Guan Eng likely going to prison....until he's 76

Saw this latest on Guan Eng at Bernama just now,

GEORGE TOWN, June 30 2016 : Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng claimed trial in the High Court here today to two corruption charges involving a piece of land and a bungalow.

On the first charge, he is accused of using his position as chief minister for himself and his wife Betty Chew Gek Cheng’s interest to approve the conversion of a piece of land from its status as an agricultural land to residential land and transferring it to a company, Magnificient Emblem Sdn Bhd.

Lim, 56, allegedly committed the offence while chairing a State Planning Committee meeting on the 28th floor at Komtar, George Town here on July 18, 2014.

The charge under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 carries a maximum 20 years imprisonment and a fine of not less than five times the value involved or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction. – Bernama

Well, I'm inclined to believe that Guan Eng will really kena this time.

I'm sure the authorities had done their investigations properly and got all the necessary evidence.

A water-tight case, so to speak.

Otherwise, I don't think they would take the risk of prosecuting Guan Eng, who is a bit like a demi-god among his supporters.

One thing for sure, this will be the end of the DAP's Lim dynasty.

I remember back in the late 90's when Guan Eng went to prison for criminally slandering the then Malacca chief minister Rahim Thamby Chik, many DAP people abandoned him and his family.

He hardly have any friend when he came out of prison a year later.

I believe the same will happen again this time.

Of course DAP will try to win public sympathy over the case, but after a while they will have to move on.

Betty will go up and down the country to plead support for her husband but she won't be able to do that forever.

After the next general election which increasingly look like it's going to be a walkover for BN, the whole thing will fades away.

Once you are out, no one really loves you anymore.

In a way, DAP is also a bit like Umno....or is it the other way around?

It's the nature of the beast.

I just hope that they don't slap Guan Eng with the maximum jail sentence of 20 years imprisonment.

Can't imagine what Guan Eng looks like 20 years from now.

A 76 years old Guan Eng.....hmmmmm....

But I suspect he will still be looking like this,

Except older, I guess.

A story for angry people

I have this friend who once worked for a major newspaper.

He was some sorts of a senior editor or something like that.

The guy was dedicated, worked hard and was a loyal employee.

He worked there for donkey's years.

The problem with him was that he can't keep his mouth shut.

When he saw something was wrong, he would said something was wrong.

And he's very lousy at being nice to his bosses just to be in their good book.

Of course his bosses didn't like him for all that.

That, despite him doing his best and achieving relatively good results for his works.

Sometime early last year he realised that his bosses were really getting to hate him.

They gave him an annual assessment lower than his subordinates despite him working his ass off.

So, when the company offered a voluntary separation scheme to the employees, he applied for it.

Almost everyone who applied for it got it.

The guy would had gotten about RM250,000 in compensation if his application was approved by his bosses.

He thought of setting up a small laundry business using the money or something like that and retire to look after his family, especially his son who is a disabled person.

He didn't get it.

The bosses didn't approve his application for the scheme.

Instead, two months later they demoted him and transferred him to a place further away from his family.

It was clear that his bosses were forcing him to resign and maliciously doing so in a way that his years of service for the company were not to be compensated or appreciated.

He quit his job and now works quietly doing an editing job for a small publishing company own by a friend who felt pity for him and offered him the job.

The guy didn't complain too much though.

He sometimes joked about what happened to him and that was all there was to it as far as he was concerned.

The other day, we were at a buka puasa function when he bumped into his former big boss.

He said hi to the guy,  smiled at him and shaked his hand.

He even inquired about his former boss' health.

I can see that he was trying not to make the other guy felt too awkward.

Later I asked him,

"Why didn't you just punch the bastard in his face?"

"For what? I don't even hate him. My former boss used to be nice to me once and I rather think of the positive side of him," he said.

Later he explained to me why he can't hate his former big boss despite what he and the others did to him.

It went something like this,

"The guy did a lot of good things for me before he started to dislike me.

"He was the one who promoted me to my highest postion in the company.

"He treated not only me with kindness at that time but also someone else that I really care about.

"I appreciate him for all that.

"Of course I was angry when all those things happened last year but after I calmed down I told myself that what happened was fated by Allah.

"Allah made the whole thing happened because He has a good reason for it.

"The way I see it, that VSS money was simply not my rezeki.

"Allah must had wanted me to have a different kind of rezeki. That's why he opened the heart of my friend to give me a job.

'Maybe if I had stayed in the company I would sooner or later died of stress. 

"At least where I work now, there's no stress at all.

"Maybe Allah wanted me to have a longer life without the stress so that I can look after my family much longer."

Well, in a way my friend was right.

I agree with him that we should not despair when bad things happened to us.

Must always remember that things happened because Allah willed them to happen.

All we need to do is to manage ourselves in whatever situation fated by Allah.

Of course, we have to do our best with whatever we are doing.

But after that, we leave it to Allah to decide the outcome.

We must redha (accept) with the outcome because it's Allah's decision.

That way we would not have to hate anyone or be bitter about things.

If people do bad things to us and after all our efforts had been exhausted, we should just pray for Allah to take care of things.

And of course Allah will take care of things for us, one way or another.

I believe in that.

Another Annie

Yesterday, when I posted a video of a girl wearing hijab playing heavy metal music on her guitar, I didn't really check her identity.

I just found the video when randomly going through YouTube.

A friend asked me today who is the girl.

So I checked and found out that she's an Indonesian.

