EPU: "Economic Plundering Unit"

Former Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) Executive Chairman Tan Sri Ani Arope dubbed the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) as the "Economic Plundering Unit".

Ani Arope blames the EPU, saying the powerful agency, under the Ministry of Finance, forced TNB to sign lopsided purchase deals nearly 20 years ago.

In his Facebook posting three days ago, Ani Arope wrote: "You don’t need to go to a fanciful business school to figure out why we need a tariff hike — just revisit the terms given to some IPPs."

“With the take-or-pay clause and with the 40 per cent excess reserve that we have today, one only has to produce half of one’s capacity and be paid 80 per cent of the agreed capacity. Well done the then-EPU — Economic Plundering Unit,” he added, mocking the economic unit under the Prime Minister’s Department.

Tan Sri Ani refused to be forced, by those in power, to sign the imbalanced IPP deals and had to resign from his executive chairman post, which saw the first generation of IPPs created, such as YTL Power Services, Powertek and Malakoff during the Mahathir administration.

“TNB is the whipping boy. TNB has no control of the price it has to pay to the IPPs. Get to the source of the problem,” said Tan Sri Ani who is now in his early 80s.

The Malaysian Government announced a 7.12% hike in electricity rates in order to trim the subsidise that would otherwise double to RM21 billion this year.

But power prices will now rise by as much as 2.3 sen per kWh in areas taking TNB’s electricity supply, a potential source of public anger just ahead of a general election expected within the year.

SOURCE: The Malaysian Insider

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So, who was the Finance Minister of Malaysia in 1990s? Anwar Ibrahim!

Who was the Prime Minister then? Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamad (Now, Tun Mahathir)

Both of them cannot deny being responsible for the collaboration, though each may want to blame the other.

Surely, we can't exclude Tun Daim.

Those of us who are in the industry and who are part of the looting regime knows how it was operated. The ignorant ones must be the kampung folks.

Blame the Chinese? Hahaha ... they pay to get the loots!!! Who did they Pay? Your guess is as good as mine. Why did they pay? It was the system processes that provides the opportunities to those discriminated by the same system. Did Ibrahim Ali benefit from that system? Ask him ... he can swear; for everyone who is part of the pillaging system were all part of the fortune wheel. Did the Chinese become rich because of the system design setup? Ya!!! Thanks to Mahathir; we appreciated his NEP design and exceptional generosity while we partake. He has to continue to behave innocent and ignorant of the Golden train-ride.

There is no evidence good enough to indict anyone. You can't be guilty in law unless there is evidence beyond reasonable doubt - that is the law.

The economy is much better when Umno is the Government; not PKR, nor Pakatan, nor MCA or MIC or Gerakan. We need Umno, for Umno is beneficial to all Chinese, of which I am one.

Dominant vs Dominating

Dominating role is not healthy for the nation
OPINION, NST ONLINE
By Datuk Dr Agoes Salim
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 14:51

I think we are farther apart now than we were in 1969.

But you have to remember that I grew up going to an English school, to a university where there were people of all races. At that time, although we did think in terms of race, it wasn’t in the way people do now. We felt that we were Malayans. We socialised much better than we do now.

Bahasa Malaysia can be a unifying factor. But it can be a factor separating people, too. As Sukarno would say, “The important thing is the jiwa.”

You don’t have to have a common language, if you have the same 'jiwa' (heart, spirit, passion, devotion).

This is what we don’t have right now...

In 1956, the historical society of Universiti Malaya went to India. There were lots of Indians in the group, but they didn’t think of themselves as Indians, they thought of themselves as Malayans.

That’s the 'jiwa'.

But later on, because of certain reactions, suddenly people stayed away from this 'jiwa' — they don’t feel as though they are fully Malaysian. They are made to feel that way.

When I was in the service, there were lots of non-Malays in the civil service, holding good positions. But do you see them now? If you go to the universities, where are the non-Malay professors?

After 1969, suddenly there was this drive to make sure that all university vice-chancellors and faculty deans were Malay. So, in the end, we chased away all the best brains among the non-Malays.

When schools say you must start school with a doa (Muslim prayer recitation), you push away all the non-Muslims. When I was at school, we never had any prayers. Whatever we learnt in religious class was a separate thing.

I think it’s more important that we bring people together, rather than pushing religion so hard that it alienates other people. This is what’s happening. I can’t blame the Chinese and Indians; why should they go to a sekolah kebangsaan (national school), when they have to do all these things?

All the things are breaking down. Our school system is not as it used to be. We are producing supposedly so many students with so many As, but what do they know? Are we happy about it? The leaders seem to be happy about it.

We came up with the Rukun Negara because, after 1969, there was the feeling that the nation was breaking down. People had forgotten what it was all about. So, we thought we could bring people back together — unite them. That’s what the first part of the Rukun Negara is about: the objectives of the nation.

Unfortunately, we did practically nothing to promote an understanding of the Rukun Negara. And when schools make mistakes, nobody corrects them. That should have been the role of the Department of Information.

In the beginning, Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie did try to apply the test of whether something was in consonance with the Rukun Negara or not. But then, the government just forgot about this.

We are supposed to be a united nation, not only in terms of state, but also in terms of people: that they would all consider themselves as Malaysians, and that this was their country and their nation. We wanted all these people to share the wealth of the nation.

One of the things we thought contributed to ’69 was the economic disparities, joblessness.

The New Economic Policy was a policy for all Malaysians; not just for the Malays. But we wanted to restructure the economy so that the Malays would come out of the rural agriculture sector into the commercial sector.

We wanted Malay participation at all levels of economic activity. We wanted to uplift the Malays without reducing the position of the others — “eradicating poverty regardless”.

And this was supposed to be in a situation of growth. Not just sharing the existing cake, but the cake must grow, so that these people also have the opportunity to grow.

At the same time, we also hoped that the Malays would grow a little faster. So, they set this target of 30 per cent equity in 20 years. I was not much in favour of that because I didn’t think it was achievable. I felt that participation was more important than wealth.

We never thought that we would produce multi-billionaires. That was never the intention of the NEP. If some people can come up as everyone comes up, it’s okay. But it wasn’t supposed to be about some people getting contracts.

We did say that we should have Malay millionaires just as we should have Chinese and Indian millionaires, but not so much so that you don’t have to do anything.

You must differentiate between dominance and domination. As Tun Dr Ismail said, “We want to be dominant, but we don’t want to dominate.”

