forum, is the fourth person to be remanded in custody in connection with the death of the 28-year-old Altantuya Shaariibuu, whose body was found on Monday. He is a member of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, a television political pundit in Malaysia, and is studying for a doctorate at Oxford.
The others held after Miss Shaariibuu’s body was found on wasteland near Shah Alam are a police chief inspector and two police lance corporals, one male and one female. Mr Badawi said he had told the inspector-general of police to “investigate the case thoroughly and properly through due process”.
It has been reported that Mr Baginda met Miss Shaariibuu in Mongolia two years ago and the two had a relationship. The girl’s father in Mongolia said he believed they were married and that Mr Baginda was the father of her baby son.
His arrest sent Malaysian society reeling. Unnamed politicians and intellectuals described him as a “good” and “affable” man to the Malaysian Star newspaper. One said that Mr Baginda had showered Miss Shaariibuu with diamonds and other jewellery and had deposited $30,000 in her bank account. They had been on holiday together to Europe and South Africa.
“The father of murdered model Altantuya Shaariibuu will come with the marriage certificate to prove that they were married. He will also bring his grandson to undergo DNA tests to prove he is Abdul Razak’s son,” Mongolia’s honorary consul, Syed Abdul Rahman Alhabshi, said.
18 June 2007
An adviser to Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister ordered two police officers from an elite bodyguard unit to murder his beautiful Mongolian lover, a politically-charged murder trial heard today.
The remains of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old translator, part-time model, and unmarried mother of two from Mongolia, were found blown up by explosives in a jungle clearing near Kuala Lumpur late last year.
Abdul Razak Baginda, 47-year-old father of a teenage daughter, planned the murder, prosecutors said in what promises to be the most closely-followed trial in Malaysia for years. Mr Abdul Razak and the two police officers face the gallows if found guilty.
Mr Abdul Razak is alleged to have turned to the police officers – from a unit charged with protecting Malaysia's leaders - after Miss Shaariibuu began blackmailing him when their relationship turned sour.
He was well known in Kuala Lumpur as a high-flier close to the ruling party and a friend of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has been forced to deny any knowledge of the case.
The trial, which has already been postponed in controversial circumstances, is being widely seen as a test case for a judicial system, which has often been criticised in the past as vulnerable to political interference.
Tun Majid Tun Hamzah, for the prosecution, told the High Court in Shah Alam that Mr Abdul Razak abetted the police officers "in planning and giving instructions so that the deceased is killed." He denies the charge.
He said that the officers, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 30, and Constable Sirul Azhar Umar, 35, carried out the killing and that Sirul had confessed. The two officers are charged with her murder.
After their arrest, Mr Azilah had led police to the clearing where Miss Shaariibuu’s remains were found.
Miss Shaariibuu had threatened Mr Abdul Razak's child unless Mr Abdul Razak paid her, the prosecutor said.
Mr Tun Majid said that a pathologist's report would show that the cause of death was 'probable blast-related injuries'. A pair of slippers found in Mr Sirul's house were stained with what DNA tests proved was Miss Shaariibuu's blood, he said.
The trial had been scheduled to start earlier this month but was postponed after the attorney general replaced the prosecutor after he was seen playing badminton with the judge.
Before the trial started it had become a political football, with former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim calling for fairness and lamenting what he described as the failure of police to question Deputy Prime Minister Najib.
No evidence has emerged to link Mr Najib with the case and the Deputy Prime Minister issued a statement insisting that he had had no involvement with the dead woman.
Malaysia's judiciary has often been the subject of criticism. Nearly ten years ago Mr Anwar was himself dismissed by then premier Mahatir Mohammad and convicted of corruption and sodomy, a decision which was widely criticised abroad.
Mr Anwar has said that the judiciary and police are on trial in today's case, and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has pledged there will be no cover-up.
22 March 2009
A FRENCH arms company is at the centre of a deepening scandal involving the sale of three submarines, the murder of a beautiful Mongolian interpreter and the man most likely to become prime minister of Malaysia next month.
All three have been linked in a sensational sequence of revelations that has convinced many Malaysians that the woman was killed to silence her demands of a share in the rewards of the transaction.
The scandal exploded last week after the French newspaper Libération alleged that the submarines deal and the murder of Altantuya Shariibuu, 28, were connected.
A glamorous, cosmopolitan woman, Altantuya grew up in St Petersburg, spoke Russian, Chinese, Korean and English, moved in elite circles and has been dubbed “a Far Eastern Mata Hari”.
She became the mistress of a Malaysian political fixer and was allegedly trying to extort money from him at the time of her violent demise.
Two members of an elite Malaysian police unit that protects top politicians are on trial in Kuala Lumpur, accused of shooting her in the jungle and then blowing up her body with military explosives.
Azilah Hadri, 32, and Sirul Azhar Umar, 36, officers in the Special Branch, could go to the gallows if convicted of abducting and murdering Altantuya on October 19, 2006. A verdict is expected early next month.
Their trial is unfolding as Najib Razak, the country’s deputy prime minister, stands on the verge of taking over as premier after a ruling-party leadership election, due within days.
Najib was accused by a young opposition MP, Gobind Singh Deo, in parliament, of involvement in the murder. Deo was suspended by the Speaker for making the remark. The deputy prime minister has strongly denied any involvement.
Testimony in an earlier court case has established an intimate personal and financial connection between the dead woman and a close aide to Najib, who was minister of defence at the time of the submarine deal.
The aide, Abdul Razak Baginda, was acquitted by a court last November of being an accessory in the murder. He has since been working on a doctorate at Trinity College, Oxford.
Baginda admitted that the dead woman was his mistress for about a year and prosecutors said she had pestered him for money after their break-up.
Just before her death she arrived in Kuala Lumpur, accompanied by a Mongolian shaman, who was to put a curse on Baginda if he did not pay up.
Altantuya was dragged away from outside Baginda’s home by two Special Branch officers, but he was acquitted after maintaining that he never gave orders for her to be harmed.
The Libération exposé linking the murder to the shadowy world of arms contracts has embarrassed the French war-ship firm DCNS. Armaris, a firm now merged with DCNS, sold the three submarines to Malaysia in 2002 for £937m.
Attention has centred on why Armaris paid £107m to a Malaysian company called Perimekar in 2006.
Opposition leaders alleged in parliament that the payment was a “commission” for intermediaries and that Perimekar was secretly owned by Baginda. Najib replied that it was not a “commission” and that Perimekar was a “project services provider”.
Libération has alleged that Altantuya, who toured France with Baginda in a Ferrari, wining and dining at expensive restaurants, learnt of the payment. It said she was demanding $500,000 (£345,000).
DCNS has refused to comment. It is already the subject of a French judicial investigation into corrupt practices, thanks to a whistleblower who has detailed bribery and industrial espionage allegations.
Last week, efforts to contact Baginda, a self-styled political analyst, at his new home in Oxford were unsuccessful.
Najib has avoided public comment but his politically influential wife, Rosmah Mansor, told the French news agency AFP that she was “shocked” by attempts to link her husband and her to the case.
The Times is published by a member of the News International Group. News International Limited, 1 Virginia St, London E98 1XY, is the holding company for the News International group and is registered in England No 81701. VAT number GB 243 8054 69.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
In half stupour and semi euphoria...
I started penning this SHORT piece -- not living up to my NAMA! -- @1.52AM April 8, 2009.
From the Straits Times, Singapore:
Home > Breaking News > SE Asia > Story
April 7, 2009
Opposition wins 2 seats
Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin from Pan-Malaysian Islamist Party raises his hands with other party leaders after winning the Bukit Gantang parliamentary by-election. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
View more photos
BUKIT GANTANG (Malaysia) - A MALAYSIAN minister has conceded defeat for the ruling National Front coalition in two of the three constituencies where special elections have been held.
The results from Tuesday's elections are a setback for new Prime Minister Najib Razak as the elections were seen as a referendum on his leadership.
Heavy policing, tense polls
VOTING in Perak, where the state chief minister ousted by Prime Minister Najib Razak was the opposition candidate, took place amid a heavy police presence as hundreds of chanting rival supporters faced off outside polling stations.
As evening fell and the votes were counted, riot police formed up behind barbed wire on a rugby field overlooked by a colonial mansion outside the election centre to face thousands of flag-waving PAS supporters.
... more
International Trade Minister Muhyiddin Yassin says the National Front lost elections in the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat in the northern Perak state. He says the Front also lost in Bukit Selambau where a seat was contested for the Kedah state assembly.
The Front won an assembly seat in Sarawak state.
Mr Muhyiddin says 'the feel-good factor' from Mr Najib coming to power on Friday is still 'too new and has not sunk in.'
Facing the worst recession since the Asian financial crisis of a decade ago, voters turned out in large numbers in the poor northwestern state of Perak in a parliamentary election triggered by the death of the MP.
The Pan-Malaysian Islamist Party (PAS) said the result in which their majority for that seat rose to 2,789 votes from 1,566 votes was a judgement by the people of a putsch staged by Prime Minister Najib Razak this year to seize power in the state.
'People are just sick with the political turmoil in Perak and this is an indictment on them (the government),' PAS Deputy President Nasharudin Mat Isa said after the results.
The results were in line with expectations and showed that Mr Najib and the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) that is the lead party in the ruling coalition have failed to reconnect with voters after a poor showing in elections a year ago.
'The results show that UMNO can no longer hope to be successful campaigning mainly on ethnic nationalist issues on the back of an economic crisis and governance issues,' said Ibrahim Suffian, of the Merdeka Center, an independent pollster.
Overall, nearly 100,000 voters were eligible to cast ballots on Tuesday. Turnout in Perak was 75 per cent, more than that in the 2008 general election when the government stumbled to its biggest ever election losses, ceding control of five states and losing its once iron-clad two-thirds parliamentary majority. -- REUTERS, AP
From malaysia-today.net, whose owner Raja Petra Kamarudin claims it's
"My shortest article ever"
Posted by admin
Tuesday, 07 April 2009 21:40
No, I am NOT going to write a new article today. I am just going to rehash what I wrote in this same column on 6 April 2009. That article was called: Another day to go and Najib is going to eat humble pie. And this is going to be my shortest article ever.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
And this was what I wrote yesterday:
Batang Ai has 8,000 registered voters, about 95% Ibans. The two contenders are five-term Lubok Antu MP Jawah Gerang and newcomer Malcom Mussem Lamoh from Barisan Nasional. The feedback I get is that there is heavy internal sabotage, which may thwart the opposition’s chances of winning this seat.
In 2004, Bukit Gantang, which has about 55,000 voters, was won by Barisan Nasional with a majority of 8,888 votes and, in 2008, Pakatan Rakyat, with a majority of 1,566 votes. That is a swing of about 10,000 votes. Pakatan Rakyat must win it this time with a majority of 2,500 to 3,000 votes to really make Najib eat humble pie.
