Food for thought at lunchtime if you have traveller's cheques to spare -- Desi don't, so it's just watching CCTV's TRAVELOGUE with Gorgeous Greta Gorges!:) Just tasted Shanghai! Shanghai! Ruminate on MI's peAce on our friendly negfhbour up North. I won't PR Marina Sands SINcity lest "they" trumpet Desi is a Singapore operative. You know, in NegaraKu, they steal shoot the messenger, No? -- YL, Desi, knottyEVENatHiNoon!
Thailand: Land of Smiles or tourist trap?
July 23, 2012
BANGKOK, July 22 — Two Canadian sisters die mysteriously in their rented bungalow on an idyllic Thai island, believed poisoned. Less than a week later, a 60-year-old Australian woman is stabbed to death in a botched robbery outside a luxury resort in Phuket.
Their deaths are the latest in a tumult of violence and intrigue to shake tourism in postcard-perfect Thailand, raising questions over whether it is squandering a prized asset by failing to protect travellers arriving in record numbers.
Other headlines are less dramatic but equally troubling: taxi driver mafias, transvestite thieves, pollution, tourist brawls, traffic accidents, and at airports, radar glitches, flight delays and long immigration queues.
“The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) think numbers are going up so people must like it here, but the problem is the quality of their visit has gone down,” said Larry Cunningham, Australia’s Honorary Consul to Phuket, an island described by travel guide Lonely Planet as “one of the world’s most famous dream destinations”.
Tourists ask a ‘tuk tuk’ taxi driver for directions along Khao San Road in Bangkok July 13, 2012. — Reuters pic
The government has vowed to tackle “mafias” in tourist areas, while in February, Cunningham appealed to Phuket’s government to stop jet-ski operators who hire thugs and demand compensation for equipment damage renters did not cause.
Last year, a German television show broadcast footage of sewage pumped into the sea at popular Kata and Karon beaches.
The problems have so far failed to dull Thailand’s centuries-old exotic allure. Its palm-fringed islands, gilded temples, spicy cuisine and racy nightlife helped draw 19 million visitors in 2011, generating 776 billion baht (RM77.4 billion) in revenue, up 31 percent from 2010, ministry data shows.
Even so, tourism’s contribution to GDP has barely increased since 2003 and now hovers at 6 percent. And with unspoiled destinations in neighbouring Myanmar opening up, Thailand is under pressure to decide what type of tourism it wants.
Phuket, for example, is at risk of sharing the same fate as another beach destination: Pattaya.
“Sin city”
A two-hour drive from Bangkok, Pattaya struggles to shake off a seedy reputation as Thailand’s “Sin City” and with red-light entertainment, crime and unchecked development, it is synonymous with sleaze and spoiled beaches.
A tourist (right) participates in a water fight with local Thais during the Songkran Festival celebration at Khaosan Road in Bangkok, April 12, 2012. — Reuters file pic
“We still think of tourism too much in a opportunistic, money-making way,” said opposition lawmaker and former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij. “We are putting the future of the industry at risk.”
Tourist safety is another pressing issue.
The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA)- a motor sport governing body - shows Thailand has the highest U.S. tourist road fatality rate in the developing world, after Honduras. Britain’s foreign office warns of robberies and “vicious unprovoked attacks by gangs” on the party island, Koh Phangan.
Some tourists say standards fell short of expectations.
“In general Thailand feels safe but tour guides and drivers are more aggressive,” says Mattias Ljungqvist, 31, a Swede who first visited the country a decade ago.
The TAT says it does not have regulations to tackle crime head on and safety and environmental preservation issues are encumbered by local bureaucracy.
But with plans to promote Thailand to new markets in South America and Central Asia, there is little evidence of its tourism ambitions slowing down.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra last month said the government’s tourism policy would focus on generating 2 trillion baht in revenue within five years. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports plans to spend 2.6 billion baht on developing and promoting tourist attractions in 2013.
It hopes to attract 21 million visitors this year, among them big spenders.