You can go to her Facebook page here,

Meliani Siti Sumartini

or watch her playing guitar at her YouTube account here,

MelSickScreamoAnnie 

Yup, she is also an Annie.

Cool.

Play it again, Annie.

And here she is thanking everyone,

Politics?

Who cares.

Cabinet reshuffle?

Does it change anything?

I don't think so.

I rather listen to heavy metal music by an Indonesian girl for now, okay.

It makes me happier, insyaAllah.

Cheers.

Umno can take care of itself

It's peace and quiet where I am now.

Somewhere in the East Coast.

Beautiful blue sky here.

I always enjoy my Sunday whenever I'm at this place.

Life feels good on a day like this.

The only thing that troubles me at the moment is a sore throat.

A bit irritating because I'm fasting and can't drink water.

Hopefully it will not develop into something worse.

I don't think I should worry about the supposedly bigger things on a day like this.

They will take care of themselves, anyway.

Who would have guessed that all the talks about Umno and BN being in trouble were all so unnecessary.

Despite the stories about how Malaysians now hate Najib and his people, the rakyat turned out to be more supportive of them than ever before.

It's proven in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar.

Even the Chinese, who were said to hate Umno voted for its candidates that day.

Not all of them, of course, but quite a lot, which was good enough for Umno.

So, that's about it as far as worrying about politics.

I better just rest and enjoy life....at least for today.

Bought some beef and bones at a pasar tani this morning.

Boiling them on slow fire now.

Going to have beef soup with nasi impit for buka puasa.

Very nice.

Maybe I go out again later to pasar Ramadhan.

Feel like having some sata too.

Of all the East Coast food, I probably like sata the best....or maybe laksam....

Whatever it is, thinking about food is better than worrying about politics....especially when you are fasting :)

For a bit of Sunday entertainment, let's enjoy some heavy metal guitar playing,...

Amazing girl.

Crushing the rebellion

So, they finally did it,

Umno sacks Muhyiddin, Mukhriz; suspends Shafie

That's not really surprising, isn't it?

I actually saw it clearly coming in this post on Sept 5 last year,

• Removing Muhyiddin

Okay, I was not very accurate about DS Mukhriz Mahathir though, as I didn't expect them to get rid of him at the risk of losing Kedah.

Guess the Umno leadership are really not stopping at anything to totally crush the rebellion now.

And that's because they are in the position to do it.

The recent big wins in Sarawak, and more importantly in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar about seal the fate of TS Muhyiddin Yassin, Mukhriz and DS Shafie Apdal.

Those electoral victories signaled that the majority of the rakyat are behind DS Najib Razak and support what he was doing.

Yup, that includes the 1MDB things and other stuff too.

I can't see any other way we could have interpret it.

I think the rebellion against Najib is as good as over now.

The opposition parties are now in disarray and Umno rebels were being "dispatched" or isolated.

And that of course includes Najib's fiercest critic Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Well, the rebellion was doomed from the start.

The first time I saw it coming was in this post on June 27 last year,

• Lay down your weapons, rebels

But of course no one listens to an insignificant blogger like me.

The fighting continues till this stage.

Fortunately for BN and Umno, the people seemed to be turned off by the fighting and decided to stay with the established leaders such as could be seen in Sarawak, Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar.

That and coupled with the stupidity of the quarrelsome opposition parties, Umno and BN are back on track.

But, don't expect the fighting to stop yet.

The rebels, despite knowing that they were actually beaten, will continue with what they were doing all the way to the next general election two years from now.

They will be hoping for Najib and his people to make mistakes along the way.

Mistakes that could turned off people from supporting the establishment.

One way that could happened was for Najib's people to get big headed now that the people appeared to be supporting them.

As I once told a prominent pro-Najib blogger, it's a game of being better liked by the people.

But as it is, some people have too big an ego that they can't help themselves but to be arrogant, obnoxious and even stupid.

Badlisyah new Tabung Haji boss?

Received this message from a friend just now,

Sis, badlisyah will be confirmd as tabung haji ceo 2moro at TH board mtg in dubai. He will also be apptd as bank islam director..pending bnm approval ...thats ironic isn't it?

I 'm not sure how accurate this info is, but if true, then it's  really interesting.

The Badlisyah, my friend was referring to is Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, the former CEO of CIMB Islamic Banking.

He's the guy who got in trouble for trying to defend 1MDB back then.

I'm not sure whether it's a good decision to put him in Tabung Haji and Bank Islam, that is if the info is correct, but let's hope for the best.

This is after all Tabung Haji and Bank Islam which are to help Muslims with their amal ibadat.

Whatever it is, the Tabung Haji BOD and Bank Islam people must have considered it properly.

I hope Tabung Haji and Bank Islam will be doing well under Badlisyah and there will be no more controversies under his stewardship.

That's again if this info my friend gave me is true.

Since this is Ramadhan, let us all "berbaik sangka" and pray to Allah that whatever the outcome of this, it is going to be good and blessed.

Insya Allah.

Hana Tajima's story

I think today I better do other things than spending time writing about something which is so obvious - significant number of Chinese are coming back to supporting BN.

Everyone can see that, except those hatemongers who wanted to "menegakkan benang yang basah" as well as their followers who hated the Chinese and wanted to throw them into the sea in the first place.

Actually, I believe that they are quite sick.

We better stay away from them, okay.

Today I rather write about what to wear for Hari Raya, which is not too long from now.

My friend from Kuantan sent me pictures of things to be worn for  the occasion yesterday.

