The unfortunate political appointments - Sime Darby Plantation

I have so far been supportive of the Muhyiddin's administration as it leads the country in the Covid-19 war.

However, that does not mean that I support everything that the administration is doing right now.

I have been trying to hold back my criticisms as I don't want Muhyiddin and his people to get distracted from their main priority that is to contain the pandemic, which they are doing quite well so far.

But today, I have to write this one criticism of the current government which I feel necessary because if the problem is left unchecked, it will cost the country dearly.

It's about the increasing number of appointments of politicians aligned to the current government into the GLCs.

This is actually the one issue which I don't have a proper reply to when brought up by Pakatan people.

I'm honestly not sure what is Muhyiddin's actual motive for allowing such appointments.

To appoint politicians to GLCs is one thing but to appoint unqualified and proven failed politicians to important posts in GLCs is simply bad and there's no excuse for it.

Still, I have ignored this issue till now as I wanted the focus to be on the Covid-19 war.

I have to admit though that I cringed upon reading news of those appointments....such as Khaled Nordin as Boustead chairman and Tajuddin Rahman as Perasarana chairman.

"Tak ada orang lain ke?" I asked in my heart.

Then came this story at The Edge;

Please click on image to read

The story is that TS Abdul Ghani Othman is to be replaced at Sime Darby Plantation by Pribumi Bersatu disciplinary board chief Tan Sri Megat Najmuddin Megat Khas.

Regular readers of this blog should know that I'm very fond of Ghani since my days in Johor till even after he had retired from politics in 2013.

The guy is one of the few confirmed good men that I know.

I was saddened that they are removing him from Sime Darby but decided not to make noise about it as maybe Muhyiddin has his good reasons to let his former Muar High School classmate being replaced like that.

I was also told by someone close to Ghani that he doesn't mind being removed from the post as he has been helming the company for almost eight years.

Ghani has been doing well in his post, so much so, that he was the only BN political appointee and an Umno personality at GLCs who was not removed by the Pakatan government after GE14.

As far as I know, being a non-executive chairman at Sime Darby, Ghani has never interfered with the actual running of the company and instead acted more as an advisor to the professional executives.

He is not at all like those usual political appointees who screwed up things for the professionals who are supposed to run the GLCs.

For the record, Sime Darby Plantation is doing relatively well, considering the circumstances.

This is the last story I read about the company,

Sime Darby Plantation’s net profit 

up to RM394 million in Q1 2020

That was among the just few good local business news since Covid-19 hit our country.

Then this morning I received a call from a close friend who knows what is happening in Sime Darby.

I asked about the removal of the former Johor MB from Sime Darby and it turned out that he knows quite a bit about it.

According to him, this was how it happened;

- On May 15, just before a Sime Darby Plantation board meeting, Ghani received a letter signed by PNB chief executive Jalil Rasheed informing him that Megat Najmuddin has been appointed as Sime Darby Plantation chairman with immediate effect from the date of the letter.

- Ghani was required to inform the board about the appointment. The letter however did not mention anything about Ghani's removal from the post. Ghani's contract as Sime Darby chairman was supposed to expire in June next year.

- Ghani had then dutifully informed the board about the content of the letter.

- The board members were however very unhappy about it and protested, saying that was not how a chairman of the company was supposed to be replaced. They said Sime Darby Plantation is a public listed company and that the way the irregular appointment was made will have a negative impact on the company as a whole.

- The board members were also most upset because Sime Darby Plantation was supposed to hold its AGM next month and preparations for it was at its final stage. To replace Ghani with Megat now will upset the whole process.

- The Sime Darby Plantation board members had then sent a letter to PNB chairman Zeti Akhtar Aziz to voice their unhappiness over the matter but so far have not receive any reply.

Well, that's the story so far.

I'm not writing this in an attempt to persuade Muhyiddin to keep Ghani as Sime Darby Plantation chairman.

I'm more into letting him know that people are watching and if these sort of nonsense continues, it will affect the people's perception of his administration.

If Ghani, or any of the other GLC heads really need to be replaced, then at least do so properly.

And please don't put useless politicians as their replacements.

I hope, some how, Muhyiddin will get this message and he will do something about it.

My request to him is that, please do things properly and don't squander the people's support given for the Covid-19 war just to satisfy the greed of some quarters for political expediency.

Farewell Tok Mat

Received the sad news that Datuk Ahmad A Talib passed away late this afternoon.

Ex-NST GE Ahmad A Talib dies

Innalillahiwainailaihirojiun.

I know arwah for more than two decades.

He was a good and kind man.

Anyone who knows him will agree with me on that.

Some may even say that he was sometimes too good and kind for his own good.

As some people like to say, nice guys never win wars.

But that's just Tok Mat.

"Ahmad is the quintessential nice-guys-don't-win-wars type. He hasn't got a mean bone in his body," said a friend when we discussed his illness two weeks ago.

Whatever it is, for me, life is not war. It's not about winning or losing.

Life is a journey.

And Allah judges us based on how we conduct ourselves on this journey.

I believe Tok Mat conducted himself well throughout his journey.

Ya, as a human being he, as do all of us have faults, but as far as I'm concerned Tok Mat's good deeds, especially his kindness to others far outweigh his faults.

I pray that Allah placed him among those that He favored.

My condolences to his family and loved ones.

Covid19 Raya: Putting loved ones at risk

I hope I'm wrong but I think there will be a new wave of Covid19 infections within the next few days..

This house where Im now is packed with beraya people.

