In defense of Forest City

Johor MB DS Mohamed Khaled Nordin yesterday defended the controversial Forest City project.

Here are reports by NST and Bernama:

No land acquisition for Forest City project

PASIR GUDANG: Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin has allayed fears that land in Kampung Pok and nearby villages will be acquired to give way for the controversial Forest City project.

He said certain parties had confused villagers by spreading rumour about land acquisition, hoping to create unnecessary fear and worries among the villagers.

"The blueprint of the project did not indicate any forms of land acquisition from the villagers. This includes land for the construction of an access road from Forest City which will pass by the villages.

"On concerns about land reclamation, I would like to stress that reclamation occurs everywhere, including Singapore.

"The Environmental Impact Assessment study has compelled the project developer to address several key issues related to pollution and the environment," he said.

Khaled was speaking to reporters after attending the ground-breaking ceremony of the Taman Seri Albion project here today.

Johor wants Forest City project developer to comply with EIA

Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin (pic) said it was important to ensure issues such as environment were given full attention and regulations were adhered to.

"We hope the developer complies with the requirement to submit an EIA report, which is very important for us to ensure all concerns, including from the environmental aspects, are given attention," he said.

He said this at a media conference after officiating the earth-breaking ceremony of the Se Albion Industrial Estate, which is developed by United Malayan Land Bhd (UMLand), in Cahaya Baru, Jalan Kong Kong in Pasir Gudang today.

Last September 2, a public dialogue on the project's Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) turned chaotic when the developer was confronted with all kind of enquiries from the residents in Kampung Pok affected by the project.

They had generally expressed dissatisfaction for not being consulted before the implementation of the project, which involved the construction of a 1,600-ha man-made island, which was seen as polluting the environment and jeopardised the marine ecology that was also their livelihood.

Prior to this, sea reclamation to build the island, which was 30% completed, was voluntarily halted by the developer last June 15 despite never receiving any notice from the Department of Environment.

The project has generated a lot of public attention as there were claims that the villagers' land will be taken for the construction of 10 golf fields to complete the Forest City development project.

However, Khaled refuted such claims, saying that the government would avoid taking their land for building roads to Forest City and would inform them if it took place.

The Forest City project, which has gross developement value (GDV) estimated at RM600 billion on reclaimed land, is a joint venture between KPRJ, a Johor state government owned subsidiary and China-based developer Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd. – Bernama, September 29, 2014.

Now that Khaled had said that the villagers are not going to be affected by the mega project, I guess then it's all system go for it to continue.

I also guess that when earlier this month that super rich guy Daeng Malek and geng went to meet the orang kampung in the area, they were just there to sembang-sembang minum kopi or enjoy the famous asam pedas of Kampung Pendas.

Guess, they were not there to coax the villages to sell their land then.

Hmmmm....I must have got the wrong info...no?

Hahahaha....

  

Anyway, these are my previous posts on the issue:

Eight Malay villages worth one golf course in Johor

Gelang Patah villagers strike back at Forest City

Loneliness

We need everyone onboard

I found this link in the Unspinners blog:

@KadirJasin Meroyan Lagi Mahu Jadi Hero Isu Kritikan Tun M Terhadap @NajibRazak??? 

excerpts:

Keadaan jelas menunjukkan seorang lagi blogger Tun M melakukan penipuan besar selepas blogger SyedOutsideTheBox kantoi dengan fitnah pertemuan Ketua Bahagian yang hanya 70 bahagian sahaja bertemu Najib sedangkan fakta sebenarnya kesemua 170 Ketua Bahagian sendiri mengambil inisiatif mahu berjumpa Najib bagi menyatakan sokongan padu terhadap beliau dan bukan sebaliknya seperti yang cuba di"spin" blogger pemfitnah pro Tun M dan dimanipulasi pula oleh media pembangkang seperti Malaysiakini.

The blog is called Kulaan Niring. It has a total page views of over three million since 2011.

I read it for the first time but I believe it's a relatively popular blog based on the page views count.

By comparison, my blog has only over one million page views since March last year.

Bahasa Malaysia sopo blogs always have better hits than English blogs of the same type in this country. It reminds me of that popular Papa Gomo blog.

I don't really read them though.

Anyway, I believe the quarrel is still ongoing between those who support PM DS Najib Razak and his critics who are backing Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who recently withdrawn support from the administration.

Senior journalist Kadir Jasin became the subject of Kulaan Niring's post because he wrote a  rather controversial piece in his blog here;

Umno President is "Strong", Umno is Weak

excerpts;

10. The hypocrites and the apple polishers should stop treating the rakyat like fools by saying that they respect Dr Mahathir and support the PM. They should be replying to Dr Mahathir’s teguran. To say they respect Dr Mahathir and support the PM is not the answer. To say time has changed is also not the answer. Dr Mahathir’s teguran are about policies and they need serious replies.

11. Dr Mahathir is not demanding respect. He is asking them to listen to the rintihan of the rakyat, mend their ways, be less corrupt, work harder and make Umno strong and respectable again. They should be with members instead of tugging ministers’ coattail.

Kadir, who is a tokoh kewartawanan negara also wrote a list of grouses against the Najib's administration.

Kadir was backed by another popular senior blogger, Syed Akhbar Ali in this posting;

Kadiaq Ligan Lagi

As noted, Kulaan Niring had labelled the duo as "blogger pemfitnah pro Tun M".

