About possibly more expensive goods and services

I'm now at a Subway joint in Shah Alam, waiting for my cousin.

That's my dinner.

Steak and cheese sandwich with lots of veggie. And Coke.

Not exactly healthy food but who cares, right.

Still got about an hour before my cousin is finished with whatever she's doing.

I'm fetching her home for the long weekend because she can't drive.

She's the one who enrolled at UiTM that day.

Well, I don't mind doing these sort of things.

Nothing much to write actually. Just killing time.

Okay may be I should tell you all this.

I think the prices of goods and services will go up quite a bit once the SST is implemented on Saturday.

In fact, some have already went up.

Just this morning my friend told me that the price of pre-cooked pizza she normally buys at Aeon Big supermarket has gone up.

It used to be RM4.70 per piece but now RM5.20.

I know, you all may say pizza is not an essential item, but that's not the case with my friend.

You see, my friend has a son who is with autism and the boy eats mostly pizza and roti canai. Seriously. He doesn't eat rice at all.

And for pizza, he only eats either those at Pizza Hut or that one prepared at Aeon Big. He doesn't even eat those at Domino Pizza.

Well, that's how it is with children with autism.

So, my friend has to bear with this. Hopefully the price will not go up further after the SST is implemented.

Another thing such as these which worries me is this story,

Higher consultation fees at private clinics soon

Well, everyone should buy health insurance, I guess.

That's even include the lower income people. Just in case.

Otherwise it would be difficult.

You know lah how it is to get treatment at the government clinics and hospitals these days.

Always crowded and very long queue.

Let's say your baby got fever, I think it would be quite a bit to go to a government hospital or clinic instead of going to a nearby private neighbourhood clinic.

Like it or not we will be paying the higher consultation fees soon.

I only wish for the government to do something to lessen the rakyat's burden on these sort of things.

The current PH government is supposed to be better than the BN government.

So, hopefully that is true...that things will not be so bad.....especially once the SST kicks in.

Well, SST is better than GST, right? That's what they told us ya.

Whatever it is, I think everyone should heed this advice;

Spend wisely once SST has been implemented – Fomca

Just in case la. Who knows, maybe SST is after all not better than GST.

You know lah, these days, people said something but it turns out into something else.

Okay, need to go now. My cousin just called and wanted me to pick her up now.

Ciao.

Confusion over Soda Tax and Forest City

Yesterday was a bit confusing.

In the morning there was this story,

Govt mulling soda tax

 to encourage healthy living: Dr M

but later in the afternoon there was this one,

Sugar price drops 

as govt weighs soda tax

I think the government needs to coordinate better on these sort of things.

Otherwise people would say it has a jumbled up policy.

Didn't they discuss these first at Cabinet meetings?

Then there were these comments,

A soda tax is not going to 
solve the obesity problem — The Galen Centre

Tax sugar and not 

just soda, say academicians

Well, don't know lah.

Then there was also this announcement yesterday morning by Dr Mahathir as quoted by Reuters,

Malaysia says Forest City 

project off limits to foreign buyers

which is a complete opposite of this one by a minister earlier this month,

Minister: Foreigners can buy 

freehold properties in Forest City

I hope Dr Mahathir can sit down with his ministers and tell them to shut up and let him do all the talking.

Just like it was during his first 22 years as a BN PM.

Better that way.

Whatever it is, Dr Mahathir's announcement yesterday was as good as killing off the project.

Well, I was not really surprised as getting at Forest City was one of the handsome old man's GE14 promises,

But then again the developer later in the day issued this statement,

Forest City developer believes 
Dr M's statement 'taken out of context

These are the most interesting bits,

excerpts;

“Today’s comments do not correspond with the content of the meeting between Tun Mahathir and Founder and Chairman of Country Garden Holdings, Yeung Kwok Keung,” said the company.

The two, according to the statement, had a 40-minute closed-door meeting on 16 August 2018, prior to the prime minister’s visit toBeijing.

“During the meeting, Tun Mahathir reiterated that he welcomes foreign investments which could create employment opportunities, promote technology transfer and innovations that could benefit Malaysia’s economic growth and job creation,” said the company.

