POLITICIANS vs JOURNALISTS

1. The world is in a bad shape because politicians instead of journalists run it. I came to this conclusion after reading a copy of The Economist, the British magazine. The writers in the Economist seem to know everything that ails the world and they also know how all these ailment can be cured.

2. The copy begins with the front page illustration of the statue of Christ tumbling through the air from its pedestal on Sugar Loaf mountain in Brazil; down, I suppose to crash on Rio de Janeiro. I suppose it is to illustrate the grave situation in the country.

3. The articles on Brazil began with “Grounded”, followed by “A rough ride for (President Dilma) Rousseff”. Then “The price is wrong”, and an advice on agriculture, “Leaves Well Alone”, followed by “The Road to Hell”. “Money no Object” (on the football stadium), “Land of the Setting Sun”, “Look Good” followed by “Reality Dawns”. The articles describe all the wrong things that are being done by Brazil and how they should and could be corrected.

4. Other articles are entitled “A new Face of Terror” (which Western Governments do not know), “Sending the Wrong Smoke-Signal” (on E-cigarettes), “Angela’s Dilemma” (telling Angela Merkel to look to the Greens).

5. “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is to warn everyone not to put too much faith in Iran’s nuclear deal “and keep the sanctions on”. Cameron, the Prime Minister of United Kingdom is told to “Remember what you once were (the Prime Minister should reclaim the radical centre of British politics)”. “The Unquenchable Fire” is about the Al-Qaeda still being around and deplore the fact that Mr Zawahiri, its current leader is not dead yet. This seems like hinting that the United States should assassinate the Al-Qaeda leader as they did Osama Ben Laden. I suppose Zawahiri’s corpse would be dumped in the sea.

Continue reading POLITICIANS vs JOURNALISTS

Chin Peng

This article appeared in the New Straits Times, Oct 1, 2013

 

1. Attempts to declare Chin Peng a patriot, nationalist and freedom fighter reflect how far derailed some Malaysians are from what the Communist Party of Malaya represented and what was its real objective.

2. Firstly, it must be pointed out that the CPM continued with their insurgency long after Malaya and then Malaysia had gained independence in 1957.

3. In their fight against the Government of independent Malaysia, the CPM killed civilians and security personnel by the thousands without considering their role as defenders of independence or their innocence. Senior police officers were assassinated and police patrols were ambushed and gunned down.

4. Nationals of an independent country do not kill fellow nationals who were only doing their duty to provide security for the citizens who wanted just to earn a living, who wanted to live a normal life. Yet the CPM ignored the independence of the nation, the democratic rights of the people in its single-minded desire to create a Communist dictatorship in Malaysia. The CPM were prepared to use extreme violence so as to install its leader Chin Peng, as the authoritarian ruler of the country.
Continue reading Chin Peng

REGIME CHANGE

1.      The British parliament, to the surprise (and probably relief) of Prime Minister David Cameron, rejected British armed intervention in Syria.  Then Barack Obama, President of America, decided that he would ask for Congress approval even for what he called limited military action against the Syrian Government despite his right to declare war without the approval of Congress.  In other words he is   not really willing.  It is a smart move on his part because if the venture fails Congress cannot blame him alone.

2.      It looks like the Western Powers have learnt something from their experience in Afghanistan and Iraq.  They once thought that it would take only a few months of shock and awe to achieve regime change in these two countries.  In the event after ten years of war, after losing thousands of their own soldiers while killing hundreds of thousands of Afghans and Iraqis, devastating these countries, the regime changes have not resulted in the democracy they expected.  If at all the present situation in these two countries is much worse than before invasion and the regime changes.

3.      The hesitation over a military adventure in Syria, even a limited one is understandable.  Yes, the use of chemical weapons probably killed over a thousand innocent Syrians.  But already about 200,000 people have been killed.  Is it acceptable to kill unlimited numbers of innocent people with bombs, rockets and bullets but not with chemical weapons?

