Monday, 2 March 2015

1MDB on the right track

I wrote this back in October last year,




At that time I was becoming skeptical of 1MDB due to the incessant attacks against it.

As it is, when you relentlessly attack something, some people may in the end believe it.

That is actually the tactic used by Pakatan against the BN government.

Since then, I noticed that 1MDB had started to try to explain itself to the people.

Some of their effort were not so good but there were times when they got it right and their explanation did to a certain extent clear the air.

What ever it is, at least they had improved by making the effort to engage the public and dispel some doubts about their operations.

That's important, as everyone knows, the attacks directed at 1MDB were actually meant for PM DS Najib Razak.

Of course there were some more rooms for improvements, but what 1MDB was doing now at the very least is encouraging.

It is better than letting itself be a sitting duck ready to be shot at by their detractors all the time.

This is the latest that came out from 1MDB:

"1MDB notes with concern certain claims carried by an online media portal concerning business arrangements 1MDB entered into with PetroSaudi. 1MDB exited the relationship in 2012, and received backits investment in full, with a profit of US$488m.  These facts, and all details related to this transaction, may be verified by reference to our audited accounts, which are publicly available on the Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia website."


- Arul Kanda, President & Group Executive Director of 1MDB


And this is from PetroSaudi,

1 MARCH 2015 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

We refer to certain media reports which has made malicious and harmful allegations with respect to PetroSaudi's partnership with 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

We wish to state categorically that all funds from 1MDB went to PetroSaudi owned entities, any other inference is false. 

Upon 1MDB's exit, PetroSaudi has paid 1MDB in full and both parties no longer have any financial or legal relationship.

Finally, we are seeking legal advice on the appropriate course of action to these malicious and slanderous allegations.


PETROSAUDI INTERNATIONAL


Well, it is good that 1MDB had improved on its public engagement effort.

They should do more though as the attack against them are not going to cease any time soon.

Hopefully things will be better for 1MDB and others connected to the leadership of the PM.

They should realize that they represent Najib's future as the country's prime minister and therefore do more to avoid being liabilities for him.

If they don't do the right things, they will cause Najib's downfall.

Sunday, 1 March 2015

Two years have passed

This blog is two years old today.

The following is for my record keeping purposes,

Posts : 701

Pageviews : 1,754,384 

Comments : 21,940

I would like to thank all who visited this blog, especially those
who commented on the issues that I wrote.

As of now, the most read post is

Stupid Malay men

which I wrote at the height of campaigning of the Teluk Intan

by-election in May last year.

For comparison, this is what I wrote exactly a year ago,



Today, I am resting at home.

I am contemplating finding another job.

Been bitching too much about my work place.

It's not healthy.

Actually I am not sure why I so easily get upset with my bosses.

They are not actually bothering me too much.

I just don't like their style of running things.

Things like scolding their subordinates in public.

It's humiliating for those who have to endure it, and I don't like
to be a witness to such things. 

However, someone pointed out to me last night that it's the bosses' 
rights to scold anyone who don't do their job well, privately or publicly.

That someone said I was being too idealistic to expect all people
to behave properly all the time.

Still, I don't think that it was right for me to do nothing.

Let's say you see someone slapping his child in public. I think 
you will try to stop it.

It's just wrong to do that even to your own child, even if the child had
indeed done something wrong.

It's the same with what my bosses are doing to their subordinates.

I think I will write more about it later.

Sorry for repeatedly writing about it. 

My mind is so full of the nonsense at the moment.

I'm just angry.

Okay, I better cool down and listen to something nice,



Watching these guys perform always make me smile,

Ya, I better smile more and be less angry.

Saturday, 28 February 2015

A good PMO guy

A few days ago, a high ranking PMO (prime minister's office) guy asked me out for lunch.

I consider him my senior and friend as we used to work together for a while before he joined the team of DS Najib Razak.

At that time Najib was not yet a PM.

I have always respect him for being a good and honest guy.

Occasionally he would call me out for lunch just to chit chat.

Indian Sweet Mangoes - Syed Bistro in Bangsar )

I never call him out. He is married and a very busy man.

It was very nice of him to find time to see me as I know that he keeps a tight schedule.

Furthermore, I'm just his junior and of no rank and stature.

As usual, we talked about our life and of course politics.

I can't tell you all in detail what we talked about as far as politics were concerned.

A lot of classified information.

Suffice to say that as always, he defended his boss against all those criticisms directed at the PM.

I know that he genuinely believes in Najib and had defended him not because he wanted to score brownie points.

After all, I am not one of those people who keep track of brownie points scored by people for praising and defending Najib.

When I told him that I know of a plan by some of his colleagues to kick him out of the PMO, he just laughed and told me that he was aware of it too.

"I am ready for that. If they ask me to leave, I will go. My conscience is clear as I have tried my best for Najib all these years. What ever happened, I still believe my boss is a kind hearted man who on his part is trying his best for this country," he said.

The guy is really sincere.