Im sitting in a corner trying to keep my distance.

I don't know why they are not following the advice to celebrate raya in the safe confines of their own homes.

It seems that people are forgetting there's a pandemic at the moment.

The main road outside is also busy with traffic of people going berhari raya.

Don't know lah.

Hopefully not too many will die after this raya.

Sometimes I don't understand why people can be so reckless and thoughtless, putting the lives of their loved ones at risk.

Maybe it got something to do with our education system.

Honestly, I'm very dissapointed.

Well, what to do....just have to live with it and try to survive the best that we could.

I'm writing this using my phone, so I can't write longer.

Hopefully you all have a more pleasant and safer raya than me.

Cheers.

Raya eve blues, let us have fresh GE

Received this after Subuh prayers early this morning;

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/world/asia/malaysia-politics-najib.html

This is my reply,

EC ready for snap general election 

amidst Covid-19 crisis

excerpts;

EC chairman Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun said managing a large-scale general election while the country is dealing with the pandemic would be challenging but not impossible.

He said the commission began preparing for this eventuality when the Dewan Rakyat recently accepted a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, which was filed by his predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Ya, I don't mind having a snap general election now....even amidst this Covid-19 crisis, so just to shut them up.

That nice guy Art Harun said his EC outfit is ready, so let's have it.

Hopefully Muhyiddin see this post some how and when they go after him again on July 13, he can just dissolves parliament and let us have a fresh general election.

If there's a new Covid-19 outbreak afterwards because of that, we can blame it on Pakatan for being crazy for power.

And for all you know, BN, Pas and their allies will win the election on their own....just like they did in the last five by-elections.

Baru padan muka orang Pakatan, especially those DAP ones.

Eh, enough lah. I need to help in the kitchen now. 

We are making lontong daun pisang for Raya tomorrow. 

Can't do ketupat because hard to get young coconut leaves under this MCO.

Banana leaves can just take from behind the house.

Okay, that's all.

Selamat Hari Raya, maaf zahir batin.

Covid-19 Raya: Let us not be selfish like those politicians

This is a very good advice,

Covid-19: Best to just stay at home during Raya

excerpts;

“Better yet, this is only an advice and not a policy, don’t leave home at all. Don’t go visiting and just celebrate Hari Raya at home with your immediate family members,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

That's exactly what I'm going to do this weekend.

I hope others will do too.

We really can't afford a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It's really not worth celebrating Raya if only to later on being totally confined again and the economy takes even longer to be revived.

I also totally support this,

Covid-19: Zero tolerance for those 

attempting interstate travel for Raya

excerpts;

Those attempting to cross state borders will from now on be issued compounds instead of just being asked to turn back.

We really need to let go of everything for now so that we could quickly overcome this Covid-19 crisis.

Let's not be like those politicians who insisted on having their drama while we, the common people are struggling to survive the pandemic.

They wanted to topple and replace the current government, if possible right at this very moment, despite it having performed very well so far in containing the virus.

As if they could have done or will do better with their infighting and power crazy leaders.

If we look back at the way they conducted themselves during their 22 months in power, and if we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that it would be a complete disaster if they were the ones running the government when Covid-19 hit our country.

And now, after kicking their own butt out of power, they want to create trouble again.

Selfish bastards.

Those who know me or read this blog since its early days should know that I hardly criticise Dr Mahathir. In fact, I defended him on many occasions to a point that I was accused by some pro-BN bloggers of actually being pro-Pakatan.

But for this Reuters' story, I have to say I totally oppose Dr Mahathir,

Mahathir promises 'very big trouble' for Malaysia's ruling coalition

excerpts;

“(Muhyiddin) is going to be in very great trouble. Because whatever chance we have to prove that it is not legitimate for him to be the prime minister, we will do that.”

What's the need to make things difficult for Muhyiddin and his administration while they are leading us in the battle against Covid-19 pandemic?

Is this what the rakyat really want?

Or is it just the Pakatan people who want to be back in power?

I actually felt sad when I read that.

Dr Mahathir is now 94 and he still has to continue doing that.

Honestly, I wish him to just rest and be at peace.

I really hope we don't have to go through another political battle before we could really overcome the Covid-19 crisis.

Reviving tourism more important than reviving Pakatan's ambition - Agong

They had a one-day parliament sitting yesterday under the Covid-19 cloud.

I'm sure you all have read it.

The Agong told the politicians to stop their political bullshit and let the government he appointed to revive the country as the pandemic slowly eases.

He reminded everyone that after Dr Mahathir resigned, he had tried to persuade the handsome old man to take back the job, but was not successful.

He then had to appoint Muhyiddin because the man has the most support in parliament as per required by the constitution.

Ya, what else they want the Agong to do?

I believe the Agong was directing that part of his speech yesterday to the Pakatan Harapan MPs, who were still making noises about immediately taking back power from the Muhyiddin's administration.

He even told them not to drag the country into another round of political crisis after what they did with their Game of Throne nonsense at the end of the Pakatan government's days in power.

The Agong also made a point to described the current government as "kerajaan beta", meaning that if you go against it, that means you are going against the royal institution and the country's constitutional monarchy system.

I like the diplomatic yet firm tone of Sultan Abdullah's message yesterday.

However, I'm not hopeful of the Pakatan MP to really understand what the Agong was trying to tell them.

They were still talking nonsense till today, saying that the government was not fair for not allowing their motion of no-confidence to be tabled yesterday.

Really thick skulls.