Dominant in the sense that we wanted the Malays to be everywhere; but not to dominate all the others.

But we seem to be dominating; and I don’t think that’s healthy for the nation. It’s not about taking your share and not caring about the rest.

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* Datuk Dr Agoes Salim is an economist and first secretary-general of the National Unity Ministry. He is also former chairman of Bank Pertanian. He was on the public service secretariat of the National Operations Council following the May 13 riots in 1969 and helped draw up both the Rukun Negara and the NEP.

***

The real reason why we are always behind

We Malaysians always think we are so smart and powerful.

But why are other people in our neighbourhood doing so much better than we are?

Maybe the reason is that we're not so smart, after all, as we think we are.

It's only when the tide goes out do you find out who is not wearing a swimming suit.

A dollar is a dollar is a dollar!

A dollar made is worth the same as a dollar made - from manufacturing, from you salary, from kickbacks, from under-table, from top of table, from selling services, be it services of labor, brain or down-under, or anything that you service.

The cracks in our social and political systems are visible and alarming and the decay had set in. We have allowed and implicitly encourage our loss of focus of the real issue we faced; the nation have diverted enormous energy, money and attention to the war against, not our enemy but our very own. Since we do not have an outright external enemy, it had to be created from within so that those who cannot work hard can have a right to demand from those others who can.

***

The rise of China as the global economic power

Will the World be 'China-centric’ soon?

The rise of China will change the meaning of time. The US was born modern and without a memory because it was European settlers, not Americans, who created it. So there’s always a transience about Americans, who have a deep insecurity about themselves...Whereas the first thing a Chinese likes to say is: “We are the product of a 5,000-year civilisation.”

Now that’s thinking long term! — The Straits Times

Read the whole article HERE
***

Bail-king advice against bail out

In 1980, he bail out Bank Bumiputera who loses money due to loans extended to George Tan's Carrian empire. It was more than $2billion pumped in to resuscitate the failed institution and which include the death of our bank auditor who was sent there to investigate.

In 1998 economic crisis Mirzan's companies were "saved" when MISC, owned by Petronas bought over his company.

Mokhzani's business empire had a tough time too and managed to overcome the economic crisis.

Putra and Star LRT, together with Renong, UEM, MAS and Tajuddin Ramli - they were all bailed-out due to poor management and improper management.

Bank Rakyat, Affin Bank, Bank Bumiputera and many other banks were also bailed out in 1999.

America is also doing the same! Mahathir was right - pumping billions in tax-payers money to bail out failed institution is a disgrace. "If they must dole out money, give it to the people who suffered actual losses due to the bank's failure, but not to the bankers " ... and to the corporations that were disgraced by their bad management.

But we are different - we are developing country ... sorry, going to be a developing country.

Economic contraction: S'pore's solution, Malaysia's dissolution

Singapore govt taking the Ox by its horns, Malaysia's govt taking the Ox by its nose

The world is in the grip of a recession, with a stream of worsening news from the United States, Asia and Europe. The exceptions are only (probably) Malaysia, if the statement of opinions and confidence exuded by the Second Finance Minister and the Prime Minister are correct, and Zimbabwe, as the govt of Zimbab is printing notes in trillion denomination, and where necessary, in 100 trillion or zillion.

With all our major markets in decline, exports are falling sharply and domestic disposable incomes are shrinking fast.

The result: Singapore has had to revise its growth estimate for 2009 down to between minus 5 per cent and minus 2 per cent; and Malaysia has also revised its growth estimate from +5.5% to +1-2% (very positive projections).

To tackle the crisis, the Singapore Government had put together the $20.5 billion Resilience Package in this year's Budget. Its two special growth boosters are the $4.5 billion Jobs Credit Scheme to help subsidise companies' wage costs and the $5.8 billion Special Risk-Sharing Initiative to help ensure their access to financing. They will be funded by the reserves.

To tackle the crisis, the Malaysian Government has also put together two stimulus packages: The first stimulus package of RM7bil was announced in November 2008, and is still being rolled out in stages in the first quarter of this year; and a second stimulus package is in the pipeline, awaiting public suggestions

Our Malaysian Finance Minister and also Deputy Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak invite all Malaysians to participate in providing constructive and healthy, yet concise inputs as their personal contribution to move our nation forward. You can submit your comments on his blog: www.1malaysia.com.my or email him at najib@1malaysia.com.my.

In Singapore, PM Lee Hsien Loong said that the economic packages will help businesses to stay afloat so that they can continue to provide jobs for Singaporeans. (I am not sure whether this means those foreign labours in Singapore will be excluded; and unfortunately, Malaysia is the largest groupings of foreign labours in Singapore).

In Singapore, additional support is also given to households, with more for low- and middle-income families, he added. 'Hopefully, with some government help, Singaporeans can continue to provide for themselves and their families.”

Mr HL Lee said that while these measures will mitigate the downturn, they “will not instantly lift the economy from recession”.

“No government package can do that,” Lee said, noting that the recession is a global one. “We must expect to see exports contract, unemployment rise, and growth remain negative for more months, and perhaps for the whole year.”

So looking ahead, Singaporeans must “brace” themselves for a “challenging Year of the Ox”.

“But there is no need to be despondent,” he said. “Singapore has strengths which will let us outlast this recession. We have the resources, the programmes, and the tenacity to ride the storm.”

Said Mr Lee: “This is a major decision, which the Government has thought over very carefully.”

Singapore's reserves, he said, are a key asset for the country. “We have built them up patiently over the years so that in a critical situation, we have the wherewithal to mount a vigorous response. The present crisis is clearly such a moment.”

And when it is over, Singapore must go back to nurturing its reserves, he stressed.

"That Singapore can tap on them now – unlike most other countries – is due to its prudent habit of saving and investing its surpluses over many decades," he said.

“We must therefore maintain these critical instincts. When things return to normal, we must resume our habit of putting something aside in the reserves whenever we can. Then when we next face a serious crisis, which is bound to happen one day, we can again meet it with confidence.”

What about us, Malaysians and our resources? We have huge foreign reserves and also a huge current account deficit and off-balance sheet. We did not accured the necessary contingent surpluses over the decades, but an imprudent spending habits and an irrationally-exuberant habit of investing at the "right time" (through borrowings) and buying over companies dumped by Temasek and SIG who viewed seriously the current economic contraction by disposing some of their market-sensitive assets, while our GLCs treat the offers as opportunities to buy high and to be sold at its lows.

