BN manafacturing Selangor water crisis again?

Many have claimed that the so called Selangor Water Crisis touted by Syabas and Barasan Nasional is delibrately manufactured to presure the Selangor State Government (SSG) into giving the go ahead for the Langat 2 water treatment plant (and also to try to put SSG in bad light and thus pave the way for BN to recapture Selangor from PKR in the next election). Is this true?

Well, for one, when Syabas first mentioned about wanting to ration water a few months back, were/are there any news of any area actually subjected to water rationing after the SSG rubbished it as being delibrately manufactured? The answer is no.

And now there is this breaking news by Malaysiakini - Staged water shortage filmed in secret in PJ.

Do surf over there and read their report yourself and make up your own mind about the truth of a water crisis in Selangor.

Rafizi explains how auctioning APs can lower car prices

Mukhriz Mahathir has come out with guns blazing trying to blast at Rafizi’s plan to reduce car prices by putting up the AP (Approved Permit) required to import a car into Malaysia, up for auction. Mukhriz is scratching his head on how auctioning APs can lower prices.

Rafizi’s explanation is simple as explained in the article below, Answering Mukhriz Mahathir: Car prices 101:

Answering Mukhriz Mahathir: Car prices 101

• Rafizi Ramli
• 11:23AM Sep 15, 2012

COMMENT I am glad that Mukhriz Mahathir has finally decided to respond to our campaign #turunkanhargakereta, especially when he is primarily tasked with the national automotive policies.
He is also expected to win the next Umno Youth head contest easily, so his views on issues affecting the younger population are a glimpse of what life under another 5-year term of BN rule will be like.
Among the many daily economic woes experienced by the younger population, exorbitantly high car prices easily occupy the top three concerns of this group.
Mukhriz (right) asked me a simple question: how can auctioning approval permits (permits to import cars) lower car prices?
The question was so simple that initially I was not sure whether he really did not understand the mechanics of the policies we had proposed, or part of his brilliant strategy to catch us.
Eventually as he kept repeating the same question at press conferences and in his tweets, I began to realise that he truly could not understand ( in commercial or in economic terms) how auctioning AP in a transparent process can lower car prices.
Let me attempt to explain the mechanics to the deputy minister in charge of automotive policies in the country.
Nitty gritty of car prices
To understand what needs to be done in order to trim car prices, we need to know the main cost components that make up the final selling price for customers.
For cars manufactured by national automotive companies or assembled here, there are two components: the cost of the car itself (which already includes the profit margin for the manufacturer) and the taxes/duties levied by the government.
As it is, the taxes/duties constitute at least 50 percent of the final car price - meaning if you buy a car with a retail price of RM50,000, the government takes RM25,000 in taxes/duties.
The same cost structure is also applicable to imported cars , with the addition of 2 more cost components. Each imported car attracts additional 30 percent import duty and a much higher hidden cost due to the AP that you need to obtain to import.
Previously, the AP was given to only selected companies/individuals with close connections to the ruling elite.
As the pressure mounted in the last few years, the BN government began to charge a flat rate of RM10,000 for each AP.
But the cost of AP translates into a much more expensive portion of the cost component that makes up the final retail price.
To understand how much an AP pushes up the retail price, Tony Pua shared his experience in importing a Nissan Juke using his AP entitlement as a member of parliament.
To cut the story short, he paid about RM100,000 to import the car. RM45,000 for the actual cost of the car plus the shipping cost. The balance RM55,000 comprised excise duty at 85 percent, sales tax at 10 percent and import tax at 30 percent.
Pua (right) was lucky to pay only RM100,000 for the car because if he were to buy from a local car dealer, he would have had to shell out RM160,000.
Trapped in intricate web
The difference of RM60,000 between buying from an importer and importing on your own (because you have an AP) is the actual impact of the opaque AP system, responsible for pushing car prices to exorbitantly high levels.
Nevertheless, the real culprit behind skyrocketing car prices that enslave many a Malaysian in perpetual indebtedness are the taxes imposed on cars.
Furthermore, only 10 percent of the cars sold each year are brought in with APs; 90 percent of the rest (the bulk of the population) are not affected by any changes to the AP system.
Therefore, the only way to correct the distortion and economic misery inflicted on the rakyat is to phase out the high excise duty on cars and bring back car prices to comparable parity with other economies around the world.
Since excise duty is levied on all cars, the phasing out of excise duty will affect both locally manufactured/assembled cars and imported cars.
To understand this better, we should go back to Pua's Nissan Juke. If he imports the car when excise and import duties have been completely phased out, he will need to pay only RM50,000 for the cost of the car, shipping and a 10 percent sales tax.

Magic wand for cheaper cars

He can then estimate how much he wants to bid for the AP to bring the car in. Since Nissan Juke is a small car and comes with better fuel efficiency, the proposed reserve price for the AP of such classes of car start at RM10,000 only (as opposed to if you are bringing in a Lamborghini with high fuel consumption, whose reserve price may start at RM30,000).
Pua then can kick in a bid, factoring in the total price that he is willing to pay. He may aim to pay a maximum of RM90,000 for the car, so he will bid RM40,000 for the AP since the total cost of the car is only RM50,000 without the exorbitant duties phased out by PR.
This is the part which Mukhriz clearly does not understand and as a result of that, frighteningly demonstrates his incompetence before the whole country.
While government will boost its revenue from higher AP payment it receives due to the open bidding system, the same revenue is then used to fund the policy to phase out excise and import duties that currently form the biggest bulk of the cost component of a car's retail price.
When excise and import duties are removed, this automatically lowers prices by at least 50 percent even when the AP price is decided through bidding, because under the current corrupt system the AP already fetches between RM40,000 to RM60,000 each in price similar to the prices expected under open bidding system).
The difference is the money currently goes to the private pockets of closely linked cronies.

This deprives the public of the necessary fund to phase out excise and import duties.
In short, the elimination of excise and import duties on cars across the board will automatically take away the most expensive cost component of a car's retail price.
I hope this explanation is simple enough for Mukhriz to digest because it is of highest imperative that he understands this basic knowledge in the car industry before he decides other complicated matters.