CGPV said it had complied with all laws and regulations with the necessary approvals to sell to foreign property buyers.

Well, I hope the developer is right. That it was just a misunderstanding.

Otherwise, we may likely be in trouble with not only the Chinese but also other potential investors.

You shouldn't say this today but say something else tomorrow.

People are going to be scared of you when you do that.

Meanwhile, down in Johor,

Exco: We're trying to 

make sense of PM's comments

Hmmm....that's understandable.

I wonder what the Johor palace, which has significant interest in the Forest City project has to say.

Somehow I suspect that another announcement will be made later to straighten things out....and the project will be all right.

You see, I was against those projects along the Tebrau Straits earlier than everyone else such as in this post on Sept 3 2014,

Meanwhile in Johor...the song remains the same

(you can check earlier similar posts in this blog's archive)

but I don't think shutting it down now is a good idea.

That's because there will be severe backlash if we do this now after it has already started.

If it has not started yet, then it's a different story.

I think even Dr Mahathir knows this.

So, see lah how.

For now we just relax.

After all, these days, words and promises don't really worth that much.

Tomorrow, they would say something else.

Just wait for things to really happen, okay.

A day at UiTM and what others may do to it

Been a busy weekend.

Spent the whole of yesterday at the UiTM main campus in Shah Alam.

Chauffeur duty for my cousin who registered for an English degree course at the university.

Not really a pleasant experience though.

The traffic jam within the campus was horrible and the registration process was also not very smooth.

I felt that the facilitators didn't do a really good job at managing the whole thing.

UiTM should do better on this next time.

They must do more to improve so that people don't say bad things about the university, such as when its graduates were being called slow learners which is not true.

Well, that aside, all the best to my cousin.

Hopefully she will enjoy her studies there and I'm quite sure she'll come out of it with better English than mine.

Honestly, my English is quite bad. and I don't want my cousin to end up like me.

But I also hope that my cousin would not end up like some of those pricks who think so superior of themselves just because their English is better than others'.

Having excellent command of English does not mean oneself is superior in everything, okay.

I don't believe that anyone should claim that he/she knows everything and being right all the time.

Let's say one's expertise is the English language, that does not mean he/she is also a political expert.

Being able to speak the language fluently doesn't mean that what were being said were right.

I always cringe whenever I met someone who think that he/she knows about everything, such as when people who never even lived or worked in my home state of Johor writing as if knowing everything about it.

But then again, this Malaysia Baru seems to be okay with that.

Look at this one they are going to have at Sunway University;

Yup, a white guy from a Singapore university is going to tell us how to have constitutional changes without changing the constitution.

It's being bandied as Malaysia Baru's prospects.

I guess such constitutional change to be recommended will affect bumiputera institutions such as UiTM, among others.

That's because one of the main complaints against our constitution is in regards to the bumiputera rights.

Whatever it is, I wonder if the guy had ever advised Singaporeans on how to improve their constitution...without changing it.

Sunway University.....I studied there for a while when it was still a college in PJ but quit because I felt it was not good enough.

Seriously, at that time, for the course that I took, I felt that UiTM's was better.

Let's revive the crooked bridge project

A friend forwarded this via WhatsApp early this morning;

“Dia (Tun Abdullah Badawi) akan bersara (sebagai Penasihat Petronas) kerana kita tidak memerlukan penasihat lagi. Penasihat kadang-kadang tidak memberi nasihat, jadi saya fikir kita membazirkan wang jika kita hanya membayar gaji kerana kita boleh memberikan wang itu kepada rakyat,” kata Perdana Menteri [1]

Sebagai rekod Dr Mahathir telah memegang jawatan Penasihat Petronas bermula akhir 2003 hingga awal Mac 2016. Sepanjang tempoh 13 tahun perkhidmatan beliau, rizab tunai Petronas telah bertambah dari RM37.178b (Oktober 2003) kepada RM120.731b (Disember 2015). Pertambahan sebanyak RM83.533 bilion atau purata RM6.42 bilion setahun. [2][3]

Pak Lah telah memegang jawatan Penasihat Petronas bermula 1 April 2016. Sepanjang tempoh hampir 2 tahun, rizab tunai Petronas telah meningkat daripada RM121.492b (Dec 2016) kepada RM164.7 bilion (Mac 2018). Pertambahan sebanyak RM43.2 bilion atau purata RM21.6 bilion setahun. [3][4]

Jadi memang benar. Bayar gaji Pak Lah sebagai Penasihat Petronas membazir. Bayar gaji Mahathir sebagai Penasihat Petronas berbaloi.