We are still maintaining these critical instincts. Even when the economic climate returns to normal, our habits will continue, to cast aside the need for strong national reserves and to borrow extensively to fund our spending habits by way of giving out lucrative contracts and conspicuous projects thoughtlessly creative and innovative.

Malaysia's reserves (or borrowings) are the key mobility, being dragged successfully by crony capitalism and wishful indulgence. We have built these habits up impatiently over the decades ,since the years of Mahathirism, such that in critical situations we have nowherewithal to mount and support any vigorous affirmative response; however, we can assign good causes - Act of God, Global impact, American's Sub-prime Mortgage problems and Banking Crisis - reasons beyond our fault or control (because we do not have such control nor systems capable to control).

Nonetheless, and nevertheless, we are still okay; semua okay; and I am okay too; so are some of you. Our economic problem can be attribute to Pakatan's Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim's huge expenditure and donations to slaughter some cows during Hari Raya and getting PKNS to pay for it. It was such a big problem to Khir Toyo and Umno and Ezam's Gerak.

We are a blessed country and the people are blessed. We are okay, even when the signs and realities are contrary. So let's rejoice as it is festive season again. Gong Xi Fa Cai and a Happy New Year.

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Adapted from the original story "Singapore govt taking the Ox by its horns, The Malaysian Insider

*************************************************************************************

Recession soon?

America is in recession!

Singapore is in recession!

Korea, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia and most of Europe is in recession.

Malaysian government and Bank Negara said we will not be in recession.

I hope so; I truly hope so.

But it isn't going to be convincing ...

Watch out for your job ...

EPF's money safe with ValueCap

The government promised that the RM5.1 billion loan from EPF's money would not be used to pay ValueCap defaulting loans due to their losses. Those losses are unfortunate and are act of god.

The government assures that losses suffered will not affect EPF contributors as the government is paying for them and the RM5.1 billion loan from EPF is guaranteed by the government. The government has money to pay any losses as they collect tax and they also have massive income from Petronas. The Muslims should not be unduly concerned with the tax money as they pay zakat. As to Petronas money, they also should not be unduly concern as Petronas money is reaped from the ground and it was god who planted those oil underneath the earth to pay for those losses.

The good news is ValueCap often pays dividends to their shareholders even though they suffered massive losses. So the shareholders - Pension Trust Fund, Khazanah and PNB should be happy and delighted.

As such, the shareholders are prepared to refinance ValueCap so that they can make timely loan interest payment; thus ensuring that they are AAA-rated.

The government also said they are using Petronas money to finance all those losses and expenses and development costs including eurocopters, fungi-infected hospitals, MRR2 repair, Parliament leaks and defects rectification and Umno elections.

Petronas has contributed to RM62.8 billions of the government's revenue this year which equals 44% of the total revenue.

Though we expect Petronas' revenue to shrink this year due to the lower crude oil price, Petronas should be able to continually contribute to substantially to pay for the excesses and losses. We must thank god that we will continually have oil and gas underneath. We must also thank Mahathir for money politics which have help to pay for the higher cost of living. We must thank Pak Lah too because he has raised thew price of fuel to RM2.70 and also lowered it down to RM2.15. We have high hope on Najib to contribute to the effective management of the nation's economy.

Mark Gilbert's Masterpiece on Sub-Prime Bond Sins

Hedge-Fund Guy Atones for His Subprime Bond Sins

Commentary by Mark Gilbert

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Dear investor, we'd like to take this opportunity to update you on the recent performance of our hedge fund, Short-Term Capital Mismanagement LLP.

As you know, market selection for the entire fund is guided by a proprietary investing tool we like to call ``a dartboard.'' Once the asset classes are decided, individual security selections are generated by digitizing our unique hexagonal cuboid models.

Unfortunately, it transpires that our hexagonal cuboids are not as unique as we thought. Hundreds of other hedge funds possess identical dice. The technical term for this is a ``crowded trade.'' You may also see it referred to as ``climbing on a bandwagon already headed for the wall.''

As our alpha generation collapses, our beta has turned negative, our delta hedging has gone toxic and, trust me, you do not want to hear about our gamma. We can't even find our epsilons in the dark with both hands.

You will appreciate that accurate pricing is essential for evaluating our investment strategies. This has proven to be extremely challenging in recent days. Previously, we have relied on Bob, the sales guy at Hokey-Cokey Bank. Bob assured us the securities were still worth 100 percent of face value, so everything was cool. Bob sold the collateralized debt obligations to us in the first place, so he knows what he's talking about.

Bob, however, appears to have had a nervous breakdown, judging by the maniacal laughter that greeted our requests for price verification this week. Our efforts to implement an in- house CDO valuation framework, using a technique the ancients knew as ``making things up,'' proved unsatisfactory.

Where's the Bid?

Currently, all of the portfolios we manage are undergoing a rigorous screening known as ``crossing our fingers and praying that we don't have to try and find a bid in the market.'' This is supplemented by a cross-market statistical analysis originally developed by the U.S. military called ``don't ask, don't tell.'' This ``unmarking-to-unmarket'' procedure has been the benchmark for the hedge-fund industry for the past, ooh, 72 hours.

We have, of course, been in touch with the rating companies to update our default-probability scenarios, particularly on the AAA rated investments we own. They recommended a forecasting method using stochastics to regress the drift-to-downgrade timescales for the past 100 years and throw them forward for the next five minutes. The technical term for this is ``induction,'' though those of you of a less quantitative bent may know it as ``guessing.''

AAA or Toast?

We are pleased to report that, contrary to what current market prices might suggest, all of our top-rated securities remain absolutely AAA. Provided, that is, the future performance of the underlying collateral is identical to its history. Otherwise, the rating companies say our investments are likely to be reclassified as ``toast.''

We have also been checking our back-up credit lines with our friends in the investment-banking world. As soon as they return our calls, we'll be able to update you on our emergency liquidity position. We are sure they are fine.

Some of you have written to us asking for your money back, citing clauses in the fund documentation called redemption rights. Frankly, we never expected you to actually read that prospectus, which came prepackaged when we bought the Microsoft Hedge-Fund Guy software. We certainly have no idea what all those long words mean.

We have filed your letters in a special drawer in the filing cabinet marked ``trash'' for now. Do you have any idea how much trouble you all would be in if we actually sold this stuff in the market today? At these crazy prices? Fuhgeddaboudit. You'll thank us later.

