Dreaming of Rawa

I have been to Pulau Rawa.

I think it's the most beautiful little island in the country.

Being there was an unforgettable memory for me.

Walking along the beach and the wooden walkways...

The best was spending time hanging out at the jetty in front of the club house under the night stars.

That was about eight years ago.

I promised to go back but never did.

I have been there only once but whenever I think about it, I miss the place very much and still wish I can go there again.

Pulau Rawa's beauty, however was eclipsed by other not so nice things.

News of several fights that happened there from time to time over the years somewhat marred its reputation.

Almost every time it involves members of the royalties who own the resort there.

And the latest was the murder case of an Estonian model.

The Star newspaper has go to town with the whole details, including names and pictures of a member of royalty who was the boyfriend of the deceased,

Estonian model, boyfriend brought to court in May

I think it's unethical of the newspaper to highlight the identity of the boyfriend before he was even charged for the crime.

But, I guess that's the editorial policy of The Star as it had also highlighted the identity of the Malaysian embassy staff involved in the alleged attempted rape in New Zealand.

Well, I guess the newspaper's bottom line is to make money and be damned with ethics.

Whatever it is, I hope justice will be served in the Pulau Rawa murder case.

I also hope no more bad things will happen on Pulau Rawa after this.

I love that island even though I have only been there just once.

Somehow, all these bad publicity for the island make me want to go back there again very much.

Yes, I will make it a point of going there again in the immediate future.

Singapore probably scared of Johor too

Apparently, even the Singaporeans were a bit scared of what's happening in Johor.

Here is the story I took from Channel News Asia,

Singapore to independently assess impact of Johor reclamation projects

SINGAPORE: Malaysia has provided Singapore with some general information on the two reclamation projects along the Straits of Johor, said Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli in Parliament on Wednesday (July 9), and the Government will assess the information and conduct its own studies to see how the projects will impact Singapore. 

Singapore had raised concerns on the potential transboundary impact, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan highlighting the issue with their Malaysian counterparts.

The concerns come amidst reports that no environmental impact assessments were conducted. Mr Masagos said Singapore was not given prior information on these reclamation projects, and he highlighted some concerns.

The projects could increase the strength of the currents in the Straits of Johor, potentially affecting navigation safety. It could also result in the erosion of the seabed and foreshore defences that support the infrastructure of the Second Link between Singapore and Malaysia. It may also affect the water quality along the Straits, impacting the coastal and marine environment as well as the fish farms in the area.

Mr Masagos said Malaysia provided some preliminary information on the two projects on June 30. It also promised to share all other information, including environmental impact assessments, once internal processes are completed.

"Malaysia has stated that no reclamation works are currently being undertaken on these projects and that it remains committed at fulfilling its obligations under international law and will take all necessary matters to avoid any adverse transboundary impact," he said, adding that Singapore is seeking clarification on some of the information provided and waiting for more to come through.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak, MP for Nee Soon GRC, asked if there would be changes in the boundary lines of the two countries after reclamation is completed, and what the course of action would be if Malaysia decided to go ahead with the projects even if they had a potential environmental impact. 

Mr Masagos said it was premature to talk about any development at this stage. He said consultation and information exchange must be allowed to go forward before hypothesising, and that the boundary lines between the two countries do not change with any reclamation by either of the countries.

- CNA/xy

Somehow, I believe the Singaporean authorities were not very happy with the explanation given by our government over the massive reclamation projects being carried out in Johor.

That likely what prompted them to take their own independent initiative to check on the impact of the projects on their environment and sovereignty.

Unlike Malaysia, Singapore is very particular about such things.

Now, if their studies found that the reclamation has adversely affect their environment and encroach their territory, they will demand for all of the the projects  to be stopped.

It's the same thing that happened when Malaysia complained about the Singapore's reclamation works, particularly that at Pulau Tekong about 10 years ago.

I am sure Singapore will go for international arbitration to enforce their findings.

If those reclamation works now being carried out along the Johor side of the Tebrau Straits were stopped, the outcome, I believe could be devastating to the state.

The investors who had poured money there would have to pull out, incurring losses by the billions of ringgit.