Memang jenis tak boleh tengok orang lagi hebat dari dia ke macammana?

Rujukan:

[1]
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/bahasa/2018/08/21/laporan-giliran-pak-lah-pula-digugur-sebagai-penasihat-petronas/)

[2] Laporan Kewangan Interim Petronas Q3 FY2003

[3] Laporan Kewangan Tahunan Petronas 2016

[4] Laporan Kewangan Interim Petronas Q1 FY2018


Honestly, I'm not really sure what I should comment on this.

Well, except maybe on the argument of how Pak Lah seems to be doing better than Dr Mahathir as Petronas adviser.

Ya, I do wonder what Pak Lah actually advised Petronas that it managed to accumulate better average cash reserve those two years than when Dr Mahathir was the adviser for 13 years.

Bear in mind that the oil and gas industry was suffering from weak global prices those two years.

Or is it because unlike Dr Mahathir,  Pak Lah really didn't advise Petronas on anything thus giving the clever people there better freedom to do their best for the national oil company.

Don't know lah. As someone sang "You say it best, when you say nothing at all" :)

Anyway, I think Dr Mahathir just wants what's best for Petronas.

You all know lah what he thinks of Pak Lah since he gave the premiership to the guy back then.

Pak Lah cancelled quite a bit of Dr Mahathir's initiatives at that time.

In fact, I was among those who were unhappy with Pak Lah over all that and was supporting Dr Mahathir's quest to oust him.

True enough, Pak Lah quit after BN's less than satisfying performance in the 2008 general election.

Of course, these were before Najib, who was much supported by Dr Mahathir became PM in 2009 and his eventual destruction, also by Dr Mahathir in the recent GE14.

Well, now Dr Mahathir is back as PM.

Come to think of it, since he is about to ensure Pak Lah's departure from Petronas, I do wonder if the handsome old man has plans to revive his initiatives which were cancelled by Pak Lah that many years ago.

Being a Johorean, the one that I really like to see being revived is this one;

Yup, the crooked bridge or scenic bridge, which ever way you want to call it.

If I remember it correctly, Pak Lah's decision to cancel the project was the final straw that made Dr Mahathir went against him.

It was also one of the main grouses he had with Najib as the guy refused to revive the project after replacing Pak Lah.

But of course that was before the full blown war between them and all the 1MDB accusations.

Well, never mind all that now.

I just want to see Dr Mahathir reviving the crooked bridge project which will enable the water of Tebrau Straits to flow again.

That's the main reason cited for the project. Currently, the water is blocked by the Causeway. It's stagnant and stinky.

I think I remember Dr Mahathir said back then that it can be done.

Really, I don't mind the Singaporeans getting irritated again over this one.

After all, it's jolly good fun having a bit of quarrel with my Singaporean cousins.

Just a bit, okay :)

Oh, this is the song about being a Petronas adviser, I guess;

Kluang girl and Dr Mahathir in a Proton

This is the story of the video

Meet the girl who opened 

and closed Dr M's window

excerpts;

According to a Sin Chew Daily report, Tan Shu Rin is a second-year Malaysian student in Shanghai's Fudan University, who is majoring in broadcasting.

The 21-year-old student, who hails from Kluang, is an intern with Nuance Communications.

Nuance is collaborating with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group to develop the voice command system, one of which would be used for the Malaysian market.

The report quoted Tan stating that she had practiced numerous times with the voice command prior to Mahathir's arrival.

She was also not sure if Mahathir would enter the vehicle she was in, as there were five others as well and was delighted when the premier picked hers.

What was not mentioned in the story was that Shu Rin is a graduate of Chung Hwa High School Kluang.

That's my mother's school. I'm sure she's proud of Shu Rin.

My mom was as pretty as Shu Rin when she was as young as her. She's still beautiful today, okay.