4.      If a military invasion is to take place surely it would cause more deaths, definitely more than the number killed by chemical weapons.  And supposing the arsenal of chemical weapons are hit, would it not cause even more deaths.

5.      Supposing limited war takes the form of assassination of the President, would the war stop?  Would the opposition take over the Government and set up a democracy?  The killings of Saddam and Ghadafi have not resulted in stability for their countries.  Even the removal of Hosni Mubarak has not resulted in Egypt being stable and democratic.

Continue reading REGIME CHANGE

THE ROHINGYAS

1.  If you want to fight then pick on someone you can beat.  If you do this you will always win.  But then you will be called a bully.  That is alright.

2.  The weak of today are the Muslims.  And the Muslims are weak because they choose to be weak.  I say they choose because Allah has not just given them a good religion, a religion of high values which when practiced would make them strong and respected but Allah has also given them resources of wealth which enable them to have a good life doing nothing.  With money they can get others to do their work for them.

3.  Because of all these the Muslims are weak and can be bullied by anyone. And when they get bullied no one, certainly not their Muslim brothers will come to their help.  So whenever a bully wants to bully he will always pick on the Muslims.

Continue reading THE ROHINGYAS

MASA DEPAN UMNO

ARTIKEL IN TELAH DI SIARKAN DI DALAM AKHBAR UTUSAN MALAYSIA KELUARAN SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

 

1. Saya berasa serba salah. Saya setia kepada UMNO. Saya ingin lihat UMNO terus mewakili orang Melayu, mempertahan dan memajukan mereka. Saya sedar akan hakikat bahawa UMNO mengidap sakit tua, dan ia akan maut kerana sudah tua. Ini naluri manusia. Lambat laun manusia akan menemui ajalnya.

2. Pembaharuan umat manusia ialah melalui zuriat. Anak kita, cucu kita, cicit kita akan kekalkan kita secara tidak langsung di dunia, akan sedikit sebanyak meneruskan sumbangan kita yang terdahulu.

3. Saya cuba sedarkan UMNO akan usianya yang sudah lanjut. Saya menulis akan perlunya UMNO diperbaharui dengan penerimaan ahli serta kepimpinan dari generasi muda. Malangnya ada pihak yang berpendapat tulisan saya mempunyai agenda tertentu, kononnya kerana saya ingin kekalkan kepimpinan saya melalui anak saya. Mungkin secara kebetulan ini akan terjadi. Tetapi jika kerana tuduhan ini saya tidak berusaha untuk kebaikan UMNO, ini bermakna saya lebih utama imej saya daripada tanggungjawab saya kepada parti. Jika saya ingin tolong anak saya, sepatutnya saya berusaha semasa saya Perdana Menteri. Tetapi saya tidak berbuat demikian. Pada hakikatnya, UMNO sekarang memerlukan pembaikan, dan walau apa pun tuduhan saya terpaksalah ketepikan, jika sedikit sebanyak dapat saya sumbang untuk masa depan UMNO dan orang Melayu. Saya tidak penting. UMNO dan orang Melayu tetap lebih penting daripada saya, atau anak saya.

4. Saya ulangi UMNO sedang mengidap sakit tua yang tetap akan membawa maut. Hanya jika UMNO diperbaharui oleh yang muda barulah UMNO dapat meneruskan perjuangan-perjuangan yang diamanah kepada UMNO oleh bangsa Melayu. Ahli UMNO mestilah ditambah melalui kemasukan generasi muda yang bersemangat kebangsaan. Demikian juga dengan kepimpinan UMNO di semua peringkat, terutama di peringkat pusat, di dalam MajlisTertinggi. Ahli-ahli badan ini mestilah terdiri sebahagiannya daripada yang muda.