“People who enjoy eco-tourism tend to spend a lot of money and we are definitely targeting that type of tourist,” said Chattan Khunjara Na Ayudhya, a public relations director at TAT. — Reuters
I know this issue is not new, BUT THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DIE MAINTAINS ELEGANT SILENCE. I wonder what happens to the loudmouthed Perkosa chief, ex-PR idIotic MPs like Ibrahim Ali, Wee Choo Keong, Zulkifli Noordin -- all-in-awe friendly to the Barisan Nasional, remember? -- et al, ad nauseum? ~~ YL, Desi
Malaysia lost RM893b in illicit outflows, research shows
By Clara Chooi
July 22, 2012
The level of outflows was sufficient to mask the extent of income inequality in countries experiencing the capital flight, according to The Guardian. —File pic
KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 ― A colossal RM893 billion was siphoned out of Malaysia’s economy into tax havens abroad between 1970 and 2010, a London-based research has revealed, placing the country among the top 20 nation in the developing world labelled as “losers” of capital flight.
The sum is more than triple that of Malaysia’s national debt total, which amounted to RM257.2 billion in 2011, according to previous media reports.
In the study commissioned by Tax Justice Network (TJN), a London-based organisation of professionals including economists and tax consultants, Malaysia is now ranked 12th on the list, two rungs above Singapore’s RM533 billion outflow and three below Indonesia’s RM1 trillion.
According to researcher James Henry in UK’s The Guardian today, the “offshore economy” is large enough to leave a major impact on the estimates of inequality of wealth and income in any nation, as well as the estimates of national income and debt ratios.
“Most importantly ― [it would] have very significant negative impacts on the domestic tax bases of ‘source’ countries,” Henry was quoted as saying in the daily.
The former chief economist at consultancy McKinsey, in preparing the research report titled “The Price of Offshore Revisited” for TJN, had perused data from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and private sector analysts to conclude that over the past four decades, an alarming estimate of RM66 trillion or possibly RM100 trillion has flooded out of their home countries across the globe to seep into “the cracks of the financial system”.
According to The Guardian, this was even larger than the size of the entire American economy.
The paper noted that the sheer scale of hidden assets abroad by those seeking to evade taxes suggests that the official Gini coefficient of a country suffering from capital flight would not reflect a true picture.
“Standard measures of inequality, which tend to rely on surveys of household income or wealth in individual countries, radically underestimate the true gap between rich and poor,” The Guardian reported.
TJN member John Christensen told the daily that this meant that inequality was likely to be “much, much worse” than official statistics have shown.
“But politicians are still relying on trickle-down to transfer wealth to poorer people.
“This new data shows the exact opposite has happened: For three decades, extraordinary wealth has been cascading into the offshore accounts of a tiny number of super-rich,” he was quoted as saying.
In December last year, US-based watchdog Global Financial Integrity reported that Malaysia had lost RM150 billion through capital flight in 2009 alone, the fourth highest in the developing world.
The watchdog also found that Malaysia had lost a total of US$338 billion (RM1.08 trillion) over the first decade of the century while RM930 billion had left the country between 2000 and 2008, growing to RM218 billion per year from an initial RM71 billion in that period.
The federal opposition has long railed against the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) over its alleged fiscal irresponsibility, claiming its relentless spending and massive illicit capital outflow would soon plunge the country into a debt crisis.
Since Dr Mahathir Mohamads days, socilaists have been branded by UMNOrites or lefts as "Commiie", especially when he dared not face-off the group promoting some 100 appeals from the Chinese community under the banner of SUQIU. (Suqiu is Mandaria is Appeals:). In fact, UMNO youth under his tacit agreement -- he did not order the PDRM to stop these thugs! -- went in thousands to march to the KLSCAH building which then housed the Suyqiu headquarters to "burn down" the office for daring to call on the BN government to respond to what had been "percieved" as reasonable demands, and even then MCA chief mostly agreed with.
Now, the easiest route to frighten the "Malay" community to rise up to support UMNO's outmoded "Ketuanan Melayu" bogey is to label any protestors as "Communist" -- yes, Mahathir did that to Suqiu; now the imitaing Najib adminstration also are doing to to the Bersih3.0 campaign, in cahoots with the ever-obliging PDRM.
With the impending GE13, Najib Tun Razak with the ghost of Altantuya disturbing hgis nightly sleep, is also resorting to Mahathirian tactics. Cry "Commi!" often enough, and the l;abel sticks, like Rumours in Malaysia usually transforming into Reality shows. So the Parti Rakyat Malaysia and before that the Socialist Front suffered a demise under Mahathir's "commie charges" without any justification. But for UMNO's, survival you don't need any justification!
AND WHY DESI"S CONfession he's 5 of 7 X100percent a Commie?