And like my mother, Shu Rin pronounces R properly. Proton, not Ploton.

Otherwise the car windows may not opened.

So, I'm okay with Chinese schools and their graduates. You all can check this blog's archive for that.

By the way, I believe Dr Mahathir must have quite a bit of fun during the visit to Geely's facilities.

As mentioned in the story, the handsome old man was not happy when Geely tied up with Proton back then.

He even said Proton is no longer a Malaysian national car.

Maybe he will change his mind after the visit to Geely.

Well, Dr Mahathir already said that he's now okay that Proton is working with Geely.

Maybe now we don't need to proceed with the third national car and another round of auto industry protectionism.

Seriously, I don't mind Dr Mahathir making a U-turn on this one.

Let's wait and see.

By the way, I'm just glad that it was Dr Mahathir who was with Shu Rin trying out the car....instead of Anwar.

I don't trust Anwar, okay.

Keeping promises is so overrated these days

So, tomorrow will be the 100th day of Pakatan's rule of Malaysia.

And these are from yesterday,

Wan Azizah says not all promises fulfilled,

 but no need for apologies

Mahathir now says Pakatan needs

 5 years to fulfill promises

Well, never mind.

That's quite normal these days.

I also have bad experience with promises.

Sometimes ago someone who once promised to be with me forever had a change of heart and decided that I'm not good enough for that promise.

Told me to accept, smile and be matured about it some more. Bloody painful that one but I did my best to do just that.

Guess, Malaysians need to accept the broken promises, smile and be matured too.

No?

Never mind.

Anyway, I think Pakatan people need to brace themselves for similar stuff from within their own coalition soon.

Also in the news yesterday;

Council of Eminent Persons to remain, 

PM says can't work alone

I believe this council is more powerful than the Cabinet and I suspect Dr Mahathir think its members are more clever and reliable than the whole bunch of Pakatan ministers.

I think Dr Mahathir knows that he can't really rely on his Cabinet if he is to continue to run the government.

After that news, I'm actually quite convinced now that Dr Mahathir will not relinquish the premiership to Anwar two years from now as promised.

I think Anwar already knew this.

After all, the guy spent seven years in jail for fighting Dr Mahathir.

So, the coming PKR elections will be crucial as he will make his first steps to prepare for the show down.

As I previously wrote about the

• Proxy war

he will try to get Rafizi as his deputy to replace Dr Mahathir's current blue eyed boy Azmin.

Then he will consolidate his grip on PKR which has the most parliamentary seats in Pakatan Harapan to challenge Dr Mahathir.

Anwar definitely will not sit back and says "Relax, Dr Mahathir already promised to give me the PM post in two years time. Dr Mahathir will surely keep his promise."

Well, considering the value of promises these days as exemplified by what happened to Pakatan's election manifesto, Anwar would be a fool to think that way.

I think even the most staunch Pakatan supporters would have to agree to this.

Personally, on this one, I hope Dr Mahathir will be consistent on his promises - that is he shouldn't keep it.

Not in this case, okay.

I believe Dr Mahathir handing over power to Anwar will be disastrous for the country.

Yes, Dr Mahathir must continue as PM till his last day.

Anwar and his gang may most likely stir up a lot of shit about it but if I'm Dr Mahathir, I would just say that it's just another broken promise, which is not a big deal these days - just like the election manifesto.

No need for apologies too, as Anwar's wife Wan Azizah said about not keeping promises.

Anyway, the handsome old man should learn from the past.

He should never have handed over power to Pak Lah or let Najib became the prime minister in the first place

Dr Mahathir should have continue as PM from then till now.

Yup, after the first 22 years, he should have just continued.

Then everyone would have been happy and we would achieve Vision 2020 as scheduled.

Oh ya, that way also there would not be all these pesky broken promises to irritate people like me.

Okay, now relax, here's a song;

Ugly big lies also never mind.

Pakatan's side of the tolls story

My friend, the homemaker who forwarded Najib's statement highlighted in my last post called just now to express her concerns over these sort of comments that I received;

Anonymous15 August 2018 at 06:21

Annie is quoting from a thief. Even Nazri is distancing himself from Najib, hahaha

"I think you should also publish statements from the Pakatan's side. Otherwise you'll be accused of being bias," she said.