Eh, it's Covid-19 la. Can't wait for proper sitting ka?

Sigh.

And seriously, do they really have the number.

My last count, the best that Pakatan could muster was 107, short of the needed 112.

Well, even if they win the no confidence vote, Muhyiddin could just dissolves parliament for a fresh general election.

And my calculations indicate that they will get trashed by Umno, Pas and their allies if that happened.

You think people like it that you force the government to be dissolved while it was battling the Covid-19 pandemic?

People will instead punish you la.

People for now just want to survive Covid-19 and the unemployment that will soon follow for many of them.

The Pakatan people really should heed the advise of the Agong to give priority to reviving the country's economy so that people will have jobs to feed their family.

This is one of the highlights of his speech yesterday which I found to be fresh and interesting;

Agong wants tourism to be revived, 

expresses confidence in government 

Typical of Sultan Abdullah to be concerned about these sort of things.

He must have known how important it is to revive the tourism industry as so many Malaysians - from sophisticated stewardesses who work for airlines to Makcik Kiah who sells kueh to tourists who check out her stall by the roadside - are dependent on it for their source of income.

Reviving tourism is more important at the moment than reviving the Pakatan's political ambition, okay.

Even the Agong can see that.

Of course, other industries are important too.

Still, we need to get our priorities right - for now, rakyat didahulukan, politicians' ambition dikendian-kendiankan.

Oh, and with that, here is again the picture of Sultan Abdullah and his rakyat which I took myself during his visit to the flood relief shelter at the Temerloh R&R of the East Coast Highway during the major flood of 2014/2015,

Daulat Tuanku.

Please let Taiwan rejoins WHO

I learnt that they are going to vote tomorrow on whether to give back Taiwan its observer status at the World Health Organisation.

I actually read about it here just now,

Food hunting in Kuchai Lama

excerpts;

Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island, was expelled from the World Health Organisation in 1971 and from 2009 to 2016, Taiwan could still attend the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer. However, that came to an end in 2017.

Come Monday (May 18, 2020) representatives of 194 countries will have a virtual WHA and one of the highlights of the meeting is to vote whether Taiwan will be back on board as an observer.

It’ll be interesting to see if the bigger nations, especially India who will be helming the World Health Organisation (WHO) beginning Friday (May 22, 2020), will give its vote to the tiny powerhouse.

I hope they let Taiwan in again.

If I have my way, I want them to let Taiwan in as a full member.

They really shouldn't exclude that country in the first place just because of pressure from the communists in Beijing.

I believe that if Taiwan had not been expelled from WHO and later on ignored by it, the Covid-19 fight may have been much more successful.

Covid-19: US accuses WHO 

of ignoring Taiwan’s early warnings

excerpts;

Taiwan, which has succeeded in limiting its Covid-19 casualties to just five deaths despite the island’s proximity and ties with China, warned the WHO on Dec 31 of human-to-human transmission.

Its vice- president Chen Chien-Jen, who is an epidemiologist, told the Financial Times that Taiwanese doctors had learned that fellow medical workers in Wuhan were falling ill but their reports were not acted upon by WHO.

I really hope the countries of the world will change their attitude towards Taiwan.

They should stop just .thinking of profits to be made from doing business with the communists in Beijing.

The Covid-19 crisis should teach them that there are more important values that need to be considered other than just the corporate bottom line.

Covid-19 didn't start in Taiwan, okay.

Taiwan has better transparency and accountability because it's a democratic country.

Well, if you are interested to read more about what I think of Taiwan, please click on this link;

Chinese Merdeka 

Okay, that's all for today.

Here is a video of Taiwan's successful effort in containing the Covid-19 pandemic

The need for simple explanation - Riza's case (updated)

UPDATES at 13:00 on May 17 2020

Please also read this one,

Thomas agreed to terms of settlement 

with Riza Aziz, says AG Idrus

and this one,

Controversy over decision to discharge Riza Aziz should end with AG's statement, says Sri Ram

ORIGINAL POST

At the height of the Najib-Dr Mahathir war during the run-up to the GE14, I had repeatedly wrote that I'm not 100 per cent sure that I understand the complicated 1MDB case.

I really had listened to both sides including from two accountant friends, one who supported Najib and the other who sided with Dr Mahathir.

Still, I was not convinced that I really know which side was right.

So, I decided not to comment on the case.

Commentators of this blog who at that time were overwhelmingly pro-Dr Mahathir whacked me for it, either saying that I was deliberately trying to side-step the case or that I was just plain stupid.

Well, in this context, I was really just plain stupid.

I'm a simple person who don't really understand about businesses, let alone complex high finance.

I don't even like to pretend as if I know all that.

Let people call me stupid, as I don't mind that at all.

When I don't know something, I will say I don't know.

But back then I really wished that someone could explain to me about the case in simple language so that I could understand it.

Unfortunately, despite their best effort, my accountant friends still sounded like accountants when they tried to explain the case to me - I simply can't understand them.

After a while they just gave up. To be fair, I admit that I was already bored too at that point.

By the way, I don't know why, but some people tend to try to explain things in such a way to make themselves look intelligent.

They used big words, fancy terminologies and such.

I think they were not being intelligent for doing that. In fact I think they were stupid as their audience would not understand what they were trying to explain.

Even worse if the audience later pretend to understand what the whole thing was all about so that they wouldn't be accused of being stupid and then they start to spread what they pretend to understand.

I think that was what happened with the 1MDB case.