Not a Rescue

Speaking of crazy prices, we know you'll be thrilled to learn that we've invited a bunch of our rich pals into the fund to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But this is not a rescue. Do not even think the word rescue. This is an opportunity. Not a rescue. An opportunity.

In fact, we think this is such a fantastic opportunity, we've agreed to forgo our usual management fee, and we'll only take half our usual slice of the profits. Provided there are any profits to slice. You, of course, are absolutely invited to participate in this offer by sending us yet more of your money on exactly the same revised terms as our rich pals.

Finally, a word for all of you who have been kind enough to inquire about my personal financial situation. I am relieved to report that my directors and officers insurance is fully paid up. Furthermore, my Bentley Continental was paid out of the 2 percent fee we levied when you wrote your first check to us, so I will still be able to trundle into the parking lot each morning in an open-necked shirt to ignore your telephone calls and e-mails. Yours, Hedge-Fund Guy.

To contact the writer of this column: Mark Gilbert in London at magilbert@bloomberg.net

Source: Bloomberg.com

************

Don't confuse the public and sabotage investigations

The police as reported are considering investigating the webportals and blogsites medical report allegedly issued by Pusrawi Hospital. (refer: POLICE: Website's report an attempt to sabotage investigations, confuse public)

Medical reports are confidential documents and it is a fact that someone had committed this crime of secrecy. Therefore the police will have to investigate this heinous act. The police will not allow such criminal and disgusting act to be committed by people who may claim their act is done in the name of justice and divine virtue.

This revelation may upset the sodomy investigation process and confuse the public, and upset the positions of the parties implicated. So far every effort were made to give the public very clear picture of what is happening but the blogs and webportals keep revealing informations that contradicts the good efforts and causes anxieties to all parties. Now we have a totally flabbergasted public and they may blame the police and the government for such contradictions and ambiguity.

The government is gravely concern about this issue and hope that all parties will restraint and not cause more unnecessary contradictions and make the work of our loyal police force more difficult and onerous. The people must trust the government and the police; if they placed their confidence and trust in them, then the government will be able to uphold its integrity and excellence.

As an initiation towards the promotion of the common good of the people, the Barisan Nasional government will be launching community programmes to help people reduce their energy use and adopt other cost-saving habits.

These include more use of public transport and developing edible home gardens under the federal government's Bumi Hijau campaign.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told BN menteris besar and chief ministers this at a meeting yesterday. (Refer: BN states to promote cost-saving habits)

Although the energy price will be increased soon due to the fact that TNB's profit had dropped 70%, the government will make sure that such inflationary pressures would not burdened the people beyond their threshold. The government understands the plight of the people when it increased the price of fuel and reduce the subsidy by some 40-60% but that was inevitable and beyond the control of the government as the price of crude oil had ballooned at the same hike caused largely by speculative trading and hedging by the Western economies.

The government is now promoting the Bumi Hijau campaign to help the people learn how to grow their own vegetables and fruits in their own garden. As for those who stays in flats and apartments and do not have own garden, the government is studying ways to help them grow vegetables inside their bedroom and toilets.

With regard to high fuel prices, the government will promote better public transport that do not consume fuel such as bicycled-bus services, mass giant-rickshaws services. The government will also organize campaigns to encourage the people to walk to work as a form of exercise to better their health and at the same time save fuel cost, parking and toll charges. The government have also advised the state governments to use Mercedes Benz only for foreign dignitaries and functions. The state government must show respect to foreign dignitaries and VIPs and it will not be good for them to be transported by Perdanas (which occasionally breakdown on its journey as observed)

As addition, in order to make the people feel better and brighter, the government will be organizing more promotions and campaigns to keep explaining to the people (until they fully understand) about all these uncontrollable situations. To ensure the total success of these campaigns the government have allocated many millions for the roadshow. It is hope that all these roadshows and campaigns will help to alleviate the peoples' suffering.

PAS invites Vigneswaran & MIC members to join

PAS today invited former MIC Youth chief SA Vigneswaran, who had quit the BN-based party on Sunday, to come and join it along with his supporters.

The invitation was made through the PAS Supporters' Club today.

"Let us join forces and battle for equality and justice for all races in this country," said PAS national committee for unity chief Khariul Faizi Ahmad Kamil in a statement today.

Khariul also welcomed other MIC members to join PAS.

Meanwhile, at the Dewan Rakyat Datuk Tajudin Abdul Rahman (BN - Pasir Salak) urge education minister to only help non-bumiputra students, who achieved academic excellence but not at the expense of jeopardising scholarships awarded to bumiputras.

“By all means, we help them but not at the expense of bumiputra students. I do not agree to increase the ratio of scholarships to non-bumiputra students.

“The ratio of 80% for bumiputra students should remain. I am ready to face the Education Minister for (saying) this,” he said, when debating on the motion on the mid-term review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

Source: TheStar Online

When did the 80% rights exists? How could that percentage be maintain if the number of scholarships are a fixed quantum and the number of scholarships for non-Bumis to be increase without a reduction in the percentum for Bumis? If ever the quota system is exercised it should have been 60%-25%-10%-5%. How about those with CGPA of 0.8 and 1.0 being granted scholarships by Umno or DPM?

Trusting PAS and it's Islamic policies has far more integrity than Umno and it's kleptocratic system. In reality, it's rhetorics from Umno reps only; they can never help the Malays except for a few. In the end, the Malays are the ones that would suffer heavily under such mediocre system which do not promote competency and lacks integrity.

One thing is certain: globalization is driving competitiveness and competency to such a high level that those left far behind would never ever be able to catch up, even given the gravy train.

Those who had been discriminated over the decades had build up a system of self-reliance and competencies to deal with the situations and to face global opportunities. Through hardwork, frugality and persistence, and under oppressive and suppressive policies and dictates, they had built a strong culture of self-dependence and self-support; they would not be cowed and bullied by oppressive policies and suppressive political dictates. They had continued to forged ahead and face the world of reality with their competency and integrity. In the years to come, and with an impending recession looming, the pain of reality will surface and would hurt most those who lacks capabilities, competencies and integrity and those who had relied on handouts and rent-seeking.

Agama bukan mengkhayalkan orang miskin

Excerpt of Dr. Mohd. Asri Zainul Abidin article at Utusan Malaysia

Pembaziran

Saya tidak mahu membicarakan tentang kenaikan harga minyak dari sudut perjalanan ekonomi antarabangsa. Telah banyak pakar-pakarnya bicarakan. Tapi saya ingin bincangkan tentang soal pembaziran dan jimat-cermat. Ya, memang Islam memusuhi pembaziran. Bahkan al-Quran tidak pernah mempersaudarakan antara mana-mana pembuat dosa dengan syaitan, melainkan mereka yang membazirkan.

