steadyaku47

Wednesday 30 September 2009

Cakap cakap.........AP's revisited...




AP’s the cost to the Nation

The only way you can bring a completely assembled car into Malaysia is with an Approved Permit–known as AP’s.The rationale behind the issuing of this AP is to allow participation by Bumiputra in the auto retail business. Of course there are terms and conditions before you are issued with AP’s. You must have a showroom or a sales and service centre.

In lieu of a showroom or a sales and service centre  - being related to Rafidah helps, being a favored UMNO member helps. To quote Mahathir “almost everyone working in the headquarters (PWTC) had 10 APs each and was making RM8K a month selling them” So anyway you look at if you can get your hands on one AP - close one eye and shut the other – and before you can say Chan Mali Chan…that’s $8K in your hand.

Commercially on average an AP is worth RM30K to the company that “uruskan” the transaction. When you do not want to “uruskan” the transaction then you make RM8K.

The government issues on average 50,000 AP’s annually. With the kind of money that one AP makes – helping the Bumiputra factor becomes secondary to making billions for companies related to Ministers and their cronies – it becomes a means of becoming immensely rich and wealthy if you are favored this way year after year. Naza is a case in point – in 1997 alone the late Tans Sri Nasimuddin received 8925 AP’s – do the sum. That makes him a very very rich man.  A few favored UMNO Bumiputra companies are given the bulk of the 50,000 APs and Bumiputra businessmen in the motor retail business are forgotten. Former MITI officers have also got into the act -  Syed Azman and Mohd Haniff, both former MITI officers have been two of the biggest recipients.

Simply put – 50,000 AP's at RM30K each means the Nation is deprived of an income of ….…you do the sums…all this makes me sick to my stomach at the greed of these UMNO politicians....and they have the audacity to say that their National Car Policy is to help Bumiputras? 

SATU LAGI PROJEK BARISAN NASIONAL....continue!





 SATU LAGI PROJEK BARISAN NASIONAL

BENTONG PAHANG



Originally the land was part of Taman Bunga Raya Sultan Abu Bakar. It was a beautiful park with a river running n the background. Later on they used a portion of the land to build a roller-skating ring. Subsequently they demolished it and built a hawker-centre with 8 shops. Again they demolished it and built the car park, which cost RM3.2 millions. If you have seen it with your own eyes you know that it was not worth the RM3.2millions spent on it. Finally they demolish the car park this year. Now we hear that “they” want to build a commercial centre which cost a further RM10 million......the cycle is repeating...and it is all done in the name of development. Since it is government land if anything goes wrong, nobody “loses” money! Bentong District is very rich. Genting Highland is under its administration.

Build and demolish....make the money...
it keeps going into someone's pocket

the story of Barisan Nasional! 



Tuesday 29 September 2009

THE INDIAN MURDERED BY PDRM!










I make no apology for the following article but I would sincerely caution that the images of Kugan that follows are quite disturbing – disturbing maybe but we need to be reminded that this is a human being that we are talking about – and we need to see what has been done to one of our own by PDRM.





This was the headline in The Malaysian Insider today.


KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 – The increase in death toll in the 20th Ops Sikap, which ended last Sunday, does not reflect the failure of the operation.
The police would prefer the grim figure be seen as a “wake-up call” to road users in the country.

My friend two words for the Traffic Police Chief. The first letter of the first word is F. He tells us that PDRM would prefer the grim figure be seen as a:
“wake-up call” !!!
Hey Chief what if we want PDRM to take the grim figure of people dying in PDRM’s custody as a “WAKE UP CALL too?” Look at this image. It is of KUGAN. Dead murdered by PDRM.

Look at his face. How he must have suffered! What would posses the Police to beat a man like an animal…no even animals are treated better! You must have made his last few days, his last few hours…his last few minutes on this earth to be one of much physical and mental pain…or is it true what they say that when your thresh hold of pain is arrived at…the mind switches off and your body waits for death? If that is so I am sure that Kugan must have switched off many times because of the injuries that he sustained not one of them would have been enough to cause instant death – instead he was taken onto a lingering and painful journey over a period of time…five days of suffering…always towards death. PDRM must have driven him insane with pain.

