An organization of excesses in Johor

A journalist friend who is a fellow Johorean called me after reading my plea,

Datuk Najib, please save Johor

He advised me not to get too involved with the "situation" in our home state..

"It's not worth it. You will just get yourself in trouble," he said.

"They would not give a damn anyway," he added.

Well, I have to do something.

That posting was the least that I can do.

I know it's not going to get the prime minister to hurriedly fix things in Johor. It's not in my wildest dream to think that Datuk Najib reads anything that I wrote in this blog.

My only hope was that one of his media handlers who monitor the blogs would conveyed to him my worries about my home state and my belief that he could do something to stop the rot.

Then maybe the prime minister will do something. Who knows...

At least at the end of the day, I can take comfort that I did try to do something to save my beloved home state.

For those who doubt the veracity of what I wrote about the scale of excesses which are happening in Johor right now, please ask those who are familiar with what are happening down in JB.

Also, check with them whether it's true that those excesses had even spread among people who have been entrusted with ensuring the welfare and development of the state at the lower levels.

For example, you may check whether there is an organization in Johor which exploits were such as I listed here:

1. An organization set up by the government to bypass the civil service with the objective of ensuring massive developments take place in an area in southern Johor. Those who work for this organization earn up to three times more than the civil servants who perform similar tasks as them.

2. It's not a very competent organization. For an example, one of the organisation's favorite project was to install multi-million ringgit security CCTV system all over JB but after years of talking about it, has failed to do so. It's latest attempt at doing so ended with it being conned by its own appointed contractors.

3. The top guns of the organization seem to like going on "familiarization trips" which involves stopovers at golf courses in Indonesia. Occasionally, they would go elsewhere such as the recent "learning and development trip" to UK and other European countries which costs millions of ringgit but didn't produce any tangible result or knowledge sharing.

4. From 2010 to 2014, the organization spends RM240 million on "operational expenses", which many believe were spend on petty projects given to a bunch of businessmen who once went to the same all-boys boarding school.

5. The organization was supposed to be the prime mover of the JB Transformation Project but has failed to move anything after a year from the given deadline. I doubt the project which was meant to turn JB into a beautiful garden city of sorts will ever be realized.

6. The organization was supposed to provide opportunities for the bumiputera community in southern Johor. It was to uplift their living standard in line with the rapid development there. It had however failed to do so with efforts made towards that objective being what the Malays would described as "melepaskan batuk ditangga". It will be interesting to see what actually happened to the allocations provided for the organization's bumiputera projects if the government is to send in an independent auditor.

7. This organization has become a nest where young politicians aligned with powerful people sought million ringgit projects through direct negotiation process.

8. Many high ranking staff of this organization are Pakatan supporters who despite justifying their political views on what they claimed as a corrupt BN government, practice corruption themselves.

9. The CEO of this organization has a Ferrari, two BMWs, a Mini Cooper, a Range Rover, a Hyundai Sonata and two Japanese-made luxury cars. He also has over 10 significant private properties worth millions of ringgit

10. The organization's CEO of three years is paid about RM50,000 per month.

Well, there are a lot more I can put in the list but I think 10 is enough for you all to use as leads. It's up for you all to do a bit of research and asking around to find out which organization it was that I'm writing about. That would be more fun then me spoon feeding you all everything.

Okay, I give you a bit more of a hint. Hang around this makan place in JB for breakfast and you will know what I am talking about.

As they always said, the rot starts  from the top.

Sadly, many people will do the wrong things because they saw their leaders did that and got away with it.

"Alah, boss boleh buat, tak kan kita nak buat sikit pun tak boleh," was the usual line used by those who commit corruption.

The thing is, IF YOUR BOSS EAT SHIT, DO YOU WANT TO EAT SHIT TOO?

The excesses at the top in Johor will have a chain reaction all the way to the bottom of society in that state.

It is already happening now.

If nothing is done to rectify the situation, then I think that's the end of Johor as we know it.

We can also later on at the next general election say goodbye to Johor as the "tiang seri Umno".

I am quite sure of this.

Datuk Najib, please save Johor

Honestly, I have to a certain extent given up on trying to save my home state Johor.

I am of the opinion that the excesses which have been going on in the state ever since the change of state administration following the 13th General Election last year would be too hard to stop now.

I had concluded that Johor is doomed to fall to DAP and its gang in the next general election.

More and more people, including from among the 83 per cent Johorean Malays who voted Barisan Nasional in GE13 are now fed-up with what's been going on in their state.

I do not wish to write in detail anymore about these excesses as I do not want to play any further part in causing the fall of Johor.

Suffice for me to say that Johor and its economic interests were being carved out into pieces and being distributed among several bunch of powerful people.