---

Rafizi Ramli is the Strategic Director of PKR. He used to audit car companies.

Will Police use Sedition Act to prosecute these?

Ever since police arrested 2 teenagers (or more?) for stepping on and showing bare buttocks to Najib’s and Rosmah’s photos, people have been asking about similar acts particularly against opposition leaders.

Police has said that they will be impartial and will persecute others as well if police reports are made (if I am not wrong, some police reports have already been made but no action taken.

So now Malaysiakini has kindly dug up its archives and uncovered similar incidents against:

1. Lim Guan Eng
2. Ambiga Sreenevasan
3. Nik Abdul Aziz and Abdul Hadi Awang
4. Lim Kit Siang
5. Khalid Samad
6. Perak’s 3 frogs
7. Koh Tsu Koon
8. Najib Abdul Razak
9. Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin

Below the full article, courtesy of Malaysiakini:

Will the cops call these 'seditious acts' as well?

11:17AM Sep 7, 2012

For the first time ever, the authorities are on the hunt for individuals accused of showing disrespect for public figures by means of stepping on their photograph or in one case, baring a bottom at their photograph.
Currently, the police have identified 11 individuals accused of performing such acts during the eve of Merdeka Day at Dataran Merdeka.
Thus far, a handful of people have surrendered themselves to the police and in one case, a teenager was even put in handcuffs for her alleged crime.
However, it has been pointed out that the 11 are subjects of selective persecution, exacerbated by the haste in investigations and the uncanny ability of the police to identify them with such uncanny accuracy.
The police, however, have denied taking sides and vowed to probe similar instances involving Pakatan Rakyat leaders, provided police reports are lodged.
Since, it has been established that showing disrespect for public figures is a crime under the Sedition Act 1948, below is a list fromMalaysiakini archives to show that the application of this law is not always consistent.
Lim Guan Eng
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng often boast about many firsts under his administration, but he could add "facing the most number of demonstrations in the shortest period of time as chief minister" under his belt as well.
The numerous protests have been varied in nature its objectives appear uniform: It is not just to make a point, but to insult as well.
Not only has his posters been burnt and stepped on several occasions, he has also been given cake shaped in the form offaeces and a had a mock funeral staged in front of his house.
The perpetrators of such acts are widely known as some of them had been quoted by the media. Some of their leaders have also led numerous protests. None of them have been prosecuted thus far.
Due to the sheer shock factor and frequency of such acts against Guan Eng, he deserves to be placed first in this list.
Ambiga Sreenevasan

The former Bar Council president turned electoral reforms activist had quickly amassed a legion of new fans for her work with the Bersih coalition, but it attracted enemies as well.
Detractors came right up to her doorsteps flipping burgers andexercising their posteriors in protest against the Bersih 3.0 rally on July 9.
One group led by Jamal Md Yunus, a prominent restaurant operator and luxury car dealer, even painted yellow boxes on the road in front of her home for flea market stalls.
Kuala Lumpur City Hall could have taken action against the group for vandalism but no known action has been taken, other than to paint over the yellow lines.
Prior to this, Malay rights pressure group Perkasa had held a rally in Kuala Lumpur to protest plans to hold Bersih 3.0 where posters depicting Ambiga were set alight.
In April, Jaringan Melayu Malaysia held a noisy anti-homosexualitydemonstration at Universiti Putra Malaysia which saw posters depicting Ambiga being burnt and stepped on.
Nik Abdul Aziz and Abdul Hadi Awang
PAS' top two are lesser chosen as targets by vandals but a series of photographs that have stuck to the minds of their supporters is one depicting several youths urinating on a banner.
The banner was believed to be strung up somewhere in Shah Alam, prominently featuring Abdul Hadi and Nik Aziz's mugshots. The streams of urine were clearly visible in the photograph.
One of the perpetrator was clad in a BN t-shirt.
Lim Kit Siang
Like his counterparts in PAS, Lim also had to suffer the same indignity of people urinating on his photograph.
The incident happened in April 2009, outside the Shah Alam courthouse where 12 individuals were being tried for their inflammatory demonstration involving a cow head.
Khalid Samad
Khalid Samad, the Shah Alam MP, strangely became the target of protestors who were against the court ruling allowing a Christian publication to use the term "Allah".
He was accused of conspiring against Muslims and one banner accused him of "sodomising" the Islamic faith.
For good measure, protestors also made sure that posters with his photograph were stepped on. All this took place within the compound of the Selangor state mosque.
Perak's independent trio
Pakatan Rakyat is not totally clean either, as revealed during the Perak DAP convention in November 2009.
A giant banner depicting three former Pakatan state assemblyperson who paved the way for the BN takeover of the state in February that year, was used as a door mat for the convention.
Kit Siang was among those photographed standing on the banner while his son Guan Eng had gingerly leapt over it.
Perak DAP chief Ngeh Khoo Ham later conceded that not all party members condoned the act, but stopped short of condemning it.
Koh Tsu Koon
In September 2008, a minor tiff between then Penang BN chief Koh Tsu Koon and Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Ahmad Ismail escalated to the point where it almost tore apart Gerakan and Umno's long ties.
Eventually, the only thing that was torn up was a large framed photograph of Koh adorning Penang Umno headquarters wall at that time.
After Ahmad's fiery press conference, one of his men smashed the photo frame before tearing up koh's photograph of while letting loose a loud roar which overwhelmed the staccato sounds of camera shutter clicks.
Najib Abdul Razak
Compared to the above, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak seemed to have got off pretty easy.
In December last year, a flag bearing his image was lowered during a protest by some 500 youths demanding academic freedom.
The perpetrator was Adam Adli, a student leader, who was later quizzed by the police. He has been suspended by his university for three semesters, but no criminal action has been taken.
In April this year, the same group of students held another demonstration.

A framed photograph of Najib and Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin with a funeral wreath was paraded by the protestors, before being dumped into a rubbish bin.

Can a hand-kisser Kamalanathan be a leader?

Here is the MIC politician Kamalanathan who was lucky enough to win the Ulu Selangor parliamentary seat KISSING the hand of Muhyiddin Hj. Mohd Yassin:

Would you vote for any such hand-kisser who licks their boss ……. ?

