Wednesday, January 31, 2007

I Got A Name

Zorro, Unmasked!
Since the suit, people have walked up to me and we'd talk about blogs. To the blog-less, I encourage them to start having their say, to claim their own space in blogosphere. And to use their own names when they blog.

Like the pine trees linin the windin road
Ive got a name, Ive got a name
Like the singin bird and the croakin toad
Ive got a name, Ive got a name
And I carry it with me like my daddy did
But Im livin the dream that he kept hid
Movin me down the highway
Rollin me down the highway
Movin ahead so life wont pass me by

Bernard Khoo used to be a "poster" in other people's blogs, mine included. The ex-teacher, 67, would leave his mark "Zorro" wherever he went in the blogworld. Today, he unmasked himself [http://zorro-zorro-unmasked.blogspot.com].

Like the north wind whistlin down the sky
Ive got a song, Ive got a song
Like the whippoorwill and the babys cry
Ive got a song, Ive got a song
And I carry it with me and I sing it loud
If it gets me nowhere, Ill go there proud
Movin me down the highway
Rollin me down the highway
Movin ahead so life wont pass me by
One of Bernard's former students, Tony Gayondato, beat him to it by time's whisker. [http://www.standupphilosopher.blogspot.com]
A retiree, Rajahram, has a name and a blog, too. [http://rajahram.blogspot.com]
Nazran from pastv.com used to blog under a pseudonym. I asked him why. No reason, he said, it was just something you did, or did not do. He's got a name now [http://amirulreza.blogdrive.com]. There are guys who don't need any persuasion, like Major (Rtd) D. Swami [http://www.7rangers.blogspot.com]

And Im gonna go there free
Like the fool I am and Ill always be
Ive got a dream, Ive got a dream
They can change their minds but they cant change me
Ive got a dream, Ive got a dream
Oh, I know I could share it if you want me to
If youre going my way, Ill go with you
Movin me down the highway
Rollin me down the highway
Movin ahead so life wont pass me by*

You will read more people blogging with their own names in the days and years to come. Including this one here, I hope. Sure, some of you will never be able to reveal yourselves because of what you do, who you are , or where you work, or all of that. But for most of you, no excuse. No fear. You've got a name, use it.

* I Got A Name by Jim Croce

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Jeff Ooi vs 3 men & NSTP

Ceasefire.

The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad agreed this morning "not to publish any articles, comments or posts regarding the dispute presently before the High Court in this action that may be regarded as subjudice or that may prejudice the fair trial of the case" involving a suit it has taken jointly with three individuals against Screenshots blogger Jeff Ooi.
The popular blogger, who was represented by lawyer Haris Ibrahim, has given a similar undertaking in front of Judge Malik Ishak.
The court has set March 6 to hear Jeff Ooi's application to strike out the case brought against him by the Umno-owned NSTP and its two top operatives Kalimullah Hassan and Hishamuddin Aun, together with former group editor of NST, Brenden Pereira. [click here for story and pictures]

The NSTP and the these individuals, together with NSTP chief executive officer Syed Faisal Albar, are also suing me for libel. The court yesterday fixed Feb 22 to hear my application to strike out their suit. Read here.

The media giant's stable of newspapers include the flagship New Straits Times, the Malay Mail, Berita Harian, Harian Metro and their Sunday/weekend editions. The NSTP is owned by Media Prima, which has several tv and radio stations.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Walk with him

Jeff Ooi vs 3 men & NSTP
Needless to say, I shall walk with him. And I won't be the only one. Tomorrow, 30 Jan 2007, Wisma Denmark, 9 am. Don't leave comments here ... I'll see you there.

Blogs spot on about lux jet

"But we ain't buying ... just leasing it."
Thanks to the blogs - I repeat, thanks to the blogs - we now know that the Abdullah Administration is, indeed, going to get a RM200 million corporate jet for the PM. But it shall not be for his personal use, the corporate jet may be used by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as well, said Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Read the m-Star report here.
This blog, the KMU and RPK's Malaysia Today had the story here, here and here last Friday.

Once again, thanks to the blogs.

updates
Read Bernama's piece here
Khazanah Nasional owns PMB, go here (with thanks to Husin Lempoyang). The PM is chairman of Khazanah; click here.