Bukit Selambau has about 35,000 voters. In 2004, Barisan Nasional won this seat with a majority of 7,695 votes and, in 2008, Pakatan Rakyat, with a majority of 2,362 votes. That is a swing of about 10,000 votes just like in Bukit Gantang. Again, to make Najib eat humble pie, Pakatan Rakyat must win this seat with a majority of 2,500 to 3,000 votes.
Well, that is my wish list for tomorrow. Is that your wish list too?
From the Straits Times, Singapore:
Home > Breaking News > SE Asia > Story
April 7, 2009
Opposition wins 2 seats
Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin from Pan-Malaysian Islamist Party raises his hands with other party leaders after winning the Bukit Gantang parliamentary by-election. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
View more photos
BUKIT GANTANG (Malaysia) - A MALAYSIAN minister has conceded defeat for the ruling National Front coalition in two of the three constituencies where special elections have been held.
The results from Tuesday's elections are a setback for new Prime Minister Najib Razak as the elections were seen as a referendum on his leadership.
Heavy policing, tense polls
VOTING in Perak, where the state chief minister ousted by Prime Minister Najib Razak was the opposition candidate, took place amid a heavy police presence as hundreds of chanting rival supporters faced off outside polling stations.
As evening fell and the votes were counted, riot police formed up behind barbed wire on a rugby field overlooked by a colonial mansion outside the election centre to face thousands of flag-waving PAS supporters.
... more
International Trade Minister Muhyiddin Yassin says the National Front lost elections in the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat in the northern Perak state. He says the Front also lost in Bukit Selambau where a seat was contested for the Kedah state assembly.
The Front won an assembly seat in Sarawak state.
Mr Muhyiddin says 'the feel-good factor' from Mr Najib coming to power on Friday is still 'too new and has not sunk in.'
Facing the worst recession since the Asian financial crisis of a decade ago, voters turned out in large numbers in the poor northwestern state of Perak in a parliamentary election triggered by the death of the MP.
The Pan-Malaysian Islamist Party (PAS) said the result in which their majority for that seat rose to 2,789 votes from 1,566 votes was a judgement by the people of a putsch staged by Prime Minister Najib Razak this year to seize power in the state.
'People are just sick with the political turmoil in Perak and this is an indictment on them (the government),' PAS Deputy President Nasharudin Mat Isa said after the results.
The results were in line with expectations and showed that Mr Najib and the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) that is the lead party in the ruling coalition have failed to reconnect with voters after a poor showing in elections a year ago.
'The results show that UMNO can no longer hope to be successful campaigning mainly on ethnic nationalist issues on the back of an economic crisis and governance issues,' said Ibrahim Suffian, of the Merdeka Center, an independent pollster.
Overall, nearly 100,000 voters were eligible to cast ballots on Tuesday. Turnout in Perak was 75 per cent, more than that in the 2008 general election when the government stumbled to its biggest ever election losses, ceding control of five states and losing its once iron-clad two-thirds parliamentary majority. -- REUTERS, AP
From malaysia-today.net, whose owner Raja Petra Kamarudin claims it's
"My shortest article ever"
Posted by admin
Tuesday, 07 April 2009 21:40
No, I am NOT going to write a new article today. I am just going to rehash what I wrote in this same column on 6 April 2009. That article was called: Another day to go and Najib is going to eat humble pie. And this is going to be my shortest article ever.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
And this was what I wrote yesterday:
Batang Ai has 8,000 registered voters, about 95% Ibans. The two contenders are five-term Lubok Antu MP Jawah Gerang and newcomer Malcom Mussem Lamoh from Barisan Nasional. The feedback I get is that there is heavy internal sabotage, which may thwart the opposition’s chances of winning this seat.
In 2004, Bukit Gantang, which has about 55,000 voters, was won by Barisan Nasional with a majority of 8,888 votes and, in 2008, Pakatan Rakyat, with a majority of 1,566 votes. That is a swing of about 10,000 votes. Pakatan Rakyat must win it this time with a majority of 2,500 to 3,000 votes to really make Najib eat humble pie.
Bukit Selambau has about 35,000 voters. In 2004, Barisan Nasional won this seat with a majority of 7,695 votes and, in 2008, Pakatan Rakyat, with a majority of 2,362 votes. That is a swing of about 10,000 votes just like in Bukit Gantang. Again, to make Najib eat humble pie, Pakatan Rakyat must win this seat with a majority of 2,500 to 3,000 votes.
Well, that is my wish list for tomorrow. Is that your wish list too?
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
In 12 hours' time, D-ecisions in 3 epic battles...
will be known. And changed and changing circumstances -- epitomised especialy by Najib Razak's ascension to the UMNO throne, and by default in more ways than wan, also becoming Malaysia's sixth Prime Minister, followed in swift and unbecoming fashion the release of 13 ISA detainees and return of the lamb Dr Mahathir Mohamad, to the UMNO shepherd's arms in hasty embrace! -- it's now on the shoulders of the electors who determine two state constituencies' WAKIL RAKYAT, and one PARLIAMENTARIAN's seat.
In gist, the VIPs are now casting their "V"otes, and YL aka Desi, prays the process of "CHANGE" epitomised (Yeah, somhow I like such BIG words this morn/moUrn!) by March 8,2008 will continue. I will buy endless rounds of tehtarik if you join the celebs at Temiang Korner in Furong where I'll be wit' a band of diehard supporters ( fow whom I will not for the life of my penyokong tell, but my belle rings for PR of which I can claim some expertiseeh?:)
BUKIT GANTANG (P59):
55,562 VOTERS:
Desi's prediction:
Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin (PAS) wins by about 5,000-vote majority.
BUKIT SELAMBAU (N25):
35,140 VOTERS:
Desi's prediction:
S. Manikkumar (PKR) wins by about 1,000-vote majority.
BATANG AI (N29):
8.,006 VOTERS:
Desi's prediction:
Either BN or PKR candidate wins -- BY A WHISKER, and I have a bot of whiskey at hand
for you bubblers in Sarawak who enjoy a glass or too by Tehtari'!
LET'S DANCE TONIGHT!
Puerh, my dearie?
PS by Poster too known as FOOLofERRATA sometimes, and FULLofEROTICA by default somedimes:
Jest for the record! From The Malaysian Insider @9.29AM April7,2009:
Dr M vs Anwar rematch in Bkt Selambau
By Shannon Teoh
SUNGAI PETANI, April 6 – Some 11 years after sacking him as deputy prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will go head on against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in a grand finale for the Bukit Selambau state seat.
Having just rejoined Umno, the former prime minister will arrive in Bukit Selambau at 5.30pm today to put the finishing touches on a Barisan Nasional campaign that appears to have whittled away the 2,362-vote margin it lost by in the last general election.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader will start work earlier in an attempt to reduce gains made by BN before addressing a final ceramah as campaigning officially ends at midnight.
Former Umno vice president Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik, a Mahathir loyalist, is already in town and believes his arrival will be “a real political factor” as it will not only bring back Umno supporters who deserted BN last year, but also help to tip over non-Malays who “still accord him the highest level of respect.”
“He is a special secret weapon whose presence will overcome internal bickering,” he said.
The final day of campaigning will be crucial, as most analyses are rating the polls at 50-50. Military intelligence sources as well as bookies believe it is too close to call with only police special branch giving BN a slight edge.
Both Umno and PKR back rooms however, seem to lean towards PKR coming into the final stretch a hair’s breadth ahead as Pakatan Rakyat’s machinery builds up steam while BN’s seem to already be looking to tomorrow’s balloting.
They also seem to agree that the Chinese votes will be firmly behind PKR while BN has the edge with the Malays despite the best efforts of Pas among heartland Malays.
But while it is likely that the 80 per cent sweep of Indian votes by PKR will not be repeated, there is uncertainty over exactly how many will swing to BN and this is the margin where the battle will be won or lost.
Reading Indian voters has been impossible due to defections going both ways, the initial uncertainty over Hindraf’s backing for PKR and MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu’s month-long campaign which nobody can say for sure is having a positive or negative effect.
Various factors have led to PKR candidate S. Manikumar being unlikely to maintain the advantage that previous incumbent V. Arumugam held.
The six Indian and six Malay independents will probably cancel out the effects on Manikumar and MIC’s Datuk S. Ganesan’s final tally and result in a scaling-down of the majority, whoever it goes to.
Sources say that the 13 independents will collect between 2,500 to 3,000 votes in total.
Lower turnouts are also normal for a by-election and total votes are estimated at just over 25,000.
But with this phenomenon usually more significant among non-Malays due to the voters being based outside of the constituency, it will work in Ganesan’s favour.
Despite Umno sources citing unhappiness among rural Chinese over the Pas-led state government, the majority will still go to PKR.
In fact, while Umno will bus in Malay voters, a BN campaign leader told The Malaysian Insider that both MCA and Gerakan are unlikely to do the same as outstation Chinese voters could not be counted on to vote for BN.
PKR election strategist Saifuddin Nasution acknowledges that it will not take four-fifths of Indian votes again, studies show a two-thirds approval of Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak among them.
Malays make up just over half of the electorate and BN has made inroads into the seven polling districts previously won by PR with up to three won by PR by just a handful of votes last year set to be turned over.
However, in the four Umno stronghold Malay districts, PKR believes it has made inroads.
“We will still lose those districts, but by reduced majorities,” Saifuddin said, adding that it has achieved this by targetting various opinion makers in local communities to swing pockets of Malay villagers.
Anwar will in fact, be making a visit to one such local leader tomorrow afternoon in a last-gasp bid to pin back gains made by Umno among Malays.
And then on to his final speech tonight, as he looks to put one back over his old boss.
UPDATEd @10.18AM:
Somethin' worth reading -- even as second helping as you brunch! -- from an olde horse still sprightly:) I know this guy from DAP days -- I envy his oratory in Bahasa Malaysia. He would have made a damned GOoD Parliamentary Speaker under PR -- hopes still spring eternal in some diehard HEarts!:):) -- YL
Hornbill Unleashed
April 7, 2009
My hazy crystal ball on polling day
Filed under: Alternatives, Media/Press, Politics — hornbillunleashed @ 7:36 am
Tags: Anak Sarawak, batang ai, Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau, By election, Kuching, Malaysia Politic, pkr, Sarawak politics, save sarawak, sim kwang yang, socio-economic, vote
By Sim Kwang Yang / SKY
By the time you read this, on Tuesday April 7, 2009, the fierce campaigns at the two Bukits and the one Batang would have been over, as voters queue up to cast their precious votes.
Since whatever I say would not change the outcome, or influence the moral of the campainers, I may as well join many of my fellow commentators and cast into cyber sphere my conjecture on the possible results at the end of this evening.