Because I have always maintained I'm a socialist on weeakdays (Five, if you don't know how to count! ~~ Mondae, Tuesday, wedNURSEdae, Thursday and Fridie!) and I'm a real Kapitalist on the WICKEDend comprising Ms Saturdie and Sundie when I help myself to pork chop, sizzling lamp and bif stick at Hawaii in Seremban, or at five-star hpotels in PJ/KL aweways as a "guest" of other well-paid media or diplomatic friends!:)
Hence, if UMNO kakis say YL is a socialist mostly, and therefore is a Commie, who's Desi to protest?
If you don't hear/here from me over sext month or so, try contacting mGf DPP or Wong SC of the Securities line; you don't know their umbers? Don't worry, ArSeK the SB!:( -- YL, Desi, knottyaSsusual:) or :(
Jul 20: Pakatan Rakyat leaders took turns to pour scorn on the police over a claim that 'terrorists' and 'communists' would be fielded as candidates to represent the coalition in the coming polls.
The allegation was made by Bukit Aman Social Extremist Division chief assistant director Mohd Sofian Md Makinuddin, who among others cited that leaders from the Socialist Party of Malaysia and Parti Keadilan Rakyat had been frequenting Bangkok and southern Thailand to attend "secret meetings with former leaders of the Malayan Communist Party".
He further claimed that elements of communists and Jemaah Islamiyah, the group blamed for terror bombings in the region as well as accused of being linked with Al-Qaeda, had attempted to infiltrate PAS and DAP.
Sofian's statement was immediately rubbished by DAP leader Lim Kit Siang as a "cock and bull story", saying prime minister Najib Razak and Home minister Hishamuddin Hussein had allowed Special Branch "scraping the bottom of the barrel".
"With the resurrection of the Islamist terrorist and communist bogeys infiltrating the Pakatan Rakyat parties, is the stage being set for a special operation against the Pakatan Rakyat parties to remove the democratic and legitimate threat posed by Pakatan Rakyat to continued UMNO/Barisan Nasional hold on federal power in the 13th general election?" he asked.
PAS vice president Salahuddin Ayub meanwhile demanded Sofian to show proof of his claims.
“Such statements are issued with elections around the corner to confuse the people, it is sinister,” he was quoted as saying, but added that he was not surprised with such "old tactics" being repeated by the authorities.
PKR communication director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said the police should name the individuals concerned.
“This is BN’s tactic to use the police for such statements when election is around the corner. The people know,” he said.
PAS Central Committee member Idris Ahmad meanwhile questioned the wisdom behind going public with such revelations.
"Which module is the police force subscribing? This is such a big thing yet they chose to first make it public before taking action?" he asked.
***************************************
UPDATEd @11.00PM -- see how commie Desi works for ye, my wickedend ER!? -- from the Malaysian Insider:)~~~~~
Pakatan: We don’t harbour terrorists, communists
By Clara Chooi and Hafidz Baharom
July 21, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has issued a strong denial against claims from the police Special Branch unit that terrorists and former communists have infiltrated their parties, saying instead that the allegation was aimed at boosting Barisan Nasional's (BN) chances in the coming polls.
Expressing shock at the startling allegation, PR lawmakers griped that the intelligence unit, tasked with collating information to protect Malaysia from perceived threats of subversion, "works for Umno".
They pointed out that this likely meant that the accusation was made with the hope of instilling fear among pro-opposition Malaysians ahead of a general election that must be held soon.
"The SB's (Special Branch) duties are merely to create fear among Malaysians so that Umno-BN can win the election," PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu (picture) told The Malaysian Insider via SMS last night.
"The SB works for Umno. If communist or JI (Jemaah Islamiah) elements wanted an armed revolt, they would not use the election as their platform," he added.
Special Branch chief assistant director of the E2(M) national social extremist threat division Mohd Sofian Md Makinuddin was quoted by national news agency Bernama on Thursday as claiming that JI elements were trying to infiltrate PAS while the communist elements were trying to infiltrate the DAP.
DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua denied the allegation against his party and accused Umno instead for being more in contact with the communists.
"As a matter of fact, Umno has had more interaction with the Chinese Communist Party than any PR parties with regular youth exchanges.
"Is Umno infiltrated by communist sympathisers?" he asked.
Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin had once established a direct formal relationship with the Communist Youth League of China
"The SB is showing its political hand to serve its BN masters and are trying desperately to justify their existence and perpetuate BN control over the masses," Pua continued via Blackberry Messenger to The Malaysian Insider today.
PKR communication director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad agreed with his party allies, adding that the allegation was proof that the Special Branch unit has been involving itself in politics.