Court hearing, Jan 29th

Wisma Denmark, Monday:

NSTP & Ors v Ahirudin bin Attan
Civil Suit No S3-23-2-2007

At the proposal of the Plaintiffs' lawyers, the court today recorded the following:
"That the parties agree to henceforth not publish any article, comment or post regarding the dispute presently before the High Court in this action that may be regarded as sub judice or that may prejudice the fair trial of the action."
The hearing for the striking out application has been fixed for Feb 22, 2007 at 2.30 pm.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Back to court

Denmark House. I'm returning to the High Court tomorrow, Monday the 29th, at 9 am, where Edmund Bon, my lawyer, will inform the learned Judge of my position with regards to comments by readers made on this blog (in respect of my postings of 18 and 24 January) which, according to lawyers of the Plaintiffs last Thursday, may be seen as prejudicing the case.

Read here my account on the hearing last Thursday.
Wish me luck, quietly, as I have to decline comments for now.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Malaysia orders luxury jet for PM?


Flying Cobra. The luxury yacht isn't even ready, and now this.
The Q319 CJ (Corporate Jet) was believed ordered back in 2005 and is being refurbished for VIP configuration at



Switzerland’s premier aircraft maintenance facility, the Basel-based Jet Aviation.


The cost? About US$50 million only.
The Cobra Sultan was said to cost US$8 million and it won't even be able to fly! So this jet must be a wise buy.

Pro-Umno website KMU has the story earlier and RPK's Malaysia Today put up a caption story, to be updated after the Friday prayers. Which is a cue for all of us to pray for the future of this country.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Court hearing, 25th Jan

Dear bloggers and readers,

Thank you for all your support and encouragement.

Without going into the merits of the case, here is a brief update of what happened in Court:
1. Today was set for hearing of the injunction against me.

2. My lawyers filed an application to strike out the suit yesterday.

3. On the request of both parties, the Court set 22 February (230pm) to hear the striking out application. It is to be heard before the injunction application which is also set for mention on the same day.

For clarity, there is no injunction order against me.

4. Further, the lawyers for the Plaintiffs this morning raised the issue of comments by readers made on this blog in respect of my postings of 18 and 24 January which may be seen as prejudicing the case. My lawyers asked for time to look at the said comments.

The Court set 29 January (900am) for both parties to inform the learned Judge of my position.

In view that the case is before the Court, it is for the Court to decide on all matters pertaining to the same. We must respect the judicial process.

As such, I have no alternative but to decline comments related to this case to ensure that the proceedings run smoothly and fairly.

I will continue to update you on developments as they happen.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

I'm a Responsible Blogger

NOTICE: Previous comments by readers have been taken down pending the trial of my suit. This is, however, not an admission that any such comment is sub judice or defamatory. As the matter is before the court, it is only appropriate that respect be given to the judicial process.
Thank you for your contributions and support. - Rocky, Mon 30/1/2007 at 12:15pm

Freedom without responsibility?
The Prime Minister has made his views known about the suit taken against me and fellow blogger Jeff Ooi.
"The law is the law. They cannot hide and hope to be protected under some kind of a cover or whatever they think that they have," the Prime Minister said.
Abdullah said it was obvious that for bloggers and for journalists of other media, duty and responsibility must go together.
"And if you want freedom, what is freedom without responsibility?" he asked. "I don't agree with freedom without responsibility. Freedom without responsibility is anarchy. Actually, it is being irresponsible," he added.
I am a responsible blogger. Anyone who comes into this blog can click on my profile and know who I am. I do not hide behind any kind of "cover". From the first day I started blogging, I have been using my own name. Not a nickname. And I have always encouraged friends to use their own names for their blogs. There's no shame. No Fear.
When NSTP and the four individuals linked to NSTP filed the suit against this blog, I did not run. I did not deny that this blog is mine. I do not hide. And that's because I always believe that I must account for what I write. Just like Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan must account for what he writes. Or Brenden Pereira must for what he wrote (when he was at the NSTP).
Freedom without responsibility? Who's talking about freedom without responsibility?

[Click here to read Bernama's take on the suit and responsible bloggers]

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Thank you

NOTICE: Previous comments by readers have been taken down pending the trial of my suit. This is, however, not an admission that any such comment is sub judice or defamatory. As the matter is before the court, it is only appropriate that respect be given to the judicial process.
Thank you for your contributions and support. - Rocky, Mon 30/1/2007 at 12:15pm

Walk with us.
I've been quiet but I haven't been idle. The young man who is going to represent me in court has given me quite a bit of homework for the fight ahead. I am going through the 48 postings that the NSTP and its 4 top operatives claimed to have defamed them in their suit against me. I am taking a breather now and dropping a few lines here to say Thank You for all the support that has come my way since Jeff Ooi and I posted on our blogs on the legal suit, here and here.
Many of you asked me for my bank account no because you wanted to send money to help finance the fight. We have decided that it will serve bloggers well if we set up a fund not in our names but in the name of blogger solidarity and freedom of expression to defend our rights in the court of law.
We should be announcing the formation of the fund this week.
Bloggers Unite should also meet up soon to discuss the future of blogging, the new threat that we face, the steps that we will need to take.
It's going to be a long journey but we'll walk the distance.
Walk with us.

p.s. In your case, Kerp, wheel with us!

