Damaged and facing a storm

Last day of the month.

This blog's pageviews count has reverted back to its normal of around 80k this month.

At the height of the Umno civil war which started in April, the number was around double of that.

On the surface, things are beginning to look normal again.

DS Najib Razak is still in charge and the rebels have very much scaled down their attacks.

Nonetheless, I think Umno is still far from being safe.

It's like the aftermath of a mutiny on a ship.

The fighting may had ceased, but the damage is extensive and not yet repaired.

The mutineers may not be attacking so much anymore but they are not surrendering either, let alone helping the captain and his loyalists to repair the ship which was heavily damaged during the fighting.

Some were even ready to go down to the bottom of the ocean with the ship rather than surrendering.

The captain's people are not helping with things either.

They keep telling the captain that they don't need the mutineers to repair the ship.

Instead of coaxing the mutineers to rejoin the crew, they want the captain to force them to walk the plank.

Their attitude is that the less number of crew onboard among them, the bigger their portion of treasure on the ship for each of them.

Meanwhile, a storm is gathering on the horizon.

The captain's loyalists continue to tell him that it's okay.

They said there's still plenty of time to repair the ship without the help of the mutineers before the storm hit them.

It's now for the captain to decide.

If I'm the captain, I would rather make peace with the mutineers.

Talk with them and get as many of them as possible to help save the ship.

After all, without the ship, everything will be lost.

The need to win back hearts and minds

Had a pleasant surprise.

The family of a friend visited me where I am now yesterday.

My friend passed away last year but I'm still close with his family.

I first met my friend a long time ago when I was still an opposition sympathiser.

Despite not being an Umno member, he was a staunch supporter of Barisan Nasional and so did his wife and children.

My friend, who was from Perlis and much older than me, used to give me lectures about my foolish political views at that time.

I listened to him without arguing because he was so adamant that he was right.

I don't like to debate because I don't believe that it solves anything.

Once someone has made up his mind, I believe words alone will not change his belief.

Nonetheless, despite our differing opinion at that time, we were still good friends.

My friend and his family members actually disliked the then Perlis Menteri Besar DS Shahidan Kassim but ignored their personal sentiments as they believe in the ideals of Umno and Barisan Nasional.

I continued to visit him and his family from time to time until he died of a heart attack last year.

So, it was a great pleasure for me to meet his family yesterday.

My friend's widow, Kak Yah was visiting her youngest daughter who is living near where I'm spending my weekend.

Her son-in-law and grand-daughter were also there.

We chit chatted about the good old days and also about my late friend and his infamous pro-BN lectures.

Then to my surprise,  Kak Yah suddenly asked me,

"Is it true what they said about the RM2.6 billion?"

She was referring to the sum in the personal account of PM DS Najib Razak which were used by the Umno rebels as among the controversies in their attempt to topple him.

"I honestly don't know...," I said to Kak Yah.

Later, her daughter told me that they were quite unhappy with what is happening in the country.

"I wish ayah (her late father) is still around as he would know what is going on," she said.

Her husband,  a nice young man from Terengganu who is also a BN supporter chipped in at that point,

"If things continue like this, we are not going to vote in the next election.

"We supported BN not for people to do bad things to this country.

"They better convince us that the allegations are not true."

I hope, for the sake of the country, the Umno and BN leaders will do the necessary to win back support from people like my late friend's family.

Come clean and stop continuing to believe that people, including Umno and BN hard core supporters will swallow the less than convincing explanations they were being told so far about the controversies.

They also need to stop being arrogant and assume that the rural folks will automatically support them just because they are Malays.

The barely over two years left before the next general election is not a long time.

They better realise that.

Another weekend away from KL

No mood to write since yesterday.

Too much nonsense going on that I lost the motivation to update this blog with anything serious.

I'm actually rambling a bit here because I'm bored and sleepy.

Slept very late again last night.

Need to keep awake now.

Will be driving long distance in a short while after wrapping up work.

Going to spend the weekend away from KL.

Lately I find weekends alone in KL to be depressing.

It makes me miss my ex.

I hate that.

Anyway, I decided to drive instead of riding this time due to the rainy weather, especially in the evening.

Maybe I can hang around the beach at the place I'm going to, tomorrow morning.

That would be peaceful and lovely.

Sorry, can only offer you all a bit of music for today.

I will try to write a proper posting when I'm in the mood again.

Have a good weekend guys.

Ciao.

Errr...WTF is happening?

I got a call from a friend who is a Johor Umno member after this story came out this afternoon,

Media to be blacked out of Umno general assembly

"Hey, what's happening?" he asked.

How the hell would I know.

I'm not even an Umno member, okay.

I think Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor who made the announcement is the only one who can answer that.

True enough, not long after that today, this story came out,

And Zahid says Umno media ban hasn’t been discussed

I can't help but admit that it was my turn to say, "Hey, what the f@#k is happening?"

Obviously DS Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the currently second most powerful Umno leader was not sure what Ku Nan was talking about.

Must be some sorts of communication breakdown.

I suspect the decision to ban media coverage for the Umno general assembly was made by people at the Umno headquarters.

As I previously wrote, I don't really like those people. They are not near clever enough in many of their decisions.

Actually, earlier today, I was told that the big shot mainstream media bosses had been briefed on the ban this morning before the announcement by Ku Nan was made.

I wonder whether they protested against the decision or that they cowered in fear when told of the ban.

Well, I think they should protest.

It's not good for Umno's image, after all.

Evan DAP allowed the media (including the pro-establishment mainstream media) to cover their party assemblies.

Now people may likely say that Umno does not believe in Press freedom.

Even Umno members like my friend are starting to believe that.

I'm of the opinion that there are ways to counter the alleged spin by all those pro-opposition news portals instead of imposing a media ban.

The pro-establishment mainstream media can do that job.

After all, there are many smart and crafty ways it can be done.

For example, New Straits Times (NST) which has millions of readers, I was told,  can counter The Malaysian Insider's (TMI) alleged spins by churning out credible articles of highest quality which make the public realise that TMI is actually just trying to bullshit them.

I heard the NST people are very good in politics. Surely, their talents in politics can be fully utilised to neutralise TMI.

Well, I don't know lah, but that's how I see it.