To make it even more shocking, all these were done in broad day light for all to see. It's done with impunity because those who did it feel that they were invincible and above the law.

There was no more sense of shame among these people.

That's why I had almost given up on Johor being saved.

I wouldn't have written all these if not for a plea I received from someone in Johor tonight.

This high ranking government official wrote these,
"Johor dah nak kena jual. Penjualnya is that so called pejuang rakyat dan agama. Semua dah dicontrol. Banyak isu-isu rakyat tak ditangani. Cuma sibuk jaga boss sediakan keperluan sambil sama-sama buat laba. Tolong kami selamatkan Johor."

The truth is I had tried, but I don't think I will get the desired results. I had written about all these several times previously without much impact.

After all, I am just an insignificant anonymous blogger.

All I could probably had achieved was getting more people to know about what were happening in Johor.

An instance which indicates that more people are becoming aware of the impending disaster in Johor was this blog posting by former minister and senior journalist DS Zainuddin Maidin,

TEAM BOLA SEPAK YANG DIBENCI DAN DIMUSUHI RAKYAT

Excerpts from the posting,

"Beberapa insiden yang berlaku sebelumnya mewajarkan kita untuk melihatnya sebagai  cetusan perasaan penentangan rakyat  terhadap penerapan budaya samseng dan ketakburan yang didorongkan oleh kemabukan kuasa dan keyakinan kepada  kekebalan."

"Jika keliaran  perasaan kekebalan dibiarkan bermaharajalela di hati  maka ia akan  semakin meghakiskan  keyakinan  rakyat kepada  kerajaan negeri  sebagai pelindung kehormatan mereka."

"Kerajaan negeri mesti berani untuk memberhentikan penerusan budaya ini dalam semua bidang demi untuk mengekalkan kehormatan  dan taraf   peradaban rakyat Johor dan juga pengekalan kerajaan BN di Johor.Kebencian ini boleh merebak menjadi kebencian politik."

Honestly, I don't think the state government under the leadership of DS Mohd Khaled Nordin is capable of doing anything regarding the situation as I think his people are being part of the problem.

I believe most people who know about the situation in Johor would agreed with me.

My personal opinion was that only PM DS Najib Razak could do something to save Johor.

I had made my appeal to all those whom I know, who have direct access to the prime minister.

I am sure if Datuk Najib, being a good man that he is, realizes the dire situation in Johor, he would have put a stop to all those excesses. The problem is that he may not be informed of the true nature of the problem in the state and the discontent which is brewing there now.

Therefore, I am renewing my plea,

Datuk Najib, please save Johor. Thank you.

Remembering Karpal

I distinctively remember the first time I met Karpal Singh in person. It was at the Parliament.

I was walking along the corridor outside the Dewan Rakyat hall when I saw him coming from the opposite direction.

There was only the two of us on the whole stretch of corridor. The Dewan was in session at that moment and he was probably on his way back in after a break at the wash room or something. I was at the Parliament due to my work.

Karpal was not yet wheel-chair bound on that day and he looked very fine.

Being at that time a fresh law graduate, I was at awe upon seeing him in person. After all, I was familiar with his exploits as reputably the best criminal and constitutional lawyer in the country. I was back then dreaming of being a lawyer like him.

Karpal was all smiles and charming when I approached him and introduced myself. He was visibly pleased when I told him that I had recently graduated from law school and how I admired his work.

He asked when would I be sitting for my CLP (Certificate of Legal Practice) of which I explained that I was working to save enough money to pay for the tuition and examination fees.

I had studied and got my law degree on my own money as I had not obtained any scholarship or study loan.

To my amazement, Karpal was actually concerned and asked if I needed any help.

There I was, meeting him by chance for the first time and he was already offering me help. It was after all just a brief encounter.

I thanked him and said I would be fine and should have saved enough money by the end of the year to go back to my studies for the CLP.

Karpal nonetheless told me that I may call him if I needed help and gave me his calling card.

I remember his calling card well as there was on it a jawi script of his name, among others.

Yesterday, Karpal died in a tragic road accident.

When I got to know about it in the early hours of the morning, I was genuinely saddened.

Karpal may belong to the DAP, a party which real objectives I am so much against, but him as a person is a totally different matter.

I once talked with former PKR man Zaid Ibrahim, who is a prominent lawyer in his own right and asked him what differentiate between him and DS Anwar Ibrahim.

Zaid replied that there were two types of people who joined the opposition parties, of which the first were those who think they may gain something by doing so while the second were those who uphold the idealism of those opposition parties.

Zaid said he belongs to the second group.