The most impressive was a collection by Hana Tajima,

She is a British Japanese Muslim convert.

Apparently, she was quite well known, but myself being quite ignorant about fashion, learned about her for the first time yesterday and was impressed.

Her collection is available at UNIQLO,

Hana Tajima Collection‎

You can check-out her blog here,

HANA TAJIMA

As for her conversion to Islam, I found this article from 2011

The Islamification of Britain

These are  excerpts on her story:

Hana Tajima, 23, fashion designer

Hana Tajima converted to Islam when she was 17. Frustrated by the lack of variety in Islamic clothing for converts she founded Maysaa, a fashion house that designs western-inspired clothing that conforms to hijab. 

"It's true that I never decided to convert to Islam, nor was there a defining moment where I realised I wanted to be Muslim.  My family aren't particularly religious.  I was interested in religion, but very disinterested in how it related to my life.  I grew up in rural Devon where my Japanese father was the ethnic diversity of the village.  It wasn't until I studied at college that I met people who weren't of the exact same background, into Jeff Buckley, underground hip-hop, drinking, and getting high.  I met and became friends with a few Muslims in college, and was slightly affronted and curious at their lack of wanting to go out to clubs or socialise in that sense.  I think it was just the shock of it, like, how can you not want to go out, in this day and age.   

"It was at about that time that I started to study philosophy, and without sounding too much like I dyed my hair black and wore my fringe in front of my face, I began to get confused about my life. I was pretty popular, had good friends, boyfriends, I had everything I was supposed to have, but still I felt like 'is that it?'  So these things all happened simultaneously, I read more about religion, learned more about friends of other backgrounds, had a quarter life crisis.  There were things that drew me to Islam in particular, it wasn't like I was reaching for whatever was there.  The fact that the Qur'an is the same now as it ever was means there's always a reference point. The issues of women's rights were shockingly contemporary.  The more I read, the more I found myself agreeing with the ideas behind it and I could see why Islam coloured the lives of my Muslim friends.  It made sense, really, I didn't and still don't want to be Muslim, but there came a point where I couldn't say that I wasn't Muslim. 

"Telling my family was the easy part.  I knew they'd be happy as long as I was happy, and they could see that it was an incredibly positive thing.  My friends went one of two ways, met with a lack of any reaction and lost to the social scene, or interested and supportive.  More the former, less the latter."

Cool, isn't she?

Well, hidayah comes from Allah.

Can never tell who's going to get it, and who's not.

So, lets do our best and pray for Allah to choose us to be among the ones who are blessed.

For the non-Muslim readers of this blog, do excuse me for getting a bit religious. It's the Ramadhan thing :)

I will pray for you all to be blessed too, okay.

Shameless hatemongers who continue to divide us

Not too long ago, there were people who called on Umno to kick out MCA, Gerakan and the other non-Malay/non-Bumiputera parties from BN.

They wanted Umno to instead get Islamist party Pas to be its partner along with the Bumiputera parties of Sabah and Sarawak.

Their argument was that the Malays and Bumiputera can rule this country on their own and turn it into a conservative Malay Muslim country.

According to them, the Malays and Bumiputera should be on one side with the enemies being the non-Malays/non-Bumiputera, particularly Chinese.

Proponents of this idea wanted Malaysia to be a racially polarised country, either it was because they wanted to stay on top of everyone else that way, or they do it simply out of spite after their hateful ways were previously rejected by others.

The bad people don't want our children to be friends and share this country. Maybe it's because they don't have real friends themselves. 

I believe you all should know by now that there were even Chinese who are among the prominent advocates of this divisive idea.

Well, there were all sorts of theories about that, which include someone being badly dumped by a love partner in DAP and such, but I rather not go into it.

It's Ramadhan, so, I rather not tell such speculative stories, okay.

Anyway, they argued that the Chinese will never return to support BN, if it remains the way it is - moderate and multi-racial.

These people who can only be described as hatemongers insisted that the Chinese be punished by the Malays for their tsunami in the 2013 general election.

Fortunately, it turned out that they were wrong.

Umno, despite its difficulties refused to go down that path and in return, a substantial portion of the Chinese in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar rewarded it by turning the tide against the quarrelsome opposition.

This follows similar trend in Sarawak where BN component parties there did quiet well to penetrate DAP's Chinese majority strongholds during the recent state election.

As I had expected, the hatemongers refused to back down and continued to insist that Umno must make concessions for Pas at the expense of its non-Muslim partners in BN.

I believe they knew they were wrong but have to keep up the antics because that's the only way forward for them.

It's a case of "tahik sudah kena muka, tak tau nak buat apa" (shit already hit the face but too embarrassed to even wipe it clean).

Yes, they just don't want to admit it because they think they are always right.

A case of bloated ego, if you ask me.

For instance, when these people insisted that Johor Umno must combine with Pas, they never realised that Pas is actually a zero force in the state, especially now.

That's the problem when supposedly know-everything arm-chair analysts believe they are very clever.

Having mixed around with the Johor Pas people in the past, I'm quite sure that over 70 per cent of them are now with Amanah, led by the likes of former Pas vice-president Salahuddin Ayub, former Pas youth chief Suhaizan Kayat and former Pas central committee member Mazlan Aliman.

And these Johor Amanah leaders, combined with DAP are still real threats to BN in Johor which have a huge percentage of Chinese voters.

If Johor Umno follows the demand of those who wanted MCA and Gerakan to be kicked out of the coalition instead of helping them win back the Chinese support, I believe Johor BN will be in big trouble in the next general election.