Whatever it is, I hope Umno president DS Najib Razak, or at least Zahid can stop these sorts of nonsense which were not helping in projecting a good image of Umno.

Edra sold and they say it's okay

The verdict:

Edra Energy sells all assets to Chinese firm

So, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) lost the bid.

I'm actually not surprised.

I first felt that TNB was going to lose when my friend Wan Dal Cha who is quite knowledgable about the energy sector sent me a short but enlightening note which I highlighted in this post :

TNB staring at unequal competition

Of course TNB can't compete with the Chinese energy giant in the bidding.

It was a David versus Goliath fight.

In case of the real David, he was trying to beat the giant Goliath with a sling shot and he was successful when the stone hit the intended target.

No such luck though for TNB.

I think it was no match from the start.

The outcome must had been decided even before the bidding begins.

The Chinese giant simply have more money than TNB to make the winning bet.

I have to admit that I was cheering in vain for TNB.

When a friend asked me to highlight a Bernama story which supports the sale of Edra's equities to a foreign company,  I knew that TNB was to lose the bid for certain.

Still, I republished the Bernama story in this post:

About being fair on the Edra Energy issue

It basically tries to assure the public that it's alright to open our energy sector to foreign companies.

The foreign companies cannot switch our light off as they please, it seems to suggest.

Here are excerpts of the Bernama report with the assurances in bold:

A researcher told Bernama, "The energy business is never as free as the operators may want it to be due to strong control mechanism, licensing and multiple regulatory bodies, including the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water and Energy Commission."

For instance, he said, tariffs for the existing Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are fixed under the long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the life of the PPA, and any revision to these tariffs will require the consent of EC and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).

He pointed out that there is also the primary fuel supply for the power plants which must be sourced from government-linked or controlled entities.

Currently, TNB controls coal supply and Petronas supplies gas.

"Gone are the years when a particular IPP could dictate 'take or pay' on TNB. Today TNB, which has total control of the National Grid, calls the shots. TNB will buy what it needs and not whatever IPPs produce," he said.

He stressed that TNB has full control over IPPs, foreign or local, because under the PPA, TNB could step in to take over the operations of a plant in the event of contract breaches.

Asked if foreign companies could use lower cost structure (from economies of scale) to undermine local operators, he said they must first have a huge market share in terms of capacity and fuel usage.

In the case of Edra Global Energy Bhd, which is now up for sale, its effective share of installed generating capacity in Peninsular Malaysia is only 14.6 per cent, significantly behind market giants TNB (50 per cent) and Malakoff Corporation Bhd (25 per cent).

For fuel share in Peninsular Malaysia, Edra utilises around 17 per cent for total gas-fired capacity and approximately 15 per cent effective share of total coal-fired capacity. And it has no hydro plants.

"With such a marginal share, Edra poses little threat on all fronts, especially in view of TNB's dominant and unique market position across all three segments of fuel supply, generation and transmission, its robust financial strength (total assets of more than RM110 billion) and familiarity with the local IPP industry," he said.

He also allayed fears that Malaysians would lose their jobs, saying there is no evidence to suggest that foreign companies would bring in foreign workers to replace Malaysians.

The Malaysia Investment Report by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) states Malaysia had approved investments of up to RM235.9 billion in 2014 which could potentially create about 178,360 job opportunities.

Foreign investments formed 27.4 per cent of the total investments (RM64.6 billion).

It is notable that many countries, including Singapore, Australia, Indonesia and the United Kingdom (UK), permit 100 per cent foreign ownership of power generation plants.

Hong Leong Investment Bank Research's energy analyst Daniel Wong was reported to conclude that even if the assets were sold to foreign companies, TNB would still remain a defensive stock and its role in the transmission of the nation's electricity would not be jeopardised.


Honestly, I suspect that the anonymous analyst quoted extensively in the Bernama report was actually from 1MDB.

It's to justify the impending sale.

But I think the excuses given seem to be quite good.

But all that doesn't matter now as the sale of Edra's equities had for all intents and purposes been concluded.

Let's just wait and see where TNB is going to be just two years from now.

If it suffers because of all these, then just wait for the next general election to do the right thing.

If by that time TNB collapsed, I suggest you all go and vote for Lim Kit Siang and gang.

True love does exist

Okay, I admit that I was wrong.

Not all men are bastards.

A few are good.

Just a few.

A friend forwarded me this story to tell me I was wrong.

I'm publishing this in full to make it easy for you all to read it.

Everlasting love: Touching story of how a devoted husband, 84, has taken care of his paralysed wife for 56 YEARS

Sometimes, the most ordinary people are capable of achieving the greatest love. 

A humble husband from a small Chinese village has demonstrated the true meaning of dedication after taking care of his bed-ridden wife for 56 years.

Du Yuanfa, a farmer living in the village of Sunjiayu in east China's Shandong Province, quit his job as a coal miner to look after his wife Zhou Yu'ai day and night after she became paralysed in 1959, reported the People's Daily Online.

Du, 84, and Zhou, 76, had been married for just five months when Zhou was struck by a mysterious disease at the age of 20 and lost the ability to move her body.

At the time, Du was working in a coal mine in the nearby Tai'an city. 

He was informed of the tragic news in a letter sent by his family, which contained a brief message: 'Your wife is sick and bed-bound.'

Du immediately took a long leave from work and returned home. There, he saw his new wife lying in bed, incapable of doing the most basic things for herself. 

He said Zhou's whole body was stiff and she could not turn. She wasn't able to hold objects in her hands and had to be spoon-fed meals.

Determined to have his wife cured, Du put her in a wheelchair and took her to numerous hospitals for consultations. 

The diagnoses was unanimous: Zhou lost the ability to reproduce and would be bed-ridden for the rest of her life.

Du said many of his friends told him to annul his marriage and start a new life, but the devoted man refused.

He told his wife: 'Don't worry. I will care for you forever.'

Afterwards, Du quit his job in order to look after his sick wife full-time. 

The couple live in a stone-built home with simple furnishing. Du does everything personally, from boiling the traditional Chinese medicine to changing his wife's bed pan.