So I unpack my dusty and hazy crystal ball and gaze inside. I see a 2-1, for either BN or PR. A 3-0 clean sweep seems unlikely for either side.
Bukit Gantang
I think PAS will win in Bukit Gantang on the strength of the non-Malay support for their candidate Datuk Nizar. Of the 3 component parties of Pakatan Rakyat, PAS also has the best organised campaign machinery.
Bukit Selambau
Despite the large number of independent candidates, I think PKR can pull through with a victory though with a slim margin. As in Bukit Gantang, the ethnic composition of Bukit Selambau is such that the multiracial appeal of the party may just deliver enough votes for PKR to scrap through.
Batang Ai
In Batang Ai, BN should win with a larger majority than the 2006 general election.
I am a pessimist when it comes to electoral contests in Sarawak. If the party I support loses eventually, I will not be devastated. If it wins, then I can be pleasantly surprised.
In the last few days, I have been hearing negative noises about the PKR from Batang Ai. In a by-election like Batang Ai, when the Sarawak BN will concentrate all their vast resources on one single constituency, the opposition candidate will need a convergence of positive forces in order to win, maybe.
In Batang Ai, that convergence has been absent, especially in the last few days of campaign.
Young voters?
Young voters tend to support the opposition nationwide. For a constituency like Batang Ai, there are only old folks and young children still living in the longhouses. The young voters have all migrated to the Sarawak towns and even cities in West Malaysia in search of jobs and cash income. They are unlikely to get leave to go back to vote on a Tuesday. I have also not heard of any organised effort to make it easy for these young Ibans to return to Batang Ai to vote.
The opposition campaign seems to have run out of steam and cash in the last few days. Many strategic measures planned long before nomination days did not come to fruition. Somehow, the enthusiasm shown by PKR on nomination day just fizzled out in the end.
What was all that whisper about the mysterious big financial supporter behind PKR? What has happened to the People Power that they rely on?
Has Anwar Ibrahim decided that, when the party resources are stretched thin in three places, he would rather concentrate his attention on the Two Bukits? Fortunately for the PKR, the Menteri Besar of Selangor Datuk Khalid Ibrahim still stationed himself in Batang Ai in the last days of the campaign. At least some campaign bills got paid.
Waiting for a miracle
Still, I can be wrong, and PKR may come out as a winner; miracles do happen, and hope burns eternal in the breasts of men. Then, I will be pleasantly surprised.
If I am right, then there is some rethinking to do for the PKR. The worst thing is for them to start pointing fingers at one another. I am afraid that is exactly what they will do.
PKR leaders and supporters must realise that attending free dinners and listening to Anwar talk is one thing, but starting a new political movement to win elections is quite another. It takes years of hard work and sometimes it involves great sacrifice.
Then there is the problem of toxic assets. There is that fleet-footed chap in Julau who resigned from PKR and joined the BN instead. Any such defection on the eve of polling stinks of opportunism sky high. There may be more after the by-election is over. Good riddance to bad garbage, I say!
Looking ahead
A defeat at Batang Ai would not be so bad for PKR, as long as they sit back and take a long look at themselves. It will wake them up from the false euphoria fuelled by the so-called groundswell in recent months. It will remind them that doing politics on the ground is so very different from talking politics in coffee-shops.
Please do not bet on my predictions above. I have often been wrong in the past.
Win or lose, the Sarawak PKR will have to go back to the table and dissect the campaign with a scalpel without the instinctive impulse to blame one another. That in Sarawak politics is often too much to ask sometimes. No wonder the Sarawak BN can rule for so long without fear of the people.
(Kenyalang578@hotmail.com)
UPDATEd @5.55PM (remember that brand of ciggies? -- NO? That's also GOoD4Thee! I have no shares in tobeggo co:(
'Cos I am at my ER' beg&gall, hear's latest from Reuters as published by The MI:
Polls seen as referendum on new PM
TAIPING, April 7 – Voters turned out in large numbers on Tuesday in a tense by-election in the northern Malaysian state of Perak that is seen as a key test for the country’s new prime minister.
Amid a heavy police presence and soaring temperatures hundreds of supporters of the government and opposition faced off outside a polling station in this rural Malaysian constituency where a parliamentary seat is being contested.
The seat in Perak, which is being contested along with two state assembly posts, is especially tense as new Prime Minister Najib Razak led a putsch to oust the opposition-led state government.
“This by-election is not just about progress and promises of development but also about larger issues such as justice and corruption,” Ilham Abdul Aziz, a 32-year old businessman, who had just cast his vote.
By 12.15pm, turnout in the Perak constituency was 20 per cent, while in the state assembly seat in neighbouring Kedah it was 42 per cent and in a state seat in Sarawak on the island of Borneo it was 70 per cent, according to the Election Commission.
About 100,000 voters are eligible to vote in the three state seats, representing a major test for Najib just four days after he became prime minister.
The election results will not alter the national balance of power but analysts say Najib needs to win to put his stamp on the government and reverse a growing tide of public disappointment in the ruling coalition.
“If the BN or Pakatan were to win 3-0 tonight, a mini tsunami could inundate the political landscape,” the pro-government New Straits Times newspaper said on Tuesday. The ruling National Front coalition has lost two crucial by-elections since last August, after suffering its worst performance in the 2008 general election.
One of the by-elections returned opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to parliament.
Analysts say the ruling coalition stands a good chance of winning the Batang Ai state seat in Sarawak but faces a tough fight for the other two seats.
The Barisan, backed by influential former premier Mahathir Mohamad, has promised economic reforms as Malaysia faces its worst recession since the Asian financial crisis a decade ago.
But Najib, who took over from ex-premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last Friday, also has his hands full to attempt to convince voters that he can clean up the Barisan and the main coalition party that he leads, Umno. – Reuters
In gist, the VIPs are now casting their "V"otes, and YL aka Desi, prays the process of "CHANGE" epitomised (Yeah, somhow I like such BIG words this morn/moUrn!) by March 8,2008 will continue. I will buy endless rounds of tehtarik if you join the celebs at Temiang Korner in Furong where I'll be wit' a band of diehard supporters ( fow whom I will not for the life of my penyokong tell, but my belle rings for PR of which I can claim some expertiseeh?:)
BUKIT GANTANG (P59):
55,562 VOTERS:
Desi's prediction:
Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin (PAS) wins by about 5,000-vote majority.
BUKIT SELAMBAU (N25):
35,140 VOTERS:
Desi's prediction:
S. Manikkumar (PKR) wins by about 1,000-vote majority.
BATANG AI (N29):
8.,006 VOTERS:
Desi's prediction:
Either BN or PKR candidate wins -- BY A WHISKER, and I have a bot of whiskey at hand
for you bubblers in Sarawak who enjoy a glass or too by Tehtari'!
LET'S DANCE TONIGHT!
Puerh, my dearie?
PS by Poster too known as FOOLofERRATA sometimes, and FULLofEROTICA by default somedimes:
Jest for the record! From The Malaysian Insider @9.29AM April7,2009:
Dr M vs Anwar rematch in Bkt Selambau
By Shannon Teoh
SUNGAI PETANI, April 6 – Some 11 years after sacking him as deputy prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will go head on against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in a grand finale for the Bukit Selambau state seat.
Having just rejoined Umno, the former prime minister will arrive in Bukit Selambau at 5.30pm today to put the finishing touches on a Barisan Nasional campaign that appears to have whittled away the 2,362-vote margin it lost by in the last general election.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader will start work earlier in an attempt to reduce gains made by BN before addressing a final ceramah as campaigning officially ends at midnight.
Former Umno vice president Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik, a Mahathir loyalist, is already in town and believes his arrival will be “a real political factor” as it will not only bring back Umno supporters who deserted BN last year, but also help to tip over non-Malays who “still accord him the highest level of respect.”
“He is a special secret weapon whose presence will overcome internal bickering,” he said.
The final day of campaigning will be crucial, as most analyses are rating the polls at 50-50. Military intelligence sources as well as bookies believe it is too close to call with only police special branch giving BN a slight edge.
Both Umno and PKR back rooms however, seem to lean towards PKR coming into the final stretch a hair’s breadth ahead as Pakatan Rakyat’s machinery builds up steam while BN’s seem to already be looking to tomorrow’s balloting.
They also seem to agree that the Chinese votes will be firmly behind PKR while BN has the edge with the Malays despite the best efforts of Pas among heartland Malays.
But while it is likely that the 80 per cent sweep of Indian votes by PKR will not be repeated, there is uncertainty over exactly how many will swing to BN and this is the margin where the battle will be won or lost.
Reading Indian voters has been impossible due to defections going both ways, the initial uncertainty over Hindraf’s backing for PKR and MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu’s month-long campaign which nobody can say for sure is having a positive or negative effect.
Various factors have led to PKR candidate S. Manikumar being unlikely to maintain the advantage that previous incumbent V. Arumugam held.
The six Indian and six Malay independents will probably cancel out the effects on Manikumar and MIC’s Datuk S. Ganesan’s final tally and result in a scaling-down of the majority, whoever it goes to.
Sources say that the 13 independents will collect between 2,500 to 3,000 votes in total.
Lower turnouts are also normal for a by-election and total votes are estimated at just over 25,000.
But with this phenomenon usually more significant among non-Malays due to the voters being based outside of the constituency, it will work in Ganesan’s favour.
Despite Umno sources citing unhappiness among rural Chinese over the Pas-led state government, the majority will still go to PKR.
In fact, while Umno will bus in Malay voters, a BN campaign leader told The Malaysian Insider that both MCA and Gerakan are unlikely to do the same as outstation Chinese voters could not be counted on to vote for BN.
PKR election strategist Saifuddin Nasution acknowledges that it will not take four-fifths of Indian votes again, studies show a two-thirds approval of Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak among them.
Malays make up just over half of the electorate and BN has made inroads into the seven polling districts previously won by PR with up to three won by PR by just a handful of votes last year set to be turned over.
However, in the four Umno stronghold Malay districts, PKR believes it has made inroads.
“We will still lose those districts, but by reduced majorities,” Saifuddin said, adding that it has achieved this by targetting various opinion makers in local communities to swing pockets of Malay villagers.
Anwar will in fact, be making a visit to one such local leader tomorrow afternoon in a last-gasp bid to pin back gains made by Umno among Malays.
And then on to his final speech tonight, as he looks to put one back over his old boss.