5. Saya masih ingat mereka yang menjadi pengasas UMNO. Mereka muda-muda belaka. Purata usia mereka belum pun setengah abad. Ramai yang hanya dalam lingkungan tiga puluhan. Mereka memiliki kecergasan minda orang muda, bersemangat, memiliki cita-cita besar untuk bangsa mereka. Dan UMNO pun bertenaga, aktif kerana mudanya pemimpin dan ini memberi harapan kepada bangsa Melayu. Dan mereka pun berjaya, berjaya menewaskan Malayan Union British, memerdekakan negara dan bangsa, mengatasi segala cabaran setelah mengambilalih pemerintahan, mengisi kemerdekaan secara bermakna sehinggalah negara yang kerdil, bangsa yang terhina dahulu dikenali dunia sebagai bangsa yang berwibawa, yang mampu bersaing dan memajukan negara ini berpuluh kali lebih baik daripada penjajah. UMNO membangunkan Malaysia sehingga menjadi negara contoh yang dikagumi dunia. Berduyun-duyun orang asing datang untuk mempelajari darinya, mempelajari ilmu berkenaan pembangunan negara dan bermacam lagi.

Continue reading MASA DEPAN UMNO

FUEL SUBSIDY

1. The Government has withdrawn subsidy for petrol by 20¢ or roughly by 10% of the pump price. Businesses are already talking about raising the prices of goods they sell. They say that they have to pass on the price increase to their customers.

2. How does the price increase affect business? That depends on how much oil including transport cost enters into their business or products.

3. Assuming oil makes up 10% of the input into their products or services. This will mean 10% of 10%, that is 1%. It is a percentage in terms of increase in cost which most business can easily absorb. There need not be any increase in prices of their products or services.

4. Of course some products or services may have 50% or more of fuel needed. For example transport business. Even here the fuel needed is not 100%. There are other costs to bear. The increase in cost should therefore not be 50%. It should not be even 10%. It should be only 5% or only slightly more.

Continue reading FUEL SUBSIDY

SUNNI DAN SYIAH

1. Sejarah Islam dipenuhi dengan permusuhan antara Sunni dengan Syiah. Kerapkali peperangan berlaku di antara mereka. Hari ini kita baca dalam akhbar dan TV berkenaan dengan letupan bom yang membunuh dan mencedera beratus-ratus daripada pengikut kedua-dua mazhab ini semasa mereka sedang sembahyang Jumaat di masjid dan di lain-lain tempat di mana mereka berkumpul.

2. Melihat akan permusuhan dan bunuh-membunuh diantara Sunni dan Syiah, musuh-musuh Islam, Yahudi dan sekutu mereka amat gembira. Bagi mereka, samada Sunni atau Syiah, semuanya adalah orang Islam dan seteru mereka. Kerja mereka untuk melemah dan musnahkan Islam dan orang Islam sedang dibuat oleh orang Islam sendiri.

3. Permusuhan antara Sunni dan Syiah ini tidak berlaku di Malaysia kerana buat sekian lama semua orang Islam di Negara ini terdiri daripada Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah, iaitu Sunni pengikut Imam Shafei. Mereka semua berpegang kepada ajaran Islam yang sama. Walaupun perbezaan politik memisahkan diantara orang Islam di Malaysia, tetapi ia tidak sampai kepada membunuh dan berperang.

Continue reading SUNNI DAN SYIAH

MEROBOH SURAU

1. Ramai berpendapat surau yang telah diguna oleh orang bukan Islam tidak lagi boleh diguna sebagai tempat sembahyang orang Islam. Surau itu patut diroboh.

2. Saya berpendapat jika jemaah di qariah berkenaan tidak lagi suka untuk mengguna surau berkenaan, itu adalah hak mereka membuat apa-apa tindakan.

3. Apabila Sultan Mehmet II tawan Constantinople, ibu kota Byzantium, gereja Hagar Sophia yang terbesar, dijadikan masjid bagi bangsa Turki yang beragama Islam. Demikian juga beberapa gereja Kristian di Hungary dijadikan masjid apabila Hungary jatuh ke tangan Othmaniah Turki.