Soalannya, mengapakah apabila kita membicarakan tentang pembaziran, kita hanya terbayang orang-orang bawahan di kampung ataupun bandar. Jika kita ingin meminta supaya setiap warga negara ini berjimat dan jangan membazir, maka bermulalah daripada atas. Bukan sekadar untuk mengenakan si miskin yang sekian lama telah berjimat dan sudah tidak tahu apa yang hendak dijimatkan lagi.

Mengapa kita hanya terbayang rakyat yang berada dalam rumah persendirian dan berbelanja dengan wang poketnya yang sudah lelah? Kita sepatutnya terlebih meneliti semula bagaimana perbelanjaan yang menggunakan harta negara dan rakyat yang sedang berjalan di istana-istana, kediaman-kediaman rasmi kerajaan di peringkat negara dan negeri?

Apakah wajar di kala ini keraian untuk orang-orang besar sama ada atau menteri begitu mewah? Makanan yang dihidangkan untuk mereka, harga satu meja kadang-kala boleh dimakan oleh ratusan rakyat bawahan. Karpet yang dipijak oleh mereka harganya ribuan bungkusan nasi yang dimakan oleh ‘orang biasa’.

Apakah patut orang-orang besar ini diraikan dengan hiburan atau pertunjukan dan konsert yang menelan puluhan ribu ringgit sempena sesuatu kunjungan mereka?

Wang itu, wang negara. Wang itu, wang rakyat. Apakah dalam masa yang sebegini mereka masih mendapat peruntukan untuk bersantai, bermain golf dan ‘berhiburan’ dengan menggunakan wang rakyat bawahan yang disuruh menjimatkan nasi lemak dan air kopi mereka?

Pembaziran sebegini lebih rapat menjadi saudara syaitan dibanding wang persendirian yang dibelanjakan. Meminjam falsafah al-Imam al-Nawawi yang saya sebutkan tadi, jika orang atasan telah benar-benar berjimat, maka wajarlah untuk dikurangkan subsidi rakyat. Al-Nawawi telah dibuang negeri kerana enggan bersekongkol dengan perkara yang seperti ini.

Namun, jika itu tidak dilakukan, ulama bukan burung kakak tua. Saya mengambil risiko menulis hal ini. Tanggungjawab di hadapan Allah lebih besar daripada segala-galanya. Para ulama dahulu jauh lebih mulia, tidak dibandingkan kedaifan saya ini. Pun mereka telah menunaikan tanggungjawab al-Amr bil Ma‘ruf dan al-An- Nahy ‘an al-Munkar ini. Semoga Allah menimbang tinta para ulama dengan darah para syuhada.

Maka alangkah buruknya seorang presiden, atau perdana menteri, atau menteri besar, atau menteri yang makan dengan mewah daripada peruntukan harta negara atau negeri sedangkan rakyatnya dalam kesusahan. Ketika rakyat membilang butiran beras, helaian ringgit untuk persekolahan anak, keperitan membayar sewa rumah, api dan air, sementara mereka yang berkuasa ini pula menghadiri jamuan negara dan negeri itu dan ini. Bermewahan dengan pertunjukan dan hiburan dari peruntukan wang negara. Kemudian bercuti rehat, tanpa rakyat ketahui apakah kepenatannya untuk rakyat. Kos cuti itu pula ditanggung oleh negara tanpa sebarang pulangan keuntungan buat rakyat. Alangkah zalim! Alangkah keji sikap yang sedemikian rupa. Saya kadang-kala begitu hairan apabila seseorang dianggap ‘berjiwa rakyat’, hanya kerana makan nasi yang dijamu oleh rakyat, atau masuk ke kampung mendukung anak rakyat untuk beberapa minit bagi membolehkan wartawan mengambil foto. Apakah itu dinamakan berjiwa rakyat? Jika hendak diiktiraf sebagai berjiwa rakyat, rasailah apa yang rakyat rasai.

Dalam usaha kerajaan menangani kemelut ekonomi hari ini, perkara-perkara yang disebutkan ini mestilah dipandang serius. Kejayaan sesebuah kerajaan menghayati penderitaan rakyat akan menjadikan mereka lebih disayangi dan disokong.

Jika orang atas mengubah cara hidup, kita akan berkempen untuk semua agar mengubah cara hidup. Jika orang agama disuruh berkempen orang bawahan agar mengubah cara hidup, sementara melupai yang di atas, mereka sebenarnya cuba menjadikan agama sebagai candu agar seseorang melupai masalah yang sebenar.

Dr. Mohd. Asri Zainul Abidin
Mufti Kerajaan Negeri Perlis.
E-mel: moasriza@yahoo.com
Layari http://drmaza.com/

Read the entire article by Dr Mohd Asri here at: Utusan Malaysia Online

PM cuts 10% entertainment allowance

Contractors for government projects needs to entertain the consultants and clients.

Contractors lobbying for projects needs to entertain the 'Big Napoleons' and the Umno agents who acts to connect the connections and pay for all sorts of expenses.

But have you heard of Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Deputy Prime Minister and Prime Minister paying for entertainment?

Who do they entertain?

Contractors? The citizens? Or the China dolls? Or the belly dancers?

Today, our Prime Minister announced a radical cost-cutting initiative to prove that the cabinet ministers will be squeezed.

Effective July 1, ministers and their deputies' entertainment allowances will be cut by 10 percent. (see chart)

That's a lot!!!

Now, PM's entertainment allowance is reduced by RM1,886.50 and DPM suffers a cut of RM1,501.50. That's a lot!!!

I felt sorry for PM and DPM who is going to suffer tremendously. They are sacrificing themselves in the interest of the rakyat.

Cabinet members will also see their annual all-expenses-paid holidays restricted with immediate effect.

Also included in the cost-cutting exercise as announced by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was a freeze on new employment (non essential positions) within the government, renovation work, asset acquisition (cars, computers, furniture, etc) and limited budgets for government functions.

Abdullah said the RM2 billion cost-cutting package was aimed at softening the blow after an unpopular 41 percent fuel price increase.

"With all the cuts the government is making, we are expecting to save RM2 billion annually," he said.

"I understand the suffering of the people and I hope these measures can help the people."