Yup, I actually believe that most of those who claimed to understand the case actually don't really know what it was all about, yet they pretended to understand it so that they don't appear to be stupid.

I really suggest for us to stop such behaviour as it could lead to more confusion.

Come on guys, when we don't understand something, let's admit that we don't understand it.

Even Dr Mahathir was not shy to admit his ignorance about something such as in this report;

Dr M ‘confused, concerned’ over Riza Aziz’s plea bargain

And for that we have this very good and easy to understand explanation in plain language,


By Najib Razak

Search Results

Web resultsBy Najib Razak 

Oleh kerana dia konpius, saya taip perlahan-perlahan dengan cara paling ringkas supaya dia faham: 

1. Riza ada projek filem. 

2. Keluarga kerabat Abu Dhabi berminat dan janji kepada Riza untuk labur projek filem dia.Yang berjanji masa itu termasuk putera mahkota Abu Dhabi serta Timbalan Perdana Menteri UAE yang juga merupakan adik kepada Presiden UAE yang juga pemilik kelab Manchester City. 

3. Mereka pun arahkan CEO syarikat Aabar untuk melabur dalam projek filem Riza. Ada perjanjian pelaburan dan sebagainya. Mahkamah dan jabatan pendakwa raya pun ada. 

4. Filem-filem Riza agak berjaya. Filem pertama Wolf of Wall Street (2013) jana penjualan tiket US$392 juta (RM1.7 bilion) berbanding kos US$100 juta (RM430 juta). Filem "Dumb and Dumber To" (2014) jana penjualan tiket US$169.8 juta (RM730 juta) dengan kos pengeluaran US$50 juta (RM215 juta). Filem Daddy's Home (2015) jana penjualan tiket US$242.8 juta (RM1.04 bilion) dengan kos US$69 juta (RM297 juta). 

5. Ini bukan bail-out Petronas untuk syarikat milik anak tertentu ataupun Vincent Tan jual kumpulan hospital Pantai kepada anak tertentu yang berumur 35 tahun masa itu. Ini juga bukan konsesi-konsesi FOMEMA atau kontrak membekal semua hospital kerajaan yang diberi kepada kumpulan Pantai selepas anak tertentu membelinya. Ini juga bukan melantik syarikat Petron sebagai syarikat rasmi untuk membekal minyak kepada kerajaan sebaik sahaja PH menang PRU14. Dan ini juga bukan syarikat Opcom Bhd milik anak tertentu yang terlibat dalam projek Pelan Gentian Optik dan Kesalinghubungan Negara (NFCP) bernilai RM21.6b yang diwujudkan, diluluskan dan dilaksanakan oleh kerajaan PH dalam tempoh kurang setahun sehingga harga saham Opcom melonjak naik 50%. "31 Ogos 2019: Opcom and OCK on investors’ radar following broadband plan" https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/08/31/opcom-and-ock-on-investors-radar-following-broadband-plan Paling pelik ialah projek-projek lain masa PH slow-slow tapi projek mega RM21.6b jalan begitu pantas sekali. Pelik, tak? 

6. Selepas filem agak berjaya, Riza mula membayar balik keuntungan dan pelaburan asal kepada pihak Abu Dhabi. 

7. Perkara ini juga terdedah dalam rakaman audio perbualan telefon saya dengan putera mahkota Abu Dhabi yang didedahkan oleh Latheefa Koya pada masa PH. 
- Najib: Dia telah membayar balik sejumlah, dia terus membayar balik, supaya anda lihat ia akan muncul sebagai perjanjian pinjaman sah. Kerana apabila dia menerimanya, bank-bank membersihkan sumber wang itu jadi dia tidak tahu dari mana asalnya. Oleh itu, saya tidak mahu dia menjadi mangsa apabila dia benar-benar tidak menyedari tentang sumber wang itu. Dia benar-benar percaya bahawa ia daripada Aabar dan di bawah arahan Sheikh Mansour. Ya, betul, kerana dia benar-benar tidak bersalah. Apa yang dia mahukan ialah membuat filem, dan terdapat tawaran pinjaman daripada Sheikh Mansour dan pihak anda daripada Aabar, dan anda juga pernah menyebutnya. Ingat? Ketika kita makan tengah hari di restoran (bercakap) tentang membantunya jadi dia fikir semuanya baik-baik saja. Sekarang, mereka cuba mengaitkannya dengan wang 1MDB, yang benar-benar ... ia mengejutkannya. 
- Mohammed: Tuan perdana menteri, Insya-Allah. "
9 Jan 2020: Transkrip penuh panggilan Najib lepas DOJ fail saman 2016" https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/506487 (Terima kasih Latheefa dan kerajaan PH kerana sudi mengeluarkan bukti rakaman audio untuk bantu saya dan Riza bersihkan nama kita) 

8. Oleh kerana Aabar ada perniagaan dengan 1MDB maka tertimbul masalah bahawa sebahagian dana yang dihantar oleh Aabar kepada Riza berasal dari 1MDB. 1MDB tak pernah hantar apa-apa dana terus kepada Riza. Bagaimana pula Riza yang rompak pulak? 

9. Di bawah undang-undang, dana asal yang bermasalah termasuk keuntungan yang dijana dari dana yang bermasalah juga dianggap sebagai dana haram. Sebab itu, Riza menyelesaikan kes-kes di USA dan di Malaysia dengan cara membayar balik dana asal dan sebahagian keuntungan yang diperolehi.

