Saturday, May 30, 2009

Drowning, not waving?

The world economy

Drowning, not waving?

May 29th 2009
From Economist.com

Don't get too excited about some recent brighter economic news


IT HAS been a cheerful couple of days for those starved of bright economic news. Hopeful statistics have been trickling in from many parts of the world. On Friday May 29th revised first quarter GDP figures for America showed that the economy there had contracted slightly less than had earlier been reported. In addition durable-goods orders in the country rose by the most in 16 months. In Japan, factory output rose by 5.2% in April, the biggest monthly increase, in percentage terms, in over half a century. And in the first quarter India’s economy grew by a bullish 5.8%, compared with a year before, while South Korea’s industrial production continued to rise in April.

Even in gloomy Europe there are encouraging signs. Poland’s GDP ticked up by 0.8% in the first quarter, as did German private consumption (in the same period) and retail sales also grew, by 0.5%, in April. British consumer confidence remained steady in April, and house prices there rose both in March and May, according to one index.

For optimists, these are all signs that might point towards the beginning of the end of the “Great Recession”. Headline writers, and those who are urging stockmarkets to continue rising, will continue to talk of hopes of recovery. Yet a closer look at the detail of the latest figures suggests that hope springs eternal and will latch on to what it can—even when a more sober analysis would suggest there is a long way to go before recovery sets in.

Optimists make much of statistics that beat analysts’ expectations. But when a particular figure outdoes predictions it may be because those expectations were overly pessimistic, rather than a sign that something fundamental has changed for the better.

What, for instance, is the right reference point on the latest news on India's economy? Doomsters might fret that it has grown at the slowest quarterly pace in several years. Cheerleaders could rejoice that it has expanded slightly faster than most people had expected. Weary of negative news, the latter explanation is a tempting way to make sense of the numbers, but the gloomy view is equally valid.

Consider, too, the figures for consumer confidence in Britain. Although consumer gloom seems to have abated, the reported level of –27 is remarkably low by historical standards. If one takes into account reports that British consumers had been growing a bit more confident in recent months, the latest statistic could suggest a halt to a small rally, which is hardly something to cheer. This example highlights the difficulty of extrapolating from a single month or quarter of data, which can easily be skewed by one-off events such as a national holiday or sudden desperate measures by retailers to offload stock. Discerning whether a more sustained recovery might be under way takes, unsurprisingly, more data. Read more.......


Friday, May 29, 2009

Malaysia In For Rough Weather

Hantu Laut

The GDP contracted 6.2 percent in the first quarter of this year.With two consecutive quarters in decline the country is positively in recession, a scenario refuted by those in government just two months ago, a chink in the armour of the economic intelligentsia, saying what the leaders wanted them to say. Export plummeted 25 percent and private investment declined 26 percent. A hard biting recession is on the horizon.


Malaysia is in the top 20 trading nations, an enviable position for a small nation but could be a huge problem in bad times. A global recession would seriously affect Malaysia's exports.The picture is going to get worse before it gets better.In my December 2008 article here I predicted 2009 GDP of 2 percent and possibly into negative territory.At that time the government was still insistent on growth of 5.3 percent.

The government stimulus package announced earlier seems not to have kicked in making it appears that it has not been implemented as vigorously as promised.In my article here I predicted export would decline by 20 to 30 percent in the first quarter of this year.

It looks like Malaysia is not going to be spared the hard-hitting recession, wrongly predicted by the Governor of Bank Negara and previous second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop who predicted recession will not come our way.

If the economy doesn't pick up during the second half of this year there would be a new gloom on the horizon, the banking system may be in for rough weather.The current good liquidity may evanescent quickly if the economy continued with its downward spiral.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Perempuan Ronggeng ?

Hantu Laut

Are they any better than the devil they painted of UMNO and the BN.They showed utter disgust and threw tantrums when BN lawmakers made sexist remark in Parliament.

This double standard hypocritical bunch of political stragglers are worse than the BN undesirables.

PKR's VP Azmin Ali resorted to unrefined language when he called Aminah Abdullah 'Minah Ronggeng'

My wife is half Javanese and half Chinese and according to her it is an insult to call a lady a ronggeng girl.'Ronggeng' is a Javanese word for a dance and in the old days the dancers who get paid to dance with men are called 'perempuan ronggeng' .It also connotes low social status and loose moral.