I think that's a rather unfortunate thing to do.

Instead of labeling Kadir and Syed Akhbar in such a way, pro-Najib bloggers should rebut their arguments with facts.

For instance, explain to them that all those millions of ringgit spend on 1MDB is good for the people.

Prove to them that 1MDB is not a vehicle for some rich cronies to swindle the rakyat's money and that talks of those millions being hoarded in offshore accounts were not true.

They can get those facts from the PM's media handlers....or those media handlers can give those facts to the bloggers. Which ever ways...

I think that's the better way to engage the likes of Kadir and Syed Akhbar.

Once the questions they asked were answered, they will not be bothering the PM anymore.

The same goes with Dr Mahathir. As Kadir said, the old man wants answers.

Of course, the answers must come from those whose hands are clean.

There should really be no crooks doing the stealing as alleged.

If there are actually crooks hanging around, then the PM must get rid of them first.

I believe things will be easy after that.

And everyone will be onboard again to support Datuk Najib.

Looking at things are at the moment, I believe that everyone was needed onboard.

Let's not be arrogant, thinking that we can just kick out those that we don't want.

We need to win them over instead.

Otherwise, I believe it will be a repeat of GE13, or even worse three years down the road.

There's not much time left.

Okay, enough of my rambling for today.

Need to go out and find something to eat.

Hungry.

Been drinking only soybean since last night.

Cheers everyone.

A week's wrap-up, and two interesting blogs

Got my laptop back from the shop yesterday evening.

The Chinese boy who tried to fix it only managed to partially do it.

Several features were still not working, but at least I can write again.

Woke up just now, with my body aching all over.

Badly needed a massage.

Been working for about two weeks without proper break.

Totally exhausted.

I am off for today and tomorrow.

So, can rest a bit, clean up the place, do my laundry etc.

I missed writing lots of things these past few days because of my laptop problem.

Okay, let me see, the important ones;

1. Azmin Ali is now Selangor MB.

I think he is the most handsome MB now. He looks a bit like that Singaporean actor Aaron Aziz.

Not my taste though.

I also think that Azmin is very smart.

He deftly maneuvered himself throughout the Selangor crisis.

Unlike his mentor DS Anwar Ibrahim, Azmin never behaves like a superman and tries to fuck everyone.

Azmin knows when to apply the brakes when necessary.

If he plays his cards right, he will soon take over from Anwar as the boss of PKR.

Anwar was definitely angry and bitter because he failed to have his wife DS Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as MB.

Azmin knows this and has been playing the good boy these past few days.

Errr....but he may kick aside Anwar even as early as next month when the guy goes to jail for liwat.

2. Pas lost badly in Pengkalan Kubor by-election.

I had expected a BN victory from the beginning.

But I didn't expect BN's majority to increase from over 1,700 to over 2,600.

That's a lot.

Pas fought BN, or to be more exact, Umno, on its own and lost.

PKR and DAP didn't help them at all during the campaigning period.

They were pissed with Pas' independent stance over the Selangor leadership crisis.

I think with this defeat, Pas is in serious decline.

People see them as divided, weak and unprincipled.

They can't even seem to stand on their own without their coalition partners trying to screw them from time to time.

Well. what do you expect when you have someone like Mat Sabu as deputy president.

3. Pas also lost big time in the Selangor power tussle.

Despite all the saber rattling at their muktamar in Johor last weekend, Pas meekly accepted the reduction of its number of Selangor exco members from four to three.

It's so lame and spineless.

The way Pas president DS Abdul Hadi Awang was raving and ranting at the muktamar, I though his party was going to get the MB post.

But it turned out to be just hot air.

Not only they didn't get the MB post, but they also lost that one exco seat which will ensure that they can't pull another stunt of defying PKR and DAP like what happened in the ouster of TS Abdul Khalid Ibrahim case.

Pas had been castrated. Plain and simple.

The only good they are to PKR and DAP is to break the Umno's Malay vote bank. That's all.

4. DAP don't give a shit.

They have the solid support of the Chinese community and triad gangsters.

The rest doesn't really matter to them.

It's business as usual for the party.

Handsome boy Guan Eng even had his weekly sue a newspaper exercise a few days ago.

Offending article on page 14, correction and apology done by the newspaper on page 8, he demanded it on page one. Newspaper thinks that too much. So, he sues lah.

Like that also can sue....tsk tsk tsk....

Petty boy la you Guan Eng. I don't know how Betty can tahan you.

Okay, thats about it as far as politics were concerned these past few days.

I am adding two more on my blog roll.

1. Economics Malaysia

This one was recommended by my mother who thinks that I need to be more knowledgeable in economic issues.

2. Here and There | A travel blog: tales and thoughts on the road

I have always wanted to put this one on my blog roll but it had been dormant for more than a year. This very good travel blog however became active again this month. The writer, former journalist Lam Li used to be based in JB. She however writes this blog mostly in Chinese.

Computer breakdown

Someone called me just now asking why I have not been writing over the past few days.

Actually, it was because my laptop had gone kaput.

I am writing this using my phone.

Bloody troublesome.

I got no time yet to send my laptop for repairs.

Been busy at work.

I wish I can buy a new laptop but my finances are currently not so good.

Not all pro-establishment bloggers are rich, okay.

