Land hanky panky in Melaka

This is an interesting story at the Edge Financial Daily today

SD Plantation claims palace was used in Merlimau land deal

excerpts;

Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (SDP) has filed a judicial review application to stop the compulsory acquisition of its 75ha land in Merlimau, Melaka, by a Taiwan-controlled company that claimed it was acting in the interest of the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Muhammad V, to compel it to sell the land at a below market value price of RM35.282 million.

Also important to note

excerpts;

In the application sighted by The Edge Financial Daily, SDP claimed it had written to Melaka Chief Minister Adly Zahari several times — specifically on Oct 29, Nov 13, and March 25 this year — to appeal against the state-compelled acquisition. But there has been no reply from Adly’s office.

Hence, SDP said it was forced to file the application to the Melaka High Court yesterday, in the hope of gaining leave (permission) for the full merits of its application to be heard, with the aim of quashing the acquisition.

Actually, I've been alerted of this matter quite a while back.

Someone forwarded this to me on March 27, that was before SDP proceeded with the judicial review application;

At the land hearing this morning, the Land Administrator, Reduan Yap Abdullah, informed that the land acquisition will proceed as scheduled as he had received instructions from CM Melaka office. 

The SDP legal team intervened by tendering letters sent to PM and CM, requesting for the hearing to be put on hold until they get a reply. 

An official from GI A Resources interjected saying that he also has instructions to proceed and Land Administrator (LA) to issue the award. 

The SDP team then objected on the grounds that the LA would be too hasty to proceed with the award without taking into consideration PNB's interest. 

They also showed alternative sites for possible replacement but the GI A Resources representative said he will agree to such replacement at the Govt value of rm 3.59 psf and not SDP's rate of rm 8 psf. He also disagreed to have to tender for the replacement land. 

The SDP team then pointed out to the LA that the Gazette to acquire will only expire in September 2020 and there's no need to rush. 

The company's representative interjected that it had deposited RM 29 mil since 2017 and cannot wait any longer.

Representatives from Jasin Municipal Council then explained the site selection was because of its strategic location for planned mix development.

The SDP team argued that the replacement lands offered are equally strategic and can cater for what is planned. They also mentioned that there's a heritage house and 4 other bungalows on the land marked for acquisition.

The LA then asked for SDP's valuation report and received it at rm 65 million and bungalows at 5 million plus. 

The Govt however valued the land and building at rm 35 mil and the LA said the award is final.


I was informed that the company had tried to do the same previously but was not entertained by the then BN State government.

This time, they seemed to be getting it their way with the Pakatan State government.

As for the Sultan of Kelantan's involvement, my sources said his name was "used" by his former aides.

My sources, in discussing the case, repeatedly mentioned two names they said were close to Melaka Chief Minister Adly Zahari, his senior private secretary Datuk Mariam Illias and a personal assistant by the name of Ashraf.

So much for Amanah

Actually, SDP was first informed about the "forced" land acquisition in September last year, whereby they managed to get a meeting with the Melaka CM Adly to discuss the matter.

Their second meeting was held in January where Adly told the SDP team that the state government had already received RM29 million from the investor and in fact had used it. He therefore can't stop the aquisition process.

This is wrong because the money is actually for paying up the land owner (SDP) if the deal goes through.

My sources said in that 2nd meeting, Adly told the SDP team to discuss with the developer and that the aquisition process will not proceed until an amicable deal can be struck. This however was not how it happened later.

SDP CEO TS Bakke Salleh had then wrote to PM, Dr Mahathir on the matter but nothing came out of it.

Well, that's quite troublesome, right?

MACC should go down to Melaka and check it out.

It's such a hanky panky. Talk so much about eradicating corruption and these sort of things happened.

And while they are at it, MACC should also check on a minister who recently requested 300acres of land from SDP for a SOCSO building. Why does he needs so much land just for a building?

Crazy la these people.

I got a few more of these things, but I think I should save it for later.

Ciao.

The momentum continues

I'm now in Kuantan.

Just resting.