Where are the ladies in PKR and UMNO, aren't they going to scream for blood or just let it be because Aminah is not from their camps or maybe she is not so good looking so it is alright for her to be insulted by this no school PKR vermin.

The ronggeng are now modernised with Bollywood influence into a very saucy and sexy dance called 'dangdut' .I understand banned in Malaysia.

Enjoy the video.

Looking Back: Leave Your Bikini At Home

A Code of Their Own

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

CT Sympathisers Disinformation

Hantu Laut

There are some who wish to re-write the history book.Glorifying a man who is known for the brutal murders of many innocent civilians. Those who were against the communist ideology and refusal to give support would be murdered.This particular blogger here even go to the extent of mocking the intelligence of Malaysians by showcasing the success story of communism.She is still living in la-la land by equating China's success story with communism.China is only communist in name but in practice it is the biggest capitalist nation on the face of the earth. Without capitalism China would still be in the backwaters.

Her blog has attracted remarkable number of pro-CPM(Communist Party Of Malaya) comments and sympathisers that idolise Chin Peng as a hero in the fight for independence. What independence? Arm struggle to bring down a legitimate government is a fight for independence? Weren't Malaysia already independent when Chin Peng and his roving band of murderers continued to terrorise villagers and killed unsuspecting and innocent Malaysians.

On the contrary, the arm struggle was not to free this country from the colonial masters but was intended to turn Malaysia into a communist state under the auspices of China. Those who twisted this fact have other hidden agenda in mind and need their heads examined.Chin Peng could not be said to be fighting for independence because his arm struggle to topple the government continued until after independence.

Surprisingly, this CT sympathiser even posted an article here to tell Malaysians not to forget the contributions of the CPM to this country and said their contributions were bigger compared to what UMNO had done.Even if you hated UMNO so much do you need to spread this kind of disinformation to mislead the uninitiated youths of this country.

This kind of propaganda and disinformation is not going to bring any good to the country other than inciting anger and discontentment to certain sector of the population.

As far as I am concerned Chin Peng should be tried for crimes against humanity for the murders of thousands of innocent Malaysians.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

What! PKR Using Our Kangaroo Court?



Hantu Laut

So Aminah was not lying when she spilled the beans about PKR.The culprits have now come out and admitted it was true they were with her and have tried to cover their ill intent by saying it was a meeting of jovial nature.

Supreme council member Cheah Ka Peng and special officer to a Penang PKR executive councillor Peter Lim today said the meeting, as claimed by Aminah, did take place at the latter's house on May 13. Story here.



Aminah said they came with the knowledge of Anwar Ibrahim.The two jokers denied and said they went in their personal capacity.

So, are they any better than the kettle they called black? Just keep on fooling the people that you are better than the devil you painted.

As they say "God's mill grinds slow but sure".The day will come when Malaysians will wake up and realise how they were fooled by hypocrisy and politics of lies and false pretenses.

PKR threatened Aminah to take legal action.Anwar threatened Anifah the same.

What! They are going to use our kangaroo court?

Reminiscing The Past: The Mahathir Mystique

The Mahathir Mystique

After 22 Years In Office, Malaysia's Prime Minister Leaves An Outsize Legacy Of Prosperity, Racial Harmony And Diplomatic Defiance
By Melinda Liu | NEWSWEEK

Reminiscing The Past: The Man Who

The Man Who
Friday, Apr. 12, 1963

Manila hummed with excitement as delegates gathered for the third annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asia. Phalanxes of motorcycle police escorted shiny official limousines to meetings at the pale, domed conference hall in the heart of the city. Inside the paneled auditorium and at diplomatic cocktail parties, an endless stream of dignitaries strolled up to greet the man who was the focus of everyone's attention. Malaya's stocky, smiling Prime Minister Abdul Rahman. 60. the golf-playing ex-playboy who this summer will bring into being a new Asian nation.

To one and all. Abdul Rahman happily took credit for the formation of the Malaysian Federation. As he puts it. "I am the father of Malaysia." Strictly speaking, this is not true; the idea has long been the dream of Asian nationalists enchanted by its economic and political prospects. For years. Britain too has advocated the plan as a neat way to tie up all its remaining Asian colonies (with the exception of Hong Kong) into one tidy independent package. But the Tunku (it means Prince) was the indispensable catalyst without whom Malaysia could not have been achieved. He wooed, bullied and cajoled the four other countries into the federation agreement, was the only logical choice to serve as the new nation's first Prime Minister.