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Ah, Malek Imtiaz!

NOTICE: Previous comments by readers have been taken down pending the trial of my suit. This is, however, not an admission that any such comment is sub judice or defamatory. As the matter is before the court, it is only appropriate that respect be given to the judicial process.
Thank you for your contributions and support. - Rocky, Mon 30/1/2007 at 12:15pm

If hot-shot lawyer Malek Imtiaz Sarwar insists on taking Jeff Ooi's case, a junior editor purportedly told him yesterday, his column in the New Straits Times will be discontinued. MIS, in his blog, a little perplexed:
"The NST and individuals in senior positions with the newspaper are suing Jeff Ooi. I am one of the lawyers representing Jeff. I was informed by the NST yesterday that it will not be running my column until the case has been brought to an end. I do not understand the reasoning underlying this decision but of course accept it as it is for the NST to decide who writes for it."
Click Screenshots; click Disquiet. Now, do I rest my case?

1 Muharam 1428


Peace.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Back down on NeST-UM

I read in the papers today that the merger between the New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad* and Utusan Melayu Berhad is OFF. I wrote just that on December 21 last year. Flashback here.
Just two nights ago, at the Chinese Assembly Hall, journo-blogger A. Kadir Jasin told a forum on the proposed merger that the merger could lead to a revolt against Abdullah Badawi within the Umno supreme council. In any case, some people would have made a killing in the stock market from this botched merger attempt (read here).

Kudos to the journalists and editors at Utusan Melayu who did not back down in their fight against the merger.

* This company has said it is suing this blog

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Bloggers sued in Malaysia















NOTICE:
Previous comments by readers have been taken down pending the trial of my suit. This is, however, not an admission that any such comment is sub judice or defamatory. As the matter is before the court, it is only appropriate that respect be given to the judicial process.
Thank you for your contributions and support. - Rocky, Mon 30/1/2007 at 12:15pm

Unchartered waters.
None of us have passed this way before, so I shall have to tread carefully. I'll need you to tread carefully, too, when you leave your comments.
I have been served the papers. They dropped them on Tuesday evening, around 9.30 pm, at the National Press Club. They are applying for an injunction against Rocky's Bru, this blog. They are suing me for libel.
[They have also served Jeff Ooi of Screenshots the papers].

In the case against me, "they" are:

1. The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad (No. Syarikat 4485-H)
2. Kalimullah Bin Masheerul Hassan
3. Hishamuddin Bin Aun
4. Syed Faisal Albar Bin Syed A.R. Albar
5. Brenden John a/l John Pereira

The plaintiffs have cited 48 postings (under Schedule 1, the List of Defamatory Articles complained of in the Statement of Claims filed in this action).
I am now looking for a lawyer to represent me.
The application for injunction comes up on Jan 25 at the High Court.
Thank you for the support. God bless.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Turkish PM defends Hurriyet

Report was accurate, Erdogan says.
Last month, Abdullah Badawi said the Hurriyet's report that he was in Bodrum to take a peek at a RM30 million yacht belonging to him was "inaccurate" and "a lie". The Malaysian PM said he would ask the Hurriyet to make the necessary correction.
The boat manufacturer reportedly issued a statement to say that it never received any order for the yacht called Cobra Sultan from the Malaysian PM. Malaysian newspapers carried the the boat manufacturer's statement but it is not known if Hurriyet did the same or if it was issued the same statement in the first place.
Yesterday, MalaysiaToday quoted Anwar Ibrahim as saying that the Turkish PM had told him the Hurriyet report on Abdullah and the RM30 yacht as tepat (accurate)/ and berasas (substantiated). Anwar said Recep Tayyip Erdogan told him this when they met recently.
The Turkish PM, it seems, was also disappointed with Abdullah for another reason. [read here for more; here for the Harakah's take]

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

NeST-UM and Warta Kepala Batas

The Prime Minister's own newspaper. It has been around for a while. I remember picking up a copy from a chief minister's office some months back. Content wise, Warta Parlimen Kepala Batas is most forgettable. But state governments order their copies in bulk. Bet you this rag is doing better than some mainstream newspapers! Read it here.

