Friday, March 30, 2007

Mansion Down Under

RM60 million home. Dr M said Abdullah Ahmad Badawi now has a RM60 million home in Perth, Australia. Go to Malaysia Today for the story, pictures, and maps on how to get there.

Who's the Liar now?

Liars. Dr Mahathir has called his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi a "liar" and even placed in the same league as George Bush, TonyBlair and John Howard, according to blogger biddogdotcom who attended Dr Mahathir's 90-minute address to Umno members at a seminar organised by the party's division in Kulai, Johor.
Wire agency AP's take here is as damning:
Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad returned to the political arena on Thursday after a five-month gap forced by illness, renewing his attacks on the government by accusing it of corruption, nepotism and weakness.'We have corrupt leaders who favour their relatives,' Dr Mahathir, 81, said in a speech, apparently referring to his successor-turned-foe, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Blogger-politician Ron, in his posting here, said Dr M and Ku Li may share the same stage at 3pm today at a Universiti Malaya seminar. I heard Tun Daim Zainuddin will also be there.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Ah, Veera

Star journo. Another senior editor from The Star, the country's largest English-language daily, has ticked off people, especially ministers, who suffer from "blogger syndrome", a phrase to describe the irrational fear some people have for blogs and bloggers [sufferers include the Prime Minister, the Tourism Minister, a certain comeback columnist at NST, which considers The Star as a rival, and several individuals who have filed a lawsuit against bloggers].

Veera Pandiyan, in his comment Please Sir, don't press the media, expressed his disappointment with former journalist Zam, the Information Minister, for telling the local media not to quote from blogs and for making out bloggers as “provocative, politically motivated, inaccurate or just floating rumours for the interests of certain parties.”

With due respect, sir, as a veteran of the vocation, surely you would agree that the same sins have been and still are being committed by opportunistic hacks skulking in newsrooms and television stations. Black sheep can be found everywhere, even in lofty places where they masquerade as mountain goats.
Fairness is the prerequisite of responsible journalism. This includes checking the credibility of sources, verifying information and letting the other side to have its say. Ethical editors have always adhered to these basic rules.
The Star's deputy GEIC Wong Chun Wai last week ticked off another minister for his lack of PR in handling bloggers over an issue of an Indonesian blogger writing about her disappointment with the local tourism players in promoting VMY 2007. Check this seemingly pro-blogger piece at www.wongchunwai.com.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

US$5 million for Malaysian "terror"

Bin Hir. The US government has offered a US$5 million reward for the capture of Malaysian terror suspect Bin Hir aka Marwan whom they believed is responsible for "multiple deadly bomb attacks in the Philippines".
It's not the kind of publicity we need for Malaysia Visit Year 2007 but Bin Hir (actually, it's Zulkifli but there are Americans like Condoleezza Rice who still do not know how to address non-Americans) has been added on the US' Most Wanted List. Read here.
Let's hope Wisma Putra has more on Bin Hir. We still don't know nuts about the two Malaysians said to be detained in Gitmo.
Meanwhile, David Hicks has become the first Guantanamo detainee to plead guilty as part of a bargain with the American government to let him go home and face the Australian courts of law.

Bullet train

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and Singapore have approved construction of a bullet train rail linking the two countries, to be built by Malaysian conglomerate YTL Corporation, according to a report Monday.
The New Straits Times, citing an unnamed official from YTL, said the high-speed train would cost some 8.1 billion ringgit (US$2.34b) and that design plans and studies were underway.
Bullish Bullshit. The Transport Ministry has denied a widely-quoted report by the NST that said the governments of Malaysia and Singapore had approved the proposed bullet train project involving both countries.
Chan Kong Choy said [here] Malaysia has not made a final decision.
If someone was feeding NST with embargoed reports, he might not have expected this response from Shahrir Samad, who has not only questioned the priorities given by the government to certain projects, especially the Bullet Train, but also demanded to know why Singapore is in.
Turut dipersoalkan Shahrir ialah mengenai kewajaran penglibatan Singapura dalam projek kereta api laju itu yang sepatutnya dipertimbangkan kerajaan.
"Kalau projek itu mahu diteruskan, maka perlu dibina jambatan, sebab takkanlah kereta api ini terlalu pantas hingga tak perlu jambatan untuk seberang Selat Johor.
"Singapura pernah menolak cadangan pembinaan jambatan baru ke sana tetapi kini (apabila merasa projek kereta api laju itu menguntungkan mereka), maka mereka mahu projek kereta api laju ini berhenti di republik itu," katanya yang berpendapat kerajaan perlu berjaga-jaga dalam memikirkan program pembangunan jangan sehingga menjadi bahan jenaka.
Read the BM version of the Bernama report here.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Shahrir, the born-again blogger

