2. I must admit there is some truth in this. One has to know the background of the bidder before deciding to give the award. If awards are made entirely on the basis of the offer, mistakes can be made also. This is because the bidder can get professionals and others to make “cannot be refused” offer which in the end would prove impossible to carry out.

3. It is true that those tasked with evaluating bids would tend to favour known performers rather than totally unknown strangers. The more they know about the bidders the more would their decisions be influenced. It is indeed “whom” you know and not “what” you know.

2. Unfortunately mere acceptance is not enough. It is not enough because everyone, from the top most person to the ordinary people, be they from a political party or of a nation, can find ways to abuse and frustrate the true democratic process. As a result we see democracies failing to work in most organisations or political parties and in many nations.

3. Basically democracy is about giving power to the majority. It is assumed that the majority knows what is best for the whole. The minority should therefore be prepared to accept the rule of the majority albeit after presenting opposing views and criticisms. The minority must be prepared to wait for the next election in order to make another bid.

2.It is about MPs and members of the House of Lords giving their main home addresses out of London in order to claim £174 per day allowance during Parliamentary sitting even though they actually live in London. Seems that some vagueness in the rules has placed the Lords beyond the reach of this rule.

3.Next, on an inside page, the headline reads “City’s biggest names face legal action over Lehman’s collapse.” I am sure Malaysian papers would have reported this.

2. Intolerance simply invites intolerance.

3. What next?

2. Malaysians will not be able to buy it for a long time but even though the car was designed for the world market it would first appear on Malaysian roads.

3. It is a small car, designed by Italdesign Giugiaro and Proton designers and engineers in Turin. For a small car it is very spacious and has many innovative features. It can actually seat up to five adults and comes in three versions. There will be three more versions later.

2. I was invited to see the new F1 car being developed by Dato Seri Tony Fernandes and Dato Kamaruddin Meranun at the facilities they had acquired in Norwich, England. I had promised to sit in and start the engine of this car if it could be built in the short time they had before the first F1 race in Bahrain in March. I was pleasantly surprised that by the time I arrived on February 22, not only could I sit in the racer and start the engine but the car itself had been undergoing trial races in Spain. They had brought back the car for me to sit in and start the engine. The next day they were to take the car back to Spain for further speed trials.

3. I was glad to see quite a number of Proton engineers working on the production and assembly of the car.

2. Maybe they have not heard that this is the man, the Prime Minister of Britain who has been proven to be a liar, who had admitted that he lied about the capability of Iraq to launch a nuclear attack against Britain within 45 minutes. He lied about this absurdity because he wanted his Government, Parliament and the British people to support war against Iraq, to support his violent overthrow of a foreign Government he did not approve.

3. He lied that he had information that Saddam Hussein had an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Today the whole world knows that Iraq had no WMD (maybe those who are inviting him do not know about this. If they didn’t know then they don’t deserve to call their group as wanting to be achievers).

2. He says “that doesn’t mean you can lash out at someone before looking at your own country.” Precisely – the Australians should not be condemning Malaysian practices before looking at Australia itself.

3. Malaysian discrimination had never involved genocide and seizing the land of the indigenous. Look at that and many more including the White Australia Policy of the recent past before lashing out at Malaysia.

2. The demand that the Government of Malaysia stop the trial of Anwar for sodomy is typical of the arrogance that suggests the White Australia Policy is still alive and kicking. The desire to be the Deputy Sheriff of East Asia is still there.

3. I have written elsewhere about the killing of Indian students. The Members of Parliament would do well to coach their people not to be violent racists.

2. But supposing this happens in Malaysia, then of course the Prime Minister must have been responsible.