Forum on NST-UM Merger. Talking of mainstream papers, three ex-newspapermen will discuss the demerits and, if any, merits of the proposed merger of the NSTP and Utusan Melayu at a forum in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. Two of them were former group editor-in-chiefs of the NSTP. Details here.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Wet notes from the floods


Send this Ad to the dry-cleaners, Nazir!
Quite a few people are not amused by this latest ad by CIMB.
It's because of the floods.
People drying up their belongings in the aftermath of the worst floods the country has ever seen.
They think Nazir Razak ought to throw out the ad.
Be more sensitive to the sufferings of the flood victims. Most of whom don't have wet notes to hang dry.
They think the bank should give away the RM250,000 prize money to the flood victims .

In a related development, the PM is monitoring the floods closely from afar, said Syed Hamid Albar, whose constituency Kota Tinggi, Johor is the worst hit by the floods. "The prime minister has pledged to return quickly from the Asean summit in Cebu City to visit the affected areas," he told Bernama here.

Latest, blogger Ahmad A. Talib, who posted some very wet pictures here the other day, sent out a plea just a while ago for doctors, nurses and volunteers. Click here for details. Be warned: this is not a sight-seeing tour of the flooded areas, he said.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Bloggers United. No Fear.


Something's brewing.
Sheih the "Poster Boy", the one who created Kickdefella, has made a statement: Bloggers United. No Fear.
[click here for possible coded messages].

United! United! United!
No, I am not an Man U fan.

Two years later ...


Ravi Nambiar was the New Straits Times' Johor Bharu bureau chief at the time the article on "unpatriotic" Pak Shahrir was published. His Big Boss then was Kalimullah Hassan, the newspaper's Group Editor-in-Chief. Syed Feisal Albar was the Chief Executive Officer of the company that published the newspaper.
Kalimullah is now deputy chairman of the NSTP and also its Editorial Adviser. Syed Feisal is his CEO.
And Ravi Nambiar is, as far as I know, still the JB bureau chief.
Screenshots says the lawyer who represented Pak Shahrir was Malik Imtiaz, who has a column in New Straits Times.

Will there be an apology for the June 11 article by Kalimullah?

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Malay Mail for Sale?

Ananda Krishnan ... again! The Prime Minister's fishing buddy seems to have a fetish for the Malay Mail. About a year ago, he was rumoured to have expressed interest in buying the Mail and sister paper Sunday Mail. (The tycoon told a couple of senior editors that he thought the Mail was the best newspaper around then!). Kalimullah Hassan, who has claimed to be close to Ananda, proposed to the NSTP board that the group sells the Malay Mail and Sunday Mail to the tycoon. His proposal was shot down by a board member representing Media Prima, the biggest shareholder of NSTP.

Talk resurfaced last month that the Media Prima is now offering to sell off the Malay Mail and the (suspended) Weekend Mail. I was told there are three suitors and Ananda is one of them. The other two are Tony Fernandez, the Air Asia boss (who wanted to launch a magazine for Air Asia last year but abandoned the idea in the last minute), and Ibrahim Nor, the Bluc Inc. publisher (who has about a dozen magazine titles and a stake in Berita Publishing).

Ananda, of course, has nearly everything that money can buy, including at least a gulet in Turkey. In the media industry, he has Maxis, various magazines, satellites, Astro tv, and radio channels. But not a newspaper.

You can expect members of the Supreme Council who recently spoke against the proposed NeST-UM merger to oppose the sale of the Malay Mail to a non-Malay. But Ananda is the PM's fishing buddy.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Ah, Nuraina A.Samad!

3540 Jalan Sudin. Whenever another veteran journalist starts a blog, you know it can't be a bad thing. When that veteran journo is the daughter of the country's most revered journalist alive, you know something's brewing.
Nuraina A. Samad was NST's political editor when Abdullah Badawi won his big mandate in 2003. And, not know to many outside Balai Berita, the political editor was the first post Kalimullah Hassan abolished when he took over Balai Berita in 2004. He would also dismantle her political desk as part of a mad strategy to let the 4th Floor operators control the flow of the news that matters in the mainstream media, NST particularly.
Nuraina's sister, Maria Samad, was already a star reporter at The Star, specialising on politics, when I joined the tabloid in 1985 as a cadet reporter.
Their dad, A. Samad Ismail, is the Tokoh Wartawan Negara.
Even if politics is not your cup of tea, then 3540 Jalan Sudin is one blog you'd want to bookmark!