YB Shahrir Samad has started a new blog after his encounter with 4 bloggers in his constituency Johore Bahru last week. He even has the Bloggers United logo on his blog and his blogroll include some of the country's biggest "liars", including Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and Tun Mahathir! Go here and check him out!

Monday, March 26, 2007

Khazanah: We didn't appoint Fox

So who got Fox the plum job? Khazanah Nasional has denied appointing Fox Communications for the Iskandar Regional Development project. Its head of communications Ahmad Shahizam shot this response via e-mail at 7.03 pm:
"With reference to your post today titled "Khazanah owes me one", we would like to re-iterate that our previous correspondence with you on this matter stands and that there is no change in our response of 5th February 2007, as the facts remain the same.
For the benefit of your readers, we hope that you will check your facts fully on this matter and we consider this matter closed. This will be the final comment we will be making on this subject. Khazanah reserves the right to evaluate and appoint prospective advisers in accordance with our internal policies."
This has left me with more questions than answers. Who appointed Fox Communications as c0nsultants for the Iskandar project, which is under Khazanah, then? Was it the PM's Department or the Finance Ministry? Or was it the Johor state government? Does Khazanah have any relationship with Fox?

I strongly feel that Khazanah should clearly state what Fox's role is and assure us that all procedures are being strictly adhered to to ensure fair competition and a level playing field.
I do not consider the matter closed.
The matter must remain open until Khazanah comes clean with clear and straight forward answers. No one is questioning Khazanah's right to appoint whoever it wishes to in accordance with its internal policies. But taxpayers money is involved and Khazanah owes it to them to be more transparent and professional. Business people are anxious and want to know if they are obliged to accept the services of advisers who make themselves out to be close to the powers that be. Reassure them, Khazanah.

In the meantime, let me share with my readers a bit more information on Fox. Following a lead given by Kawan, a regular poster in this blog who indicated that a bureau chief of a mainstream newspaper may have quit to join Fox Communications as a senior consultant for the Iskandar project, I made a few queries and found out that the bureau chief meant by Kawan is veteran Ravi Nambiar from the New Straits Times' Johore Bahru bureau.
Incidentally, those queries led me to the discovery that Lionel Morais, who was made Crime Editor of the Malay Mail in 2003, has gone to Johore Bahru to "cover" for Ravi Nambiar until young and promising Sheridan Mahavera arrives from Kota Bahru to head the JB bureau.
When Lionel returns to Balai Berita, he will assume his new position as the NST's Deputy Chief News Editor. He will assist Chief News Editor A. Kathiresan and Executive Editor for News K.P. Waran.

He's on the move again

Kulai Besar, Thursday. Dr Mahathir has been invited to speak at a seminar on Malays and Globalisation organised by the Umno division of this major Johor town this Thurs, 29 March. He starts speaking at Club Taman Putri at 3pm.

Khazanah owes me one

Fox got Khazanah's project, after all?
On Feb 1, this blog reported [here] that two ex-editors known to be close to the PM and his son-in-law had set up "the Mother of all PR firms" and will bag the US$15 billion-SJER or Iskandar Regional Development account.
On Feb 3, I identified this "Mother" as Fox Media, comprising a Shaik fro0m Penang and two former top editors [here]. This posting also said that existing PR practitioners were rather concern that their industry, which is already very competitive, was being invaded by powerful cronies.
On Feb 5, Khazanah denied that it had hired these individuals [here]. It called my posting "inaccurate and misleading". In good faith, I published Khazanah's denial and wrote, among other things, that "As a responsible blogger, I must apologise for asserting that the two the two former top editors were given the job by Khazanah, now that Khazanah has said it is inaccurate and factually wrong".

