Rewcastle-Brown and Ambiga drop the ball for Pakatan

This is definitely bad for Pakatan,

Sarawak Report editor names Ambiga as source of information

excerpts,

According to her Defence and Counterclaim statement that was provided for The Malaysian Insight, Rewcastle-Brown said she spoke to the former Bersih chairman in July 2016 regarding Najib, 1MDB and PAS.

"Ambiga had told the defendant that her sources, whom she said were reliable, had estimated the amount that had been paid was around RM90 million," said Rewcastle-Brown in her court filing dated October 11.

Rewcastle-Brown's defence was filed in relation to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's defamation suit against Rewcastle-Brown in April this year.

It shows that Sarawak Report, which is now known as a prominent pro-Pakatan "whistle-blower" website is an unreliable source of information.

I have never studied journalism but I know that one of the most basic things that journalists must never do is to reveal their anonymous sources.

They were supposed to protect their sources even if they have to go to jail to do so.

In this case Rewcastle-Brown should by right must protect Ambiga, who is her source, even if she was to be cited for contempt of court.

I'm quite sure the former Bersih chairman had wanted to remain anonymous when she told Rewcastle-Brown about Hadi allegedly taking money from PM DS Najib Razak. Otherwise, Sarawak Report would had quoted her from the start instead of putting her as just a source.

Now that it's out in the open, Ambiga will come under public scrutiny for alleging that Hadi had taken money from PM Najib Razak in return of Pas' support for BN.

She will have to testify in that court case in London or Hadi could initiate a separate legal suit against her here where she would likely be compelled to produce evidence or reveal her source.

When that happened, does Ambiga willing to protect her source if she has no evidence to support her allegation against Hadi? Is she willing to go to jail to do that?

Rocky was more direct when he asked,

Now, who will Ambiga throw under the bus?

Well, I seriously think Rewcastle-Brown and her Sarawak Report has now been TKOed by this whole thing.

Firstly, she should not have written such a serious allegation against Hadi based solely on just what Ambiga told her.

Instead, she should have double checked with other sources to corroborate the allegation before writing and publishing it.

To make an allegation based on the mere words of just one person who wished to be anonymous was very reckless and irresponsible.

Especially so when Sarawak Report has made its name worldwide as one of the main critiques of the Malaysian government and its leaders. International publications had quoted it in articles critical of Najib and the country.

Then, as I wrote above, by right Rewcastle-Brown shouldn't had blown Ambiga's cover as that effectively sealed Sarawak Report's reputation as an untrustworthy source of information.

A whistle-blower shouldn't blow the cover of its sources, okay.

Unless, of course if Ambiga herself doesn't mind for her cover to be blown, which I doubt, as that would mean she herself will face legal troubles.

Now that it has come to this point, Ambiga should be ready to reveal her sources or produce evidence to support her allegation against Hadi.

Somehow, I doubt she can do that even if she wants to.

My bet is that she will go to court and says that she was merely speculating or even joking with Rewcastle-Brown about the whole thing and she didn't expect what she said to be published.

Probably that's the truth, anyway.

Whatever it is,  I think both Rewcastle-Brown and Ambiga will come out of this looking really bad.

Bare in mind, that story of Hadi taking money from Najib had been circulating and quoted numerous times by Pakatan people.

Now that the whole allegation looks more and more like a fake news, it surely doesn't look  good for Pakatan at all.

People will start to doubt the other stories they told in their effort to oust Najib and the BN government.

The only way this could be prevented is for Ambiga to suddenly produce in court the hard evidence against Hadi which prompted her to make the allegation in the first place.

Hopefully, Ambiga will not just turn around and said she had heard it from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad or DS Anwar Ibrahim or Mat Sabu, etc.

If she does that, it's really as if she is throwing the whole Pakatan under the bus.

Well, I believe Najib and the whole of BN scored a big one on this.

Too bad for you all Pakatan people.