He challenged Mohd Sofian, his superiors in Bukit Aman and the Home Ministry to prove the claims by naming the specific individuals linked to JI or communism in PR's parties.
"Their statement reeks of the Cold War mentality," he said when asked to comment yesterday. "These accusations of communist and Islamist infiltrators have no place in a mature, 21st century society. "
In Thursday's Bernama report, Mohd Sofian had said that several leaders from PKR and Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM), a PR-friendly opposition party, are believed to have attended "secret meetings" with former Malayan Communist Party leaders in Bangkok and southern Thailand.
“The effect is new political ideas which have the potential of threatening the nation’s core values have spread.
"The movement receives support from foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which assist in terms of finance, training locally and abroad as well as exposure to specific expertise in facing the general election,” he was quoted as saying.
Mohd Sofian added that the movement’s aim was to create local NGOs which would always be hostile to the government and create chaos to weaken the ruling government.
“In this matter, we worry that the opposition parties and NGOs play up controversial issues to stir hatred among the public towards the government by the time the elections come.
“Or (it’s) to increase demonstrations and incidents which can divert police attention... demonstrations will continue to be a trend in our country,” he said.
Malaysia’s debts a potential time bomb, say economists
By Lee Wei Lian
July 18, 2012
Malaysia’s debt levels may limit Najib’s ability to respond to financial crises. — File pic
KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 ― The government’s debt, which nearly doubled since 2007 to RM421 billion, pose a fiscal risk to the country if not managed carefully as it impairs Malaysia’s resilience to economic shocks, analysts and economists have said.
They say that while government debt ― currently at about 54 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), and the second highest in Asia ― has not significantly impacted the country and its credit standing yet, the volatile nature of global markets may manifest such a risk at any time.
While the Najib administration has vowed not to let federal government obligations exceed 55 per cent of the country’s GDP, there is increasing worry that when government-backed loans or “contingent liabilities” are taken into account, the government’s total debt exposure rose to about 65 per cent of GDP last year ― above the comfort level for many analysts.
RAM Ratings chief economist Yeah Kim Leng said that while Malaysia’s debt levels are currently considered moderate, it should still be vigilant against the possibility of debt levels hitting the “tipping point” whereby it could be punished with higher borrowing costs.
“The threshold at which the market sentiment can turn against you is unknown,” said Yeah. “If market sentiment does turn against Malaysia, it could result in very high borrowing costs and capital pull-out.”
The reason we have not had a higher debt burden is because we have a piggy bank called Petronas. — Cheong Kee Cheok, senior research fellow at University of Malaya’s Economics and Administration Faculty.
He added that careful management of debt levels could inject greater resiliency into the economy, which was desirable given the increasing frequency of economic shocks that characterises the global economy today.
“It’s not just about economic growth but also the country’s ability to withstand shocks,” he said.
Figures from the Federal Treasury’s Economic Reports shows that the federal government’s domestic debt almost doubled in the space of less than five years ― from RM247 billion in 2007 to an estimated RM421 billion in 2011 ― far outpacing its revenues which only grew 31 per cent or from RM140 billion to RM183 billion during the same period.
In contrast, 2001 to 2005 saw domestic debt level growing from RM121.4 billion to RM189 billion, or just 56 per cent.
Government-backed loans rose rapidly as well between 1985 to 2010 ― from RM11 billion to RM96 billion ― representing a growth of 8.7 per cent per annum.
Cheong Kee Cheok, a senior research fellow at University of Malaya’s Economics and Administration faculty, said that while Malaysia’s debt level of 55 per cent of GDP is “not an outright disaster” when compared to countries like Greece, he expects the level of debt to continue to rise.
“The rise in this debt level over the past few years is worrying though, and so far, I have not seen any effort to try to rein in spending given that revenue sources have not expanded,” he said. ****“The reason we have not had a higher debt burden is because we have a piggy bank called Petronas.”
Wan Saiful Wan Jan, chief executive of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) said that politics played a role in why Malaysia is grappling with debt.
He said that while deficit spending was “completely wrong”, as long as governments could roll over their debt, there was little urgency to address the issue as politicians rarely look beyond the next election.
Wan Saiful blamed the government’s deficit on pork-barrel politics. — File pic
“Politicians will spend what they need to win elections,” he noted.
He added that his was not a criticism only of the Najib administration as he found Pakatan Rakyat’s many promises even “more reckless”.
