Sunday 31 July 2016

Relax and ignore the hatemongers (updated)

UPDATES

Chit chatted with a friend just now.

The guy, who is a prominent blogger was complaining about being slandered as a supporter of this and that.

Poor fella.

But then he forwarded me this
and said that's all how he is going to react to all the nastiness.

Very nice.

I think I will try to be like my friend and do likewise.

Fight hate with love.

That's the best.


ORIGINAL POST

Another sleepless early Sunday morning.

It's now past 3.30 am as I start writing this.

Well, I think I'll go to the beach later at day break to see the sunrise.

Not been doing that for a long time.

I love sunrises.

Ya, I'm somewhere near a beach now

Been a restful weekend so far despite a little work which I took home to finish.

Thanks to Allah that I can afford this relaxing time.

Of course, thanks to my boss too for hiring me, so that I have the money to afford this relaxing time.

Previously, I can't really afford such a luxury.

Always been busy and stressed.

Nowadays I can relax a bit more.

Better quality of life.

At least that's something positive, right?

We can't be negative all the time.

Really. No need to fight all the time.

Hate, hate, hate....

You can get hernia like that....or become bloated with....ego?

That's not good okay.

Relax a bit, take it easy, fall in love....etc.

Melayu lah sikit.

Melayu always relax a bit, take it easy, fall in love....etc.

Be cool :)

Eh, I'm really just rambling here.

Writing whatever that crosses my mind.

Which is nothing really.

Sorry ya.

But really. Relax la you all.

Be at peace.

Make peace.

Not war....not hate

Eh, here's a nice song as compensation for your time reading my early morning rambling today,


Sorry ya, I don't actually know what the song is really all about.

I just know that the singer is that famous Sayuri Ishikawa.

Still, it just sounds nice to me.

Very retro and soothing.

I hope you all like it too.

Well, I also hope you all have a good Sunday.

Really.

Take it easy.

Don't think too much.

Just ignore the hatemongers.

They just cari makan, okay.

Let them be.

They actually can't harm us as long as we pay them no attention.

Cheers.

Friday 29 July 2016

Muslims must not become haters of Christians

When an airhead bimbo in France called for a Christian crusade against Islam, how are Muslims in Malaysia should react?

Should they respond by declaring jihad on the Christians in this country?

I don't think they should.

You can read about that desperate to be popular female bigot at Rocky's post,

A call for Crusade in France


Good Muslims in this country should just be who they are - good Muslims.

And being good Muslims, they should refrain from hating others who are not of the same faith as them.

That has been the way with most Muslims in this country.

They are good people who are willing to share this country with others, and for that they and this country are blessed by Allah.


Just look at how prosperous and relatively peaceful this country has been.

Even if the others allegedly do things which the Muslims don't like, they should leave it to the authorities to handle things.

They should not listen to all the goading to hate the Christians, or anyone else by people with vested interest or personal vendetta.

"Umat Islam di Malaysia perlu bersatu untuk menghadapi ancaman orang Kristian yang memusuhi Islam," said those bad people.

Muslims, please don't listen to those people.

Those who said that sorts of things are actually trying to manipulate the Muslims because they are the majority in this country.

They want the Muslims to use their majority power to suppress the minority Christians for their own personal interest or satisfaction.

Yes, there are bad Christians, but there are also bad Muslims. Please always bear that in mind.

We should be against bad people because they are bad, not because they are Christians or Muslims.

I'm of the opinion that those who called for Muslims in this country to hate their Christian fellow Malaysians are actually trying to cause Muslims to be further vilified by the world.

They want Muslims to act aggressively or even violently against the Christians so that later on they could be blamed when this country goes up in sectarian flame.

Muslim majority persecuting minority Christians in Malaysia - they want that to be the headlines across the world.

I believe when that happened, those people who are now trying to instigate the Muslims to hate the Christians in this country will turn around (again) and blame the Muslims themselves for the mess.

Do check the background of those bad people to know why they are calling for the Muslims to hate Christians in this country.

That's why I made these suggestion in my previous post,


excerpts :

If there are people telling you all to hate Christians or people of any religion for that matter, ask them back for their motives.

You can ask them something like this - "Are you really trying to protect Islam and our akidah (faith) or are you actually trying to make us hate Christians because you yourself hate them and want everyone to hate along with you?"

Or you can ask them something like this - "Are you telling us Muslims to hate Christians because your ex-boyfriend who is a devout Christian treated you very badly before he dumped you?"


Thursday 28 July 2016

Malaysians actually care about loving one another

An anonymous wrote this 

haha.. would you post your 'viewed graph' for this posting?
today people are love-hate driven motif.

just one song for your article.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5xZ4gFwGGk&spfreload=10


but nice social studies. :)

at my post 

I guess the anon was wondering whether readers of this blog care to read about the feel good stuff and love messages that I wrote.

I did that posting along with this one yesterday,


It's about the need for us not to hate, which is in a way promoting feel good and love stuff too.

So, okay, I obliged.

This is the cropped screenshot from this blog's stats counter page which I took just now,


The number of pageviews yesterday is in the red circle - 4,867.

For comparison, I wrote three posts related to the US Department of Justice's civil suits on July 21 and the total number of pageviews on that day is 4,768. Also, on the day I wrote a single posting about Marina Mahathir and her armpits which was on July 25, the number of pageviews of this blog is 4,433.

You can check that out in this post,


Based on that, I have to conclude that readers of this blog and likely Malaysians in general do want to feel good and love each other.

That's good okay.

Well, maybe peddling hate can get this blog an even higher number of pageviews but I don't feel like doing that.

Instigating racial and religious hate do sell, but it's bad.

If others want to do that and then later boast that their blog have millions and millions of pageviews, let them do that lah.

I'm done with that sorts of things.

I think Malaysians want to read nice things for a change.

I have that much faith in them.

Of course a lot of them also like reading about armpits and stuff, but that's just human nature, okay.

I think we need to be more positive.

Try to be cool with each other.

That's the best.

We are after all not so bad as a people.

Wednesday 27 July 2016

Sakinah loves Annie very much

My friend from Kuantan forwarded me this just now,


My friend got it from Facebook and said she was so touched by it.