It now seems that I may have to retract my apology.

I was in Johore Bahru late last week and met several people who have intimate knowledge about the Iskandar project. I was told that Fox is, indeed, handling the lucrative Iskandar account. Wong Sulong, the former Star GEIC and a board member of the Bursa Malaysia, is a shareholder of Fox. Brenden Pereira, the former Group Editor of NSTP*, is an "employee" of Fox**.
I have sms-ed Khazanah's head of communications and external relations Ahmad Shahizam Shariff [who had denied my Feb 1 and 3 postings] to verify this info. I expect Ahmad Shahizam to get back to me today, a.s.a.p, and help me clarify the status of Fox and Iskandar, once and for all.

* The NSTP and Brenden Pereira [together with three others] are suing me for defamation
** It is Fox Communications, not Fox Media.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Dr M won't be PPP advisor

Last Monday, I wrote here that Dr M had been approached by PPP to act as its adviser. The Star's report here confirms that Kayveas had approached him but the former PM won't become the party's adviser.

Tun Musa Hitam on Bloggers

It's digital democracy, stupid! Zam, FAK, Tengku Adnan and others suffering from the Blog Syndrome should have listened to ex-deputy prime minister Musa Hitam's take on bloggers and digital democracy.
"Some of us may claim, in a very concerned way, that Malaysia currently is in crisis while some claim that we are on a sliding mode. Arguments in support are plenty and we don need to pay attention to them. At the same time though, in honour of our past leaders like Tun Dr Ismail and to mark the 50 years of our country independence, I would like to appeal for a much more optimistic interpretation of current trends toward our country's future.
"Politically I am sure Tun (Dr) Ismail would approve of what is going on now. He would not brood any nonsense, of course. But after seemingly sliding for many many years, the Tun (Dr Ismail) would certainly approve of the relatively more tolerant, open and liberal way that the present leadership seems to be conducting government. What more with increased emphasis on accountability with action being taken on cases of alleged corruption apparently without fear or favour. More, certainly, need to be done. But what is happening has been unheard of for many many years earlier!
"In politics Malaysians seems have reached a reasonable level of maturity. What used to be taboo subjects are coming out more and more into the open. Even the mainstream media is jumping into the bandwagon, not to mention the digital media that has come out completely unrestrained. Through the internet, furious arguments, most of them again, unrestrained and frank with not a few being highly emotion and even irrational, are continuously going on!
"I guess the late Tun (Dr Ismail) never imagined how our nation has become so so internet savvy in such a short time. Certainly, though, he would be happy to know that in spite of the furious debates on what used to be these taboo subjects, they are not accompanied by the inevitable unrest and even violence that used to be the order of the day! This is what a leading professor calls "Digital Democracy". And Thank God for that!"
Musa was launching the book on Tun Dr Ismail Rahman in Johore Bahru yesterday. The launch was attended by over 100 guests from Malaysia and Singapore. After the launch, lunch and a press conference, the four bloggers flown in by the organisers to have breakfast with the author of the book and witness the launch (three are based in KL and the fourth in London) had a chat with the Tun.
Nuraina A. Samad, who covered Musa Hitam for many years when she was a journalist with the NST, asked: "So what do you think of us bloggers?"
Musa Hitam: "I have said in my speech .. Thank God for digital democracy!"
Nuraina A. Samad: "Do you mean it?"
Musa Hitam: "Of course! I will say it again. "

Go to her 3540 Jalan Sudin, Jeff Ooi's Screenshots, and Zaharah Othman's Kak Teh's Choc-a-Blog for their takes on Musa, the book and the author.
Shahrir Samad sat with the four bloggers at lunch and, based on The Star report here, remains very much a blogger at heart.

I asked the Tun to sign on my copy of Ooi Kee Beng's "The Reluctant Politician", which he had just launched. This is what he wrote:
"To Rocky!
Bloggers of the world, UNITE!"