It could also spell the end of Iskandar Malaysia.

This is so because no other major investor will then dare to go into Johor for fear of similarly getting burned.

I wonder, what had the state government done to advise those Chinese companies and their local partners about the risk of such things when they started the projects.

Did Khaled and his boys said the following to them?

"It's okay, we are the powerful ones in this State and therefore we can do what ever hell we want. No body can touch us. We have BIG LICENCE  bro. You don't have to worry about EIA reports and all those other bureaucratic red tapes. Just come over with your money, and kita boleh same-sama buat untung dan laba yang besar." 

Now, let's wait for the Singaporean government's move. 

Knowing a bit how Singapore do things, I believe it's not going to be very pleasant.

I also believe that if the Singaporeans were to take the step of stopping the reclamation projects, they would not be alone as some quarters on this side of the border may want the same thing too in order to check the excesses in the State.

Bear in mind that Singapore-Malaysia relation is currently at an all time good. 

Friends

I can be quite blur.

Sometimes I just don't realize that I had offended people.

No, I am not talking about all those Johor crooks,

I am okay with those being angry at me.

The ones I have in mind here are my friends.

I offended them without realizing it and when I was told about it, I feel like so shit.

There I was happily going about as if nothing happened while my friends think that I am such a useless bitch.

Well, of course I apologized, but that does not make it feel much better for me.

I am just like that. I would brood over it, feeling so useless for being so blur.

It's probably what a football player feels after he scored an own goal at the World Cup finals.

I think it will take quite awhile for me to recover from it.

It's really just so shit....

You see, I don't have that many friends as I am a bit of an anti-social person.

That's why I take whatever friendship I have very seriously.

But then again I don't wear it on my sleeves.

I am not the type who go about calling out to friends to hang out with me.

Whenever in a group, I would normally be the quiet one. I mostly listen to what my friends have to say as I respect them.

That's so even though I disagree with them.

I have a very manageable ego, so I don't mind taking the back seat.

Sometimes my friends tend to bully me a bit because I am quiet and not as talented as they are, but I don't mind that.

To me, friends should be able to bully each other a bit, just for fun without anyone getting offended.

That's just the way I am.

Well, to all my friends who are angry with me and reading this:

SORRY GUYS. AKU TAK SENGAJA NAK BUAT KORANG MARAH.

Okay, need to get up and go to work.

p.s What a boring Dutch-Argies match....I actually fall asleep half way through it. I think the Germans are going to massacre the Argies in the final match

Leads like a German, not like a Brazilian

I am actually still not in the mood to write.

My period cramps since yesterday were quite bad.

But I can't resist to write something when I received this via NST SMS alert just now:

NST 09/07 PM Najib says lack of leadership will create chaos and lead to failure, using Brazil's football team's 7-1 defeat to Germany as an example.

Well, if Najib can say that, then maybe there is still hope for Malaysia.

Hopefully our PM will after this take full charge of his administration and makes things better for all of us.

I am confident if Najib do so, I do not have to worry anymore about things such as the nonsense happening in my home state Johor.

Maybe after that I can concentrate at fighting the Pakatan cybertroopers especially those of the DAP varieties.

For now, I really feel like a Brazilian player with Germany already leading 3-0.

How to play properly when the team is facing so many problems?

Maybe it's not too late yet to catch up on the goal difference and win the match at full time.

But if the current rot continues, I am afraid the once mighty BN will ends up like Brazil, humiliated by 7-1.

The one goal scored in the dying minutes I think is more of a goal kesian.

Anyway, as I had earlier wrote, I am a supporter of Germany in this World Cup.

So, the result early this morning was actually good for me.

I had predicted that Germany wins the match 1-0.

The 7-1 scoreline was I think the Germans going overboard.

They should have stopped at 3-0.

I actually feel sad for the Brazilians. Most of them are poor folks anyway. They need football to keep themselves happy as they don't have that too much else.

In that sense, the Germans were very cruel to inflict such a humiliating defeat on Brazilians, on their home ground.

Then again, the Germans were just being themselves. Disciplined, meticulous, hardworking and doing what they were supposed to do.