Abdullah, whose position is now even more tenuous after last week's overnight fuel price hike, defended the decision which has sparked protests and public outrage.

"Although the government does not want to burden the people, tough decisions have to be made because it has a duty to guarantee that natural resources are used in an optimum way, not just now but for future generations," he said.

"The government is now taking measures to reduce the difficulties that result from rising prices."

Source: PM makes RM2 bil cost cuts after fuel hike

OMG, our Prime Minister truly understands the peoples' suffering and with these cost-cutting measures it will surely help the people a lot!

Dear PM, you are so kindhearted and so caring of the people; we love you so very very much!

BTW, can you also cut Dr Mahathir's allowance? He is not working but complaining, and worst off, he complains about you!

And since you said that you will be cutting all mega projects, do you still need the 4th floor boys? They will be of no use as they are in the project procurement agency and there's no more projects to sell?

Dear Mr. PM, will your Boeing Jet A319 and the Cobra Sultan Yacht be auctioned off too? Since you cared so much for the rakyat and worry so much about their sufferings, these personal perks should also be reduced and possibly, be eliminated, at least for the time being. You have work so hard and deserved something better than that. You should consider seeling it off now and when the economy is better and the crude oil price comes down to US$30, then you can buy a new one and a much bigger one.

Latest News!

When the Prime Minister was asked to comment on Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shahrir Samad's assurance that "prices will stay until March", Abdullah shook his head.

"We are still analysing this as the rise in world prices of oil is too quick (over the last few days)," said Abdullah.

Oil prices posted its biggest single-day hike last Friday when it rose nearly US$11 hitting a new record of US$138 a barrel in New York.

"When we did our assessment, the price of petrol was RM3. It is RM3.45 now.

"When it was RM3, we gave a 30-sen subsidy. But that has been wiped out now with a 45-sen increase. So there are many issues we have to consider.

"As such, I won't give any undertaking not to increase petrol prices," said Abdullah.

Source: Cash rebates from this Saturday

Datuk Shahrir, you betul betul Cakap Tak Serupa Bikin. One day you said the fuel price will only increased by August, and within the next day you immediately increased the price. Yesterday you said the price of fuel will hold at least until March09 and now we hear PM said he can't guarantee. Apa ini? The rakyat surely cannot believe you anymore, Datuk Shahrir!!! Pembohong!

9th Malaysia Plan & Corridors in trouble

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said today that the government has not made a decision to shelve the country’s space programme though no funds are available for the second mission at the moment.

He said the government had other options including continuing with the space training now and proceed with the second mission later if the programme was facing financial constraint.

Najib said he liked Malaysia’s second astronaut Mej Dr Faiz Khaleed to continue with the space training.

Najib was asked to comment on news reports on the prospect of the space programme being scrapped as there was no money (Source: NAJIB: Keep space programme option open )

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili had earlier told reporters that the country’s space programme looks to be as good as grounded. There is no money for the programme.

“Under the mid-term review, I can say that there is zero money. If we want to proceed with the second phase we have to look for money,” Dr. Maximus said (read: Zero cash for second phase of Angkasawan space programme)

Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos) had offered to bring another Malaysian astronaut on a space mission in either 2010 or 2011 and Malaysia had decided on Dr Faiz as the candidate for the second mission.

It seems that Najib is trying hard to find the money needed for the program. Maybe one of the way is to buy more Sukhoi and include within the contract a term that makes the Russian pays for the trip such as the one previously. Another $4b of military hardware purchase will save the space programme.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that infrastructure projects under its multi-billion-dollar five-year 9-Malaysia Plan may have to be delayed due to escalating costs.

Abdullah, who is also finance minister, said high on the casualty list is the construction of a vital second bridge linking Penang to peninsular Malaysia.

The Prime Minister said there were a number of reasons for the Penang 2nd Bridge project delay.

“First, we need to acquire the land needed to develop the project, then there are matters relating to the design. We want to ensure that it is the best design.

“Also the cost needs to be looked at. There may be some changes in the cost because the price of materials have gone up,” he told reporters on Tuesday after delivering his speech at the Asia Europe Culture Ministers Meeting.

Abdullah also said that several other projects under the RM200 billion development plan from 2006 to 2010 would be reviewed. (Source: Gov't to delay projects amid rising costs )

It was reported that the second bridge was originally estimated at RM3.6bil but the costing had gone up to RM4.3bil (see: PM: Many reasons for Penang bridge delay )

I happened to receive some information from reliable sources. They told me that the portion of works to be carried out by UEM's foreign partner, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) is already RM4.8 billion and this excludes UEM portion of works such as earthworks and other ancillary works which could amount to another RM2 billion. If we are to include land acquisition the total cost for the bridge would be around some RM7.5 billion, and not RM4.3 billion as reported by TheStar.

There was another problem between UEM and CHEC partnership of which UEM holds 49% and CHEC holds the remaining 51% in the joint-venture consortium. The joint venture legal entity was named as CHEC-UEM JV but UEM sends all letters under the name of UEM-CHEC JV of which the CHEC may just ignore the contractual letters and of which may have future potential legal implications should there be disputes that puts the party to battle it out in the court. The probable reason is that UEM wants to have their corporate name in front to denote control and power while the CHEC wants their name in front to denote that they are financing the project based on the G2G (government-to-government) initiated collaboration.

When this 2nd bridge project was mooted way back in 1996 the budgeted cost was around RM2 billion and should Mahathir had carried out this project at the same time as the KLIA project we could have saved RM5.5 billion. But then Mahathir rather have Twin Tower, Star and Putra LRT and another RM10 billion for Putrajaya, Wetland project, Cyber Entertainment Village, etc.

And most of all, Najib is working hard to find RM2-4 billion to buy Russian military hardwares so as to sent our Costmorenaut to the international space station.

"Do your Math," said Economic dropout

RM81b subsidize

Government subsidies had reached RM81 billion?

The nation should be bankrupt now?

Was it subsidize or bailing out costs?

Did it include all those pillages and pilferages of the system administrators?

For as long as you keep the nation under the rule of corruption, this is the price we had to pay.

How many people had the true pictures and correct information of this co-called subsidies to truly understand it.

The Chinese Dilemma

The Chinese people of Malaysia are seen as credulous people, morbid and carpe diem. They had been apathetic towards politics and spent all their energy focusing on the profusion of wealth or accumulation of abundance.