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Zam on dignifying bloggers

Zainuddin Maidin, who raised eyebrows when he did not decline the Tokoh Wartawan Negara last year, fears that blogs may become influential:
KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 (Bernama) -- Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin today asked newspapers not to quote from blog websites when writing news stories as the source of the information cannot be considered authoritative.
He hoped newspapers would be more responsible by quoting only authoritative sources as many bloggers were relying on newspapers for credibility.
The minister said he was disappointed as there were blog websites that have not been updated and carried inaccurate information, causing uneasiness and confusion to people surfing the websites.
"The information are posted on the blogs by people with no authority. Why you as journalists have to quote a blog website as the source of your story and then publish the news in the newspaper that has authority?" he asked.
"The information posted on the blog website may be something provocative, politically motivated, inaccurate and are mostly rumours floated for the interests of certain parties," he said.
"You (journalists) should not allow your readers to believe blog websites as a reliable source," he said when commenting on the trend among newspapers to attribute blog websites as the source, hence indirectly promoting them.

Talk about blogs which have not been updated, Shahrir Samad might want to decide one way or the other: to blog or not to blog. His last posting here was on May 2 last year; it received 131 comments, plus spams on how to get rich real quick!

updates
Galadriel has her own take on crap-spewing Zam is based on the Star's report here on "frustrated journalists and politicians".

Monday, March 19, 2007

In Malaysia, the Government fears blogs



And it tells the mainstream media not to take from the blogs

Got this from Susan Loone's, who got the pic from Malaysiakini, who got the story from its sources in the mainstream media, who got the orders from the Gomen of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Add this to FAK's reprimand on the phone and you get the idea about Press Freedom.
Read also her scoop that says the Sin Chew reporter DID NOT LIE.

Dr Mahathir to advise PPP?

Premier Adviser. The PPP, led by maverick politician Kayveas, is said to have approached Dr Mahathir and asked him to be the party's adviser. At least two top officials told me that the party's leadership is awaiting Dr M's response. An aide of the former PM said this was news to him. Also, the aide said PPP's' decision to appoint Nik Sapeia as PPP's Kelantan chief would make the prospect of Dr M as its adviser even more complex. Nik Sapeia has been charged with spraying a canister of gas at Dr M late last July when the former premier was in Kota Bharu on a road tour to explain to the people why he was upset with his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi [read here]].

Kayveas has been in the news lately for his squabble with Gerakan boss Lim Keng Yaik. Deputy PM Najib Razak said here he was meeting both BN component leaders this week to help them kiss and make up.

p.s. If PPP does need Mahathir's help, it isn't the only one, according to this article from The International News.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Register before March 31

A VOICE tells us that if we don't do it before the end of the month, we must be prepared to forever hold our peace.
Click here for his blues; here for mStar's story on why those who wish to vote at the next general election must register before the end of this month; here to SPR on how to register.
And Pasquale says you are a moron if you don't exercise your right.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Zorro's advice

Write from the heart, Rehman. Those who said I was unfair to Rehman Rashid with my posting here have not read Zorro's Letter from the Rectum.
"... all these years you are still trying to impress. You remind me of this guy when told to describe what his father does, replies: My father is a monomaniacal nimrod with piscatorial propensities. Why cant he just say his father is a fisherman. And you go around telling people that you need to visit your tonsorial artist, when you visit the cheapest barber (if you do, that is when NST pays you for this rectum piece)."

In Malaysia, editors get rapped on the phone

Fu Calling. Internal Security deputy minister Fu Ah Kiow has revealed that he sometimes makes calls to editors of the mainstream media* to reprimand them for highlighting "sensitive issues".
"As the deputy minister responsible in enforcing the Act, sometimes I've to call up to remind the media concerned when sensitive issues are published.
"While some accepted the reprimand, others feel I am a super media editor," he said when speaking at a "dinner-with-the-media" in Kuala Lumpur last night.

Is Fu bragging that he can call up editors and screw them up? And there are editors who will let themselves get screwed by a Deputy Minister?
Did someone say the media are freer and more independent after Pak Lah became Prime Minister?


