Monday, January 31, 2011

Gays, womanizers can now stand for general election




NOW EVERYONE CAN STAND. I'd recommend you read the Haris Ibrahim interview in the Star yesterday on Haris Ibrahim and Raja Petra "You're A Liar and A Coward" Kamaruddin's Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement. Seasoned journo Shahanaz asked some cheeky questions about gays, womanizers and Muslims who drink which, I must say, were mostly answered well by this unconventional lawyer.


What's even more interesting, to me  is that a so-called pro-Government newspaper like the Star is not afraid to give a so-called voice of dissent space; even more interesting is to know that Haris is still willing to talk to the mainstream media despite having little, or no faith in it.

I always believe that the "conversation" must go one, no matter which side of the political fence your plate's on.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Rocky's Bru versus ex-NST's Four

The High Court of Kuala Lumpur heard the matter this morning and set April 20, 2011 for the next stage of play. Chooi & Co represented me in court today, perhaps for the last time. A new legal team will defend me from here on but my old lawyers, god bless 'em, will be helping the new team prepare my defence.

The defamation case against me was filed by the NSTP and its four bosses (Kalimullah Hassan, Brenden Pereira, Hishamudin Aun and Syed Faisal Albar) in January 2007. The NSTP has since withdrawn its suit against me while the four have left the company.  

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

My Ferrari replacement

Drooool ... See how lovely it is!
The Panasonic Toughbook F9. Since the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) seized my Acer Ferrari last October, I had to settle for the Apple iPad, which is most unfriendly when it comes to blogging. I have given up the prospect of getting back the Ferrari, and if it's returned to me I've been advised, for my own good, to just give it away.

I have used Toughbooks before: they look good, the batts last long, and they are, er, tough. (strong enough to carry in my bike's panniers). Have a feeling that the Fab-Nine and I are going many places and doing many posts together.

Friday, January 21, 2011

The Star Edged?

Watch out Media Prima, Redberry ...! 

Read all at TnT, h e r e.

RP promises action against liars (bloggers) and "all these rogues"

Updated 11.45am: Anwar cavalry has arrived! 

Original Article
"Then, I will expose who the liars (these bloggers) are and take action against them. I will continue to speak out until all these rogues are weeded out." Robert Phang, NST July 18 MACC adviser denies bloggers' graft claims
At least one blogger has come out in heartfelt defense of Robert Phang, echoing the Tan Sri's mantra that these bloggers who accused him of trying to bribe a KSU are liars. Read Din Merican's Stand up for and defend Robert Phang.** Someone told me Din must be in love with Robert, or he knows Robert very well to trust him with his own reputation!
While that's what friends are for, the fact remains that the merits of the case (or allegation/s) have not been established. If RP did not try to bribe the KSU, there's no reason to lose sleep. There's also no need to respond to an allegation with an allegation, which was what RP did (he said "they" wanted to shut him up; read also Phang Got Petty and Personal).
There isn't even a formal report against RP - not to the police nor to the MACC. Even if there is a report, surely RP has no reason to fear. If he's as innocent as he is ignorant of the allegation, he just have to come clean. He has demanded those whom he has accused before to come clean, so I am sure he has always been aware of the demands and risks of those who live by the sword ...

p.s. By the way, bloggers have been called liars before. Especially during Pak Lah's time. I'm sure Din remembers very well ...

** Read also Defending Rogue-bert ...

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Silent war over "Allah", Church versus Blogger

 
Reverend Lawrence Andrew of the Herald, the religious magazine that is contesting a KDN's ban against its use of Allah to refer to the Christian God, tried to score some points via an interview A year on, a silent war over 'Allah' between church and state (Jan 17, the Malaysian Insider).


Blogger SatD, a learned Muslim-Malaysian abroad, responds to LA's assertions and assumptions point by point. His arguments are absolutely convincing; I'd suggest the Malaysian Insider be a sport and publish his researched article, headlining it  A year on, a silent war over 'Allah" between church and SatD ...

Coz that's what this has become. And you have to admit, SatD makes mincemeat of the Reverend's 11-year labour. The KDN should seriously get him to give its officers lessons on How to Defend 'Allah'.

PLEASE GO TO SATD'S BLOG TO LEAVE COMMENTS. CLICK HERE.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Rogue on MACC?!