Du is always on the hunt for possible cures for his wife too. Whenever he hears of a herbal recipe, he will go into the mountains to find the ingredients; making sure he tastes the medicine before giving it to his wife - in case it is poisonous.

His dedication has moved his neighbours in the same village, who often come with life necessities, groceries and medicines for his wife.

The local authorities have also listed the couple as the recipients of charity offers.  

Day and night, Du has cleaned, fed and massaged his wife, and the incredible love lasted for nearly six decades.

Allah loves you, sweet Mikhail

I received news of the tragic passing of sweet Mikhail this morning.

I cried when I saw the picture of him with his loving parents which was forwarded to me.

But Allah loves him and his soul is in a better place now, I told myself.

My condolences and prayers for Mikhail's parents and all those who love him. May they be strong and patient.

Najib's people better behave after this

I decided to spend tonight in Janda Baik.

It was raining just as I reached here.

So much for the good weather in the morning.

Spend three hours at the place on top of the hill having tea and cigarettes while waiting for the rain to ease off.

Didn't read my book though as I had intended. Just contented with enjoying the hilltop scenery despite the rain.

It was still drizzling when I rode down the hill to this chalet.

Got myself a room as I didn't feel like riding home in the wet condition.

I hate riding in the rain.

Anyway, this place is nice.

There's a small stream running in front of the chalet and the sound of flowing water is very soothing.

I was relaxing and having some more tea and cigarettes when I got a call from a friend just now.

He is one of the Umno rebels.

My friend sounded a bit upset.

I wish he didn't call as what he told me broke my relaxed mood for the day.

He said he got credible information confirming rumors that Umno deputy president TS Muhyiddin Yassin and vice-president DS Shafie Apdal will be stripped off their party posts at the coming supreme council meeting on Tuesday.

"It's true. They are not going to do it at the Umno HQ but at the parliament building after the Dewan Rakyat sitting that day.

"They don't want Umno people to gather and protest like during the last supreme council meeting at PWTC. They can't gather to protest at the Parliament building," he said.

I don't know how true was my friend's information but I did asked him whether Muhyiddin and Shafie will indeed be absent from the meeting as rumored.

"It's as reported. Muhyiddin will be in Japan and Shafie is performing umrah in Mecca that day," he said.

"So, what you all rebels going to do about it?" I asked again.

"Don't know yet," he said.

The way I see it, if what my friend said is true, then it should not come as a surprise.

The Umno leadership needed to remove Muhyiddin and Shafie if it choose to be led by Najib till end of this term.

Otherwise the duo will be thorns in Najib's side.

And they need to be removed before the next party general assembly early next month.

As I had previously wrote, it would be awkward to let the duo deliver their speeches at the event.

Muhyiddin should be the one to open the party wings' meetings and deliver his closing speech as deputy president on the last day of the assembly.

Shafie as a vice-president will have to deliver his speech too on the last day of the event.

The party leadership should be concerned because the duo will likely not hold back their opposition against Najib in their speeches as they wouldn't have much to lose now that they had been dropped from their posts in the government.

Muhyiddin is formerly the deputy prime minister and education minister while Shafie was the rural development minister.

Najib dropped them from the Cabinet during a reshuffle a few months ago after they made several statements questioning the handling of the 1MDB controversy.

I think Muhyiddin and Shafie already knew what's coming thus their absence from the country next week.

Maybe they wanted to spare themselves the embarrassment.

I wish it has not come to this, but what happened has already happened and there's nothing that can be done to prevent it.

If it is true that Muhyiddin and Shafie will be cast out, then I hope members of the Najib's camp have already formulated a strategy on how to handle the fall out.

It will not be easy to win back the support of disillusioned members and supporters.

All those media people, cyber warriors and bloggers who are supportive of Najib must be more convincing now when they argue that what their bosses are doing were right.

Just whacking left, right and center like what they are doing now is not going to help Najib.

People don't like it when Najib's people behave so gung ho and act as if they are so powerful that they can bully others all over the place.

This is an example of Najib's people doing what they should not be doing,

Cowardly cyber bullies in the PM's camp

Najib's people may argue otherwise but the facts remain that BN will need every single vote that it can get in the next general election just over two years from now.

Bear in mind that in the last general election, BN barely made it through despite everyone being fully supportive of Najib.

Stupidity of Najib's people in believing that the world is their oyster after the rebels had been shut up will lead to disaster come the general election.

It's not them who won the fight against the rebels.

It was the sheer power wielded by Najib as PM and Umno president which cut off all the avenues to remove him from his post which broke the rebellion.

All that came with a price, of course.

Najib's people are fools if they think they had overcame the trust deficit arising from the rebellion the past months.

This is the time for them to heal the wounds if they know what's best for their boss and themselves.

The time to whack people is over.

I hope Muhyiddin and Shafie will be the last ones.

If Najib's people continue to be stupid, then we may just wait for the next general election to see the consequences.

Obama in town, I'm going on a ride

Getting ready for a ride to Janda Baik.

The weather seems nice this morning, just perfect for a slow peaceful ride.

There's this beautiful place there which I discovered earlier this year and I wanted to visit it again.

I intend to read a book by that pool the whole day.

I was very happy the last time I was there.

Hopefully I will be happy like that again.

Don't want to worry about anything for today.

I know, Obama is in town and everything, but all that seem far away from my own personal life.

I'm sure you all have read or saw the interesting news of those interesting happenings elsewhere.

I think it's not so bad for Malaysia to be friendly with the USA.

Maybe we can be like Singapore that way.

I'm sure the DAP people will like it.

Okay, enough of that.

Need to do final checks on the bike now.

I always love riding alone in a beautiful weather like this.

Hopefully it will not rain in the evening.

Here's a bit of American music for the road,

Peace and cheers.

About being fair on the Edra Energy issue

Someone has accused me of being bias in my previous posts on the Edra Energy issue,

TNB's sembahyang hajat, I think better give Edra to them

TNB staring at unequal competition

He then forwarded me a Bernama report which supports the selling of the Edra Energy equities to foreign companies.

Since he demanded for me to be fair, and I always believe in being fair, I'm publishing the report in full here,

Foreign Control More Good Than Harm, Say Analysts

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- Foreign control of utility companies can be good for the industry as well as serve the national interest, say energy analysts and observers.