* Mainstream media refer to newspapers that are owned directly or indirectly by political parties form the ruling coalition or those that enjoy a close rapport with the government. They include the Star, the dailies under the New Straits Times Press, the Sun, and the newspapers in the Utusan Melayu group.
And, by the way, as far as I can tell, there is no such post as "super media editor" in any newspaper. [Read here for the entire Bernama piece Balanced reporting can counter Internet influence]

Friday, March 16, 2007

A million thanks



Thank you. I made my first million while huddled with Jeff Ooi of Screenshots at the solicitors' office discussing the NSTP's lawsuit against us. Reaching the million is a personal achievement made possible by each visitor who has been to my blog since May last year. I am not the first millionaire blogger (Jeff, for instance, got his in 2003) and I certainly will not be the last. You can see the meters on the other blogs speeding at breakneck speed to reach the mark.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Ku Nan and I

"I am here because of women". Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan and I sat side by side this afternoon at a press conference after the National Press Club-Celcom VMY Treasure Hunt 2007. He was asked about the "blogging" controversy. I was not taking notes so please refer to Malaysiakini and the media for exact quotes. But it was clear the Minister was denying the Sin Chew report last week that he had described all bloggers as liars. He said he had meant only the Indonesian blogger, Nila Tanzil, not bloggers in general and not women bloggers. He said something to the effect that he loves and respects women, that he relies on women for support in his electorate, and he wouldn't have been in this world if not for a woman (his mother).

A reporter then asked me what I thought about the controversy and I said I would respond as a blogger after the press conference is over.

Engage the bloggers!
At the press conference after the press conference, I was asked several questions, mainly by Malaysiakini and the NST:
Q: How could you sit side by side with the minister, shook his hands, and then took his money when you have condemned the Minister in your blog for remarks that riled the women bloggers?
A: i/ I was there as President of the NPC and it was NPC which is taking money from the minister on behalf of its members, i.e. journalists like them and me; and
ii/ I believed bloggers should sit down with people who seem to be opposed to them and try to make them understand blogging and bloggers. Much of the fear against blogging, I added, was due to the fact that people did not understand why there were people who blogged; and
iii/ If I were representing the National Bloggers Club, it would have been a different story ...

Q: Is there going to be such a club for bloggers?
A: We are working on it. I need to speak to more bloggers. We might be able to make an announcement in April.

Q: Are you happy with the Minister's response?
A: I can see that the Minister was trying to appease the bloggers. But I don't think all the bloggers are going to be happy (with the response) .... people like Marina (Mahathir), Nuraina (Samad), Susan (Loone) and Elizabeth (Wong). They aren't going to be happy with how the Minister deals with the complaints made by Nila Tanzil.

Q: What do you think the Minister should do?
Engage the bloggers. The Minister knows who they are. Get in touch with them and engage them. There's a lot bloggers do and can do but the authorities must take the initiative to understand them.

Q: But why did it take nearly one week for the minister to clarify his remarks?
A: Why didn't the papers chase after him earlier? Why did you only ask him now? (The reporter said the Tengku had been asked on the issue yesterday or the day before but had declined to comment).

Click here and here for my earlier postings.

To kick de fella ...


... you need to go out and vote at the next GE. Blogger Sheih of the Kickdefella seems to be toying around with a logo and poster to get fellow Malaysians to use the power of their vote.
To be able to use that power, you must first register as a voter. I know I am going to. Ok, Ok, I confess: I was never a Voter. I believed journalists covered general elections and should not vote in order to stay neutral. I also actually believed that the Nap-oleon was going to be good for this country!
I am going to register as a voter and I am going to use my vote at the next general election to kick de fella.

Click here for posters of Nap-olean and Oxfart the Pirate and Racist Bugger.
p.s. The son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, contesting in Shah Alam at the next general election?

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Ah, Rehman Rashid

Your opinion or his rectum? I was happy when told that Syed Nadzri Harun, the group editor of NST, was bringing back Rehman Rashid to Balai Berita but his piece today ["Broken down in the barnyard of free expression"] has left me to wonder why. While I was not totally surprised, it did take away some of the earlier happiness. In that piece, he is describing me as he describes the Malaysian bloggers:
"The local blogosphere is the domain of life-challenged grumblestiltskins and disenfranchised pundits whose asinine maunderings only show why they should never have had day jobs in the first place.
"Rumour, inuendo, half-truths and damned lies are their stock-in-trade, and previously sacrosanct standards, principles and ethics are now laughable.
"Are they not entitled to their opinion? Of course they are, as much as everyone is entitled to ignore them. I would venture, however, that everyone has an opinion and a rectum, and not that many seem capable of telling one from the other."
Pak Lah, Ku Nan have a new ally?