This is from last night in Kuantan,

Quite a lot of people at the gathering.

I put that video of the event here because there's not much coverage of it in the mainstream media.

Media needs to be balanced, right? Malaysia Baru....

Okay, that's all for this one.

Cheers.

The Johor headache of Dr Mahathir

At this post on April 16

• Johor blitzkrieg

I asked these questions

excerpts;

- Why no one send the MB candidate name/names to the Johor palace? Remember, Muhyiddin did so after the general election last year. Why was the convention broken?

- Why did the Johor palace immediately accept Dr Sahruddin as the new MB? It was all so smooth and in fact very quickly done. If it's a war, I would like to call it the Johor blitzkrieg. Very brilliant, actually. Also bear in mind that the palace insisted that the new MB will be loyal to Johor.

- Why was Osman Sapian not distressed by much after he was removed from his MB post? Really. The guy went on almost as usual after Dr Mahathir announced his resignation. As a friend at Kota Iskandar said to me "MB selamba rock je".

- Who is Dr Sahruddin in Johor Pribumi Bersatu? Which camp does he belongs to? Who is his mentor? Who quarreled with Muhyiddin to get him fielded in Bukit Kepong during GE14? Why do the Johor DAP people like him?

At the end of the post, I asked you all to

excerpts;

Watch out for what's going to happen to Mazlan Bujang in the coming Johor exco reshuffle.

Well, the young and idealistic Mazlan was dropped from the exco line-up and I think you all now know the answers to all my questions.

These are FMT reports over the past 48 hours,

Tense PPBM meeting over Johor 

exco line-up ends with solidarity for Dr M

excerpts;

The meeting, which a source describes as “very heated and tense”, was called at short notice on the back of concerns that the new line-up was never approved by PPBM.

They also demanded newly appointed Johor Menteri Besar Dr Sahruddin Jamal to explain why he ignored a decision “made at the very top” that there was no need for a reshuffle of the state line-up.

“But the MB went ahead with the reshuffle although he was informed of the Cabinet stand during his meeting with the prime minister prior to his swearing-in,” the source said.

FMT has also learnt that Sahruddin’s action was heavily criticised by Mahathir.

The source said many had during the meeting questioned the move to “kowtow to invisible hands” in the selection of the Johor exco line-up.

Exco line-up snub upsets Dr M 

after open spat with Johor palace

excerpts;

A source said Sahruddin was not the only leader who upset Mahathir, especially as the prime minister is involved in a sensitive spat with the palace over who calls the shots in matters of state governance in Johor, a state that has long grappled with jurisdictional issues involving the palace.

The spat came on the heels of the Johor palace’s vocal opposition to Putrajaya’s move to ratify the Rome Statute, over claims that the treaty could harm the royal institution.

Mahathir was forced to withdraw from the treaty. Several public remarks followed, jogging Malaysians’ memory of the 1993 constitutional crisis that ended with the Malay rulers losing their immunity from criminal charges.

The prime minister later lamented how the amendment was not fully utilised to strengthen democracy and justice, pointing out that the special court had hardly been used since.

That, and the latest snub from one or two of his trusted men in the PPBM leadership over the Johor episode, must have upset the 94-year-old leader.

Meanwhile, it's quite clear from his latest blog posting that Dr Mahathir is indeed unhappy as far as this Johor matter is concerned;

THE MALAYSIAN CONSTITUTION

and his main media man Datuk Kadir Jasin had been even less subtle about it to a point of suggesting that we learn

Mr Patel’s Lesson in Handling the Royals 

Personally, I prefer the Malays' way of handling relations with the Raja-Raja Melayu such as in this instance which led to our country's independence;

Kebangkitan Orang Tujuh Muar – 

Langkah Jebat Menentang Malayan Union

Orang Melayu itu tidak kurang ajar sifatnya.

That's what my father used to say to me.

Whatever it is, as I always wrote in this blog, handling Johor is not easy.

That's why I always admire former Johor MB TS Abdul Ghani Othman for managing the state well for 18 years.

His successors have not been doing very well....including the new one, I believe.