UPDATEd @10.18AM:
Somethin' worth reading -- even as second helping as you brunch! -- from an olde horse still sprightly:) I know this guy from DAP days -- I envy his oratory in Bahasa Malaysia. He would have made a damned GOoD Parliamentary Speaker under PR -- hopes still spring eternal in some diehard HEarts!:):) -- YL
Hornbill Unleashed
April 7, 2009
My hazy crystal ball on polling day
Filed under: Alternatives, Media/Press, Politics — hornbillunleashed @ 7:36 am
Tags: Anak Sarawak, batang ai, Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau, By election, Kuching, Malaysia Politic, pkr, Sarawak politics, save sarawak, sim kwang yang, socio-economic, vote
By Sim Kwang Yang / SKY
By the time you read this, on Tuesday April 7, 2009, the fierce campaigns at the two Bukits and the one Batang would have been over, as voters queue up to cast their precious votes.
Since whatever I say would not change the outcome, or influence the moral of the campainers, I may as well join many of my fellow commentators and cast into cyber sphere my conjecture on the possible results at the end of this evening.
So I unpack my dusty and hazy crystal ball and gaze inside. I see a 2-1, for either BN or PR. A 3-0 clean sweep seems unlikely for either side.
Bukit Gantang
I think PAS will win in Bukit Gantang on the strength of the non-Malay support for their candidate Datuk Nizar. Of the 3 component parties of Pakatan Rakyat, PAS also has the best organised campaign machinery.
Bukit Selambau
Despite the large number of independent candidates, I think PKR can pull through with a victory though with a slim margin. As in Bukit Gantang, the ethnic composition of Bukit Selambau is such that the multiracial appeal of the party may just deliver enough votes for PKR to scrap through.
Batang Ai
In Batang Ai, BN should win with a larger majority than the 2006 general election.
I am a pessimist when it comes to electoral contests in Sarawak. If the party I support loses eventually, I will not be devastated. If it wins, then I can be pleasantly surprised.
In the last few days, I have been hearing negative noises about the PKR from Batang Ai. In a by-election like Batang Ai, when the Sarawak BN will concentrate all their vast resources on one single constituency, the opposition candidate will need a convergence of positive forces in order to win, maybe.
In Batang Ai, that convergence has been absent, especially in the last few days of campaign.
Young voters?
Young voters tend to support the opposition nationwide. For a constituency like Batang Ai, there are only old folks and young children still living in the longhouses. The young voters have all migrated to the Sarawak towns and even cities in West Malaysia in search of jobs and cash income. They are unlikely to get leave to go back to vote on a Tuesday. I have also not heard of any organised effort to make it easy for these young Ibans to return to Batang Ai to vote.
The opposition campaign seems to have run out of steam and cash in the last few days. Many strategic measures planned long before nomination days did not come to fruition. Somehow, the enthusiasm shown by PKR on nomination day just fizzled out in the end.
What was all that whisper about the mysterious big financial supporter behind PKR? What has happened to the People Power that they rely on?
Has Anwar Ibrahim decided that, when the party resources are stretched thin in three places, he would rather concentrate his attention on the Two Bukits? Fortunately for the PKR, the Menteri Besar of Selangor Datuk Khalid Ibrahim still stationed himself in Batang Ai in the last days of the campaign. At least some campaign bills got paid.
Waiting for a miracle
Still, I can be wrong, and PKR may come out as a winner; miracles do happen, and hope burns eternal in the breasts of men. Then, I will be pleasantly surprised.
If I am right, then there is some rethinking to do for the PKR. The worst thing is for them to start pointing fingers at one another. I am afraid that is exactly what they will do.
PKR leaders and supporters must realise that attending free dinners and listening to Anwar talk is one thing, but starting a new political movement to win elections is quite another. It takes years of hard work and sometimes it involves great sacrifice.
Then there is the problem of toxic assets. There is that fleet-footed chap in Julau who resigned from PKR and joined the BN instead. Any such defection on the eve of polling stinks of opportunism sky high. There may be more after the by-election is over. Good riddance to bad garbage, I say!
Looking ahead
A defeat at Batang Ai would not be so bad for PKR, as long as they sit back and take a long look at themselves. It will wake them up from the false euphoria fuelled by the so-called groundswell in recent months. It will remind them that doing politics on the ground is so very different from talking politics in coffee-shops.
Please do not bet on my predictions above. I have often been wrong in the past.
Win or lose, the Sarawak PKR will have to go back to the table and dissect the campaign with a scalpel without the instinctive impulse to blame one another. That in Sarawak politics is often too much to ask sometimes. No wonder the Sarawak BN can rule for so long without fear of the people.
(Kenyalang578@hotmail.com)
UPDATEd @5.55PM (remember that brand of ciggies? -- NO? That's also GOoD4Thee! I have no shares in tobeggo co:(
'Cos I am at my ER' beg&gall, hear's latest from Reuters as published by The MI:
Polls seen as referendum on new PM
TAIPING, April 7 – Voters turned out in large numbers on Tuesday in a tense by-election in the northern Malaysian state of Perak that is seen as a key test for the country’s new prime minister.
Amid a heavy police presence and soaring temperatures hundreds of supporters of the government and opposition faced off outside a polling station in this rural Malaysian constituency where a parliamentary seat is being contested.
The seat in Perak, which is being contested along with two state assembly posts, is especially tense as new Prime Minister Najib Razak led a putsch to oust the opposition-led state government.
“This by-election is not just about progress and promises of development but also about larger issues such as justice and corruption,” Ilham Abdul Aziz, a 32-year old businessman, who had just cast his vote.
By 12.15pm, turnout in the Perak constituency was 20 per cent, while in the state assembly seat in neighbouring Kedah it was 42 per cent and in a state seat in Sarawak on the island of Borneo it was 70 per cent, according to the Election Commission.
About 100,000 voters are eligible to vote in the three state seats, representing a major test for Najib just four days after he became prime minister.
The election results will not alter the national balance of power but analysts say Najib needs to win to put his stamp on the government and reverse a growing tide of public disappointment in the ruling coalition.
“If the BN or Pakatan were to win 3-0 tonight, a mini tsunami could inundate the political landscape,” the pro-government New Straits Times newspaper said on Tuesday. The ruling National Front coalition has lost two crucial by-elections since last August, after suffering its worst performance in the 2008 general election.
One of the by-elections returned opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to parliament.
Analysts say the ruling coalition stands a good chance of winning the Batang Ai state seat in Sarawak but faces a tough fight for the other two seats.
The Barisan, backed by influential former premier Mahathir Mohamad, has promised economic reforms as Malaysia faces its worst recession since the Asian financial crisis a decade ago.
But Najib, who took over from ex-premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last Friday, also has his hands full to attempt to convince voters that he can clean up the Barisan and the main coalition party that he leads, Umno. – Reuters
Monday, April 06, 2009
CSM: Here's a plug for cpiasia.net ... and for meself!:)
CPI Wishlist for the newly installed Prime Minister
CPI Writings
Written by YL Chong, Editor, CPI
Sunday, 05 April 2009 12:54
Malaysians woke up last Friday to a new dawn and the promise of a new era as newly installed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak delivered several promises anchored on “One Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” in his maiden speech to the nation.
In his initial acts -- hopefully to preface a more open and democratic government? The Chief Executive of State ordered the release of 13 Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees and the restoration of the printing licenses of the recently banned PAS newsletter Harakah and PKR's organ Suara Keadilan.
What Najib proposed as a "great journey" he would like fellow Malaysians to partner with him in the quest for "One Malaysia", as reported by The Malaysian Insider, has among others, pledged:
That the Barisan Nasional will comprehensively review the Internal Security Act;
* A reform agenda, which seems to be the "flavour of the year" as it was also the keynote for change adopted by the Opposition parties, especially the PKR led by Anwar Ibrahim, during the March 2008 general elections;
* Najib's "People First" pledge stresses that "nobody in the country, regardless of ethnic background, should feel marginalised or left behind"; and
* quoting the new PM in his "Performance Now" promise, assures: “We must draw on talented people across our nation, regardless of their position or background, to re-energize a passion for public service. We must sow the seeds of goodwill and understanding in every corner of this land, so that we continue to harvest the fruits of progress and prosperity for all Malaysians.”
CPI To Do Wishlist for Prime Minister Najib:
While CPI welcomes Najib's promising start in his initial demonstrations of being more tolerant of political opponents and social activists netted by the ISA, and of dissent as channeled by the Opposition party organs, it is early days yet to be celebrating, as Malaysians' hopes had been raised by the political leaders, then dashed, many times before. Maybe the new PM has engaged a more media savvy team of financial, corporate and media and other specialists advisers to plan some people-friendly moves to break the ice with many skeptical parties -- political, social action and civil society groups -- to truly make "great" the Malaysian journey.
As Editor of CPI (the Centre for Policy Initiatives), I would certainly support the new government leaders if they are truly committed in walking the talk, and giving priority to "substance over form" -- which means less rhetoric and more substantive action! -- to reflect the "great journey" that like-minded Malaysians can embark on together. For a start, I urge for consideration that the Prime Minister, to adopt broad policy changes to move the nation towards developed nation status in the eleven-year span remaining as envisioned by Vision 2020, the following measures in principle:
* Do away with all race and religion-based policies anchored on quotas which promotes cronyism and divisiveness, especially in the award of government contracts and scholarships, and recruitment into the Civil Service, and instead, use the "needs principle", but incorporating certain advantages for the less-privileged groups of Malaysians who have lower education and income-earning capacities and/or handicapped health-wise at birth or by accident;
* Create an environment that is conducive to promoting freedom of speech, intellectual development and a liberal media -- by reviewing or/and abolishing draconian laws such as the ISA, Printing Presses and Publications Act, Universities and University Colleges Act and the Official Secrets Act;
* Make the national oil corporation, PETRONAS, accountable to the Rakyat, which mandates that it must report its financial performance to Parliament -- the Malaysian people on whose behalf Petronas is mandated to hold trust with respect to the nation's richest resource. Presently, it is regretted the citizens have not received the true benefits that should accrue to them, epitomised by the prices of goods and services having risen by some 30% to 50% when world oil prices hit the almost USD150 per barrel levels about 10 months ago, when logically, an oil-producing and a net oil-exporting country like Malaysia should see its citizens enjoy substantially higher benefits than those of non-oil-producing countries. But when world oil prices plunged -- back to USD50 per barrel levels -- The question that arises: why have the prices of goods and services then not come down in tandem with falling world oil prices? Where have all the revenues and profits of Petronas gone? Are the elected representatives to Parliament and the State Assemblies who are mandated to be the nation's gatekeepers of our resources such as petroleum, land and forestry, helping themselves to the nation's wealth and Petronas' largesse in the main, and sprinkling peanuts to the Rakyat who put them into office?
