Will Malaysians Soon Be Sleeping on the Streets?

In the true spirit of free speech, this letter is posted verbatim.

It has been posted elsewhere, and has been widely distributed by email.

The letter from "Little Bird" is also worth a place here.

“Malaysians May End Up Sleeping in the Street

Sunday, 06 January 2008, by ‘Little Bird’

Indonesia is one of the world's most richest countries in terms of natural resources.

God has blessed Indonesia with gold, uranium, copper, oil, timber, beaches, seas and other wealth.

The land is fertile with abundant rain. Stick a twig into the ground and it grows into a tree. Yet Indonesians sleep in the streets.

Food is expensive. The average Indonesian eats some rice, tempe, tauhu and maybe some vegetables for breakfast, lunch and dinner - everyday. An average Nasi Padang meal for four persons in a single star Indonesian restaurant can cost RM60.00 (160,000 Rupiah).

This is way beyond the income of the average Joko or Ketut in Indonesia.

Why is this so?

The answer is because the ruling elites in Indonesia do not care about the people. They have pillaged the country. They craft policies that only serve to keep the elites in power and the wealthy.

The same thing is happening in Malaysia.

There are also millions of Indonesians who go to school and university but do not learn skills that can help them survive in the real world. They are very poor in European languages like English or Dutch. All their education is in Indonesian. So they cannot keep up with the latest developments and technologies.

They cannot compete. They remain poor.

The children of the elite are sent overseas for their education. An average Indonesian university graduate cannot bring world class skills to his employers. He or she therefore earns a pittance.

This is happening in Malaysia. Bumiputra university graduates only strike it rich if they get Government jobs where they do not do much work but earn a good salary with a pension.

In the private sector they may not get a job or earn only a pittance. That is why 100,000 graduates remain unemployed in Malaysia.

Bumiputra university graduates are turning up for interviews as taxi drivers and shop assistants.

What about those who flunk out after SPM?

They become Mat Rempits. Last Saturday I saw another Mat Rempit get killed at the road races in Shah Alam (near Section 7).

In Malaysia, just like in Indonesia, food is getting very expensive. But the wages and salaries of the people, especially the Malays, is not keeping up with the increase in prices.

Instead of developing the competitive ability of the people, the Government has been using the failed NEP to provide subsidies and dish out money on a plate. Everything is subsidised, even cooking oil, flour, rice, sugar, fuel, etc.

The Government has been providing these subsidies so that the people will keep voting for the ruling party.

So it has never been to the Government's advantage to make the Malays independent.

A Malay who is independent of the Government may not vote for the BN. It is therefore better to keep feeding with subsidies. So, for the past 50 years, everything has been subsidised.

But now with 27 million people in the country of which more than half are Malays, subsidies are getting more expensive.

There is also much much more thievery and wastage by the elites in Malaysia. But there is no bottomless well full of money.

Everything has its limits. The money will soon run out.

Without the subsidies for cooking oil, sugar, flour and petrol, how are the people, especially the Malays, going to survive?

Already university graduates cannot find jobs or compete in the private sector. What happens when the oil money runs out?

What happens when (not if, but when) the Government cannot simply spend billions of oil money to sustain its voting base any longer?

That is when we may see people sleeping in the streets, just like in Indonesia.

If that happens this country will go up in flames. We will all be consumed.

In Indonesia, the Government has not mobilised its hundreds of millions of people (over 250 million Indonesians) with the competitive skills to grow enough food for themselves.

Hence food is expensive.

They do not even have simple survival skills like coming to work on time, organising themselves to do simple tasks, maintaining good hygiene and cleanliness and so on.

They are poorly read and not informed about many things that are going on around the world.

Their Government has failed in all these aspects. Hence the average Indonesian remains poor.

The same thing has happened in Malaysia.

Our young people, especially the Malays, do not possess basic survival skills. We are not talking about competitive skills but just basic survival skills.

