Kluang's unfortunate elephants

 I wrote about this the other day;

The Rape of Gunung Lambak

Honestly, I don't think the state government will act on it.

It's after all not so much into really saving the environment.

The MB can only talk.

As far as I'm concerned he is only good at making empty promises, quoting statistics, setting up committees and that's about it.

Ya, it's a BN state government, but if it's bad I'm going to say it's bad.

And nope, DAP didn't pay me to write this.

Don't listen to pro-Pakatan readers of this blog who insisted that someone paid me to write here.

Really, I'm actually doing this just for the heck of it.

Well, things doesn't look good in my hometown Kluang after they continue to cut down the surrounding forested areas.

My beloved yesterday sent me these videos recently recorded at  Taman Impian Kluang off Jalan Kota Tinggi,

Can't blame the elephants at all.

Humans cut down their forest, okay.

I'm just hoping that they wouldn't hurt anyone and no one hurts them in return.

If anything bad happens over this, I'm going to blame it on the people in power in Johor for doing nothing.

Let's have monsoon-free GE15 next month

Pakatan and Perikatan said they don't want to have GE15 during monsoon season.

Umno and its BN allies however don't care too much about it.

Yesterday,

Zahid suggests holding election now to avoid monsoon

Well, why not?

We can have it next month.

You see, there are actually two monsoon seasons in Malaysia;

1. South West Monsoon Season from late May to September.

2. North East Monsoon Season from November to March.

So, if we want to avoid having the election during a monsoon season, then we have to hold it either in October, April or the first half of May.

Yup, those are the only months without a monsoon season.

If we want to make GE15 monsoon free, we must have it either next month or April and May next year.

October next year will be after its deadline, which is in September.

Considering that, Pakatan and Perikatan shouldn't complain if the Dewan Rakyat is to be dissolved next month to make way for the election.

But complain they will. I'm very sure of that because the whole thing was actually not about monsoon season.

As Zahid said, it's just because Pakatan and Perikatan are scared of having the election early.

They want more time to convince the rakyat to vote for them.

Having GE15 now may ends up with them suffering the same results as in the Melaka and Johor elections.

My bet is, they are hoping for the projected global recession next year will hit the country hard and with that the people will forget about Pakatan's horrendous 22-month performance as the federal government and blame their suffering on the current government anchored by Ismail Sabri, who is an Umno guy.

If Ismail Sabri doesn't see this, then I don't know what to say la.

And those Umno guys currently holding minister posts, can't they see that too?

Hishammuddin? Annuar Musa? Khairy?

At least, if BN wins a real mandate from the people now, the government will be more stable to face the said recession next year.

No more clowns from Pribumi Bersatu who threaten to pull out their support for the government if they don't get what they want.

No more crazy statements from PAS ministers too.

Anyway, personally, I don't really mind if they want to have it in April or May as I don't expect the GE15 results then would be that much different from it being held next month.

But why do we need to endure a few more months of the current nonsense?

Let's get it over and done with now so that everyone can settle down and work instead of wasting time talking about politics.

Aren't you all tired of it?

We have been like this since 2018, okay.

Pakatan's 30 per cent Malays

 Rafizi said Pakatan can get the 30 per cent of Malays' votes that it needs to win GE15.

He told PKR election workers in Bandar Tun Razak in Cheras today that the Malays are swinging back to supporting Pakatan ever since the BN's victories in Melaka and Johor.

So, all they need to do from now on is to work hard wooing the voters and not think too much about the possibility of Pakatan losing in all Malay majority constituencies. 

Rafizi being a brilliant strategist must had done his research well.

After all, BN in particular has been hit by one problem after another these past few weeks.

Surely the Malays can see now that Umno is truly a no good party which leaders had been  robbing this country since Merdeka until it's now at the same level as Zimbabwe.

Umno's former president has just been thrown in jail for corruption what.

Yup, all Pakatan need now is 30 per cent of the Malays to side with them.

Don't care about the other 70 per cent.

Rafizi must also be very sure that the non-Malays will once again give their undivided support to Pakatan.

Yeah, he's probably right about that one.

Pakatan just need to win GE15 and that's all that matter.

That 30 per cent Malays could be those in Bangsar, Sri Hartamas....errr, TTDI maybe....Damansara Heights probably....never mind, if Rafizi says they are there, then they must be there.

All young Malays will be voting Pakatan too, I guess.

Maybe Rafizi can promise them free higher education, no PTPTN debt and such....like last time.

Another group of Malays whom I think will also go all out supporting Pakatan would be those who are LGBTQ.

Pakatan is definitely friendlier to that group than BN.

It actually set a precedent by making it a main priority when it came to power in 2018 to get a royal pardon for a Malay who was convicted of sodomy.