Updates

Robert Phang said he doesn't know head or tail about the allegation. In ore words, he said it can't be him laaah. Read H E R E, according to the Paper that Dares.


Original article ...


EXPOSED: MACC ADVISER BRIBED A MINISTRY SEC-GEN!

"CAN I PASS YOU A T-SHIRT, DATUK?" This tweet of mine above is a day old but the posting by A Voice here is fresh. I was giving twitterjaya a heads-up after hearing that A Voice had a scoop and WOW, what a blockbuster! A corrupt anti-corruption adviser?

There will be more police reports, defamation suits, etc in the days and weeks to come, even if I don't name names here. And especially if I name names. But I'm sure you, my dear Readers, want to know who the alleged ROGUE is, so why don't you swing over to Another Brick on the Wall and get to know the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission man who may be under investigation soon, if not already, for allegedly trying to corrupt a respectable Ketua Setiausaha of a ministry with a bribe. There's a picture of him as well.

They said there was a camera where the alleged bribe attempt took place!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Karpal to Shamsul: I ain't toothless

Read Shamsul's "The taming of the Tiger ..." which was published by the New Sunday Times on Jan 9. The "Tiger" in question has written a Letter to the Editor to the NST and warned Shamsul that "It's not so easy to tame the Tiger of Jelutong. So beware." Read H E R E.

For sure, many have tried to wake up the sleeping tiger but to no avail. Shamsul must have struck a nerve.

Friday, January 14, 2011

A date with two cops

Police opens investigation into NGO report. I'm always intrigued by young Malaysians who go to varsities for their degrees and then join the police. It's not what most young people would do. I'm intrigued by their sense of duty and sacrifice, their loyalty to this nation. Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of sitting with two of them: ASP Annas, 31, a grad who joined the force 5 years ago, and ASP Watie, late 20s is my guess, who has been a cop for 7 years now after graduating from UiTM.

The circumstance of our meeting could have been different, of course. The Ampang Jaya police station where they are based has been tasked to investigate a report lodged by a PAS leader in Jelebu on the posting "Please investigate this report thoroughly" that I published on Dec 29 last year. The posting was a link to a similarly titled posting by Big Dog, here, so I guess Encik Zakhir Mohamad will also have the pleasure of meeting the two young police officers.
 
p.s. My daughter, 15, wants to be a forensic specialist. I was told yesterday USM offers a degree on this. Great! 

Who's Guan Eng trying to bull??

Contrary to what Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng might think, you can't bullshit all Malaysians all the time.

Read SatD's simple analysis on Penang's REAL economic performance. You'll find a state government that shamelessly tries to take credit from other people's (the Federal government's) hard work, a chief executive who must think that he can fool everyone all the time, and a state that is heading for trouble ...

No shit. Read it H E R E.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

End of the road for Quasar, KFC chairman?


BURSA SPRINGS INTO ACTION. Ali Hashim, the Colonel Saunder's lookalike, may be in major trouble with the authorities if allegations against him are true.

Excerpts from a scoop by TnT:

 
"A leading corporate lawyer said, "With the revelation of a letter from the Menteri Besar of Johor datedd 29th November to Kulim saying it had no plans to sell QSR and KFC, Muhammad Ali's claims about an imminent sale of the two fast food operators appear to be an attempt to mislead investors.
 “This looks like a classic case of creating a false market to drive up share prices so that syndicates can profit from the sudden share price surge. They then dump these shares, causing prices to tumble and unwary retail investors losing money,“ the source said.
“Evidence of Muhammad Ali’s manipulation is clear,” says the lawyer, who cites the letter dated Nov 29, 2010 showing Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, JCorp’s chairman and the Johor Menteri Besar clearly stating that it (JCorp) did not want Kulim to dispose its stake in QSR Brands Bhd.


 Read the entire story, H E R E

A RM6 billion filler

Malaysia's 2nd largest bank guns for pole position.

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd is on course for a February swoop of Affin Bank Bhd, the smallest anchor bank in Malaysia.

If it goes through, the deal will be the largest takeover in 12 months in the Asian finance, broking and banking industry. It will also propel the country's second largest lender into pole position for the first time. The deal would dwarf the US$1.4 billion, the country's top lender, Maybank intends to splash out for Singaporean brokerage - Kim Eng Holdings Ltd.