They noted recent concerns raised by some quarters on the speculated sale of power assets to foreign investors and felt such concerns did not consider the reality of the industry.

A researcher told Bernama, "The energy business is never as free as the operators may want it to be due to strong control mechanism, licensing and multiple regulatory bodies, including the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water and Energy Commission."

For instance, he said, tariffs for the existing Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are fixed under the long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the life of the PPA, and any revision to these tariffs will require the consent of EC and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).

He pointed out that there is also the primary fuel supply for the power plants which must be sourced from government-linked or controlled entities.

Currently, TNB controls coal supply and Petronas supplies gas.

"Gone are the years when a particular IPP could dictate 'take or pay' on TNB. Today TNB, which has total control of the National Grid, calls the shots. TNB will buy what it needs and not whatever IPPs produce," he said.

He stressed that TNB has full control over IPPs, foreign or local, because under the PPA, TNB could step in to take over the operations of a plant in the event of contract breaches.

Asked if foreign companies could use lower cost structure (from economies of scale) to undermine local operators, he said they must first have a huge market share in terms of capacity and fuel usage.

In the case of Edra Global Energy Bhd, which is now up for sale, its effective share of installed generating capacity in Peninsular Malaysia is only 14.6 per cent, significantly behind market giants TNB (50 per cent) and Malakoff Corporation Bhd (25 per cent).

For fuel share in Peninsular Malaysia, Edra utilises around 17 per cent for total gas-fired capacity and approximately 15 per cent effective share of total coal-fired capacity. And it has no hydro plants.

"With such a marginal share, Edra poses little threat on all fronts, especially in view of TNB's dominant and unique market position across all three segments of fuel supply, generation and transmission, its robust financial strength (total assets of more than RM110 billion) and familiarity with the local IPP industry," he said.

He also allayed fears that Malaysians would lose their jobs, saying there is no evidence to suggest that foreign companies would bring in foreign workers to replace Malaysians.

The Malaysia Investment Report by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) states Malaysia had approved investments of up to RM235.9 billion in 2014 which could potentially create about 178,360 job opportunities.

Foreign investments formed 27.4 per cent of the total investments (RM64.6 billion).

It is notable that many countries, including Singapore, Australia, Indonesia and the United Kingdom (UK), permit 100 per cent foreign ownership of power generation plants.

Hong Leong Investment Bank Research's energy analyst Daniel Wong was reported to conclude that even if the assets were sold to foreign companies, TNB would still remain a defensive stock and its role in the transmission of the nation's electricity would not be jeopardised.

Economist Professor Dr Hoo Ke Ping recently said giving the country's energy sector to foreign countries would open the sector to shielded growth.

"Giving the IPPs to foreign control means that we are allowing foreign investment into the country. Without foreign investment, it is not easy for the country to achieve growth," he said.

Stressing that the world is globalising and opening up, Hoo said the country had also been opening up to the global market ever since the government agreed to the Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA) in 1992.

-- BERNAMA

I wish though that the Bernama report could had named the first analyst whom it quoted extensively.

That would have made the report more credible.

Nonetheless, it's up to you all to decide on the merits of arguments put forth by those analysts in favour of foreign control over our country's energy sector.

Personally, I prefer this earlier report which features arguments by both sides,

Economists debate over Edra Energy acquisition

Kit Siang and gang should be more ethical in their struggle against BN

I have always maintained that DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang is an opportunist who never shy away from exploiting every issue available, including those which affect the people's emotion for political mileage .

I first experienced Kit Siang's hypocritical ways first hand during the campaign for Gelang Patah in the last general election.

He accused his opponent, the then Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman of racialist tactics while it was actually he himself who took full advantage of the Chinese community's sentiments at that time to win in the constituency.

I was therefore not surprised at all when he tried to exploit the murder of Sarawak businessman Bernard Then by his kidnappers, believed to be Filipino Abu Sayaff terrorists.

Then had been held hostage for six month before his murder.

Kit Siang, instead of just focusing on the crime had tried to link the murder to the leadership of PM DS Najib Razak by putting the blame on his administration.

Kit Siang: Bernard's 'beheading' a slap for Najib, APEC

The way I see it, the DAP supremo was once again playing on people's emotion to discredit his political opponent.

It's the same tactic used by DAP when it exploited to the maximum the death of DAP staff Teoh Beng Hock by blaming it on the BN government.

The case of

Teoh Beng Hock

was undoubtedly one of DAP's most potent weapons as far as winning the votes of the Chinese community in the 2013 general election.

I find it distasteful for Kit Siang to exploit Then's death in such a manner.

It's akin to a French opposition leader blaming President Francois Hollande for the recent

Paris attacks 

by Islamic State terrorists.

I believe the French will roundly reject such an opportunistic exploitation if any of their politicians ever attempted it.

Similarly, I hope Malaysians will recognise the vile attempt by Kit Siang to earn political milage by blaming Then's murder on Najib and the authorities.

Ever since the spate of kidnappings in the waters of Sabah by Filipino criminals and terror elements, our authorities have been working hard to secure the victims' safety and release.

There have been quite a number of  cases where they managed to do so.

The authorities have  also stepped up security measures along the Sabah maritime border with the Philipines.

This was to prevent the repeat of the

2013 Lahad Datu tragedy 

where a group of armed men, calling themselves the "Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo" was sent by Jamalul Kiram II, one of the claimants to the defunct throne of the Sultanate of Sulu to "invade" Sabah.

We lost 10 members of our security personnel while 66 of the terrorists were killed.

I remember members of the opposition ridiculing the authorities' effort in handling the terrorists so that they can gain some political milage out of it.

Earlier today I received this photo from a friend.

It shows opposition leader Nurul Izzah Anwar of PKR enjoying a good time with Princess Jacel H.Kiram-Hasan, the daughter of the late "sultan" who initiated the Lahat Datu tragedy

It's like a French politician posing with the daughter of Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi of Islamic State to further her political interests.

Reprehensible indeed.

I was made to understand that PKR's Tian Chua, one of the loudest to criticise the authorities' handling of the Lahat Datu  incident was also there when the picture was taken.

What a bunch of hypocrites.