Such empathy, okay.

So, if you are a Malay man who like to sodomise another man, you better vote for Pakatan to add to that 30 per cent.

Of course, on top of that, you will be voting for Pakatan because BN is corrupt....so said the judges, in a way.

Okay lah, considering all that, Pakatan is going to win GE15.

They will probably change the AG again to drop charges against Guan Eng, Syed Sadiq etc....like last time....and expedite the trials of Umno leaders.

But no need to change the judges like in 2018. The judiciary is fine as it is now.

All Pakatan need now is for GE15 to be held as late as possible to allow more Malays to swing their support to it.

Well, Ismail Sabri is only meeting with his fellow Umno leaders at the end of this month to discuss when to hold the election.

I predict he will ding dong ding dong on it for a few weeks until suddenly the country is hit by the monsoon season.

Then he would say "Oh, tak boleh buat pilihanraya sebab banjir. Kita perlu mendahulukan kebajikan rakyat."

So they will wait until the monsoon season ends, which should be at least until the middle of January.

Then, Ismail Sabri will say "Oh, kita kena memastikan semuanya pulih dari banjir sebelum mengadakan pilihanraya. Itulah semangat keluarga Malaysia."

And that should take a few more months.

Then other things will happen and Ismail Sabri gets to extend his premiership all the way to the final deadline to hold GE15 in September next year.

Good for Ismail Sabri lah.

As for Pakatan, they will get the 30 per cent Malays by then.

At least, that's Rafizi's thinking.

Remembering Samy Vellu

 So many people said great things about Tun S. Samy Vellu after he died yesterday.

Even Pakatan leaders who used to whack him upside down over the decades said he was a great man.

Good lah like that.

In Malaysia we said good things about a person who just died.

That's the way we are.

Hopefully Pakatan leaders and their followers will also remember the good things about their "enemies" even when those people are still alive instead of being so spiteful and relentlessly wanting them to die in prison.

Anyway, it's actually true that Samy Vellu was a good guy.

And I'm not saying this just to be politically correct when talking about someone who just died.

His contributions to the country as a long serving minister are well known, so I don't think I have to list them down here.

Instead I want to tell you all the human side of Samy Vellu as observed by others.

A semi-retired journalist friend once told me that Samy Vellu was perhaps the best minister due to his deep knowledge of his works.

He said the guy knows everything about the Works Ministry from top to bottom during his time there and was also all ever ready to share what he could to make it more efficient for the good of the country. 

My friend recalled an incident in 1997 when he was a rookie reporter and was told by his editors to check on certain important things related to a story about the Works Ministry, which was to be published the next day.

The order was given half hour before midnight and the only person who could clarify the matter was Samy Vellu himself.

My friend frantically tried to get in touch with Samy Vellu but it was not easy because not many people carry mobile phones those days.

They didn't even dream there will be smart phones in the future.

In the end, my friend managed to get the number of a phone in the minister's car. Yup, those days, important people have their cars installed with a phone.

He called and was so relieved that Samy Vellu was the one who actually picked up the phone.

'Apa? You from NST? You reporter baru ke? Sorry, saya tak berapa dengar. Ini phone line tak bagus. Nanti saya call you balik," said Samy Vellu before hanging up.

My friend was devastated. He didn't expect Samy Vellu to call back as the guy didn't even ask for the news desk's hotline number that he used.

As it was, the editors scolded my friend for not trying hard enough when he told them about what happened.

Just at that moment, the news desk's phone rang and there it was Samy Vellu on the line. Apparently the guy knew the hotline number.

"Sorry, saya baru sampai rumah. Itu phone kereta memang useless. Awak reporter baru tadi ke? So, you mau tanya saya apa?" he said.

And with that Samy Vellu gave all the necessary info to enable the story to be published.

The story made it to the print just minutes before the editors closed the pages for printing.

My friend, who years later became an editor himself always remember that incident because Samy Vellu made the effort to call him back despite him being just a rookie reporter at that time.

He has several other personal stories about how good Samy Vellu was but that one was my favourite.

How good Samy Vellu was as a minister? Particularly as Works Minister?

For that, let me tell you about an incident during my trip to India in 2011.

I went to Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai during that trip.

I have to confess that I was not impressed with what I saw in India.

The huge gap between the rich and poor in that country was so great that it depressed me during the trip.

I found Mumbai and Delhi to be chaotic and didn't feel safe there.

Chennai was however better.

The people were much nicer and things appeared to be in better order.

The thing that I first noted about the difference between Chennai and the other two cities was that the roads were in better condition and they even have dividing lines in the middle, which was probably why the traffic was more in order as people observed the traffic rules better.

Try go around in a taxi in down town Mumbai and you will know what I mean. Delhi was slightly better but not by much.