I'm very touched by it too.

That's why I want to share it with you all dear readers.

It's true love, okay.

And I believe that's in Singapore.

This world is indeed so beautiful if we choose for it to be beautiful, alhamdulillah.

That's why - love is good and hate is bad.

Cheers.

Some Christians are irritating, but that's not a reason to hate them all

Okay, enough of the armpits stories.

So many people are angry with me already because of them.

Actually, it's not even really about armpits.

It's about the stuff that we Malaysians like to read.

Guess, that's too hard to get.

Never mind.

Today, I want to write about something more serious.

I read this story earlier in the morning and prayed that it will never happen in this country,

Terrorists attack French church, slit priest’s throat


It's a Reuters' story picked up by The Mole and given a modified title.

The Reuters' original title is this,

Islamists attack French church, slit priest's throat


Yup, it's a story where Islam got another round of bad Press.

The crazy terrorists were described as Islamists.

Come on, Islam doesn't teaches us to slit the throat of Christian priests or anybody's throat for that matter.

Islamists don't do such things. Islamists are those who practice the true teachings of Islam.

They are good people.

Okay, it's true  that the terrorists in this case are Muslims, but they obviously had been influenced by some bad people to do those horrible deeds.

I believe that they had been goaded by those people and ended up murdering the Christian priest.

'Christians are enemies of Islam. Kill them. Slit the throat of their priests," those bad people must had told those crazy terrorists.

That's why I have been writing about the need for everyone to cool down in this country.

Stop goading Muslims or there will be the crazy ones who may end up committing such murderous acts.

But of course some people thrive on doing just that.

They told the Muslims to hate the Christians.

The Christians are coming to get you, so the Muslims were told.

Okay, I'm also sometimes got irritated by some Christians and their religious talks.

But it's not to the point of making me hate them.

Back in college, the overwhelming majority of my A-level classmates were Christians and they were mostly of the evangelical type.

They were nice to me and invited me to join their Christian fellowship gatherings.

They will have a bit of a picnic, play guitar, sing songs and talked about their Christian faith.


I was like....okay, go ahead, I just want to enjoy the tuna sandwiches and lemonade. You all can talk about Christ and everything, but no way in hell I'm going to believe in the trinity stuff and all that.

Islam is cool as far as I'm concerned.

And I'm not even the Islamic religious type.

But I don't hate my Christian friends even though to some, what they did by inviting me to join their Christian fellowship meetings could be deemed as trying to convert me to Christianity.

I know my friends. They have no bad intention towards me.

However, another friend who is a Catholic was actually very angry when I told him about me joining those gatherings.

"These stupid evangelists are going to get all of us Christians in trouble. It's against the law for them to invite you to their religious gatherings," he said.

"Relax Les. I don't think I will ever convert to Christianity. Those guys actually make your religion seems lame, okay. Picnic with lemonade....and religious talks....sheeshhh...," I replied.

"Anyway, even if they were trying to convert me, that's because they believe they were trying to save me from hell. Muslims go to hell according to your religion, right?

"I'm actually the useless friend. According to my religion, you all Christians are the ones going to hell. And I'm not even bothered trying to save you all. See, you got it or not?"

Well, that's how I handled my Christian friends.

Really. I don't hate them and I don't go around telling others to hate them.

Yes, true that most Christians that I know are anti-establishment to a certain extent, but that's not a reason to hate them.

That's their right to be anti-establishment or whatever.

Instead of hating and threatening them with physical violence and stuff, pro-establishment people need to be smart and instead try to convince them that the establishment is actually good.

If there are people telling you all to hate Christians or people of any religion for that matter, ask them back for their motives.

You can ask them something like this - "Are you really trying to protect Islam and our akidah (faith) or are you actually trying to make us hate Christians because you yourself hate them and want everyone to hate along with you?"

Or you can ask them something like this - "Are you telling us Muslims to hate Christians because your ex-boyfriend who is a devout Christian treated you very badly before he dumped you?"

Yes, I believe that we Muslims are secured enough with our faith. There's no need for us to hate others just because they are of different faith than us, or of different political ideology.

Oppose or disagree with them is okay, but not hate them.

Tuesday 26 July 2016

Marina's armpits as important as DoJ suits?

On Thursday last week (July 21) I wrote three posts in the wake of the announcement of US Department of Justice's (DoJ) civil lawsuits related to 1MDB,
A response to Annie's 136 pages of hard read

I had not written that many posts in a single day for quite a while.

The total number of pageviews of this blog on that day was 4,768.

Yesterday, I just wrote this seemingly inconsequential post about Marina Mahathir and her armpits,

And the total number of pageviews of this blog yesterday was 4,433.

To prove that I'm not making this up, here's a screenshot of this blog's latest monthly pageviews chart


The two spikes in the red circle are readings of pageview counts on those two days.

So, what does that tells us?

For me, it's  an indication that what to many seems insignificant may actually be almost as important for Malaysians as the big issue.

Yes, what Marina Mahathir wear may have almost the same amount of impact as an allegation that billions of ringgit were stolen from us all.

That's the reality of things in this country.

We actually care about the "small things".

Of course some of us will try to deny this, claiming that we are more matured and sophisticated than that.

But, for me that's pride talking more than anything else.

That's why we failed to see the full extent of what's coming to us.

For example, we knew that the Chinese tsunami was coming prior to GE13 but we never expected it to be so huge that BN almost got wiped out by it.

Hey, the Chinese cannot be that fickle minded that they would swallow every garbage that DAP dished out to them, so thought many of us.

I was one of those with that kind of thinking back then.

And how wrong I was, right?

The same thing happened these past few months.

Everyone thought the Chinese are as a whole in the DAP's bag.

The results of the Sarawak election as well as the Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections proved that we were wrong.

We failed to realise that the Chinese actually do care about the seemingly small things such as the not so nice behaviour of DAP people.

I bet the DAP people didn't see that coming too.

So, lesson of the day was that - pakai lah baju yang tak nampak ketiak so that the pakchik and makchik dikampung tak salahkan cara ayah mendidik awak.

Don't be so high and mighty to think that we can do anything we want because it should be so trivial for anyone to care and censure us about it.