Not all Chinese in this country are rich

This is a very sad news,

All victims of Tapah road tragedy are locals

It made me even more sad when I looked closely at the identity of the nine who died;

excerpts;

The victims killed in the tragedy were identified as 

1. Lew San Jau, 32 (the driver of the van)

2. Thong For Thye, 52

3. Cheong Kai Yen, 55

4. Wong Yok Yen, 61

5. Yow Sam Mooi, 67

6. Cheong Moy, 68

7. Chong Moi, 82

8. Liew Siew Fah, 81

9. Tang Kam Siew, 73

Except for the van driver, all of them are women.

And these women were elderly.

It made me wondered what were they doing working in a farm and traveling in a van to go to work like that.

Can't they just rest at home?

And they are Chinese.

Many people think that all Chinese in this country are rich.

Why then those elderly ladies needed to work in a farm despite their age?

When the story first came out this morning, and the identity of the victims were not yet known, many would have thought that the farm workers must be foreigners. Most likely Indonesians and Bangladeshis.

Now that we know who they are, I'm amazed as to why eight elderly Chinese women had to work as farm hands and then their life ended tragically like that.

Sorry, I'm really sad over this tragedy.

Thinking of the victims made me miss my mom, grandma and grandpa very much.

After finishing school, my mom worked as a waitress in Singapore for two years to save money to further her studies in Taiwan. She is still working today.

My grandma operated a koey teow stall and my grandpa used to be a carpenter. They only stopped working when they were in their 70s.

They are okay, but not rich.

Seriously, not all Chinese in this country are rich.

Really.

On the proxy war in Najib's camp

It's budget day.

Later in the day PM DS Najib Razak will table the 2018 Budget.

But I think I know what it's going to be. It's definitely going to be a people-friendly budget, considering that the next general election is to be held the latest in August next year.

There will be tonnes of stories about it later.

So, no need for me to comment on it.

For today, I rather give my take on the ongoing nonsense between people who supposed to be big shots in the Najib's camp.

The way I see it, the fight is not really between Apandi Ali and RPK as it seems to be.

It's between people who are behind those two.

This is sort of a proxy war for influence within the PM's inner circle.  We can only guess the real identity of the main players as they will never come out in the open.

Okay, as you all may know by now, the first open attack in the latest Najib's camp nonsense was when RPK wrote these,

 Strong rumours surrounding the AG Part 1 and Strong rumours surrounding the AG Part 2

They were directed at AG Apandi and that funny Tabung Haji guy Azeez Rahim.

Quite serious allegations, actually.

I strongly believe that RPK wrote those under instruction from someone who is out to knock out Apandi and Azeez from Najib's circle.

I don't think RPK has anything personal against Apandi and Azeez.

The guy is after all living in Manchester, okay.

He was just doing his job.

I said that RPK was only following instructions because this sort of things happened before.

RPK had previously attacked an MB, accusing him of being a homosexual while as far as I know he got no quarrel with that MB.

He must had done it under instruction, as in the current case with Apandi and Azeez.

I don't really like that MB guy but I felt the attack was unfair and therefore I defended the MB in this previous post on Sept 22 last year,

• About wasted effort, Mcoba boys and a bit of Guan Eng

excerpts;

On yet another matter, last night I got a message from a friend asking me who is the MB meant by RPK in this story of his,

Menteri Besar blackmailed by Mahathir

Of course I know who is the MB meant by RPK.

It's an old story, actually.

But I told my friend not to bother himself with such stories.

I'm not a big fan of that MB, but to float such an accusation against him, in my opinion was not fair.

And RPK did another posting about him just now as I'm writing this,

The faggot Menteri Besar under Mahathir’s thumb

Guess someone really wants that MB to be thrown out.

Well, this is all very sordid.

For yet another previous proxy war within Najib's camp involving RPK, you all can read these;

• Media Prima at war

• FD Iskandar's trump card

• A bit more on the Media Prima war

If you followed what transpired in all these fights, the modus operandi is always the same.

Anyway, for the current one, I think RPK had toned down the attack quite a bit following Apandi's aggressive response to it. You can read it here,

Strong Rumours Surrounding The AG: Part 3

Maybe the people behind RPK have suddenly realised that the gang behind Apandi is more powerful than they thought.

But I think it's too late for that.

Damage done already, okay.

This fight among them, as they were with the previous ones, had only caused BN to lose more support and provide Pakatan with quite potent ammunitions as the general election draws nearer.