It's not the Germans' fault that the Brazilians were so hopelessly wretched in the match.

It's something like the Malays must not hate the Chinese for being more successful when they themselves failed to raise to the occasion and letting themselves be cheated by their own leaders.

For instance, Johorean Malays should not be blaming their Chinese counterparts if one day they found themselves pushed to the fringes of the State by the current unbridled development which only serve to enrich the few with power among their community.

Urgh...writing the last paragraph above gave me some more cramps....

Ok, I need to stop now.

By the way, I didn't watch the Germany-Brazil match early this morning. The pain killers knocked me off till much later in morning.

p.s Khaled, JDT tu Johor Darul Takzim bukan Jerman Darul Takzim. So, hari ni bukan cuti umum menang bola di Johor ya.

Dr Mahathir strikes again

Earlier today, just minutes after I did my last posting, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad posted his,

TRANSFORMASI JOHOR BAHRU -

Apparently Dr Mahathir is still very much there in the struggle to save Johor.

I particularly love the teasing ending of his post,

"Yang penting ialah Malaysia menjadi negara maju walaupun ayam dikepok mati kelaparan dan itik di air mati kehausan."

Kalau tak terasa pedih bagi yang kena tu, tak tau lah aku nak kata apa.

Thanks a lot Tun.

Actually that's all I want to write in this posting tonight.

I am having my period. No mood to really write.

You all go and read Dr Mahathir's piece, okay.

I want to sleep early.

Good night.

More trouble in Johor

UPDATES

I just discovered that the link to Syed Akhbar Ali's blog which I provide in this post is no longer available. His blog archive except for the last two posts has also similarly became unavailable. I hope Syed Akhbar is okay.

ORIGINAL POST

Okay, I was beaten to this one by Syed Akhbar Ali.

It's about Khazanah buying back the land in Iskandar Malaysia that it sold to some Arabs.

Read his posting here (no longer available),

Khazanah Dunggus Blow Another RM3.0 Billion !!

This reminds me of several old postings by my friend Ai in the now mostly mothballed BIGCAT blog.

This is one of them,

One brave blogger and three interesting comments

That posting was done back in 2011. There are others, which you can find at that link.

This particular comment which was published in that posting really got it spot on in relation to what is now allegedly happening at Iskandar Malaysia,

Anonymous said... 

Funny enough BigCat...you put the map of Medini in this writeup. Perhaps you might want to find out more on how the Medini land deals were structured with the Arab Consortiums and a Sri Lankan individual, who hides behind few companies registered in British Virgin Island. How the hell Khazanah signed the deal with these suspicious companies is a mystery.

You will find out that the deal involved:

1) I sell to you Medini land at x dollar, but you can sell back to me at x+y dollar. (Never mind if you make profit y dollar from me atas angin).

2) When I sell to you at x dollar, you pay me in many INSTALLMENT over few years. But when you sell back to me at x+y dollar, I IMMEDIATELY pay you cash. (Never mind if you actually RECYCLE my money to pay me as the original land owner).

3) In addition, if you feel that you cannot make 20% profit from the land plots, you can return the land back to me, and I pay you higher at x+z dollar. (Never mind if you actually pass all the business risks to me because I am stupid).

3) Together we create many vehicles to undertake projects on Medini, we use government money to fund those projects, either using grant of soft loans. (See, the government cannot let us fail).

Let's not kill the excitement BigCat. You need to do some investigative journalism. Ask MACC if they are aware about this. By the way, all these agreements were signed by Khazanah people on behalf of IIB.

28 December 2011 21:31

It's now really happening.

I suspect this could spell the end of Iskandar Malaysia.

Too many hanky panky and bungling down there.

I was told that even the banks are also now not very keen to provide financing for anyone with projects there.

One of the questions these bank people were asking around was that - are there going to be any interference from the powers-that-be in Johor if they put their money on such a project there?

Most could not, or would not answer the question.

So, that's about it.

I also heard from a journalist friend that the situation was so worrying that MB DS Mohd Khaled Nordin is going to give a press briefing to some "friendly journalists"  to explain the massive reclamation projects now taking place stretching from Stulang to the Second Link along the Tebrau Straits.