Happy, Not Mighty. Unlike most other new Asian leaders, Abdul Rahman is no rabid nationalist. He has remained on close, friendly terms with the British, has no interest in pie-in-the-sky economic schemes. His political aims are simple: "Food instead of bullets, clothing instead of uniforms, houses instead of barracks.'' His new nation has a combat army of only seven battalions and an air force so small that the pilots often have trouble finding a fourth for bridge. "My ambition is not mighty Malaysia," says Abdul Rahman, "but happy Malaysia."

But many pressing problems threaten the Tunku's ambition. Malaysia's current prosperity is endangered by its dependence on a one-crop economy. Synthetics have already captured half the world's annual 5,000,000-ton rubber market and forced down the price of latex. On top of this, Brunei's oil reserves are fast depleting. To counter the economic threat, Malaya has embarked on an ambitious diversification program, is offering a five-year tax holiday to new industries and pushing a big land-development program for new cash crops.

Politically, Malaysia has already experienced some acute pains. Fearful that a stable new nation will curb Communist subversion in Southeast Asia, Russia has branded the federation "a cunning invention of London" set up with the "unqualified support of U.S. imperialists.'' Both neighboring Indonesia and the Philippines have launched a campaign of invective against the whole idea.

Walls of Prejudice. By far Malaysia's most complex and festering problem is the simmering racial hostility between the new nation's Chinese and Malay populations. Throughout the federation, the astute, prosperous, hard-bargaining Chinese dominate business, industry and trade, have economically far outstripped the rural, easygoing Malays. Chinese tycoons control North Borneo's booming young timber industry and Sarawak's vast, rolling pepper gardens; in Malaya. Abdul Rahman's government has complained that the rich, inbred Chinese business community has erected a "wall of prejudice" against ambitious young Malay businessmen.

The Malays have built some walls of their own. By Malayan law. only one-quarter of the government jobs can go to non-Malays, while Malays get special concessions in the granting of scholarships and licenses for new businesses. Rigid citizenship requirements have been set up for the Chinese (Malays are automatically citizens), and the Borneo territories plan immigration restrictions to keep Chinese businessmen out. "Special privileges are like a golf handicap." rationalizes Malaya's Chinese Finance Minister Tan Siew Sin. "They are not to hold the Chinese down, but to help the Malays along."

Golf Every Morning. It is ironically fitting that the complicated problems of federation are the province of a man who. on the face of it. is so uncomplicated himself. "I am a lazy man." admits Abdul Rahman cheerfully, and six years as Malaya's Prime Minister have not altered his funloving ways. The Tunku plays golf every morning (handicap: 24), checks the racing calendar before making advance political engagements, always takes a nap in the afternoon. An avid soccer fan and sports-car buff, he is chronically late for appointments, explains: "Being punctual always wears me out."

The Tunku has the charisma of the really successful politician. His title draws enormous respect from the masses, and at the same time his genuine charm and easygoing manner quickly win their confidence. Though he is a devout Moslem, Abdul Rahman enjoys brandy and soda; he is also an excellent curry cook. With his third wife, Sharifah Rodzia, and their four adopted children (two of whom are Chinese),* the Tunku leads a life of cheerful disorder in Kuala Lumpur's open, airy Prime Minister's residence, allows the 70 children of his servants the run of the house; visiting diplomats are often surprised during a conference to see a servant's child wander into the sitting room and climb up onto the Tunku's lap.

The Tunku has solved the problem of paper work simply: he does not read it. He has always had an aversion to the printed page, as a student picked up the knack of absorbing pertinent passages from books or papers that were read aloud to him. But though he has no intellectual pretensions, the Tunku commands unswerving loyalty from his brilliant subordinates for his almost charmed ability to avoid political mistakes. Says an aide: "He understands the Malay mind better than anyone else ever has." Abdul Rahman agrees. "I have the feel of the people." he says. "I have the touch."