Affin's largest shareholders are Lembaga Tabung Haji (35.66 per cent), Hong Kong's Bank of East Asia Ltd (23.52 per cent) and Boustead Holdings Bhd (20.69 per cent), while CIMB's largest stakeholders are Khazanah Nasional Bhd (28.61 per cent) and EPF (13.71 per cent).

Post-house invasion posting

>Between my posting Maid Rape: Rais says he didn't do it last Wednesday and the story of former maid who said she was not raped by anyone, my house was broken into. The burglars, if that's what they were, took a car and, among other things, a school bag and a little girl's toy scooter. The police are still investigating. I live in a guarded community; it was supposed to be safe.

People ask me if I thought it was something more sinister than just a break-in. I tell them let the police investigate.

Meanwhile, the Ampang Jaya police called me this morning and said they would like to take my statement, but not regarding the house invasion. There was a police report lodged with the police station against or about my blog with regards to the maid rape case. This particular report was made on January 4. There are two other police reports on this case, one lodged in Jelebu, Negri Sembilan and the other in Seremban.

I read, also this morning, an article urging Harakah, the official organ of PAS, to sue Detik, Indonesia's most influential news portal, for accusing it of deliberately misrepresenting what I had written about the maid rape case. I am reproducing the article that appeared on Harakah online here so that readers will fully understand what the fuss is all about. Those who wanted to give me credit for accusing a certain minister of raping his ex-Indonesian maid will not be too pleased with Detik News' sharp reporting:


HARAKAH KENA SAMAN DETIK NEWS!!!!
Author: CUCU TOK WAN | Posted at: 8:00 PM | |

Di sebalik saranan Mahfuz Omar agar Rais Yatim menyaman blogger UMNO yang terbabit dalam berita khabar angin Menteri Rogol Melayu, sesuatu yang lebih penting perlu dilakukan oleh Pengurusan Tertinggi PAS terutama yang membabitkan media dan jabatan komunikasinya.

Sebabnya DETIK NEWS yang menafikan amah bernama Robengah dirogol menteri yang difitnah itu, telah MENAMAKAN HARAKAH DAILY SEBAGAI PENCETUS FITNAH yang memutarbelitkan tulisan Rocky Bru.
Kabar pemerkosaan terhadap Rubingah (46) asal Banjarnegara, diramaikan salah satu situs berita oposisi Malaysia, Harakah Daily. Harakah mengklaim ada bocoran WikiLeaks terkait hal itu, seperti ditulis seorang blogger Malaysia, Rocky Bru.

Namun diduga itu pelintiran Harakah yang menjadi oposisi UMNO. Sebab, Bru tidak menyebut demikian di blognya. Seperti dilansir detikcom dari blognya, yang berjudul 'Wikileaks: Malaysian senior politician and his maid?', Bru mengatakan sejauh ini kasak-kusuk WikiLeaks adalah diskusi antar blogger. Bru yang mantan Pemimpin Redaksi The Malaysia Mail pun belum tahu apakah benar ada bocoran WikiLeaks soal kasus perkosaan ini. (DETIK NEWS)

Tindakan saman perlu diambil oleh pengurusan HARAKAH dan HARAKAH DAILY memandangkan Harakah Daily merupakan sumber wajib dan layak dipercayai tanpa perlu diragui. Apabila DETIK NEWS menuduh Harakah Daily mengincarkan fitnah dan memutarbelitkan kenyataan Rocky Bru selain mengada-adakan cerita sehingga rakyat Malaysia percaya bahawa fitnah terhadap Rais Yatim adalah benar, portal berita Indonesia itu sebenarnya telah mencacatkan dakwah Islamiyyah yang dibawa oleh Harakah Daily.

Mana mungkin sebuah harakah dan jamaah seperti Harakah Daily menggunakan fitnah sebagai alat untuk menyebarkan dakwah? Mana mungkin juga para pemimpin yang mengambil sumber daripada Harakah Daily diperhitungkan dengan fitnah yang diwujudkan oleh Harakah Daily?

Harakah Daily perlu membersihkan namanya seperti mana Rais Yatim membuat penafian bagi membersihkan namanya, selain dibantu dengan fakta-fakta serta pengakuan daripada orang gaji Rais Yatim sendiri bahawa berita tersebut hanyalah fitnah semata-mata.