It's a malady of greedy individuals who only care about their vested interests.

They are there hanging around Najib for their own selfish agenda.

They don't care about this country, the people, BN, Umno or even Najib.

These people will switch side in the event things get bad for Najib, Umno or BN. I'm quite sure of that.

That's why they remain hidden and use others to fight for them.

Their loyalty is only for themselves.

Najib should realise this by now.

By right, he should get rid of them.

These people are very much like all those scheming concubines or corrupt eunuchs of the ancient world.

They are the cancerous cells which destroyed dynasties.

Read history of those dynasties and I think you all will agree with me.

Well, for this one, it's solely up for Najib to decide.

Palace intrigues

Rocky's posting yesterday

Apandi Ali vs RPK and Khairuddin (there's Azeeez in there somewhere, too!)

actually reminds me of the Korean historical dramas which I enjoyed quite a lot.

All those palace intrigues were very interesting to me.

Things like the queen ganging up with the king's favourite concubine in their fight against the scheming head of concubines.

Then there's the eunuchs and court officials running around trying to grab a bit of power for themselves at the lower level of the palace hierarchy.

Interesting, isn't it?

These sorts of things actually do happened in real life power struggles too.

The one highlighted by Rocky involves BN people but actually Pakatan people also have such things.

For example, just not too long ago, it became public knowledge that Azmin Ali was ganging up with people like Lateefa Koya in their fight for power in PKR against the scheming Rafizi Ramli.

In the Korean historical drama context, I just imagine Azmin as the queen, Lateefa as the favourite concubine and Rafizi as the scheming head of concubines.

Of course, it would help if Rafizi is a bit less chubby....hehehe

The smaller players in PKR could be the manoeuvring eunuchs and court officials.

Well, for the BN's version, you all can read Rocky's posting again and use your imagination as to who should be of which character.

Fun isn't it?

Actually, I think it's the same on both sides.

The only significant difference is that for now BN has the power and therefore there are more at stake in their internal power struggles.

I believe it will be the same if Pakatan ever managed to defeat BN and has the power to rule the country in their hands.

It's unavoidable in any organisation.

At a lower level we have office politics at the workplace.

It can't be helped as most people want to move up in the organisation they worked for and the only way some of them can do it was to play office politics.

I went through this at my previous workplace.

I have to admit that I'm totally useless when it comes to these sorts of maneuverings as my only talent is probably doing my work the best that I could.

I also don't know how to sweet talk the bosses. If they do stupid things, I would say "Boss, that's a stupid thing to do".

Well, maybe I'm the stupid one for saying that :)

I also don't know how to make my bosses happy by praising them all over or following in their footsteps even if those footsteps would eventually lead the organisation into the longkang.

Others, however, were very good at it. In fact, that's their only real talent.

For instance, when the big boss went around bullying one of the junior executives, the whole gang of flunkies fell all over themselves in bullying their subordinates too, so that they could be seen as in line with the big boss' ways of doing things.

Amazing isn't it?

Honestly, I was at awe when I saw the way they kissed the bosses' ass. I can never do that, okay...too disgusting leh...

Needless to say, people like me lose out in the end and the organisation is now own by the gang whose actual talent is just ass kissing the big boss.

Well, I don't want to say how the organisation is doing under those people now as I don't want you all to accuse me of being a sour grape, okay.

That's just the way things are in this world, I guess.

So, if you want to move up in an organisation, you better acquire some ass kissing and office politics skills.

Otherwise, you just lay low, do your job well (but not too well, as you may be noted for your talents and presumed to be a threat by the ass kissers) and settled with just the aim of getting your salary paid at the end of the months.

I gave that advise to my former colleagues, actually.

All in all, it's just the same. It's just the way humans do things.

But still, I also gave this additional advice to my former collegues,

Don't despair when you lose out to those scheming people. The more important thing is to keep your conscience clear and do the right things. I believe that's what God wants us to do.

Remember, rezeki tu Allah yang bagi. Bukan boss yang suka dibodek atau pengampu-pengampunya tu yang bagi.

If we do the right things, God will provide for us, one way or another.