And no, I have no sugar daddy to buy me a new laptop....hahaha.

Hopefully my laptop can be repaired.

Well, until then, I simply have to stop blogging.

You all take care, okay.

Cheers.

Gelang Patah villagers strike back at Forest City

The other day I wrote about the massive Forest City project and its impact on the Malay villagers in Gelang Patah,

Eight Malay villages worth one golf course in Johor

Today, Malaysian Insider got a story related to the issue written by former NST Johor bureau chief Sheridan Mahavera.

Normally, I wouldn't pick up any report by Malaysian Insider due to its pro-Pakatan spin,  but since it's written by Sheridan who is quite a credible journalist, I am putting the whole article here.

By the way, Sheridan is also quite handsome.









Johor villagers vent anger at mega reclamation project 

BY SHERIDAN MAHAVERA

Published: 21 September 2014

Irate villagers of Tanjung Kupang in Johor vented their anger at the developers of the biggest land reclamation project in the state, arguing during a public dialogue today that it will lead to the loss of their land and livelihood.

About 200 residents from about a dozen villages around Tanjung Kupang also accused the developer, Country Garden Pacificview Sdn Bhd (CGP), of bulldozing the project through their area without their knowledge even though it could have a huge impact on their lives.

NGOs, independent experts and political parties who also turned up at the dialogue questioned the developers on details which they claimed were lacking in their Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA).

These included measures to reduce the damage to a field of sea grass that is an important nesting ground for the fish population which sits in the middle of the project and efforts to reduce backflow which could lead to flash floods in the area.

The Forest City project will see four man-made islands being built in the waters in Tanjung Kupang between south-west Johor and north-west of Singapore.

It was reported that the islands will have both residential and commercial lots and the project is expected to make a profit of nearly RM290 billion over the next 30 years for CGP. The Gross Development Value (GDV) will come up to RM600 billion.

CGP is a 66-34% joint-venture between China’s Country Garden Holdings Ltd and Esplanade Danga 88 Sdn Bhd, whose main shareholder is the Sultan of Johor.

Johor state company Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor (KPRJ) is also a partner in the project.

The controversial project entails 355ha of existing land along the Strait of Johor close to the Second Link to Singapore and the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) and the reclamation of another 1,620ha.

The public hearing today is one of the terms of a DEIA on the project that CGP has to submit to the Johor government.

The project had initially been approved by the Johor Department of Environment in January but work at the project’s site was halted in June after CGP was instructed to submit a DEIA.

The project is being done off the coast of communities of fishermen and sleepy villages who make a living from sea produce and agriculture in the Tanjung Kupang area.

The hearing in the packed Kampung Pok community hall had proceeded smoothly until a consultant for the project started talking about a survey that was done among villagers.

A man who identified himself as Cikgu Hanafi immediately got up and started questioning the veracity of the survey since according to him, the villagers in the hall had never heard of it.

Explanations from the developer’s consultant that they had polled the opinions of 10% of the village’s population were disputed by the audience and the hall exploded in a hail of boos and shouts of “who did you talk to?”

Forest City project director Datuk Zamani Kasim then claimed that there was a focus group meeting with village representatives in June where the community’s leaders had supported the project.

But this further angered the audience who shouted back: “Who did you speak to?” and “What meeting?”

The company claimed it had surveyed 100 heads of households in the village. The survey showed 69.2% had agreed to the project while 71.3% thought it had more positive than negative impact.

CGP also claimed it had a focus group meeting with village heads and elders where they agreed to the project.

Hanafi then said if the company had surveyed 100 villagers, there were about 200 villagers in the hall who opposed the project.

Fisherman Anuar Musa of Tanjung Kupang told the company that no amount of money could compensate him for the shrinking catches he was seeing ever since reclamation works started.

“Your project is for 30 years and so for that long my income will be affected. How am I going to feed my children?”

Fishermen and fish farm operators have claimed that mass fish deaths in the area had been caused by the land reclamation works. This has been denied by KPRJ.

Anuar, along with some other residents, were unconvinced by the company’s promises that locals will benefit from more jobs, contracts and business opportunities once property construction began.

“These promises had also been given to us by PTP (Port Tanjung Pelepas) when that was being built. Until now, they have not been fulfilled.”

KPRJ executive vice-chairman Datuk Md Othman Yusof tried to calm the crowd and win them over with arguments that the people of Johor would benefit from massive project.

But residents would have none of it and shouted that they still rejected the project.

“You tell us we will benefit, but who are those homes you are building for? Singaporeans and foreigners, not Johoreans,” said a resident of Kampung Pok, who did not give his name.

Another member of the audience attempted to get KPRJ to confirm or deny whether CGP had been exempted by the government from having to build affordable houses.

The condition to build affordable houses in the state is applied to all other developers but CGP had somehow received an exemption, claimed the individual, who did not give his name.

“You will have to ask the government to respond to that,” said project director Zamani.

Vincent Chow of the Malaysian Nature Society claimed the DEIA lacked details on the impact of the project on the fish and other sea life of Tanjung Pelepas.

“The bed of sea grass is the biggest in Malaysia and is an important nesting ground for the fish population in the area. The DEIA does not explain in plain language for the villagers how the project will impact the sea grass area.”

Perhaps the most critical question came from Mohd Khaidin Azman, a member of the Malaysian Institute of Planners.