If there is one thing I hate most about members of Malaysia's opposition is their hypocrisy in exploiting an issue without any regard for ethics to further their political ambitions.

Malaysia will be a better society without mandatory death penalty

I'm against capital punishment as currently practiced in this country.

Under our laws, when the State kills someone, it kills that person on my behalf and that of everyone else in this country.

Our criminal laws dictate that when someone commits a crime, it will be a case between that person against the State which represents us all.

It's unlike other laws such as contract (Torts) or family laws where the cases involve disputes between individuals.

Therefore, in matter of enforcing capital punishment, the State represents us in pursuing someone's death over a committed crime.

Personally, I don't want anyone to do that for me.

I don't feel right for the State to kill a criminal for me no matter how heinous the crime he/she committed.

When I was a law student, I got involved in a lot of arguments over this matter.

My Muslim friends said that I was against the teaching of my religion for opposing the death penalty because according to them Islam sanctions such a punishment.

Normally, I pointed to them that under the Islamic laws, the family of the victim is allowed to forgive the person who was found guilty of causing the death of their loved one.

That should mean the death penalty in Islam was meant for the State to punish the offender for those who directly suffer from the death of the victim and not for the rest of society.

I do recognise the right of those who lost their loved ones to demand just retribution, but not others' who got nothing to do with the case.

Honestly, I don't feel that I have the right to demand for the death of anybody the way the laws are being exercise in this country.

So, I do welcome this news,

Malaysia plans to drop mandatory death sentence

I think we are moving in the right direction as a more matured society.

Life is indeed precious and we need to be more careful before passing judgement on whether to end a person's life for a committed crime.

I was very uncomfortable from the start about the mandatory aspect of a death penalty as currently practiced in this country.

It's so final and the courts doesn't have much choice when dealing with an offender who committed such crimes which warrants it to pass such a judgment.

Mandatory death penalty is for the crime of murder,  drug trafficking,  treason and waging war against Yang DiPertuan Agong.

The courts have very limited discretionary power in such instances.

This to me doesn't serves justice well.

I know of cases where the judge was aware that the person being charged with a crime punishable by a mandatory death penalty was not guilty but have no choice but to pass such a sentence.

One such instance was when a husband adamantly claimed that the drugs found by police  in his home belongs to him and not that of his wife while all evidence indicated that the wife was actually the one who was involved in drug trafficking to make ends meet.

The husband, an odd job worker was actually protecting his wife because he loves her and did not want their young children to grow up without their mother.

He also felt guilty that he did not provide enough for the family that his wife had resorted to sell drugs.

So, he decided to take her place at the gallows.

Sadly, the judge knew this was the case but was powerless to pass a lighter sentence on the man.

He had to pass the death sentence because it's mandatory to do so.

Legally speaking, the judge sent the man to death despite knowing of his innocence on behalf of all of us.

The burden of guilt in this instance belong to all of us.

Bear in mind that in cases of death penalty involving drug trafficking, the burden of proof is much lighter for the prosecution because the law which govern them was based on presumption.

The presumption is that a person would be considered to be trafficking drugs if they were in possession of a certain amount of dangerous drugs.

Under section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act, those in possession of 15 gm or more heroin and morphine; 1,000 gm or more opium (raw or prepared); 200 gm or more cannabis; and 40 gm or more cocaine will receive the mandatory death sentence.   

The burden of proof is actually on the defense to proof innocence.

It's unlike any other crime where the prosecution bears the burden of proof where it has to prove beyond reasonable doubt the offender's guilt to secure a conviction.

So, the possibility of someone being sent to the gallows for drug trafficking is rather high and the courts have no other recourse but to pass the death sentence once guilt has been established.

As far as I'm concerned, that's a rather risky way to decide whether a person should live or die.

If I'm a judge, I don't think I will be able to sleep peacefully at night having to send someone to his/her death under such laws.

Again, bear in mind, technically it's us as a society who are sending people to their death that way.

The judges, as interpreters of laws are merely our representatives.

It's our wakil rakyat in parliament who make those laws and we are the ones who put them there to make such laws on our behalf.

I'm glad that they now may change the laws, at least to make us less callous in  passing judgement on whether someone is to live or die.

I hope the amendments will be done as soon as possible.

Justice must be tampered with mercy.

Mandatory death penalty is devoid of that.

TNB staring at unequal competition

The other day, I wrote this,

TNB's sembahyang hajat, I think better give Edra to them

As a response to it, my friend Wan Dal Cha sent me this piece which I think I should share with you all.

By Wan Dal Cha

TNB would be naturally alarmed by the hints of uncertainties ahead in the energy sector given that the proposed sale of 1MDB power assets has already produced surprises.

A big jolt has been reports suggesting the lifting of the 49 per cent foreign equity cap in the energy sector. While the exemption is said to be one-off, it would be odd for the Government to  revert to 49 per cent-limit in the future. Such flip flopping will expose  Malaysia to suggestions of  inconsistencies on key policies.

Crucially therefore the foreign equity-tweaking  will now threaten to expose the energy sector to unequal competition. CGN the State-owned enterprise from China which has submitted a joint bid with Nebras of Qatar brings with it an overwhelming advantage over TNB in the future conduct of the energy sector.

One scenario is TNB risks being reduced to just being one of the players instead of operating as the main utility company.

This will by extension further  weaken TNB in the market. Analysts are bound to highlight the diminishing earning potential of TNB. This as a time when TNB has been a major driver of market capitalisation and wealth effects.

Against this backdrop, TNB has overnight found itself staring at a pivotal moment something it had not prepared for. TNB would naturally like any changes to the groundrules to be effected in a structured and gradual manner.

This is not strictly about TNB wishing to have an equal chance of securing the 1MDB power assets although winning it would be a perfect-fit for TNB. With the five Edra Global power assets, TNB generating capacity will grow to 70 per cent. Its regional ambitions will be further enhanced with the Edra Global foreign eight power plants.

A bigger concern is the possibility of a weaker TNB with the presence of an international giant with big ambitions.

As for the poser of whether customers will be better served with greater competition, the tariffs structure is determined by various factors.

While greater competition cannot conceivably be bad for customers, it would be better if TNB grow in capacity as a result. A stronger TNB could eventually in the long term drive down prices as well as driving growth of energy entrepreneurs and the industry at large.