Cheers

Zahid needs Tiger to bring in smart people

I think DPM DS Zahid Hamidi needs to upgrade his media team.

His latest on Jho Low yesterday was a bit of a mess.

Datuk Tiger, what are you all doing la? Tak coordinate betul-betul ke? Nampak macam caca merba sikit lah.

I typed "Jho Low" at Google news just now and these are what I got at the top of the page;

Malaysia Says No Current Request to Track 1MDB-Linked Jho Low

Bloomberg-17 hours ago

DPM Zahid denies Malaysia currently seeking Interpol help over Jho ...
Channel NewsAsia-13 hours ago

1MDB scandal: Malaysia asks Interpol to find Jho Low, financier ...
South China Morning Post-21 hours ago

Shameful of Malaysia to close case against Jho Low, say Pakatan ...
The Malaysian Insight-4 hours ago

Interpol declines to comment on search for Jho Low
International-Malaysiakini-3 hours ago

DPM: Police investigation on Jho Low closed
International-Malay Mail Online-15 hours ago

Seriously, with those kind of headlines, I'm not so sure anymore now what this Jho Low character is really all about.

Unless, I got it wrong, Jho Low was supposed to be a main character in the 1MDB issue.

Even some top pro-government blogggers said so before this.

If he is truly so, in my opinion, we shouldn't say that we don't want to know what the guy have to say about the mess.

At the very least, if Zahid had wanted to tell people that we are no longer interested to know what Jho Low have to say, he should further explain why and how we came to that conclusion.

That way, we wouldn't end up wondering what's really happening and media outlets such as those above would not come up with stories which made the whole thing even more convoluted.

I'm of the opinion that Zahid's media team should have advised him better on this.

They should have prepared their boss with the proper ways to answer such things even before the opposition people ask him such funny questions.

The last time I checked on the team, I was told that it was being beefed up with several people whom I knew to be really good at these sorts of things.

I now wonder whether they really took in those people.

Based on what happened yesterday, I think they didn't.

Maybe it was vetoed by people who were more interested in protecting their own turf in Zahid's camp.

Those people may had felt threatened as they were not so smart themselves.

Maybe that's why the team is still not functioning very well as evident in what happened to yesterday's statement on Jho Low.

Well, if that's the case, then it's just too bad for Zahid.

Being surrounded by mediocre people is not a good thing.

I really think he needs to get more smart media advisers.

It could save him from being turned into a joke by Pakatan people such as this,

ZAHID HAMIDI BIKIN MALU LAGI....

These sorts of things are real causes of grief for Umno leaders these days.

When everything seems well for them, a simple handling of a statement was botched, making them look less intelligent that they really were.

Really Datuk Zahid, you need more smart people in your media team.

Get la Datuk Tiger to bring them in, okay.

Kesian pulak aku menengoknya.

No need to be disgusting

Someone asked for my opinion today on the allegation of sexual misconduct directed against MACC boss Dzulkifli Ahmad.

Honestly, I don't think I'm in the position to say anything about it as the whole thing looks like something very personal.

Furthermore, I had seen this report a few days ago,

• Woman and ex-husband deny she had affair with MACC boss

excerpts,

“Our divorce was done amicably. It is a personal matter and has nothing to do with Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad as alleged by the video. We will not hesitate to sue those who continue to spread the controversy for their own personal gains,” wrote Shazreen on Facebook two days ago, which was also signed by her former husband Mohd. Hafiz Jehangir Shah.

I would be sceptical if the denial was just by the woman, but it looks like she was backed by her ex-husband on the matter.

If someone has to complain, then it should be the woman's ex-husband, but in this case, he is also denying the allegation against the guy who had allegedly enticed his wife away from him.

So, how?

Really, I can't see how I can say anything more about this matter.

The person who was supposed to be most aggrieved by whatever that had happened said he was not so.

Therefore, who am I to comment on it.

I'm not a religious person but I believe that all I can say is that this matter is now between those personalities said to be involved and Allah the almighty.

To go beyond that is to risk making false allegations against those people, which from what I know is a grave sin according to Islamic teachings.

Well, I believe other religions teach the same too.

Anyway, I read some of the blogs which mentioned this allegation against Dzulkifli and found the way it was discussed rather distasteful.