Well, honestly, I don't really give much of a shit over such comments. Got used to them already.

But still, to allay my friend's concerns, here's Tony Pua on BN's shenanigans and how Pakatan is going to get rid of the tolls in the country;

Okay or not?

I'm fair, right?

Yup, Tony Pua said it's easy peasy to get rid of the tolls and Pakatan is going to do it.

The guy is now at Finance Ministry helping Guan Eng doing I don't know what.

But of course, this is what happened,

Plans to abolish tolls postponed indefinitely 

Does it matter?

I don't think so.

That's because I also got these sort of comments about Tony Pua's brilliant tolls abolishment plan,

Anonymous15 August 2018 at 16:44

Even if he lied also never mind lah, as long as the lies can lead to the defeat of BN, it is a legitimate lie.

Hmmm....legitimate lie.

Well, whatever lah.

As my Japanese friend said to me on the night of Pakatan's GE14 victory,

"You all are amazing."

Hahaha.

Never mind.

Okay, since this is actually a continuation of my last post

Who is the liar and learning to use English from the Japanese

here is another video of that funny Englishman in Japan,

At least the guy's videos are more entertaining than Tony Pua's bullshit.

Cheers.

Who is the liar and learning to use English from the Japanese

My friend who is a homemaker forwarded to me this FB posting by Najib just now :

Sejurus selepas saya dilantik sebagai Menteri Kewangan pada Oktober 2008, saya telah menukar status Akta Rahsia Rasmi (OSA)  supaya tidak lagi termaktub dibawah akta berkenaan. Akibat itu, semua perjanjian konsesi-konsesi tol jalanraya boleh disemak oleh orang-ramai.

Tidak lama selepas itu, kerajaan saya telah mengumumkan bahawa untuk menghapuskan kesemua konsesi tol jalanraya di negara ini memerlukan kos  RM231 bilion.

Tetapi, pada masa itu pemimpin DAP - Tony Pua menuduh kita sebagai penipu. Menurutnya, berdasarkan perkiraan dibuatnya, ia hanya melibatkan kos RM25 bilion sahaja, dan bukan RM231 bilion sebagaimana yang kita dedahkan.

Semalam, Menteri Kerja Raya dari kerajaan Pakatan memberitahu parlimen bahawa adalah sangat sukar untuk menghapuskan semua tol seperti yang dijanjikan kerana kos untuk berbuat demikian ialah sebanyak RM400 bilion - jauh lebih tinggi dari apa yang telah kerajaan BN umumkan dahulu.

Oleh itu, saya mencadang kerajaan Pakatan seharusnya menugaskan Tony Pua dalam usaha menghapuskan semua tol jalanraya bagi menepati antara janji utama manifesto PRU14 mereka.

Saya percaya bahawa Tony Pua dan DAP bukan penipu dan pengiraan mereka yang jauh lebih murah adalah tepat - bukan hanya dibuat untuk menipu undi rakyat dan tidak mungkin DAP selalu salah titik perpuluhan

Sekarang, saya juga pengguna jalanraya yang membayar tol. Oleh itu, saya juga turut gembira jika semua tol dihapuskan sebagaimana janji manifesto Pakatan Harapan. Apatah lagi, syarikat konsesi-konsesi tol berkenaan bukan kroni mahupun rakan-rakan saya tetapi mereka adalah dari era seorang perdana menteri sebelum saya.

Ketika saya menjadi PM, saya berterusan berusaha untuk menghapuskan banyak plaza tol di seluruh negara dan pada tempoh ini, malah tidak ada satu tol lebuhraya pun yang dimiliki oleh syarikat kerajaan bersama KWSP, PLUS Highways Berhad menaikkan kadar tol walaupun sekali.

Tetapi, harus diketahui bahawa kerajaan saya juga menghadapi kesukaran ketika itu untuk tidak membenarkan tol dimiliki pihak swasta dari menaikkan kadar tol kerana terikat dengan perjanjian konsesi yang dirunding dan dimeterai semasa Tun Dr Mahathir adalah Perdana Menteri ke-4.