Anyway, I asked the Malaysian embassy guy who was with me during the trip about why there were dividing road lines in Chennai and not in the other cities.

'Oh, itu sebab jalan kat sini Samy Vellu yang buat. Dia orang suka dia kat sini," he said.

I honestly thought he was just joking until what happened at the Chennai airport when I was about to depart for home at the end of the trip.

As I was passing through the immigration counter, the officer who was checking my passport suddenly smiled and said to me;

"Ah, you are going home to Malaysia. How is Datuk Seri Samy Vellu doing?"

I was a bit shocked as the guy even used Samy Vellu's title at that time when he said that.

I replied that as far as I know at that time, Samy Vellu was okay.

I asked the immigration officer back how he knew Samy Vellu.

The guy smiled again and said;

"I don't know him personally, but Datuk Seri Samy Vellu did many good things here. He is a good man."

Again, the guy didn't drop the "Datuk Seri" title from Samy Vellu's name, which I think was his way of honouring him.

I wished I had asked him how he learnt to use the "Datuk Seri" for Samy Vellu but I didn't have the time as there were others waiting to get their passports cleared. 

Well, if someone in Chennai can appreciate Samy Vellu like that for his contributions there, I'm quite sure Malaysians could do the same for him as he did much more for this country during his life time.

Pressuring Agong

 I agree when

Zaid hits out at Bar Council for trying to pressure Agong on pardon

excerpts;

“What saddens me is that undue pressure is being brought to bear on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong not to exercise pardon (in Najib’s favour). This is a show of insolence.

“All Malaysians must respect the power of clemency given by law to the king and the Malay rulers,” said Zaid.

Well, they have been at it even before Najib filed the application for the royal pardon, which was his right to do so.

They need to keep Najib in jail as that's the only way they could justify their accusations against BN which won them GE14.

Even a pro-Pakatan friend of mine yesterday went all out to insist for Najib to accept his fate and rot in jail.

He basically laid down three reasons why Najib should just give up.

1. The Agong had on Sept 6 said Islamic justice does not at all give any privilege or exceptions to anyone who commits wrongdoing and this was supported by the Sultan of Selangor when he said on Sept 12 that the prerogative to pardon cannot be meted out arbitrarily for the sake of vested interest.

2. Sultan of Selangor has revoked the titles of Najib and his wife Rosmah.

3.  Najib's attempts to free himself from jail will widen the rift between "Umno Cabinet" and "Umno party" and further disrupting preparations by Umno and BN for GE15.

Well, this is the exact words of Article 42 (1) of the Federal Constitution;

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong has power to grant pardons, reprieves and respites in respect of all offences which have been tried by court-martial and all offences committed in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya; and the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri of a State has power to grant pardons, reprieves and respites in respect of all other offences committed in his State.”

It basically says the Agong and other Malay Rulers can pardon whom ever they choose and whenever they want without having to give any justification for doing so.

Who knows, maybe it's because the Agong doesn't feel justice had been served properly by the courts after all the changes of judges after Pakatan won GE14 in 2018.

 Or maybe because the Agong is not happy with the way the trial was conducted.

The Agong is after all a very smart man and can think for himself.

My friend did argue that Najib must serves at least one-third of his sentence before he can apply for pardon but there is actually no such requirement.

Maybe he was referring to Article 42(4) and 40(4) (a) which suggest that the Agong needs to get the advice of the Parole Board before granting a pardon but this had previously been ruled out by the courts which insisted that the king's discretion on the matter was his alone.

That was how the Agong freed Anwar from his sodomy conviction after Pakatan won GE14.

As for the revocation of title, that's the SOP of respective Rulers when someone was sent to jail. Sultan of Selangor once revoked Anwar's title too just because he badmouthed the royals but that doesn't stop the guy from continuing to cosy up to the Malay Rulers.

As for spoiling BN/Umno's chances in GE15, well, my friend being pro-Pakatan should actually encourage Najib to free himself. Good what if Pakatan can win GE15 because Najib is trying to get out of jail. 

Anyway, when Pakatan was losing one by-election after another, and then losing one state election after another, Najib was happily going around campaigning for BN. Maybe that's the real reason why my friend doesn't want him to get out of jail.

Understandably, Pakatan people were quite pissed off to see people coming out in droves to meet "Bossku" after realising that they had been duped in GE14.

Errr....I'm talking about the Pakatan's empty promises. The manifesto, remember?

Can't really blame the people because despite all the allegations and now conviction of Najib, their lives were made much better under his administration compared to that of Pakatan's and the others after that.

Let's not even get into the part on how Pakatan pisses off the people during its 22 months rule as I can go on and on and on about that.

Even the PAS people realised that now.