This is a comment at a posting on the matter which I picked  from one of those blogs,

Malaysiabaru23 October 2017 at 14:45

Konkek bini najip laaa

Try la badak air

Sodap... air banyak

Bini najip tak selera ker

I was like...what the hell was that for?

Do they really need to write such comments?

Seriously, I don't think such comments will help win support for whatever cause the commentator was championing.

It's disgusting, okay.

I hope, you all who read this blog will not leave such comments here.

I had received complaints from those who felt that I was being too lenient in letting through comments at this blog but I told them that was for freedom of expression.

Well, I actually spiked off quite a lot of comments too, especially the vulgar ones which used words such as "melancap", "fucking melayu" etc.

I used to be very lenient before, but decided I need to control the comments a bit more after a 14-year-old girl said sometimes back that she reads my blog.

By right, Shafie shouldn't worry

As everyone should know by now, Warisan president DS Shafie Apdal is currently under remand.

His brothers and several others who are close to him had also earlier been detained in the graft probe of RM1,5 billion meant for rural development in Sabah. Some of them are still Umno office bearers.

The case is definitely a blow to Pakatan's hope of penetrating Sabah, which in my opinion has replaced Johor as the tiang seri of Umno.

Pakatan people have of course denounced Shafie's arrest and accused the BN government of political prosecution.

I believe many others saw it the same.

They probably asked, if it's indeed true, why was it that Shafie and gang were not stopped from stealing the money when he was still a minister and vice-president of Umno.

Well, tough question.

However, I think if Shafie did indeed steals the money, then he should face the consequences. Political prosecution or not is besides the point.

RM1,5 billion is a lot of money, okay. And it's meant for the poor rural folks in Sabah some more.

After all, even Umno people in high office were prosecuted for allegedly stealing money from the rakyat. People such as TS Isa Samad and that Johor exco member Latif Bandi.

Okay, I know some of you will definitely jump and say how about DS Najib Razak whom you all believe had stolen billions of ringgit via 1MDB and other schemes.

I think for that one you all have to be patient and wait for things to fall into place.

If you all feel so strongly about it, you should continue your campaign against Najib so that he could be toppled and then prosecuted. You should also pray for God to give you success in that endeavour.

 I believe that if Najib is indeed guilty, God will give you all the satisfaction of seeing him fall and even thrown in jail.

Nonetheless, we still can't excuse the likes of Shafie if he is later on found to be stealing too.

You can use a thief to catch a thief, but not so if the thief is claiming that he should be the boss after that.

What's the point in toppling Najib just because we believe he's a thief only to replace him with another thief?

I believe MACC should be allowed to do its job.

If Shafie is not guilty, I'm confident the prosecutors will not find anything to be used against him.

But if they do....then, that's just too bad for Pakatan.

What ever it is, the case should remind others in power that they have to be extra careful not to fool around with what's not theirs, especially when it comes to things and money that belong to the rakyat.

I believe God will somehow punish them if they screwed up their responsibilities on it, one way or another.

This somehow reminds me of my friend who used to be a close aide of former Johor MB TS Abdul Ghani Othman.

He told me that he was so glad that his boss was always proper in doing things that he didn't have to do anything wrong while discharging his duties.

Despite losing his job after Ghani retires from politics, my friend said he was okay.

"If we do the right things, InsyaAllah there will be rezeki for us. What's even more important to me is that my conscience is clear and I can now sleep peacefully at night. There's nothing they can find to get my former boss and me," he said.

True enough, there were attempts to get some dirts against Ghani and his people right after he left office in 2013 but nothing was found.

An example was when a forensic audit team was sent to the office of Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor (KPRJ) around that time to get evidence implicating Ghani with allegation of stealing rakyat money.

The team found nothing.

Well, if they had found something, I'm quite sure Ghani and probably my friend too would be in jail now.

I even believe those people who wanted to get at Ghani would fabricate something if they felt that would have helped their cause, but for that they have to go through the MACC first.

Thankfully, MACC would not have allowed itself to be manipulated that way.

I'm quite convinced of that.

After all, those people who were after Ghani at that time were very very very powerful.

So, I think MACC is still quite okay.