Cara terbaik adalah dengan mengikut 'NASIHAT' Mahfuz Omar kepada Rais Yatim... SAMAN BALIK!!!!

http://theflyingkick.blogspot.com/2011/01/harakah-kena-saman-detik-news.html

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Fox, a short life and a death not mourned

DEATH OF A PR AGENCY. I was not sad at all to read the Star's piece Fox to cease ops on March 31. I sense that the writer of the article, or perhaps the editor who went through the piece and approved it for publication, was not saddened, either. The thing is, Fox had an unfair advantage over other agencies during its time. It had powerful "cables".

The body that oversees the PR industry in this country should try and gain some lessons from the Fox affair. How did a new PR firm run by two ex-editors manage to get so much on their plate in such a short time, from Sime Darby's merger exercisse (well, we know what has happened to that) to the various "Corridors". Some said the Finance Minister at the time had a hand in making it happen for Fox. It's an old story so many times on blogs including mine, but surely we are curious?

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Maid rape: Rais says he didn't do it

Singapore, 5 Jan: I posted Wikileaks: Malaysian senior politician and his maid? on Dec 23 last year. This was picked by various blogs and portals, and along the way an NGO report in 2007 found its way into cyberspace. Some of these sites got hold of some documents and based on these "evidence" they named Rais Yatim, the maid, and even a picture of the said maid. Today, nearly two weeks later, Rais Yatim issued a press statement to deny the allegation(s).

From Malaysiakini:
Information, Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim today refuted allegations, including of rape, made against him by bloggers and opposition political parties.
rais yatim pc 020709 02"I refute the allegations, whether they are about raping any individual four years ago (2007) or any other allegation, raised by bloggers on the Internet or by any political entity," he said in a statement.

He described the "wild allegations" against him of late in blog reports and by opposition political parties as heaps of libellous statements and awful, ugly and wicked lies.

"I state readily that any report by anyone so far related to this matter should be investigated under the country's laws," he said.

ALLEGATIONS NOT MADE BY BLOGGERS, RAIS. The Minister's statement came after at least two police reports were lodged on the NGO's report, one by PAS and the other by PKR's Chegubard. Rais is not a stranger to police procedures, having made a police report against this blogger last October, here, so he knows regardless of the statement he issued and his claim(s) to be innocent, the police will have to investigate.

I have no doubt that I will be hauled in to help with the investigation. I have always been cooperative with the police and even with the Information Ministry's own police (the MCMC) so that's not a problem. But I just feel I need to point out to the Minister that the bloggers DID NOT make up the allegation(s). In the case of my posting, I wrote of what I heard and about a report made in 2007 that was said to have been sent to the US Embassy, the Indonesian Embassy and them-PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's office. The bloggers who followed this up were quoting from the said NGO report, which I'm sure the police have now if they didn't then.The bloggers are the "messengers" just as Rais claims in his statement to be the messenger ...
"The opposition and those unhappy with the success and people's acceptance of the policy are resorting to stifle it through libel and cheap lies. They hope they can achieve their evil intention by killing the messenger," (Rais) said. -- Malaysiakini
Now, let the investigation begin.

Verdict on TBH today

Updated. 5 Jan, near midnight. We know the non-verdict verdict by Coroner Azmil Mustapha Abas earlier today. I don't know what to make out of it. Blogger SatD, who usually knows stuff normal people don't, is asking questions too ..

Will Teoh Beng Hock certificate of Death have 
MATI TERJATUH DARIPADA BANGUNAN 
or is it 
TIDAK DI BUNUH DAN TIDAK MEMBUNUH DIRI?

Which one

why so ?

Duty of Coroner or Magistrate holding inquiry to forward copy of finding
24. When an inquest or inquiry is held into the death of any person, the Coroner or Magistrate holding such inquest or inquiry shall, within twenty-four hours after the conclusion thereof, forward to the Superintendent-Registrar for the registration area within which the death took place or the body of such person was found a certificate setting forth the cause of death as ascertained at such inquiry, and such other particulars as are required for the purpose of registration, and the cause of death disclosed in such certificate shall be entered in the register. Go here Point 24
 Read SPLAT!!!! his take on the TBH verdict.

Original Posting



The much-awaited verdict of the inquest into the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock is expected to be delivered at the Shah Alam Magistrate Court today at 2.30pm. Thirty-seven witnesses testified, including Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand and British forensics expert Professor Dr Peter Vanezis.

Teoh, political secretary to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on July 16 2009 on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam after he had given a statement at the office of the Selangor branch of the commission on the 14th floor of the same building. He was 30.