The list of journos and ex-journos adding power to the Malaysian blogs is still short but growing. The ones I bookmark include:
Zaharah Othman (Kak Teh's Choc-a-Blog)
Susan Loone (Susan Loone's in-Human Rights)
Tengku Elida (The Madness of Mokciknab)
A. Kadir Jasin (The Scribe),
Ahmad A. Talib (Pahit Manis)
Ruhanie Ahmad (Gerbang Ruhanie)
Ong Hock Chuan (Unspun)
Fathi Aris (Patah Balek)
Syed Imran (Kuda Ranggi)
Amir Hafizi (The Malay Male)
Khalid Jaafar (Khalidjaafar.org)

p.s. at 10.05 pm
Tsk. I left out Marina Mahathir (rantingsbyMM) from my bookmark of journobloggers above. She was a journalist with Berita Publishing, then a subsidiary of the NSTP, between 1980 and 1984.

Monday, January 08, 2007

4th Floor calling Editors


Media freedom?
According to Screenshots here (pic below courtesy of his lens), there were journalists and pixmen covering the people's protest against the toll hike in Sunway yesterday.
Unfortunately, a call to the editors at Utusan Malaysia and the Star ensured that their reports and pictures didn't make it to print. Half a call to Hishamuddin Aun from the 4th floor operator was all it took to censor the entire news about the people's protest.
The Sun, however, had a picture and story headlined Anti-toll protest attracts Big crowd for its on-line.
Which shows that all you need to promote greater media freedom is the balls to say no to the 4th floor operators.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Next Change: Curse of the Cobra Sultan

Like they say, it's hard to put a good fella down.
Kickdefella's posters are showing now!
Go here.

And someone sent this Pirates of the Mediterranean poster after my "Eye on Abdullah" posting this morning.

Eye on Abdullah

RM30 million wheel. That's RM30 million well spent compared with the RM30 million splashed on a yacht and the ignorant pleasure of one man.
Yes, many people have asked me if I consider the Cobra Sultan issue closed [since I was the one responsible for translating and posting the Hurriyet's report of Dec 17 here]. I tell tell them nobody should consider the issue resolved. The Hurriyet, has not apologised to our PM; in fact, the Malaysian government has not demanded for an apology for the "lies" the Turkish daily published about the man.
The Hurriyet has published another article on Abdullah Badawi and Ananda Krishnan but it's not an apology. I believe you'll be reading it here soon.

Back on the Eye on Malaysia, TV Smith was kept waiting along with thousands of others. A conversation he overheard:
Little Girl: Papa, why so late never start?
Dad:
I think The VIP overslept again!
I'm no fan of ferris wheels, but the pictures here and here are a feast for the eye.

Friday, January 05, 2007

50 Posts to Merdeka

50 Posts to Merdeka
Article No 36
By Ahirudin Attan

[note: Please click on the link above to follow the blogathon trail created by Nizam Bashir. I am tagging Marina Mahathir for No 35 and thanking Jeff Ooi for tagging me].

