Malaysians, it is time to mourn!

One cannot not to be annoyed or disgusted by the headlines published in the main stream media in Malaysia recently.
It is sad to feel what is left with Malaysia now is a state run by incompetent monkeys who are just desperate holding on to power in whatever costs. These monkeys even proposing a merger with their arched enemy whom they described as evil in the past. All in the name of uniting their own race-religion; leading to further division to the already divided Malaysian society.
There is also this sodomy drama and babe murder saga showing on international screen. These shows unfold the ugliest, most twisted, biased, stinky and utterly shameful state of Malaysia judiciary system for failing in upholding justice. In Malaysia, suspect of sodomy is surely more criminal than those who are being suspected on committing murder.
The police force, an institution which suppose to upholding law righteousness and protecting the general public from crime, seems to have turned mafia. In fact, these mafia like police force are flexing their muscles, ruthlessly creating fear and intimidating the Rakyat as per their masters wish. Not to mention police involvement in crime at both low and high level.
The economy is undoubtedly spiraling downhill. Inflation had soared to historical high of 7.7% over the 27 years. Rampant corruption, unaccountability, inefficiency, lack of transparency and mismanagement of public sectors; rising cost of living potentially brewing social unrest, cronyism in business involving government projects means foreign direct investment (FDI) is becoming a distant past.

This coming 31st of August supposed to be a celebration for the 51 years of the birth of this once proud nation called Malaysia. Instead of celebration, all citizens should mourn the death of democracy, justice, human rights, security, stability, peace, freedom, harmony and prosperity of this nation.
Our founding father, Tunku Abdul Rahman must be weeping in his grave, as his vision and dream has been shattered by his own people that walks in the corridor of power.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Jed Yoong, Asia Sentinel 30 July 2008

The tangled political web in Malaysia grows messier

Barely two days after a medical report surfaced that appeared to clear opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of sodomy allegations made by a former aide, a news Web site aligned with Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi declared that "police have completed their investigations" and will soon charge Anwar over the allegations.

The Malaysian Insider quotes an unnamed source "who is familiar with the investigations" of Anwar saying, "This case is built on strong scientific evidence." The site also quotes sources saying that "investigators… will be relying on Anwar's DNA samples from 1998" to make their case.

There is no independent confirmation of the report on Malaysian Insider, which was started recently by journalists that analysts say are identified with Badawi. That move, which appeared to be an attempt to counter pro-opposition blog sites, came after the April 8 election in which the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition lost its two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time since independence.

The drama over the medical report and what may be Anwar's imminent arrest is fueling uncertainty in Malaysia as a combination of political crisis and economic frustration fuel pro-opposition sentiment. With Anwar in the midst of a political comeback, many see the sodomy charges as a desperate attempt by the government to cling to power.

"The whole sodomy episode reeks with injustice and stinks to high heaven," said P Ramakrishnan, the president of the reform organization Aliran, who questioned whether police "were taking instructions from politicians who felt threatened and therefore were bent on destroying Anwar to preserve their power base."

Anwar was arrested on July 15 and kept overnight but no charges were filed over the accusations of sodomy made by former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan two weeks earlier. At the time, Anwar refused to provide a DNA sample, claiming that it could be misused to fake evidence against him. Police told Anwar to report back to them within 30 days.

In 1998, a charge of sodomy was also filed against Anwar after he broke with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who sacked the then-deputy prime minister and finance minister and expelled him from UMNO. Anwar's subsequent sodomy conviction was later overturned after Badawi succeeded Mahathir. Anwar was also jailed on corruption charges brought by Mahathir.

The medical report leaked to journalists this week said that there was no tearing or bleeding in Saiful's rectum. Made by Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid of Hospital Pusrawi (Islamic Treatment Centre), the medical report has triggered charges that government leaders faked the entire episode to keep Anwar from an expected attempt to take power after an almost-certain win in an upcoming by-election.

To muddy the waters further, on Wednesday morning the hospital denied having made the medical report although the day before, when a hospital official was shown the report by Malaysiakini, the online news site, the official grabbed it and said it belonged to the hospital and refused to return it.

With so many charges and counter charges flying back and forth, the crisis for Malaysia seems set to deepen as UMNO and it allies face the strongest challenge yet to their supremacy.

Looking at a mess involving the most respected professions in the country, Ambiga Sreenavasan, president of the Malaysian Bar Council, said, "The credibility of the Malaysian justice system as a whole is at stake. The integrity of professionals, be they doctors or lawyers, must never be interfered with. The public must be left in no doubt that the criminal justice system in this country will not be misused or abused."

If Anwar wins a seat in the parliament, the opposition alliance would need just 30 seats to gain a simple majority and overturn the Barisan's 50-year reign. Putting Anwar back behind bars may be what the leadership considers its most viable option to remain in power. It is a move that could backfire.