Torture in Police custody? Why? Do these torturers act without fear of prosecution because of the lack of judicial punishment and the shortcomings in our criminal justice system? Do corruption, official acquiescence and a lack of adequate human rights training for these mata mata means that torture is routine in our Police Station? The place where we go to seek protection and help in times of our trouble? Or does our government choose torture of its Rakyats as the most efficient means to control and to terrorize its own Rakyat into passivity and submission! Again let us look at Kugan here. Do not turn away my friends. If it hard for us to look as it was hard for me – just think what he had to go through in his last days on this earth – in that Petaling Jaya Police Station! So that we know that we are talking about a fellow human being here. Look and remember.

There is a clear link between discrimination and torture in PDRM.Those most at risk are the Indians – because they are the poorest and most marginalized of our Rakyats. They are our ethnic minority who face discrimination everywhere – especially so with PDRM. What are the effects of torture? Serious injury, emotional scars, destroyed mind, paralyses…and in Kugan’s case DEATH! Look again here and you will see that he is no more with us. He has left us, he has left his family and he has left this world, as we know it.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in its Article 5, proclaims that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"….no one understand. No one! Does it not matter to our government that all forms of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment  - TOTURE – are absolutely and universally illegal? Not really - Malaysia is not one of the signatory to the UN General Assembly (Resolution 39/46)  Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). This Convention, which entered into force on 26 June 1987, obliges States to make torture a crime and to prosecute and punish those guilty of it. It notes explicitly that neither higher orders nor exceptional circumstances can justify torture but in Malaysia we have government-sanctioned torture!

This Tan Sri of an AG classified Kugan’s case as murder but it has taken eight months until now – SEPTEMBER  - for PDRM to announce that the policemen involved in Kugan’s murder will be facing charges this week – how many policemen facing what charges is still to be announced. Let me put in my two cents worth. I have seen how the Police interrogate their suspects. There will be at least three to four policemen in the same room. They do not have the guts to make it a one on one situation. Cowards only find courage in large groups. They would all together have hammered Kugan into submission…into unconsciousness with their fists, kick his body and kick his head when he was down and lying on the floor. They would have used whatever weapons or batons or rubber hoses available to do the job. Then when Kugan lies on the floor unconsciousness the most sadistic of them (and there are many!) would continue hitting Kugan while the others go take a coffee break with some goreng pisang and curry puffs…maybe even nasi lemak if they are really hungry! How can they do this without any remorse for their victims of torture? They can do this because this is what they do with regularity – hitting and hammering suspect into submission is par for the course for these policemen.
So please do not charge just one policeman…we are not stupid idiots. The IGP is not a stupid idiot. The AG is not a stupid idiot. Do the right thing.







The following article was done sometime ago when Mahathir was then the Prime Minister. The contents are still relevant today...and I had to reprint it in total because I simply could not better it. So enjoy -  it really is a classic. Print copies of this and spread it around your friends, families and any Malaysian - they should all read this. Salam.


SOROS ON MAHATHIR ! A CLASSIC!




The corruption of Mahathir
SOROS REPLY TO MAHATHIR
adapted from Bangkok Post

I have always said Dr Mahathir is a menace to his own people. Now only you can see the effects of his foolishness when the ringgit has halved its value overnight and your economy goes kaput. Single handedly you have caused hardship to millions of your own people. You have built useless mega projects at tremendous cost to the country.

The telecoms tower in Kuala Lumpur and the highest building in the world show how stupid you are. Not only does it cause massive traffic jam, it has totally no purpose. If you need high ground for telecoms antennae a nearby mountain is there for free. This tower has no purpose from the ground up to 300 metres. The satelites make this totally unneccesary.

A fool and his money are soon parted. The only thing is you are the fool and the money belongs to Malaysians. You make 20% in evey project, you have real estate in Japan and billions of shares corruptly acquired. Your 3 sons are worth 8 billion US$. Where do they get this money? Of course, corruption. You are known as the Marcos of Malaysia, having enriched yourself to the tune of billions.

You dare to shed crocodile tears during UMNO delegates meeting about the ills of corruption. Yet you are the most corrupt of all the prime ministers before you. A thief is crying thief and hopes people look the other way. Who dares to say anything when the chief is caught with his hands in the candy jar?