I sincerely pity Dr Mahathir for having to manage the nonsense at his advanced age.

I'm wishing him all the best.

Truth will prevail, one way or another

This is an interesting development of the Adib inquest,

Pakar forensik saksi inkues Adib buat 

laporan polis dakwa diugut saksi lain

excerpts;

Dalam satu laporan polis yang dilihat MalaysiaGazette, salah seorang pakar forensik mendakwa seorang lagi saksi pakar telah cuba meyakinkannya serta seorang lagi saksi lain untuk menandatangani surat persetujuan bahawa kecederaan di dada kanan dan di lengan atas, sebelah kanan Adib, berpunca daripada pintu kiri kenderaan EMRS.

“Saya membuat laporan ini kerana beliau telah cuba pujuk dan yakinkan saya dan Dr XX, di luar prosiding mahkamah, untuk bersetuju mengesahkan kecederaan di dada kanan dan lengan atas kanan berpunca dari pintu kiri kenderaan EMRS.

“Selain itu saya merasa tidak berpuas hati dengan kata-kata beliau “jika tidak bersetuju either you going down or i’m going down…,” menurut laporan terbabit.

Since this had been confirmed by police, I think it's really bad.

The three forensic experts called up at the inquest are Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi, Datuk Dr Md Shah Mahmood and Prof Shahrom Wahid.

What did they say at the inquest?

Prof Shahrom -

Fireman semi-conscious when pulled from EMRS van

Dr Md Shah -

 Adib’s injuries highly unusual

Dr Ahmad Hafizam -

Adib was not pulled out of van

Based on what they said at the inquest, I think I know who are the two who made the police reports and who is the one allegedly had threatened those two.

This reminds me of this story;

Nurse apologises for FB post

excerpts;
Siti Syafika Amira had in her FB account under the name “Cik Miera” posted her opinion that the fireman's death was not caused by an accident but was due to assault. However the comment was subsequently deleted.

The nurse, who was the 25th witness to testify, also apologised to the doctor who she had referred to in the comment.

I wonder whether she was pressured to retract her posting and apologise, just like those two experts who lodged their police reports. I tend to believe that she was pressured, This is the story before the nurse did so,

Injuries not from assault, reiterates forensics expert

I have actually given up on the inquest to deliver justice for Adib and his loved ones after those earlier nonsense.

I still don't expect anything from it even after the police reports by the experts. For me, that was just a way by Allah to show us what truly happened despite all the lies and manipulations to make us believe otherwise.

As I posted previously, now I just pray that

Allah will give justice to Adib and his loved ones

Really, nowadays I just hope for Allah's justice.

I feel no anger anymore over what happened to Adib as I have accepted it as being fated.

Now the most that I feel over the whole thing is contempt for those who caused his death and people who tried to cook up excuses for what they did to Adib.

Meal with a pork-eating friend

I ate here the other day

because my friend wanted to eat this

I'm okay with it because I'm used to eating with my friends who were having pork.

After all, there was this Malay guy who was selling nasi lemak in front of the restaurant.  The guy's customers may use different sets of plates, forks and spoons because of the halal requirements.

There were all sort of sambal to go with the nasi lemak. I took sambal kerang.

Really nice.

Okay, the Coke was a bit out of place. But I really was feeling like having it at that time.

Sorry guys, I was really busy the past few days and had no time to keep up with current issues, thus this inconsequential post.

I'll write on something more worthwhile later after I have checked out what's been happening. Maybe tomorrow.

Cheers.

MRT more important than ECRL, HSR

It was recently reported that

Malaysia wants to improve existing rail services, network

excerpts;

Prime Minister (PM) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia’s priority presently is not to build a high-speed train network, but to improve the quality of existing railway services.

The PM said it is not worthwhile to have an HSR for short journeys, but instead may consider such super fast train to operate from Johor Baru to Penang or even the Thai border.

“We will not build the high-speed train yet, but we want to improve the quality of services in our railway system, and that has been done to some extent, by double-tracking and electrification,” he said at a question-and-answer session after delivering his speech at Technomart Rail 2019 

Okay, fine, no KL-Singapore Shinkansen for us anytime soon.