The Government is not serious about giving them useful competitive skills either. The Mat Rempits are being glorified by the politicians as saviours of the nation (Mat Cemerlang). Correction. they are drug users, gang rapists, snatch thieves and street fighters.

When an efficient Policewoman called Nooriyah Anvar was appointed
Chief of Traffic Police she went after the Mat Rempits with a vengeance. Does anyone remember her?

She confiscated their bikes on the spot. But soon the Mat Rempits called their political muscle and Nooriyah Anvar was kicked out.

To date she holds the record of being the shortest serving Traffic Police Chief in Malaysia.

She has been replaced by Senior Asst Comm (II) Datuk Hamza Taib.

So the Government is not serious about improving the position of the Malays. It serves the Barisan Nasional Government to keep the Malays down and out. Then the Malays can go to the Government for crumbs.

This way the ruling elites get to keep the whole loaf to themselves. Go and visit Indonesia.

This is what is happening over there. It is happening over here too.”

This is a quite realistic scenario which is not hard to envisage, since everything in the Malaysian garden is not as lovely as it may seem to some.

What do you think?

Is it far fetched, or a reasonable assessment of the current situation in Malaysia?

Sanon!

NEW SHOT

HOT NEWS

Extract fromThe Star, printed on Wednesday February 13, 2008

'Parliament won’t be dissolved today, says PM

BANGI: Parliament will not be dissolved today.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi put an end to such speculation, telling reporters here yesterday: “Esok tak ada (No, it won’t be tomorrow)”.

He also denied that today’s Cabinet meeting would be the last with his present team of ministers before Parliament is dissolved to pave the way for the next general election.

“What makes you think that? How do you know it’s going to be the last Cabinet meeting (before elections are called)?” he asked when responding to a question.

Asked if there would be more Cabinet meetings with the present team, Abdullah said: “Yes, there will be more.”'

The above Denial that Parliament would be desolved on Wednesday 13th february 2008, was reported in all the main Malaysian daily newspapers, then read below what actually happened.

The Star, Malaysia

On line, Breaking News

Wednesday February 13, 2008
Malaysia Time:T6:15:55 PM

“Parliament dissolved, elections on (2nd update)

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has announced that Parliament has been dissolved, paving the way for the 12th general election.

At a hastily convened press conference at his office Wednesday afternoon, he said he had met the Yang Di Pe’rtuan Agong in the morning and received His Majesty's consent to dissolve Parliament.”

How’s that for political transparency, truthfulness, openness and honesty?

Liar liar pants on fire!

Sant Hilari, Sant Hilari, fill de puta qui no se l'acabi!

Trashy Roots

Trashy Roots, an anagram of A Short Story

A college professor was lecturing his students on writing a good, short story. He stressed that four features must be present.

• First, one ingredient is Sex -- for without it, there would be no human race, so there is no academic pursuit.
• Second, one must have Religion, for this differentiates Homo Sapiens from animals, as religion governs humankind's way of daily living and leads to his/her civilization process. Otherwise, there is no history.
• Third, there must be Mystery, for this challenges the reader to read on to test his imagination and detection power if he could transcend the writer's creative prowess and guess the ending.
• Lastly, by definition, a short story must have brevity; otherwise, ..... it's not wise to underestimate your reader's intelligence.

So the class of Nobel laureate-aspirants set to work, and except for the rustle of pens on paper, there was pin-drop silence.

From where he sat on the front table, the professor spied a restless youth watching the courtyard outside through the window, obviously contemplating the old banyan trees, the chirping birds, both the feathered and human kind (with lads in tow, holding hands, and picnic baskets, what else). And the young man's thoughts strayed.

The professor tapped the young-man, deep-in-reflection, on his shoulder, enquiring if he had problem with his assignment.

"No, professor, I have accomplished my mission," the bespectacled lad proudly replied, handing over a page of paper. All eyes of his course mates were now focused on the potential winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

On the piece of paper was written the following:

The Duchess of Santa Crux is pregnant, O' God!