You said wisdom is not the monopoly of the West. So is foolishness.

You have more foolishness than most people would believe. Billions are used to build two high rise Petronas buildings that benefit nobody. It now stand tall, a symbol of stupidity and irresponsibility Instead they just add on to traffic jam. What is this reclamation of 10 islands off Kedah? Totally absurd and stupid. Of course your benefit is 20%. And the bridge across from Malacca to Sumatra across international waters? Why not build a bridge to the moon? I am sure you still can get your 20%.

You called me a Moron. How can a Moron make so much money. By allowing short selling and borrowing millions of shares from your banks we fund managers made millions out of your inexperience and poor regulations. You lose all Malaysians money, therefore you are the Moron. Now you know too late and start crying over split milk. In Australia you are known as the recalcitrant ego maniac; in UK the corrupt bastard because of your stupid purchase of our movie studio and the 290 million ringgit Lotus racing car plant and the shady Pergau dam loans from the UK. They are useless to us and you still want to buy them. What about buying British reject submarines through your agent, of course. The agent/ broker is designed to make millions out of Malaysian government. Your purchase of our battleships is at least 50% more than others are paying. Your purchase of 9 hospitals from UK lock, stock and barrel does not support your local architects or your industry and the British send you obsolete medical equipment.

The design is atrocious, one end to the other is half a kilometer and there is no CT-scan, an absolute necessity. In the Uk your face appears in no less than 17 newspapers as a corrupt dictator. In Malaysia you are known as the (IBM) International Big Mouth. In Japan they call him the 'smallest one' (brain size). In Pacific island the Santa Claus (giving advice left and right). In south America they call him the parrot (he talks a lot but does not know what it is about).

In Manila the living Marcos.

In Malaysia they are spending millions to lure tourists and you talk rubbish scaring every foreigner away. "When he is dumb he is doubted a fool, when he opens his mouth it removes all doubt."

While I agree the West does not have the monopoly to wisdom, your actions are not the wisest either. Your EAEC has totally no support even in Asean. Your South-South dialogue mets with the same fate and what is this I hear of the Bridge from Malaysia to Indonesia covering 20 miles across International shipping lanes? How crazy can one get?

Even the Japanese don't have the money. This world's stupidity seems to be concerntrated in one man's mind - yours.

The multimedia super corridor - MSC -. Well in USA its most stupid concept because we Americans, would have thought of it light years before. Even if it makes money, we can copy this concept can't we? Why do you want to spend your hard-earned money doing questionable projects? It will be like the Bakun project. Abandoned fund wasted and another white elephant. I always say politicians should not be involved in business. Your ministers are also businessmen and almost every official is enriching himself. Look at Rafidah Aziz, selling thousands of Approved Permit for cars each worth 20-30 thousand Malaysian dollars. Why not your government sell them and make the money?She has acquired millions of shares meant for bumis for free before she agrees to list them. Look at your Selangor Chief Minister collecting millions for approving high rise buildings from businessman. He is worth a few billions. Unfortunately he was caught with a few millions pocket money in Australia.Every Chief minister is awarding useless projects to his cronies then collecting secret pay offs on the side.The Land development Boards and the Economic Development Boards are used to bailout any loses suffered by politicians.The profits they keep, the loses they force the Government bodies to absorb.How can your poor ever close the gap when every good deal is snatched by your politicians?How can your country get out of poverty if all the billions of corruption money is taken out of the country?

Look at the Sarawak Chief Minister selling billions worth of timber concessions under the table; selling every piece of state land to businessman without tender; using his own companies to obtain lucrative government contracts; selling approval signatures for a fee 'you pay I approve'. He has 8 billion US stashes overseas. Thousands of acres of land are given to one or two companies while thousands of poor people still live in cardboard makeshift homes; have no water and shit into the river. Thousands of acres of land are sold to companies for plantations while the native don't have even one acre to their name. He is selling sand near the beaches to one company for earth filling and then ask the government to spend millions to protect the coastline when erosion occurs. He lost 300 millions of the sarawak government money trying to make computer chips. He has built a port in Northern sarawak town in water so shallow it needs dredging every year.