That despite

KL - Singapore being world's busiest 

international flight route

I believe a bullet train between the two cities would likely be profitable as well as good for the environment as a lot of jet fuel could be saved if we can cut down the number of flights.

What to do. The current government prefers to revive the ECRL instead.

I do wonder why though, because the suspension of both projects cost lots of money.

Maybe the government was trying to salvage our relations with China, which is the main player of the ECRL project. That's after all that talks about the previous government trying to sell the country to Beijing.

Whatever it is, I think the Japanese may not be very happy about this because at one time I believe they almost got the HSR project. Especially after they gave us the samurai debt and other nice gestures.

Personally, I prefer the HSR over the ECRL because it would make my trips to Singapore much easier.

I'm actually not all that excited about the ECRL project since it was first conceived because I can't see much urgent need for it.

In fact, I would have much preferred for the government to revive the next phase of the MRT project rather than the ECRL

I took this picture on the MRT about 6.15pm yesterday,

Quite packed. Almost like in Japan.

I believe the LRT units are even more crowded these days, especially during rush hour.

Hopefully, the government will one day consider improving the rail transport in Klang Valley as being more urgent as it serves mainly the common people.

But then again maybe reviving projects like ECRL would open up more business opportunities for "certain people" unlike MRT or HSR.

Well, never mind.

Maybe we will have to wait till the end of this term before we can get better public transport in the Klang Valley.

Johor blitzkrieg

Someone complained that I was just scratching the surface with my last post

• New Johor MB....again

The guy insisted,

"Why so cautious? Tell me, who actually won the spat? Why you said you don't have good feeling about this new MB?"

Hmmm....so troublesome.

Okay, ask yourselves these;

- Why no one send the MB candidate name/names to the Johor palace? Remember, Muhyiddin did so after the general election last year. Why was the convention broken?

Muhyiddin having an audience with Sultan Ibrahim at the Istana Pasir Pelangi in Johor Baru on May 11 last year to present names of Pakatan's candidates for the MB post. 

- Why did the Johor palace immediately accept Dr Sahruddin as the new MB? It was all so smooth and in fact very quickly done. If it's a war, I would like to call it the Johor blitzkrieg. Very brilliant, actually. Also bear in mind that the palace insisted that the new MB will be loyal to Johor.

- Why was Osman Sapian not distressed by much after he was removed from his MB post? Really. The guy went on almost as usual after Dr Mahathir announced his resignation. As a friend at Kota Iskandar said to me "MB selamba rock je".

- Who is Dr Sahruddin in Johor Pribumi Bersatu? Which camp does he belongs to? Who is his mentor? Who quarreled with Muhyiddin to get him fielded in Bukit Kepong during GE14? Why do the Johor DAP people like him?

I have the answers but if they come from me, you all will not be happy and accuse me of being an Umno cybertrooper and what not.

So, you all go and find out yourselves. Ask around la.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, I believe it's going to be business as usual in Johor.

I know, I know....I'm no longer based in Johor, thus not good enough to tell stories about Johor.

Just wait la another year. See whether I got it right again as I did last year about Osman Sapian.

Yup, and Dr Mahathir may no longer be PM at that time next year to get Johor a new MB.

I don't think Anwar will really bother.

Okay, that's all for this time.

Cheers.

p.s  Watch out for what's going to happen to Mazlan Bujang in the coming Johor exco reshuffle.

New Johor MB....again

When a friend asked me yesterday what I think of the new Johor MB, Dr Sahruddin Jamal, I can't help but to blurt this out;

"Another one term MB, the most."

Why?

Well, actually the guy is not even going to be a one term MB because he took over from Osman Sapian in mid-term.

But never mind that as I just want to emphasis my belief that he's not likely going to survive another election at his constituency of Bukit Kepong.