Janji ditepati? – Najib how about your promise to Teoh Beng Hock’s family?

Janji ditepati = promises kept. This is Najib’s and the BN’s so called Merdeka Theme.

Let us see how many promises that Najib made.

OK maybe just one would do. The rest you can search  yourself.

Najib promised the family of the late Teoh Beng Hock that no stones would be left uncovered in the investigation over Beng Hock’s death while in the custody of MACC (Malaysia Anti-corruption Commission). Was this kept?

Alert: Never spray aerosols near a fire

Please take very careful attention: All aerosol are highly imflammable. Some even place their aerosols under the gas stove or near gas tank. Please don’t:

This could be a common mistake in any household. Do read carefully please and circulate.

This is shocking accident happened on 13th May 2011 in Pune. This may be a good, useful lesson in safety for all of us.  

A housewife died due to burns sustained in the kitchen. Her husband too was hospitalized for injuries due to burns while trying to rescue his wife.    How it happened?:-   The gas stove was on and cooking under process. The lady observed some cockroaches near the sink and grabbed a can of insect killer and sprayed it near the gas stove, which was on. There was an explosion and in no time the poor woman was covered in flames, sustaining 65% burns. Her husband rushed in, tried to douse the flames and his clothes too caught fire. The husband is still in hospital, in the burns ward, still unaware that his wife was declared dead on arrival.   

Let us understand:-   All insect killer sprays such as "Hit", "Motrin" etc. have highly volatile and inflammable solvents.  The atomized nano spray particles spread extremely rapidly and one spark is enough to ignite this explosive mixture with oxygen present in air. Did the poor lady realize the hazard involved? Apparently not!

Please educate your family about this and spread the word around.... who knows you may save more than a life....

Internet Blackout day against Section 114A

this was swiped form Zorro Unmasked which was posted in support of the Malaysia Internet Blackout day. Will ask him if he wants it taken down:

What is Section 114A?

Section 114A is the second of two amendments made to Malaysia’s Evidence Act 1950.

Law Minister Nazri Aziz tabled the second amendment, formally known as Evidence (Amendment) (No2) Act 2012, in Dewan Rakyat on 18 April. James Dawos Mamit supported the motion, and Section 114A was passed after the second and third reading. On 9 May, Dewan Negara passed the amendment.

The amendment was gazetted on 31 July 2012. This means the law is now operational.

What is the purpose of Section 114A?

Section 114A deals with allegedly illicit or harmful content on the Internet. In short, the amendment enables law enforcement officials to swiftly hold someone accountable for publishing seditious, defamatory, or libelous content online.

How does Section 114A affect you?

Titled “Presumption of Fact in Publication”, Section 114A holds the following people accountable for publishing content online:

(1) those who own, administrate, or edit websites open to public contributors, such as online forums or blogs;

(2) those who provide webhosting services or Internet access; and

(3) those own the computer or mobile device used to publish content online.

In other words, if allegedly defamatory content is traced back to your username, electronic device, and/or WiFi network, Section 114A presumes you are guilty of publishing illicit content on the Internet.

But what if you were the victim of identity theft and a hacker wrongfully used your Twitter or Facebook account to post defamatory content?

Under Section 114A, you are still considered guilty until proven innocent.

What is wrong with Section 114A?

Section 114A is problematic for a number of reasons:

i) It disproportionately burdens average Internet users who are wrongfully accused of publishing seditious or defamatory content.

ii) It makes Internet intermediaries–parties that provide online community forums, blogging and hosting services–liable for content that is published through their services.

iii) It allows hackers and cyber criminals to be free by making the person whose account/computer is hacked liable for any content/data which might have changed.

iv) It is a bad law passed in haste and does not take into account public interest and participation.

HOW WILL IT AFFECT YOU:

HERE

Scam: Don’t ever call area codes 809, 294 and 876.

This email forward apparently had been verified by AT&T VERIFIES IT'S TRUE:

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=6045

and also

SNOPES

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809..asp

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809..asp

But please do your own checkingL

809 Area Code
We actually received a call last week from the 809 area code. The woman said 'Hey, this is Karen. Sorry I missed you- get back to us quickly. I have something important to tell you.' Then she repeated a phone number beginning with 809. We did not respond. Then this week, we received the following
e-mail:
Do Not DIAL AREA CODE 809, 284, AND 876
809
Be sure you read this and pass it on.
They get you to call by telling you that it is information about a family member who has been ill or to tell you someone has been arrested, died, or to let you know you have won a wonderful prize, etc..
In each case, you are told to call the 809 number right away. Since there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly return these calls.
If you call from the U.S. , you will apparently be charged
$2425 per-minute.
Or, you'll get a long recorded message. The point is, they will try to keep you on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges.
WHY IT WORKS:
The  809 area code is located in the Dominican Republic .
The charges afterward can become a real nightmare. That's because you did actually make the call. If you complain, both your local phone company and your long distance carrier will not want to get involved and will most likely tell you that they are simply providing the billing for the foreign company. You'll end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they have done nothing wrong.
Please forward this entire message to your friends, family and colleagues to help them become aware of this scam.

Don’t get scammed by the BN manufactured Selangor Water Crisis. Read this. Important.

Something for the Selangor folks, especially the voters, to read, before they get taken in by the damned BN Government.

Koon Yew Yin I have read in theStar newspaper and is not only a philanthropist, but have tried to encourage other

Subject: SOMETHING'S FISHY

    Hi Folks,

Many of you maybe wondering what's all the fuss over the purported "Selangor Water Crisis". Is there actually a crisis or was BN trying to create a crisis?

Below is an article by the well-known philanthropist, Koon Yew Yin who hails from Perak. Koon Yew Yin graduated from Technical College, KL in the early 50's & he was the co-founder of established construction firms, Mudajaya, IJM & Gamuda.

So, it has something to do with transferring raw water from Sungai Semantan in Bentong, Pahang to Selangor via a 45km long tunnel thru the Main Range. This water transfer i.e. Pahang selling raw water to Selangor, was agreed during Mahathir's time & the tunnel is now purportedly 50% completed.

