Hello on 2

Talk blog. I'll be on RTM2 this morning for its breakfast show, Hello on Two, which starts at 8 am. This is Zam's tv station, in case you didn't know. They want me to talk about blogs. Since I dream blog, walk blog, and write blog, talk blog should be no sweat. But, really, breakfast shouldn't be too early.

Wayang over, Kali returns to ECM

Minus KJ but plus Tony Fernandes! Yesterday's StarBiz had a front-page blurb on the news that Kalimullah Hassan, the editorial adviser who filed a lawsuit with NSTP and three others against me in January, will be back in the driving seat of this boutique investment bank that once gave Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son-in-law a "leg-up". Kalimullah sold off his shares together with Khairy Jamaluddin, better known as KJ, last year in the face of massive pressure from Dr Mahathir Mohamad [read here].

But while KJ remains out of the picture for obvious reason, Tony Fernandes or TF is reportedly going to be a new partner in ECM. Bigdogdotcom says this explains a lot of things for him:

"So, the picture becomes clearer and how Khairy's relationship with Fernandez (sic) crystallized further, for the rest of us. This suspicion ahd lingered in many minds, ever since Khairy Jamaluddin announced that he would be taking up 3% ECM Libra share sometime late 2005. The rest, there onwards, as they always say, is history.
Now history is back in the making and unfolding, all over again. Saturday 28 April 2007 (whilst the rest of the people in the Klang Valley were focused on the Ijok nail biting by-election. Star Biz (www.thestar.com.my) has the story of this new development."

TF, the man credited for creating the phenomenal AirAsia, has built up quite a business portfolio in the last few years, including budget hotel, also in partnership with Kalimullah. He made the news last week following a controversial Cabinet decision to help AirAsia's subsidiary Fax "give back" the rural services to Malaysia Airlines after less than a year [backgrounder here].
Kalimullah is still Editorial Adviser of the NSTP, a position that gives him control over how news - including business news - in the country's major newspapers is presented.

Scroll down bigdog's posting here to read the Biz Star's piece.

No more Freelunch

Goodbye girl. Jed Yoong said she was going to stop blogging, at least as Jed Yoong, after the Ijok by-election in order to avoid any conflict of interests between her blog and her new job as Editor of the Rocket, the DAP party's newsletter.
Just before midnight, she put an end to her amazing Freelunch2020 blog:

As promised. After Ijok. THE END.
Jumpa lagi, di mana-mana.
It's been an amazing journey.

Good luck , Jed.
Afternoon udpate: A Voice has a posted a tribute to FL.
And a CORRECTION: Jed is no longer editor of Rocket.

Parthiban beats Khalid

Unofficial: Word from the ground in Ijok was that the BN candidate, Cikgu K. Parthiban, has won the by-election, beating the more illustrious Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, the PKR candidate, by quite a margin. Bigdog sniffed the victory early. For latest updates, go to KMU and Malaysiakini.

Official:
Parthiban 5884 votes Khalid 4034 votes
1850-vote majority is 201 more than in 2004
83.08 per cent turnout for polling, the highest in Malaysia's by-election history

source: Malaysiakini's BN win with bigger majority