“Pakatan Rakyat say that they can pay for spending by removing corruption but if you want to be responsible, you should plug the hole and pay the debts not plug the hole and spend the money,” he said.
The country’s fiscal track record has apparently already affected investor confidence, as evidenced by the weakness in the country’s currency and relatively high yields on government bonds.
Despite Malaysian government securities offering higher yields than either Singapore or the US, investors last week still flocked to the two perceived safe havens over places like Malaysia, sending the ringgit markedly lower in recent weeks.
Countries with strong credit ratings such as Switzerland can even afford to offer negative yields to investors due to their perceived comfort factor while weaker countries, such as Italy and Spain, have a harder time raising funds even when offering vastly superior yields due to the perceived higher risks involved.
While Malaysia is not yet in the category of Spain or Italy, it is notable that investors prefer to switch their money to US and Singapore assets rather than Malaysia’s in times of uncertainty despite the 10-year MGS (Malaysian Government Securities) offering a yield of about 3.4 per cent as compared to less than 1.5 per cent for both 10-year Singapore government bond and 10-year US Treasury bonds.
*****This generally means that investors harbour stronger doubts over Malaysia’s ability to pay back its debts, and outflow of funds led to the ringgit slumping to a 14-year low against the Singapore dollar and also saw the currency lose ground to the greenback.
With both its debt and budget deficit among the highest in Asia as a percentage of GDP, it would be difficult for the government to pare down debts without it either raising taxes or cutting spending, both options which are likely to make it unpopular with the public at large.
The saving grace for the government is that it can tap into the vast savings pool of Malaysians instead of going outside the country and the revenue it gains from oil and gas.
Hydrocarbon income, however, could be under threat this year as petroleum prices have weakened significantly due to the economic uncertainty.
Should another global economic crisis hit, it is unclear how much fiscal space the Najib administration has left to implement stimulus measures given its commitments to reduce its budget deficit and keep a lid on debt.
Another issue is that the RM96 billion in government-backed debts is likely to grow even more in light of an expected raft of rail and road infrastructure projects, which some reports have estimated will cost as much as nearly RM100 billion over the next few years.
Even Malaysia’s National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) is going down the route of government-backed debt, recently selling RM2.5 billion of federally-guaranteed Islamic debt as it looks for financing to provide more loans to a growing number of eligible students entering university.
The PTPTN scheme, however, has been a source of controversy as only 84 per cent of students are reported to be repaying their loans as at February this year.
For the moment, investors are still willing to buy Malaysian government bonds used to raise money for the country’s development.
The question is whether falling petroleum prices, stubborn fiscal deficits or rising contingent liabilities could one day shake their confidence. ~~Malaysian Insider
Malaysia recorded a Government Debt to GDP of 52.60 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product in 2011. Historically, from 1990 until 2011, Malaysia Government Debt To GDP averaged 47.3900 Percent reaching an all time high of 79.5000 Percent in December of 1990 and a record low of 31.8000 Percent in December of 1997. Generally, Government debt as a percent of GDP is used by investors to measure a country ability to make future payments on its debt, thus affecting the country borrowing costs and government bond yields. This page includes a chart with historical data for Malaysia Government Debt To GDP.
Government Debt to GDP Government debt as a percent of GDP, also known as debt-to-GDP ratio, is the amount of national debt a country has in percentage of its Gross Domestic Product. Basically, Government debt is the money owed by the central government to its creditors. There are two types of government debt: net and gross. Gross debt is the accumulation of outstanding government debt which may be in the form of government bonds, credit default swaps, currency swaps, special drawing rights, loans, insurance and pensions. Net debt is the difference between gross debt and the financial assets that government holds. The higher the debt-to-GDP ratio, the less likely the country will pay its debt back, and more likely the country is to default on its debt obligations.
File photo of protestors fleeing after police fired tear gas on them during the April 28, 2012 Bersih rally in Kuala Lumpur. Bersih supporters held rallies in cities in 51 countries, including Mecca and Medina, which Najib said tarnished the image of the country and Muslims.
KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today the Bersih electoral reform protest had threatened the haj pilgrimage quota of Malaysia’s Muslims, and tarnished the country’s image.
“We support demonstrations, but only when they are done peacefully and in accordance with our religious principles. When some of them protested in Mecca and Medina, our image as Malaysians, as Muslims, was tarnished.
“The Saudi government even threatened to pull back our quota,” he said.
Najib explained the seriousness of this issue by stating that thousands who have waited even up to 15 years would not have been able to go for their haj pilgrimage.