At least, I don't think it will take up cases based on false evidence.

Even if it got orders from "up above", I believe it will investigate the case accordingly and will only act on real evidence.

Therefore, people like Shafie shouldn't worry if they had never stolen rakyat money.

Pakatan people should also not worry about things such as political prosecution if their leaders are indeed clean from corruption and such things.

Allah would be with them and give them victory over BN if they are on the right path and sincere in saving this country.

Really, I do believe that.

Hmmm....quite intense right.

Never mind.

You all relax and enjoy this clip from a heartbreaking movie and the song which goes with it.

Be cool.

Johor separatists

Apparently, there are quite a number of people who support the idea of my home state Johor to break away from Malaysia.

This is one of them from my previous post,

Anonymous17 October 2017 at 14:56

"I believe Johor will regress to be a real third world autocratic country if it is to go on its own."

What, "third world autocratic country" - you mean like Malaysia currently : )

"My friend said that it all started with that ridiculous Muslim-only laundry nonsense in Muar."

Not at all.

DYMM Sultan Johor & TMJ have been very steadfast in drawing the line on the Najis al-Songlap regime and extremism. They have been doing so for years already.

Actually Johor would be VERY successful on its own.

If Singapore did not regress or become a pawn (BTW, China owns the pinklips crooked backside due to 1MDB bailout via ERCL), then why not Johor with the wise leadership of the Sultan?

Less racism, less corruption, more harmony.

Economy?

No problem at all.

Develop links with Singapore and make JB a regional centre of excellence.

An independent Johor would thrive.

Safe from the hooves of the hippo thief.

From the way the comment was worded, I believe this Johor separatist is a Pakatan supporter.

There were several other similar comments.

I'm a bit confused because all these while I thought Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who now leads Pakatan as its chairman was against any idea for the break up of Malaysia.

Or maybe these separatists were the confused ones....I'm not sure....

I never believe Johor will separate from Malaysia but since there are those who insisted on it, I decided to write this for academic purposes.

Anyway, from such comments, I concluded that the Johor separatists wanted some sort of a monarchy system if the state is ever to go on its own.

Well, basically, there are two types of monarchy systems. Please click on the links to learn more about them;

Absolute monarchy

Constitutional monarchy

I believe what we have now in Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy while absolute monarchy is something like what they have in Brunei.

I think ours is better.

It's more democratic as we the rakyat have the ultimate power to decide where our country is heading.

And I prefer Johor to remain part of that democratic Malaysia.

Of course the separatists claimed that Malaysia is no longer democratic and therefore they support for Johor to leave the federation.

I think such argument is very irresponsible because I believe that Malaysia is still a democracy.

Well, there are still opposition parties and people who support them and they are quite free to say a lot of things against the government which if they were in Brunei would land them in jail.

They would end up in jail for those too if they were in Singapore. The rich supposedly democratic island republic still got ISA, okay.

Even if the Malaysian democracy is flawed, I don't think separatism is the answer. It's our responsibility to correct it and I believe we still have the power to do so.

Okay, I also feel that those who preach Johor separatism need to learn a bit more about the state's history.

This is a simple one I took from Wikipedia,

In the early 16th century, the Sultanate of Johor was founded by the Alauddin Riayat Shah II, the son of Mahmud Shah, the last Sultan of Melaka who fled from the invading Portuguese in Melaka. Johor sultanate was one of the two successor states of the Melaka empire. On Malacca's defeat by the Portuguese in 1511, Alauddin Riayat Shah II established a monarchy in Johor, which posed a threat to the Portuguese. The Sultanate of Perak—established by Mahmud Shah's other son, Muzaffar Shah I—was the other successor state of Malacca. During Johor's peak, the whole of Pahang, present day Indonesian territories of the Riau archipelago, and part of Sumatra Island was under Johor's rule.^[8]

A series of succession struggles were interspersed with strategic alliances struck with regional clans and foreign powers, which maintained Johor's political and economic hold in the Straits. In competition with the Acehnese of northern Sumatra and the port-kingdom of Melaka under Portuguese rule, Johor engaged in prolonged warfare with their rivals, often striking alliances with friendly Malay states and with the Dutch.^{[citation needed]} In 1641, Johor in co-operation with the Dutch succeeded in capturing Melaka. By 1660, Johor had become a flourishing entrepôt, although weakening and splintering of the empire in the late seventeenth and eighteenth century reduced its sovereignty.^{[citation needed]}