"There will definitely be protests [if Anwar is arrested]," said a seasoned observer of Malaysian politics. "Before the leaked medical report, I would have said it would be peaceful, but after the report was leaked, I would not be surprised if the protesters turn violent."

There have also been widespread reports that Parti Islam se-Malaysia, or PAS, the fundamentalist Islamic party, has been in talks with UMNO to leave the opposition coalition to join the Barisan. Both parties are made up of ethnic Malays who some political observers regard as threatened by the mix of Indian, Chinese and urban Malays in the opposition alliance. Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the PAS spiritual advisor, is said to be strongly opposed to such an alliance, regarding UMNO as irretrievably corrupt and remembering an UMNO betrayal of PAS in the early 1970s. PAS leaders have so far reassured the opposition coalition that it will stay put.

The implications of an Anwar takeover of the government would be alarming for UMNO and other components of the Barisan, the Malaysian Chinese Association and the Malaysian Indian Congress. The opposition leader has filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Agency charging police chief Musa Hassan, who was the lead investigating officer, and Abdul Ghani Patail, who was the lead prosecutor, of fabricating evidence against him in 1998. A Royal Commission in March also exposed corrupt judiciary practices, alleging that the system is has been manipulated by politicians, including Mahathir Mohamad.

Other corruption charges also have dogged UMNO politicians and could provide fodder for investigations by a new government. Favorable government contracts are said to have gone to cronies closely aligned with the leadership. Following opposition state victories in Penang, Selangor and other territories, newly installed governments have taken steps to investigate some of the contracts in question.

Then there is the widely publicized deal over three French submarines, in which Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his close friend Abdul Razak Baginda engineered a contract that netted Baginda's company US$111 million in fees. Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, have been pursued by allegations that they may be linked to the gruesome murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old Mongolian woman who was the translator on the deal and allegedly the lover of both men. She was demanding US$500,000 from Baginda when she was killed. Baginda and two of Najib's bodyguards are on trial for her murder.

Influential blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin of Malaysia Today says Badawi is in possession of a military intelligence report that indicate Najib and Rosmah were involved in the murder. Badawi has denied the allegations in local media and said he has full confidence in Najib.

Malaysia & Singapore

I totally agree with the author. While both Singapore and Malaysia share 1 common similarity in their political scene, i.e. dominance of a single party; the former focuses on nation development and well beings of its citizens whereas the latter just ignores everything that matters to the country and its people.

If there are good governance and performance based policies in Malaysia in the first place, Malaysia would be prosperous and not in the current state of political & economical disasters.

----------------------------------------------------

At 84, the fire still burns!

By Ahmad Mustapha

Singapore's Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore's founding father, has always been very direct in his comments. This was the man who outsmarted the communists in Singapore (with the innocent help of Malaya then and the willing help of the British) and who later outwitted the British and outpaced Malaysia in all spheres.

Singapore practices corrupt-free meritocracy and Malaysia affirmative action. The former attracted all the best brains and the latter chased out all the brains. The Singapore cabinet consists of dedicated and intelligent technocrats whereas Malaysia has one of the most unwieldy cabinets.

Not only that, brain-wise it was below par not even good for the kampong. With that kind of composition, one that is very brainy, naturally Singapore, with no natural resources could outstrip Malaysia in every aspect of development. Malaysia, on the other hand, was too much preoccupied with its Malayness and the illusory 'Ketuanan Melayu' and was also more interested in useless mega iconic development rather than real social and economic development.

Whenever Kuan Yew utters anything that deemed to be a slight on Malaysia, voices were raised admonishing him. Malaysia would never dare to face reality. That Singapore had shown that it could survive was a slap on those who believed that Singapore would fold up once it left Malaysia. Therefore it was natural that these doomsayers would try to rationalise their utterances to be in their favour to combat whatever Kuan Yew commented. Its political jealousy. Singapore achieved its development status without any fanfare. But here in Malaysia, a development that was deceptive was proclaimed as having achieved development status. It was trumpeted as an achievement that befits first world status. This was self delusion. Malaysians are led to believe into a make believe world, a dream world.

The leaders who themselves tend to believe in their own fabricated world did not realise the people were not taken in by this kind of illusion. Lee Kuan Yew believed in calling a spade a spade. I was there in Singapore when the People's Action Party won the elections in 1959. He was forthright in his briefing to party members as to what was expected of them and what Singapore would face in the future. Ideologically, I did not agree with him. We in the University of Malaya Socialist Club had a different interpretation of socialist reconstruction. But he was a pragmatist and wanted to bring development and welfare to the Singaporeans. Well! He succeeded.

Malaysia was so much embroiled in racial politics and due to the fear of losing political power, all actions taken by the main party in power was never targeted towards bringing wealth to all. Wealth was distributed to the chosen few only. They were the cronies and the backers of the party leadership to perpetuate their own selfish ends. Seeing the efficiency and the progress achieved by Singapore caused the Malaysian leadership to suffer from an inferiority complex. That Malaysia should suffer from this complex was of its own making. In a recent interview, Kuan Yew said that Malaysia could have done better if only it treated its minority Chinese and Indian population fairly. Instead they were completely marginalised and many of the best brains left the country in droves. He added that Singapore was a standing indictment to what Malaysia could have done differently. He just hit the nail right there on the head.