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Tengku Adnan's "dead" Part ll

Chivalry and the gentlemen bloggers.
1. Former teacher and blogger Bernard Khoo of the Zorro-unmasked fame, who still trains little kids so that they'll grow up doing what's right, wants it to be on record that "most Malaysians don't say stupid things". He has offered three takes on the Tengku Adnan vs Women Bloggers issue here, here and here.
2. Pasquale tells us that "in a real parliamentry democratic system, (Tengku Adnan) would have been asked by his Prime Minister to make a public apology over his remark on women, since they are the voters .. But the reality is, this is a tin-pot fake democratic system where even the Prime Minister does not know which way is up or down!" Read his Real Conspiracy to Control .. Women!
3. Blogger A Voice has re-written the lyrics of Stupid Cupid to support his call here for a new law to punish stupidity against women bloggers.
4. Walski has not just posted but postered his disgust here! "What on earth was (Tengku Adnan) thinking when he proclaimed that out of 10,000 bloggers (all unemployed, by the way), 80% are women, and all 100% are liars, anti-National Unity, and pro-Civil War?"
5. And Amir Hafizi of the Malay Male blog thinks this is an Indian Conspiracy!
He wrote a long posting but much of it, regrettably, can't be reproduced here so please go to there.
6. Mob's Crib has issued a new movie poster Minister, Interrupted in conjunction with Visit Bolehland Year 2007, acting Angelina Jolie and one Tengkoo Adnan!
7. Jeff Ooi posted his utter disbelief here with Ku Nan's statement before boarding a flight home. He was thinking of Conan The Barbarian for his in-flight movie entertainment.
8. Black's @ Amin Iskandar in Gwangju, South Korea has given the issue a wider international coverage, here.
9. Tony G the Stand-up Philosopher has a daughter who blogs and he is pissed. "
Mr Tourism sir, my daughter is also a blogger and you have accused my daughter of being a liar. Please sir, prove to me that she is a liar otherwise I think she deserves an apology from you for that accusation. If you wish to know which is her blog, I suggest you go through the entire 8,000 female mended blogs and decide. If you are unable to do so, than apologise to all the female bloggers you labeled as liars....if you have the BALLS to do so. In closing, sir, IF YOU CANNOT DAZZLE US WITH YOU INTELLIGENCE, PLEASE DO NOT BAFFLE US WITH YOUR IMBECILITY."
10. SKThew says Tengku Adnan's statement, which was made in response to Nila Tanzil's bad experience as an "invited guest" to the ministry's VMY media campaign, shows that the minister did not take kindly to criticisms.
11. Big Dog's Reject Minister's foot in mouth... says "if (the minister) had par level intelligence, he ought to work with these thousands of Malaysian bloggers, including abroad, well networked in the cybersphere, to help promote tourism for Malaysia and focus on the ‘Visit Malaysia Year 2007′."
12. Maverick SM the Cakap Tak Serupa Bikin blogger observes here that "It seems that the whole governmental ministers and UMNO leaders are at odds with bloggers. Who are the bloggers? They are Malaysians. Are they disillusion with the government and more so, with the leaders for their dim-wit stance and idiotic performances? The government is supposed to be the government of the people, by the people, for the people. But the government had shown that they are there to suppress the people who voted them in and make them rich."
He has a question with about Tengku Adnan's sexual slug: "Will women bloggers lodge a police report for sedition and sexual discrimination?"
13. I Am A Malaysian blogger e-Woon says the minister is probably scaring tourists away instead of drawing them. "Think before you speak, sir. When you don't look good, you make us Malaysians not look good. Your latest issue has stained us worldwide and the stench reeks and lingers as far."
14. Clark Gable of Pulau Duyong listed 10 possible reasons why the Minister said what he said. 1. Is it his prostate problem? Now blocking the water flow now flooding his brain. 2. Is it something that he ate that stop wind fr coming out that all went to his head..airhead?? ... Find out what the other eight possibilities are, here.


and many more ...