This is the result of Bukit Kepong state constituency during the 14th general election last year ;

Sahruddin Jamal (PH - PPBM)

40.2%(11,665)

Mohd Noor Taib (BN - UMNO)

35.8%(10,392)

Muhamad Nur Iqbal Abd Razak (PAS)

6.1%(1,761)

Demographics

Malay 69.17%; Chinese 26.9%; Indian 3.12%; B/P Sabah 0.02%; B/P Sarawak 0.03%; Orang Asli (Pen. Msia) 0.61%; Others 0.14%

With BN, in particular Umno on the march again now, combined with their cooperation with Pas, constituencies such as Bukit Kepong, with almost 70 per cent Malay voters, are almost certain not going to be safe places for Pakatan candidates.

If BN had combined with Pas last year in Bukit Kepong the way they are now, Dr Sharuddin would not have won his seat.

Well, maybe Pakatan will move Dr Sahruddin to a Chinese majority area for the next election to save their MB.

Yup, that's despite him being a Pribumi Bersatu guy, who is supposed to win over the Malays.

But that's all in the future.

As for now, Dr Sahruddin needs to survive as MB longer than Osman Sapian's 11 months.

Otherwise, it's going to be super difficult for the current Johor Pakatan establishment.

Actually, I don't know much about the guy except for what I was told by my sources in JB.

They told me that he's rather quiet, blur blur a bit but seemed to be enthusiastic about his work.

He was said to have done well in managing the Sungai Kim Kim issue, particularly in communicating with the stakeholders on what were being done to handle the issue.

The guy is a doctor who used to run a GP clinic....you know, the type where you go to if you are not feeling very well and need an MC. He's a graduate of some sort of a university in Indonesia.....errr, are doctors from Indonesia any good? Maybe they are.

Still, overall, the guy sounds decent enough to me.

But then again, to be a Johor MB, being just decent may not be good enough.

One must have a vision of what should be done to further improve the state and at the same time command the respect of all quarters in Johor.

I'm not sure if this Dr Sahruddin, at 43 have enough experience and clout for all that.

Even the sacked Osman Sapian has three terms as state assemblyman before becoming MB. And he is quite senior compared to the other Pakatan leaders in Johor.

And of course there's that big question of whether this new MB can manage the difficult relations of Kota Iskandar-Johor Palace-Putrajaya.

Honestly, I don't envy this Dr Sahruddin. Trust me, this is going to be the most difficult one for the guy.

He may ends up being squished in the middle.

But then again, who knows, the guy may prove himself to be a superman....mild mannered doctor in daytime, superhero at night.....something like that.

Of course Dr Mahathir has another option - he can turn the Johor MB post into a disposable MB post. He can change the guy less than a year from now like Osman if the young doctor fails to satisfy him.

The same with the next one. I think Pribumi Bersatu have enough assemblymen in Johor for that till the next general election.

Oh, by the way, in case you all forget, I was right when I wrote this a day after the general election last year,

Osman Sapian is the leading Johor MB candidate

excerpts;

Osman, who won in Kempas is not going to be a good Johor MB.

Really.

If you all don't believe me, please double check with others who know Johor politics.

Obviously, they didn't bother to check and ended up taking almost a year to realise it. Sigh.

Well, I actually have a bad feeling about this new MB too, but I rather let it be.

I'm not going to give free advice to Pakatan on this matter anymore. Wasting time only.

What went wrong with Pakatan in Rantau...among others

- Being racist,

The Star translated excerpts of Kulasegaran's speech to English;

Kula mulls legal action after accused of playing race card during ceramah

excerpts 1,

"If not how can I show my face? If this Saturday my own race and community...This is for Streram who is from our own race. We are all of the same race, same blood, so what will happen if we do not support our own race.

"If not what can we do in Cabinet? They will say what la the one contesting is him (Mohamad Hasan) and is from a different race and religion but the Tamils voted for him. Think about it," Kulasegaran said.

excerpts 2,

"How many times I have come to Rantau, here there are many Chinese and Malay restaurants but I don't eat there but I go to an Indian restaurant. This is because this is our own race, so you need to think about what I have said," he said.