About being colonised and crazy nations

Apparently not everyone is sympathetic with France over the terror attacks in Paris on Friday.

Here is a commentator in my last posting,

Anonymous16 November 2015 at 00:15

Nah. Pray for Paris.
Pacak bendera Perancis besar-besar.
Sumbat baguette banyak-banyak dalam mulut.
Kunyah. Telan. Hadam. Tahi kan.

To those of you who are praying for Paris, here is a list of most of the countries France invaded, plundered, destroyed and colonized

French Africa
1967 Afars and Issas
1899 Alexandria PO
1924 Algeria
1892 Anjouan
1892 Benin

Cameroun
1922 Chad
1950 Comoro Is
1899 Dahomey
1890 Diego Suarez

Ethiopia PO
1946 Fezzan
1891 French Congo
1936 French Equatorial Africa
1892 French Guinea
1891 French Morocco
1914 French Morocco
1894 French Sudan
1944 French West Africa
1886 Gabon
1949 Ghadames
1897 Grand Comoro
1892 Ivory Coast

Madagascar PO
1889 Madagascar
1895 Majunga
1906 Mauritania
1892 Mayotte
1907 Middle Congo
1906 Mohéli

Morocco (Sherifian Post)
1921 Niger
1889 Nossi-Bé
1892 Obock
1899 Port Said PO
1852 Reunion
1894 Ste Marie de Madagascar
1887 Senegal
1903 Senegambia and Niger
1902 Somali Coast
1918 Tangier PO
1921 Togo
1888 Tunisia
1922 Ubangi-Shari
1915 Ubangi-Shari-Chad
1906 Upper Senegal and Niger
1920 Upper Volta
1894 Zanzibar PO

French Americas
1886 French Guiana
1884 Guadeloupe
1932 Inini
1886 Martinique
1885 St Pierre and Miquelon

French Asia
1888 Annam and Tonkin
1951 Cambodia
1901 Canton, PO
1894 China, PO
1902 China, Indo-Chinese PO
1893 Chunking
1886 Cochin China
1892 French Indian Settlements
1901 Hoi-Hao
1889 Indo-China
1906 Kouang Tcheou
1951 Laos
Mengtsz
Pakhoi
1903 Yunnan-Fu

French Europe
1931 Andorra French Administration
1947 French Occupied Baden
1945 French Zone of Germany (general)
1919 French Occupied Hungary
Memel
1947 French Occupied Rhineland Palatinate
1947 Saar (French Occupation)
1947 French Occupied Württemberg

French Middle East
1925 Alaouites
1938 Alexandretta
1920 Castelrosso
1893 Cavalla
1919 Cilicia
1902 POs in Crete
1893 Dedeagatz (Dedeagh)
1942 Free French Forces, Levant
Jerusalem
1931 Latakia
1924 Lebanon
1885 French Levant (POs in Turkish Empire)
1893 Port Lagos
1916 Rouad Island
1919 Syria
1893 Vathy

French Pacifics and Antarctic
1958 French Polynesia
1892 Oceania
1955 French Southern & Antarctic Territories
1859 New Caledonia
1908 New Hebrides
1882 Tahiti
1920 Wallis and Futuna Is

Well, at least the commentator didn't say he/she supports the terrorists.

I think he/she was just expressing his/her dislike of a country which used to bully others in the past.

Honestly, I don't like France too for what it did in the past.

But I do sympathise with victims of the terrorists and the loved ones of those who lost their life that night.

Nothing can justify the killing of innocent people.

By the way, I also don't like France because the first time my ex took his new girlfriend for a romantic holiday was to that country.

At that time, he was still with me, okay.

Real cheating bastard.

So, I'm allergic to France.

But that does not mean I support the murderous terrorists, okay.

Anyway, the only European country that I cheered for during the World Cup is Germany.

If France or England or Spain plays Germany, I definitely will cheer for Germany.

At least the Germans, whenever they feel like picking up a fight, will go for opponents of their own size.

They don't go around bullying small countries and aborigines like France, Britain, Spain and the others did.

Of course the Germans are a bit crazy.

Every time they were in the mood to fight, they go around and fight with everybody at the same time.

Of course they got clobbered in the end.

Nowadays the Germans just make nice cars and play good football.

And once in awhile, they drink lots and lots of beer and be merry.

Then there's the Asian version of Germany.

Japan.

My favorite.

The Japanese are in fact crazier than the Germans.

Despite them actually being just a bunch of cute people, they don't pick up fight with small countries or even countries of their own size.

Whenever they feel like fighting, they get themselves the biggest opponents around.

They fought United States, China, Russia and scores of others, all bigger than them, all at the same time.

Of course in the end they got totally trashed.

But I believe that if they were not that crazy, we, along with the other colonised Asian countries at that time would not be so inspired as to kick out our colonial masters.

Anyway, after being kicked the shit out of them, the Japanese become very peaceful people these days.

Not unlike the Germans, they also nowadays just make very good cars.

Oh, other than that, they also make some nice anime, very tacky teenage manga-based movies and weird porn videos.

No more crazy fighting.

They are still cute though.

Well, all these talks about being colonised and enslaved by the white men remind me of this opening of the Malcolm X movie,

Massacres were committed by all sorts

The weather seems fine so far today.

Maybe I will do a bit of shopping later.

Don't feel like staying in this room the whole day like yesterday, monitoring the unfolding of events in France.

I'm a bit disappointed that some of the commentators in this blog actually believe that only Muslims are capable of committing atrocities such as the Paris massacre.

Actually others did too.

Here is a long list of events named massacre,

List of massacres

Please click on the link and learn something from it.

Well, I don't want to get preachy on this Sunday morning.

I'm not Hannah Yeoh of City Harvest Church, okay.

You all read and digest it yourselves.

I need to go out and try to enjoy the day.

If I stay in this room I will get stupid and miss my ex again and bore you all with my pathetic lovelorn ramblings.

Everyone needs to have some fun.

Even this ustaz needs fun,

Cheers guys.

The need to learn from Paris bloodbath

Woke up to this horrific story,

Over 100 people killed in Paris ‘terror’ attacks

The cycle of violence continues.