“Because of Bersih, we could have faced a suspension for this year, or even three years. They are destructive towards the needs of Malaysian Muslims,” he said.
++++He also stated that those who protested for Bersih in Mecca and Medina probably “got less education”.
Bersih held its third and largest protest on April 28 which turned rowdy after police charged at thousands of protesters.
+++++The protest was also joined by smaller groups in 51 other nations.
Leaders from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government, including Najib, have repeatedly painted Bersih’s most recent rally last April 28 as an attempt to oust its democratically-elected government, a charge the movement’s leader Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan has denied just as frequently.
Bersih has been lobbying the Najib administration to enforce electoral reforms, including cleaning the voter roll of dubious entries, before the next national polls due in nine months.
Putrajaya has pledged to undertake the reforms after last year’s massive July 9 rally garnered negative publicity for the Najib administration around the world, but the authorities have been accused of dragging their feet over their implementation, which the Election Commission (EC) said will take time.
Ambiga also accused the BN coalition of relentlessly “demonising” the electoral watchdog, with the latest incident seeing anti-Bersih flyers bearing the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry’s official logo being distributed around the Klang Valley.
DESIDERATA: Let me state the sections BOLDED by Desi (THUS) in the two articles will be referred to in my comments that follow. I'm asking my ER to find some "linkages" between the TWO ARTICLES because in my creative writer's mind, I believe the PM is sadly mistaken to jump to conlusions that the 428 protest organised by BERSIH3.0 had any "religious" flavour, so he's treading on dangerous grounds relating developments/reactions by the Saudi government. Hey besides Mecca and Medina, ****, overseas Malaysians also held rallies in +++++51 other nations -- so Mr Prime Minister, two out of 52 merely represented about four (4) percent!
Also, Mr Prime Minister, you and your socalled multi-racial BN components must be reminded that Malaysia's populace comprises many ethnic groups and follow various religious faiths, although Desi acknowledges that Islam is predominant in numbers. But please Mr UMNO president, you do not speak from just ONE RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE if you truly believe in realising 1Malaysia, OR THIS 1Malaysia is all JUST SLOGANEERING?
The first article showed that to date, your administration oversighted the five-year period when the Debt-toGDP ration GREW SUBSTANTIALLY. So it is the ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE you shgould focus on, NOT INDULGING IN DIVERSION AND POLEMICS because we in the Internet age don't easily getr foooled by you. Maybe your predecessors of 20 years past and before could get away with such "misleading" leadership and the mainstream media acted in cahoots with the ruling government! The journaists in the online media are of a different era and are better informed, so the readers/populace out here are able to DISCERN ISSUES MORE CLEARLY. That dictum promted by a past American president indeed holds truer today than the previous millenium -- You can fool some of the people all the time; you can fool all the people some of the time; BUT YOU CAN"T FOOL ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME!
From the first MI article, this extract from **** that "...we have a piggy bank called Petronas.” tells us a lot about your government's lack of transparency in terms of what happened/is happening/will happen to our nation's richest natural resource -- oil and gas -- which the national oil corporation is supposed to hold and mange in trust for the people/RAKYAT. I have lamented often in this blog that Petronas' profits -- tens of billion every year, like RM40BILLION to RM60BILLION from the past decade -- have NOT benefited the people directly as MALAYSIA IS A NET PRODUCER AND NET EXPORTER OF OIL, OF PREMIUM GRADE TOO, yet the Rakyat suffer in silence with every round of price increase at the pump leading to rising inflation in tandem!
Oh YES! the following point *****SPEAKS VOLUMES about our citizens' diminishing purchasing power -- in essentially an economy whose salaries or workers' wages are depressed by millions of illegal workers in Malaysia, but this subject deserves another article another time -- and how can the PM preach about growing our economy to a HIGH-INCOME ECONOMY? *****This generally means that investors harbour stronger doubts over Malaysia’s ability to pay back its debts, and outflow of funds led to the ringgit slumping to a 14-year low against the Singapore dollar and also saw the currency lose ground to the greenback.
Jul 20: Pakatan Rakyat leaders took turns to pour scorn on the police over a claim that 'terrorists' and 'communists' would be fielded as candidates to represent the coalition in the coming polls.
KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has issued a strong denial against claims from the police Special Branch unit that terrorists and former communists have infiltrated their parties, saying instead that the allegation was aimed at boosting Barisan Nasional's (BN) chances in the coming polls.