My friend then asked me - How? Who is the liar here?

Well, I told her I'm not sure.

Najib said in 2008 the cost of getting rid of the tolls was RM231 billion but the Oxford (or is it Cambridge) guy Tony Pua at that time said Najib was lying because according to his calculation the cost was just RM25 billion.

So, Pakatan Harapan put it in their GE14 manifesto that they will get rid of the tolls.,,,among other sweet promises.

Now that they had won, they said the cost of removing the tolls is RM400 billion.

So how?

Really, I'm not sure who is the liar now, but one thing for sure, the tolls are most likely going to stay.

So much for election manifesto.

Well, whatever lah.

Life goes on, right.

My only complaint this time is that, why la Najib nowadays keeps writing in Bahasa Malaysia.

Difficult for high class people and the Attorney General to understand, okay.

Write la in English.

Najib doesn't know ka we are now

Towards better English in Malaysia

Yup, I'm actually more interested in this matter.

And this time I want to recommend for us to apply the rebooted Look East Policy to improve our usage of English.

Seriously, the Japanese have the best way in applying their mastery of the English language.

Watch this video by an Englishman who teaches English in Japan,

Yup, Japanese are the best, even when it comes to English.

They know how to use the language to make money.

Hey, really, okay.

That's why I don't really give a shit when people said my English is bad.

Like the Japanese, I put it to good use no matter what.

I use it to write this blog and you all read it. Probably became more clever and entertained some more :)

By the way, my best Japanese friend speaks bloody good English, okay. He got a PhD from a UK university.

I'm planning to see him in Tokyo this autumn. Kinda miss the guy.

Hopefully I can get leave to go there.

Okay, that's all.

Ciao.

Towards better English in Malaysia

This is interesting,

Malaysian police officers to use English
with immediate effect, 
following Dr Mahathir's directive

That's as reported by a Singaporean publication.

Well, that's good I think.

I always wish our cops could speak better English.

You know lah, in Malaysia many people could speak perfect English but can't speak Bahasa Malaysia very well.

Like our Attorney-General.

So, it's better to have policemen speaking the same language as our prosecutors.

They want to saman people who drive fast Mercedes also easier.

Rich people normally prefer to speak in English.

More standard.

Yup, I think this is a good move.

Maybe we should extend the same thing to the entire civil service.

The armed forces too.

Defence Minister Mat Sabu needs to brush up his English too lah ya.

As it is, some people refused to learn the national language because they don't think it's classy enough to speak it.

So, better to just use English.

Broken English a bit like mine also can do one.

Still better than Bahasa Malaysia, I think.

Come to think of it, maybe we could even have our parliament sessions in English too.

Like in Sarawak.

Better what.

Better la than this,

Better broken English than broken Bahasa Malaysia, okay.

Please leave Tabung Haji and the pilgrims in peace

Someone forwarded me these earlier today,

Then I checked what's going on and it turned out that Tabung Haji was coming under attack again.

What la these people....

Come on la. How can Tabung Haji came out with such a statement if it's not true?

It involves the Saudi Arabian authorities for heaven's sake.

And above that, this is about people going to the "rumah Allah".

Surely Tabung Haji won't dare to lie about such things.

Surely Tabung Haji won't dare to victimise those "tetamu Allah".

Can't these people even see that?

As I said in this previous post last month,

• Tabung Haji is okay la

I don't know why it became everyone's favourite punching bag.

Before this, the pro-PH people whacked it for all kind of nonsense, now the pro-BN people pulak.

Can't these people give Tabung Haji a break, especially now that it is doing its best to serve the pilgrims of this haj season?

If Tabung Haji can't assist certain pilgrims because the Saudi Arabian government wants to be responsible for those people, how can it be blamed for the whole thing?

Be considerate lah, okay.

Don't la simply turn everything into an issue.

Sometimes I felt that these critics of Tabung Haji have their own agenda and they are whacking it not really because of their concern for the pilgrims' welfare.

And then, like the last time when they said Tabung Haji had not provided accommodation for the departing pilgrims, they even put quite a bit of politics into it.

That dragged some unnecessary statements from Umno leaders which were not factually correct and made them looked not very clever.