Malaysia recently celebrated its 50th year of independence with a bagful of uncertainties. The racial divide has become more acute. The number of Malay graduates unemployed is on the increase. And this aspect can be very explosive. But its sad to see that no positive actions have been taken to address these social ills. Various excuses were given by Malaysian leaders why Singapore had far outstripped Malaysia in all aspects of social and economic advancement :- Singapore was small, they rationalised and therefore easy to manage. Singapore was not a state but merely an island. There was one other aspect that Malaysia practises and that is to politicise all aspects of life. All government organs and machinery were 'UMNO-ised'. This was to ensure that the party will remain in power. Thus there was this misconception by the instruments of government as to what national interest is and what UMNO vested interest is.UMNO vested interest only benefited a few and not the whole nation. But due to the UMNO-isation of the various instruments of government, the country under the present administration had equated

UMNO vested interest as being that of national interest. Thus development became an avenue of making money and not for the benefit of the people. The fight against corruption took a back seat. Transparency was put on hold. And the instruments of government took it to be of national interest to cater to the vested interest of UMNO. Enforcement of various enactments and laws was selective. Thus a 'palace' in Kelang, AP cronies and close-one-eye UMNO MPs could exist without proper procedure. Corruption infested all govt departments, the worst is the police and lately even in the judiciary.
Singapore did not politicise its instruments of government. If ever policisation took place, it was guided by national interest. To be efficient and to be the best in the region was of paramount importance. Thus all the elements like corruption, lackadaisical attitude towards work and other black elements, which would retard such an aim, were eliminated. Singapore naturally had placed the right priority in it's pursuit to achieve what is best for its people. This is the major difference between these two independent countries.

Malaysia in its various attempts to cover up its failures embarked on several diversions. It wanted its citizens to be proud that the country had the tallest twin-tower in the world, although the structure was designed and built by foreigners. Its now a white-elephant wasting away in the glow of the sun and the moon. It achieved in sending a man into space at an exorbitant price. For what purpose? These are what the Malays of old would say 'menang sorak' (hollow victories).

It should be realised that administering a country can be likened to managing a corporate entity. If the management is efficient and dedicated and know what they are doing, the company will prosper. The reverse will be if the management is poor and bad the company will go bust. There are five countries around this region. There is Malaysia, and then Indonesia. To the east there is the Philippines and then there is that small enclave called the Sultanate of Brunei. All these four countries have abundance of natural resources but none can lay claim to have used all these resources to benefit the people. Poverty was rampant and independence had not brought in any significant benefits to the people. But tiny Singapore without any resources at all managed to bring development to its citizens. It has one of the best public MRT transport systems and airlines in the world and it is a very clean city state. Their universities, healthcare, ports are among the best in the world. It is impossible to compare what Singapore has achieved to what all these four countries had so far achieved. It was actually poor management and corruption, and nothing more.

Everything is done for the vested interest of the few. Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines and the Sultanate of Brunei need good management teams. They would not be able to do this on their own steam. I would advise that they call on Kuan Yew to show them what good governance is. Why look East to Japan when the answers are all there just next door across the causeway.

Nasi Lemak Berlauk Senibong

I brought my close friend to have the famous Nasi Lemak Berlauk at Senibong last Sunday. To JB people, Senibong "Nasi lemak" and the "Satay" are the "must eat" dishes for all visitors to Johor Bahru.

According to my colleague, Senibong was once a small plantation estate, with a few Malay village houses dotted along the coastline. Now, the estate is gone but the village still stays and it has transformed itself to be a place for seafood lovers.

There are a few good Chinese styled seafood restaurants at Senibong but I have to say they are not for average households because 1 meal (Fish, prawns, crayfish, clams, crabs and fried noodles, with a bottle of wine) for 5 person can easily fetched a RM 700 bill.

Fortunately, there is this Nasi Lemak cum seafood restaurant that also serves divine Satay.

Although the food is a bit pricey when compared to normal Nasi Lemak (RM2 - rice + fried egg + some peanuts + a slice of cucumber and Sambal chili), the food is still considered affordable, value for money and most of all, tasty!

Like most seafood restaurants, this Nasi Lemak restaurant is also built on stilts and extended its dining area to the sea front; overlooking the Tebrau Straits with Singapore's mangorove coastline and Refinery in sight.

The above picture is a Malay styled Seafood restaurant. It is not the Nasi Lemak restaurant that I have been talking about. In fact, the Nasi Lemak restaurant is located just beside this well decorated and brightly lighted restaurant.