They practice pantheism and readily submit to materialistic subordination. In this life, nothing matter more than enjoyment which is indeed the foremost object and meaning of life. We look for the satisfaction of our desires in the future - to be rich, to be famous, and to be somebody in the eyes of everybody.

The admiration of others or reputation by themselves are their sources of pleasure.

But one of the chief difficulties in satisfying our desires is that we have to make choices, and include the choice of inflicting any amount of pain upon ourselves no matter how great the remote future gain is.

The Chinese had, over the decades preferred commerce and capitalism. Most prayed or adored Fok Lok Sau, the god of Prosperity, Abundance and Longitivity. They do not indulge seriously in politics and in the due course, left the political decisions to fate and destiny and others. They believed that money is far more credible than political influence, and their daily lives are geared towards acquisition of abundance of wealth, for themselves and for their generations to come.

But slowly, they have come to realize that sacrificing their political influence and dictates can, change their whole course of life, take away their accumulations, rights, freedom and opportunities, and even take away their dead bodies. Suddenly, they found themselves living in a world ruled with discretionary arbitrary dictates by coquettish despot who were guile and nefarious. Those who held power could even gerrymander and vacillate the rules, policies and even the constitution. They are found to be capricious, spurious, having puerile mindset, and are imperious.

Now, in order to participate in commerce, these Chinese will have to sacrifice a substantial portion of their ownings to others who contribute nothing, safe their name, creed and linkage. For those who are less prosperous, education for their children had become arcane and they suffers timorous uncertain agitation. Getting their children to universities had become arduous and beyond their ordinary means. But they can only cry, and thus cry in vain.

Under the surface of the current melancholy of peace and economic stability, there seems to be a strong undercurrent of genuine pessimism and disdain. They pout and sulk, and bears the feeling of acrimony.

Have we reach a state of Epicurean life where we have no faith in the past, no hope in the future, but could only await, quietly indeed, the natural dissolution of our body, so as to rest our souls under a stone of obituary?

In realizing this end, one has to use some means which may at some time be tiresome and we cannot be pusillanimous anymore. He who wants to get to some end without any positive and effective efforts defies himself.

Ok, let's get to other talks of the day.

I wish I could speak Mandarin, says Muhyiddin

Umno vice-president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has a wish – to be able to converse with fellow Malaysians in Mandarin, describing his inability to speak the language as a weakness.

He said he felt awkward when he listened to someone speaking in Mandarin or any Chinese dialect and could not understand what was being said.

He said that for this very reason he hoped the Malays would be more pragmatic when it came to language issues and urged them to learn Mandarin or even Tamil.

Muhyiddin said he would like more Malay parents to send their children to Chinese schools, which now had about 60,000 Malay students throughout the country.

More Chinese primary schools

More Chinese primary schools will be built in highly-populated areas, said Deputy Education Minister Datuk Hon Choon Kim.

Hon, however, declined to reveal the number that would be built or where they would be located (remarks: as probably he didn't even know about it as there was none in the plan too).

“Although I know the details, it should not come from my mouth (remarks: but he claim he knows of the details but his mouth has problem, probably suffering from ulcer)

“Wait a little while longer. The good news will be announced soon,” Hon said (remarks: ya, wait for the election time; that's soon).

For 50 years, the MCA is only capable to voice loudly in the hope of keeping alive the status of Chinese primary school; for all the rest are gone and cremated. You can put small prints of Chinese words on your signboard, but only small prints; the exception is Sarawak, the only state where you can see even road names in Chinese prints and big prints on shop fronts. You can't even built the statute of Mazu at Kudat.

If we can remember way back in the 1980s, MCA with Lee Kim Sai had to fought hard against the oligarchy to maintain the customary lion dance for the Chinese New year; it's absurd, but it's reality.

Some Indians are far luckier, not because they had Samy, but because they changed their name and spiritual affiliation and join UMNO. These groups have become the sons of the soils and had prospered while traveling along on the gravy train. Those others who would not seek such baptism of change had branded themselves under a new name, the Hindrafians.

But many of Chinese never saw a need to change their creed. They believed in the religion of Kautimism and Kantauism. So far they did it reasonably well because the oligarchy shared their core values and shared the same materialistic philosophy. So, they stayed pusillanimous, insouciant and nonchalant, while being desultory towards politics. But soon, they should pay the ultimate price of regression and atrophy.

Raja Nazrin's Wisdom unfold

Raja Nazrin unfold his wisdom again at the National Economic Outlook Conference 2008/2009 organized by Malaysian Institute of Economic Research.

But the reportings of his speech draws different ideological approach and emphasis. TheStar headline reads: "Nazrin: Nurture Human Capital". NST prefers: "Hi-tech's the way to go"

The content between the two reports also draws different emphasis. The NST highlight is more on high-tech. At the first para, NST wrote: "Malaysia needs to take a big step up the technology ladder by moving into high-technology and knowledge-intensive industries. Raja Muda of Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah said this was the only way to remain internationally competitive."

"Policies that have served us well in the past are unlikely to work in the future," he said.

"Malaysia's past growth was driven mainly by large increase in the use of labour and capital inputs, but future growth will have to come from productivity gains and technological breakthroughs. This in turn, requires the country to vastly improve its human capital base by investing heavily in training and education, and promoting research and development."

"Raja Nazrin said physical, human and social capital constitute the three prerequisites of development. At the end of the day, the difference between a fully functional state and a dysfunctional one may lie in nothing more than the quantity and quality of its social capital."

"I believe that shaping the right socio-economic environment is a very important task and this does not lie entirely, or perhaps even mainly, in the economic domain," he said.

Let's read what TheStar emphasized:

"Countries, including Malaysia, must change with the aspirations of their citizens or risk losing their best and brightest, said Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah. There are countries today whose citizens are highly educated and whose scientists and engineers are at the leading edge in their fields but who want nothing more than to leave their countries. “It is time that we reunite these disparate parts into our development story,”..."

Do you see their ideological perspective? NST's thinks Raja Nazrin's emphasis is on High-tech and competitiveness, while TheStar's grasp the issue of human capital and brain drain.

Let's go further into TheStar's ideological perspective:

"Nazrin said many “middle-income countries” focused on human capital development, entrepreneurship, and scientific and technological innovations but these could not stand alone without the social norms and values. Human capital development without the right environment is futility in itself,” he said."

I tried to expound similar perspective at the NST but they don't seem to espoused the same ideological output. This para does express wanton of insights about the fundamentals of political and social ideologies that shapes the economic landscape of each nation. As Nazrin warned: "Human Capital Development without the Right Environment is Futility in itself". HCD, Entrepreneurship, Science & Technology, and Innovation, could not stand alone without social norms and values. Two simple lines to express the wholesome truth.