In the 18th century, the Bugis of Sulawesi and the Minangkabau of Sumatra controlled the political powers in the Johor-Riau Empire.^{[citation needed]} However, in the early 19th century, Malay and Bugis rivalry commanded the scene. In 1819, the Johor-Riau Empire was divided up into the mainland Johor, controlled by the Temenggong, and the Sultanate of Riau-Lingga, controlled by the Bugis.^{[citation needed]} In 1855, under the terms of a treaty between the British in Singapore and Sultan Ali of Johor, control of the state was formally ceded to Dato' Temenggong Daing Ibrahim, with the exception of the Kesang area (Muar), which was handed over in 1877. Temenggong Ibrahim opened up Bandar Tanjung Puteri (later to become Johor's present-day capital) in south Johor as a major town.^{[citation needed]}

Flag of Johor. The colour blue represents the State Government, the colour red for warriors defending the state, the white crescent and 5-sided star represent the monarchy and Islam.

Temenggong Ibrahim was succeeded by his son, Dato' Temenggong Abu Bakar, who later took the title Seri Maharaja Johor by Queen Victoriaof England. In 1886, he was formally crowned the Sultan of Johor. Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor (1864–1895) implemented a state constitution, developed a British-style administration and constructed the Istana Besar, the official residence of the Sultan. For his achievements, Sultan Abu Bakar is known by the title "Father of Modern Johor".^{[citation needed]} The increased demand for black pepper and gambier in the nineteenth century lead to the opening up of farmlands to the influx of Chinese immigrants, which created Johor's initial economic base.^[9][10] The Kangchusystem was put in place with the first settlement of Kangkar Tebrau established in 1844.^[11] The decline of the Kangchu economy at the end of the 19th century coincided with the opening of the railway line connecting Johor Bahru and the Federated Malay States in 1909 and the emergence of rubber plantations throughout the state.^[12] Under the British Resident system, Sultan Ibrahim, Sultan Abu Bakar's successor, was forced to accept a British adviser in 1904. D.G. Campbell was dispatched as the first British adviser to Johor. From the 1910s to the 1940s, Johor emerged as Malaya's top rubber producing state, a position it has held until recently.^{[citation needed]} Johor was also until recently the largestoil palm producer in Malaysia.^{[citation needed]}

During World War II, Johor Bahru became the last city on the Malay peninsula to fall to the Japanese. Allied Forces, Australian, Malayan and Indian forces held out for four days in what was known as the Battle of Gemas,^[13] the General Yamashita Tomoyuki had his headquarters on top of Bukit Serene and coordinated the downfall of Singapore.

Johor gave birth to the Malay opposition that derailed the Malayan Union plan. Malays under Dato' Onn Jaafar's leadership formed the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in Johor on 11 May 1946. (UMNO is currently the main component party of Malaysia's ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.) In 1948, Johor joined the Federation of Malaya, which gained Independence in 1957.

Learnt something, right?

Well, I like reading history.

It puts things in perspective.

It's cool too.

Okay, before I end this post, here's a very simple history lesson on my favourite foreign country - Japan;

Please stop the Johor jokes

A friend told me that there seemed to be quite a lot of Johor jokes going around in cyberspace these past few days.

I'm not much into the social media, so I didn't know about it.

My friend said some people from other states are starting to jokingly call Johor a "negara jiran" (neighbouring country).

Others posted pictures of them at KLIA international departure hall saying that they were on their way to Johor.

There were also those who joked that they were preparing to go to Johor and making sure their passports were all okay.

My friend said that it all started with that ridiculous Muslim-only laundry nonsense in Muar.

I don't know how that stupid issue could become such a big deal and led to all the Johor jokes.

Honestly, I'm a bit distressed when my friend told me about it.

Come on la, Johor will always be part of Malaysia, okay.

Please stop all these nonsense about my home state breaking away from the federation, even if it's just for laugh.