Saw the strings of breaking news of the tragedy at AFP twitter.

The most retweeted news was about the attackers shouting "AllahuAkbar!" as they massacred their victims.

Muslims will be blamed again, obviously.

Initial reports indicated that the carnage is linked to the murderous group Islamic State.

This could be what they had threatened the West all these while - that they will retaliate for the air campaign and other material supports given by the West to the Syrian and Iraqi governments in the fight against them.

I'm quite sure IS will come up with their own justification for the attack.

They will among others show graphic videos of Syrian and Iraqi civilians killed in Western air attacks in areas of their control in those two countries.

I also think they will carry out more such terror attacks in other Western cities.

They had proven that they can do it and they will do it again.

I hope the Malaysian authorities will learn something out of this tragedy and tighten security measures to stop some of our own terror-inclined citizens from committing such atrocities.

Scores of people have so far been detained for terror-linked activities over the past months in this country, but I believe more could be done.

We need to uproot the whole ideology of terror from our society.

All those so-called religious people and politicians who tried to be popular by preaching tolerance for terrorism must be stopped.

There is no justification for the murder of innocent people.

The terror attack in Paris today also reminds me of a good friend who died earlier this year.

He was killed in a terror-related incident in a neighboring country.

It was a very sad day for me when I received the news of his death.

It was all so senseless.

My heart goes to those who lost their loved ones in such a manner.

TNB's sembahyang hajat, I think better give Edra to them

(Note: This is the 1,000th post of this blog)

Someone asked me today whether I'm going along with several prominent bloggers in their calls for 1MDB to sell the equities of Edra Energy to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).

I told him that honestly I don't really have an opinion on it.

I'm not an expert in these sorts of complicated business stuff.

Anyway, those bloggers who are backing TNB's bid for Edra Energy are mostly my seniors in blogging and supporters of PM DS Najib Razak.

They seem to know what they are talking about and wrote long eloquent arguments on the matter.

They are so eloquent in their business talk that it's hard for me, a simple person, to understand what they are trying to convey.

Honestly, I ended up not reading their postings. Ok, just a bit....before I got too bored to read till the end.

I only read in full Rocky's posting because the guy wrote very short and simple about the whole thing.

What I understand is that Rocky and his gang were wishing for 1MDB to sell the equity of Edra Energy to TNB instead of foreign companies because of long term national interests.

They don't want foreigners to control our energy sector.

Okay, I think that's fair enough.

Just now, I called my friend in TNB to ask him how much his bosses wanted those equities of Edra Energy.

The guy, knowing that I'm not very smart when it comes to business stuff, told me that TNB actually wanted those equities very badly.

They want it so badly that today, after Friday prayers, they had a sembahyang hajat (special prayers) for Allah to grant them the best on the bid for Edra Energy.

My friend said the TNB management had informed the staff all over the country about the sembahyang hajat and requested for them to participate at their respective places.

Other than the sembahyang hajat, TNB staff were also requested to continue praying for the company to get the best out of the bid.

Non- Muslim staff were also requested to do the same as according to their respective religion.

"We just want the best out of the bid no matter what is the outcome," said my friend.

Well, I think what he really meant was he wants TNB's bid to be successful.

Typical Malay, being shy to tell what he really wants.

Just say it la friend...aiyooh.

Okay lah, since TNB went to that length to get Edra Energy, I think 1MDB should give it to them.

I don't know how to argue in detail about these sorts of thing like all those clever senior bloggers but I'm sure that I don't want some foreigners to handle the switch of my light bulb and decide when I should have light or be in darkness.

Anyway, as everyone knows, 1MDB is already in serious shit. It should not pile more of it by getting into a fresh controversy by opening the door of our energy sector to foreigners.

For links to clever arguments on this Edra Energy matter, please click this link which has the other links,

• For once, I agree with Rafizi Ramli

Our rotten value system 2

So, can we change our rotten value system?

Not really.

At least not immediately.

It's too ingrained in our society.

Whether we like it or not, it's the way we are.

We have been conditioned to be like that for so long.

Our values are profit driven.

Honesty, loyalty, sincerity, ethics, saving the environment, etc are values which are of secondary importance in our society.

It's because upholding those values is not seen as profitable.

Primary to us are things that can immediately generate profit for us.

We don't really care how it's done as long as the end result is that we have more money, which ensure us a good material life and security.

If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that money is the most important thing to us.

Having money means having power, influence, respect....and even love.

We are at awe whenever we talk about or in the presence of people with lots of money.

Even the Muslims in this country who claimed that their religion is the most important thing for them succumbed to this value system.

This value system was shaped by the mixture of cultures which came to our land over the centuries.

Maybe one day this will change.

But I don't think it will be in my lifetime.

For now, we can only mitigate this ugly way we value things in life.

We do what we can, which is not really too bad.

We talk a bit about the importance of all those good values and try to practice it in our life.

But it's not really our natural values.

Our societal demands require us to chase after monetary gains with whatever means at our disposal.

Fail to do that and we are doomed to be considered as failures by other members of our society.

I know, it's even worse in some other societies.

But why compare to them.

Let's set a benchmark comparable with the more advanced societies.

Hopefully, maybe, long after we pass away from this world, our future generation may attain what we wish for ourselves.

Here is an example of possible model society with good value system pointed out by a regular commentator of this blog;

RD.10 November 2015 at 12:42

Dear Annie.

I have worked in Japan. A month or two, each time. What I notice about the Japanese; they are very honest and law abiding citizen. Their punk and Trojan-haired teenager even wait for the traffic-light to turn green at mid-night, when there were hardly any traffic at all.

I once left a bag with 6 SLR cameras + long focal length lenses, belonging to my company. When I returned to that station, an hour later, frantically searching for the bag, the station master came-up to me, asking what I was looking for. I produce the invoice my company gave, with all the cameras serial numbers, he asked me to follow him to his office, compared the s/no. of the cameras in the bag with that on the invoice, then surprisingly bowed to me and said 'arigato' and return the bag to me.

Japanese too, do not tend to show-off their wealth too much like we Malaysian. Riding the trains, you can't differentiate the house belonging to the poor and the wealthy.
The neighborhood where I live, I had known people who refinanced their house so that they can afford to renovate it into mansion.