10. Kesemua transaksi, akaun bank, penggunaan dana, keuntungan yang dijana dari dana, perjanjian dan saksi-saksi adalah di luar negara terutamanya di Amerika Syarikat. Nak bicara di Malaysia pun susah. Pun begitu, DOJ Amerika Syarikat juga tak pernah mendakwa Riza atas kes jenayah. Cuma saman sivil yang sudahpun diselesaikan di sana tahun lepas. Tapi yang pelik ialah walaupun satu butir transaksi-transaksi Riza pun tak berlaku di Malaysia, didakwa dengan kes jenayah di Malaysia pulak. Tapi USA tak ada, 

11. Ianya pendakwa raya Gopal Sri Ram yang dilantik PH dan Tommy Thomas yang dilantik PH yang mulakan proses penyelesaian dengan Riza. 

12. Perbicaraan kes Riza tak pernah berjalan satu hari pun sejak Riza didakwa hampir setahun dahulu. Pada 31 Januari 2020 masa PH, ianya pihak pendakwa raya yang menangguhkan kes Riza kepada 25 Februari 2020. "Kami juga memohon untuk mendapatkan tarikh lain bagi menyemak dan mempertimbangkan representasi (tawaran perjanjian penyelesaian) berkenaan." Norzilati berkata, pada 25 Februari ini juga mahkamah turut menetapkan tarikh perbicaraan bagi kes terbabit. "31 Jan 2020: Mahkamah tetapkan 25 Februari ketahui status representasi Riza Aziz" https://www.sinarharian.com.my/article/68202/BERITA/Mahkamah/Mahkamah-tetapkan-25-Februari-ketahui-status-representasi-Riza-Aziz 

13. Pihak SPRM pun tak keluarkan kenyataan rasmi bahawa mereka terkejut kerana kes Riza Aziz (yang tidak pernah masuk hari pertama perbicaraan) diselesaikan seperti mereka terkejut apabila kes Guan Eng rasuah digugurkan masa PH walaupun puluhan saksi dah dipanggil dan perbicaraan sudah berjalan hampir sebulan. Malah, pihak SPRM tiada masalah dengan penyelesaian kes Riza dan masih tegas ianya keputusan Tommy Thomas. 

13. Jika "dia" masih tak faham, boleh panggil Gopal Sri Ram atau Tommy Thomas untuk jelaskan padanya. 

14. Harap dengan penjelasan cara mudah ini, "dia" akan faham dan kurang konpius.

See, very easy to understand, right?

How I wish Najib had explained things like this back then instead of using all those spin conmen who actually made people distrust and hate him more.

Well, never mind. What's in the past should stay in the past.

We have to look forward and for that, hopefully people will be more honest and explain things in simple plain language like how Najib does these days.

Okay, I need to do work now.

Here's a music video for you all to enjoy,

It's actually the ending of Studio Ghibli's Only Yesterday.

It reminds me very much of my autumn train ride to Kinosaki Onsen....miss it so much.

Never mind

Cheers.

How to celebrate a Covid-19 Raya and dreaming of the beach on a Ramadhan day

Not feeling very well today.

Actually I have been like this since yesterday.

But I'm quite sure it's not Covid-19 because I don't feel like I'm going to die just yet.

Still, I'm not in the mood to write anything serious at the moment.

Tired of politics and feeling a bit suffocated by the Covid-19 restrictions.

I don't like wearing the mask because I have breathing difficulties....probably from the years of smoking.

Never mind.

I wish I can escape now to the East Coast and lepak by the seaside.

I miss sitting under a tree with a book at the beach.

Hopefully the MCO will be fully lifted soon.

Hopefully people will abide by the SOP so that we can further reduce the number of Covid-19 cases and make that happen soon.

By the way, I think the government should not let people gather in large number yet.

Someone forwarded the news about sembahyang Aidilfitri going to be allowed at the mosques, which in my opinion shouldn't be the case.

Such prayers are not even compulsory according to the religion.

That prayer could just be perform privately at home, which would lessen the risk of a major infection such as what happened at the Sri Petaling mosque gathering at the start of the pandemic in this country in February.

Religious gatherings or any type of gathering should only be allowed when there is an absolute guarantee that there would not be any risk of a renewed outbreak.

Of course the same should apply to gatherings of other religions.

We don't want another wave of infections like what were reported in South Korea and Wuhan, which was the Covid-19 epicenter.

I pray that the authorities would make the best decision on the matter.

As for the Raya celebrations, I think for once people should think about how to celebrate it privately.

They should spend it with only close family members and loved ones. Make it safe for everybody.

Actually, that's how I always celebrated Raya.

I don't really like the practice of going around from house to house and such on Raya day.

I don't even believe that's how they celebrated Raya during Prophet Mohamad's time.

It's too tiring, anyway.

Hopefully my fellow Muslims will understand that the less Raya they do this time, the less the risk of Covid-19 infections they pose.

For instance, if you insist on visiting your elderly relatives who are in their 70s or 80s on Raya day, you are actually increasing the risk of causing their death via Covid-19 infection.

Don't play the fool on this one, okay.

Don't let it happens to you.

Well, just don't do something which you may regret later.

Anyway, since I'm missing the beach at my usual haunt in the East Coast today, I'm putting this nice video of a Korean girl who spent time at a beach on a Ramadhan day,

Cheers.

Dr Adham strikes back, a new normal

I think this is going to be the new normal...in Malaysian politics.

Health Minister demands RM30 million, 

apology from NGO on false contract claim

Anyone try to defame you, sue their ass off.

