THE ANTI-SEMITIC


1. The Simon Weisenthal Centre (Jewish) has published a list of people who are classified as anti-Semitic in 2010.

2. This classification is based on the “slurs” uttered by these people against the Jews or Israel in that year.

3. I am listed among the top 10. I suppose what I had said in 2010 are regarded by the Jewish Centre as slurs but I was merely exercising my right to free speech to speak up against what I considered as injustice.

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THE UNITED STATES

1. There was a time when I thought that peace had come to the world. The Cold War had ended with the forces of the righteous triumphant.

2. But alas, for the small countries of the world, there is now more fear. The great democracies of the world, headed by the United States have decided on a crusade to democratise the whole world, through violence and war where necessary.

3. I am reading Robert Fisk, a British journalist, on the great war for civilisation i.e. the war in the Middle East. In all these wars the US plays a dominant role, not as a peace maker to stop the violent conflicts between the fractious Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries but to start wars against them so as to spread democracy.

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RUBBISH


1. It is reported that Malaysia produces 94,000 tons of rubbish per day or 34,310,000 tons per year.

2. I suppose a substantial portion of this must be produced by Greater Kuala Lumpur (population of about 5.5 million).

3. Population wise Greater KL has about 20 per cent of Malaysia’s population. Therefore Greater KL’s production of rubbish is approximately seven million tons per year.

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MiG and SUKHOI

1. Flight International reports that India may upgrade the Sukhoi-30MKI.

2. The MiG-21 would be retired but the MiG-29 would be upgraded.

3. Malaysia has been working with India on the modification to the Russian-built aircraft. Maybe we should find out what the upgrading of the Sukhoi Su-30 and the MiG-29 is all about.

4. There was talk before of replacing the MiG-29 with other aircraft. I wonder whether there is a threat of war currently. If there is none, then if necessary only we should upgrade what we have.

MAHA

**Selamat Menyambut Maal Hijrah 1432**

1. By the time I visited MAHA Show at Serdang Saturday morning, 1.8 million people had been ahead of me. The papers reported today that altogether 2.7 million people visited the show this year.

2. This year’s show is clearly bigger and better. The Ministry of Agriculture and its agencies like MARDI and FAMA must be congratulated.

3. I noted that the Ministry of Agriculture has made tremendous progress in upgrading Malaysian agriculture. The farmers and fishermen should not languish in poverty if they make use of the techniques developed by MARDI, FAMA and other ministry agencies and departments.

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SOUNDBITES – HOUSING

1. There have been many comments on my blog on Housing.

2. As usual some are for and some against.

3. I don’t have to reply because the comments cancel each other.

4. Nevertheless I think an audit of the occupancy of the buildings completed in the last three years would be useful to validate or disprove the comments on the blog.

5. The Government may find it useful to require returns on the sale and occupancy as well as the length of time premises unsold or bought remain empty.

6. This audit should be updated every three or six months. Not only will it be useful to the Government but developers will also benefit from the information.

HOUSING


1. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s there was a great construction boom in Tokyo. Land was sold at USD 3,000 per sq foot. Everyone was rushing to buy expensive land because the market for apartments and office space seem to be forever.

2. Then suddenly the market dried up. The boom became bust. Since then Japan has not been able to really recover.

3. It was the same with Hong Kong. The economy collapsed because of overbuilding.

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THE CURRENCY


1. The Malaysian Ringgit has appreciated after control was removed. It is now stronger against the US Dollar by approximately 20 per cent.

2. What does this mean to the people? It should result in imports becoming cheaper if not by 20 per cent at least by some percentage below that.

3. But I don’t think Malaysian imports paid for in US Dollars is noticeably cheaper in Ringgit. Why is this so?

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TUN DR LIM CHONG EU


1. We know that we must all leave this life one day. But knowing the inevitabilty of death cannot stop us from grieving over the passage of a great man, no matter how long he may have lived.

2. As a nationalist, as a friend, as a compatriot, I feel saddened by the passage from this life of Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu.

3. Except for Tun Razak, Tun Lim contributed most to the formation of the National Front, the coalition which succeeded the Alliance, ruled and developed Malaysia until today. He responded postively to the proposal by Tun Razak to rejoin the coalition for the good of Malaysia. He rose above many of the grievances which had led him to leave the MCA, to become a junior partner even though he had been victorious. He was content to be just a Chief Minister of Penang.

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SOUNDBITES

MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY

The Nation newspaper reported on October 18th that the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Markel, said “Multikulti (Multicultural) in Germany has not worked” (read here).

Her remarks were prompted by the unwillingness of Germany’s non-German population of 16 million, including Turks and Jews to “integrate” with the natives of Germany i.e. the ethnic Germans.

For the Muslim Turks integration means curbs on their religion. Whether the Jews also should have their religion curbed is not mentioned.

I think Malaysia can be regarded as being more successful with multi-culturalism. We are more tolerant of the differences between our racial origins, our religions, our languages and our cultures.

I think Germany and Chancellor Merkel can learn something from Malaysia about multi-culturalism.