The Prime Minister built highways without tender, your cronies get the deal and the price double. Your Langkawi airport runway is built is double the cost by your own company Ekran.

The Malaysian nation has lost at least 30 billions during your last 10 years of corrupt rule. One billions lost from the purchase of phantom skyhawk war planes nobody has ever seen (are they still in the Nevada desert USA?). 3 billion lost from the London tin scandal (you thought you could corner the London tin market without knowing the Americans have a stockpile! Stupidity at its best. 6 billion Perwaja steel mill where nobody even know where the money goes, 3 billion bank Bumiputra scandal where George Tan bribed all the bank officials to lend him the money. 6 billion forex lost by Bank Negara (the fool and his money are soon parted) and 6 billion to build three of the worlds tallest buildings (built by Japanese and Koreans and furniture imported from France - not Malaysia) and 1 billion lost from purchase of British warship including fees paid to the broker and under the table. Add the 10 billion you stole and 5 billion taken by Ministers.

In the 1997 the World Journalists meeting voted Dr Mahathir the Prime Minister of the Decade. It sounded strange to everybody until it was revealed those who voted against are threatened by IRD officers and with losing their jobs. In New York the United Nations 1997 meeting,

the most corrupt Prime Minister of the decade is President Suharto and second Dr Mahathir (Actually Dr Mahathir should take first place but bribed the Indonesian to take honour of Number One.

There are Fifty thousand of your university students are not given places in Malaysia but are good enough for places overseas resulting in billion of dollars lost.The British and the Australians are thinking how stupid.Your best students are sent overseas raising their standards while as in most countries the best are kept in local universities and the rejects sent overseas. A university student in Hong Kong is much more prestigeous than any Australian counterpart.

You have been colonised by the British so long you cannot even educate your own people. Look at Hong Kong or Singapore less than 5% study overseas. All the money saved. Your country could save billions if every student overseas is recalled to a local university, and at the same time raising your own standards.

Your people are still without shoes, without land to farm, without homes, bathing in rivers shitting in hole in the ground, without water and electricity. Your cities are concrete jungles without greenery and open spaces. Your KL is jammed with traffic. Yet you still keep on building high rises. You should come down from the clouds and stop daydreaming and firmly plant your feet in the ground. Your schools are cramped 500 students to an acre and thousands of acres are given free to some politician who leaves them idle. Your parks are being taken by politicians to build shophouses and every cabinet minister is a landgrabbing businessman who build roads only to their cronies' land.

The Malaysians' prayer

"Ya Allah, we thank you for your gifts of timber, oil and grain. But then the devil sent us corrupt Mahathir without a Brain And look we are back to square one again So just take Dr Mahathir back to Hell And we will be alive and well."

In China people have been shot for embezzling one thousand dollars. With 8 billions you have stolen therefore you would be shot 80 thousand times.

Now you are leading an anti-corruption campaign. We all know what you should do. Look yourself in the mirror. You see the crook there? Then use your left hand and handcuff your right hand.

You have put the opposition leader and his son in jail when they said in parliament you are the richest PM in the world. And his colleague

Mr Karpal Singh too for 2 years. So I get a reward or bribe if I now say you are the poorest PM in this world?

Your 3 sons are sitting in the board of directors of more than 200 companies. They must have been educated in Harvard school of business and obtained distintions? Or is it "you don't know me you don't do business in Malaysia" law that applies. Billions of ringgit of Employee's Provident Funds and public Petonas funds are used to bail out your sons who make losses investing in every venture you thought you could make money. How unethical and corrupt.

Every one of your politicians are sitting on the boards of tens of companies making thousands without any effort, lending their VIP names to borrow millions from local banks without collateral. Now these have become non performing loans. Now you want 20 millions Malaysian to sacrifice for the folly of ONE man? Why not the fool resign and admit he wasted and took most of the money. I could teach you how to put your economy on tract but first you must apologize to the Jews and the Malaysian people as well.

'SOROS'


The GENERAL...Bentong!