In fact, the Nasi Lemak restaurant looks truly humble, basic and rustic. It is painted in sky-blue color, with green light bulbs go round the restaurant.

The restaurant's exterior and interior is really Basic and Rustic compared its neighbours but its business is so much better than its neighbours. Ha ha!

Entrance of the restaurant. The picture is taken from inside

This restaurant was packed with diners during dinner time. Service was somehow suffered as we have to wait for more than 20 minutes before our Nasi Lemak was served.

Luckily, we also have ordered some other dishes like the Fried Calamari to fill our stomach first.

It is crispy on the outside and tender in the inside... It goes very well with chili sauce or even by its own. Yummy!

The "Star" dish ---The Satays.

The beef satays taste so much better, very flavorsome and tenderer than the chicken satays.

Here comes the Nasi Lemak Berlauk. Customer can choose either Fried Chicken, Sambal Chicken, Curry Chicken, Rendang Chicken or Curry Sotong to go with the rice.

Unlike the normal RM2 nasi lemak, every spoonful of rice will fill your mouth with the fragrance of the rich and sweet coconut milk flavor.

Guess the chef has Kelantanese taste buds. The Sambal gravy is sweet and not really spicy. Very appetising!

The meals look good, don't they? By the way, I am feeling hungry now!

Inflation, fuel hike and household income

Malaysia's inflation surges to 7.7 percent in June after fuel price hike, hits 27-year high
The Associated Press, Published: July 24, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysia's annual inflation rate spiraled to a 27-year high in June after a fuel price hike sent the cost of food and transport soaring, the government said.
Consumer prices in June rose 7.7 percent compared with the same month in 2007, more than double the 3.8 percent annual inflation rate recorded in May, according to data released late Wednesday by the Statistics Department.
Food and nonalcoholic beverages, which account for 31 percent of the price index, spiked 10 percent from a year ago. Transport expenditure surged 19.6 percent; alcoholic beverages and tobacco costs climbed 9.2 percent.
"The main reason for this increase is due to the substantial rise in the price of petrol and diesel announced by the government," the statistics department said.
The inflation figures underscore growing public frustrations over the higher cost of living after the government raised gasoline prices by 41 percent and diesel prices by 63 percent in early June to curb a runaway subsidy bill.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shahrir Samad said June's inflation rate was the highest since April 1981, when consumer prices rose 10.8 percent.
Shahrir said annual inflation would likely remain above 7 percent in July because the government raised electricity tariffs by 18 percent for households and an average of 26 percent for commercial and industry users.
Analysts said the sharper-than-expected surge in consumer prices and the regional trend of tightening interest rates add new pressure for Malaysia's central bank to raise rates at its monetary policy meeting Friday.
"The current scenario may have tilted Bank Negara's focus toward combating inflation,"

Kenanga Investment Bank said in a report.
It predicted Bank Negara Malaysia will raise its key overnight policy rate — used by banks to set lending rates — to 4 percent over the next six months. The rate has been unchanged at 3.5 percent since 2006.
Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz was noncommittal Thursday, saying the central bank would have to consider factors such as whether inflation would increase and hurt economic growth in its rate decision.
"We're going to do what is in the best interest of the country," Zeti told reporters.
The government has said inflation may cross 5 percent in 2008, but it has pledged not to further raise fuel prices this year. Inflation was around 2 percent last year.
Malaysia's consumer price index is calculated based on retail prices of 460 items in nearly 25,000 outlets nationwide.

---------------------------------------------------------

10-07-2008: Half of M’sian households earn below RM3,000 a month by Pauline Puah

KUALA LUMPUR: Half of Malaysian households have a monthly income of less than RM3,000. This was revealed in the 2007 household income and facilities census by the Department of Statistics Malaysia. Of the 5.8 million households in the country, 8.6% have an income below RM1,000, 29.4% had between RM1,000 and RM2,000, while 19.8% earned between RM2,001 and RM3,000.
Answering a question in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Amirsham Abdul Aziz said 12.9% of the households earned between RM3,001 and RM4,000 and 8.6% between RM4,001 and RM5,000. "Around 15.8% of the households have an income of between RM5,001 and RM10,000 and 4.9% have an income of RM10,000 and above," he said in reply to Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj (Sungai Siput-PKR).

Amirsham brushed aside a suggestion by Jeyakumar in a supplementary question that the government only focused on the income disparity between racial groups instead of the overall income disparity in the society under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) review. "I have said this in the last parliament session: one of the focus areas for the government is to reduce the incidence of poverty among all racial groups as well as in the urban and rural areas. "The income gap between the urban and rural areas has been narrowed. We have the same target under the 9MP which is to further reduce the income gap between the rural and urban areas," he said.
In reply to another supplementary question from Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi (Batu Pahat-BN), Amirsham said the policies and strategies under the 9MP were aimed at upgrading the economic status of Malaysians. "We also have strategies under the 9MP to provide opportunities to racial groups which have been sidelined so that their income levels will be increased as well," he added.