After all, I know that he is not rich despite working as a close aide of Najib for so many years.

He just works for his salary and nothing else.

Then the conversation turned something like this:

PMO guy: "How about you? How's your life?"

Me: My life sucks.

PMO guy: Why? What's wrong?

Me: It sucks because I don't really have a life except my work. And my work sucks too.

PMO guy: You seem to be doing well at work. I keep track of your work. It's quite okay.

Me: That's what you see. What you don't see is something else.

PMO guy: Tell me what's wrong. I know your big boss. Maybe I can help you.

Me: It's okay. I will try to handle it myself. If I can't stand it anymore, I will just fucking suicide bomb all those fuckers in my office.

PMO guy: Eh, don't talk like that lah. You are crazy or what? Just tell me what's wrong.

Me: I just hate the fucking bullies in my office. They enjoy bullying their subordinates by humiliating the poor bastards in the office wassap group. It's as fucking bad as humiliating someone in public.

PMO guy: Have they ever done that to you?

Me: Not yet, but I am waiting for it. I really going to suicide bomb those fucking bastards if they do that to me. I'm not their fucking slave.

PMO guy: Hush! Stop talking like that okay. Try to relax. People may think that you are an Islamic State terrorist for real. Come on, I will try to help you, okay.

Me: No need lah. I know you are too busy to care for my little nonsense. Najib needs all the help that he can get now. You better be focused on helping him...and try not to get kicked out of PMO. Najib needs all his good people....instead of all those asshole opportunists hanging around him now.

PMO guy: Okay...but do tell me if they disturb you. I will try to work out something. Don't go around suicide bombing people, okay.

Me: Okay....

PMO guy: You have enough money? I mean...last time I met you, you said you were broke.

Me: Could be better. Those fucking bastards gave me a lousy annual assessment that day despite me working my ass off last year. Now, I got just pittance for my bonus. They should have shove it up their arse instead. Real fucking pricks.

PMO guy: Relax, don't lose your temper.

Me: Okay....I will try to fucking chill....

PMO guy: Can I give you some money...I want to help.

Me: No. You try to give me money again and I will really kick your ass.

The conversation went on something like that for almost two hours.

It was actually nice having someone listening to my nonsensical troubles.

I know the guy can't help me, but still I appreciate his friendship.

Well, good luck to him and his Najib.

I think both guys need a lot of luck.

Thursday, 26 February 2015

Kota Iskandar's consultants

It looks like the Johor government is also following the trend of hiring consultants for works it supposed to do itself.

Here is a picture I took from the Facebook page of one Tengku Naufal Tengku Mansor, a lawyer and consultant of some sorts,



Tengku Naufal (second from right) is seen in the picture with members of the MedKom, the media and communication unit of the Johor government.

Standing next to him in the batik shirt is a special officer of Johor MB DS Mohd Khaled Nordin and third from left (without tie) is the boss of MedKom.

And this goes with the picture,



Well, looks like it's a new thing in Kota Iskandar these days.

I do wonder how much the state government spent on the consultant just to do  public relation works.

The officers at Kota Iskandar who were supposed to do the work buat apa ya?

And this is just a small one.

Bigger things surely require bigger consultants.

The bigger, the more expensive.

The state government got so much money to spend, I guess.

As far as I know, the previous state administration used to be very careful about spending money on these sorts of things.

Anyway, how transparent was the appointment of these consultants?

Who appointed them?

Well, I will be looking forward to see how the Khaled's administration perform after spending money on these consultants.

Hopefully, with the state government being guided by these consultants, Johor BN will improve its performance in the next general election, particularly doing better than winning 83 per cent of Malay votes as it did in GE13.

I am not counting on it to improve from winning just less than 10 per cent of the Chinese votes.

I don't think the consultants can help BN on that one.

By the way, I was told by someone that Tengku Naufal is the younger brother of Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor. Not sure if it's true. I didn't bother to double check.

What I am sure is that the guy is not a Johorean and doesn't operate in Johor.

I wonder how much he knows about Johor anyway that the state government feels the need to consult him on how to do things.

Wednesday, 25 February 2015

An interesting but crazy theory on MH370

I read with interest this report in Rakyat Post earlier today,

Expert claims Russia hijacked MH370, flew it to Kazakhstan

Daily Mail also reported it here,

CNN's MH370 expert says Vladim ir Putin ordered special ops

A more detailed report of the same theory is in New York Magazine here,

How Crazy Am I to Think I Actually Know Where MH370 is?



The theory basically said that the missing Malaysia Airlines' plane had ben hijacked by the Russians and flew to a Central Asian country.


I know it sounded crazy. Even the person who is behind the theory said so. But it was still an interesting theory all the same.

The only part which I found hard to believe is that the Russians are behind something like this.

I would have find it more believable if it was said that the Americans are the actual culprits.

They are after all the ones with more capability for such sophisticated hijacking of a plane.

Still, it was just a theory and the motive for such a hijacking seems fantastical.