The reality is, Malaysians care about all those things, okay.

Now you know why despite all the allegations against PM DS Najib Razak, he may still be our prime minister after the next general election.

Monday 25 July 2016

Wear properly, can or not?

Woke up earlier this morning and saw this on my phone,



My friend who sent it to me left a message,

"Saja, nak spoil your breakfast Annie...."

I was like...urghhhh, ya that's spoiled my breakfast.

My friend is a really naughty guy.

He knows that I don't like Marina and that picture of her showing off her armpit would put me off.

Terrible fella.

But really....Marina should not let herself be caught in a picture like that.

Especially with dearest mother next to her.

Wear la proper baju so that people don't go spread picture like that.

I know, it seems trivial, but these sorts of things are important to a lot of people in this country.

As if she doesn't know that her father is fighting PM DS Najib Razak.

The pro-Najib people will surely go around and say "See...Tun doesn't even know how to teach his daughter what to wear."

That's why I don't like Marina that much.

She tends to do not clever things like that.

If want so much to wear like that, wear at a party or something, okay.

I know la she's liberal and stuff, but surely she should know what to wear for the occasion.

This is one of the major problem with people around Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

They tend to turn off people with their inappropriate behaviour.

Almost the same with those around Najib.

Honestly, I can't stand all of them because of these things.

Simply put me off.

That's why I chose to be neutral and just report what's factual.

And even that some of them (on both sides) can't seem to understand.

Never mind.

Anyway, I think Marina needs to use one of those Qu Puteh products.

Nampak lebam la, dear.

Sunday 24 July 2016

About cium tangan

Someone salam and kissed my hand earlier today.

It was out of respect.

However, I'm not comfortable with it.

I would prefer a hug.

That's just the way I am.

Actually, I always tried to avoid the "cium tangan" thing as much as I can.

But that's difficult in the Malay side of my family.

I still do it with the elders in the family as I feel that I have to do it as a show of respect, just like what the person who did it to me this morning.

It is part of adab Melayu.

Outside the family, I really tried to avoid doing it.

Nonetheless, throughout my adult life, there were a few occasions when I did it to those who are not elders in my family.

As far as I remember, they are all members of the royalty, except one.

1. The late Raja of Perlis  Tuanku Syed Harun Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail
- several times at official functions in Istana Arau and during a visit to Istana Repoh, Kangar.

2. Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj,
 - several times during visits to Istana Pasir Pelangi, Johor Baru. All when the Sultan was still the Tunku Mahkota, except once after he became the Ruler.

3. The late Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Al-Haj Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah Al-Haj 
 - Only once. I visited him with a few other people at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore where he was warded. I was the last in the group who salam and kissed his hand. He died a few days later.

4. Tengku Mahkota Pahang, Tengku Abdullah ibni Sultan Ahmad Shah 
 - several times during visits to his home at Istana Sultan Abdul Aziz, Kuantan and once when I bumped into him when his helicopter landed near Temerloh RnR of the East Coast Highway to visit flood victims sheltered there.

5. Former Johor Menteri Besar TS Abdul Ghani Othman - The only non-royalty.


I did it only once but it was in public. I don't really know what got into me that I did it. It was at the M Suites Hotel and Ghani had just announced the list of BN candidates for the GE13. I think I was overwhelmed at that time when he said he was contesting against DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang at the Chinese majority Gelang Patah. It was his ultimate sacrifice for Umno, contesting to lose at the end of his political career trying to stop the unstoppable Chinese tsunami at that time. We met again after that but I just salam him like normal only. No more cium tangan.

That's about it.

Really. I have never even kissed the hand of PM DS Najib Razak or elder statesman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

i just shook hands with them a couple of times that I met them.

Well, that's all for today.

Just something light, okay.

No mood to write about all those messy stuff that's been going on the past few days.

Here, also enjoy this nice Sunday song,


Cheers.

Friday 22 July 2016

Japanese trip and Shinkansen

Had early lunch with a friend just now.

In the middle of our conversation she asked me about my plan to visit Japan again as she was interested to go with me.

Then our talk turned like this,

Friend : Eh, someone seems very jealous with you because you said you are going to Japan again.

Annie : Er...where you heard that?

Friend : I read in a blog this morning.

Annie : Which one?

Friend : (censored)

Annie : Aiyo...that one, I fart also she get jealous and angry one. Been like that for half a year already leh.

Friend : Why she like that one?

Annie : Don't know. Maybe last time I got into a bit of a debate with her and then she feels she has not won yet, so whack me lah until now.

Friend : Why so teruk like that? The things she wrote about you really bad, okay. You not angry?

Annie : Kiasu like that la. Cannot lose one. Angry also no point. You angry with crazy people, you become crazy also. For what?

Friend : One more thing, when story of the DoJ came out, I notice that she went and whacked you instead of defending PM. Three four postings like that. I thought she claimed to be ProJib. It seems like she more anti-Annie pulak. How come?

Annie : Eh, you go ask her la, why ask me?

But really, guys, going jalan-jalan to Japan is actually no big deal if you plan it properly.

No need to get jealous or angry if you heard someone planning such a trip.

You can go also. It's really not that expensive.

The last time I went there, the MAS plane return ticket was just about RM1,500 only.

I bought it three months earlier.

Then I stayed in a hostel. One night is not more than RM150.

To move around I bought week-long train season ticket for less than RM400.


Really can have a pleasant stay there for five days for about RM4k.

Can shop a bit also.

Of course don't la do things like take a taxi let say from Narita airport to your hostel in downtown Tokyo.

You'll die if you do that. The fares more than RM600, okay.

Take the train. Sure no problem one.

The Japanese train is the best in the world.

Clean, comfortable and fast.

I took rides on their bullet train

Shinkansen


when I was there.

Very smooth and efficient.

I wish the Japanese get the KL-Singapore high speed rail project, instead of the Chinese.

Theirs have a proven track record, especially in term of safety for decades.

The Chinese one is quite new and not really proven. Heard the Indonesians having problems with their collaboration with them for such a project.

If the Japanese got the HSR job, maybe they can also bring the related work culture with them.

You can see it here,



I actually personally observed and experienced all these when I was there.