Could we learnt from this wisdom? Could we grasp the ideological and philosophical epiphany? Are we illuminated by Nazrin's thoughts and wisdom?

Let's contrast another man's wisdom and ideology. "Don't Butt in, says Nazri", reports TheStar at page N10. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, who rebuked Karunanidhi for interfering, said what happened here had “nothing to do with Tamil Nadu.”

”Do not meddle in our affairs. This is Malaysia, not Tamil Nadu ... lay off,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

“It’s a mistake to make an apology to them. It’s not the Indian community that’s involved. Don’t be samseng (gangster),” he said, adding that the issue was discussed at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.

Nazri seems to be living in a one-man island. Human are social beings and the Indians in India are definitely concerned about their fellow brethren. Even Malaysian government had tried to meddle with the affairs in Myanmar when the govt sent Tan Sri Razali to mediate between the Junta and Aung San Syu Kii. Khairy and UMNO Youth had demonstrated at the American Embassy on issues between Israel and Palestine, and the Americans' involvement on the Middle-east peace process. Aren't UMNO and Malaysia meddling in others' affairs? So, what is the issue of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's call to his Indian Manmohan Singh over the plight of Tamils in Malaysian. He had expressed deep pain at the way the police has treated them.

Cakap Tak Boleh Serupa Bikin. The Phrase: "Do what I tell You to Do, Not What I Do." Nazri seems to espouse two different system and ideology which are to be applied in differing circumstances. There is one set of rules for the Oligarchy and another for the proletariat. Similarly, there is one set for UMNO and another for their coalition partners. There's also one set for BN and another for the opposition. Equally, there's one set for UMNO Malays and another for the other Malays. So, George Orwell was right on, "All men are equal, but some are more equal".

Where are we going? Utopia or Ethiopia?

Fear Factors & Costly Blunders

Abdullah to Malays: "Stop being Afraid".

I'm not sure whether the Malays are afraid of what. But as a Chinese, I'm surely afraid; afraid of UMNO, afraid of ISA, afraid of ACA, afraid of police, afraid of organized crime syndicates, afraid of Keris, and afraid of the weak government we have.

In a year, out of the 365 days, we had to constantly live in fear.

The fear that taxes had to be increased to fill-up the leaking treasury and bulimic ministers.

PKFZ is $4.6b leakages; Sukhoi is another $3b; and now with the 4-zonal corridors which is expected to cost more than $400b, I am afraid the country would be robbed or castrated.

Selangor had spent $3 million on a failed Millennium park which is under demolition.

Crooked bridge project termination had caused us $292 million compensation claim. Broga incinerator project which is also terminated is facing a claim of some $500 million.


Rakan Muda complexes costing more than $1 billion have turned out to be a white elephant.

There are so many failed projects, and we also have so many extremely lucrative projects being privatized.

On top of these, we have avalanche of leakages at the government departments, ministries and local councils as can be observed in the Auditor-general's report for each successive year, over the last decades. Corruption in all the uniform forces, civil services and local councils are so eminent and now Rela is also partaking in the spoils. Even school administrators are having a good time.

So, where do the government gets the money from?

Tax payers and Petronas!

Income tax collections exceeds $60 billion annually, and Petronas contributions are between $30-$40 billion annually. Other taxes and duties, and foreign borrowings adds on to the economic hemorrhages.

This problems alone wouldn't make me fear. After all, my contribution on taxes is negligible overall. But the fear stems from the fact that, in order to answer to any queries or to sidetrack the people, the government and UMNO had to create issues from moth hill.

So, there is a need to for racial divide. Religion is also used widely to cause fear to a particular community. NEP and other rhetorics are used to justify excesses of the coterie.

In the next few days, the keris is a necessary tool to indoctrinate and orientate. It's not about fear, it's about duress and coercion. It's about the hungry ghosts convention...

This is what Michael Backman had to say:

[excerpts]

"Ramadan has just ended and once again Malaysia has been treated to the spectacle of government ministers and other officials fasting and playing the pious Muslim on the one hand and stealing from their fellow Malaysians on the other."

"One might ask what on earth the Finance Minister has been doing in the face of all this waste and theft. Or,indeed, even who is the Finance Minister? Extraordinarily, it is Abdullah. In a break with tradition, he occupies that post as well as being Prime Minister. The firings should start with him."

"After all, it's not as if Malaysia has a shortfall of ministers. On the contrary, Malaysia has no fewer than 72 ministers and deputy ministers at the federal level (excluding parliamentary secretaries; it will be more than 92 if included). By way of comparison, Australia has 32 ministers and assistant ministers. Is the quality of public administration in Malaysia more than twice as good as in Australia? Let the facts speak for themselves."

"Malaysia is truly at a cross-roads. It has many good people with great potential but it is slipping beneath the waves of mediocrity, weighed down by officials intent on an orgy of plunder while the ship's captain stands idly by."

Note: Does it take an Australian to remind us of our state of despair?

WEPT - Don't Cry for me!

The East Coast Economic Zone (ECER) was just launched by the PM and already there is so much disagreement.

Pahang MB Adnan Yaakob is concerned that ECER is not an appropriate acronym because the Bahasa Malaysia acronym will be Wilayah Ekonomi Pantai Timur which is WEPT, that's Crying...

PM's wife Jeanne said WEPT was a past tense for weep which means the people had finished crying and no longer sad.

PM Abdullah took out the calling card of Hassan Marican which said ECER can be pronounced as echeh which means 'to distribute'. However PM was quick to add that the name is unimportant as compared to smooth implementation of the projects.

In Malaysia, or should I say, in UMNO, rituals and forms are far more important than substances and structures. We can observed that its going to be a mad scramble for a piece of the cake. Already in the market, we are hearing from many salesmen from UMNO gong round looking for potential paymasters. Everyone is selling projects and anyone can buy. Of course the potential candidates are the Chinese and Indians as the sellers are UMNO boys. Those interested, and have the monies, can also seek my assistance to contact those agents. The condition is upfront payment for kangtau which we call consultant fees or at times we call "Finding Fee" or "Contingent Fees". Oh, forget, another condition is 10% of the project amount as contribution to the coterie.

By the way, other economic regions are also marketing their projects extensively. Potential investors do not need to worry about skin color at the time of investments.