Apparently, the modus operandi of our corrupt political leaders is to create gigantic projects, dish them out to cronies who in turn, will give huge kickbacks, preferrably into oversea bank accounts of our political leaders.

In the 80's, we used to crack jokes about politicians promising to build bridges where there are no river. Now, they really build those "bridges" i.e. projects which we don't need.

SOMETHING'S FISHY: Why is BN in such a hurry to give out contracts

Written by Koon Yew Yin

A few days ago, as reported in The Star, the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin after chairing the Cabinet meeting declared that he wanted the Selangor Langat 2, costing Rm 8.65 billion, to be fully implemented without further delay.
Realising that the Federal Government has no power to force the Selangor Government to start construction of the Langat 2 treatment plant and other ancillary works which are sited in Selangor, he has instructed the Attorney General to look at the Federal Constitution and other legal documents to find a way out of this dilemma.
Most Malaysians will wonder why the BN Government is in such a great hurry to act on this project especially since it will take several years to implement and will have no immediate impact on the so called water crisis in Selangor.
No water crisis in Selangor
In fact, there is no water crisis but the BN Government just wants to create some fear and to justify a highly questionable public investment decision. As reported in a prominent business daily recently, although 50% of the 45 km tunnel has been completed to carry water from Sungai Semantan in Pahang, the Langat2 treatment plant has not started construction. If the treatment plant is not completed, the water from Pahang has nowhere to go and the partially completed tunnel and other completed construction will remain a white elephant.
Bad Intentions behind Langat 2?
Suspicions of bad intentions in this massive and extraordinary public infrastructure arise for several reasons. One reason is that Selangor is an opposition ruled state and we know that the Barisan desperately wants to show how badly the state is run by Pakatan. Hence, the decision to rush the project is to score political points especially since the elections are fast approaching.
However, a more important reason is that the Langat 2 project will be one of the largest water projects in the country. There will be billions of ringgit of contracts to give out. We all know the bad track record of the BN government with respect to super expensive projects in the name of privatization. Basically, what will happen is that a large part of the Langat 2 project will be outsourced to politically connected business and rentier individuals and groups. ‘Piratization’ will take place but this will be spun off in the mainstream media as an Economic Transformation Programme privatization project to resolve the water problems of the state which have been caused by Pakatan mismanagement.
Origin of the Langat 2 project
Also, let us not forget the origins of the Langat 2 project. This was a project initiated by the former state government under Menteri Besar Toyo who believed that the solution to Selangor’s water problem was to transfer water from Sungei Semantan in Pahang. To accomplish this transfer, a new dam - Kelau Dam – also has to be constructed to accumulate water to be pumped to the Langat 2 treatment plant. It is a fact that few members of the public if asked their opinion of the previous state government’s record on clean and frugal governance will have anything good to say about Toyo and his state exco members.
Alternative Approaches to Selangor’s Water Needs
The present Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid has clearly stated that Selangor is not in urgent need for more water and that there are cheaper schemes to secure additional water.
After careful consideration of the two conflicting approaches to resolving Selangor’s water problem – that of the BN and the present Selangor state government – I and water engineer colleagues who I have consulted strongly believe that there is a superior and cheaper way to supply additional water to Selangor than transferring water from Pahang through the proposed Langat 2 scheme.
One of the alternative proposals is to take water from Sungei Bernam, the river that forms the state boundary between Selangor and Perak. If readers look at Google map, they will notice that the upper reach of Sungei Bernam is in Selangor. This area is a possible area where a dam can be constructed to accumulate water to increase water supply. At the lower end of Sungei Bernam is Sungei Besar where a suitable water treatment plant can be constructed to pipe water to nearby Kuala Selangor and Klang.
Another alternative source of water is the mouth of Sungei Perak, at Teluk Intan which is very much closer to the main demand areas in Selangor than the Langat project. Since the level of these coastal regions is about the same it would be much cheaper to take additional water from Sungei Perak than from Sungei Semantan in Pahang through a highly expensive tunnel that has to be cut in the mountainous Main Range. Sungei Perak at the point of its mouth is several hundred meters wide and there is ample water to meet Selangor’s need for the long term future.
All these alternatives need to be explored by the Selangor as well as the Federal Government before a final decision is made on a project to definitively and economically resolve the state’s water needs. Common sense and rationality must prevail and not the crony ridden business as usual decision making which has earned Malaysia a reputation as a paradise for mismanagement and high level corruption.
Consumers must bear in mind that the BN Government will make you pay a higher water rate if the Langat 2 project is fully completed. You can stop it!
Koon Yew Yin is a prominent citizen, corporate captain and a well-known philanthropist

Silly Chua Tee Yong should be more concerned about NFC rather than Talam

Not sure where this email forward source is but is something every Malaysian should read and know about Chua Jr. (Chua Tee Yong) who as Deputy Agriculture Minister should be more concerned about NFC scandal rather than harping stupidly over this so called (unreal) Talam issue:

Subject: FW: Chua Jr under fire over NFC 'neglect"

Chua Jr under fire over NFC 'neglect'

2:25PM Aug 6, 2012

Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Chua Tee Yong has been asked how many times he has visited the National Feedlot Corporation’s (NFC) cattle-breeding project, which is in an “ugly state” today.Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua (left) raised this when pointing out Chua’s tenacity in highlighting the Selangor government’s debt recovery exercise involving Talam Corporation Bhd. “Did (Chua) even visit the NFC a single time to perhaps count the number of cows being bred in the farm, instead of making multiple fishing trips to the scenic Bestari Jaya lakes?” he snapped in a statement. “Has Chua delivered his ministerial responsibilities by finding out why a RM250 million soft loan was extended to NFC ... in 2008, two years before (the) project implementation agreement was even signed between his ministry and NFC?” “Has Chua ever taken the trouble to find out why NFC has not paid a single sen back to the government (although the) ... first repayment instalment (has been due) since January 2012? “Can he provide an assurance to all Malaysians that every sen of the RM250 million will be collected back, whether in the form of cash or assets, just as the Selangor government has managed to successfully collect back the RM392 million Talam debts? “If not, then perhaps Chua could give Malaysians a reason why he is fit to be a deputy minister other than to be the errand boy for the Selangor Umno warlord and its minister Noh Omar.”Pua said that Chua (right) - in his crusade against the Selangor government's RM393 milliondebt recovery exercise - had made the serious and inaccurate allegation that it is bailing out Talam to the tune of RM1 billion. “Instead of a bailout, it has been proven that the Selangor government was able to collect back the full amount of RM392 million in the form of cash and assets. “The RM392 million was a debt legacy from the BN administration since the 1990s which was never properly accounted for or collected. “In fact, Talam shareholders must be ruing the day Pakatan Rakyat took over Selangor because they had to pay up their debts within two years