“How did a project like this start without a DEIA in the first place?” – September 21, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/johore-villagers-vent-anger-at-mega-reclamation-project#sthash.wyw9iVaY.dpuf.f

Lazy Sunday and a bit of Bob Marley

Totally exhausted from my outstation trip.

Reached home at 2am.

I am still in bed now, having woken up a bit late than usual.

Too lazy to get up yet.

It's after all a Sunday.

Been staring at the ceiling thinking what to do today.

Maybe a bit of shopping, doing my laundry and if there's any good one, a movie.

A massage will be nice too.

See lah how.

There is also an invitation for dinner from this one guy...but I am not really counting much on him.

He's the busy type. I think he will cancel it as always at the last minute.

By the way, the guy is Chinese.

Yup, Chinese were really not good with promises.

My mother is also like that...promised to pay for my trip to UK this year, but cancelled it the other day....hmnph....

Hahahaha...I know I am generalizing again...but I got stood up so many times by that Chinese guy la...

Well, never mind. Spending time on my own is not so bad. I'm quite used to it already.

Sorry, I'm just writing fluff today.

Too tired to write about politics or anything heavy.

I know, there are a lot of things to write about the just concluded Pas Muktamar, Pengkalan Kubor by-election and Selangor crisis....but I'm simply not in the mood today.

Just want to relax and recharge for another hectic week starting tomorrow.

I think all hell will break lose when Sultan of Selangor appoints a Pas guy on Tuesday.

An indication it will be a mess is that, PM DS Najib Razak is not in the country.

Somehow, bad things tend to happen on the political front when the PM is not around.

Well, I think I'm just going to wait. No point in getting all worried now.

Lots of that later when it actually happened.

For the moment, I just want to relax and listen to a nice song,

That 1973 recording is the first time Bob Marley appeared on TV.

He went on to become the greatest blacks nationalist singer of all time until his untimely death in 1981.

He had never been considered a racist despite singing songs to promote the betterment of the black people and occasionally whacking the whites for suppressing them.

Marley's mother was a black while his father, a white.

Lucky for him that his mother was not a Chinese and father, a Malay....and he sang Malay nationalist songs.

Surely he would be labeled a racist then.

Okay, I need to get up now.

Take shower, find something to eat, go out and do something out there....

Have a good Sunday guys. Cheers.

Golongan Melayu Bangsat

Since I got no idea what to write tonight, I am publishing this sad email I received  today.

So, here goes:

Melayu Bangsat....bunyi nya macam menghina bangsa sendiri. 

Tapi itulah hakikat yang berlaku di atas tanah air ku apabila ada segelintir di kalangan orang Melayu yang berkuasa dan diberi kuasa menjadi tidak amanah dan bertanggungjawab dalam membela bangsanya yang kononnya majoriti, tetapi berpecah-pecah menjadi minoriti. 

Malah, kelompok kecil Melayu yang berkuasa dan kaya raya serta hidup senang lenang sanggup menjadi perosak yang akan menghancurkan masa depan bangsanya atas dasar pembangunan dan kemajuan.

Mereka gunakan kuasa dan jawatan untuk kepentingan peribadi dan keuntungan yang masuk ke dalam poket sendiri dan sekelompok kecil rakan-rakan kongsi dari yang sekecil-kecil projek sehingga yang besar berbilion ringgit.

Mereka sanggup menjadi ejen-ejen atau rakan-rakan kongsi syarikat asing untuk mengambil alih tanah-tanah milik kerajaan dan hartanah orang-orang Melayu dengan janji-janji manis bagi memperbodohkan bangsanya sendiri kononnya atas dasar pembangunan dan kemajuan negara.

Melayu ini tidak mahu bersusah-susah mengemukakan cadangan disusuli  tindakan untuk membangunkan bangsanya yang mungkin dianggap sebagai usaha yang sia-sia kerana bangsanya dikatakan terlalu sukar untuk diubah dan dibangunkan untuk bersama-sama menikmati hasil kemajuan dan pembangunan yang dijana.

Akhirnya, kekayaan yang dijana kononnya hasil usaha sekelompok kecil Melayu yang kaya dan berkuasa, berpendidikan tinggi, berputar-putar di kalangan mereka, tanpa sedikit pun ada rasa bersalah dan jiwa untuk membela bangsa mereka yang semakin merempat, hidup susah dan merana secara ikhlas dan jujur.

Betul lah seperti kata pepatah Melayu itu sendiri, harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi, seperti haruan makan anaknya sendiri. Inilah yang sedang berlaku kepada bangsa Melayu. 

Malah, kelompok kecil Melayu ini sanggup menyalahkan bangsa mereka sendiri atas kemiskinan dan kesusahan yang dihadapi kerana kononnya bangsa Melayu ini tidak mahu mengubah sikap dan minda menjadi manusia yang rajin bekerja dan kuat berusaha.

Melayu yang dibawah sana sebenarnya, ramai yang kuat berusaha dan rajin bekerja, cumanya ada kalangan mereka yang benar-benar rajin bekerja dan kuat berusaha, kurang atau tidak langsung diberi peluang kerana tidak termasuk dalam kelompok-kelompok tertentu.

Ramai Melayu yang di bawah sana menggunakan keringat dan tulang empat kerat untuk menyara keluarga, menggunakan kebijaksanaan dan kreativiti bagi meningkatkan taraf ekonomi.