I wonder who did it?

On egin!

Voting in an Election

Insist on Free and Fair Elections

Transparent ballet boxes are not a new thing, the one pictured here was used around the year 1884.

Transparent ballet boxes, which will be used in Malaysia for the first time, 124 years later, in the next general election, do not of course mean that the voting process and the electoral procedures will be truly transparent

Transparent ballot boxes are only used in order for enable people to witness that the box is empty prior to the start of the election (i.e. not pre- stuffed with fraudulent votes.)

Ballot stuffing is the illegal act of a person submitting multiple ballots during a vote in which only one ballot per person is permitted. The term 'Ballot Stuffing' originates from the earliest days of this despicable practice in which people literally did stuff more than one ballot in a ballot box at the same time. In a government election, this is one form of electoral fraud.

Detecting ballot-stuffing depends upon how good the record-keeping and the electoral supervision is. The efficient independent observation of an election can help to detect procedural malpractices and electoral fraud, the intimidation of voters, illegal canvassing of voters, and other election offences.

Most elections implement systems which match the number of persons turning up to vote with the number of ballots cast, and also prepare the ballot papers so as to ensure that they are difficult to fake, successful ballot-stuffing usually requires the misconduct of genuine registered voters and/or election personnel.

Ballot-stuffing can be accomplished in many ways, for example:-

A ballot-stuffer may cast votes on the behalf of any voters who did not show up to vote at the polling station (vote telegraphing); sometimes, votes will even be cast by 'those who are long dead’ or by ‘fictitious characters in TV shows, books, and films (vote padding).

In some societies, dead people (phantom voters) are kept "alive" on paper, or are "resurrected" for the purpose of ballot-stuffing. The family of the deceased often helps in this type of election fraud, either to assist their chosen political party, or to receive a monetary pay off.

The use of indelible ink to mark the fingers of those who have cast their vote has long been practised, but usually in third world countries. Malaysia is introducing such a finger nail marking system in the next general election, the rather rude photograph (below), showing how the indelible ink mark will be made, was published in the local print media recently.

Postal voting, may, unless it is carried out in transparent and well regulated manner and is independently supervised, be another way that election irregularities and fraud can take easily place.

Everyone one must play their part in ensuring that an election is free and fair.

An unfair and fettered election is certainly not democratic, and any governments elected by means such elections can never be regarded as democratic governments.

Afiyæt oslun!

Fetishes and Dirty Fame

Were you expecting something thrilling?

Sorry, that was just an anagram for:

‘Same shit different day’ (an idiom)

(If you have read or heard the main stream media today, then you'll know what I mean)

Here are a few more interesting anagrams-

‘I don`t give a shit !’ (an expression) becomes: It’s the avoiding

‘Go shit in your hat’ (an Irish insult) becomes: This young hot air

& some more-

Vote Barisan National (a slogan) becomes Variable annotations

Malaysia boleh! (a slogan) becomes May abolish ale!

Fly Malaysia Airlines (a slogan) becomes; I am fine, silly salary

And lastly,

Vote wisely (a slogan) becomes; Wisely veto

VOTE FOR CHANGE

For a Better Malaysia (a slogan)

becomes; State-fear or amiably

God help us (a slogan) becomes; Gosh! Led up

Malaysians Unite (a slogan) becomes; Sanity in a lame us

Malaysia,
can we fix it? YES WE CAN!

Bob the Builder: © 2008 HIT Entertainment Limited and Keith Chapman. All Rights Reserved.

festina lente! (hasten slowly)

HOT AIR

Listening to all the hot air emanating from the PM, ministers and other assorted government politicians during this pre-election time, and after reading about the verbal diarrhoea, hollow promises and patronizing remarks, I thought that the light hearted fantasy poem, ‘If Pigs Could Fly’, by James Reeves, would be an really appropriate Sunday interlude.