That's why I love going to Japan than any other country.

Every time I went there I learned something positive.

I don't go there simply to waste time and show off I got money or anything like that.

Well, I'm leaving KL later this evening.

Hope it's not going to rain.

I hate driving or riding in the rain.

Can make me a bit stressed.

Okay you all have a nice weekend.

If I got time, I'll write again.

Cheers,

Thursday 21 July 2016

Alone and thinking of anti-DAP friends

Finished work and now back in my hotel room.


This room is a bit too big for me alone. I should have taken a smaller one.

Well, it's been quite a relaxed day.

Just winding up things.

That's why I got to do all these postings today.

I've been very slow by my standard these past few months.

No more once a day posting.

But today, including this one, it's going to be three.

Nonetheless, for this one, it's just me whiling away my time, because I don't know what else to do alone in this room.

Anyway, my father said yesterday that I should come back to KL.

I have settled the family thing that he wanted me to do in JB end of last year and there are works here for me.

Actually, I think my father misses having me around.

He's mostly in KL but my mother hardly have time to layan him as she's always busy with her works.

Poor guy.

See lah how.

I'll think about it.

Okay, a bit more on the 1MDB thing.

I think all the excitement about the US Department of Justice thing is because it's been quite a while since the anti-Najib people have something new to shoot back.

But how far can this excitement last is yet to be seen.

I read somewhere earlier this evening that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his people want to have a march to Istana Negara to ask Yang DiPertuan Agong to set up some sorts of a tribunal to look into the matter.

That will be something like the Bersih rallies in those early days.

I wonder if the main force behind it will again be DAP like the last one. Opposition rallies used to be Pas driven.

It will surely be awkward for my friends in the Dr Mahathir's camp who used to be so anti-DAP marching along with those DAP people.

I really don't envy them.

Whatever it is, I hope it's not going to be another round of Chinese in yellow on one side and Malays in red on the other, like last time.

That's not good okay.

It's going to be even more difficult to be objective and stay on the middle ground if it turns out racial like that.

Even now, say a bit only people will accuse as makan dedak lah, DAP paid lah....and all other stuff.

Especially so if have someone with personal grudge trying to spin this and that way.

I tried not to read the garbage but friends tend to forward them to me.

Sometimes the stories about me became so ridiculous that they made me laughed like crazy.

Really hilarious, actually :)

Don't know lah....sometimes I wish I'm not in this country while all these comedies are going on.

Thinking of that, hopefully I can really make that trip to Japan again.

If can't go to Hokkaido in winter like I planned, then maybe next spring I can visit my friend in Tokyo.

That will be nice.

Need to save money for it.

Eh, enough lah...

I want to sleep now.

You all can listen to this song before going to sleep,


Really nice.

Good night.

A response to Annie's 136 pages of hard read (updated)

UPDATES

My friend who forwarded me the long piece below via Wassap earlier has got back to me and confirmed that the writer is indeed, as suggested by some who had already commented here, the pro-Najib online scribe Datuk (?) Lim Sian See.

It was pointed out to me that she wrote it on her Facebook page.

Please excuse me for not knowing that as I don't have an active FB account or frequent that social media platform.

Thank you.


ORIGINAL POST

Probably in response to my post


a friend forwarded me the following long piece which I don't know had been written by who.

But I think it makes an interesting read and deserved to be published.

Here it goes :

The US DOJ document is a long read but so far, the following is what I can summarize from this and the press conference.

The USA Govt's Department of Justice (DOJ) have filed civil cases to seize the assets they believe is linked to 1MDB, from four individuals under the USA's Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.

Q1. Who are the four individuals?
They are Riza Aziz, stepson of Prime Minister Najib Razak; Jho Low, a Malaysian financier; and Khadem Al Qubaisi, the former managing director of Abu Dhabi's sovereign-wealth fund IPIC and former Chairman of Aabar Investments PJS and finally Mohamed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny responsible for dealing with 1MDB at that time.

Q2. What is the USA's Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative?
It is an initiative started in the year 2010 by the USA Govt under the US Department of Justice (DOJ) with the aim to seize and recover assets within the USA which the DOJ suspects is linked to corruption from a foreign country and return them to the originating country.

Q3. Why is the DOJ investigating this case?

In March 2015, the DOJ received a complaint from Sarawak Report. Further complaints appears to also have been made by Tun Mahathir loyalist, Khairuddin Abu Hassan.

Q4. What is the DOJ actually filing against the 3 individuals and what will happen next?

The DOJ is filing civil cases against the 3 individuals to ask the courts to seize their assets. The courts will then check if the identified assets are being claimed by anyone else. If no one else is claiming these assets then the courts will ask the DOJ to prove that these assets have indeed been stolen or received illegally.

Q5. Is Prime Minister Najib Razak also charged?

No. He is not charged and not named in this case despite Tun Mahathir previously saying in September 2015 that Najib is afraid to go overseas as he will be caught by the FBI. This is untrue as not only is this a civil case but Najib is not named in the suits.

But there is a reference to a MALAYSIA OFFICAL 1 which is alleged to have received funds that DOJ alleges is linked to 1MDB.

Q5. Will anyone go to jail if the assets are seized?

No. These is a civil suit and not a criminal case. If the courts find in favour of the DOJ, only the assets are seized. There is no jail terms or criminal conviction.

Q6.  If the court allows the assets to be seized, what happens to the seized assets?

The assets are eventually returned back to the whomever the DOJ believes it is stolen from - in this case, 1MDB.

Q7. Are the assets purchased with money stolen from 1MDB?

1MDB has consistently maintained that no money was stolen and can account for where its money has gone to. However, 1MDB is currently in dispute with IPIC where 1MDB maintains that it has paid or deposited or guaranteed up to USD6 billion by a company called Aabar Investments PJS BVI upon the instructions of Aabar's the then Chairman, Khadem Al Qubaisi and the then Managing Director.
IPIC disputes that it owns Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (BVI) and thus denies it has received these funds from 1MDB.

This dispute is now in arbitration at the London Arbitration Center and will take many months. However, 1MDB is confident that they will win this case and stand a good chance to recover their money - which is why 1MDB had earlier refused to pay the interest on a USD3.5 billion bonds despite comfortably able to, which triggered the bond guarantee by IPIC thus leading to the arbitration process.