Tengku Adnan's "dead"

Minister incurs women bloggers' wrath.
Marina Mahathir, Susan Loone and Elizabeth Wong are heavyweight bloggers in their own right. Angry, heavyweight bloggers. They are not the least amused by Tengku Adnan's remarks in a Chinese-language daily about Malaysian women bloggers.
In her latest posting And just when we thought we were getting somewhere .. today, Marina expresses her disgust with a "supposedly sober person in high office": "What leadership! What rational statements! And on International Women's Day, women bloggers are defamed as liars and cheats. Fabulous!"
In her internationally-tracked blog, Susan Loone, who is based in Bangkok, let loose an open letter to Tengku Adnan entitled Malaysia's Tourism Minister is a Dimwit!
"Your generalisation has gone a bit too far. You are NOT fit to be Tourism Minister with this attitude. You are bias, rude, patronising and stupid. But going by your analogy - of one makes all - I don’t blame foreigners for thinking that all of us are stupid or Malaysia bodoh."
She adds: "Women these days are different. We don’t merely sit around looking pretty. We work, take care of the family, write, blog, ask questions, analyse, create, invent, and a million other things. But there’s one thing we won’t do. We will not take this crap from you."
Elizabeth Wong, in her piece Tengku Adnan whacks women bloggers which has stayed on my blog's Today's Top Postings since yesterday, was riled after picking up the translated version of a newsreport in Sin Chew on what Tengku Adnan had said. Whacking back, she writes: "Don’t you even have a heart? Weren’t you taught manners and etiquette in school or at home?"
The Minister, among other things, reportedly said:
"Bloggers are liars. They use all sort of ways to cheat others. From what I know, out of 10,000 unemployed bloggers, 8,000 are women.“Bloggers like to spread rumours, they don’t like national unity. Today our country has achievements because we are tolerant and compromising. Otherwise we will have civil war. Malays will kill Chinese, Chinese will kill Malays, Indians will kill everybody else.”

Sitemeter's dead

One Millionth Party. Was looking forward to throwing a million-hit do at the National Press Club before its Annual General Meeting and election of office bearers for the 2007-2009 term [during which the General Election will surely be held] scheduled for the end of this month.
The SiteMeter stopped at 957,596 reader two or three days ago.
If my cyberSmith can't fix it, nobody can.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Fogotten Malaysians in Gitmo

While our Foreign Ministry continues to prepare to update us on the two Malaysians in Gitmo, something they have been pretending to do since Abdullah Ahmad Badawi forgot to raise the issue during his meeting with the US President, we now learn (thanks to the Independent) that the two will face 'Military Tribunals" starting tomorrow. These tribunals are secret proceedings which have come under intense condemnation by human rights activists and foreign governments but not Malaysia, the chairman of OIC.
Click here to read what will happen to the 14 "most dangerous men", including the two Malaysians; here to that day last October when the PM said he did not manage to raise the matter of the two Malaysians in Gitmo with Bush given their intense discussion on efforts to achieve peace and understanding in the world (Nevertheless, he said the Malaysian embassy in Washington had been in touch with the US government over Kuala Lumpur's concern that the two detainees should be fairly treated when they face the American legal process. Present at the meeting with Bush then was Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar).
Thanks, Justin, for the update on Gitmo.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Nuraida A. Samad

17 May 1955-8 March 2007. Of Tokoh Wartawan Pak Samad's daughters, Kak Eda was the coolest, her sister Ena would tell me. They went to the same school and even attended the same class for some years. They were close. Ena said I would have loved her if I had been a little older and was at ITM with them then, during in the 70s. Ena was with Kak Eda, holding her hand, when Kak Eda died a little while ago at her home.
Al-Fatihah.
[Ena is Nuraina A. Samad, the 3540 Jalan Sudin blogger]

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Women

Woman by John Lennon [for audio-visual, go here; for info on IWD, here]
Women I can hardly express
My mixed emotions at my thoughtlessness
After all I'm forever in your debt
And women I will try to express
My inner feelings and thankfulness
For showing me the meaning of success

Ooh, well, well
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
Ooh, well, well
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo

Women I know you understand
The little child inside of the man
Please remember my life is in your hands
And women hold me close to your heart
However distant don't keep us apart
After all it is written in the stars


Saying NO to the US

... [almost] midnite update.
The PM told Bernama that the government will always safeguard the nation's interests Read it here ... (Actually, it's neither a YES nor a NO to the US, much like the "only rumours" response to the wedding question).