If Pigs Could Fly

If pigs could fly, I'd fly a pig to foreign countries small and big,
to Italy and Spain,
to Austria where cow bells ring,
to Germany where people sing and then come home again

I'd see the Ganges and the Nile,
I'd visit Madagascar's isle
and Persia and Peru.
People would say they'd never seen
so odd, so strange an air machine
as that on which I flew

Yes everyone would raise a shout
to see his trotters and his snout come floating from the sky.
And I would be a famous star in all the countries near and far.
If only pigs could fly

--James Reeves

Disclaimers:

No pigs were flown or otherwise harmed during the writing of this blog or during the photo shoot.

Flying pigs may be dangerous to both the pig and the rider ( if any).

Flying pigs over populated areas should do avoided so as to obviated any risk of porcine rainfall and brown-outs.

Txin txin!

Are all Malaysians really better off than four years ago?

PENANG:
'Malaysians are better off than four years ago’

‘Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the country’s per capita income had risen by 40% between 2004 and 2007, from RM15,819 (US$4,163) to RM22,345 (US$6,452).

“If we compare in terms of US dollar, the per capita income has risen by 55% during the period due to the depreciation of the dollar against the ringgit.

“The Barisan Nasional Government is confident that we will get the people’s mandate again, based on the improved economic resilience.

“However, there will be challenges and we are prepared to meet them,”’

The news report above was headlined: ‘Malaysians are better off than four years ago’.

The statistics (do you recall the saying “ Lies, damned lies and statistics”) say that the per capita income has risen, this may well be the case, but are all Malaysians really better off than four years ago?

Prices have risen, this includes the cost of utilities (water, gas and electricity), fuel, food-stuffs, transportation, however wages are on the whole stagnant and most workers receive low wages as they always have.

So from the man in the streets perspective, the answer is,

‘No, we are, without a doubt, worse off than four years ago’

So, who is actually better off?

Where has the money gone to?

Who are the beneficiaries of this 40% increase in per capita income?

The readers may have some views, but in my opinion, most the extra 40% increase has gone to a select few, some was paid out as bribes.

In reality maybe only a tiny sum trickled down to the masses, but this was not enough to counter the increases in the cost of living.

Those lies, damned lies and statistics

Genatzt!

One Small Step For The Disabled

The Star reports;

"Show Social Welfare ID to get 50% off on Rapid buses

PENANG: Effective Monday, senior citizens and the disabled registered with the Social Welfare Department need only show the identification cards issued by the department when travelling on Rapid Penang and RapidKL buses to get a 50% discount.

To reduce red tape, the Government has done away with the requirement for them to apply for the Rapid Card, issued by the companies.

“We want to simplify things. It is sufficient for them to show the card issued by the department to obtain the 50% ticket concession," said Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.

He was speaking to reporters at the St Nicholas' Home here on Saturday."

Common sense, a very rare thing it seems, has finally prevailed.

The elderly and the disabled should all along have been allowed to use their official ID cards issued by the government, so this is no big deal.

A 50% discount is a small, but nevertheless a welcome discount.

Now the bigger issue, all Rapid Penang Buses are inaccessible for those using wheelchairs, as are many RapidKL buses.

Even the few buses which are said to be outfitted to accommodate wheelchair users, are inadequately designed and are potentially dangerous.

Furthermore the two wheelchairs occupy nearly 50% of the floor space due to the poor floor layout and configuration. The resulting lack of seats will annoy the other passengers and could perhaps make them resentful of the disabled persons in wheelchairs.

These are yet more examples of stupidity and the lack of common sense.

Click here for PETPOSTIVE'S Post re RapidKL & Penang

What about the usability of the Kuala Lumpur LRT systems and the KL Monorail vis-à-vis the disabled and the elderly? That's another story.

Watch this space

Gëzuar!