- Being arrogant

I don't think Umno people had ever done this even when they were in power.

There goes votes of policemen and their family for Pakatan.


- Being stupid gangster

And that among themselves.


- Being bulu-bulu

They really should have fielded a better candidate.


- Being too much of a hypocrite and dancing too much

Aisey Anwar, at least get la a lady to dance with you....or a better looking guy.

D-Day in Rantau - BN wins

UPDATES

Well,

BN wins convincingly in Rantau

Yes, BN won at 13 of the 14 PDMs (voting centers).

The only place where PH won was at Bandar Ekar.

This is BN's third consecutive victory after Cameron Highlands and Semenyih. A clear sign that the tide is really turning.

Congratulations to BN and Mat Hasan in particular.

I'm quite sure there will be more all the way to the next general election.

Meanwhile,

ORIGINAL POST

I arrived in Rantau a bit late today.

Traffic jam everywhere.

The GPS told me to go through an alternative route exiting the Elite Highway at KLIA and I have to go through a winding trunk road to Lukut. From there it was another 20 minutes to Rantau.

When I arrived at the outskirts of Rantau town just before noon, the road was choked with vehicles.

Stopped at a warung for lunch before taking a walk around Rantau town.

Everything was fine and the polling process seemed smooth as I observed at Sek Keb Datuk Akhir Zaman.

I rested for a while at the MCA operation centre as it was very hot at that time. This time I have a bottle of 100 Plus. I even bought some very sweet "Indian candy" at a nearby stall just in case I need some extra sugar intake.

The MCA people were nice to me.

I talked to one of the party workers and asked about BN's chances and she said it's 50-50.

She said she would be happy if BN can get even just 10 per cent of the Chinese votes.

"But we have to continue to tell them that there must be a check and balance for the government," she added.

I'm now taking a rest at a hotel in Seremban.

Will go back to Rantau before the counting of votes begins.

I will update this post once the result of the by-election has been announced.

Major upset if BN loses in Rantau

I actually feel like writing more about the Putrajaya-Johor spat today, but the Rantau by-election is going to be tomorrow.

So, I think I better focus on Rantau first.

I was at the BN rally in Taman Angsamas last night.

Pas president DS Abdul Hadi Awang was there. The guy was just discharged from IJN four days previously.

The venue was packed and many can't find themselves a seat.

I ended up sitting by a drain at the edge of the venue.

I'm not good at estimating the number of people in a crowd, so you all try lah make your own guess based on this picture which I took myself;

They are doing some sort of concert things with their phone in between speeches.

The speeches were relatively good and the crowd was enthusiastic.

Even Hadi whom I guess was still not fully recovered from his ailment sounded upbeat and last night he became the first Pas president to lead a prayer for a BN victory.

Mat Hasan was his usual self. He's quite good at explaining complicated things to the crowd consisting mostly ordinary people. Even his jokes were all quite funny.

This Chinese lady with her son turned up in front of me when Mat Hassan started his speech and left only after he finished it.

I don't think I need to tell you all what were said at the ceramah as they are all over YouTube by now.

By the time the ceramah ended, I was very tired. The heat and humidity was quite taxing for me. I should have brought a bottle of 100 Plus.

Driving back to KL added to my exhaustion and I only arrived home about 1am. I'm definitely not as strong as I used to be.

Today, except for my usual work, I'm saving my energy for one last trip there before the polls.

Whatever it is, I would be very surprised if BN loses in Rantau after last night.

The mood was really good for BN.

See lah tomorrow how it's going to be.

I was sitting next to this lemongrass shrub by a drain last night.

BN shouldn't worry too much about Indian votes in Rantau

I was sitting behind these Indian ladies in BN t-shirt at the ceramah in Bandar Ekar, Rantau last night,

They were clapping enthusiastically when it was the turn of BN candidate Mat Hassan to deliver his speech.

Earlier, I talked a bit with one of them and she turned out to be a resident of the housing estate.

She said her friends are also locals.