* To give true meaning to the stated national goal of alleviating poverty, I would urge that the Government identify the Malaysian families with incomes below RM1,000 a month, and on a graduated scale, help them with monthly welfare payments e.g RM1,000 to those earning less than RM500, RM500 those earning RM500-1,000 to ensure the nation's wealth is distributed to those who need financial assistance most. The present Government has been trumpeting that it spends billions on "subsidies" in various forms, but the well-informed citizens, know, or the average person-in-the-street, suspects that a high percentage of these subsidy allocations are siphoned off into undeserving pockets. Yes, figures of government wastages and slippages are educated-estimated as ranging from 50% to 70%, and however the government leaders may wish to deny the truth of such suspicions, it requires a more responsible, transparent and accountable new leadership to begin to dispel the skeptics among us. And those "us" will demonstrate their researched or mere gut-feeling assessment of Najib's performance come the 13th General Elections in three to four years' time. I believe the Malaysians people in general are reasonable and fair-minded, and are prepared to give the new Prime Minister a chance. Can Najib be a gentleman whose word is his bond, and hence give substance to his word? -- Editor, CPI
***************
Related Story:
A Brand New Day for Malaysia
By Ahirudin Attan aka Rockybru
Saturday, April 04, 2009
A good start. I'm reproducing Najib Razak's maiden address as our 6th Prime Minister so that we can all judge him for ourselves and hold him by his word. I say it's a good start and I say that the more rational and reasonable among us Malaysian men and women should give him a fair chance to prove his worth as our leader.
If he fails to deliver, we'll know what to do.
Because we've done it before.
PRIME MINISTER’S ADDRESS ON ASSUMING OFFICE AS
6TH PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA
3 APRIL 2009
-------------------------
1. On behalf of all Malaysians, I would like to thank YABhg. Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for his 31 years of exemplary public service to our country, his commitment to strengthening the institutions and fabric of our democracy and for his graceful example as our leader.
2. I am grateful to YABhg. Tun for his confidence in proposing my name as Prime Minister to Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and I am honoured that His Majesty has consented to my appointment with this morning’s swearing-in ceremony. I feel a deep sense of humility at the opportunity to serve as your Prime Minister at an important time in our nation's history.
My life has been dedicated to public service.
Growing up, I was inspired by the positive impact of public service in the example of my late father. Four decades on, I remain committed to the goals of tackling poverty; of restructuring our society; of expanding access to quality education for all; and of inspiring a new generation of young Malaysians to work on behalf of this great country.
My own service in government has always been about getting results: to ensure a better deal for teachers, to improve conditions for our brave soldiers, and to strengthen our economy in defence of the people of Malaysia, as we deal with the outbreak of a global recession.
3. In the coming weeks, I will be consulting with people around our country, as I begin to reshape the leadership and priorities of the Government. I am mindful that we should build on the successes and lessons of the past. It must be a government with new approaches for new times – a government that places a priority on performance, because the people must come first.
4. We must reach out to all parts of Malaysia…to all our diverse communities. In our national discourse and in pursuing our national agenda, we must never leave anyone behind. We must reach out to the many who may have been disaffected and left confused by political games, deceit and showmanship.
We must draw on talented people across our nation, regardless of their position or background, to re-energize a passion for public service. We must sow the seeds of goodwill and understanding in every corner of this land, so that we continue to harvest the fruits of progress and prosperity for all Malaysians.
We must seek to include and unlock the potential of our young people who will be the next generation of leaders, businesspeople, engineers, scientists, teachers and doctors. We must give them wings to fly.
5. And so today, I pledge that I will work tirelessly to serve all of you.
6. In this spirit, I would like to announce that the government has decided with immediate effect, to remove the temporary ban on TWO news publications, release 13 detainees from ISA detention, and conduct a comprehensive review of the Internal Security Act. Additional details will be announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs shortly.
7. These decisions are timely as we move to enhance the confidence of our citizens in those entrusted with maintaining peace, law and order, while recognizing the need to remain vigilant of the very real security threats we continue to face as a young nation.
8. I know that for every citizen, these are hard times and I remain focused in providing strong leadership to lead us out of this economic crisis and unleash our full potential as a nation. I will be steadfast in my commitment to meet the needs, aspirations and concerns of all Malaysians.
9. So today I ask you to join me in this task of renewing Malaysia. I urge us to rise to the challenge of building a One Malaysia. People First. Performance Now.
10. Let us begin this great journey together.
CPI Writings
Written by YL Chong, Editor, CPI
Sunday, 05 April 2009 12:54
Malaysians woke up last Friday to a new dawn and the promise of a new era as newly installed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak delivered several promises anchored on “One Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” in his maiden speech to the nation.
In his initial acts -- hopefully to preface a more open and democratic government? The Chief Executive of State ordered the release of 13 Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees and the restoration of the printing licenses of the recently banned PAS newsletter Harakah and PKR's organ Suara Keadilan.
What Najib proposed as a "great journey" he would like fellow Malaysians to partner with him in the quest for "One Malaysia", as reported by The Malaysian Insider, has among others, pledged:
That the Barisan Nasional will comprehensively review the Internal Security Act;
* A reform agenda, which seems to be the "flavour of the year" as it was also the keynote for change adopted by the Opposition parties, especially the PKR led by Anwar Ibrahim, during the March 2008 general elections;
* Najib's "People First" pledge stresses that "nobody in the country, regardless of ethnic background, should feel marginalised or left behind"; and
* quoting the new PM in his "Performance Now" promise, assures: “We must draw on talented people across our nation, regardless of their position or background, to re-energize a passion for public service. We must sow the seeds of goodwill and understanding in every corner of this land, so that we continue to harvest the fruits of progress and prosperity for all Malaysians.”
CPI To Do Wishlist for Prime Minister Najib:
While CPI welcomes Najib's promising start in his initial demonstrations of being more tolerant of political opponents and social activists netted by the ISA, and of dissent as channeled by the Opposition party organs, it is early days yet to be celebrating, as Malaysians' hopes had been raised by the political leaders, then dashed, many times before. Maybe the new PM has engaged a more media savvy team of financial, corporate and media and other specialists advisers to plan some people-friendly moves to break the ice with many skeptical parties -- political, social action and civil society groups -- to truly make "great" the Malaysian journey.
As Editor of CPI (the Centre for Policy Initiatives), I would certainly support the new government leaders if they are truly committed in walking the talk, and giving priority to "substance over form" -- which means less rhetoric and more substantive action! -- to reflect the "great journey" that like-minded Malaysians can embark on together. For a start, I urge for consideration that the Prime Minister, to adopt broad policy changes to move the nation towards developed nation status in the eleven-year span remaining as envisioned by Vision 2020, the following measures in principle:
* Do away with all race and religion-based policies anchored on quotas which promotes cronyism and divisiveness, especially in the award of government contracts and scholarships, and recruitment into the Civil Service, and instead, use the "needs principle", but incorporating certain advantages for the less-privileged groups of Malaysians who have lower education and income-earning capacities and/or handicapped health-wise at birth or by accident;
* Create an environment that is conducive to promoting freedom of speech, intellectual development and a liberal media -- by reviewing or/and abolishing draconian laws such as the ISA, Printing Presses and Publications Act, Universities and University Colleges Act and the Official Secrets Act;
* Make the national oil corporation, PETRONAS, accountable to the Rakyat, which mandates that it must report its financial performance to Parliament -- the Malaysian people on whose behalf Petronas is mandated to hold trust with respect to the nation's richest resource. Presently, it is regretted the citizens have not received the true benefits that should accrue to them, epitomised by the prices of goods and services having risen by some 30% to 50% when world oil prices hit the almost USD150 per barrel levels about 10 months ago, when logically, an oil-producing and a net oil-exporting country like Malaysia should see its citizens enjoy substantially higher benefits than those of non-oil-producing countries. But when world oil prices plunged -- back to USD50 per barrel levels -- The question that arises: why have the prices of goods and services then not come down in tandem with falling world oil prices? Where have all the revenues and profits of Petronas gone? Are the elected representatives to Parliament and the State Assemblies who are mandated to be the nation's gatekeepers of our resources such as petroleum, land and forestry, helping themselves to the nation's wealth and Petronas' largesse in the main, and sprinkling peanuts to the Rakyat who put them into office?
* To give true meaning to the stated national goal of alleviating poverty, I would urge that the Government identify the Malaysian families with incomes below RM1,000 a month, and on a graduated scale, help them with monthly welfare payments e.g RM1,000 to those earning less than RM500, RM500 those earning RM500-1,000 to ensure the nation's wealth is distributed to those who need financial assistance most. The present Government has been trumpeting that it spends billions on "subsidies" in various forms, but the well-informed citizens, know, or the average person-in-the-street, suspects that a high percentage of these subsidy allocations are siphoned off into undeserving pockets. Yes, figures of government wastages and slippages are educated-estimated as ranging from 50% to 70%, and however the government leaders may wish to deny the truth of such suspicions, it requires a more responsible, transparent and accountable new leadership to begin to dispel the skeptics among us. And those "us" will demonstrate their researched or mere gut-feeling assessment of Najib's performance come the 13th General Elections in three to four years' time. I believe the Malaysians people in general are reasonable and fair-minded, and are prepared to give the new Prime Minister a chance. Can Najib be a gentleman whose word is his bond, and hence give substance to his word? -- Editor, CPI
***************
Related Story:
A Brand New Day for Malaysia
By Ahirudin Attan aka Rockybru
Saturday, April 04, 2009
A good start. I'm reproducing Najib Razak's maiden address as our 6th Prime Minister so that we can all judge him for ourselves and hold him by his word. I say it's a good start and I say that the more rational and reasonable among us Malaysian men and women should give him a fair chance to prove his worth as our leader.
If he fails to deliver, we'll know what to do.
Because we've done it before.
PRIME MINISTER’S ADDRESS ON ASSUMING OFFICE AS
6TH PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA
3 APRIL 2009
-------------------------
1. On behalf of all Malaysians, I would like to thank YABhg. Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for his 31 years of exemplary public service to our country, his commitment to strengthening the institutions and fabric of our democracy and for his graceful example as our leader.
2. I am grateful to YABhg. Tun for his confidence in proposing my name as Prime Minister to Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and I am honoured that His Majesty has consented to my appointment with this morning’s swearing-in ceremony. I feel a deep sense of humility at the opportunity to serve as your Prime Minister at an important time in our nation's history.
My life has been dedicated to public service.
Growing up, I was inspired by the positive impact of public service in the example of my late father. Four decades on, I remain committed to the goals of tackling poverty; of restructuring our society; of expanding access to quality education for all; and of inspiring a new generation of young Malaysians to work on behalf of this great country.
My own service in government has always been about getting results: to ensure a better deal for teachers, to improve conditions for our brave soldiers, and to strengthen our economy in defence of the people of Malaysia, as we deal with the outbreak of a global recession.
3. In the coming weeks, I will be consulting with people around our country, as I begin to reshape the leadership and priorities of the Government. I am mindful that we should build on the successes and lessons of the past. It must be a government with new approaches for new times – a government that places a priority on performance, because the people must come first.