Anybody got pictures of the "General" from Bentong?...if possible with him riding his staff car (bicycle) with flag fluttering in the breeze...and of course his sunglasses....if possible standing outside his headquarters by the Bentong Kuantan trunk road (at that time no Highway lah!)...I did remember that the General never stood at attention..always stood with legs apart - I would love to be able to post those pictures in steadyaku47. Please go look in your parents old photos and see if you can find a few...if there is one with him and Sultan Abu Bakar that would be fantastic!  






Beer-drinking model's caning to go ahead
A Malaysian religious court has ordered that a caning sentence handed to a Muslim model for drinking beer will go ahead, after a review triggered by a furore over the case.
Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, was sentenced by a religious court last month to six strokes, making her the first woman to face caning under Islamic law in Malaysia, a moderate Muslim-majority country.
But she won a surprise reprieve in late August when she was detained and then abruptly released by religious officials who had planned to take her to a jail where she was to undergo the thrashing.
The government said the sentence was "too harsh" and could damage Malaysia's reputation.
However, state news agency Bernama reported on Monday that, after a review of the case, the appeals panel of the Sharia High Court in Kuantan on Malaysia's east coast - where Kartika was nabbed in a hotel nightclub - upheld the sentence.
It said a date for the caning, which was postponed until after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, has not been set.
"I found that the High Court judge had acted accordingly within his jurisdiction," said Abdul Hamid Abdul Rahman, the chief religious judge of Pahang state, according to The Star newspaper's website.
"As such, the decision stays," he reportedly said.
Kartika, a part-time model and mother-of-two, has stared down religious authorities by saying she is ready to be caned, refusing to appeal against her sentence, and challenging them to cane her in public.
Human rights group Amnesty International has urged Malaysia to abolish the "cruel and degrading punishment" and critics have said the case threatens to damage Malaysia's international standing.
Alcohol is widely available in Malaysia but is forbidden for Muslim Malays, who make up 60 per cent of the population. They can be fined, caned, or jailed for up to three years but prosecutions are extremely rare.
Malaysia, a multicultural country with large Chinese and Indian communities, has a dual-track legal system and sharia courts can try Muslims for religious and moral offences.
Islamic scholars have mostly backed the sentence, and said it would be carried out when Kartika was fully clothed and with a cane that was smaller and lighter than the heavy length of rattan used in criminal cases.


Beatles' 'Lucy in the sky' dies aged 46
The woman who inspired The Beatles' legendary song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds has died aged 46 from an autoimmune disease, the charity that supported her announced on Monday.
Lucy O'Donnell was at school with John Lennon's son, Julian, when she was three and it was his picture of her in 1966 that inspired the classic song.
According to various biographies of The Beatles and O'Donnell herself, the young Julian took the picture home to his father and explained: "It's Lucy in the sky with diamonds."
The song, which featured on the Fab Four's 1967 album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, caused huge controversy at the time because of its psychedelic theme and supposed reference to the drug LSD though its initials, a charge always denied as pure coincidence by the songwriter Lennon.
Julian Lennon and O'Donnell - who became Lucy Vodden after her marriage - resumed their friendship in recent months after she became ill with lupus, the disease of the immune system that led to her death last Tuesday.
"Everyone at the Louise Coote Lupus Unit was dreadfully shocked by the death of Lucy," said Angie Davidson, campaign director of the St Thomas Lupus Trust that helped Vodden during her illness.
"She was a great supporter of ours and a real fighter. It's so sad that she has finally lost the battle she fought so bravely for so long."
The trust added that Lennon and his mother Cynthia were "shocked and saddened".

cakap cakap....Kuala Lipis

There are two memories of my time in Kuala Lipis (in the early 60’s) that will not leave me ever! No it is not of the Rakit people – and only those who are familiar with Lipis will know what I mean…that will be another story to be talked over coffee with old friends. Now back to my memories…the first one has to do with the only theatre in town – PARADISE – ahhh what a name. If I remembered correctly it was an afternoon show and the film was “Five Branded Women”. Me and my friends were seated and waiting for the film to start…when the manager…well he was almost the manager – actually I think he was the manager cum usher…well he came over to us and informed us that as we were the only five people in the theatre they would have to cancel the afternoon matinee…not enough customers! What do you do? To laugh or to get upset? I cannot really remember what we did in lieu of the film show…possibly took a walk down to the Rakit.