Therefore I fully supported your advice given to those Johor's elites:-

"And one more thing, Khaled, please tell your boys to stop flashing their luxury cars around and playing golf in KL. Don't make it too obvious. People are talking, okay."

Our rotten value system

It turned out that

Uncontrolled logging could be cause of Karak mudslide

Again, we were hit by a disaster caused by ourselves.

It's because we were too greedy and failed to care for anything but ourselves.

Preserving the environment doesn't earn us money, so why should we care, right?

Admit it, money is everything to us.

Those who have money will have power and respect.

That's the reality of our value system.

Even the religious people tend to subscribe to that principle.

That's why we got ustaz driving expensive cars.

Even Ferrari.

We may argue otherwise, but deep down inside we all actually regard those with money as the better people among us.

We can;t survive on environment alone.

We can't survive on love alone.

We need money.

That's the all important thing to us in this society.

Money can even buy us love.

Preserving the environment can't.

We are that crude.

We are a society without idealism.

The so called environmentalists in this country are mostly people who have enough money so that they can afford to appreciate what nature has to offer.

They are the cool people.

It's trendy.

But if they don't have money, they will have no time or energy for the environment.

They will need to spend their time and energy to catch up with the rest of the population in the pursuit for money.

Such is the demand for us to have enough money to be appreciated and respected.

If you have money and you care for the environment, then you are cool.

If you don't have money but you care for the environment too much, then you are a nut case.

Oh, and there's the political environmentalists....or should I call them hypocritical environmentalists.

Remember that Hijau guy who contested under DAP ticket?

Why he is so quiet now?

What's the latest with the anti-Lynas campaign?

How many kids in Kuantan have been affected by the radiation so far and turned into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

Any Kuantan kids has join the X-men team?

Tired already, is it?

Ok lah, I'll wait for the next general election, for you to make noise again.

Aren't you all depressed reading what I wrote above about our value system?

Well, that's how things are with our profit-driven Malaysian society.

We are only good at talking when it comes to idealism.

End of the day, we are back to worshipping money over everything else.

Today : Darling, I want nothing but to love you with all of my heart.

A few years later: Eh, when are you going to buy me a house arrr? You think can survive with love only ka?

Typical real Malaysian love story.

The same with our environmental story.

Talk only as if so good. Later chop down the forest to make money.

Heck, who cares about saving the forest for our children.

We need the money now.

For us.

It's all about us.

Okay, after reading this venomous posting of mine, please read this one to neutralise it,

Learning from Maruyama

Be safe (updated)

UPDATES

It's now 9.30am as I'm writing this.

The Karak Highway is still mostly closed and works still ongoing to clear the landslide.

I was made to understand that the people of highway concessionaire Anih Bhd are doing their best to hasten work at the site.

The authorities are also doing their part.

Good job guys.

My salute also to the journalists who are at the moment struggling to get to the location of the landslide.

I know that it's difficult and risky to get to a location of a disaster like that.

Contrary to what were said about them by some quarters, most of our journalists are quite dedicated to their work and brave.

Hope that they take care of themselves and always be safe.


ORIGINAL POST

There are many other things I think we should be worried about now rather than just politics.

The rainy season is back.

Last year around this time there was that massive flood which caused so much damage.

I was in the thick of things at that time.

I remember PM DS Najib Razak and his then deputy TS Muhyiddin Yassin trying their best to visit the flood victims.

Even the elderly Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad tried his best to visit flood relief centers.

Everyone were united in the relief efforts.

Well, hopefully such a terrible flood is not happening again this time.

Even if it happens again, my prayer is that the authorities are more prepared this time.

Some areas in the north have already been hit by flood but on a rather small scale.

This evening there's a landslide at the Karak Highway near Bukit Tinggi due to heavy rain

It cuts off the main land route to the East Coast at least until 10am tomorrow.

For now there were rumours about vehicles being caught in the landslide.

Hopefully it's not true.

I never like that stretch of the highway, especially at night.

It's very dark, very steep and there are many tricky corners.

Very hazardous especially when there are many slow moving and ill-lit trailers on that stretch.

I hope the highway authorities can improve safety there.

As for the coming weeks, Malaysians, especially those living in low laying riverine areas should be prepared for any eventuality.

Those traveling in the rain should also be extra cautious.

Take care folks.

Stupid war chart and a nice but melancholic lunch

Not feeling very motivated today.

Really nothing significant to write.

I don't know how some people can keep on repeating themselves on certain issues over and over again.

I find it tiresome.

Wish there's something new to write about.

Unfortunately there was none for now.

The only remotely interesting thing that happened today was when someone showed me a so-called chart of  cybertroopers who are serving PM DS Najib Razak.

I almost laughed when I saw it.

Rocky was one of those on the chart and according to it, he supposedly was in command of several prominent bloggers.

That's really bullshit.

Rocky doesn't work that way.

I know that because he never commanded me to do or write anything from the first day I started blogging.

Sometimes I described him as my blogging captain but that's not because he gives me instructions and stuff.

It's because he gives my blog the exposure in his blogroll and once in a while I sought his advice on certain matters.

He also helped me a couple of times when I was in serious trouble.

But he definitely never told me what to write in my blog.

As far as I know, it's the same case between him and the other bloggers.

Well, if you don't believe me, go and ask some of the prominent anti-Najib bloggers who used to hang out with Rocky.

I'm quite sure they will tell you the same.

As for the others on the chart, I don't really know them.

Anyway, today I had lunch with my ex.

Since I'm on a carbohydrate diet, we just had some chicken and salad.

We are still good friends and meet once or twice a month these days.

I wish he still loves me but he is not.

But I'm contented.

At least I can still see him once in a while.

I still enjoy having him telling me to care for myself and stop smoking.

Today he even brought me some traditional medicine for my ailment.

After lunch, he went to pick-up his beautiful Singaporean GF at KLIA and I went home.

Somehow I don't feel like going around alone these days and rather be at home if I got nothing better to do.

So, that's about conclude my day for today.

And as usual with my rambling nonsense, here's a song for the night,

Cheers and sweet dreams.