I'm not exactly sure the motives of these people who want that to happen.

Either they are just merely egoistically stupid or maybe they were planted as trojan horses within BN to promote such an idea which will cause BN to be hated by the people and eventually be destroyed.

Anyway, it's up to the Umno leadership to decide whether the party should be nice or nasty.

Those hatemongers always say that "Nice guys don't win wars",  and that Malays should not be nice to Chinese.

They were wrong.

As proven in Sarawak, Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar, BN's play nice campaign worked.

And on top of that, it's also a relief to know that I was right about the Chinese being capable of returning the same when the Malays are nice to them.

Now I truly believe that being firm but nice is the best way to go.

The Chinese are significantly back

I think I got it right when I wrote this post last month,

• BN can win back the Chinese like in Sarawak

And last night,

BN crushes opposition in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar

It's without doubt that the coalition wouldn't be able to do that without something like this happening,

Significant Chinese votes for BN in Sekinchan

Yet, some hate-mongers may still try to argue that most Chinese still hate BN and insist for the Malays to throw them into the sea.

They will come up with all sorts of charts and statistics to deny the changing Chinese voting trend as well as concocting all sorts of theories to continue trying to convince the Malays that they must hate the Chinese.

They will write long articles to look impressive by repeating the same points several times to spread their message of hate.

But I'm confident that the Malays will not listen to these bad people.

After all, Malays are not mindless racists.

Malays are generally good and peaceful Muslims.

After last night, I truly believe that the Chinese tsunami of 2013 has finally became just a past nightmare.

Many Chinese may still support the opposition but now there is a significant number of them who prefer to keep an open mind about giving their support to BN.

Last night, the Chinese once again proved themselves to be pragmatic voters.

Some of them apparently saw that the opposition was in too much of a mess with their in-fighting that it was pointless to vote for them.

If BN continues to play it nice like during the two by-elections, I'm confident more of them will support the ruling coalition.

As it is, I think this was the best move by BN for the by-elections,

• Umno not to field racists in Sg Besar and Kuala Kangsar

I think many Chinese appreciate that and returned the favour by voting BN.

The Chinese are not all ungrateful bunch of people like those hate-mongers were trying to portray them.

For me, it's not so much the BN's victory at the by-elections that made me happy, but the fact that the apparent shift of voting trend among the Chinese indicates that we Malaysians don't have to go against each other anymore like in this past decade.

Most importantly, if this trend continues, Malaysia will not be so racially polarised anymore.

It's good, isn't it?

Really, better to be friends than hate each other just because of our race.

Think about it, guys.

Okay, I'm going to spend the rest of the day sleeping until buka puasa time.

Need to rest after a very long ride last night.

Here's a song to suit the mood,

My father loves that song by the legendary Momoe Yamaguchi.

This is the Malay version of it,

Okay, peace everyone :)

Ramadhan rambling and a beautiful Chinese wedding

Since it's Ramadhan, I decided to post nice things as much as I can instead of getting everyone agitated with all the political, racial and religious nonsense.

Well, you can get lots of hits by posting about those stuff, especially if you can get everyone riled up against each other, but what's the point lah.

It's not going to do us and this country any good, okay.

For instance, getting Malays to hate the Chinese and the Chinese to hate Malays back - seriously, how can that be good for all of us?

Okay, I know some people have to do those nasty stuff to earn a living, but you all please just ignore them lah.

For me, I don't have to do all that shit because I'm blogging just for fun.

And my idea of fun nowadays is that, if I can make people be friends and at peace with one another.

Seriously, what's the fun in sowing hatred and unhappiness among fellow Malaysians.

I did try it once and it didn't make me happy at all.

And all that whacking of people are not going to do any good too, okay.

It's just an ego trip of trying to put down others in the hope of promoting oneself as being clever and influential.

That's so shallow, if you ask me.

On the political front, tomorrow is the polling day in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar.

Well, just vote lah. No need to kecoh and create havoc.

Whatever the outcome, we just accept it.

Then life goes on.

As for all the alleged wrongdoings of these and that people, if they are true, let's pray that those responsible be punished one way or another.

I believe that Allah is fair and will make sure justice will prevail in the end.

We do our best under the circumstances, but if we hit a brick wall and can't proceed any further, then let's just pray for Allah to take care of things.

And of course Allah will take care of things.

There's no need for us to get all worked up, where brothers and sisters become enemies because of what happened.

In short, be cool and have some faith in Allah.

Anyway, I'm doing this posting not because I wanted to ramble all the above. That one just so happened as I started writing.

I tend to do that.

I actually just want to highlight this beautiful Chinese wedding I found on YouTube,

See, Malay Muslims, some Chinese are very similar to you all. So don't hate them, okay.

I know, that couple are in China, but that does not mean our Chinese here can't be the same.

They are all humans and Allah's creations, just like us.

And we are all Malaysians.

Fasting Chinese

Today I don't feel like writing much.

Not feeling very well.

So, I'm just posting this rather recent video of Chinese fasting during Ramadhan,

It's sorts of a reminder that there are many Chinese who are Muslim in this world.

So, Malay Muslims, please don't listen to people who try to tell you that you should hate Chinese.

Who knows, maybe one day they will be given hidayah by Allah and become better Muslims than us.

InsyaAllah.

Okay, that's all.

Still got three hours to go before buka puasa.