Tetapi apa yang dilakukan sekelompok kecil Melayu yang kaya raya dan senang lenang yang memperolehinya daripada kuasa yang ada pada mereka.

Melayu sibuk berpolitik sehingga berpecah belah sesama mereka.

Nasib bangsanya kurang dibela. Malah menggunakan kuasa dan kedudukan, kelompok kecil Melayu ini sanggup menjual negara tumpah darahnya atas dasar pembangunan dan kemajuan.

Melayu bangsat tidak sedar bahawa apa yang mereka lakukan sebenarnya, mereka sedang menghakis kuasa yang ada pada mereka. Menjual tanah kepada orang asing bermakna kita sedang menghakis kuasa yang ada. 

Percayalah, kerakusan di kalangan segelintir kelompok Melayu ini yang sedang membaham bangsanya yang kerdil, miskin, susah dan semakin merempat secara berterusan ini, tanpa sebarang pembelaan yang penuh ikhlas dan jujur, maka apabila sampai masanya nanti, Melayu akan kehilangan kuasa.

Kalau orang Melayu sendiri sudah bosan dan semakin meluat, terhakisnya keyakinan bahawa sistem yang ada boleh melindungi mereka, sudah mula berbicara dan mempersoalkan pasal perkara-perkara yang begitu sensitif, yang mana tidak pernah dibahaskan secara terbuka sebelum ini, seperti hak  keistimewaan mereka, Raja-Raja mereka dan agama Islam yang dianuti mereka, maka semakin mudahlah anasir-anasir dari dalam dan luar membaham bangsa yang menjadi semakin bangsat dan kerdil dan terus merempat di atas tanah air mereka sendiri.

Berbicaralah mengenai nasib bangsa Melayu, maka ia akan dianggap sebagai suatu perkara yang mengundur ke belakang. Topik yang dianggap oleh segelintir orang Melayu sebagai tidak relevan lagi dan menyusahkan.

Itulah tanda-tanda awal bahawa bangsa Melayu akan terus dihina, dicaci dan diremehkan kerana yang meremeh, menghina, mencaci dan merendahkan martabat  orang Melayu adalah bangsanya sendiri.

Sekian, terimakasih.

Eight Malay villages worth one golf course in Johor

People in Johor must surely know by now about the massive Forest City project being developed by the Chinese company Country Garden.

The project which involves the largest reclamation works ever undertook in this country is located along the coastal stretch near the Second Link of Tebrau Straits in an area called Pendas.

The project is jointly developed with Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor (KPRJ)., a state government development arm which was originally set up by former Johor MB Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman to expedite the building of rural infrastructures such as village roads, community halls etc.

The Forest City project, expected to be several thousand hectares wide is primarily  involve the building of luxury homes for the Singapore market.

Now, the latest that I was made to understand is that those luxury homes for the rich Singaporeans need to be equipped with suitable recreational facilities such as a golf course and other nice stuff.

And for that more land is needed.

Country Garden apparently had made moves to acquire the needed land.

The land earmarked for the extension of the project covers an area where eight traditional Malay villages in Gelang Patah are located.

They are;

1. Kampung Pendas Laut
2. Kampung Ladang
3. Kampung Bukit Kuching
4. Kampung Tanjong Kupang
5. Kampung Pok
6. Kampung Paya Mengkuang
7. Kampung Pekajang
9. Kampung Tiram Duku

People living in those villages are mostly BN supporters.

Well, who cares about that isn't it.

MB Khaled Nordin cares about it?

Nah, I don't think so. His political secretary is the Umno division chief of Gelang Patah. Therefore Khalid surely must know about the whole thing yet till now seems okay with it.

Early stages of the land acquisition process at the eight villages had already started.

Of course Country Garden didn't send its own people to coax the kampung folks into selling their land.

The melayu kampung folks wouldn't care too much if some Chinese guys offer to buy their land where they have been living on for generations.

So, the company sent a Malay elite to kow tim with the poor Melayu villagers who mostly work as fishermen.

And of course the Melayu fishermen were flattered upon being offered a relatively huge sum by the Malay elite.

"Ini untuk pembangunan saudara saudari sekelian. Untuk masa depan anak cucu kita," I imagine the Malay elite as saying.

So, there goes eight Malay villages in the constituency of Lim Kit Siang, the DAP supremo who is the Gelang Patah MP.

Eight Malay villages being wiped out and the land turned into a private golf course for some rich Singaporeans....hmmmm....

Well, never mind.

After all, the Melayu kampung folks can use the money they will get from selling their land to buy a new home somewhere on the fringe of a jungle like what was said by former PM Tun Dr Mahathir  Mohamad.

Or maybe they can use the money to enjoy themselves in Batam or buy a Mercedes Benz or marry a new young wife.

Where Umno welcomes Pas

This is a short post.

Don't really have time to write much.

Tired due to my hectic schedule and need to sleep in a short while.

Okay, it's a teka-teki (riddle) time before I go to bed.

I am now somewhere in a kampung.

Staying in a house which owner I met for the first time just hours earlier.

The place where I am now is located in a BN-controled state.

I don't really like the BN government of the state.

Its menteri besar is pathetic and got no spine.