Read on ... HERE.

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Green revolution for our schools

GENSET HYBRID SYSTEM. I've just been floored by Syed Akbar Ali's A Message for the Ministry of Education. Parents are having to cough up too much to educate their children these days. Something Muhyiddin Yassin, our Education Minister and DPM, must urgently address or else we all die standing.

But here is some GOOD NEWS in the meantime.

Muhyiddin is about to get something VERY right with regards to schools (as against education). At the end of the month, remote schools that are run by diesel-powered generators will be provided with hybrid gensets which are more energy-efficient, environmentally friendly and cheaper. Trial runs involving several schools in Sarawak show that the government could save at least RM100,000 a year per school. Some schools saved more than RM300,000 a year.

Total expected savings under the scheme = OVER RM1 BILLION A YEAR!

The GenSet Hybrid System is homegrown, from R & D to manufacturing to system integration. It marries JKR and private sector companies.

Aduan polis

Dengar cerita Chegubard dan beberapa orang anak muda Negeri akan ke balai polis di Seremban untuk buat aduan mengenai dakwaan seorang amah dari Jawa yang dirogol seorang Menteri dari Malaysia pada tahun 2007.

Elok tu.


Kalau sebelum ni tak ada fail yang dibukak lagi walaupun berita ni dah menular ke alam siber dari Hong Kong ke Jakarta, aduan Chegubard akan memaksa pihak polis bukak fail dan memulakan siasatan keatas isu yang boleh menjejas kredibiliti kerajaan Malaysia. Kalau dah ada fail lama, boleh bukak semula fail tu. Dah tak boleh sorok lagi ...

Monday, January 03, 2011

The making of a Detroit city, South East Asia


And PASSAT to replace PROTON PERDANA? SYED Mokthar Al Bukhary is on to a Herculean task - building Detroit in a town called Pekan.


Richest Malaysians 2010
Eleven years after setting up the Port of Tanjung Pelepas at the backyard of of Singapore, the tycoon is attempting to use his tie up with Germany's VW to position Pekan as the Detroit of South East Asia, by making Pekan the main VW hub for 600 million South East Asians.
While many would laugh it off as day dreamer's dream, the Singaporeans certainly aren't one of them.
Singapore's HwangDBS Vickers Research says there is minimal execution risk for the venture, as DRB-HICOM have proven their mettle by being the first assembler of the Mercedes S- Class outside of Germany.
The venture with VW, is less than three weeks old and the tycoon has been busy pushing the German marque to the forefront. Read From Perdana to Passat. 

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Apanama: A blogger unmasked

AH, FIRDAUS! So, the blogger behind  Apanama is Firdaus Abduallh, a seasoned journo who left the New Straits Times recently to be on his own. The official story is Firdaus has "taken over" Apanama, one of the blogs that contributed towards the political tsunami in 2008, i.e. short-living Abdullah Ahamad Badawi's tenure as PM. Any which way, congrats Firdaus (and the former owner of Apanama), blogosphere is the richer for this move.

Firdaus also runs Signboard and tweets with @firdyfire.

KJ merajuk?

"TAKING A BREAK FROM POLITICS." Woken up this morning about this article published by the Star today and am wondering if the newspaper had made a mistake. When my friend told me about the news, I thought it was a joke. My response: "Maybe he's going to stand in a State seat". But the Star article is quite clear:

Read the entire article H E R E.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Happy New Year!

To a momentous 2011, InsyAllah. Here's wishing all my dear readers, commenters and fellow bloggers a Happy New Year and may you and your loved ones remain healthy and happy always.



It's going to be a big year for politics, again (this is Malaysia, so every year is a big year for politics). Sarawak election must be held by mid-year and there's talk of a snap state election in Selangor to coincide with Sarawak's. More and more people are convinced Najib is going to call for general election this year though I myself believe he isn't in such a hurry, that he's looking at the slow-and-steady method to win the race. But then again, some people may see a hint in the PM's New Year's message:
"Let's not be satisfied and just sit back to be mere critics. Let's mould a better future for the coming generations.

"The power to build lies in the hands of the people. Fulfil this responsibility as best as you can," he said.
Read more: PM Najib urges Malaysians to build a better future http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/PMNajiburgesMalaysianstobuildabetterfuture/Article/#ixzz19i56Ext3