Plundering, Profiteering, Bribery and Corruption

Laws that were enacted to proscribe bribery and corruption have a long and glorious history.

A Roman senator could be dismissed from office for the "moral corruption" of bribery, and under the Magna Carta of 1215 the King's officials were prohibited from taking commodities without paying for them, this was an attempt to eradicate corruption.

The payment of bribes to public officials is illegal under a number of international laws, and under the domestic laws of Malaysia and many other countries around the world.

Plundering of citizens and taxpayers’ money for the benefit of the politically powerful, their cronies and many civil servants, is a common phenomenon in many countries, but seems to have reached endemic mega-status in Malaysia.

According to publicly available information, many, if not all mega projects, it appears, are in some way or another connected to the various Barisan National coalition political parties, personalities and their cronies. They may, in addition (as it seems to be the de facto standard operation procedure in Malaysia), be riddled, from top to bottom, with bribery and corruption.

There are many examples of dubious past projects, the 4.6 billion Ringgit Port Klang Free Zone fiasco, (PKFZ) being only one example.

(Two examples of up and coming mega projects are the gargantuan snake like Penang Second Bridge, and the infamous Penang Global City Centre.

There are numerous other examples of mega projects which are located throughout the country, there is also a new phenomena, the quite recently announced gargantuan “Development Corridors and / or Regions, located throughout Malaysia, as follows:-

Peninsular Malaysia.

• In the North, the ambitious RM177 billion Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) multi billion Ringgit development plan.

• In the East, the ambitious East Coast Economic Region (ECER)

• In the South the massive Iskandar Development Region (IDR) ,

and across the South China Sea on the island of Borneo, in East Malaysia.

• In the state of Sabah, the newly proposed mega billion Ringgit Sabah Development Corridor.

• In the state of Sarawak, the proposed mother of all projects, the multi billion Ringgit, Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) in the central region, which will need a whopping RM334bil in capital investment to be fully developed.

Without strict controls, accountability, openness and full transparency; mismanagement, skulduggery, underhandedness, as well as bribery and corruption will continue to flourish and Malaysia will continue to suffer financially and will never truly progress.

Uncompleted projects, substandard construction, unmet specifications, slipshod work and poor quality outfitting and supplies will continue to be the accepted norm.

Just look around, you will see cracking buildings, subsiding highways, land slips,potholes in newly resurfaced roads, out of order facilities in most public buildings and facilities, unlit street light and traffic lights, dilapidated government offices and staff accommodation and so on and so forth, ad infinitum.

Even in the national show city of Putrajaya, which is the political and administrative hub of Malaysia, where most the Ministries and Headquarters of Government Agencies are located, the magnificent architectural masterpieces are in some case a mere fancy façade; closer inspection will reveal that they too have suffered from bad workmanship, specifications which were not met, sub-standard materials and lack of care and attention to detail. To make matters even worse, maintenance is, as is common throughout Malaysia, falls far below the standard that is required.

Any visitors to Putrajaya must be aware of misleading road signs, dead ends, roads to nowhere, and a dearth of people to ask direction from. Pedestrians must be especially careful, as pedestrian crossings are few and far between, and even those which are installed are unsafe or virtually unusable.

Cyberjaya, located nearby, and which is the axis of the multi-media super corridor suffers in a similar way.

How to overcome the ruinous problems outlined above?

Not too difficult a job, but it would need corruption free and very strong, leadership, persistence, determination, dedication, strict enforcement, zero tolerance for wrong doing, corruption and cronyism, and severe punitive action against the guilty, no matter who they are, who they know, or how much money they have.

Only when bribery and corruption are eradicated will Malaysia and her peolple, truly progress, develop and eventually reach the status of a fully developed nation.

Fearlessly Forward without Fear or Favour, would be perhaps be a good motto for true progress.

Kampai!

What is politics?

A little boy goes to his father and asks, "What is politics?"