A lot of looters, robbers and conmen are hanging out along the State's corridor of power, waiting for freebies in the form of direct nego contracts, free hold land to be sold to foreigners, etc.

Because of all that, I think BN will suffer a disastrous outing in this state which is an Umno bastion come the next general election.

The kampung where I am staying and the surrounding areas are Umno strongholds.

However, over the past few days, hundreds of Pas flags were seen in these areas.

The locals who are mostly staunch Umno supporters had over the past few days been welcoming thousands of Pas people as their guests.

Many are actually happy with the presence of the Pas people.

The Pas people bring good business for them.

Well, where do you think I am?

As you are thinking of an answer, here is a bit of a nice song,

Okay, that's all.

Good night.

Happy birthday

It's not yet midnight, so, I am going to wish this happy birthday a bit early.

Need to sleep early.

I am going on a long drive early tomorrow morning.

Well, happy birthday.

Yup, tomorrow is Malaysia Day.

Happy birthday to this country.

Hopefully, things will be better in this land called Malaysia.

Hopefully our leaders can get their act together and stop all the nonsense we have to endure these past few years.

My money is not on it though....they screwed up too many times....it's just my hope.

Well, never mind.

Whatever it is, we will endure, as we have always did.

Anyway, I am really going to take a bit of a break from blogging over the next few days.

Need to be focused on other things.

Need to earn a living, okay.

As a commenter here reminded me, I am just an insignificant anonymous blogger who have no brand and business, and therefore need to work like everyone else,

Anonymous15 September 2014 20:13

Annie, if you don't know Anas don't knock him. He is someone who has built a successful brand and business, who has the gumption to say what he thinks openly without hiding his identity. I like your writing skills but are you genuine in what you say? No one really knows because you hide your true identity. Your followers will say that I just as anonymous too. That is true but then again I am not the owner of the blog. All blog owners should be upfront about who they are and then I agree that all of us commenting should also be properly registered and identified.

Hmmm.... never claimed myself to be a great blogger or anything like that.

I also never thought of making money out of this blog as all these while I have been writing just for the heck of it.

It never really occurred to me that people respect a blogger more if he/she has a brand and business.

Interesting concept, that one.

Whatever lah.

Well, signing off for now.

I will write again once I am not busy making money doing other things.

Just for a while, okay.

Maybe once I have brand and business like Anas Zubedy, people will respect me more as a blogger.

Hahahaha...as if I care :-)

Cheers everyone.

Boring politics and a bit of racing

Surfed the net just now, trying to find something interesting to write but there were nothing really new or inspiring.

The Selangor crisis is at a stalemate as I am writing this. So, nothing much for me to comment there.

Anyway, I think most people are fed up with the whole thing.

What difference does it makes whether DS Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail or Azmin Ali or Khalid Ibrahim or some Pas guy becomes the Selangor MB?

I don't think it will change people's life in Selangor one bit.

Go ahead, let Anwar take all those RM3 billion of the Selangor reserves.

As if he had never done it before when he was the DPM and Finance Minister.

Anyway, the Selangor Umno people, led by that not so bright Noh Omar are too dumb.

Even if the whole of Pakatan in Selangor collapsed, they would not know what to do to improve themselves so that they can take over from those clowns.

Let's not even mention the other BN component parties, okay. Totally hopeless.

Meanwhile, the Pengkalan Kubor by-election campaigning started yesterday but I am hardly excited about it.

After all, nothing going to change no matter what the outcome will be.

My prediction: BN going to win this one despite Pas taking over from PKR in their fight against Umno there.

The 1,700 majority won by BN in GE13 is good enough a cushion.

It's basically going to be a repeat of the first by-election after GE13 last year - Kuala Besut.

Let's count back the by-election results since then:

Kuala Besut, retained by BN

Sungai Limau, retained by Pas

Kajang, retained by PKR

Balingan, retained by BN

Bukit Gelugor retained by DAP

Teluk Intan captured by BN

The results in Teluk Intan is the only upset because DAP got over confident and arrogant by fielding a naive Malay girl as an experiment and expected the constituents, especially their Chinese supporters to accept it.

DAP should not lost their over 7,000 majority won in GE13 if it had fielded just any of the Chinese fishmongers at the Teluk Intan wet market as their candidate.

Really, by-election is that predictable. People's choice usually doesn't change much unless we changed it for them by either being too arrogant like DAP or being too stupid like Selangor Umno....or the current Johor Umno.

As for the other political issues....really, nothing much.

Hmmm...maybe I am getting jaded.

Ok, I better write about something else.

Last night I watched the movie, Rush on Astro.

It's a good movie based on the real story about the rivalry between F1 drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, in particular during the dramatic 1976 season.

Those were the years when F1 drivers smokes, drinks, and even takes drug as was in the case of Hunt, who also lived a promiscuous life.

Lauda was however the opposite of all that.

It's intriguing to watch the rivalry between the two.

F1 always has such great rivalry.

Another famous one was between the late Aryton Senna and Alain Prost in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Senna was a bit like Hunt, while Prost was more like Lauda.

The more colorful Hunt and Senna died young while Lauda and Prost live till today.

I always wish I can be someone nice and proper like Lauda and Prost, but the actual fact is that I am more of the Hunt and Senna brand.

Hmmmm....not very nice thought that one....never mind.