BN finally steps up their game

I have recently seen a couple of police officers setting up stations around some neighborhoods here and there. Well, my first thought was,

"OH NO!!! Don't tell me they are so hungry till they are setting up road block in housing areas?! #$&%*"

Chill, don't worry they are not doing that and in fact they are here to help us. These men whom I call "polis payung" will sit under the umbrella (DUH) and will take turns to patrol the surrounding areas in the look out for the first sign of *trouble.

Polis payung set up under a tree patiently.

However, if you take a closer look at their uniform you'll find that one of the officer is not quite like the other two. It's like playing photohunt 3D, without need for tokens YAY!

In this group of policemen, one of them is not your usual police because they are from a branch off the Royal Malaysia Police force. They are called PGA (Pasukan Gerakan Am) and you are supposed to feel really safe with them being around because they are actually the paramilitary arm of our Royal Police force. Wow sounds impressive doesn't it. Quoted from Wikipedia,

"A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces.

The term paramilitary is subjective, depending on what is considered similar to a military force, and what status a force is considered to have. The nature of paramilitary forces therefore varies greatly according to the speaker and the context."

Luckily the last paragraphed mentioned that the term is subjective or else I am going to be super disappointed and helpless. Just take a look at the picture below and see if you find anything different or err... abnormal.

Heh, what are you looking at? Look at the badge NOT the tummy!

PGA. Paramilitaries Guarding Away. 

Why are these PGAs rounding our homes, lending a helping hand to the police force? I think first of all we need to thank our beloved government BN, give them a round of applause for finally responding to the cries of terrorized citizens. Do take note on the crime rate that has been drastically increasing lately. Oh, maybe that is why they send the PGA to help with the security of our neighborhood and not the police. Heck they even sent the FRU (those dingdongs that blasted teargas and water canon at innocent citizens as if it's a game during peaceful gatherings) to do the job.

Even though the gesture is nice, I do know that there is a prawn at the back of the rock (ada udang di sebalik batu). You know, I know loh...BN is crying loud and clear for help, begging even because something managed to get through that thick skull of theirs and made them realize,

BN member 1: "UH-OH, we might lose the election!! Mr. Jib Ms. Mah will kill us if we they don't win.  Let's put on a show and do something."

BN member 2: "Oh I know!! We have a lot of task force at our service ready to dispense, since there are no gatherings or terrorist attack that is going to happen anytime lets send them out to ber-bonding with the police then help them to ronda. At least give them something to do since they're paid"


Good job BN.



* Please note that trouble is a very subjective term and is how it is judged is entirely up to the mood of the PDRM and current Malaysia government. Be warned. 

Najib shamed his father Razak

I cannot write this more eloquently than Hussein Hamid can. Read his article about this shameful attempt by BN to highjack Merdeka Day or Malaysia National Day to try get get a few obscene votes below:

"JANJI DI TEPATI"

All race, all religion, all ages, all genders…..all Malayisans…I am sure you all will agree with me that our INDEPENDENCE DAY does not belong to Pakatan Rakyat nor does it belong to Barisan Nasional.

It does not belong to Dato Onn Jaafar, to our beloved Tunku, to Tun Razak or to Tun Hussein Onn.

It is an insult to all of us if any politician, any political entity seek to demean the sanctity of our National Day by equating it with the slogan of any political party!

Now why is it that the son of our beloved Tun Razak, this Najib Razak, has got the gall to use UMNO’s slogan “Janji Di Tepati” as the theme for our Inedpendence Day this year?

The same Tun Razak who, together with his Deputy Tun Dr  Ismail kept from us and even their family the fact that both of them had critical health issues because they both did not want what they were trying to do for the development of this country to be in any war derailed just because they were both dying! 

And now we have this Najib Razak soiling the memories of his own Father by taking the pathetic opportunity to have a cheap shot at trying to win some traction in their desperate attempts at winning some electoral support by using this UMNO slogan during the celebration of our Independence Day in the hope that people will equate an UMNO slogan with our Independence Day – with MERDEKA! How dare Najib do this to us?  How low can this lowlife of a political leader go? What will he not do to try and win some votes?

Najib and his cahoots can go to town and use whatever arguments they can think of to try and justify the use of that slogan for our national day theme but you and I know what is the truth. The truth is that this is yet another cheap attempt by Najib to try and give some respectability to UMNO falling fortunes by hitching their tired and meaningless slogan of “Janji Di Tepati” to our Independence Day!

Let me tell you this Najib. Your promises have been many – much to many for anyone to keep track of. But these are the things that I can think of that you will need to do before we even can think of the other promises that you have made to us and are yet to be fulfilled.

First explain Altantuya. Second we want Rosmah out of our life. Third stop your use of gutter politics against DSAI and against Pakatan Rakyat . Fourth stop spending our money to win votes. I will stop at that for now because each and everyone of us will have their list for you to do. This is just my list.

And everyday you add to that list. This week it is this UMNO slogan that you are using as the theme for our Independece day. And do you know what is the further insult that you do to our national day? It is not even a theme that you have even began to give credence to when you use it as the slogan for that BN government that you lead! But you are unable to comprehend that saying you are going to do something is not the same as doing it. You bring shame to the memory of your Father. You are a sad excuse for a Malay leader! You are a sad excuse to be the PM of any country. We deserve better!