Q8. If the money is not stolen then why is the USA DOJ acting on the complaint?

It is possible that some of the money that was paid by 1MDB into the Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (BVI) controlled by Khadem - which IPIC denies is owned by them, may have been used to fund various investments in the USA including real estate, investment in films, artwork and companies.

Q9. How much worth in asset is impacted by the USA DOJ?
No specific amounts have been confirmed yet but reports by NYT and WSJ is quoting up to USD 1 billion.

Q10.  Why is the PM's step-son Riza Aziz involved.

WSJ had previously reported that investigators believe that Red Granite, Riza Aziz’s film company received USD$155 million in loans from the Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (BVI) much of which went to finance the 2013 movie “The Wolf of Wall Street. and to purchase properties.

WSJ said documents show three transfers to Red Granite Capital in 2012 - US$60 million, US$45 million, and US$50 million.
Of this, US$105 million was booked by Red Granite Capital as a loan, while the other US$50 million was moved to the company through intermediaries.

“Among the intermediaries, according to people familiar with investigations and the person familiar with 1MDB: Telina Holdings Inc, a company that had been set up in the British Virgin Islands by Mr Al-Husseiny and his boss, Khadem Al Qubaisi.”

According to WSJ , the US$50 million loan from Telina Holdings has been repaid, citing people familiar to the investigations.

A Red Granite spokesperson told WSJ that the company “has been repaying and will continue to repay all its loans. “Red Granite had no reason to believe at the time that the source of Aabar’s funds was in any way irregular and still believes the loan to be legitimate,”

“What Red Granite have done and will continue to do is develop and produce successful and acclaimed movies that have generated more than US$825 million in worldwide box-office revenues.”

Q11.  So, if it was a loan or investment into Red Granite and is already part repaid or being repaid from a successful film company, why is Riza Aziz still the target of a civil suit?

In the USA, if you make profits based on funding which the DOJ suspects was from an illegal source then this is called "profiteering" and hence your profits are also considered illegal and can be seized - essentially making money out of illegal funding. This is different from stealing money.

The DOJ will then have to prove that Red Granite is aware that the funding or loan that they received is deemed illegal.

Q12. What about Jho Low's investments?

Not much has been revealed what assets or the amounts of investments are owned by Jho Low, who is a fund manager, in the USA but Jho Low had confirmed before that he has real estate holdings in the USA and may have co-invested in some US-based companies.

Q13. How long will this civil cases take before a judgement is reached?

Similar cases have taken years as both sides present their arguments to the US courts for the judge to make a final decision.

Q14. Is there anything unusual about this case?

Yes. Typically, the supposed victim of any stolen money has to make a complain to the USA DOJ to request the DOJ to seize any assets they deem was purchased using the stolen money. In this case, 1MDB has consistently maintained that there is no money stolen and they can account for all their investments or transfers but the DOJ seems to be still going ahead with filing civil suits to recover stolen money even though the "victim" said no money has been stolen.

Q15. How come 1MDB says no money missing and all accounted for when the US says are spent in such flamboyant ways?

Answer: 1MDB dealt with JV partners that are part of the foreign govts and also legitimate investment funds recommended by an international bank. 1MDB transferred those money to them. What happens after the money is transferred is not within the control or knowledge of 1MDB. It is the responsibility of those counter-parties.

1MDB has started the process of recovering our assets from those counter-parties,, which is primarily the relationship we have with the disputed Aabar Investment PJS Ltd - a process that is now in arbitration and which 1MDB is confident of a positive outcome

Q16 ) What about the deposits into Malaysia Official 1 accounts as detailed in the FBI accounts.

It is important to note that this account although opened in his personal name is not for his personal use and was the special president account for use on the party and allowed by the party constitution- a practise that even Muhyiddin admitted was in practise from way back.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnI_5pbkqs0

Even WSJ admits that the funds in this account were used for political purposes and not for personal benefit.

At no point in time did the Malaysia Official 1 received any direct transfers of funds from 1MDB accounts into his private accounts but from other different companies or accounts.

The DOJ alleges that the Malaysia Official 1 retained RM210 million from 3 transfers from funds that can ultimately be linked to 1MDB.

The 3 payments
1) RM60 million (USD20million at that time) - paid in 2011 (the JV between 1MDB and PetroSaudi was started in 2009) from the accounts of the then Governor of Riyadh, Prince Turki Al Saud.

The DOJ alleges that these RM60 million payment in the year 2011 comes from the USD1.83 billion that 1MDB invested in the JV with PetroSaudi starting in 2009.

2) RM100 million (USD30 million at that time) - paid in late 2012 from the accounts of BlackStone Asia

The DOJ alleges that this RM100 million payment in Nov 2012 comes from the USD3.5 billion bonds that 1MDB and IPIC issued in April 2012.

But this transfer was accompanied by a letter dated a year ago in 2011 which said the sender was going to be sending up to USD375 million from different accounts including BlackStone Asia.

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2777406/375m-pledge-letter-to-Najib-Razak-from-HRH.pdf

3) RM50 million - which came from the RM2.08 billion (or the infamous USD681 million at exchange rate of USD1 to RM3.05 then) transferred in during March 2013, just before GE13 where RM2.03 billion (or USD620 million at exchange rate of USD1 to RM3.27 then) was returned in August 2013 - to and from the accounts of Tanore.

This transfer was also supported by a letter from the Saudi Royal family donor which the MACC officials also interviewed and which the Saudi Foreign Minister had said was their funds.

I would believe that at no point in time that the Malaysia Official 1 has knowledge of the ultimate source of the funds transferred into the account. His knowledge is based on a prior multi-year arrangement made with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where political donations would be made to his account and his party.

It is important to note that each transfer was also accompanied by a letter from the Saudi royalty.

----
I will be writing more on this as I go into the documents deeper and await the official statements from the Govt for better understanding.

However, it looks like the timely release of this document has completely diverted the focus on the recently deepening Penang snap elections issue - which is a pity.

136 pages of hard read

This is all over the social media,

U.S. Justice Department files lawsuits linked to 1MDB


and of course the rest of the world media.