It's the same problem with Umno and BN in the run up to their GE14 disaster - people using their platform to serve personal agenda, making them look bad in the eyes of the people.

I hope Umno leaders will check properly first before making statements such as these concerning Tabung Haji.

Don't be too eager whacking people just to make PH looks bad.

Seriously guys, it instead makes you yourselves look bad for complaining about the wrong things.

Furthermore, Tabung Haji has never even been political as it serves all Muslims in this country equally when it comes to managing their pilgrimage to the holy land.

Yes, that's even when Umno and BN were still in power.

So, please la, let the Tabung Haji people work in peace managing our pilgrims over there in the holy land.

They really can do without these sorts of nonsense, okay.

Peace.

Accuse first, investigate later - the New Malaysia way?

The other day Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng accused the former BN government of stealing the collected GST money.

Some over RM18 billion or something.

He didn't give details of the alleged stealing.

He just simply said it.

And this accusation immediately became a mantra for some.

So typical.

So, it's good that

Tok Pa said the government

 must launch immediate probe

excerpts;

“As this affects the image of the previous government and the civil service, and because it involves public interest, an internal investigation must be initiated immediately. It must be completed within a week.

“As a responsible government, the results of this internal investigation must then be presented to the public.

“In the spirit of transparency and reforms that the government has pledged to uphold, and also to be fair to all, this matter must also be referred to the Public Accounts Committee,” wrote Mustapa on his Twitter account.

KJ went a step further;

It seems the people of former BN government were very confident about this.

Let's see what will happen.

Maybe this time Guan Eng will learn not to simply hantam to make his political enemies look bad.

The fact that he made the accusation without providing details was bad enough.

Guan Eng, people investigate first before making accusations. Not the other way around.

Or is that the way of New Malaysia?

A Malay story

I'm a bit busy today.

No time to write properly.

So, today you all watch la this less than 20 minutes documentary I found last night;

Maybe you all will learn something from it.

Okay, need to get back to work now.

Cheers.

Better trains than cars

So, Rafizi said

Third national car is against 

wishes of the rakyat 

I wrote earlier about it and stated that it's

• Dr Mahathir's worst idea so far

Quite scary - Rafizi has the same thought as me about something.

But then again, Rafizi was likely saying that because he's part of a

Proxy war

He needs to make Dr Mahathir looks bad.

If his side wins that one, he may even be a PM one day.

Well. unlike him, I disagree with Dr Mahathir on the new national car project simply because I think it's a bad idea.

That's all.

I got no vested interest whatsoever in the matter.

I do support our national car initiative but I think having Proton and Produa is good enough for us.

No need for a third one.

We really shouldn't waste more money, effort and what else on it.

In case you all are wondering, I had bought three Proton cars in the past - a Wira, a Preve and an Iriz.

Dr Mahathir driving an Iriz. Good car.

Yup, I'm not just saying it, okay. I really do support our national car initiative.

Just that I disagree with this idea of a new one.

 But then again, that's just me and my opinion.

I'm quite sure Dr Mahathir will push the third national car project forward and by 2020 we are going to have it.

The handsome old man is like that. He wouldn't stop until he gets what he wanted.

Furthermore, if he can get the rakyat to dump BN, surely he will get them to support the new national car project too.

Rafizi and his camp should remember that.

Anyway, it was said that the Japanese will help us with it.

Well, let's just wait and see.

Honestly, I prefer if we can get the Japanese to help us improve our public transport system.

I think it's so much better if we can have more of the MRT and LRT systems.

Maybe the Japanese can help us make trains instead of cars.

I think that's a better idea.

Don't know lah.

Hopefully the whole thing would not turn out too bad.

Blue jeans and bumiputera products

Went shopping a bit at a mall just now with my friend and her son.

Bought myself a pair of blue Levis for RM225. Paid an extra RM15 for a special cut to fix the length.

The last time I bought a Levis was in 2008 at City Square in JB. If I'm not mistaken it only cost me RM160 at that time.

Well, inflation, I guess.

Better not say anything about GST or SST.  Don't want people to say I'm politicising my jeans :)

I have to buy this new pair because one of my jeans is so worn out that I can't wear it to office anymore. That one is over six years old.