The Playboy Prince. Abdul Rahman was the seventh son of his father's sixth wife and, with his 44 brothers and sisters, lived the plush life befitting the offspring of the Sultan of Kedah. His Siamese mother demanded that he be carried to school on the shoulders of a retainer, and though he was an indifferent student, his royal birth won him a scholarship to Cambridge, where he began to read law. But the Tunku skipped most of his lectures, seldom missed a tea or dinner-dance, distinguished himself mainly by picking up 28 traffic violations in his silver Riley with red fenders.

Not unexpectedly, the playboy prince flunked his bar exams. So far down the line of succession that he had no chance of ever attaining his father's sultanate, the Tunku returned to Malaya as a minor civil servant in a number of remote outposts. On foot and on elephant, he traveled through the bush getting to know the land and the people, once even worked as a manual laborer to help build a new mosque, which the grateful Malays named Rahmaniah after him.

World War II and Japan's swift conquest of the Malayan peninsula hastened Abdul Rahman's maturity. As a useful district officer, the Tunku was kept on the job by the Japanese. Secretly, however, he helped hide escapees from Japanese death camps, kept in contact with British guerrilla units, which were supplying arms to anti-Japanese Communist irregulars in the jungles.

"Who the Hell Is He?" Abdul Rahman was also in contact with the Malayan independence movement that began to take root when the Japanese ousted the British. With the end of the war, at the age of 42, the Tunku returned to England to get his law degree, began to play a larger part in the cause of merdeka (freedom). He insisted that it was the duty of every Malay in Britain to join the nationalistic Malay Society. Because of his age and long experience in the civil service, younger Malay students looked to him as their leader, called him—because of his darker skin—"Black Uncle." In fiery political bull sessions with youthful follower Tun Abdul Razak, the seeds of a future political partnership were being sown; today Razak is the most trusted member of his Cabinet.

Back home, the middle-aging lawyer joined the United Malay Nationalist Organization, slowly began building up a political following in his native Kedah. In other Malay states, the Tunku's firebrand followers from the London days began pushing him for the party leadership; finally, in 1951, Abdul Rahman took over as boss of the U.M.N.O. "Nobody had ever heard of him," an official recalls. "I remember people asking 'Who the hell is he?' "

They soon found out. Convinced that he could only achieve national leadership at the head of a multiracial united front, Abdul Rahman muted hotly anti-Chinese sentiment in his own Malay party, stumped the country urging Chinese and Indian leaders to unite behind him under the banner of a new organization called the Alliance Party. To finance his crusade, he sold his expensive cars and most of his other property. "I worked like mad, living andy sleeping on trains," says the Tunku. "I was often home only one day a month." But Abdul Rahman's zeal paid off. In the 1955 general election, the Alliance swept 51 of the 52 seats in the federal legislature, and the Tunku took over as Chief Minister under the British High Commissioner.

Merdeka. Abdul Rahman was so busy politicking that he had taken little military interest in the brutal, bloody guerrilla war that 350,000 British and Malayan troops and home guardsmen were waging against Communist insurgents in Malaya's tangled jungles. But after his 1955 election landslide, the Tunku grew afraid that the British might use the emergency to delay independence, arranged to meet the Communist rebel chieftains in northern Malaya to see if some sort of settlement could be worked out. "My ideas about Communism were determined by that meeting," says the Tunku. "I became convinced that once a Communist, always a Communist. They could never coexist with us in an inde pendent Malaya."

As the war in the jungle began taking a turn for the better, Abdul Rahman flintily told Britain that the time was long overdue for Malaya's independence. After months of haggling and delay, the Tunku finally forced Britain's Colonial Secretary Alan Lennox-Boyd (now Lord Boyd) to the conference table. Throughout the grueling, three-week session in London, the Tunku refused to budge from his ultimatum that independence must come no later than Aug. 31, 1957. "When the Siamese have no intention of yielding, they just appear stupid," he told subordinates. "I'm half Siamese, you know." At last, Lennox-Boyd got the point and caved in. On the Tunku's target date, independent Malaya came into being.

"Good Old Tunku." The Tunku had no revolutionary blueprint for his new nation, brought into his Cabinet his old London crony, Abdul Razak, to hammer out a program for orderly progress. While Abdul Rahman ground down hard on Red subversives, Minister of Rural Development Razak (in the post he will retain in Malaysia's new government) started a program of new roads, schools and clinics to boost the standard of living in the primitive kampongs (villages) of the interior, where the Communists were trying to gain a foothold. In the air-conditioned "operations room" of his ministry, gadget-loving Razak carefully watched the progress of his bulldozers on dozens of charts, movie screens and map displays, kept his program constantly ahead of schedule with his cold insistence on re sults—or else.