4. Di Cordoba (Kurtubah) dan di Granada, masjid orang Islam dijadikan gereja apabila wilayah-wilayah ini ditawan semula oleh orang Katolik Sepanyol.

5. Di Malaysia juga ada gereja yang dijadikan masjid. Kem Terendak di Melaka di zaman British diguna sebagai kem bagi askar British. Sebuah gereja didirikan oleh British untuk askar mereka yang beragama Kristian.

6. Gereja ini sekarang, jika saya tak salah, dijadikan masjid untuk askar Melayu.

7. Setakat yang saya tahu tidak ada kuil Buddha atau Hindu yang pernah dijadikan masjid.

Continue reading MEROBOH SURAU

ADVICE THAT WILL BANKRUPT THE NATION

1. I am happy that Tun Abdullah has explained that he did not write about how the nation would be bankrupt if he had followed my advice. It was the interviewer.

2. I hope he does not mind my clearing my name over what the interviewer wrote in “The Awakening”. Yes, I agree that I was a spendthrift Prime Minister who finished all the government money building the North South Expressway, Penang Bridge, West Port, KLIA, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya and an assortment of others.

3. Had Tun Abdullah succeeded me earlier all these would be stopped to save Malaysia from bankruptcy. As it is, he managed to stop the crooked bridge and the railway double-tracking and electrification project.

4. The bridge would have cost just under 1 billion Ringgit. The cancellation cost the Government 200 million Ringgit in compensation and unfinished work.

5. The railway project from Johor Bahru to Padang Besar was going to cost 14 billion Ringgit – slightly more than 2 billion per year for six years. Fourteen billion Ringgit was saved. But then it was found necessary to build the electrified double track from Ipoh to Padang Besar. The cost is 12 billion Ringgit.

Continue reading ADVICE THAT WILL BANKRUPT THE NATION

Water For Singapore

Water For Singapore

1. I would like to thank the visitor to my blog who pointed out that the terms of the agreement to supply raw water and receive treated water to and from Singapore actually favours Malaysia.  I agree.  But I am talking about revision in the price of raw water since 3 sen per 1000 gallons is ridiculous today.  It would be even more ridiculous in the decades to come.  Hence, the need to renegotiate.  According to the present agreement, if Malaysia sells 1,000,000 of raw water it should be paid 3,000 sen or RM30.00.

2.  Malaysia can buy 12% of the raw water treated by Singapore at 50 sen per 1000 gallons i.e for 120,000 gallons, Malaysia has to pay RM60.00 for this.  But the cost of treating water is RM1.09 (say RM1.10)

3.  The savings for Malaysia is therefore 60 sen per 1000 gallons equals to RM72.00 for 120,000 gallons.

4.   Since 3 sen is ridiculous, supposing Malaysia wishes to ask for 6 sen per 1000 gallons, an increase of 100%.  It can only do so if Singapore agrees.  It can be assumed that Singapore would want to increase the price of treated water.  It may ask for the same quantum i.e a 100% increase to RM1.00 per 1000 gallons.

5.  For 120,000 gallons Malaysia will have to pay RM120.00.  The cost of treatment for 120,000 gallons is 1.10 x 120 = RM132.00.

6.  The benefit for Malaysia would be reduced to RM12.00 due to the increase in price.  If there is negotiations then Singapore might be persuaded not to increase or to increase at a lower rate.  But this will not be the end.

7.  Johor charges Malacca 30 sen per 1000 gallons.  If we charge the same to Singapore would it raise the price above the cost of treatment?  If it does than it would be better for Malaysia to have its own treatment plant.

8. That is why negotiations are necessary from time to time.  We should not allow ourselves to be short-changed over the next 57 years to 2060.

9.   Malaysia should learn to include exit clauses when entering into agreements.  It should always remember that over time money depreciates i.e prices increase.