His Dad says,
"Well son, let me try to explain it this way:
I'm the breadwinner of the family, so let's call me 'Capitalism.'
Your Mum, she's the administrator of the money, so we'll call her the 'Government.'
We're here to take care of your needs, so we'll call you 'The people.'
The nanny, we'll consider her to be the 'Working Class.'
And your baby brother, we'll call him the 'Future.'
Now, think about all that and see if it makes any sense."

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking deeply about what father had said to him.

Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him.
He finds that the baby has filled his nappy (diaper).

So the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother sound asleep.
Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room.
Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny.

He gives up and goes back to bed.

The next morning, the little boy says to his father,
"Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now."

The father says,
"Very good my son, tell me, in your own words, what you think politics is all about."

The little boy replies,
"Well, as I understand it, while 'Capitalism' is screwing the 'Working Class', the 'Government' is sound asleep, 'The People' are being ignored and the 'Future' is in deep shit."

That sounds about par for the course!

Does this scenario also sound familiar?
(click on cartoon for larger image)



Egészségetekre!

Carnage on Malaysia's Roads

Who is correct, the Transport Minister, or the Federal Traffic Police Chief?

Read the news reports below:-

STAR, Thursday 7 February 2008

“Fewer fatalities on the road this festive season

By JANE RITIKOS

KUALA LUMPUR: If the present traffic trend continues until Ops Sikap ends on Feb 14, there will finally be a reduction in the number of fatalities on the road during the festive season.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy said that up till the seventh day (Wednesday) of Ops Sikap XVI, the number of deaths on the roads had shown a downward trend, and he is praying this will continue.

The traffic flow at highways has also been smooth despite the traffic volume tripling.

"So far, the number of deaths until (Wednesday) has generally been below the average number of 17 fatalities. Sometimes it is five, seven, 10 deaths daily nationwide but we are just halfway through Ops Sikap.”

BERNAMA, Thursday 7 February 2008.

“Road Deaths Double on Chinese New Years Eve

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- The number of people killed due to road accidents nationwide doubled on the eve of the Chinese New Year.

Federal Traffic Police Chief Datuk Hamza Taib said 26 people died on the seventh day of Ops Sikap XVI yesterday compared to only 13 on Tuesday.

Sixteen of the dead were motorcyclists, five were car drivers and passengers, three bicycle riders and a pedestrian and lorry driver.

Hamza also said 1,162 road crashes were reported yesterday and nearly half of them occurred along municipal roads, followed by federal roads with 311, state roads 196, highways 107 and other roads 47.

Meanwhile, 10,203 summonses were issued to the road users for various traffic offences.

-- BERNAMA”

There is something seriously amiss with safety on the roads and highways of Malaysia, this carnage is clearly caused by a combination of:

Inadequate signage, sub-standard maintenance, poor road design, bad driving (for example: speeding, recklessness, inconsideration for other road users, carelessness) also plays a part, as does patchy and inconsistent enforcement.

The solution?

Quite simple,

1. Far less talking about road safety, and more dedicated work.

2. Immediate implementation of 24 / 7 strict and universal enforcement, to eliminate all speeding, reckless and careless driving by anyone and everyone, without exception.

3. Ensuring that all roads and highways are well designed and built, and always properly maintained.

4. Ensuring that all traffic lights, road signs, etc., are of standard size, colour and design, and are properly located and are installed at the correct hight to ensure they are clearly visible.

5. The training and examination of all drivers needs to be upgraded.

KEEPING DEATH OFF THE ROADS INVOLVES EVERYONE.

PLEASE HELP TO ENSURE ROAD SAFETY IS A REALITY NOT A DREAM!

L'chaim!

Road Deaths Double On Chinese New Year's Eve

Welcome to the Year of the Rat, 2008

Happy Lunar New Year 2008 / 4706

Same rubbish, different year!

In recent weeks, the Malaysian mainstream media has been reporting that the government is, five years on, going to do this, have done that, will continue with this, or that, or the other.