Chua Tee Yong wants to teach Tony Pua 2-1=3

Talam so called RM1 billion scandal by Chua Tee Yong, then reduced to RM250 million and now ????

Chua Tee Yong wants to teach Tony Pua 2-1=3, he he he, ha ha ha:

Would Chua Tee Yong dare to turn up for a debate with Tony Pua? I hope so, but ....

Photos courtesy of Malaysiakini.com

Personal experience: Foriegners with Malaysian passports

From an email forward:

So Zul, my bro, what have you got to say about this? Your UMNO is sending foreigners to invade Malaysia so that you people can win the general elections. As a Malay bumi, aren't you concerned about this? I am ashamed that UMNO is allowing this to happen without worrying about the future effects and implications for Malaysia. This article was sent to me by a Malay I have you know.

Roland

I appreciate your effort in disseminating information to your close friends. I would like to provide you with my “first hand” experience at KLIA yesterday.
I returned from Hong Kong on flight MH 073 on 17th July 2012 which landed in KLIA at about 6.15pm. Disembarkation and baggage clearance was prompt with no hassles.
When I arrived at the Immigration “autogate” there was a queue. There was no officer in the immigration booth manning the gates.
I noted about seven Pakistani nationals; all in their national costumes, hogging all the autogates. They were struggling to put their passports in the passport reader and get their fingerprints verified.
The Malaysians in the queue started commenting in loud voices:
- “This lane is for Malaysian Passports only”- “Please join the other queue for foreign passports” etc.
Some, thinking that they were foreign workers, got impatient and spoke with raised voices:
- “ Barisan ini untuk Passport Malaysia”- “Tolong pergi ke kaunter international passport” etc.
These gentlemen stood firm; oblivious to the comments, speaking in their native language and giving instructions to each other on how to use the reader. As more Malaysians arrived, the queue got longer.
I broke out of the queue and checked the passports – and they ALL had Malaysian Passports. On enquiring, they responded in broken English that they had just arrived on flight PK 894 from Peshawar. All the Malaysians in the queue were shocked.
Disgusted, I walked to the Priority Counter, (I had a Priority Pass) got clearance and asked the Immigration Officer how these people had obtained their Malaysian passports. He gave me a guilty smile. He also organised for an officer to help clear the line at the “autogate”.
On leaving, I asked the Customs Officer the same question and his response was “Ini Biasa”.
I have heard a lot about foreigners with Malaysian IC’s getting treatment in our Government Hospitals. A discussion with doctors; especially those manning the Emergency Wards, will confirm this fact. However, my experience yesterday confirms that something is drastically wrong in the implementation of policies in our country.
I will leave it to right thinking Malaysians to form an opinion on my experience yesterday.
Regards,
Adolf Ludge

Protest Syabas water rationing threat - demonstration at Wisma Rozali

Syabas has threatened to impose water rationing in Selangor but many suspect that it is a ploy to create an artificial water crisis to pressure the Selangor State Government to proceed with what many claimed is an unneccesary Langat 2 water treatment plant plus to cause Selangor voters to be angry with the Pakatan state government and thus vote BN in the coming 13th General Election.

If the so-called water crisis is false, then all Selangor residents should support the Selangor state government to take over the water distribution and water treatment from Syabas and sack its CEO, Rozali Ismail, who is drawing an extravant RM5 million salary.

If there really is a treated water crisis (there is an abundance of raw water), then it means Syabas is inefficient and thus also deserve to be taken over by SSG (Selangor State Government). Either way, the efforts of the SSG to take over Syabas is justified and deserve support.

PKR is organizing a protest and memorandum handover at Wisma Rozali, Section 13 Shah Alam at on July 23 at 12pm. Hope all you Selangor residents will join me. Below is a location map to Wisma Rozali:


View Larger Map

PENGUMUMAN PENTING OLEH BERSIH 2.0 KEPADA SEMUA MANGSA KEGANASAN POLIS PADA 28 APRIL 2012

PENGUMUMAN PENTING OLEH BERSIH 2.0 KEPADA SEMUA MANGSA KEGANASAN POLIS PADA 28 APRIL 2012

via Bersih 2.0 by BERSIH 2.0 media on 05/06/12

Salam Bersih ,

Permintaan Membantu Siasatan Panel Bebas oleh Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Manusia Malaysia (SUHAKAM)

Dengan ini perkara di atas adalah dirujuk.

2. Kami Bersih 2.0 menyeru kepada semua rakyat Malaysia yang telah hadir pada 28 April 2012 yang lalu dan telah mengalami  kecederaan untuk tampil membantu kami dalam memberi kenyataan anda kepada Panel Khas Suhakam.

3. Untuk pengetahuan anda, Bersih 2.0 telah menghantar satu Memorandum kepada Suhakam untuk meminta Suhakam menjalankan satu penyiasatan bebas diadakan berkaitan insiden yang telah berlaku pada 28 April 2012 yang lalu. Dan untuk pengetahuan umum, Suhakam telah bersetuju untuk menjalankan siasatan  bebas ini.

4. Justeru, Bersih 2.0 memohon rakyat Malaysia untuk membantu kami dan kami menegaskan bahawa siasatan oleh pihak Suhakam  ini adalah jauh lebih bebas, telus dan adil berbanding  dari siasatan Polis. Anda juga diminta untuk tampil kehadapan  untuk memberi kenyataan kepada Suhakamdi mana butiran peribadi anda tidak akan didedahkan kepada mana-mana pihak.

5. Kerjasama rakyat Malaysia adalah amat diperlukan untuk membuktikan kepada Kerajaan Malaysia bahawa peserta-peserta yang hadir pada 28 April 2012 adalah rakyat yang menyayangi keamanan dan keharmonian sejagat dan bukanlah seperti apa yang digembar-gemburkan oleh Kerajaan Malaysia dengan menyatakan perserta-peserta telah bertindak ganas  pada 28 April 2012.