I believe Karpal belonged in the same group too. He was steadfast in his beliefs and fiercely defended those beliefs without any compromise. I may disagree with his methods but I do respect him for his professionalism and forthrightness.

I will miss Karpal's presence in the country's political scene.

I am sure he will also be missed by all, especially those directly involved in Malaysian politics.

It's especially heartening to note that even Karpal's political opponents went out of their way to extend their sincere condolences to his family.

PM DS Najib Razak immediately tweeted his message of condolences for Karpal's family right after he landed in Angkara for an official visit there. He had then issued an official statement to that effect later on.

DPM TS Muhyiddin Yassin also yesterday personally visited Karpal's family in Penang to extend his condolences.

If anything, I would like to believe that Malaysian politics suddenly doesn't seem to be such a nasty business after all.

My heart felt condolences for Karpal's family.


Note 1: I never did call Karpal after that first time I met him nor did I in the end sit for my CLP examinations.
Note 2: I will not allow rude comments on this posting.

Life probably better in Kluang

I really need to lose some weight.

It was a struggle going up the hill at the cemetery for Qingming this morning.

I haven't weight myself for quite a while, but I am sure I had breached the 50 kg mark.

Need to stop eating any carbohydrate food and start exercising again.

I need to discipline myself.

It's not just because I want to look nice, but more importantly, it's to maintain my good health.

I will be driving back to KL later tonight.

Honestly, I wish I don't have to.

I wish I can just stay here where I am.

I'm tired of life in KL.

My work is really a chore now and the routine is really tiresome.

I feel that life in this small town could be so much more fulfilling.

I wish I can stay here and look after my grandmother.

Of course, whenever I told my mother all these, she would scoffed at me and says it's not going to be me looking after my grandmother but my grandmother looking after me.

Well, true also.

My grandmother is probably healthier than me despite being in her 70s.

I need to carry on with my life and earn my keep.

Since I'm not very lucky with the love thing, my guess is that I wouldn't be able to find someone to look after me.

So, I have to be realistic and take care of myself.

Nothing to worry about.

Better be single till the end rather then ended up marrying a lousy bastard.

Okay, I know I'm rambling again.

Sorry.

It's really very hard to write about politics of late as there's nothing fresh going on at the moment.

There's the PKR's "husband versus wife" presidential contest, but I'm really tired of all the bullshit cooked up by Anwar Ibrahim, to write anything about it.

For sure, I rather be single than ended up like Wan Azizah with a husband like that.

Pas is again with their hudud theatrics and their DAP lovers are playing along with their usual "I love you, but I won't make love to you" game on the matter.

How Malaysians could support such hypocrites was beyond me.

Well, of course there's the wishy washy BN people on the other side. Sometimes they can really turn off people from supporting them.

The Pakatan people don't really have to do anything as the BN people will trip and fell over on their own due to their own lack of intelligence.

Really, it's a repeat of post 2008 General Election, all over again.

It's getting very tiresome sometimes....like now.

I know, we got no choice but to get on with it.

But for me, it's not at this moment.

I needed this break.

See lah how. Once, I regained my interest, I will start writing serious stuff again.

Okay, I need to go join the rest of the family for steamboat now.

This one got no pork. Grandma prepared a seafood one with lots of veggie.

Cheers.

Qingming

I had to take down my last posting due to technical difficulties.

I was alerted of it by a commenter who wrote this

Annie, what happened to the three pics; they're not showing ... on Apa lagi Bumis Mau?

Thanks.

I had tried to fix it but was unsuccessful. The pictures just refused to stick.

I will get help and once it's fixed, put the posting back on.

Anyway, I'm actually now in Kluang.

Drove down from KL early this morning with my mother and aunts.

We are back in our kampung for Qingming.

I have joined my Chinese relatives for the Tomb Sweeping Day since I was a kid.

My mother took me along with her for the occasion despite objections from some Muslim friends who felt that it's against Islam for my mother and myself to observe Qingming.

My mother told me not to worry as we were just paying respect to our ancestors and not praying at the graves. Something like what other Muslims do when they visit the graves of dearly departed on Hari Raya morning.

My father doesn't objected to it even though he never joined us.

What I appreciate my father most about the whole thing was that he never tried to turn my mother into a Malay.

My mother once told me that when she converted to Islam and got married, it was my father who insisted for her not to take up a Malay name and put a "binti Abdullah" at the back of her name, much to the displeasure of the Perkim and Jabatan Agama people who advised her to do so.

I believe that my mother made a point to retain her Chinese identity because she had married my father against the wishes of her family. It sorts of lessen the burden of her family to accept the fact that she is now "different".

For Qingming, everyone were back here, including my relatives from Singapore. Among them were my favorite big auntie and small auntie. It's almost like a mini New Year celebrations.