As I had previously stated, I'm not an expert of the 1MDB issue.

That's why I really never commented on it.

So, I think for detailed explanation, you all have to read the writings of people who are more well versed in banking and high finance.

Maybe a blog with fancy charts and operated by know-it-all blogger could enlighten you all better on the issue.

Or maybe not....

Maybe it's better for you all to read things directly related to the issue rather than those already spinned by other people.

Here is the link to the whole 136 pages of the US Justice Department's Civil Complaints against the producer of box-office movie Wolf of Wall Street  which it alleged had participated in “an international conspiracy to launder money” tied to an investment and development company owned by the government of Malaysia : Please click here 

I got that link from here,
http://deadline.com/2016/07/red-granite-federal-investigation-wolf-of-wall-street-producer-seize-assets-1201789295/

Honestly, I find that 136 pages to be hard read.

Just read a few pages and it made me felt like smoking a cigarette.

Stress.

And I was actually trained to be a lawyer....I know, quite embarrassing.

Good thing I didn't become one.

Anyway, if you all understand it better than me, please explain what the whole thing is really all about at the comment section.

Please try to explain it in layman's terms those 136 pages.

Really, I don't know how to do that.

Thank you.

Okay, for laughs, here it is again that video about the Wolf of Wall Street movie,


It's a bit outdated though, Leo actually won best actor at the last Academy Award.

Whatever it is, don't be stressed, okay.

Tuesday 19 July 2016

About expressing thoughts and Singaporeans' bakuteh

Arrived in KL about 9.30am yesterday and straight away get down to work.

Later in the afternoon I managed to catch up with a friend who is a prominent blogger, supportive of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He is actually the only one among my friends from his side who is still talking to me.

The others don't trust me, I guess.

Understandable.

On the side supporting PM DS Najib Razak, I also only have three or four friends who still talk to me.

Same reason.

It's not easy to stay in the middle.

My friend and me talked a bit about my last post where I said


That one was just me expressing my thoughts. Just like when I wrote as if I'm talking to Najib.

It's true what some of the commentators were saying, " Who the hell am I to advise Dr Mahathir?"

Of course Dr Mahathir and Najib don't read this blog.

I'm just expressing my thoughts, okay.

Anyway, my conversation with my friend went partly like this;

Annie : "Ya la, you all dragged the old man all over the place like that day during the by-elections for what? The guy is too old to campaign, okay. He collapsed how?"

Friend : "Where got we dragged him. Tun himself wanted to do it. You know la how he is. If he wants to do something, he will do it. No point telling him what to do.

Annie : "I know, but you all really should try harder. You all should at least tell him not to tire himself out like that or at least slow down la a bit. If our fathers are that old, I don't think we will want them to do what Tun is doing. He tried his best already, okay. Kesian sangat kat dia. You all fight all you want la, but let Tun rests. Now he's getting whacked for working with DAP. That's sad, don't you think?"

My friend is a cool guy.

His writing is strictly factual, probably because of his training as an accountant, and he never gets really emotional like many other bloggers who are involved in the Najib-Dr Mahathir fight.

That's why he can still talk to me and I appreciate him for that.

Then at night I had dinner with my mother and a family friend in Bangsar.

My mother was busy as usual and arrived a bit late.

Another oldie who doesn't know how to slow down.

"Ma, can you go on leave and spend time with Pa for his birthday in September?" I asked.

"See how...." she said, of which I conclude that she's too busy with her work for nice things like that..

The family friend who is close with my parents just smiled at that as he knows how things are between the two of them.

He is also quite knowledgeable about politics because he served under former Johor MB TS Abdul Ghani Othman for many years.

I worked a lot with him during Ghani's last term in Johor prior to the last general election.

We talked quite a bit about the Najib-Dr Mahathir fight and I conclude that he was not happy with many things done by Najib but is not supportive of Dr Mahathir.

He's a staunch Umno supporter, having served the party sincerely for so long and doesn't want it destroyed.

"For good or worse, Najib is the PM and party president. He's our choice in the first place, It's not right for us to kick him out except via the party's proper mechanism or election. We must not override that. We simply have to wait now," he said.

I can sensed that my mother was bored with all the Umno talks.

I believe that she voted for the DAP in the last two general elections. At least that's my suspicion.

Her parliamentary constituency is Kluang and for state, it's Mengkibol. Both now under DAP.

'Eh, what's wrong with Guan Eng suing Joceline Tan like that har? I can't see anything wrong with Joceline's article," she blurted out suddenly.

I was surprised that she followed that issue.

"Joceline hurt his feeling la Ma. Guan Eng like that la. Cannot take criticism one," I said.

"But that's childish of him," my mother added.

I just laughed at that. My sentiment exactly.

My mother also complained about the ringgit last night.

"It's now about RM3 for S$1. Used to be less then RM2.5. All the Singaporeans are coming over and buying up things until nothing left for us in Kluang. I'm begining not to like them," she said.

"Just the other day your grandma wanted to eat bakuteh but the stall guy said all booked  already because a whole bus load of Singaporeans were coming over that day.

"One serving is RM10, that's only over S$3. That's very cheap for the Singaporeans. We really need to charge them more," she added.

Yup, my grandma eats bakuteh. She's Chinese and a non-Muslim. So, she eats pork.

Despite her complaints, my mother also shared with me a picture she took in front of my big auntie's place when she was in Singapore the other day,


"See, we need to try to be more like the Singaporeans on things like this. Very efficient and always come up with new ideas to make their neighbourhood better," she said.

Well, I have to agree with her on that one.

Today, I'm mostly working and nothing else.

Got some time to write all these just now but need to get back to work now.

I will try to write again when I have the time later.

Cheers.

Sunday 17 July 2016

Dr Mahathir should rest

It's not a very good week worldwide.

There were another massacre in France, a coup attempt in Turkey,  an angry China over the South China Sea ruling which went against it, and other continuing bloodshed all over the place.

All quite tense.

Malaysia's problems seem minuscule compared to those.

Okay, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday said he wanted to set up a new party, but I don't think that's a big issue.


It's just democracy at work.