Okay, to add a bit of color to today's posting, here is a a bit of drift racing in Pengkalan Kubor,

Guess, the guys there also bored of plain politics and prefer racing more.

Racists, bigots and hypocrites

So now there's a campaign or two for good Malaysians to take back this country from bigots and racists.

To be more specific, MALAY BIGOTS and MALAY RACISTS.

Well, according to those who organize these campaigns, only Malays in this country are qualified to be racists...in not so many words lah.

Umno, Perkasa, Isma = racists

DAP, Dong Zong, Hindraf = not racists

Who are the people who organize these campaigns?

Pro-Pakatan people like Ambiga, pro-Pakatan people pretending to be pro-BN like The Star boss Wong Chun Wai and bleeding hearted liberals who know nuts about the reality on the ground like Anas Zubedy, Marina Mahathir etc.

Well, go ask Marina Mahathir point blank whether her father who led Umno for 22 years is a racist and she would definitely say NO.

How about her brother, that Umno's Kedah MB? Is he a racist? She will probably say NO too.

How about Umno? Is it a racist party? Based on her latest diatribes against the establishment, I believe she will probably say YES.

Yup, that's Marina Mahathir for you.

And I thought I am a confused bitch, sometimes.

Anas Zubedy? Honestly, I don't know this guy.

All I know is that he looks a bit like a Mat Salleh (or probably some northern Indian ancestry), write like a goody two shoes and knows a lot of important people.

He even got Marina Mahathir's father who led that racist Umno party for 22 years to launch his book recently.

Does he think that Marina Mahathir's father is a racist? I don't think so. Otherwise he wouldn't ask him to launch his book wouldn't he?

Does he think that Umno is a racist party? Err...go and ask him yourself la.

How about Wong Chun Wai and his The Star newspaper?

I think for that, it is better to refer to Helen Ang

Here is her latest posting

M’sia a better place if all Malays are like Marina, say Firsters

Yup, just look at the other Malay columnists writing for The Star : Azmi Sharom, Zainah Anwar etc. All from the same brand being promoted as the best among the Malays.

If you all happened to meet Chun Wai, do ask him whether he thinks Umno is a racist party.

I bet he will pause for a bit.

And as he was mulling on what to say, you should quickly ask him whether he thinks that his MCA towkeys are racists too.

Both party were race-based, aren't they?

Watch as he struggles with an answer. Can be quite fun, okay.

Also, please ask Chun Wai whether all those over 90 per cent Chinese who voted for DAP and their allies to get rid of the Malay-led BN government are all against racism and bigotry.

Well, I think you all know the answer to that.

Let's not be hypocrites.

Ambiga?

Actually, I don't want to waste my time writing about her on this beautiful Sunday morning.

Suffice to say that she is just a Pakatan's stooge, plain and simple.

That's all there is about her.

Mana-mana Melayu yang jadikan Ambiga ni ikon dia orang, memang lah dia orang tu spesis bodoh.

Aku malas nak betulkan lah. Bukan kerja aku pun nak bagi pandai orang bodoh yang tahap kronik macam tu.

Apa-apa hal korang tengok je lah rupa Ambiga tu, lepas tu tanya diri sendiri apasal engko orang nak jadi pengikut dia.

Kalau korang masih nak juga jadi pengikut Ambiga ni, maka betul lah yang bapak Marina Mahathir tu cakap, Melayu memang bengong.

Pada aku, dari jadi pengikut Ambiga, lebih baik jadi pengikut KJ.

At least KJ handsome.

Singaporeans are smart people

I really admire the way the Singapore government take advantage of its own people.

They do it so blatantly and most of the time got away with it by blaming others.

The latest is when they wanted to increase their Causeway toll charges by up to about 500 per cent, effective Oct 1.

You can read how they blame it on the Malaysian government for this latest kiasu move at this BigCat's posting,

Toll

The new Singapore toll charges:

Cars - S$6.50, previously S$1.20
Vans/light good vehicles - S$9.80, previously S$1.90
Heavy goods vehicles - S$13, previously S$2.60
Taxis - S$3.30, previously S$0.60
Buses -S$5.30, previously S$1

I had previously argued that this will affect the Singaporeans more than Malaysians.

You can read about it here, A fight Singapore cannot win

Singaporeans simply cross over the Causeway more than Malaysians.

They need the space over here, particularly during the weekends.

They are the ones who mostly have to pay that additional toll charges.

Similarly, as for vehicles transporting goods, such as vegetables, fruits, fish and such, the additional costs will be off loaded on the Singaporean consumers.

Malaysians working in Singapore mostly travel on motorcycles and buses. They don't really have to suffer by much or nothing at all from the toll increase.

Those who drive daily to work in Singapore are rich enough, I guess, that they shouldn't be complaining anyway.

Anyway, do Singaporeans really care about this toll increase? Will they stop coming to Malaysia?

I don't think so.

I think they will grumble a bit. But that's about it. They are rich people anyway. It's not cheap to own a car in Singapore, okay.

And of course, they will blame it on the Malaysian government as that's what their government wants.

The Singapore government is really smart. Or they think they are smart. They see an opportunity to make money and did so.

They even think they look good by living up to the Singapore's kiasu ideal of not to be beaten in anything by their neighbor.

And on top of all that, they managed to do it by blaming the Malaysian government.

But I don't think the Singaporeans are that stupid not to see what their government are doing.