I guess it's the only way.

The days of being nice and gentlemanly are over.

Back then, when Umno politicians were being defamed, they mostly did nothing and accepted it as part of the political game.

For most of them, suing their opponent for bad mouthing them seemed not nice and petty.

Only then opposition people, particularly those from DAP that resorted to the court to silence their critics.

In the end, because they did nothing proper about it, people started to believe in the lies thrown at the Umno people.

Okay, to be fair, some of the accusations were actually true but most were not so.

Whatever it is, Umno and their gang lost the GE14 because people believe in the accusations which were thrown at them at that time.

To a large extent, they believe in the lies because Umno never really try to fight the accusations properly.

Based on my personal experience, many of the Umno operatives actually thought that they can just ignore the accusations and they would all just go away.

"Alah, kalau dilayan lagi lah menjadi-jadi dia orang tu. Buat letih je kita nak jawab semuanya. Biar kan je, nanti lama-lama senyap lah tu," said one of them to me at that time.

Nope, the accusations didn't go away, okay.

Oh, and the Umno's way of employing cybertroopers and stupid self-serving mainstream media players to counter the accusation at that time was pathetic.

This is a battle that needs to be fought by smart people who truly believe in the cause and not by some hacks who write garbage ampu bodek stuff to earn some money.

Well, never mind that. That's water under the bridge already.

Now I think people like Dr Adham have learnt their lesson.

No more being nice and stupid like back then.

You defame me, I sue you. End of story.

I'm quite sure that if Dr Adham didn't initiate the legal proceedings, the defamatory allegation against him would remain at least in the public consciousness.

Just look at this comment at my last post in this blog,

cikminah12 May 2020 at 11:34

Cerlah masuk blog Syed outsyedthebox. Baca kisah Menteri Air Suam dgn rm30 juta buat lab COVID. Umno & raswah berpisah tiada.
Dalam sibuk-sibuk COVID tetap nak corrupt. Hanya totok umno je buta mata dan hati sebab cuma baca blog totok yg penuh propaganda umno.

Lapangkanlah otak baca berita di portal online dan toton TV news. 

That's how the defamation was being spread and it would continue to spread if Dr Adham didn't take such legal action.

Of course you must be clean yourself to sue those who defame you.

In this case, I think Dr Adham was quite certain of his innocence, which is good for him.

Maybe if he got the RM30 million from the NGO  who defame him, Dr Adham could use the money to help finance the Covid-19 war.

That will be good for the current government and this country.

Guan Eng as finance minister again???

This is the best joke so far this year,

Mahathir and Anwar speak as one

excerpts;

“We are now old, we do not have a lot of time. But the fighting spirit still burns in the souls of young people who dream of reform. The time has come for us to rise up again and to continue to return the mandate of the people to the right party, ” they said.

I laughed quite a bit reading it.

Rise again?

Eh, enough la. How many times they want to do that?

People just want to survive this Covid-19 crisis and its economic fallout, okay.

I honestly didn't care much about Muhyiddin and the gang at the start of it all but they seemed to be doing quite well so far.

So, let them continue with the job lah.

Things will be tougher in the months to come as the country try to recover from the crisis, especially repairing the economy.

We really don't need another Dr Mahathir-Anwar tango to mess up the country further.

Remember the last days of the Pakatan Harapan government when they were playing their stupid Game of Throne?

Just imagine that with the Covid-19 crisis on top of it.

Malaysians gave Pakatan power in GE14 and after only 22 months they screwed it up royally among themselves.

And now they want another go at it. Yup, the very same people who screwed it up just less than three months ago.

In the midst of Covid-19 crisis they want us to endure them some more....why la????

And just imagine if they get back in power.....

Ya, you all are going to get that again as your finance minister to handle the country's post-Covid-19 economy.

You mau dia jual asset negara lagi ka?

Urghhh.....accountant konon. Tipu saja.

I was so glad that they were no longer in charge when Covid-19 hit us that day.

Otherwise, I can't imagine the mess.

Anyway, these are good stuff that my best friend from Kuantan forwarded to me last night,

By Najib Razak 

Pegawai Kit Siang tak cerita betul betul ni. 

 Macam ini cerita sebenarnya.... 

PH sewa rumah untuk 5 tahun. 

Tinggal satu keluarga, PH kotorkan rumah. 

Sofa ditanggal, lantai tak cuci. 

Siling pun bocor. 

Seluruh rumah bau hancing. 

Bila tak cuci, berpusu-pusulah kuman dan virus. 

Barang-barang yang ada dalam rumah pun dijual macam harta sendiri. 

Bukan tu jek, bil air bil api semua tak berbayar. 

Tambah hutang. 

Siang malam bergaduh buat kecoh dalam rumah. 

Jiran-jiran pun bingit, setiap hari tanya bila mereka ni semua nak pindah keluar. 

Selepas 22 bulan, ketua keluarga kata kepada tuan rumah dia dah tak nak duduk situ dah. 

Dia pun angkat kaki. 

Ketua keluarga keluar, ahli keluarga lain terpinga-pinga dan tuan rumah pun tendanglah mereka keluar. 

Tuan rumah pun batalkan perjanjian sewa. 

Lalu buat interview cari penyewa baru. 

Setelah seminggu puas mencari, penyewa baru pindah masuk rumah dan mula basuh dan baiki rumah yang tunggang langgang dek penyewa lama siap dua kali dijalankan proses penyahkuman. 