It's my personal policy to have only two pairs of presentable jeans at any one time.

Simply la.

I also bought this skin care product,

Actually, I'm not sure what it is except that the salesman pleaded for me to buy it.

Said it could make my skin clearer or fairer or something.

Sorts of a scrub, I guess.

It's made of avocado, hibiscus, honey, olive oil and I don't know what else.

Said it's a bumiputra product, produced in Batu Caves.

Batu Caves beauty product sounds a bit weird.

Still, one pack of three tubes for RM60. The guy gave me an extra tube for free.

I'm a sucker for these sorts of bumiputera products.

I simply didn't have the heart not to buy from the guy as he seemed desperate to get someone to buy the stuff.

See lah how.

I'm going to scrub the stuff on my face for a few days and see how it turns.

If I suddenly become so pretty, I'll continue with it.

Otherwise I'll just throw the whole thing away.

Just going to consider the purchase as sedekah for the salesman and his family.

Okay, that's all for today.

It's so bloody hot out there.

I can't write much in this kind of weather.

Here enjoy this delightful Circassian knife dance instead, okay.

Ciao.

Proxy war

This coming Azmin-Rafizi fight for PKR number two post should be the most crucial battle to determine Malaysia's post-GE14 leadership.

The way I see it, it's a proxy war between Anwar and Dr Mahathir with the ultimate goal being the position of PM and head of PH.

Anwar's Rafizi, Dr Mahathir's Azmin.

Of course, they said these,

Anwar rubbishes speculation 
Dr Mahathir using Azmin to undermine him

Azmin denies there are two factions in PKR

But everyone knows, okay.

Relax la.

It's normal for this sorts of fight in a political party and the ensuing palace intrigues along the corridors of power.

They are all the same.

I wrote this on Jan 9, which is quite a while before Azmin became the obvious favourite of Dr Mahathir after PH's GE14 victory,

PKR's palace intrigues - knives

 out for Azmin

Okay, for this fight I have to admit that I'm siding with Azmin.

The Dr Mahathir-Azmin tag team is better than the Anwar-Rafizi one, which I think is so creepy.

But then again, Azmin will be fighting for his political life.

Rafizi will definitely be backed by Anwar, who is almost certain to be the new PKR president.

It would be quite awkward once Rafizi defeated Azmin as the latter will be without an important party post despite being arguably the second most powerful person in government after Dr Mahathir.

I think once that happened Anwar and his team will start chipping away at Dr Mahathir's base to force him to hand over power as promised within the next two years.

Azmin is actually Dr Mahathir's best hope for his New Malaysia.

Yup, I think he even prefer Azmin than Mukhriz to lead the country.

In fact, I even believe that Dr Mahathir is hoping that Azmin will be there to protect Mukhriz and his whole family once he is no longer in charge.

I don't think he trust that Anwar will continue to play it nice if the guy ever becomes the PM.

After all, Anwar spent seven years in jail because of him.

I doubt that Anwar and his family have ever really forgive Dr Mahathir for inflicting such pain and humiliation on them that many years ago.

Of course, they are keeping it all in, at least until they have the real power to act on it.

This Rafizi-Azmin fight would be the first real step towards that.

Once Azmin is out of the way, Anwar and his camp will solidify power in PKR, which is the PH party with the most number of parliamentary seats.

Then they can have their real march to Putrajaya.

p.s ; I wrote this not long after GE14, maybe you all would like to read it again.

Rafizi being a smart aleck 

- stupidity or planned?

Farewell Melody

Melody died this morning.

She was at least 13 years old.

My friend said she died peacefully after a brief illness.

Most probably of old age.

I'm going to miss her.

I will always remember her barking at me whenever she saw me as I visited my friend at her home.

My friend bought her from a pet shop 13 years ago when she was told that no one seemed interested to take Melody home.

My friend loves her dogs.

She now still have Melody's three surviving offsprings.

She said Melody's cremation will cost her RM500.

It only costs her RM400 when one of Melody's offsprings died two years ago.

Guess the currently zero-rated GST was of no help in this case.

The cost will probably go up again when SST is implemented next month.

Well, such is the price of love.