-------------------------------------------------------

Millionaire households
NST: The country's poverty rate will increase from 3.7 per cent to 24.3 per cent if the poverty line is raised from the current RM800 to RM1,500 per household.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Amirsham A. Aziz said the definition of the poverty line was a household income sufficient for basic necessities. It does not include luxury items. The basics are food, clothes and other expenses like rental, utilities, transport and communication, health, education and recreation.
On such an optimistic note, let's all have a look at the number of millionaire households globally. The definition of a millionaire household is homes with more than US$1m in net assets.

The absolute figures, number of millionaire households:
1) USA 4,585,000
2) Japan 830,000
3) UK 610,000
4) Germany 350,000
5) China 310,000
6) Italy 270,000
7) France 265,000
8) Taiwan 220,000
9) Switzerland 205,000
10) Brazil 190,000
11) Netherlands 145,000
12) Belgium 135,000
13) Australia 135,000
14) Spain 125,000
15) Canada 110,000

Naturally the absolute figures would be skewed favouring those with large population. Although, Australia, Belgium and Netherlands are notable exceptions.

A more revealing figure would be as a percentage of all households in that country:
1) UAE 6.1%
2) Switzerland 6.1%
3) Qatar 5.2%
4) Kuwait 4.8%
5) USA 4.1%
6) Singapore 3.8%
7) Taiwan 3.0%
8) Belgium 3.0%
9) Israel 2.7%
10) UK 2.4%
11) Ireland 2.4%
12) Bahrain 2.2%
13) HK 2.1%
14) Saudi Arabia 2.0%
15) Netherlands 2.0%

We can understand those OPEC nations with their millionaires. USA, UK and Singapore are up there mainly because of the strong property markets over the last 10 years (even taking into account the property correction in the US over the last year and a half). If there are more foreclosures and a further 25% correction in property prices in the US and UK, coupled with another 10% weakness in USD, well you can see USA and UK slipping quickly down the rankings.
Switzerland is there with its banking facilities, or rather the millionaires move there. Ireland is a real success story, from the pits the country have risen through smart investment incentives.
It will be pretty hard for the normal working public in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines or Indonesia to hold net assets of more than US$1m. The average salaries would put all these countries on a backfoot. We tend to subsidise a lot of necessities and in particular fuel and diesel. The subsidies and a deliberate weak currency policy are supposed to ensure competitiveness.

However, if these countries do not reinvest properly into education and high value-added industries, we will forever have to contend with sluggish salaries. In a way, that translates into the property values.
While I am loathe to put Singapore in a shining light, they have reinvested very well. In 5 years time, if you have finished paying off your HDB flats, you can retire as an easy RM millionaire in Malaysia. If you have an executive HDB flat and paid that off, well, you should be very very close to being a US$ millionaire - we are not even talking private property here.
These are government housing. For Malaysian graduates, work hard for the first few years then plan your career well. You may want to move to "internationally competitive" arenas, prove yourself and really earn good money, or get reposted back to Malaysia. You stay local, you will be paid local. Unless you try and establish your own business, which is no guarantee. Or pick industries which pay industry competitive rates.

Can we afford another ten years under BN?

Barisan Nasional's Logo - a well balance scale. In actual fact, it tilts to one side!

My friend shared the following first article with me. We do not know who the writer is but it is a "easy-to-read" and "to-the-point" article that strike the cords of every concerned Malaysians' heart on how they feel about the current sorry state of Malaysia today.

If one has been following the development of political scenes in Malaysia lately, it shows our ruling party has no interest to rectify issues listed below. Instead, just concentrating on securing their power and forget about the economy....Sigh! Sigh! Sigh!

For any foreigner who wants to know what happens to Malaysian Politics recently, please refer to the Commentary by Andy Mukherjee of "Bloomberg.com Opinion" or read the second article attached below.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

When we started work around 1973 a 1.3 Litre Japanese car was RM7000
Today the equivalent let's say it is RM60000............*8.5 times*

In 1973 a double storey house was about RM45,000...or less
Today it is about RM300,000............*6.6 times*

In 1973 an Engineer's pay was RM1000
Today it is about RM2000 +/-............*2 times*

From 1973 to 2008 ...... 35 years ...... what is the Trend.? *Bearish!!!!*
In a stock market when the trend is bearish, what do we do?.. Exit !!!

When a country's trend is bearish what do we do?
This Bearish trend is more difficult to turn around as compared to the stock market.
I have used these 3 items - House, Car & Salary as a measurement of the country's performance for the past 35 years....

There is a book I saw in MPH bookshop entitled : ‘Malaysia : The Failed Nation’, some of you may be interested to read up. I agree with the writer.....