6. Untuk mengetahuan umum, walaupun tarikh terakhir untuk melaporkan apa-apa kes kepada Suhakam adalah pada 4 Jun 2012 ini, BERSIH 2.0 masih menggalakkan anda untuk melaporkan kejadian anda kepada BERSIH 2.0. Setakat ini, sudah ada sebahagian mangsa telah melaporkan kes mereka kepada Suhakam, namum kami merayu kepada semua yang cedera mahupun yang ada gambar atau rakaman video untuk tampil membantu siasatan ini.

Akhir sekali,Bersih 2.0 mengucapkan jutaan terima kasih kepada rakyat Malaysia yang telah tampil untuk memberi kenyataan dan juga kepada yang sudi memberi kenyataan. Kerjasama dari rakyat Malaysia adalah amat diperlukan dalam perjuangan demi mendapat satu pilihanraya yang bebas dan adil untuk negara tercinta ini.

Sila menghubungi SUHAKAM langsung: complaints@suhakam.org.my.

Untuk bantuan sila menghubungi 428victims@gmail.com atau 012-3496013.

Sekian,

Steering Committee

Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections 2.0 (BERSIH 2.0)

The Steering Committee of BERSIH 2.0 comprises:

Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan (Co-Chairperson), Datuk A. Samad Said (Co-Chairperson), Ahmad Shukri Abdul Razab, Andrew Ambrose, Andrew Khoo, Anne Lasimbang, Arul Prakkash, Arumugam K., Awang Abdillah, Dr Farouk Musa, Hishamuddin Rais, Liau Kok Fah, Maria Chin Abdullah, Matthew Vincent, Niloh Ason, Richard Y W Yeoh, Dr Subramaniam Pillay, Dato’ Dr Toh Kin Woon, Dr Wong Chin Huat, Dato’ Yeo Yang Poh and Zaid Kamaruddin.

Rentokil Initial local offices telephone numbers

Rentokil Initial toll free: 1 300 882 911

State	Telephone number
Kuala Lumpur	03-6157 8843
Negri Sembilan	03-6157 8843
Selangor	03-6156 8850
Penang	04-644 8036
Perak	05-254 6604
Malacca	06-317 3588
Johore	07-554 8218
Pahang	09-573 7333

EC in cohort with government agencies condoning registration of questionable voters?

Read what Dr. Ong Kian Ming have found in his research below in his article Questionable foreign-born citizens in voters roll, courtesy of Malaysiakini and decide for yourself if that is true or not:

 

Questionable foreign-born citizens in voters roll

• Ong Kian Ming
• 8:14AM Jun 2, 2012

COMMENT The Election Commission (EC) produced a booklet entitled ‘The Truth Behind the Accusations and Lies towards the Election Commission' on its website. In this booklet, the EC tried to defend itself against 12 allegations made with regard to the electoral roll.
I have written here and here to show that:
1) The EC has not been consistent in its boundary ‘correction' exercise.
2) That the EC had deleted 14,577 names in Quarter 2, 2011 because the records of these voters were not active in the National Registration Department (NRD).
3) That the EC should be greatly concerned by the fact that 56 out of the 57 voters registered in the past year in Kampung Melayu Majidee in Johor Bahru did not have house numbers or street names and were foreign-born, meaning the 7th and 8th digits in their IC number is ‘71'.
In this article, I want to show that the EC cannot reassure us that there are no foreigners/non-citizens in the electoral roll because it is the NRD which issues the ICs and not the EC.
Specifically, I want to focus on voters in Selangor without house numbers and street addresses which have been registered by government agencies since the 2008 general election.
What I have found thus far is very disturbing because it points to the presence of government agencies (not the EC) which have been actively registering foreign-born ‘citizens' who do not have house numbers or street names even though they are located in urban constituencies in Selangor.
And instead of investigating these cases or questioning the NRD and these government agencies, the EC has chosen to stay silent.
The EC assigns a code number to each voter registration application so that it can keep track of these applications. These applications are divided into various categories with a specific letter assigned to each category.
For example, applications which come through the post office electronically start with the letter ‘G', those which come in through the police start with the letter ‘K' and those which come in through the army start with the letter ‘Z'.
Table 1 below lists the categories belonging to each letter.
The code number assigned to each new voter registration application is not given to the political parties nor is it publicly displayed during the quarterly electoral roll updates. But this information is recorded by the EC.
In this article, I want to focus on voters in Selangor without house numbers and street names whose applications start with the letter ‘J', indicating that they have been registered by a government agency which is not the Election Commission.
Informal reports from different sources have indicated that these government agencies include the Jabatan Hal Ehwal Khas (Jasa), a unit under the Ministry of Information and Jabatan Kemajuan Masyarakat (Kemas), a unit under the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development.
The primary reason I chose to focus on applications beginning with the letter ‘J' is because of the newly-registered voters in the Kampung Melayu Majidee locality in the Johor Bahru constituency, almost all whom do not have house numbers and street names and had application codes beginning with the letter ‘J'.
I choose the state of Selangor because this is expected to be one of the key battleground states which the BN is desperately trying to win back and which Pakatan Rakyat is desperately trying to hold on to.
My methodology was very simple. I managed to obtain a complete electoral roll for Selangor that was updated to Quarter 3 of 2011.
This electoral roll included voter registration application codes for newly-registered voters from 2008 onwards. I filtered out all those applications with Kod 71 in their IC and then narrowed my search to those applications without house numbers and street names.
Out of 506 applications with Kod 71 and without house numbers and street names, 444 or 88% had application codes starting with the letter ‘J'. And almost 80% out of these 506 applications were concentrated in four parliamentary seats - Ampang, Gombak, Kelana Jaya and Serdang.
The EC would of course try to explain this away by saying that they want to empower government agencies to increase voter registration rates across the country. The fact that many of these Kod 71 voters do not have house numbers or addresses is because they live in kampongs without house numbers or street names.
These would not be valid explanations for similar reasons as the Kampung Melayu Majidee case. All of these voters are registered to vote in urban areas and all of them are registered to localities where almost everyone else has a house number and street name.
For example, of the 967 voters registered in the Kampung Sri Gombak Indah locality in the Gombak parliamentary seat, 96% have house numbers and street names. Of those who do not have house numbers or street names, 80% have Kod 71 in their ICs, all of them have voter registration applications starting with the letter ‘J' (Table 2 below).
What is even more disturbing is that a large number of these applications were submitted at the same time - in March 2011- with the ‘nosiriborang' numbers running sequentially, meaning that they were most probably registered by the same person from a government agency.