Hungry, okay :)

Bus story of Iskandar Malaysia

Saw this rather interesting story at Bernama's website,

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 (Bernama) -- The implementation cost for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system for Iskandar Malaysia is expected to cost not more than RM3 billion, said Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) Chief Executive Datuk Ismail Ibrahim.

"At the moment, we do not have the final value, however, it is expected to cost not more than RM3 billion, which covers infrastructure cost for building the line, operation cost including buses and several other application costs.

"It also covers (cost) during the intiial years which may have a shortfall in its operations," he told reporters during the breaking of fast organised by IRDA and Medini Iskandar here Tuesday.

I was like"Wow! That must be quite a sophisticated bus system to cost so much just for JB and its surrounding areas, which is Iskandar Malaysia".

Ismail said it's "not more than RM3 billion". So, is it RM2.9 billion or RM2.99 billion?

I also wonder whether Irda is going to build the "infrastructure" and "line",  as well as foot the bill for "operation cost including buses and several other application costs".

And if that's so, who is going to get the "not more than RM3 billion" project.

As you read this,  do bear in mind that we are talking about buses here, not some other more sophisticated public transport system such as LRT, MRT or whatever.

Well, if they are really going to spend that much, the bus system in JB better be really good after this.

I was actually frustrated with Irda over the matter for a long time.

Public transport has always been an issue in JB and that of course include its poor public bus system.

When Irda came into being in 2007, things seemed set to get better all over JB and its surrounding areas.

It was an exciting time as a  lot of things were happening back then.

Unfortunately, the standard of public transport in JB remains more or less the same till this day.

I was actually quite chummy with Ismail's predecessor, the second Irda chief executive  Harun Johari.

Once, I did asked him to explain about Irda's plan to improve at least the bus system.

That was in 2009.

Harun is a very efficient and no nonsense guy, but I remember it very well how he seemed to be at loss when I brought up the subject.

He asked me to give him some time as he was doing something about it.

I was okay with it as Harun had just assumed the post at that time.

He got cracking right away and less than a week later set up a task force to handle just the bus system.

If I remember it correctly, the team had a rather funny name - "Harimau Belang" or something like that.

A few months later, a fleet of buses bearing Iskandar Malaysia's logo started plying the JB roads to improve connectivity, especially in areas not fully covered by normal public buses.

It was not perfect but at least there was an improvement.

Harun told me that it was a stop-gap measure until Irda could come up with a totally new public transport system in Iskandar Malaysia which not only include busses but also rail lines and others.

Unfortunately, less than a year later, Harun was removed from his post and replaced by Ismail.

Harun's fault I was told, was that he was not good at playing politics.

With him gone, the effort to improve public transport in Iskandar Malaysia seemed to be going nowhere.

There were lot of talks but those were just it.

That was seven years ago.

To get a glimpse of Iskandar Malaysia's bus system today, please go to these links to read stories about it,

• Carless Week
• 
  

• Santai Outing

• The Long Walk Home

Well, I really don't fancy having to rely on public buses in JB.

But many people really don't have much choice, don't they?

Anyway, I'm also wondering why it took Irda seven years to come up with a plan to spend "less than RM3 billion" to improve the public bus system down here.

Can't they did it back then?

Or is it that only now they found the right people who can "handle" the "less than RM3 billion" contract?

Whatever it is, I hope they do this project fast so that people in JB who need a better public bus service will not have to suffer anymore.

Don't let them wait for another seven years.

And please, if it's true that the project costs "less than RM3 billion",  please make sure it's outcome really worth that much.

Duit rakyat tu, okay.

A lesson from Tenang

I was at a high-powered buka puasa function yesterday evening.

Normally I would try to avoid going to such an event.

I prefer to buka puasa at home as it's easier and more comfortable  to do the necessary after that.

But yesterday, my boss asked me to attend the function, so I went lah.

Bumped into two people that I know from the PM's office.

We knew each other from back then when DS Najib Razak was still the deputy prime minister.

I consider one of them as a dear friend.

Not seen them for more than a year, but they were still very nice to me as usual.

The one who is my friend even joked that he wanted to give me RM20k, in reference to an allegation by someone that I'm a paid DAP cybertrooper.

I had a good laugh at that.

Was seated with a group of bloggers who just came back from Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar.

They were quiet friendly even though they didn't know me.

I asked them how were things at the two by-elections.

They said BN will most likely win in Sungai Besar but they were worried about Kuala Kangsar.

"The machineries are not working well there. And there is also the candidate problem," one of them said.

The BN candidate is Datin Mastura Mohd Yazid, who is the widow of the late former MP Datuk Wan Mohammad Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad.

The blogger added that there was also the problem of "peruntukan tak turun kebawah", in reference to allowances for party workers.

That's not good, I told myself.

But these are all problems perceived by the bloggers.

For me, they may not have the complete picture of things because they were there for just one or two days.

That's for me was not good enough to conclude that things were bad for BN in Kuala Kangsar.

I had seen this before.

Back in January 2011, when I was helping Johor BN at the Tenang by-election, a group of pro-Umno bloggers from KL turned up in the midst of campaigning.

I was not yet a blogger at that time.

I remember getting frustrated upon reading their postings several days later.

They basically wrote that BN was in trouble because their observation during the one day stop-over in Labis, which was the town centre of the constituency, indicated that the campaigning at that by-election was poorly handled.

At that time I was already camping in Labis for the past two weeks and I had seen how the campaigning was carried out.

Until now, I have not yet see a better coordinated campaign by BN during a by-election than the one in Tenang.