Here's their party president;

Hadi gives reasons why PAS is against Pakatan

excepts;

...PH comprised many of those who switched parties on unprincipled grounds and practised “revenge politics”.

He also claimed that many PH leaders and supporters are clearly anti-Islam and hostile towards the Malay Rulers by threatening the country’s constitutional monarchy system.

“In fact, there are also those who fanatically hate the Malays and Bumiputeras, without realising that the existing rights of other religions and various races have been sufficiently provided for,” he said, adding that this was evident after PH was in power after winning the general election in 2018.

I guess they will go after Hadi again with their racist! racist! racist! chants.

Too bad that Hadi and PAS don't give a horse shit about being called racists like Najib and most Umno people do.

You all want to kill off Umno and its leaders like Najib, then you will get Hadi and the gang as replacement to lead the majority Malay Muslims.

Well, good luck to you all with that.

Sympathy for Najib

Apparently, more and more people are becoming sympathetic towards the sick and jailed Najib.

Here is one of them,

Najib, all prisoners should be given best medical treatment, says Kit Siang

excerpts;

“I fully agree with Najib’s daughter, Nooryana Najwa, and call on the government to give Najib the best medical treatment while in imprisonment, a right which should be extended to all prisoners in Malaysia,” he said.

Wah, Kit Siang is so nice and humane.

No wonder he got a royal pardon last time.

You can read about that one in my previous post

Kit Siang's royal pardon and typical DAP

I don't actually blame him for starting to feel sorry for Najib now as he probably just realised that his son Guan Eng may likely get the same treatment in jail if convicted over the Penang Tunnel case.

Ya, I would worry too if I'm Kit Siang, especially if Guan Eng's case is to be decided after GE15.

If BN wins the election, they may do what Pakatan did in 2018 by changing the judges and AG.

Things may not go down very well for Guan Eng if that happens.

By that time, Kit Siang can't complains much as BN would say it's doing the exact same things as what Pakatan did.

If Pakatan can put Latheefa Beebi Koya as MACC chief, BN probably can put a hardcore Umno politician in that position too, right?

Sigh.

Anyway, Ismail Sabri has also apparently showed some sympathy towards Najib.

PM instructs MOH to give best treatment to Najib

So touching.

Then again maybe it's because

No PM can survive without Umno grassroots support, says Isham

Don't know lah.

Maybe all of us should just get use to the idea that those who lost in elections in this country will from now on go to jail one way or another.

Maybe all politicians should learn from this Anwar's video on how he survived in jail after being convicted for committing sodomy on his young male aide,

The rape of Gunung Lambak

 Received pictures of what's happening in my hometown Kluang in Johor this morning.

This is one of them,

That's the slope of Gunung Lambak, Kluang's iconic natural landmark, now denuded of its forest cover.

Apparently, some 'developers' got to own the land and did that for probably another musang king durian project.

I was told that one of the "landowners" had lodged a police report against the person who took the picture using a drone for trespassing.

So petty.

Hopefully nothing bad happens to that person.

I also received this video on the effects of that "development" at Gunung Lambak in nearby area,

I do wonder what the authorities are doing about this whole thing as I was told the affected people are complaining but are being ignored.

Why?

Maybe they are waiting for some real disaster to happen before acting on it.

Ya, maybe they are waiting for headlines such as this; "Whole family wiped out in Kluang landslide tragedy".

Or maybe the 'developers' are too well connected that they can't do anything to stop the felling of trees and soil erosion in the area.

I hope I'm wrong and that the authorities are actually doing something.

Hopefully that new youthful Johor MB will act on this instead of making his usual meaningless stupid statements of setting up committees and promising stuff which sounded more like blowing hot air only.

By the way, I also learnt that elephants living in the affected areas have decided to move to safer locations.

My beloved who went back to our hometown for the Merdeka holidays the other day sent me a video of one of the elephants,

Yup, the elephants are now hanging around in downtown Kluang.

Their jungles are gone and they are scared of landslides too.

A whole gang of them even went to disturb people in the nearby small town of Kahang.

Okay, on this one, I'm not blaming the DAP MP and assemblyman in Kluang for doing nothing.

The Mengkibol assemblyman, I was told had tried very hard to get the authorities to do something but was not successful. They just ignored him.

For me, this is the fault of the state government.

They should have put a stop to the cutting down of trees at Gunung Lambak from the very start.

Seriously, I don't think anybody should even own land at such an important site that they could do with it as they please like that. 

I know that it's too late to do much now, but at least the state government should try something to mitigate the problems caused by the felling of trees.

Hopefully they could move quickly before things get any worse.

If they still do nothing, I wouldn't blame the people of my hometown if they choose to vote for DAP again in GE15.

Why should they vote for BN when its state government care more about the well being of "developers" than them, right?