I was told that it was feared that the negative publicity generated by the influx of Chinese companies in those projects may hasten the death of Iskandar Malaysia.

Well, only now that it has reached this point, that they want to do damage control.

I don't know what Khaled will tell his journalist friends, but it should better be convincing.

Hopefully it's not going to be another half past six explanation which even someone like me, who is not a professional can shred to pieces.

I heard Khaled will be assisted in the briefing by Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) chief executive Datuk Ismail Ibrahim.

Well, Mail, I hope you can help Khaled with answering all the hard questions, if there are any.

I know that the journalists who will be there are all considered as "friendlies" but who knows, they may be curious to know more than what you all going to spoon feed them.

Oh, before I forgot, Mail, how was Batam the other day? You play golf there or not?

Anyway, no need la you bring along an entire IRDA team to that island. Where got potential investors in Batam? Wasting tax payers money only la. You want to play golf and have fun just go alone la. Can or not?

Oh, also, next time don't la go fooling around in places like Batam when the Prime Minister come down to JB for a visit. Not nice, you know.

Well, these are all why Johor is in a lot of trouble now.

Ramadhan rambling

It's been a week of Ramadhan.

I am okay with the no food and drink restrictions.

No problem at all as I don't eat and drink much anyway.

The harder part is about having to be a good girl.

I am not a good girl.

Well, not as according to the usual interpretation of what it supposed to be for a good Muslim girl.

I don't wear a tudung, have dyed red hair, wear mostly a bit tight and short clothing and I swear quite a bit in normal conversation.

Something like, "What the fuck Khaled think he is doing, fucking up Johor like that?"

I think most, if not all my pahala puasa went up in smoke just because of my swearing.

I am trying to limit it though. For instance, I hardly write such profanities in this blog.

Anyway, fasting, to me, is the third easiest of the five basic things to do for a Muslim.

The easiest to do is reciting and believing the Kalimah Syahadah - professing that Allah is the only existing god and that Mohammed was god's prophet.

That I can do rather well.

My mother, however, once told me that it was not straight forward easy for her.

When she first fell in love with my father and wanted to marry him, it was hard for her to sincerely believe in the existence of a god as required for a Muslim .

She was at that time officially a Taoist but actually an atheist.

The thought of converting to Islam was also scary with all those talks about terrorists, stoning adulterers to death, chopping of hands etc.

She also thought that it would be hard for her to give up eating pork and her favorite Japanese beer.

However, she said my father had only asked her for only one thing - to believe that there is only one God.

That's all.

My father even said she can eat all the pork that she wants and drink as much beer as she can consume.

All he ever wanted for a start was for my mother to believe that Allah is the only god.

With some effort she did, and after a while things turned out alright. My father never demanded anything from her except for the first request. Things simply fell into place after that.

My mother, however, is not the typical Malaysian Muslim convert. She didn't change her name and still behave and look very much like any other non-muslim Chinese lady.

Okay, now, the second easiest basic thing to do as a Muslim for me is paying the tithe or zakat.

Just fill up the necessary forms and pay the required amount at the pejabat zakat.

Very easy. It's basically a bit like doing charity.

Next to fasting during Ramadhan in term of difficulty to fulfill as a Muslim is going on the pilgrimage to the Holy Land in Mecca.

It's a one trip in a lifetime for any Muslim who can afford it.

It's not going to be very easy for me to do that one, but I think one day I will be able to afford it and actually make the once in a lifetime trip.

I love traveling anyway.

Also, the experience is great, so I was told by those who had been on the pilgrimage.

Makes you feel really close to Allah, they said.

That's cool.

Now, the most difficult basic thing to do as a Muslim for me is performing the five times a day prayers.

It's shameful but I do admit, I am struggling on this one. I simply don't have the discipline.

Whatever it is, I am trying to improve on it.

Insyaallah, hopefully one day I can get it right and perform my solat accordingly as required of me.

Okay, I am quite sleepy now. It's almost 11pm.

Need to sleep now.

Good night.