From what she told me, Mat Hassan really shouldn't worry about getting votes from the Indian community as he had done a lot for them in the 14 years he was the Negeri Sembilan MB and Rantau assemblyman.

Well, that's good news for Mat Hassan.

I know that many BN supporters were worried that their candidate may not get votes from the non-Malays but in this case I believe that Mat Hassan is going to get quite a lot of votes from among the Indian voters in Rantau.

In fact, I think Mat Hassan may even get quite a few votes from among the Chinese voters too.

The demographics of the Rantau constituency is Malay 53.43%; Chinese 18.81%; Indian 27.01%; B/P Sabah 0.18%; B/P Sarawak 0.13%; Orang Asli (Pen. Msia) 0.01%; Others 0.42%.

Mat Hassan's speech last night was rather normal. I have seen similar speeches by him at YouTube.

So, I decided not to wait for the end of his speech and left for Rantau town where Anwar Ibrahim was having his ceramah.

There was quite a bit of jam as the ceramah was held in the middle of town.

I only caught the tail end of his speech and even that was from the car while stuck in the jam.

Anwar was shouting "reformasi" for the closing of his speech which I found awkward.

His side is the government now la. What reformasi he was shouting for?

Well, never mind.

Here's a nice video of the Rantau campaign,

I'm going to Rantau again later today.

Cheers.

Johor will get a DAP MB?

Well, Osman Sapian has resigned as Johor MB without a fight.

It actually reminds me of what my source in Johor told me earlier, which I put in this post,

• Getting Osman

excerpts;

This one guy told me, Osman Sapian would likely be asked to step down because he appeared to be more loyal to the Johor palace than Putrajaya.

He also said Osman will have to resign if he wants to avoid being implicated in an alleged corruption case.

But never mind. I think it's better that way as now Osman doesn't have to suffer anymore.

As I have always insisted, the Johor MB post is very hard to handle, especially now that there is an obvious tussle between the Johor palace and Putrajaya, or to be more exact Dr Mahathir.

Osman is almost 70 anyway. He doesn't need the aggravation.

Anyway, of all the stories about the resignation yesterday, I think this one is the most interesting;

With Johor MB's post up for grabs, 
Pakatan parties pitch candidates

Yup, despite Dr Mahathir saying that the next MB must be from Pribumi Bersatu, the others want the job too.

My sources told me that even DAP wants the job for one of their own.

This guy in particular,

Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali is the current chairman of Johor's Infor­ma­tion, Entrepreneurship
Develop­ment, Cooperatives and Creative Economy committee. He is the Paloh state assemblyman.

I was told that DAP wants the guy to be the Johor MB as it can help shed its anti-Malay/anti-Islam image. Sort of educating Johoreans, especially the Malays.

It's also a major slap to Umno's face. Johor used to be the tiang seri of the Malay nationalist party. Its birth place some more.

It's not impossible. DAP currently have the most seats in the State assembly among the Pakatan parties with 14, followed by Pribumi Bersatu (11), Amanah (9) and PKR (5). On the opposition side there are 16 from BN (14 from Umno and two from MIC) as well as a single seat belonging to Pas. So, by right, it should be a DAP guy as MB.

And if the Johor palace really want to spite Dr Mahathir, it will actually allow DAP to have it. 

After all, as TMJ said, the power to appoint MB is the sole prerogative of the Sultan as stated in the undang-undang tubuh negeri Johor (state constitution).

I'm quite sure TMJ would love to see how Dr Mahathir handles a DAP Johor MB.

The handsome old man may not find it so easy to tell the guy to just step down if he doesn't like him like in the case of Osman.

Anyway, I can't see any bright future for Johor for quite a while yet.

The nonsense will go on. 

And the ding dong between Dr Mahathir and Johor palace will continue and whomever is MB will have a tough life balancing those two.

Meanwhile, Johoreans have to bear with things not moving forward until at least the next general election....now that there will not be a snap state election.

Well, whatever.

Lucky I'm in KL now. 

Pakatan can't risk a "war" in Johor

So, what if they really force Osman Sapian to resign as Johor MB and the guy goes crazy and dissolve the state assembly as I put it in my last post

• Getting Osman

Yup, it sounds crazy but actually not impossible.