This morning I was having Coffee at McDonald’s (now the coffee..100 % Arabica beans..is quite good @ RM2.90....free refill!. I asked how much per hour is their pay?
*RM 3.00 x 8 hours = RM24 per day... x 25 days = RM600 per month*

My daughter worked part-time during her University days... she worked at Gloria Jeans Coffee .. the pay : A$14.00 (@ 3.15 = RM44 per hour.....x 8 = RM352 per day!!! x 25 days = RM8800)
13.3 times more !!!!! ...... Price of houses in Perth is about the same in KL Price of cars are about 23 % cheaper in Perth.

Developed country by 2020?...means High income country

Let's look at some as of year 2005 (Financial Times)
USA GNP per capita US$35400
UK GNP per capita US$25510
Australia GNP per capita US$19530
Singapore GNP per capita US$20690

These are developed countries by income measurement
Malaysia GNP per capita US$3540
Year 2020..developed country?

Really...a sad story.

Worrying Trend, isn't it??????

Ringgit sliding further and further under BN
Recently, I interviewed some fresh graduates applying for jobs with my engineering company. I accepted two applicants on a starting salary of RM1600. It struck me as odd that 15 years ago, I myself started work as a fresh graduate engineer for the same pay.

Indeed, if you compare the salaries of graduates now and 15 or even 20 years ago, you'll find little difference but their purchasing power is vastly different. It's the same story when you compare salaries of shop assistants, office staff, factory workers and others.

To compound the effect of inflation, the ringgit has depreciated greatly against all major currencies. The real income of most Malaysians has moved backwards.

This is why many Malaysians suffer under the petrol hike. The root of the problem is that our real incomes have shrunk in the face of inflation and depreciated currency. Malaysians have not been spoiled by subsidy but are unable to move out of the time lock of stagnated and depreciated incomes.

If you compare the per capita incomes of Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, they are a few multiples of ours although at independence all these countries were on the same economic level as Malaysia.

What has gone wrong? We were the rising star of East Asia, a country rich in natural resources with the most promising potential.

The reason is massive corruption, plundering of resources, wastage of funds for huge non- economic projects, anti-public interest deals with politically-linked companies and passing-the-buck to the man in the street.

Four decades of NEP where education, economic and employment policies are defined by race ensured that meritocracy took a back seat.Our university standard has declined and the today best and brightest of our youth emigrate to escape the racial inequity only to contribute to the economies of foreign lands.

The reputation of our judiciary which was held in high esteem worldwide has sunk so low that foreign investors now insist on arbitration in Singapore in case of any dispute.

We also have a slew of oppressive laws such as the ISA, OSA, UUCA and PPPA which stifle free speech and are designed to keep the ruling parties in power.We have become less attractive to foreign investors and now lag behind our neighbours in Asean for foreign direct investment. Even some corporations which have established themselves here are moving out.

All the economic and social malaise cannot help but affect the value of our currency. The strength of a country's currency is after all, a reflection of its fundamentals. Furthermore, Bank Negara has a policy of weak ringgit to help exporters, never mind the burden on the common folk. The government is pro-corporation, not pro-rakyat.

While the poor and middle-class are squeezed, an elite group gets breathtakingly rich. We have the distinction of having the worse income disparity in Asean. A re-distribution of wealth is under way from the poor and middle-class to a select group of politically-connected elite.

The end result of this re-distribution will be a small group of super-rich while the majority are pushed into poverty and the middle-class shrinks. This is what happens when the rich gets richer and the poor get poorer.

There is much that is wrong with Malaysia. The responsibility for pulling the country backwards can be laid squarely at the door of the ruling regime. It is BN's mis-governance, racial politics and culture of patronage which has seen the country regress economically and socially.

We seem to be sliding down a slippery slope, further down with each passing year of BN's rule. Another five years of BN rule and we'll be at Indonesia 's standard under Suharto. Another 10 years and we'll be touching the African standard.

What a way to greet 2020.

Is there any hope for Malaysia?
Faced with the reality that BN will never change, many Malaysians desperate for change turn their lonely eyes to Anwar Ibrahim. Pakatan Raykat has promised to treat all races fairly, to plug wastage, fight corruption, reform the judiciary and make Malaysia more competitive.

But some have questioned whether we can trust Anwar and his loose coalition of disparate parties.

The question is not whether we can trust Anwar and Pakatan Rakyat but whether we can afford not to.

Can we afford another ten years of BN's misrule?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Main Casts:

First row: 1st Pic: Badawi, 2nd pic: Anwar, 3rd Pic: Najib,

Second row: 1st Pic: Abdul Razak, 2nd Pic: Altantuya, 3rd Pic: Saiful

Commentary by Andy MukherjeeJuly 17 (Bloomberg) --

• A Mongolian woman, an aspiring model, is blown to bits with C-4 explosives.
• Allegations are made of an illicit affair, of bribery in a defense deal, of a dinner in Paris.
• A private investigator points his finger at the deputy prime minister who strongly denies any involvement. The detective retracts his statement (less than 24 hours post media conference, after meeting the police) and then, well, disappears.
• An opposition politician releases grainy videotapes of a top lawyer purportedly trying to fix judicial appointments.
• Charges of sodomy surface against the politician.
• Masked policemen arrest him.