It's like when Umno founder Datuk Onn Jaafar left to set up Independence of Malaya Party and later Parti Negara.

Sadly for Dr Mahathir, I think his plan will end up like that of Datuk Onn's - not very successful.

Malaysians are so used to the existing political parties that a new one will find it hard to survive.

Anyway, I feel that Dr Mahathir is too old to go down that path.

He should just rest.

I know, he feels that he must do something to correct things for the country, but he is already past 90 years old.

Let the younger people do that, if they must.

Personally, I feel that Dr Mahathir had done all he can for the country and I don't think he should continue to push it.

His advisors and the people around him really should tell him to rest.

Maybe his son DS Mukhriz Mahathir can do that.

If Dr Mahathir is my father, that's what I will try to tell him.

They have to admit the fact that the rebellion against DS Najib Razak within Umno has failed.

If they want to continue, they have to fight as one of the opposition parties.

And for that, they should not let Dr Mahathir to tire himself with it.

It's too tedious for someone his age.

If he still must, Dr Mahathir should instead help them with his prayers.

If it's true that Najib is destroying the country, let Allah answer Dr Mahathir's prayers and enable the opposition, which include his supporters to win the next general election.

Whatever it is, the young should do the fighting, not an over 90-year-old man.

I can just imagine how tiring it must be for Dr Mahathir.

Honestly, I'm tired just by being an observer of the fight.

What more for someone that age being in the thick of things.

I always cringed whenever they whacked him over this past one year.

It's disconcerting seeing an old man like Dr Mahathir being treated that way no matter what.

Really, if they really love him like they said they were, they should really convince him to rest.

They should be the ones to do the fighting, not Dr Mahathir.

Well, that's my thoughts of things for today.

Tomorrow, I have to go to KL.

Got works to do.

Need to pack now.

Hope you all had a better week and weekend.

Saturday 16 July 2016

Smelly kiasu : DAP's arrogance, Part 3

First, a bit about kiasu,

Kiasu (Chinese驚輸Pe̍h-ōe-jīkiaⁿ-su) is a Hokkien and Singlish word that means a grasping, selfish attitude.[1]
The term can be translated into English as "afraid to lose out" from 'kia' "afraid" and 'su' "lose". Like many proverbial expressions it can have both positive and negative connotations, but is generally negative, used to refer to someone who thinks of themselves first and is always trying to get ahead in one way or another. The English equivalent would be "overcompetitiveness".

I just took that from Wikipedia, okay.

Kiasu is more or less a Chinese thing.

For me, it's not actually totally bad.

My understanding is that it promotes competitiveness among members of the community.

It's a cultural conditioning.

I tend to believe in the theory that it took root within the community because the Chinese have to be competitive to survive back then in the motherland since ancient time as life was hard due to the wars and famines which ravaged the land from time to time.

That's why the Chinese generally tend to be so focused at what they are doing.

Must do or die, that's what my mother used to say to me when I was young.

Yup, my mother has that kiasu thing too.

Most of the time she is all business-like.

Bottom-line and being result-oriented seem all that matter.

Sometimes I felt that she's so cold and unloving because of that.

And because of that, I'm not really sure why my father loves her so much.

Well, I love my mother too, but the way my father loves her is a bit too much.

Anyway, as I said, it's a Chinese thing, so when it comes to DAP, the kiasu thing was obvious among its leaders and members who are mostly Chinese.

Come on, admit it, okay, the Malays, Indians and others in the party are just tumpang sekaki saja there.

Generally, true to their kiasuness, DAP members are usually very competitive.

The attitude is central to the workings of the party.

Again, as I said, it's not totally bad because its good to be competitive.

BN put up one poster, I must put up three. Saya tak boleh kalah punya. That sorts of things.

However, the kiasu attitude also makes them think they are always better than others.

They can also never accept that they were wrong because of that attitude.

It' doesn't matter to them even if all the evidences were very clear that they had been proven wrong.

For instance, recently, there was a debate between a Gerakan guy and a DAP's Penang state exco member.

When the DAP exco can't argue back against the Gerakan guy, he started to loudly talk nonsense and along with his supporters behaved like gangsters.

You can read what happened after that here,

Many convinced after debate that DAP is thuggish


They behave like that because they can't take it that they actually lost the debate.

That's because they could never admit that others were right and they were wrong.

Their kiasuness makes them arrogant.

This arrogance sticks to them.

It makes them obnoxious.

That's why when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced on Thursday that he was setting up a new party, many of his supporters were not happy that it will cooperate with other opposition parties, especially DAP.

They can't stand the DAP people.

I can understand that sentiment.

I know of this former (?) DAP operative who despite had been apparently kicked out of the party and turned against it remains being kiasu, arrogant and obnoxious.

Always wants to win and refuses to admit being in the wrong.

It made me laughed whenever that person tried to spin a pathetic story after being proven wrong.

Well, never mind.

I don't want to waste my time and energy on that.

It's not my job to layan the idiot.

Whatever it is, personally I don't mind that much about people being kiasu.

I only just can't stand it when they get too arrogant and obnoxious.

Otherwise they are just funny and even cute.

Like my mother.

So,  if you feel that you have that kiasu thing inside you, try to manage it, okay.

Try not to end up like those DAP people.

Errr.... about the title of the post....that one I just put for fun only.


Cute what :)

Thursday 14 July 2016

Stupidman - DAP's arrogance Part 2

A friend who is in Japan sent me this link via Wassap this morning,

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2016/07/13/daps-superman-slammed-for-defending-chinas-claims/

He jokingly wondered whether BN paid that Stupidman Hew to be stupid so that they can whack DAP.

May Allah fry me in hell if I'm lying about this, okay.

I said NO to my friend's muse.

I believe that Hew is actually stupid to begin with, and when he got arrogant because he is a DAP man, he becomes even more stupid.


It's as simple as that.

BN doesn't have anything to do with his stupidity.

It's a malady afflicting many DAP people after the Chinese tsunami of GE13 in 2013.

I wrote about it last week in this posting,


That one was about DAP's Taiping MP Nga Kor Meng and his stupid evangelical Raya greetings.

The causes and symptoms of their stupidity were the same - arrogance.