We were staying in one of those colonial bunglows on top on the hill behind the rest house. I remember that there were what resembled a small jungle in which our house was located. The gardener of the house next door – where a bunch of Americans with the Peace Corps lived – one day discovered the tracks of a tiger beside the road to our house. A lot of excitement. A lot of noise from the Indian Gardener. We all gathered at where the Tiger print was….no I was not scared…I was terrified. Did not ever leave the house unless I was in a car for at least three days! Then life got back to normal.


What else do I remember about Lipis? Nothing really. But it is good when you meet another guy who have lived there…who can say…Lipih…or something that sounds like that…then you have a bond straight away. Who cares if you have been to KL, or if you are from KL or you live in KL? Everybody comes from KL….but Kuala Lipis….same as Hutan Melintang, Batang Berjuntai, Yong Peng….we are different…though I suspect that outsiders do view us with just a little bit of pity and indulge us while we bask in the warmth of having stayed in ‘Lipih’.

Monday 28 September 2009

 There has been so many ‘unsolicited’ but welcomed and eye opening contributions to the “I know. U know. UMNO don’t know” list that we will have to seriously think about putting together another list. 


Therefore contributions are now required from all our friends so that we can all put together a more comprehensive list. This way as many people as possible from UMNO can lay claim to the boast that “I was on that list!”. 


So please can we do the necessary so that UMNO and its Barisan components are not disappointed with our effort. Any contributions from Sabah and Sarawak would be greatly appreciated.  

The Timber business...as done in Pahang!


Eurocopter EC 155  



The State of Pahang has a quota of about 20,000 to 30,000 acres for timber concession per year. The bulk of this is taken by Sultan Ahmad Shah. But again I am ahead of myself….…how much revenue is the State getting from companies operating logging concessions in that state? Without going into what stumpage value is, what clear felling is, what residual value technique is, value of standing timber, Selective Management System, trees below cutting limit and trees above the cutting limit – I am going to simplify matters in this way. 


There are two ways to compute this:

·      Competitive bidding system: Average bid price for logging concession per hectare  -  RM 19,100.00

·      Based on fixed royalties: It would be RM 16,278.00.

This Sultan pays between RM$200 (Two Hundred Ringgit) to RM$2000 (Two thousand Ringgit) premium per acre. Let us just say that again because it is hard to believe that you can get that kind of ‘discount”…between $200 to $2000 per hectare. Since he became Sultan he has been given close to 100,000 hectares of timber concession in Pahang….and that is a lot hectares.

On these figures alone that means Sultan Ahmad Shah has deprived the State of Pahang out of approximately RM150 Million of Revenue. That is a whole lot of money!

I am not going to go into how much money he made from the 100,000 hectares given to him. Suffice to say that that is also a whole lot of money!

But is all this enough to finance his lavish lifestyle?  No way Jose! For starters this Sultan has a personal Eurocopter EC 155  - a long range medium lift helicopter capable of carrying up to 13 passengers – a VIP corporate transport costing US$10 million! This Heli is maintained by………you fill in the blanks!

The damage done by these logging activities have caused the Rakyat in Pahang much suffering from flooding. In the Sungai Lembing flash floods of 2001 - where Sultan Ahmad Shah has 17,000 acres of logging concession - hundreds of houses were flooded. The displacement of wild animals from their natural habitat goes without saying. Despite this happening the State Government   has continued to give him logging concessions close to Taman Negara in Jerantut and also in one of the world’s oldest rainforest area of Rompin. Suffice to say that sustainable forest management principles to ensure the maximization of social, economical and environmental benefits to Pahang are not a consideration that this Sultan actively pursues. The responsibility of implementing the State Forest Management Plan which sought to “ secure the orderly taking, renewal and conservation of trees in accordance with the principles of sustained yield” lies with the State Forest Director. I do not see the State Forest Director being able to work independently of the Sultan’s oft-repeated plea “Please Sir…I want some more”.