And I had been to quite a number of by-elections to make the comparison.

It was a very efficient no frill campaign which cost was just a fraction of that utilised for other by-elections.

BN was led by then Johor MB TS Abdul Ghani Othman at the Tenang by-election 

One of these days I will write what I remember of the by-election in details.

BN won with a significantly increased majority after a memorable polling day, marked by a major flood in the constituency.

You can read more about it here,

Tenang by-election

It's therefore important to double check reports with those who are really on the ground to get the real picture.

It's more tedious, but in matters such as election strategy, it's better to be thorough than sorry.

Intelligence gathering must come from the ground and there's no two ways about it.

Back to the buka puasa thing, I actually didn't eat very much at the function.

I'm always uncomfortable at such functions to eat properly

When I reached home, I fixed myself some lempeng and eat it with sambal sardine.

Had that for sahur too.

A Rosmah's defence over the private jet issue

Someone forwarded to me the following via Wassap .

Honestly I don't know who wrote it and I didn't ask.

I just find it interesting as it is quite a good defence of DS Rosmah Mansor over the use of the private jet issue.

I once defended Rosmah too until I kena marah by a very famous blogger who now accuses me of being a paid DAP cyber trooper 😊

You can read me kena marah here. (click on it, please)

I actually did it because I  believe in being fair.

I think it's only fair that I  publish this defence of Rosmah here again.

You all be the judges of it.

Here goes;

I give YB Rafizi Ramli and Amanah MP YB Raja Bahrin 24 hours to admit mistake over Rosmah's trip to Turkey, apologize for being malicious and admit he has batal puasa.

(You can always brush me off by asking me "Who am I" and saying I am not your level, to which I would say "LUT YOU")

These are the facts.
1. Rafizi's jet "expose" is for the purpose of the by-election - a fact he himself admitted when he told the media at the venue of the by-election.

2. Rafizi knew that the jet was on 2 months lease to replace another govt jet which was undergoing major maintenance but he still tried to blame the entire 2 months on Rosmah by saying she should not have rented a private jet for this trip - a fact that he himself admitted when he admitted that he was wrong to give the impression that RM86.4 million was used by Rosmah but now reduced it down to RM1.5 million.

3. Rafizi knew that the plane was on 2 months lease but still tried to use hourly charter rates to calculate a grossly inflated and unrealistic two months rate when even the most expensive 2 months lease rate would be about RM2.4million - thus even his revised calculation of RM1.5 million is very wrong.

4. Rafizi knew that this plane was a short-term government jet shared for use by other qualified VIPs and that is why it flies from our military bases but still questioned why Rosmah flew from there even though she is not "military"/

5. Rafizi himself acknowledged that the trip was a short trip where she flew to Istanbul and back to KL within 26 hours. This is certainly not a holiday at all as the schedule is so tight and the majority of the time is spent on the plane. 

 6. Rafizi knows that this trip is not even a private trip in Rosmah's personal capacity as it was to receive the Cambridge IF Analytica Global Good Governance 3G Children Welfare Award from Dr Sheikha Aisha Faleh Al-Thani of Qatar on behalf of PERMATA - a govt initiative that has benefited thousands of young children for many years..

This is what the award organizer Prof Humayon said: 

“There are few examples for this kind of success, and I must congra­tulate the Malaysian Government and Permata for taking up this important issue. We would like other countries to look at the success stories of Permata and emulate this model. I think this is a good service to humanity, coming from Malaysia to showcase how talent can be nurtured from an early age,” 

7. Rafizi became even more petty when he showed a video and questioned the number of bags that was brought onto the plane as hand luggage and tried to suggest that it was Rosmah's luggage and extravagant lifestyle - despite the fact that it was a short-trip where the majority of the time are spent on the plane so why would Rosmah bring so much luggage or clothes?

Rafizi may not have known that much of the luggage were the big costumes of the Permata arts group that performed at the Istanbul awards (see photo)  but from the video, Rafizi would also know that there was a total of 20 crew and passengers and they themselves would also require hand luggage thus why are you surprised.

8. Rafizi was also petty to ask why these bags were carried a hand-luggage instead of being put in the cargo hold. If Rafizi was able to check what the plane specifications were, he would also know that this is not a normal passenger plane but an extended range ACT (Additional Central Tank) jet that was modified where the cargo hold was fitted with an additional fuel  tank.

It is clear from the above facts that:
1) Rafizi deliberately lied despite knowing better.
2) Rafizi's expose was for the purpose of the by-elections to help Pakatan Harapan win.
3) Rafizi intended to incite hate by targeting Rosmah, who is not even contesting in the by-elections.

Therefore, Rafizi purposely tried to incite hatred against a lady who was going on a very hectic trip on behalf of the govt for young children welfare causes for the purpose of greed for power to win a by-election based on outright lies and half-truth.

And PAN's MP Raja Bahrin joined Rafizi in repeating the same lies.

Is it worth it for two grown men to incite hatred towards a lady based on lies and half-truths in the month of Ramadan just to win elections because of your greed for power?

So what if you win? I hope it is worth it for both of you.

The sad thing about this weekend (updated)

UPDATES

As reported by Singapore's Straits Times,

Former Malaysian PM Mahathir campaigns for opposition

ORIGINAL POST

Someone passed me what was supposed to be  a weekend schedule of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad the other day.

According to it, the former PM and Umno president was to  have programme in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar today and tomorrow respectively.

It's quite obvious that the programme was part of the Pakatan Harapan's by-election campaign there.