They may not want to or dare to voice it out, but I believe this is what they are saying between themselves :

"The Malaysians increase their toll charges claiming they need the money to pay for their new EDL highway. How come then our government wants to make it doubly hard for us by increasing toll on our side too? Anyway, since when does our government have this "matching policy"? If the Malaysians want to make life difficult for us, why do our government want to match them in doing that? "

Yea, I don't think Singaporeans were that stupid not to ask those questions.

Oh, by the way, my mother drove down grandma back to aunt's house in Singapore today.

I hope she comes back before Oct 1.

Otherwise she will have to pay the additional toll charges.

It's such a nuisance if I have to listen to her grumbling about such things after that.

After this, she better just send my grandma on a plane down to Singapore instead.

That way tak kena toll.

Just writing

Caution: This posting is just me rambling again. Don't read it if you don't want to waste your time. Thanks.


Someone asked me today how to be a good writer.

Honestly, I don't know the answer.

That's because I don't think I am a good writer myself.

My language skill is actually quite bad.

Those who regularly read this blog must surely noticed that my English is not so good.

There were so many grammatical errors.

My Bahasa Malaysia is actually even worse.

I am simply not a language expert. Not even by a long shot.

The person who asked me the question however disagreed, and said that my writing could not be so bad because this blog is doing relatively quite well.

Well, I don't know whether this blog is really doing well.

All those page views come from Rockybru blog. Any blog listed in Rocky's main blog roll will have high number of page views.

Even the not so good ones, I think.

Therefore, the page views of this blog are definitely not an indication of myself being a good writer.

Anyway, I know so many other sopo blogs which are better.

This blog is actually quite "light" compared to them.

I actually just write spontaneously what's in my mind.

I also hardly do in-depth research to prove how right I am or how good a writer is myself.

Sometimes I even wrote nonsense which I am quite embarrassed to read again after a while.

It's definitely not an authority on anything. At least that's how I see it.

It's mostly about my opinion on things, and nothing more than that.

I never expect others to agree with me.

But, one thing I am quite sure about my writings, I need to have a clear mind and happy heart to write a reasonably good post.

If I am sad or stressed, my writing will be a mess.

Sometimes it became plain garbage.

Of late, my writings were quite bad.

This posting is probably one of those.

Anyway, the TV in this living room where I am sitting now is showing a Korean drama titled "Good daughter, Hana". It is at Astro's One channel.

I am not sure what the drama is all about as I am writing this instead of watching it.

Well, I hope I can regain my usual cheerfulness and write properly again.

Need to lift this heavy feeling from my heart.

I am having plenty of that lately.

There has been so many bad news.

I am also wishing for someone to text me saying that I will never be alone....well, never mind...that's another one of my nonsense.

Okay, need to snap out of this gloomy mood.

I will write again when I'm feeling a bit more cheerful.

I better try to go to sleep now. It's almost midnight.

To those who read till this point: Sorry for wasting your time with this nonsensical ramblings of mine. 

Anyway, take care you all.

Dr Mahathir on Najib, Umno, Selangor and Sedition Act

These are latest quotes by former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed,

My comments in blue

On PM DS Najib Razak

“I did not ask him to resign. I said I will resign if I’m made the PM now. I'm too old

"I don‘t support him. I’m not supporting him anymore, that’s all.”

“You can’t win elections by giving out cash money. I didn’t do such things but we still won all the elections… better than Najib. Holding up placards saying “I love PM’ won’t win elections either.”

“When somebody does something and you think it is wrong you have the right to say so… the Malays call it menegur. There is nothing wrong in menegur. When I was Prime Minister, Rafidah (Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz) used to tell me in my face when she doesn’t like my ideas. She remained as a minister.”  

Dr Mahathir criticized Najib because he doesn't want the PM to be misled by all the yes men and consultants who are all doing so with vested interests. He doesn't want Najib to be fooled again like what happened during GE13. He criticized Najib because he care for the PM and the rest of us Malaysians.

On the current state of Umno

"The divisions will be preoccupied with their own position. They don’t see the things they should be seeing, they ’re not well informed about things because if they read the newspapers, the newspapers are very shy about making criticisms, so they also will not be making any criticisms”.

Most Umno people are still finding it difficult to change their attitude. Dr Mahathir was worried that they will continue chasing after their own personal interests instead of working for the people, especially Malays and the bumiputera. If this continues, Umno will perform even worse in the next general election.

On the Selangor leadership crisis

“During my time I only submited one name and I have no problem with any Sultan. You can’t annoy people and then expect them to cooperate with you. What they (Pakatan Rakyat) have been doing is to annoy not only the Sultan but everybody else with all their bickering, running each other down and then you are going to appoint someone who is going to take orders from someone else. I mean this remote controlled MB is not acceptable to anyone."

The saving grace for Umno and BN is that Pakatan is in an even worse situation. They are over confident and arrogant, feeling that they can shove everything down the people's throat. Dr Mahathir said that's why they mess up so badly in Selangor.

On abolishing Sedition Act

“Abolishing the act is not the solution, but using the act properly is the solution,”

Sedition Act is just the gun. It's the person who pulled the trigger who is responsible.  

Note: Quotes by Dr Mahathir are from The Mole's report

Dr M: I didn't ask the Prime Minister to resign but I no longer support his leadership