4. We must reach out to all parts of Malaysia…to all our diverse communities. In our national discourse and in pursuing our national agenda, we must never leave anyone behind. We must reach out to the many who may have been disaffected and left confused by political games, deceit and showmanship.
We must draw on talented people across our nation, regardless of their position or background, to re-energize a passion for public service. We must sow the seeds of goodwill and understanding in every corner of this land, so that we continue to harvest the fruits of progress and prosperity for all Malaysians.
We must seek to include and unlock the potential of our young people who will be the next generation of leaders, businesspeople, engineers, scientists, teachers and doctors. We must give them wings to fly.
5. And so today, I pledge that I will work tirelessly to serve all of you.
6. In this spirit, I would like to announce that the government has decided with immediate effect, to remove the temporary ban on TWO news publications, release 13 detainees from ISA detention, and conduct a comprehensive review of the Internal Security Act. Additional details will be announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs shortly.
7. These decisions are timely as we move to enhance the confidence of our citizens in those entrusted with maintaining peace, law and order, while recognizing the need to remain vigilant of the very real security threats we continue to face as a young nation.
8. I know that for every citizen, these are hard times and I remain focused in providing strong leadership to lead us out of this economic crisis and unleash our full potential as a nation. I will be steadfast in my commitment to meet the needs, aspirations and concerns of all Malaysians.
9. So today I ask you to join me in this task of renewing Malaysia. I urge us to rise to the challenge of building a One Malaysia. People First. Performance Now.
10. Let us begin this great journey together.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
A knotty forward by angelA
Call me angelC -- SeiLol!if you don't mind some swaering and naughtying even on a Sabbath. The fault is mind:), and greater wan belongs to agent 001!:):)
Subject: Fw: The Last Night Out
Something to put a smile on your face !
TWO OLD MEN DECIDE THEY ARE CLOSE TO THEIR LAST DAYS AND DECIDE TO HAVE A LAST NIGHT ON THE TOWN. AFTER A FEW DRINKS, THEY END UP AT THE LOCAL BROTHEL.
THE MADAM TAKES ONE LOOK AT THE TWO OLD GEEZERS AND WHISPERS TO HER MANAGER, 'GO UP TO THE FIRST TWO BEDROOMS AND PUT AN INFLATED DOLL IN EACH BED.
THESE TWO ARE SO OLD AND DRUNK, I'M NOT WASTING TWO OF MY GIRLS ON THEM. THEY WON'T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.'
THE MANAGER DOES AS HE IS TOLD AND THE TWO OLD MEN GO UPSTAIRS AND TAKE CARE OF THEIR BUSINESS.
AS THEY ARE WALKING HOME THE FIRST MAN SAYS, 'YOU KNOW, I THINK MY GIRL WAS DEAD!'
'DEAD?' SAYS HIS FRIEND, 'WHY DO YOU SAY THAT?
'WELL, SHE NEVER MOVED OR MADE A SOUND ALL THE TIME I WAS LOVING HER.'
HIS FRIEND SAYS, 'COULD BE WORSE I THINK MINE WAS A WITCH.'
' A WITCH, WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU SAY THAT?'
'WELL, I WAS MAKING LOVE TO HER, KISSING HER ON THE NECK AND I GAVE HER A LITTLE BITE, THEN SHE FARTED AND FLEW OUT THE WINDOW..., TAKIN MY TEETH WITH HER.'
Subject: Fw: The Last Night Out
Something to put a smile on your face !
TWO OLD MEN DECIDE THEY ARE CLOSE TO THEIR LAST DAYS AND DECIDE TO HAVE A LAST NIGHT ON THE TOWN. AFTER A FEW DRINKS, THEY END UP AT THE LOCAL BROTHEL.
THE MADAM TAKES ONE LOOK AT THE TWO OLD GEEZERS AND WHISPERS TO HER MANAGER, 'GO UP TO THE FIRST TWO BEDROOMS AND PUT AN INFLATED DOLL IN EACH BED.
THESE TWO ARE SO OLD AND DRUNK, I'M NOT WASTING TWO OF MY GIRLS ON THEM. THEY WON'T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.'
THE MANAGER DOES AS HE IS TOLD AND THE TWO OLD MEN GO UPSTAIRS AND TAKE CARE OF THEIR BUSINESS.
AS THEY ARE WALKING HOME THE FIRST MAN SAYS, 'YOU KNOW, I THINK MY GIRL WAS DEAD!'
'DEAD?' SAYS HIS FRIEND, 'WHY DO YOU SAY THAT?
'WELL, SHE NEVER MOVED OR MADE A SOUND ALL THE TIME I WAS LOVING HER.'
HIS FRIEND SAYS, 'COULD BE WORSE I THINK MINE WAS A WITCH.'
' A WITCH, WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU SAY THAT?'
'WELL, I WAS MAKING LOVE TO HER, KISSING HER ON THE NECK AND I GAVE HER A LITTLE BITE, THEN SHE FARTED AND FLEW OUT THE WINDOW..., TAKIN MY TEETH WITH HER.'
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Gifting the new PM benefit of the doubt ...
for just a 100 days -- we normaly call this the honeymoon -- to prove that he means what he says, and walks the talk. Unlike his immediate predecessor, who also promised the sky, and it carshed down onhim, and the Rakyat, as proven by the past five years.
Desi for one would like to have my doubts cleared about the newly installed prime minister concerning all the clouds hoevering over him -- the Altantuya murder, the Scorpene submarine and Sukhoi aircraft contracts, the National Service programme, ad nauseum... -- and maybe, perhaps, mayhaps, for once we have a nation's Chief Executive deliver on his pledges.
It was a good start, and like the majority of Malaysians, from Yesterday -- when all our troubels semed so "clouded" yet not faraway -- accepted as fait accompli that Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has in deed become Malaysia's sixth Prime Minister after newsly installed TUN Abdullah Ahmad Badawi walked off the PWTC Stage as well as the Putrajaya throne -- reluctantly or willingly, only he, the Almighty and mayhaps,Jeanne, know at heart. We wish him sweet retirement, and he rides into the sunset, he might be greeted by former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, riding past with his trademarked smirk on his sunSIRPriseD-face...
From the NST Online:
2009/04/04
A PREMIER VOW... 'No one will be left out'
KUALA LUMPUR: The newly-installed Najib administration hit the ground running last night, lifting the suspensions of two publications, freeing 13 detainees (see page 14) and announcing a review of the Internal Security Act.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in his first address as the country's sixth prime minister, said the decisions were a "move to enhance the confidence of our citizens in those entrusted with maintaining peace, law and order, while recognising the need to remain vigilant of the very real security threats we continue to face as a young nation".
Hinting at a national programme in the motto of "One Malaysia, people first, performance now", the prime minister vowed to "meet the needs, aspirations and concerns of all Malaysians".
"In the coming weeks, I will be consulting with people around our country, as I begin to reshape the leadership and priorities of the government.
"I am mindful that we should build on the successes and lessons of the past. It must be a government with new approaches for new times, a government that places a priority on performance, because the people must come first."
Najib said no one must be left behind in the nation's discourse and agenda.
"We must reach out to the many who may have been disaffected and left confused by political games, deceit and showmanship.
"We must draw on talented people across our nation, regardless of their position or background, to re-energise a passion for public service.
"We must sow the seeds of goodwill and understanding in every corner of this land, so that we continue to harvest the fruits of progress and prosperity for all Malaysians.
****"Today, I pledge that I will work tirelessly to serve all of you," he said.
DESIDERATA: ****After 100 days on the honeymoon riders enter the fading sunset, Desi will pick up pen and writHe about his pledge. May God help us all in our prayers that this PM means what he says. We can't forever be let down, again, and again! ~~ Amen
Desi for one would like to have my doubts cleared about the newly installed prime minister concerning all the clouds hoevering over him -- the Altantuya murder, the Scorpene submarine and Sukhoi aircraft contracts, the National Service programme, ad nauseum... -- and maybe, perhaps, mayhaps, for once we have a nation's Chief Executive deliver on his pledges.
It was a good start, and like the majority of Malaysians, from Yesterday -- when all our troubels semed so "clouded" yet not faraway -- accepted as fait accompli that Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has in deed become Malaysia's sixth Prime Minister after newsly installed TUN Abdullah Ahmad Badawi walked off the PWTC Stage as well as the Putrajaya throne -- reluctantly or willingly, only he, the Almighty and mayhaps,Jeanne, know at heart. We wish him sweet retirement, and he rides into the sunset, he might be greeted by former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, riding past with his trademarked smirk on his sunSIRPriseD-face...
From the NST Online:
2009/04/04
A PREMIER VOW... 'No one will be left out'
KUALA LUMPUR: The newly-installed Najib administration hit the ground running last night, lifting the suspensions of two publications, freeing 13 detainees (see page 14) and announcing a review of the Internal Security Act.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in his first address as the country's sixth prime minister, said the decisions were a "move to enhance the confidence of our citizens in those entrusted with maintaining peace, law and order, while recognising the need to remain vigilant of the very real security threats we continue to face as a young nation".
Hinting at a national programme in the motto of "One Malaysia, people first, performance now", the prime minister vowed to "meet the needs, aspirations and concerns of all Malaysians".
"In the coming weeks, I will be consulting with people around our country, as I begin to reshape the leadership and priorities of the government.
"I am mindful that we should build on the successes and lessons of the past. It must be a government with new approaches for new times, a government that places a priority on performance, because the people must come first."
Najib said no one must be left behind in the nation's discourse and agenda.
"We must reach out to the many who may have been disaffected and left confused by political games, deceit and showmanship.
"We must draw on talented people across our nation, regardless of their position or background, to re-energise a passion for public service.
"We must sow the seeds of goodwill and understanding in every corner of this land, so that we continue to harvest the fruits of progress and prosperity for all Malaysians.
****"Today, I pledge that I will work tirelessly to serve all of you," he said.
DESIDERATA: ****After 100 days on the honeymoon riders enter the fading sunset, Desi will pick up pen and writHe about his pledge. May God help us all in our prayers that this PM means what he says. We can't forever be let down, again, and again! ~~ Amen
Friday, April 03, 2009
Wake up from thy stupour, man!
This is MCP Desi giving all you lazy BUMmers a wake-up calll -- it's 8.48AM as I write this line and I know, almost 90% of you guys are still either in bed with a woman still and naked whle the spouse is up and running in the kitchen cleaning up. I mean cleaning herself up after all the mess left behind --or in front -- by her Other half.
In half stupour, I rose to welcoming Furong sunshine -- FR only mentioned because using my observation powers,it might be raining cats, dogs and wolves in other parts of the www and I ain't the type of writHer to miss-lead my readers. some I understand peep in at midnight because their parrents told them NOT to look at Adults sites save those featuring poems. Hence my profile reads: ...poet-aSspirant...