I felt a tinge of sadness when I saw it.

It really has come to this - Dr Mahathir campaigning outright for the opposition.

The programme stated that he is to deliver his speeches at a Chinese restaurant in Sekinchan and another similar venue in Kuala Kangsar.

It was almost certain that the whole thing was organised by DAP and not even Amanah which was actually contesting in those by-elections.

Memories of Dr Mahathir literally pleading to campaign for former Johor MB TS Abdul Ghani Othman against DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah during the last general election came back to me.

How things have changed.

I'm not sure whether the 90 years old statesman will really go through with it, but just looking at the programme made me sad.

Obviously, Dr Mahathir has come to a point where he doesn't care to risk all that he has in his effort to topple DS Najib Razak.

I wish it has not come to this.

From the start of the Umno rebellion last year, I have been advocating for both sides to talk and sort things out so that the party will not be torn apart.

Unfortunately things only got worse with both unwilling to cool off.

In fact the traded barbs became even more vicious to a point that I knew it would be hard for each other to forgive.

My guess was that Dr Mahathir feels that he has nothing to lose anymore even if he join forces with the worst of his enemies, the DAP in his fight with Najib.

After all, he's totally convinced that Najib is bad for Malaysia and that the PM, based on his action and those of his supporters seemed to want their fight to be a no quarter given nor asked one.

Well, the feeling was probably the same on both sides, I  guess.

Umno simply has to suffer along.

For Dr Mahathir, the existing Umno is no longer the party that he led for more than two decades.

Dr Mahathir is a tough nut indeed, but still, it's heart breaking to see him having to do what he is doing now.

The fact that he is doing it at such an advanced age makes it even more sad.

How I wish the handsome old man could just enjoyed his retirement in peace after all that he had done for the country those many years ago.

But then again, that was his choice and this is still for now a free country.

Maybe Dr Mahathir is happier doing what he is doing now than spending his old age doing what people of his age supposed to be doing.

Whatever it is, I hope he will be alright and not exhaust himself this weekend.

From what I was told the weather, especially in Sungai Besar has been quiet hot of late. And this is the fasting month. I hope Dr Mahathir's assistants can make sure he drinks enough water during buka puasa and have proper rests in between  the programme.

All that, if indeed Dr Mahathir is really going to go through with the whole thing.

A matter of conscience

Once again, someone sent me screenshots of a Facebook post by former New Straits Times group editor Mustapha Kamil Mohd Janor this morning,

Please click for better view

Honestly, I was not really sure what Mus was referring to in the post, because I hardly read blogs these days except those in my blog roll.

I'm also not on Facebook or Twitter or other social media platforms.

But since Mus had offered to be investigated, I think those who accused him of whatever, should initiate it.

As people nowadays like to say, if you want to accuse someone of something, you better have the evidence to do so.

Well, I hope Mus get to meet his accusers and convince them that he quit his job simply because of his conscience as he previously claimed.

Right or wrong in the eyes of others, one must act according to his/her conscience.

It doesn't matter whether a person is for or against the establishment. As long as he/she acts with an intact conscience, the person should be alright.

I believe in that.

Here's a video clip from the movie "A Man For All Seasons" on the matter of conscience,

Relax Relax sahaja (updated)

UPDATES

Found another Black Dog Bone song which I think many of you would like to hear.

It's especially suitable for angry people during Ramadhan :)

ORIGINAL POST

Fasting make things more relaxed than usual.

Well, at least that's how I'm feeling now.

I don't feel like being in fighting mode at all at the moment.

Just want to take it easy and not get agitated about anything.

People want to hate and fight, let them be lah.

I just want to do my own things and be at peace for now. 

So, for today I just want to introduce (to those who don't know them yet) my father's 1970s favourite "local" band,

Black Dog Bone 

The then Singapore-based band became famous for their catchy Malay songs but my father considered them as being Sino-Malay.

The band members are Isshar Masrom (lead guitar),  Tahir Ali (main vocalist and drummer),  Masron Ali (trumpet, horn, trombone), Hamid Ahmad (bass), James Chai (tenor, flute, trombone, saxaphone), and Michel Heng (keyboard).

Here they are performing together this very Malay song years after their glory days,

Nice song, isn't it?

Jangan marah-marah....relax relax lah sahaja, okay :)

Anyway, it's also nice seeing the guys still being friends till their ripe old age.

Guess, theirs are real friendship.

It doesn't seems to matter that they are Malays and Chinese.

Let's hope we all Malaysians can be like them too.

Note: Please don't believe it if there are people accusing them of being DAPsters later on just because they are Malays and Chinese friends featured in my blog :) Anyway, if I'm not mistaken, the guys are all Singaporeans. Maybe they are PAP members. That one I don't know lah.

A benefit of fasting

I was told during buka puasa last night that someone wrote a very long blog post whacking me for the start of Ramadhan yesterday.

The length of the post was said to be at least three times my normal posts.

I was like "Oh really....hmmm....hehehehehe..."

It became funny to me probably because of the fasting.

Less cholesterol in my blood, I guess :)

Can't get angry much when fasting, okay, which is good.

I didn't even bother to find and read the offending blog post.

Wasting time only.

Anyway, it must take a lot of hate to write bad things that long about someone.

I honestly can't do that. I can't sustain hate for too long.

I wish I can suggest to the person who wrote the hate blog post to try fasting.

Maybe can reduce the hate level....and at the same time lose some weight too.

Good what.