I don't think Putrajaya will want to risk such a scenario.

But still, if they do, then the next question should be, can Pakatan retains Johor if there is a state election there.

Currently, PH have a two third majority with 39 of the 56 seats in the state assembly. DAP have the most with 14, followed with Pribumi Bersatu (11), Amanah (9) and PKR (5).

The opposition consists 16 from BN (14 from Umno and two from MIC) as well as a single seat belonging to Pas.

On paper, it would seems that Pakatan will just steamroll over BN. After all it's just a year ago that BN got thrashed in Johor along with the rest of the country.

But then again things seem to have changed over the past year with Pakatan not doing very well as a government and things getting worse for them by the days.

The speculation over Osman's position was evidence enough of how things were not getting better or moving forward in Johor.

It's a fact that the majority of Malays are getting restless and impatient as the Pakatan government keeps stumbling along the way.

The Malays, just like others were expecting things to be better as Pakatan had promised all sort of fantastic things.

Unfortunately, as proven so far, the promises turned out to be lies.

And the Malays in particular were the ones most affected by the broken promises along with unpopular decisions made by the Pakatan government.

ICERD, Rome Statute, PTPTN, Adib's case, Tabung Haji, Civil Service and even Lynas came in mind among other things when people asked me why the Malays can't give Pakatan more time to prove themselves as a government.

Anti-ICERD rally at Mutiara Rini, JB on Nov 16 last year.

Many Malays have lost or about to lose their jobs while cost of living is  getting worse and the economy not getting any better. Even the drop of commodity prices affect the Malay small holders more than others.

There is simply no real indication that things will get better for them under Pakatan's rule.

That's the main reason why Pakatan lost in Cameron Highlands and Semenyih and maybe in Rantau too later.

I believe the Malays in Johor feel the same.

As it is, I believe that Pakatan will not find it easy to repeat their GE14 feat in Johor if there is a state election there now.

They may likely lose all the 20 Malay majority seats currently held by Pribumi Bersatu and even some of the five marginal seats of PKR.

Bear in mind that Pakatan won these seats mostly due to protest votes from among traditional Umno supporters who were angry at the party leadership prior to GE14. They may likely think differently now.

The only ones Pakatan is sure to retain are the 14 non-Malays majority seats held by DAP.

On whether BN, in particular Umno could take advantage of a state election, I believe they could.

I was on the ground during the Semenyih and the ongoing Rantau campaigns and discovered that the Umno machinery was functioning well.

In fact it seemed to be doing much better than during GE14.

Adding to that was the support given by Pas which machinery being arguably even better than Umno's in term of logistics and members' commitment.

Even MCA and MIC seemed to be improving with their members seen helping their Umno and Pas friends.

I believe it could be the same in Johor.

What my friends in Johor told me was that Datuk Hasni Mohamad who is currently leading BN there has turned out to be doing his job relatively well.

Okay, maybe he's too quiet now, but that's probably part of the strategy. More work, less talk.

The BN grassroots, especially Umno was also intact as there have been no mass exodus of members into Pakatan, in particular Pribumi Bersatu despite several defections among Umno's elected representatives and leaders in Johor.

I think Johor BN is currently capable of mobilising its members with ease if there is going to be a state election.

And I believe they could  win it too.

That's why I wrote at the start of this post that I don't think Pakatan is willing to risk pushing for Osman's resignation.

They need to avoid a "war" in Johor at all costs.

True, the federal government under Dr Mahathir had previously prevailed during a crisis which involved the state, but that was when he was leading a strong BN with a two third majority in parliament.

Indeed, now things are very different from those days.

I believe that's why the Pakatan government had even U-turned from the Rome Statute that day.

I don't think Dr Mahathir would have allowed that back then during his previous administration just because the Rulers wanted the government to reconsider its decision.

Whatever it is, let's just wait and see what is going to happen to Osman.

Maybe nothing at all.

Business as usual, I guess.