Among these applications, I also found voters with a single name, which raises the question of whether these are similar cases to'Mismah', who was alleged to have been recently granted citizenship so that she could be included in the electoral roll. (Table 3 below)

As an additional check, I examined the Quarter 4 (Q4) 2011 electoral roll update to see if there had been new registrations in the localities with a large number of Kod 71 ‘J' applications without house numbers. My findings confirmed my initial suspicion.
Of those voters in the Q4 2011 update without house numbers, all of them had Kod 71 IC numbers. A sample from Kg Sri Gombak Indah in P98 Gombak is reproduced in Table 4 below.
Unfortunately, I was not able to obtain the registration application code for the Q4 2011 electoral roll update but I am fairly confident that application codes for these voters begin with the letter ‘J'.

Where does this leave us?
Some might say that the small number of voters identified in this article is not a cause for concern given that it is but a small percentage of the 400,000 newly-registered voters in Selangor since the 2008 general elections. This would be a mistake for two reasons.
Firstly, if the NRD can issue ICs to foreign-born ‘citizens' without proper addresses in urban areas, could it also issue ICs to other individuals with proper house numbers and street names and state codes which do not show that they are not born overseas?
After all, there have been many well-documented cases fitting this description in Sabah under ‘Project IC' where non-citizens of Indonesian and Filipino descent were given ICs which indicated that they were born in Malaysia.
Could there be a ‘Project IC' happening right now in Selangor - to give ICs to the many non-citizens who are working in the Klang Valley so that they can vote?
Secondly, if there is a concerted effort being carried out by a government agency (or agencies) to register foreign-born ‘citizens' without proper IC addresses, could this government agency (or agencies) also register other individuals with proper house numbers and street names and state codes which do not show that they are born overseas?
As of Q3 of 2011, new voter applications with the registration code ‘J' numbered 42,540 in the state of Selangor, many of them in marginal constituencies.
In other words, what I have discovered here are the more obvious cases, using rather strict criteria - no house addresses, code ‘J' voter applications, Kod 71 in the IC numbers. There could easily be many other cases of non-citizens being given ICs with proper house address and non-71 state codes and they could easily register through other channels including political parties or by going to the post office.
The cases which can be easily detected are probably the tip of the iceberg.
The EC, instead of shifting the focus to harmless caricatures which appear during the campaign period, should instead do a proper audit of these cases and call out the NRD if it was found that many of the ICs were irregularly issued.
Without these steps, we cannot have the assurance that our electoral roll is not being populated by non-citizens.

---

ONG KIAN MING is a lecturer and political analyst at UCSI University. He is also the Project Director of the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (Merap). He can be reached at im.ok.man(at)gmail.com.

Boycott Sekinchan Ikan Bakar for Ambiga's sake

This is one of the hoodlums that had threaten a pasar malam outside Datuk Ambiga's house. You can see him painting the yellow lines on the road outside her house in the pictures.

BOYCOTT his business! We do not need to eat Ikan Bakar at his outlets to survive but see whether he can survive without business patronage from the good supporters of Datuk Ambiga!

You reap what you sow!

Show support for Datuk Ambiga and BERSIH!

BOYCOTT SEKINCHAN IKAN BAKAR!

P.S. I wonder whether the Income Tax fellows know that ikan bakar business can be so lucrative that one can afford driving Ferraris and other sports cars from it!

Or is he one of the privileged UMNO cronies receiving "favours" from a munificent UMNO!

Sekinchan ikan bakar

The owner of the above restaurant outlet is the bloody moron who proposes
to organize a pasar malam in front of Datuk Ambiga's house.

Pakatan Rakyat 10 resolutions - preliminary manifesto

Pakatan Rakyat Convention - 10 resolutions

You won't get this in the newspapers, only online news portals and blogs will print this:

Racial policies rejected, preliminary 10-point manifesto unveiled.

In a rousing opening address, Guan Eng warned Prime Minister Najib Razak's Umno party not to 'hijack' the federal constitution and misinterpret the controversial Article 153 to divide the ethnic groups in the country.

"Somehow Umno always fails to mention that Article 153 also states that the legitimate interests of other communities must also be protected, Guan Eng said.

Guan Eng also unveiled a ten-point document to be signed by all the top Pakatan leaders and which is set to become the coalition's preliminary manifesto in the coming general election. The resolutions outlined in detail the changes Pakatan will introduce within the first 100 days of its taking over Putrajaya if it wins the next general election expected
to be held early next year.

The resolutions are:

1. A restructure of institutions including the Elections Commission (EC), the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the Attorney-General's Chambers and the Royal Malaysian Police. During a debate on the policy framework, DAP's Anthony Loke requested PR bring the MACC under the purview of Parliament.

2. A repeal of the Internal Security Act (ISA)

3. Instruct Khazanah Berhad, Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and other government bodies to take over highway assets from the concessionaires in order to abolish the toll system.

4. A restructure of the country's subsidies, to lessen subsidies given to the private sector (such as the RM19 billion in gas subsidies given to independent power producers) and transferring these to subsidies for the
Man on the street.

5. Acknowledging the role and sacrifices of civil servants by studying the current pay schemes and increasing the incentives for teachers by RM500 a month

6. Transferring private water concessions to the government

7. Offering free wireless Internet access to those in urban
and semi-urban areas

8. Cancelling Felda Plantations and opening up its farms to second- and third generation Felda settlers.

9. Increasing oil royalty payments to Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu and Kelantan to 20 per cent from 5 per cent currently.

10. Formation of a Royal Commission to solve the problem of illegal immigrants and citizenship issues in Sabah and Sarawak .
Don't you think Pakatan Rakyat deserves your vote for a change for the better at the next 13th G. E.?

Evidence? Look at the improvements in Penang and Selangor.
" It Only Takes A Spark To Make A Fire Going ".
Please forward this message to your contacts to make them aware of what is happening in this country.