Hear's mGf jacq giving me a wakeup call BUTT not fixing me bf in bed -- so where's gifting compleat service nowadays. I think I'd try to unseat that blardy more than 40 years' head of CAP to try to do more for CONsumerism, whose main task is to unCON the unMCPs to fight for their virginal rights which had been robbed offf them since Time began and still exists, maybe standing still.
All ye women folks -- Hear ye, rise up, burn all the bras in thy closet, in fact, burn the 'hole house down!
Get the blardy other half up and running -- ggoo back to the Garden of Eden where Lady Chatterley first began her original sin. ENJOY this slight morsel of juice, not appled, to restore your first yearnings for immortality. Desi almost died until I sipped the second but lust drop. The last wan I leave for Thee, mGf. Farewell, my l've wherever thou art, wit' a fine woman in thy arms, and a bitch between thy legs, do you think I care? Please drop dead after reading this if you can't stand a byte of humour, standup or sitting down, or leing/lying down wit' the woamn on top you steal love despite figfty years passing by/bye -- and the Furong sunshine peeping in as a voyeaur does, wit' her blessings. "her" because it's aweways the female who cares to wake up every blardy moUrn shap at 6.00AM to issue forth a wakeup call, yes? Now this is a rhetorical Q -- please don;tanswer, keep thy lust breath for another wakeup call come 24...YL, Desi,knottyaSsusual:(
Last night my mom and I were sitting in the living room, talking about life... In-between, we talked about the idea of living or dying.
I said to her: ' Mom, never let me live in a vegetative state, totally dependent on machines and liquids from a bottle. If you see me in that state I want you to disconnect all the contraptions that are keeping me alive, I'd much rather die'.
Then my mom got up from the sofa with this real look of admiration towards me...and proceeded to disconnect the TV, the Cable, the Dish, the DVD, the Computer, the Cell Phone, the Ipod, and the Xbox, and then went to the fridge and threw away all my beer!!
....I ALMOST DIED!!!
PpS: YL wrotHed this Post FIRST thang in the moUrn as he woke up in half stupour thinking miss APRIL, instead of miss Sunshine, was ringing the door. Ah, I am aka DesiFOOLofErrata, or izzit FULLofEROTICA?
In half stupour, I rose to welcoming Furong sunshine -- FR only mentioned because using my observation powers,it might be raining cats, dogs and wolves in other parts of the www and I ain't the type of writHer to miss-lead my readers. some I understand peep in at midnight because their parrents told them NOT to look at Adults sites save those featuring poems. Hence my profile reads: ...poet-aSspirant...
Hear's mGf jacq giving me a wakeup call BUTT not fixing me bf in bed -- so where's gifting compleat service nowadays. I think I'd try to unseat that blardy more than 40 years' head of CAP to try to do more for CONsumerism, whose main task is to unCON the unMCPs to fight for their virginal rights which had been robbed offf them since Time began and still exists, maybe standing still.
All ye women folks -- Hear ye, rise up, burn all the bras in thy closet, in fact, burn the 'hole house down!
Get the blardy other half up and running -- ggoo back to the Garden of Eden where Lady Chatterley first began her original sin. ENJOY this slight morsel of juice, not appled, to restore your first yearnings for immortality. Desi almost died until I sipped the second but lust drop. The last wan I leave for Thee, mGf. Farewell, my l've wherever thou art, wit' a fine woman in thy arms, and a bitch between thy legs, do you think I care? Please drop dead after reading this if you can't stand a byte of humour, standup or sitting down, or leing/lying down wit' the woamn on top you steal love despite figfty years passing by/bye -- and the Furong sunshine peeping in as a voyeaur does, wit' her blessings. "her" because it's aweways the female who cares to wake up every blardy moUrn shap at 6.00AM to issue forth a wakeup call, yes? Now this is a rhetorical Q -- please don;tanswer, keep thy lust breath for another wakeup call come 24...YL, Desi,knottyaSsusual:(
Last night my mom and I were sitting in the living room, talking about life... In-between, we talked about the idea of living or dying.
I said to her: ' Mom, never let me live in a vegetative state, totally dependent on machines and liquids from a bottle. If you see me in that state I want you to disconnect all the contraptions that are keeping me alive, I'd much rather die'.
Then my mom got up from the sofa with this real look of admiration towards me...and proceeded to disconnect the TV, the Cable, the Dish, the DVD, the Computer, the Cell Phone, the Ipod, and the Xbox, and then went to the fridge and threw away all my beer!!
....I ALMOST DIED!!!
PpS: YL wrotHed this Post FIRST thang in the moUrn as he woke up in half stupour thinking miss APRIL, instead of miss Sunshine, was ringing the door. Ah, I am aka DesiFOOLofErrata, or izzit FULLofEROTICA?
Thursday, April 02, 2009
a glimmer of HOPE ...
I received the following SMS from Sdr Bernard Khoo aka Zorro @ 13:59:23 April 2:
fm pkr.."RM0.30: TERKINI: Majlis angkat sumpah Najib sebagai PM esok dibatalkan...Agung terima peletakan jawatan Pak Lah tetapi belumterima Najib sebagai PM."
My resonse:
"Tq...glimmer of hopekimQ's wish,mine2, may come true. Najib is a NO NO 4pm! A'sghost 4bids unless dpm Can clear All doubts wrt A'smurder most fould. YL"
********************** Belatedly added one after Desi woke up in half stupour ...oversighing cpiasia.net.*********************
from its orchard I pucked this gem for thy BF, non-CON:)
Home Guest Columnists Yong Thye Chong Najib must be Screened by a Royal Commission of Inquiry
Najib must be Screened by a Royal Commission of Inquiry
Columnists
Written by Kim Quek
Monday, 30 March 2009 13:53
30 March, 2009
At a heated press conference at the end of the UMNO Annual Assembly on March 28, the newly crowned President of UMNO Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak failed to dispel swirling rumours of his alleged links to the murder of Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu.
This press conference had attracted unusually intense foreign press attention, due to heightened international media coverage over the scandal as Najib’s anticipated ascension to premiership nears. And as the name of Altantuya splashes in news features that pop up all over the world from France to Australia and from US to India, Najib seems to be irretrievably linked to this sex-corruption-murder scandal in which a multi-billion dollar Government arms purchase featured prominently.
Answering a barrage of questions from foreign journalists whether these persistent aspersions would undermine his premiership, Najib only repeatedly said: “These are malicious and baseless lies. I have already given my answers, but they persist. This is an opposition ploy.”
Najib sounded as if he had already given all the necessary explanations to exonerate himself from his apparently strong connection to the case, but actually all he had done was the repeated uttering of these few words: “I had never met the Mongolian woman, I had never known her”, full stop. In fact, he swore in public several times, using words to the same effect.
SERIOUS QUESTIONS
If Najib thought those few words were sufficient to quell the mountain of suspicion arising from the myriad of burning questions as yet unanswered - in the face of dubious action or inaction by the law enforcers - he must have been terribly naïve, and he completely underestimated the intelligence of the public. Just to pick a few of these at random to demonstrate how serious these questions are:
Private investigator P. Balasubramaniam and his family mysteriously disappeared a day after he revealed in a sworn statement intimate details incriminating Najib to the murder case in July 2008. Despite promises to investigate, the police have remained silent over the contents of this affidavit. And the court had also barred the admission of this document. Why did the police and the court keep a safe distance from this document that could have led to a break-through of this trial? What has happened to Bala and family – as nobody seemed to know their whereabouts?
Why did the court – prosecutors, defence lawyers and judge – acting in unison, block further evidence from Altantuya’s cousin Burmaa Oyunchinmeg when she testified that Najib appeared in a photograph with Altantuya?
Why did the court block further evidence upon revelation in court that Malaysian immigration records of Altantuya and her two Mongolian companions had been mysteriously erased? Shouldn’t such erasure have been considered an important lead and an indication that some VVIP was involved?
Why were Najib and his aide-de-camp Musa Safri not investigated and called to the witness stand, since it was Musa Safri who gave instruction to the first accused (first and second accused were Najib’s bodyguards) to take care of third accused Razak Baginda’s ‘woman problem’. Now that Razak Baginda (a close associate of Najib) had been declared innocent, the court is left with the bizarre scenario of a murder without a motive, since the first two accused had no motive on their own to kill the victim.
It does not take a Sherlock Holmes or a legal expert to smell a rat in the handling of this murder case – a possible conspiracy to cover up for the real culprit.
During the press conference, not satisfied with Najib’s simplistic answers, journalists repeatedly asked the same questions. Finally, Najib snapped: “We will deal with it, we know how to handle it.” When asked whether this means possible crack-downs against his political opponents, Najib protested: “It is not fair to prejudge me. Give me a chance to take office first. Judge me by my action.”
So, Najib is pleading to be allowed to become the prime minister first, then judge him for what he does.
But is it fair to ask the nation to accept the risk of appointing a prime minister when such formidable dark clouds clearly hang over his head? If there is indeed incriminating evidence, would it not act as a potential time bomb that could cause the PM to be prosecuted or subject to blackmail by those in possession of such evidence? Even if such evidence is non-existent, Najib has no way of running away from this taint, which would surely undermine his standing and effectiveness as prime minister at home and abroad, so long as he refuses to submit himself to a proper investigation and subsequent vindication in a court of law.
INDEPENDENT INQUIRY A MUST
It is therefore imperative that a royal commission be set up to clear Najib of such suspicion before his appointment as PM (if he is innocent) to safeguard national interests. That would mean a delay of a few months to his impending appointment.
I can see no possible reason to object to such a postponement, as incumbent Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, whose term does not end until 2013, is fully capable of helming the state, fresh from accolades heaped upon him by his party for rendering invaluable service to the nation.
Najib in particular should welcome such an authoritative process to free him from the current tag and enhance his credibility as future premier, and he should therefore have no objection to such a postponement to the highest office of the land. Unless of course, for reasons only known to himself, he cannot afford to be so probed; neither could he afford not to be at the pinnacle of power at this very moment.
As for the nation at large, such an independent inquiry should bring a sigh of relief that the future premier is cleared of at least the taint of suspicion in relation to a high-profile murder of a foreign national.
fm pkr.."RM0.30: TERKINI: Majlis angkat sumpah Najib sebagai PM esok dibatalkan...Agung terima peletakan jawatan Pak Lah tetapi belumterima Najib sebagai PM."
My resonse:
"Tq...glimmer of hopekimQ's wish,mine2, may come true. Najib is a NO NO 4pm! A'sghost 4bids unless dpm Can clear All doubts wrt A'smurder most fould. YL"
********************** Belatedly added one after Desi woke up in half stupour ...oversighing cpiasia.net.*********************
from its orchard I pucked this gem for thy BF, non-CON:)
Home Guest Columnists Yong Thye Chong Najib must be Screened by a Royal Commission of Inquiry
Najib must be Screened by a Royal Commission of Inquiry
Columnists
Written by Kim Quek
Monday, 30 March 2009 13:53
30 March, 2009
At a heated press conference at the end of the UMNO Annual Assembly on March 28, the newly crowned President of UMNO Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak failed to dispel swirling rumours of his alleged links to the murder of Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu.