BIla dah kena tendang keluar, barulah PH nak kata menyesal, berkokok siang dan malam. 

Tiap-tiap hari duduk luar pagar rumah, tekan loceng, ketuk pintu dan merayu masuk balik ke rumah.

Say what you want about Najib, but the guy is at the moment the best at explaining these sort of things.

What is spinning

I used to read NST.

Yup, the one they accused of peddling BN propaganda back then.

Actually, to a certain extent, it's true.

The people who used to run the newspaper were guilty of that to further their self interests.

Real bastards, if you ask me.

It was the same with the other mainstream media organisations at that time.

Those mainstream media leaders used to kiss the BN bosses' ass to secure their place in the newsrooms.

And quite some of them did it so openly and blatantly with no shame whatsoever.

They got datukship, tan sriship and other awards along with business interests and other stuff, and one even got himself a publishing company as a reward.

These people include some who later on became politicians themselves and turned against BN in the run up to the GE14.

That was when BN was no longer controlled by their patrons and due to that they lost their portion of the cake at that time.

Well, the really unfortunate thing was that, because of those scumbags, journalists of the entire mainstream media and the news organisations they represented lost their credibility.

People lost their trust in the mainstream media, leading to the drop of newspapers' circulation and TV viewership.

Now what used to be the mainstream media is just a shell of itself. Some news outlets had even closed down.

And those responsible for what happened are still crowing about themselves, demanding respect and adulation as senior journalists.

Tokoh wartawan negara my ass.

Meanwhile, the real journalists are mostly out of job and doing other things to try to earn a living.

I know one who was planning to jual goreng pisang tepi jalan as the possibility of him losing his job became more real due to the Covid-19 crisis.

He said he wished he could set up a darts cafe but it was vetoed out by his wife because that would be too expensive a venture.

Ya, real journalists in this country don't earn much, okay.

Anyway, what used to be the mainstream media have now been replaced by the news portals such as Malaysiakini, FMT, MalayMail Online, Malaysian Insight etc, which thrive on anti-establishment propaganda to gain popularity. That was before Pakatan won the GE14.

They are actually the same as the likes of NST, Utusan and the other news outlets except that their political affiliation is supportive of Pakatan.

They actually employed worse spinning tactics.

For instance, NST, which I'm most familiar because I used to read it was quite clear about it being pro-BN at that time, unlike the portals who claimed themselves as being free and impartial but actually were not.

NST was also clear about what were its political commentaries and what were its political news.

A commentary is an opinion piece while a news is all about reporting facts, which means no spinning or editorialising.

NST didn't mix those two as far as during the period when I was still reading the newspaper.

Its political editor at that time who is my friend told me that it's about some sort of journalistic ethics. Well, that guy eventually got himself kicked out by his ass kissing bosses...probably because he talked too much about such thing. Stupid guy....hahahaha.

Anyway, such self restrain doesn't seem to be practiced by the pro-Pakatan portals.

This is an example,

PAS calls Pakatan power hungry for 
initiating no-confidence motion against PM

Its a Malay Mail Online piece written by one Azril Annuar.

If you read the headline, you would likely conclude that its a political news story, but if you read it, it's actually not so.

These are the opening paragraphs,

excerpts;

KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — In a move worthy of the idiom “the pot calling the kettle black”, Islamist party PAS has accused the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition of being power hungry after the latter filed a motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

The Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition member that entered Putrajaya through backdoor political dealings issued a statement today accusing the federal Opposition of instigating a drama by calling for emergency sessions of Parliament when its true intention was to unseat Muhyiddin.    

Note the words, that I highlighted in blue. They were not supposed to be in a news story, okay.

That's what spinning actually is - inserting one's own opinion into news facts.

And these were the closing paragraphs;

excerpts'

This is one of the rare few times that PAS has issued a statement since coming into federal power for the first time in decades.

The public, especially those online, have raised questions asking why PAS has gone quiet when it comes to the Islamic agenda.

During a Facebook Live session with Opposition chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently, the PKR president when asked to comment on PAS’ apparent silence also agreed, observing that the party’s leaders had kept mum on matters pertaining to the opening of lottery outlets such as Sports Toto and the temporary permit to operate a beer factory during the early days of the movement control order (MCO) while schools and mosques remained closed. 

What has the allegation (of the writer) that Pas rarely issued a statement got anything to do with the story?

Well, it's actually just another spin to discredit Pas' objection to yet another round of political crisis engineered by Pakatan as Malaysians struggle to survive the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic fallout.

For the record, Pas was invited to join the Perikatan Nasional government which was set up as per the Constitution and it was not involved in any way in causing the self-destruction of the Pakatan government.

Anyway, that's how the new media operates.

Same MO as the old ones, just that of different platforms and political affiliations....and sometimes using worse tactics.

If you don't believe me, just read those political stories that they published with an open heart and mind. Trust me,  you will detect the spins and sometimes even the outright lies.

What I read now?

I mostly just watch YouTube and read only whatever my friends sent me via social media.

Malas mau baca all those propaganda-laced stories.

Oh....wait.....the business portals are not so bad, I think. Sometimes I read them.

Eh, this posting is getting too long....enough lah ya.

Here's again another music video for fun,

It's actually from Akira Kurosawa's 1947 movie, Drunken Angel.

I love Shizuko Kasagi's singing....so cute.

Okay, ciao.

Don't be angry....or sad, when writing

I think I went overboard with my last post.
Felt so after reading this comment.