"The people of Malaysia should be thankful", or so they say, blaah, blaah, blaah, blaah blaah.

Such verbal diarrhoea is not uncommon, and politicians are not noted for their sincerity, objectiveness, honesty, or reliability, however, recently the quantity of bovine excreta has reached nauseating proportions.

Just today, BERNAMA reports (extracts below) that the Information (commonly known as Propaganda) Minister said:

"Abdullah's Leadership Has Plans For Nation's Future, Says Zam

SUNGAI PETANI, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- The people should continue their support to the government to empower Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to implement long-term development plans, which have been drawn up, for the people's well-being. Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin said that as the head of government, the Prime Minister has long-term plans for the people's socio-economic development. He said it was not fair for anyone to evaluate Abdullah's performance and deliverance within a five-year period. "In a matter of just one term (as prime minister), we cannot assess (his real performance). We must give a chance to the Prime Minister to lead the nation," The minister said the people had confidence in Abdullah's leadership to continue steering the nation to greater heights.

Zainuddin said the people of Kelantan would also enjoy more vigorous development if they voted out the PAS-led state government in favour of the Barisan Nasional (BN) in this general election. He said the Abdullah-helmed government had improved the public delivery system to the people and had simplified procedures and made transactions easier with government departments and agencies. The government had also taken measures to contain price hikes of essential goods and had preserved peace and harmony among the various races and had taken crime-prevention measures to address rising crime cases, he said. The national economy had also recorded encouraging growth to stimulate the nation's future progress, he said."



Notes:
a) The crime rate is up, according to recent police statistics I have seen, (see poster "Is Malaysia Safe?" below)

Is Malaysia Safe? (click on images for a larger view)

b) The 'public delivery system to the people' has generally not improved at all, in my experience, civil servants in Malaysia are more often than not, uncivil, inefficient, poorly trained, lackadaisical, unhelpful, rude and arrogant.

Well folks, you be the judge, consider these questions:

1. Was Mr. Zainuddin Maidin speaking truthfully, sincerely, honestly, can the audience and readers unquestionably rely on what he said?

or

2. Was it just empty rhetoric which was designed to mislead, embellish, cover up, and merely concocted waffle to try to amplify all the recent pre-election frenzy of 'talking-the-talk' activity, and the announcement of the very recent setting up of "Development" corridors" (the so called- 'long term development plans') throughout the nation?

3. Does the handing out of goodies (which could be considered bribes) to potential voters, insult the voters intelligence, and demean them?

My opinion is that the answer to the first question is NO and the answer to the other two questions is YES.

What say you?

Na zdrave (to your health)

Gong Xi Fa Chai

Rats are said to be imaginative, charming and very generous to those they love although they do have a tendency to be quick-tempered and over-critical. They are supposed to make good writers, critics and publicists.

Years of the Rat

1912, 1924, 1936, 1948,

1960, 1972, 1984, 1996,

2008 or 4706

Those born in the Year of the Rat are noted for their charm and attraction for the opposite sex.

They are hard workers, who are aiming to achieve their goals, acquire possessions; they are likely to be perfectionists.

They are basically thrifty with money.

Rat people are easily angered and may be over critical.

They are imaginative, have big ambitions and are usually successful.

They are most compatible with people born in the years of the Dragon, Monkey, and Ox.

Looks like me and sounds like me?

This year 2008 / 4706 is the year of Wu Zi

Wishing all readers of this blog,

A Very Happy, Prosperous and Healthy Year of the Brown Earth Rat 2008

新年快樂

Xīnnián kuàilè; Sin-nî khòai-lo̍k; San nin faai

過年好

Guo Nian Hao

恭喜發財

Gōng Xǐ Fā Cái; Keong Hee Huat Chye;

Kiong-Hí Hoat-châi; Kung Hei Fat Choi

Gan bei
Kong chien!