Anyway, these are what I wrote just days after MH370 went missing,







I was then clinging on the hope that I was right with that theory and the passengers and crew of MH370 were still alive and kept at a secret location somewhere in a Central asian country.

That was until it was declared that MH370 was lost in the southern Indian Ocean.

My prayers tonight are for the missing souls, where ever they may be now.

It's all about politicians' ego

My room's air-cond has gone kaput.

And it's so damn hot tonight.

It had been like this the past several days.

The ceiling fan is not doing much good.

I am wearing very little clothing now, but still sweating.

It's the ongoing heat wave, I think.

Maybe I need to take another round of shower later.

Anyway, i am writing this post simply because I got nothing better to do.

It's hard to sleep in this heat.

Actually there is still nothing yet really beneficial to write about the political scene.

None of what is happening now is of any help to the life of ordinary Malaysians.

Does it improve our life that yesterday Anwar's family filed a petition for royal pardon to get him out of jail?

I don't think so.

Who really cares anyway? Right?

The MIC ding dong helping the Indian community?

I don't think so too.

Stupid...

How about the DAP and Pas fight over hudud and other things?

That's to me is just to please their followers. Their tit-for-tat is not going to improve the people's quality of life or lower the crime rate.

How about DAP's rule in Penang? Has it improved the life of the people of Penang by leaps and bounds?

Honestly, I can't see much difference between the life of someone who lives in Alor Star and someone who lives in Penang.

Okay la, maybe in Penang a Chinese may feel liberated because the chief minister is a handsome Chinese guy.


But that does not make life much better by much, isn't it?

Dengar ceramah DAP hantam the Melayu gomen tak improve life, okay.

Syok sikit je. Itu saja.

Really, everything that's happening were almost all about the politicians' ego.

The Umno people are no better.

They are messing things up and showing no sign of improving.

Very tiresome people, actually.

Eh...this is wasting time lah.

I better wait until I am really inspired again before writing a posting.

Don't want to bore you all with my aimless ranting all the time.

Here, better listen to this nice song instead.


Monday, 23 February 2015

Quick look at current political scenario

Back to work today.

Done with the CNY merry making and need to get serious again.

Been neglecting the current political scene for quite a while now.

Checked around just now and found out that it's more or less the same nonsense as usual.

Let me briefly go at them one by one.

There's Pas' Mahfuz Omar trying to capitalize from the noises being made by convicted murderer Sirul Azhar from down under.

That's very silly of him. Trying to win political brownie points over dead people is disgusting.

Then there were also PKR guys still making noises over the jailing of DS Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy.

But not much impact there. The gatherings initiated so far were not very well attended.

People are tired of it, I think.

Even Pas and DAP don't seem to care much.

They are more interested in going at each other's throat.

Yesterday Gobind, the son of the late Karpal Singh tried to live up to his father's reputation of being garang with Pas by warning the Islamist party over its hudud ambitions.

Pas people just told him to fly kite.

Gobind is definitely not his father. Not by the longest stretch.

The DAP's Lim royal family members have not been very noisy....guess still in CNY mode. Too kenyang makan kuih bakul, maybe.

The stupid MIC crisis has cool down a bit.

I rather not comment on that one. Takut kena sue. Not worthwhile to bother with it anyway.

MCA is barking around as usual. Let them lah. What else can they do anyway.

Meanwhile, Umno is still as it is.

I was told there will be no changes at the party HQ as I had hoped for.

Setiausaha Agung Umno Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (kiri) ketika menjawab pertanyaan media pada sidang media mengenai Perhimpunan Agung Umno 2013 di Menara Datuk Onn di sini hari ini. Bersamanya ialah Setiausaha Kerja Umno Datuk Ab Rauf Yusoh (kanan). -fotoBERNAMA

Well, what ever lah.

Why should I be bothered too much. I'm not even a member of the party.

Detractors of PM DS Najib Razak from among the pro-establishment crowd are still at it.

Not done with 1MDB, now they shifted also to FGV.

Good luck to them, but I don't think they can achieve much.

The Umno president is too strong within the party.

What else.....err, nothing much....

Oh, the upcoming Chempaka by-election.

Nope, I don't think Umno will field a candidate. Good also, as they will almost certain to lose. Better save the money for something else.

The upcoming by-election in Permatang Pauh is yet to be finalised.

They said Anwar may still appeal to Yang DiPertuan Agong to reverse his sodomy conviction.

But I think if the Agong turned down such a request by Anwar, it would be a big blow to the PKR gang.

It more or less says that even the Agong believes that Anwar actually sodomise his former aide Saiful Azhar Bukhari.

What? Anwar wants to get his people to demonstrate against the Agong after that? Don't be ridiculous, ok.

Hah, that's about it. A very fast run down of the current political stuff.

I find them quite boring, actually.

Same ole same ole.

See lah later, if I find anything more interest, I will do a proper posting to amuse you all.

Need to get back to work.

Otherwise my irritating bosses will come and disturb me pulak.

Cheers everyone :-)