Even small areas in Kuantan district belonging to University Islam Antarabangsa have been cut by Sultan Ahmad Shah’s nominee. This constant encroachments of kampong Areas for legal and illegal logging has often resulted in villagers becoming upset – akin to going  ‘mengamuk’ -  because their  Ketua kampongs could do nothing to alleviate the problems caused by these loggings. Recently this was highlighted by TV9 together with the problem the authorities had in trying to construct a 13-kilometre road to ease the problems of the village folks because the timber lorries were moving in and out of the area “like nobody’s business!”





 The measly amount of money donated by this Sultan from his timber business to the villages is laughable but then he does need most of it to pay off his gambling debts - and the balance is not even enough to pay for his expensive toys.

The avarice of this Sultan has resulted in him being in direct competition with Amanah Saham Pahang (ASPA). ASPA used to own massive logging concession – close to   one million acres of timberland and had dozen of sawmills and timber complexes. But ASPA is no match to the Sultans and his ‘business partners’ who even siphoned out the logs belonging to ASPA – so much so that all of ASPA sawmills and timber complexes have had to close. This has meant the loss of jobs within ASPA and the demise of a once viable business entity in the state that was once capable of issuing 2000 to 3000 free shares per year to some of Pahang’s Rakyat through Kumipo. Now days ASPA cannot even issue dividends!

This Sultan is able to continue doing this with the collusion of the Menteri Besar. While kickbacks given by the Rakyat is considered as rasuah – the same kickbacks given by the Sultan to the Mentri Besar are “kurnia” and therefore deemed legal.

Guys this is pretty heavy stuff I am writing now…have to take five and maybe continue esok. Sorry lah!
Would You Permit Me?

In a country where thinkers are assassinated, and writers
are considered infidels and books are burnt.
In societies that refuse the other, and force silence on mouths and thoughts forbidden, and to question is a sin,
I must beg your pardon, would you permit me?

Would you permit me to bring up my children as I want, and
not to dictate on me your whims and orders?

Would you permit me to teach my children that the religion
is first to God, and not for religious leaders or scholars
or people?

Would you permit me to teach my little one that religion is
about good manners, good behaviour, good conduct, honesty
and truthfulness, before I teach her with which foot to
enter the bathroom or with which hand she should eat?

Would you permit me to teach my daughter that God is about
love, and she can dialogue with Him and ask Him
anything she wants, far away from the teachings of anyone?

Would you permit me not to mention the torture of the grave
to my children, who do not know about death yet?

Would you permit me to teach my daughter the tenets of the
religion and its culture and manners, before I force on her
the 'Hijab' (the veil)?

Would you permit me to tell my young son that hurting
people and degrading them because of their nationality,
colour or religion, is considered a big sin by God?

Would you permit me to tell my daughter to revising her
homework and paying attention to her learning is considered by God as more useful and important than learning by heart Ayahs from the Quran without knowing their meaning?

Would you permit me to teach my son that following the footsteps of the
Honourable Prophet begins with his honesty, loyalty and truthfulness, before his beard or how short his thobe (long shirt/dress) is?

Would you permit me to tell my daughter that her Christian friend is not an infidel, and ask her not to cry fearing her friend will go to Hell?

Would you permit me to argue, that God did not authorize
anyone on earth after the Prophet to speak in his name nor
did he vest any powers in anyone to issue 'deeds of
forgiveness' to people?

Would you permit me to say, that God has forbidden killing
the human spirit, and who kills wrongly a human being is as if he killed all human kind, and no Moslem has the right to frighten another Moslem?

Would you permit me to teach my children that God is greater, more just, and more merciful than all the (religious) scholars on earth combined?
And that his standards are different from the standards of those trading
the religion, and that his accountability is kinder and more merciful?

Would you permit me?

Nizar Kabbani
Syrian Diplomat, Poet, Writ
er

UMNO vs Indiana Jones!

Inspirational Words of Wisdom:Start Your Day on a Positive Note!

“To those of you who have not made enough stupid mistake in your life…go vote for Barisan Nasional”



SATU LAGI PROJEK BARISAN NASIONAL


SATU LAGI PROJEK BARISAN NASIONAL
BENTONG PAHANG

One of our friends in Bentong has forwarded this ‘news’ to steadyaku47 which I think should be shared with all our friends  – maybe Adnan Yaakob might have something to add.