Well, I'm a Johorean but I don't even subscribe to the Bangsa Johor thing.

You can read about it at this previous post of mine;

• Do Johoreans need Bangsa Johor?

I think there are more Johoreans like me than those who are over parochial.

So, please stop making it as if you all want to kick out Johor out of Malaysia.

I know, some of you all non-Johoreans were probably annoyed by all those Bangsa Johor things being said to be so special.

There were even talks about the setting up of Bangsa Johor schools.

Please la, don't pay those any attention.

Most of us Johoreans are not into such things.

I believe Johor will regress to be a real third world autocratic country if it is to go on its own.

Or it will just be a pawn of a foreign power.

That's why I'm so against any suggestion, even jokingly, for Johor to be separated from Malaysia.

It's stupid anyway.

To the authorities, I hope you all will go after those who preach separatism, not only in relation to Johor but also other states.

Such people are traitors to Malaysia and should be dealt with accordingly.

Okay, that shouldn't include those who just joked about it. Yes, they are annoying but they are just jokers.

I'm talking about the real separatists here.

Anyway, talking about what supposed to be Bangsa Johor schools, it reminded me of this video;

I think it's amazing how they educate their young in Japan.

They don't even have cleaners and gardeners in schools over there as the students are trained to do the cleaning and gardening themselves.

And they don't even call their schools Bangsa Jepun schools.

They are just schools with no labels.

It's the substance and not labels that matter, I believe.

(Note: Comments deemed seditious will not be published for obvious reason. Thank you)

Pribumi not there yet

I was alerted of the less than successful "Love Malaysia, Eradicate Kleptocracy" rally in PJ yesterday by commentator Cik Minah

Cik Minah14 October 2017 at 20:51

I say Annie, Himpunan Kleptokrasi di PJ pun Kosong!!!!
Blog-blog umno macam Hussien Lempoyang and Cucu Tok
Selampit, bukan main bertepok tangan!!!!!!
KAHKAHKAH..........memang patut Najib adakan PRU14
dengna segera. Sepatutnya bulan depan,
PASTI BN SAPU BERSIH SEMUA KERUSI PARLIMEN!!!

Thanks Cik Minah

I checked those Umno blogs and other sites and it's true that the rally was rather poorly attended.

Its attendance was definitely less than the 100,000 touted by the organisers.

It was reported that the organisers estimated that 25,000 people were there but police said there were just about 4,000.

The rally at 9pm

I think it's a case of poor planning and an overestimate of support.

If I'm not mistaken, the rally was mainly spearheaded by Pribumi.

The day's official colour was Pribumi's red.

It clearly shows the party's lack of experience.

Since it was held in PJ, they should have let DAP be the main organiser of that one.

Even PKR and Amanah would had done better.

It's something they should learn from.

A poor turn out such as at yesterday's event reflects badly on the opposition coalition.

It's actually better not to have a rally at all rather than having a poorly attended one like that.

I think even the theme of the rally was a bit off.

It's too elaborate, if you asked me.

I always believe that the 1MDB issue is not really a good sell as most Malaysians don't really understand it.

Those who said they understand it are also mostly saying so because they wanted to appear as if they understand it while in actual fact they don't.

The issue may add to the body of accusations against PM DS Najib Razak and his government, but it's not actually something they could use as the main selling point to the general Malaysian public.

Pakatan people, especially those with Pribumi seemed to think too highly of issues against Najib and BN that they highlighted, while in actual fact the people are more concerned about more basic things such as costs of living, education and health care. 

I noticed something about many Pribumi people - they think they are smarter and know better than others, especially their former Umno comrades.

I don't think they actually are.

I think this mistaken belief of theirs is the main problem of Pribumi, which led to blunders such as yesterday's poorly attended rally.

Now that it's clear that they don't have what it takes yet to organise such events, they should learn from their seniors in the opposition coalition.

That, or they better stick to what they were supposed to be good at - winning the rural Malay votes for Pakatan.

I know, Pakatan readers of this blog are likely unhappy with what I wrote here, but it's the reality of things for them.

This is my honest opinion of how things are at the moment.

If BN was said to be in bad shape, based on what happened yesterday, I think Pakatan is not doing so good either.