I believe even the Chinese who were so supportive of DAP during GE13 would have cringed at their behaviour.

And Hew and Nga were not the only ones.

Other DAP leaders and followers tend to have the same attitude.

They think they can get away with anything because they believe all Chinese in this country will defend them no matter what bullshit they were peddling.

It's the reason why the opposition is in such a mess now.

Even their allies were put off by them, culminated by the Pakatan Rakyat break-up after Pas pulled out from the back then unstoppable opposition coalition.

And as I predicted in the earlier post, the DAP people will continue to issue stupid statements such as those by Nga and now Hew.

They simply can't help themselves.

The Chinese tsunami of GE13 really got into their head, making them so big.

I think their head will continue to swell until they explode in the next general election.

And there's nothing they can do to avoid that now.

As it is, more and more Chinese are getting fed-up with their arrogance and some even choose to change side as witnessed during the Sarawak election as well as Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections.

Tuesday 12 July 2016

About Badlisyah's rezeki and expensive chicken

Someone sent me this newspaper clipping this morning, which I believe is that of a Malaysian Reserve's story,

Please click for better viewing
I actually wrote about it on July 1,


I don't mind it so much except for being irritated a bit that they are yet to come up with an official announcement on it.

Well, really doesn't matter. That's Badlisyah's rezeki, okay.

Other people don't be jealous.

But if still want to be angry, then go ahead la. Not my business.

Anyway, my friend in Kuantan also shared an info with me this morning.

Here is exactly how our Wassap conversation went,

Friend : Terkojut gi pasar...ayam 1kg rm10

Annie : Kalau ada gambar tanda harga hantar kat saya please

Friend : X sedap pulak nak ambik gmbor

Friend : Terserempak dgn Mazita & her mom

Friend : Mak dia ckp mahal sbb ayam bnyak sakit klr kt berita...org yg jual ni ckp kt berita dngr kt kb 1kg rm15

Annie : Boleh post kat blog ni

Friend : Kwn dok kb - Hr tu kat pasar Khadijah kb...deme jual ayam 30 ringgit sekor

Annie : Kalau macam tu, rasa nak makan ayam pegi KFC je lah. Rasanya harga ayam kat situ tak naik kut. 

I was like....hmmmm, this is more important than all the big talks of billions of ringgit scandal and stuff.

This one, the people directly feel the hurt.

An interview with a housewife can go like this:

Reporter : Do you really feel that you are suffering from 1MDB? 

Housewife : Errrr.... not really. If it's true than it's bad but so far I don't directly feel anything yet. 

Reporter : Do you feel that you are suffering from the hike in price of chicken?

Housewife : Oh definitely! It's bloody expensive now. Today I have to buy cheap frozen meat from India because I can't afford to buy chicken for my family. Fish also expensive, liao. This is all the government's fault. Down with BN! Down with Najib! Down with Umno! Ubah! Ubah! Ubah!

Really, the authorities must do something to avoid these sorts of things from happening.

Don't make the rakyat suffer.

Make sure the chicken don't get sick while the traders don't sell them at RM30 per bird or RM10/RM15 per kg.

Same goes with other essential items, okay.

Keep the costs of living under control, please.

Sunday 10 July 2016

Buying Proton

I was with my best friend at a Proton showroom not far from her house yesterday.

She wanted to buy an Iriz to replace her old Produa Kelisa.

Actually, she had wanted to do so last year but had a bad experience with a salesman there.

The man was "not very friendly",  she said.

Knowing my friend, I'm more inclined to think that the salesman had actually been rude to her.

My friend is simply the nice type.

We were greeted at the entrance of the place by this new Perdana,


Impressive.

I think I don't mind having one myself, but it's quite a bit over my budget.

The price is about the same as a Honda Civic.

Anyway, I'm okay with the car I'm driving now.

No one attended to us at first as we checked out the cars on display.

I noticed this thank you message to Proton customers by the former Proton chairman still hanging on the wall,


Guess they forgot to take it down.

I read the message and can't help feeling a bit sad.

I think you all know why.

Soon after, a salesman came to attend to our inquiries.

He's a Chinese man in his 50s.

The guy was nice and helpful.

My friend seemed okay with him and after a long discussion agreed to buy the car.

It's a red 1.3 Executive,


I think it's a good car.

I had test driven it and was impressed by its very good handling and safety features.

Nice to look at too.

Hopefully Proton will continue to improve after this and more Malaysians will support the national car maker.

Friday 8 July 2016

DAP's arrogance

Arrogance can make someone do stupid things.

I think that's the case of DAP's Taiping MP Nga Kor Meng when he posted this on his Facebook page,


And of course the result of it is this,


I believe Nga posted that stupid thing because he thought he can get away with anything.

"Hey, I'm a DAP man, I can do anything that I want because the Chinese are all supporting the party and everyone hates Umno and Barisan Nasional," he must had thought.

That's DAP's arrogance after the Chinese tsunami of last general election (GE13).

That's actually the main reason of Pakatan Rakyat's demise.

After the Chinese tsunami, most DAP people thought they were strong enough to behave like lords and masters of everyone else.

They treated their partners, especially Pas with contempt.

Pas people are just some stupid kampung folks, they thought.

They used their partners to the maximum for their own benefits and believe they can give back pittance for it.

That's the attitude of people like Nga and many others in DAP.

But of course Nga is way ahead of everyone else.

He's so into the belief that DAP leaders can get away with anything that he didn't seems to realise that the honeymoon of GE13 is over. 

He refused to acknowledge that,


with BN during the Sarawak elections, and more importantly during the recent Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections.

People are getting fed-up with their arrogance.

I believe now that many Chinese were also actually getting fed-up with the DAP leaders' arrogance that they were willing to overlook their dislike of Umno and BN,

It's a reverse of pre-GE13.

I don't expect the DAP leaders to acknowledge their arrogance anytime soon.

They will continue to make blunders such as the one by Nga.

And because of it, they will never be able to shed their image as arrogant Chinese chauvinists who look down on others, especially Malays. And that image of evil Christian evangelists out to get Muslims too.

Well, too bad, especially for other Chinese of Christian faith. They will continue to get whacked because of people like Nga and his arrogant DAP gang.