• That, in a nutshell, is Malaysian politics.


• Investors don't stand a chance predicting what will happen next: This pulp fiction may even be beyond Quentin Tarantino's capacity to piece something together.
• The sordid saga took a dangerous turn yesterday (15.7.08) after the police in Kuala Lumpur apprehended opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has said he will have enough lawmakers on his side by Sept. 16 to bring down the government.
• Malaysian stocks fell to a 16-month low; the country's currency, the ringgit, slumped the most in two weeks.
• Malaysia ought to serve as a statutory warning to fast- growing Asian nations about the pointlessness of chasing the dream of Western-style prosperity while failing to build strong democratic institutions. It's wishful thinking that the latter would miraculously appear when a threshold level of per-capita income is crossed.

Desperate Moves

• Laws that curb free speech and assembly and allow people to be put in jail indefinitely without trial create an illusion of stability, which can last a long time.
• However, the moment cracks appear in the leadership, the government panics, and so does the challenger.
• Both are driven to take extreme steps because each knows how tough it is to wrest power -- or to regain it -- in a game where the incumbent sets all the rules.
• Anwar's arrest came after allegations by a former aide that the 60-year-old politician sodomized him on eight occasions.
• Anwar denies the charge and says it's a conspiracy by leaders of the ruling coalition -- which has governed Malaysia uninterrupted for 51 years -- to hold on to power.
• Anwar has filed a defamation suit against his 23-year-old accuser.
• Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak denies he ever met -- let alone had an affair with -- Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old Mongolian woman murdered in Malaysia two years ago; Abdul Razak Baginda, a political analyst who was once employed by Najib, is currently on trial for abetting the slaying.

Trading Charges

• Anwar says the sodomy allegation against him was instigated by Najib, who, in turn, says Anwar is framing him to divert attention from his own homosexuality.
• This isn't Anwar's first brush with the sodomy law. A similar charge had been brought against him in 1998 when he was becoming a threat to then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad; the allegation became the basis for Anwar's dismissal as finance minister.
• The Federal Court overturned the sodomy conviction in 2004 and released Anwar from prison.
• In national elections held in March this year, Anwar staged an upset. The ruling Barisan Nasional, which means National Front, fell short of a two-thirds supermajority in parliament; it lost power in five states, including Selangor, Penang and Perak, three of the most economically developed.
• This led Mahathir to demand, with increasing stridency, the ouster of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the current prime minister. In May, Mahathir even quit the party he led for 22 years to protest against Abdullah's continuation.

Anwar's Challenge

• Abdullah this month said he will hand over power to Najib in 2010. That may be too late for Barisan Nasional and a section of the Malaysian elite. Anwar last year produced a videotape showing that top judicial appointments in Malaysia during Mahathir's rule were influenced by businessmen with vested interests.
• A government-appointed commission has found the video clip authentic and called for further investigations.
• No one really believes that Anwar's arrest will end the power struggle in Malaysia. The country in 2008 is different from what it was in 1998 in several key respects.
• Blogs and other Internet-based news sources now inform public discourse, even as the mainstream media continue to be dominated by parties in the ruling coalition.

Gorbachev Figure

• The other difference is that in 1998 Anwar was challenging Mahathir, who had no intention of losing the fight. One can't be so sure about Abdullah's tenacity. Wittingly or otherwise, Abdullah has positioned himself as a transition figure, with the Economist magazine comparing him to Mikhail Gorbachev in an article this month.
• Anwar's supporters took to the streets yesterday (17.7.08) demanding that he be released. They shouted ``reformasi,'' or Malay for ``reform,'' which was their slogan even 10 years ago.
• Race-based quotas that discriminate against ethnic Chinese and Indians in jobs and education, too much government involvement in the economy and the attendant cronyism all need to change in Malaysia.

• But above all, the politics need to be cleaned up.

Panda rescue after the Sichuan quake

My friend sent me these photos about the rescue of these Giant Pandas after the Sichuan Earthquake. Most pandas are protected well from the quake. Thanks heaven! these creatures are too adorable and treasured to be harm by any form of disaster. Below also shown some other panda pictures, which i believed could be extracted from older files.

They were frightened by the quake and cuddled up on a tree trunk

Frightened and holding on

Caretakers rescuing pandas

Caretakers at Wulong Giant Panda Breeding Ground, feeding the pandas with milk, a day after the quake

More feeding

Group feeding... what an adorable sight!

Please, no, no, no. I don't want any injection!

In their playful mode

Baby panda nursery

Ooooo, do you want a kiss?

So shy!

Did you took the bamboo snack without permission?

More milk please

Napping time

Bye!