On second thought's I think not...steady lah Adnan!

Early this year  a three-storey  "Unused Car Park Building"  beside the Bentong Bus Station and directly  opposite the Hong Leong Bank in Bentong was demolished at a cost of RM60K. The building was built at a cost of about RM 3 million. This is a total waste of public funds because nobody wanted to park their cars inside the building. It was a case of totally zero usage...really zero.

I know. U know. UMNO don't know?



Negaraku

Tanah tumpahnya darahku,
Rakyat hidup
bersatu dan maju,

Rahmat bahagia
Tuhan kurniakan,
Raja kita
selamat bertakhta,

Rahmat bahagia
Tuhan kurniakan.
Raja kita
selamat bertakhta



Bank Bumiputra                            3.2  Billion
Maminco attempt to corner the world


tin market in 1980's
1.6 Billion
Betting in Foreign Exchange cost
Bank Negara in 1990's
30 Billion
Perwaja Steel resulted in losses
2.56 Billion
Valuecap Sdn Bhd - operation to
shore up stock market with public


funds


10 Billion
Bank Islam banking scandal - losses
700 Million
Sale of M.V. Agusta by Proton
for One Euro making a loss of :
348 Million
Wang Ehsan from Trengganu Oil
Royalty  - 2004 -2007
7.4 Billion
Philharmonic Orchestra - since it
estabalished has swallowed:
500 Million
Advisors Fees per year
Mahathir
180,000.00
Sahrizat
406,726.00
Abdul Hamid Othman (religious)
549,675.00
Teaching Maths and Science in English over the past five


years
3.2 Billion
Of this money 2.21 Billion spent
on purchase of Information and
computer Technology - no breakdown.
Commission paid: Perimekar
and IMT Defence Sdn. Bhd.
910,000.00
Compensation Gerbang Perdana
for "Crooked Scenic Half-Bridge
1.1 Billion
CIQ Building - wasted building-
cancellation of the above bridge
1.3 Billion
Renovation of Parliament building
and leaks
100 Million
National Astronaut Programme
40 Million
National Service Training.               Yearly estimate is approximately
500 Million

Eye on Malaysia
30 Million
Free tickets - Eye on Malaysia
5.7 million.
Soft Loan to PKFZ
4.63 Billion
Indelible Ink - Election Commission
2.4 Million.
Compensation to 20 highway co.


announced by Samy Velu in Sept 2006
38.5 Billion
Windfall for 9 toll concessionaries
soley from toll hikes in 2008 alone:
380 Million
Timber export kickbacks involving
companies belonging to Sarawak
Chief Minister & Family
32 Million
Bailout of Malaysian Airlines System
7.9 Billion
MAS buying painting for
Office (Munir)
1.55Million
Putra Transport system bailout

4.486Billion
Star LRT bailout
192.54 Million
National Sewerage System bailout
192.54 Million
Seremban-Port Dickson Highway bailout
142 Million
Kuching Prison bailout
135 Million
Kajian Makanan &Gunaan Orang
Islam
8.3 Million
Le Tour Langkawi bailout
3.5 Million
Others:

AP’s scandal have been going on year after year for more then thirty years involving a total mind boggling sum of tens of billions of Ringgits.

Alienation of tens of thousands of hectares of commercial land and forestry concessions to children and relatives of Barisan National leaders and Ministers worth tens of billions of Ringgits.

Travel around Malaysia and see for yourself how many white elephants like majestic arches, roads paved with fanciful bricks, designer lamp posts, clock towers, Municipal buildings that look like Istanas, extravagant places of worships, refurbishment of residences of VIP’s, abandoned or under-utilized government sports complexes and buildings etc etc. The combined costs of all these will easily amount to the hundreds of billions of Ringgits.

Since 1997, Petronas has handed out a staggering 30 Billion Ringgit in natural gas subsides to IPPs who are already making massive profits. In addition there were much wastages and forward trading of Petronas oil in the 1990’s based on the low price of oil then. The accounts of Petronas are for the eyes of the Prime Minster only we have absolutely no idea of the amount!