Mat Kedah7 May 2020 at 23:01

Wow guys! Aannie is talking about ladies corparate gals laa.
Awat hang marah sangat ni Aannie. Biaq pi lah. Some corporate guys are ok ya. Well, may be not gals laa.

That former ex Maybank, PNB and now Bursa boss is ok. You like him don't you? We all do too. Tony from Air Asia also ok. He never ditch any of his employees despite of covic19 no business pandemic. Sapa lagi.. aa aa that Cinaman Vincent Tan pun belum buang pekerja walau pun Berjaya group business sudah separuh mati. Banyak lagi corporate guys are ok.

Corporate gals I tak taulah...only Aannie knows best ya.

Ya, not all corporate people are bad.

Sorry.

Really, I never claimed to know the best and I tend to get emotional sometimes.

I was angry over something yesterday, and that's why the post was like that. Something bugging me and all the old resentments boiled to the surface.

Need to remind myself not to write when I'm angry.....or sad.

Yesterday I was angry, but today I'm sad.

So, I don't think I should write more than this.

Otherwise the post may sound so mushy and sad.

I think I will give it another day or two before commenting about the reopening of the circus we called parliament in this country.

Ya, the clowns that we have as politicians are at it again.

They just can't wait until the Covid-19 crisis is over to start their comedy again.

Sigh.

Here's a music video instead. Enjoy.

Selfish corporate bastards

I never really like the corporate type of people because I think most of them are bastards.

Really.

I avoid them most of the time....if I could.

Yeah, I know they are the sophisticated ones with fancy jobs who hang out at fancy clubs, eat fancy food at fancy restaurants and live in fancy apartments with their white expat boyfriends or sometimes husbands.

I know, most of you fancy to be like them.

But, you know what, I find them to be so fake in their arrogance.

And shallow.

And pretentious.

Yeah, they have the money and stuff, but they got those things by sacrificing their soul.

I know one who was so proud of her "all that matter is the bottom line" attitude and "be a winner at all costs"motto.

And she used to be the nicest of person before she joined the corporate world.

"Nice people are losers. They don't win wars. I want to be a winner," she once declared.

For me, nice people are the ones who made this world worth living. Allah bless us because of them, and not because of those selfish corporate people.

Well, whatever it is, that's the corporate culture as I understand it.

That's why I don't like those people.

I actually even distrust the corporate PR people because I always suspect them of being nice just to gain something.

It's after all about the bottom line.

Most of them never even understand what is genuine friendship....except one or two, maybe.

Yeah, it's plain toxic.

Because of this corporate culture, we have headlines such as this,

Want us to test workers for Covid-19? Then foot the bill, developers and builders tell Putrajaya

What a bunch of selfish bastards, right?

These are people who made billions from this country and yet they are demanding the government to pay for Covid-19 testing of their workers.

Making the government pay is the same as making us all Malaysians pay - not only the rich but also the poor.

And then they are making all kind of demands to make sure their bottom lines are okay.

Yeah, that's to our expense as tax payers.

I'm glad that this is the government's reply to them,

Covid-19: Company with a single infected worker will be shut down

excerpts;

“The government recently shut down the construction site on Jalan Ampang because we detected positive cases there,” he said, referring to the Pavilion Embassy where at least 27 workers had tested positive for Covid-19.

Ismail Sabri added that it was employers’ responsibility to make sure their workers do not become infected.

Well, that's why I don't have much sympathy for those people in the corporate world....except a few.

And it's also the reason why I don't listen to that BFM radio station. I find them irritating beyond belief, anyway.

More on drunkards and stupid drama queen politicians

I was particularly amused by this AFP story,

Chaos outside liquor stores as India eases virus lockdown

excerpts;

Police swung batons on Monday to beat back thirsty Indians jostling to buy alcohol for the first time in 40 days as the government eased further the world's biggest coronavirus lockdown.

Well, that's quite funny, actually.

Of all things.

But the local media reports were not so bad as I observed in this video.

At least they don't show the policemen hitting the troublesome sections of the crowd outside the liquor stores.

Whatever it is, I think that country need to do something about the drinking habit of its population.

Luckily Malaysia's drinking problem is not so bad...mostly.

At least we don't have long queue outside the liquor stores yesterday as we eased our MCO.

Personally, I don't mind people drinking and minding their own business.

What I don't like is when the drunkards go around causing trouble like beating up fireman and ramming policeman to death.

Mabuk lah suka hati korang, tapi jangan jadi celaka pegi bunuh orang tak tentu pasal macam tu, okay.

And please, when you mabuk, try not to talk too loudly or boastfully. That's terribly irritating.

One of these days, if you continue being an irritating drunkard, I'm really going to grab that whisky bottle and smash it on your head.

Stupid loud mouth drunk assholes are the worst.

Anyway, today I ventured out from the house for the first time since the MCO was implemented.

Felt quite weird.

Even the driving was a bit heavy after two months.

Things out there looked normal, except everyone is wearing mask.

I think Malaysians in general know how to keep themselves safe under the ongoing conditional MCO.

I trust the government had done its calculations before easing the lockdown.

And those states which wish to continue with the strict enforcement....let them do so. No big deal.

Their economy just have to suffer a bit more I guess.

Well, some people want to show they also have power what.

And some want to be in a dramatic headline like this;

Conditional MCO: We're ready to

 face any legal suits for protecting 

1.8 million Penangites, says state CM

Hey DAP guy, you don't read this news ka?

Covid-19: Penang is now a green zone state

Stupid politicians and their drama....sigh.