D-day for US-Malaysia Free Trade Agreement. Barring any unforeseen hands, the Cabinet should be telling the Americans that Malaysia, as a sovereign nation, can't possibly dance to every Bush tune. There's local politics to think of, too.
Expect an announcement on this later in the day. Meanwhile, read here.

Wooing Singapore

Keris-kissing to kissing S.
There's going to be a retreat for Malaysia and Singapore leaders in May to signify bilateral ties which is "good and getting better". A round or two of golf, a pat on the back, and talk about that Consulate that Singapore wants to set up in JB. [read here]
And then make an impassioned plea for Temasek to please come to SJER and pour in their billions. Hishamuddin Hussein needs to polish up his wooing techniques. He sounds too desperate [here or here] in his interview with Singapore Straits Times.
"But come in early. Wait-and-see, that does not create the atmosphere of trust. It is the same when you are in politics. Once I am a minister, there are a lot of people who want to be my friend. But the true friends are those who were there during the difficult times."
So, bro Sham,
Q1: Are you saying that we, Malaysia, are facing difficult times?
Q2: If we are facing difficult times, shouldn't we be telling Singapore to pay us what they owe us. Resolve the water issue, man. We are losing RM380 million a year to subsidize the Singapore government because of the water issue; shouldn't we iron that out before the PM plays his next round of golf with our Singapore friends?

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

No wedding

"Only rumours". Ah, so the rumours about the wedding are just rumours, or so the PM said here. I thought the wedding would have made genuine good news.

God knows Malaysia needs one.

Monday, March 05, 2007

The RM5 million man Part 2

The trail. Blogger Penarik Beca has left in my previous posting The RM5 million man a chronology for the Johari Baharum scandal and I'm publishing it here just in case you don't get to read it in the mainstream media.
The blogger said it all started here with the allegation that Jo had helped three hard-core criminals secure their release from detention. Jo has admitted releasing some criminals but denied that he had accepted bribery in exchange for Panjang, Robin and Ah Yau's freedom.

The three alleged crooks are:
Cho Heng, aka Panjang, from Perak, who is the brother of Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Kong Cho Ha. Police applied to detain Panjang under Sec 4 (1) of Emergency Ordinance but the application was rejected in mid Jan 2007.
Chin Shui On, aka Robin, from Sabah. The cops also failed to detain him under the same Ordinance and he was released in January.
Moo Sai Chin, aka Ah Yau, from Perak. The order to place him under "Restricted Residence" in Tampin, Negri Sembilan, for a year was cancelled in Jan this year.

The RM5 million man

Jo says it ain't him. So who is the senior politician who was reported here to have accepted bribes to free three suspected criminals from jail? Political blogger Ron, a former Member of Parliament, isn't providing the answer in his latest posting here but said he has been made to understand that the suspect is NOT a Minister but a Deputy Minister and that it's neither Mohamad Johari Baharum nor Fu Ah Kiow.

In fact, Jo, who last September denied claims that bribery was involved in an Umno election in Kubang Pasu where he is divisional chief, yesterday cleared himself with Bernama:
"The allegation on a web site and in a newspaper report today is apparently directed at me but it has been made without basis and proof."
According to Reuters here the case was likely to embarrass the Prime Minister who has vowed to root out corruption as the incident came within weeks of graft allegations against the country's Anti-Corruption Agency chief.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Wiki and I

Wikipedia on Ahirudin Attan @ Rocky's Bru.
Engineer
told me I've made it into Wikipedia. So I went here to read about me. It sure has more stuff than what I've written about myself under my own blog's Profile.
But that doesn't mean I'm going to contest the Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat at the next General Election.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Third blogger to be sued in Malaysia?

Flying low. Another corporate giant has threatened to take a blogger to court for creating a blogsite dedicated to discussing the decision by the company's decision to terminate the services of his wife. The blogger has been told to shut down his blog (or else ...).
Read the heart-breaking story in one of the blogs here over the weekend.