Pictures comes from sources like http://pet.sina.com.ch; pic AFP, http://hatw.net, TT.Mop.Com, corbis, photo by hengyi and cns photo

Visiting Singapore Art Museum 9.6.08

Thanks to the rain yesterday, it was a cool Sunday morning of 9.6.08 in Singapore. After having breakfast at the hawker centre at Bukit Batok wet market, Wilson, Nigel and I went to the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) for the arts exhibition of Alberto Giacometti and Xu Beihong (徐悲鸿) in Nanyang.

A peculiar view from the basement car park of my friends upwards to the Condominiums

Upon arrival, we were greeted by this beautiful building of SAM...

SAM was formerly a La Salle school...

Looking at the statue reminded me of my secondary school at Ipoh, Perak - St. Michael's Institution. Yes, I was a Lassalian

Beautiful architecture


Why there were these 4 things sitting on the bench at the right hand corner of the SAM building. I thought they were some discarded garbage (Ha, Ha, I am not implying you, Wilson) but was told these are actually art pieces created by some artists. There is only a thin line between art and trash and somehow, I felt the latter applies to this case. Fortunately, we were saved by seeing some real serious art pieces next, here goes...

--------------------------------------------------

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI

To me, I am more impressed with and appreciate Alberto Giacometti's sculptures than his sketches.

The "famous" Striding Man

Head of a man - Diego.

Guessed Alberto focus a lot on the eye expression of his sculpture. The eyes looked real and intense, as if these eyes came with real vision. One would certainly felt the sculpture was looking back when one looks at it.

Sketches of Diego Giacometti, Alberto Giacometti's brother. See how much attention is paid by Alberto on the eyes, even on his sketches!

"Nude" - Sketches of Annette, Alberto's wife

Diego, Alberto's brother played a prominent character in Alberto's works. The above is another Alberto's work with Diego in it.

------------------------------------------------------

Next, we went to see the works of Xu Beihong

Xu Beihong is recognised as the founder of China’s art education in the realist tradition and the father of Chinese modern painting. He had an immense influence on the development of Chinese painting in the 20th century. As one of the first Chinese painters to study in the West, Xu became a master of both the art of traditional ink painting and western oil painting. Xu spent several years in Southeast Asia and India between 1939 to1941. Besides painting, he also participated in many social activities. He developed close relations with personalities like R. Tagore, M. Gandhi, Sir Thomas Shenton and Lim Bo Seng, and painted compelling portraits of these individuals.

The exhibition explored Xu’s journey in Southeast Asia and India.

One of the masterpiece of Xu Beihong is the <愚公移山图> "The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains" (1940). The painting is a 4.2-meter-wide, or almost 18-foot-wide, ink painting based on the Chinese legend of a man who persisted in trying to move a mountain that was in his way, arguing that if he did not finish the task his children, and then his grandchildren, would eventually have to do so. "It was his way to demonstrate the determination and persistence of the Chinese people in the face of adversity (i.e. Japanese occupation).

A detailed glimpse of part of "The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains"

I was hoping to see the above painting <田横五百士> in the exhibition but it was not there. <田横五百士> is another masterpiece from Xu Beihong

This is one of my favorite - <放下你的皮鞭>"Put Down Your Whip" (1939). Xu painted this painting in Singapore after having witnessed the staging of a patriotic street drama about a father and his daughter in wartime exile, illustrated his passion and patriotism. This painting was sold at auction for a record 72 million Hong Kong dollars, or about $9.25 million.

- Portrait of a Lady -

Xu strongly felt that painting should be real and should be understood by people. Notice the lighting effect featured in the above picture? So real.

- A Young Lady -

- Portrait of Rabindranath Tagore (1940) -
This painting is considered remarkable and innovative because of its attention to details and the lack of white space left on the paper

- A galloping Horse -

Xu is well known for his horses and his ability to express his feeling through this animal.
A galloping horse full of energy and freedom expresses the way the painter felt after China won a particular battle

The ink and color "Lion and Snake" (1938) is a direct reference to the war between China and Japan. Other oils paintings that I like but not featured at the exhibition includes the following

- Jungle at the Himalaya -

- Tree -

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Light shades at the SAM

A courtyard with fountain at SAM. The atmosphere gave me a Granada feel

Beyond the locked gate is a freer world, is it or isn't it not?

Ah Beng and Ah Chong eating beside the road. That reminds us to takesome lunch although it was more like a tea time meal

A tell sign that a person is hungry... just keep quite and pay attention to eating food... Like the two in the photo

Potato salad

Some Nachos

Grilled chicken with herbs... I am feeling hungry by looking at the picture

Some Gelato to complete a satisfactory meal?

Next, on my way to take a MRT to Woodland and then back home to Johor Bahru, we dropped by "The Chijmes"

Chijmes pronounced "chimes" was once a convent school (Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus) and an orphanage. We visited the Chijmes Hall, which was once a chapel, equiped with beautiful stained glass windows

A wedding dinner was on itsway

I end this posting by saying God Bless