I am going to help around with the cleaning up of the house today. I can't help with the cooking as there may be pork among the dishes. My mother and myself have our own pork-free meal arrangement.

Later in the afternoon, I'm going to drive my grandmother to town to do a bit of shopping.

We will visit the graves tomorrow.

Here is a bit of lesson on Qingming

Bits on bad dream, Malaysian springtime and betrayal.

Woken up by a bad dream about 4am.

In the dream I was having a shower when my place was raided by Jabatan Agama people. I was so angry that I woke up. Well, come to think of it, in the dream, there was someone I'm in love with at my place when it was raided. Hmmm... really weird.

Well, can't go back to sleep till now, so that I decided to do this posting.

Surfed around the net and found quite a number of people writing about the current "Malaysian Springtime".

From Chuah Bee Kim's latest

Springtime In The Tropics

and

My "Sakura Boulevard"

to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's latest

SPRINGTIME IN PUTRAJAYA

Yes, even the handsome old man is writing about it.

Guess, everyone need a bit of a break from writing about serious stuff sometimes.

On another note, I found out yesterday that I had been betrayed by someone close to me.

It hurts, but I don't think I can do anything about it.

That someone doesn't owe me anything, so, I don't think it's my right to demand loyalty from her in the first place.

I have to accept the betrayal as part of life and hope to grow wiser from it.

After all, being betrayed is part of life's learning process.

That reminds me of how Dr Mahathir used to love someone like his own son, who then betrayed him.

He nurtured the guy and made him his would be successor.

In a way Dr Mahathir placed the guy ahead of his own sons.

The old man never tried to place his own children in a position of power when he was the prime minister of this country for 22 years.

But he did that for that guy he used to love like his own son.

It must had hurt him so much when the guy finally betrayed him.

I don't think many of the young people these days really know the story of Dr Mahathir and this guy whom he love like one of his own children.

Maybe they should learn about it.

It's a lesson on life actually.

I wish I can be like Dr Mahathir in handling such a betrayal.

Be really cool and professional about it.

Not as easy as saying it though, especially when I'm boiling with anger over the betrayal.

Untalented unlike Mozart

Note: The line here seems to be better this morning.

The problem is, once you are not in the mood, it's much harder to write.

This is particularly true for someone like myself who is not actually a talented writer.

Well, I never claim to be one, ya.

My blog is not even close to be among the best political blogs in Malaysia. Well, not even among the pro-establishment ones.

I hardly do a thorough research of what I wrote unlike Helen Ang, Big Dog, A Voice and other senior sopo bloggers who have millions of hits to their credit.

I don't even aspire to be like them.

Honestly, I don't even mind if no one read this blog. I'm not ambitious or love being popular. I don't even have any active social media account, either it be Facebook, twitter or whatever most people these days spend most their time on.

All I have is this blog, which is just something like a journal on how I feel about things that were happening around me.

Example: Anwar in the news for claiming that he can find MH370 in a jiffy if everyone voted him as PM: I think that he is so full of shit for saying that and so, I write here why I think he is so full of shit. Thats about it. My blog is just about that. No rocket science stuff.

Writing in this blog is also something like a therapy. If something not so good happened to me, at least I have an outlet to lessen the stress.

Example: Someone doesn't want to marry me because he loves eating pork more than he loves me: I think he is so full of shit and so, I write here that he should had just told a big fat pig that he loves it and marry that animal instead of bothering me with all the sweet talks in the first place.

Yes, I know, most of you think that mine is a frivolous blog, but I don't mind that.

I am happy the way it is, and that's all there is to it.

Anyway, blogging is actually quite outdated compared to the other more fashionable social media platforms.

But still, I prefer it compared to the others as it's more private and gives me a sense of privacy and exclusivity.

Unlike using Facebook or the other social media platforms, I don't feel like I'm shoving my thoughts on others with this blog.

Readers of this blog come here because they choose to do so. That includes the DAP cybertroopers who love to hang around here and taking potshots at what I wrote.

I don't go around doing things such as planting my writings on other people's Facebook wall like some itchy bitch and causing others a lot of irritation, especially if they were Pakatan supporters.

If there is anything I would like to claim credit for, it's that I'm not a rude person.

Yea, that's all.

Okay, that's what happened when I write while not in the right mood. I just ramble whatever crosses my mind.

Sorry if you feel you were wasting your time reading my nonsense above.

I will write a proper posting later in the evening when I am in a better mood...provided the Celcom's line continues to be good like this.

Eh, here is a bit of Mozart from the movie to end my rambling. Just for fun, okay.

Unlike myself, Mozart was one talented dude.

Cheers and be cool everyone.