Hating is a tiresome thing to do for me.

Really, I tried it before.

It didn't take long for me to feel ridiculous about it and soon after that the whole thing turned nonsensical and even funny to me.

It's even more so during fasting month like this.

I have just enough energy to go through the day that there's nothing much to spare for anything else.

And hating takes a lot of energy, okay.

I was also told by friends currently campaigning in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar that they didn't do much yesterday.

Feeling lethargic they said.

Well, first day of fasting is always like that.

Things will however return back to normal after a few days.

Should be okay.

Hopefully, the campaigning will go smoothly and everyone observe the fasting diligently.

That way there will be no hate campaign and such.

I had been to a by-election during fasting month, that was the one in Kuala Besut, which was the first after the last general election in 2013.

It was perhaps the most peaceful by-election ever at that time.

Really nice.

I will write about my experience there later.

Somehow it's good that the first by-election after the last general election was during Ramadhan and the last ones before the next GE are also in the holy month too.

It sorts of cool off things a bit.

Ramadhan pledge and wish

It's Ramadhan again and I just had my first sahur as I start writing this using my phone.

So, it's just a short one.

Just want to wish all good Muslims "selamat berpuasa ".

May you all be blessed by Allah.

I'm not a very religious person, but I will try to make my fasting  be a good one.

Will try my extra best to restrain from doing bad things.

Must remember not to be vulgar.

Will not write too much naughty stuff such as telling people things that they don't want to hear like  they have smelly armpits and such.

Doesn't matter even if it's the truth.

Truth is annoying to some people.

Kadang-kadang, kita tak kata dia pun dia terasa.

Nothing much we can do in such case, isn't it?

I will also try to do good as much as I  can while fasting.

Hopefully  all these will stick even after Ramadhan.

Eh, you all who are fasting, try to be good too, okay.

Try not to fight with each other too, or even better if you all can make peace.

Dr Mahathir, Najib, can?

Okay, never mind. I know I'm asking too much there 😑

Also, you all, try not to eat too much when "buka puasa". Don't get fat during fasting month as it will make you look ridiculous.

Okay, that's about it. I  need to do other things necessary now.

Cheers and all the best with the fasting....for those who fast la.

Here's a favourite song of mine for the road,

Bersekutu bertambah mutu

There have been quite a lot of chatters nowadays about some people from my home state Johor promoting it to get out of Malaysia.

Even my blogging captain Rocky wrote about it in his latest post,

Republic of Johor

I actually wrote my opinion on the matter last month,

• We are Malaysians from the state of Johor, no more no less

I had more or less expressed my unhappiness with the idea that Johor should not be part of Malaysia.

I had also clearly stated that I didn't and will never subscribe to the concept of Bangsa Johor.

Those who have been following this blog from the start should know that I love my home state.

Nonetheless, I was also critical of its administration whenever I felt that it was doing the wrong things.

It was so because I wanted those in power to correct the wrongs so that Johor and its people will not suffer later on.

I know that because of it, I am not in the good book of people in Kota Iskandar.

Nowadays, there are even people who used that as part of the basis to accuse me of being a paid DAP cybertrooper.

Well, whatever lah.

Don't want to waste my time with that.

Layan orang tak betul, kita pun jadi tak betul nanti.

It doesn't matter to me as I feel that what I did was worth it.

I consider it as my tiny contribution for the betterment of my home state.

Back to the issue of Johor getting out of Malaysia, I hope Prime Minister DS Najib Razak will be firm on this and not tolerate any attempt, be it short or long term, to break up the country.

I also hope that Johor Menteri Besar DS Mohamed Khaled Nordin to come up with a strong statement that Johor will remain part of Malaysia "selagi ada bulan dan bintang".

I wrote about this thing a year ago,

• Idea of secession must be stopped

For me, Malaysia must remain united for it to survive.

No one should be allowed to talk about taking out any of the states out of Malaysia.

Let's learn the lesson from what happened when Singapore was kicked out of Malaysia back in the 1960s.

No matter how anyone wants to put it, that was a loss for us all.

Let's not be afraid to promote peace and unity among us Malaysians so that we can defend our country's sovereignty.

I'm talking about uniting ALL Malaysians here, okay.

Tak kira agama, bangsa or from which state.

Promoting those good things  doesn't make you a DAP cybertrooper as suggested by some people about me.

And please, do not succumb to the goading of those that promote dissension among us by telling us that  Malays must oppose Chinese, Muslims need to hate Christians or Johoreans should feel superior than other Malaysians.

Note : Bersekutu bertambah mutu - Unity is strength, is from this coat of arms of Malaysia,

Mus' story

I wrote a bit about Mustapha Kamil Mohd Janor in this post,

An advice for pro-establishment newsmen

excerpts;

Anyway, Mus is the New Straits Times group editor since last year.

However, I heard he had tendered his resignation and will leave the newspaper by end of this month.

Lucky NST reporters, no need to eat paper balls :)

If it's true, Mus is the first one to voluntarily resign from that post, as far as I know.

Group editor of NST is a very important post.

It's like being the captain of a flagship in a naval fleet,

But of course he still needs to take orders from the Admiral who is of even higher rank. 

It turned out to be true.

Mus has indeed resigned and left NST.

Someone sent me a screenshot of his Facebook post where he explained his reasons for resigning from the post,

(Please click for better view)

(please click for a better view)

(Please click for a better view)

Well, that's about conclude Mus' story.

Whatever it is, I'm once again wishing the guy all the best.

Cheers.