This press conference had attracted unusually intense foreign press attention, due to heightened international media coverage over the scandal as Najib’s anticipated ascension to premiership nears. And as the name of Altantuya splashes in news features that pop up all over the world from France to Australia and from US to India, Najib seems to be irretrievably linked to this sex-corruption-murder scandal in which a multi-billion dollar Government arms purchase featured prominently.
Answering a barrage of questions from foreign journalists whether these persistent aspersions would undermine his premiership, Najib only repeatedly said: “These are malicious and baseless lies. I have already given my answers, but they persist. This is an opposition ploy.”
Najib sounded as if he had already given all the necessary explanations to exonerate himself from his apparently strong connection to the case, but actually all he had done was the repeated uttering of these few words: “I had never met the Mongolian woman, I had never known her”, full stop. In fact, he swore in public several times, using words to the same effect.
SERIOUS QUESTIONS
If Najib thought those few words were sufficient to quell the mountain of suspicion arising from the myriad of burning questions as yet unanswered - in the face of dubious action or inaction by the law enforcers - he must have been terribly naïve, and he completely underestimated the intelligence of the public. Just to pick a few of these at random to demonstrate how serious these questions are:
Private investigator P. Balasubramaniam and his family mysteriously disappeared a day after he revealed in a sworn statement intimate details incriminating Najib to the murder case in July 2008. Despite promises to investigate, the police have remained silent over the contents of this affidavit. And the court had also barred the admission of this document. Why did the police and the court keep a safe distance from this document that could have led to a break-through of this trial? What has happened to Bala and family – as nobody seemed to know their whereabouts?
Why did the court – prosecutors, defence lawyers and judge – acting in unison, block further evidence from Altantuya’s cousin Burmaa Oyunchinmeg when she testified that Najib appeared in a photograph with Altantuya?
Why did the court block further evidence upon revelation in court that Malaysian immigration records of Altantuya and her two Mongolian companions had been mysteriously erased? Shouldn’t such erasure have been considered an important lead and an indication that some VVIP was involved?
Why were Najib and his aide-de-camp Musa Safri not investigated and called to the witness stand, since it was Musa Safri who gave instruction to the first accused (first and second accused were Najib’s bodyguards) to take care of third accused Razak Baginda’s ‘woman problem’. Now that Razak Baginda (a close associate of Najib) had been declared innocent, the court is left with the bizarre scenario of a murder without a motive, since the first two accused had no motive on their own to kill the victim.
It does not take a Sherlock Holmes or a legal expert to smell a rat in the handling of this murder case – a possible conspiracy to cover up for the real culprit.
During the press conference, not satisfied with Najib’s simplistic answers, journalists repeatedly asked the same questions. Finally, Najib snapped: “We will deal with it, we know how to handle it.” When asked whether this means possible crack-downs against his political opponents, Najib protested: “It is not fair to prejudge me. Give me a chance to take office first. Judge me by my action.”
So, Najib is pleading to be allowed to become the prime minister first, then judge him for what he does.
But is it fair to ask the nation to accept the risk of appointing a prime minister when such formidable dark clouds clearly hang over his head? If there is indeed incriminating evidence, would it not act as a potential time bomb that could cause the PM to be prosecuted or subject to blackmail by those in possession of such evidence? Even if such evidence is non-existent, Najib has no way of running away from this taint, which would surely undermine his standing and effectiveness as prime minister at home and abroad, so long as he refuses to submit himself to a proper investigation and subsequent vindication in a court of law.
INDEPENDENT INQUIRY A MUST
It is therefore imperative that a royal commission be set up to clear Najib of such suspicion before his appointment as PM (if he is innocent) to safeguard national interests. That would mean a delay of a few months to his impending appointment.
I can see no possible reason to object to such a postponement, as incumbent Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, whose term does not end until 2013, is fully capable of helming the state, fresh from accolades heaped upon him by his party for rendering invaluable service to the nation.
Najib in particular should welcome such an authoritative process to free him from the current tag and enhance his credibility as future premier, and he should therefore have no objection to such a postponement to the highest office of the land. Unless of course, for reasons only known to himself, he cannot afford to be so probed; neither could he afford not to be at the pinnacle of power at this very moment.
As for the nation at large, such an independent inquiry should bring a sigh of relief that the future premier is cleared of at least the taint of suspicion in relation to a high-profile murder of a foreign national.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Lust Night I had an esteamed love affair...
All of us have had wet dreams ...even prime ministers, ex-PMs and PM-2B; singers, actresses and authors, and poet-aSspirants too. Mine last night was a surreptitiously private lusty affair of the most transcendental kind. Kind of classic, hence this morn's sharing with my ex-steamed readers, viewers and riders. Voyeurs.
If you are a prude and not prone to lying down while the 'hole world is on top of you,PLEASE STOP READING NOW
'Cos
THE REST OF THE POST MSAY EXCITE ANOTHER WET DREAM ALTHOUGH IT'S 8.18AM
and I ain't gonna be responsible for any exhilarationor annihiliation caused by any ejection of any kind -- organic or non or none.
BUTT
rest assured I learnt a li'l from mGf sigmon' frau and ......'s -- don't remember Lady Chattering's Lover, boy? -- my copy disappeared from my schoolbag when I was 13 and you were always the stealer of all kinds -- beaut, uglee and the inbetweens... sheets.
Now, where was I? Ah,last night... wet dreams...
Actually I felt the lukewarm waters of Tanjong Tuan, PD, washing gently, or was it caressing, my small, procelain-coloured butt exhibited for the FIRST time to the www by moonlight, and no-one paid me a dime. Dam the tide, dame the sight, ah, damned, madam!
I was told later by some voyeurs by the bitch that we were a sight to behole. Lady Chattering and her wheelchairbound lover after sighting us in our revolutions, evolved/devolved into a wild dance fully clothed offf the cliff at Tanjong Tuan, and as they fell as wan, fool body, spirit and soul'd, clutching a telescope and cold, iron-gripped wheelchair, over the edge, they pierced the air with the most endearing "GoOD by'es". In fact, an autopsy later showed the bites were indeed love. What did the doctor and nurses -- who were exchanging glances in the bright-lit OT thinking -- hate bytes? Never heard of the phrase -- alike "Two peas/bods in one bed?"
Yes, DH LAWRENCEwould have descrbed the highlight as the "utmost sweetest surrender as two bods merged into one -- Hi&Lo ecstasy of the highest order as would happen with a monk released from his order and a chemistry wrought in frenzy on renderwooing his sacred lover of a nun next door jest released of her habit off the hook. Maybe this metaphor is beyond thee.
Then how about "Two twigs", according to another mGf who stole his way out from the house next to the nunnery -- they called it a monkerry, did you say? -- once reminded Desi, "when combined as one conquers the hole world, and peace and serenity will reign forever." So I became a cuntvert.
Ziana -- or was it APRIL? -- Minta maaf, I savoured so many dishes I lost sight of their contours, siapa dan apanama? She and I were LOST in a world of our own. Et tu, bitch?
BUTT
some voyeurs always are such spoil sports. These religious affairs department buggers burst into my chalet -- which the hosts said were the safest h'aven on earth -- "even safer than the Pub'ic Bank vault on High Street!" -- and ended our tryst by fire, one stormy, steamy and stingy night by the beach in Port Dickson not so long ago. Now only prime minister -- or national serviced Mentri Besar, betul ke? -- can save me. Declared we were only chating. My pants were down because my bladders were FULL, but my love, Et tu, FOOL! -- Wit' Love&GOoDwill, a work of faction, from YL-Desi
If you are a prude and not prone to lying down while the 'hole world is on top of you,PLEASE STOP READING NOW
'Cos
THE REST OF THE POST MSAY EXCITE ANOTHER WET DREAM ALTHOUGH IT'S 8.18AM
and I ain't gonna be responsible for any exhilarationor annihiliation caused by any ejection of any kind -- organic or non or none.
BUTT
rest assured I learnt a li'l from mGf sigmon' frau and ......'s -- don't remember Lady Chattering's Lover, boy? -- my copy disappeared from my schoolbag when I was 13 and you were always the stealer of all kinds -- beaut, uglee and the inbetweens... sheets.
Now, where was I? Ah,last night... wet dreams...
Actually I felt the lukewarm waters of Tanjong Tuan, PD, washing gently, or was it caressing, my small, procelain-coloured butt exhibited for the FIRST time to the www by moonlight, and no-one paid me a dime. Dam the tide, dame the sight, ah, damned, madam!
I was told later by some voyeurs by the bitch that we were a sight to behole. Lady Chattering and her wheelchairbound lover after sighting us in our revolutions, evolved/devolved into a wild dance fully clothed offf the cliff at Tanjong Tuan, and as they fell as wan, fool body, spirit and soul'd, clutching a telescope and cold, iron-gripped wheelchair, over the edge, they pierced the air with the most endearing "GoOD by'es". In fact, an autopsy later showed the bites were indeed love. What did the doctor and nurses -- who were exchanging glances in the bright-lit OT thinking -- hate bytes? Never heard of the phrase -- alike "Two peas/bods in one bed?"
Yes, DH LAWRENCEwould have descrbed the highlight as the "utmost sweetest surrender as two bods merged into one -- Hi&Lo ecstasy of the highest order as would happen with a monk released from his order and a chemistry wrought in frenzy on renderwooing his sacred lover of a nun next door jest released of her habit off the hook. Maybe this metaphor is beyond thee.
Then how about "Two twigs", according to another mGf who stole his way out from the house next to the nunnery -- they called it a monkerry, did you say? -- once reminded Desi, "when combined as one conquers the hole world, and peace and serenity will reign forever." So I became a cuntvert.
Ziana -- or was it APRIL? -- Minta maaf, I savoured so many dishes I lost sight of their contours, siapa dan apanama? She and I were LOST in a world of our own. Et tu, bitch?
BUTT
some voyeurs always are such spoil sports. These religious affairs department buggers burst into my chalet -- which the hosts said were the safest h'aven on earth -- "even safer than the Pub'ic Bank vault on High Street!" -- and ended our tryst by fire, one stormy, steamy and stingy night by the beach in Port Dickson not so long ago. Now only prime minister -- or national serviced Mentri Besar, betul ke? -- can save me. Declared we were only chating. My pants were down because my bladders were FULL, but my love, Et tu, FOOL! -- Wit' Love&GOoDwill, a work of faction, from YL-Desi
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