I am writing this from the porch of my home deep in the heart of Puchong, closer to Putrajaya than to Kuala Lumpur. The night is still, which is why I am outdoors, chasing a deadline on a Merdeka blogathon. In this part of enchanting Malaysia, a wind is undesirable because it would carry with it the great pong from a landfill a few miles away.
I have never visited the landfill and none of the neighbours I spoke to, or the couple I know at nearby Equine Park, or those kids who work at the new Jusco shopping mall opposite the Pasar Borong Sri Kembangan have seen it, either.
But we don't need to see the landfill to know it's there because we can all smell it.
The smell is most nauseating after the rain. If you have been to the men's in a pub at the end of a night after a beer-drinking contest that started around tea time, then you'd get a whiff of what I mean by nauseating. I was in one two years ago. The entire toilet floor and some parts of the wall were filled with vomit. I almost threw up myself.
The stench has taught a valuable lesson about house-buying. Whenever someone asks for my advice on buying a house, I would say: "Use your nose."
But it has also taught me about the positive spirit of my fellow Malaysians. The other day, at the parking lot of the local MacDonalds, my kids and I were greeted by one of the worst nasal attacks we've ever had since we moved here. My three-year old, nose wrinkled, utttered "kuat!". A guy with his two kids, nose pegged in between thumb and index finger, smiled at us. "Ello, feetty bad, uh." We are now feety good friends.
This afternoon, at the gym in Bangsar, Raymond Hon, who retired from the music industry some years back, said hello to me. "You are the writer, right? You live in Puchong".
We talked about the environment, the killing of the hills and the trees, crooked property developers, and the great stench from landfills.
In short, about the declining quality of life in this beautiful country of ours.
Raymond dreams of establishing a movement, a non-governmental organisation driven by teens, that will defend the environment for the future of these kids. "Why do I want to involve school kids? Because nobody seems to want to listen to us adults anymore. Maybe the government and those developers will listen to the kids. "
Most of us are still sleeping while our environment is dying around us. Or we close an eye. We no longer listen, as Raymond says. We have forgotten to wake up and smell the flower because we have forgotten what a flower is.
Like me, thousands of people who now live in my part of Puchong had not smelled anything fishy when the developers sold us our houses. I am not sure if there'll ever be a recourse for us but if there was one, I am sure it will take too long before we see any kind of compensation.
You may say I'm being pessimistic but the fact is we did drag our developer to the Tribunal in 2005 to demand compensation for various defects to the house structure, and we have lived to regret that action. The Tribunal awarded us a small amount (but still three times what the developers had offered to pay us initially) but we have not been paid a single sen.
The last time we called to ask for the payment, we were told: "You should have accepted our offer, not take us to the Tribunal."
In this country, nearly 50 years after Merdeka, stench does not come just from landfills. To me it means we have a long way to go.

38 months later

Fresh wind to Malaysia. "Mike Tyson", the disgraced ex-MB of Selangor , said Abdullah Badawi had bought much openness and transparency to his administration, while on the international stage the PM had established greater rapport with world leaders, especially the superpowers. “This new climate has spurred the economy, more so with new growth corridors and sectors created,” he said at a forum held at the end of a national seminar entitled Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s Three Years in Putrajaya: Trailblazing a Brighter Future for Malaysia yesterday. That's The Star's take ["Abdullah brings a fresh wind to Malaysia", here].

The NST ["Praise, criticism for Pak Lah"], reporting on the same seminar, said the speakers/panelists agreed that Abdullah's 38 months' tenure had widened the gap between rich and poor, one state and another, between one race and another, and between classes within the same race. Also, Abdullah's leadership was also seen as too soft and accommodative, and often sent out conflicting messages to the people.

The main challenges that Abdullah must overcome, in effect, suggest that corruption has not been nipped in the bud and the economy is not in good (or safe) hands. [click here for the NST's piece]

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Toll protest

The Anti-Toll Coalition will hold a gathering this Sunda, January 7, at 4 pm, in front of the Sunway Pyramid shopping complex, near the Litrak office, to launch a rakyat's protest against the January 1, "not-so-high" 60 per cent toll increase.
Read the Screenshots report here on why the toll rate hike was uncalled for, or so said members of the coalition at a press conference today.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

After the floods (and a long holiday)

The Deputy PM chaired the first Cabinet meeting for 2007 today. Looks like Najib was not too thrilled with the conduct of some ministries during the floods and wanted them to double efforts. Rightly so. [Read the Bernama piece here]

Meanwhile, the vacationing PM returns tonight from Perth, Australia.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

The Big Bah: It ain't over

Pagoh Calling: We need water jets! Over 6,000 flood victims in Pagoh, Johor need water jets urgently to help them restart their lives disrupted by the country's worst floods in the last weeks of 2006.
Please click COMMENTS below for details provided by rubyahmad.

Monday, January 01, 2007

Dr M slams the lynching of Saddam

Barbaric. The former PM started the year with a bang, aimed right at Bush and Blair for what he described as the "barbaric lynching" of Saddam Hussein. That the hanging was carried out on Hari Raya Haji was an insult to Muslims around the world.
"It is all too clear that the war criminal Bush has no sensitivities whatsoever for Muslims on their pilgrimage to Mecca. This barbaric act is a sacrilege! The entire trial process was a mockery of justice, no less a Kangaroo Court."
Blogger Kickdefella does a comparison here of the different reactions of various leaders, including PM Abdullah Badawi, to the lynching. Warning! There is also a video of the lynching in the posting.
Read IHT's report here on how Dr M condemns the killing. He signed off as a member of the International Committee For the Defence of President Saddam Hussein.