Abdul Rahman made no effort to squeeze the British out of the country, was convinced that Britain's continued economic and military presence was the best possible insurance for Malayan stability. Today a British officer commands the Malayan army, five senior British civil servants hold key positions in Malayan government ministries, and British businessmen control more than half of the rubber industry, repatriate $86 million in profits annually. "It's wonderful how this place has flowered since independence." says one businessman. "We're really much better off. Good old Tunku."

Parleys on the Green. With his young nation booming, Abdul Rahman looked with increasing fear at the predicament of neighboring Singapore, just three-quarters of a mile across the Johore Strait. There Communism was spreading like an infection among the underfed, underemployed masses in Singapore's squalid, teeming tenement quarters. By strikes, riots and boycotts, the Peking-oriented Communist-front Barisan Socialist Party tried to topple the tottering government glued together by Singapore's shifty, brilliant, Cambridge-educated Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, 39.

Never too choosy about where he got political support, "Harry" Lee first tried cooperation with the Communists, later adopted a "leftist, not extremist, nonCommunist, not antiCommunist" policy. It did not work; to save his political neck, he was forced to go for help to an old golfing partner—Abdul Rahman.

Lee's vacation house bordered a fair way of Kuala Lumpur's rambling Selangor Golf Club, where the Tunku shot his daily round. From tee to green, Lee tried to convince Abdul Rahman that Singapore's rickety coalition could never survive another election, and that a Red Singapore could only spell trouble for Malaya. Gradually, the Tunku came to the frightening conclusion that Singapore might well become "a Chinese Cuba."

One solution to the "Singapore problem" was obvious: a merger, so that Malaya's powerful internal security police could move in and help Singapore authorities hold Red subversion in check.

But the Tunku shuddered at the prospect of upsetting his nation's Malay racial preponderance by the addition of Singapore's 1,300,000 Chinese. "In order to balance the population," he says, "I thought of the Borneo territories."

Wining & Dining. Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo, however, were less than enthusiastic about the federation scheme. Borneo leaders resented being invited to join merely as a political and racial accommodation, desired instead some sort of independence of their own. Then Britain began putting quiet pressure on the three territorial governments, tried to persuade them that union in Malaysia offered them far more economic and political power than they could ever achieve by themselves.

But it was Abdul Rahman who sold the scheme. The Tunku wined and dined a continuous stream of Borneo delegations in Kuala Lumpur, warmed up Borneo leaders cool to the federation with promises of favored political positions in the new nation. He shrewdly offered the Borneo territories 70 seats in the federal parliament, against only 15 for far more populous Singapore and 104 for Malaya. He promised tax concessions and a $12 million dollop of Malayan aid annually to the territories, agreed to keep federal hands off Brunei's oil reserves. It was the Tunku's fondest hope that the new nation come into being on Aug. 31, 1963, the sixth anniversary of Malaya's independence

Then last December came a blow that threatened to destroy the Tunku's timetable. It was the uprising in Brunei.

"Just Too Much." Discontent with the Sultan of Brunei's corrupt, inefficient and autocratic regime had long been festering in the tiny, Delaware-sized territory. Last year the Sultan's government spent only $50,000 on drugs and medicine for its people, while laying out $47,000 for electrical illumination on the Sultan's birth day; action on requests to the government usually took from six months to three years. The dominant but powerless People's Party was also dead-set against Malaysia; the party's erratic, goateed, onetime veterinarian leader, Sheik A. M. Azahari, 34, wanted instead to align Brunei, Sarawak and North Borneo into a single independent state—with himself as its leader.

When it finally erupted, the revolt was poorly organized and badly led. Four battalions of Britain's tough little Gurkha troops landed on Brunei, inside of a week sent the shattered remnants of the 3,000-man rebel army scuttling back into hiding in Brunei's steaming jungles.

But the Brunei revolt at last gave the Philippines and Indonesia, for different reasons, an excuse to display their opposition to the scheme. Oblivious to Malaya's success against Red infiltration, the Philippines feared that leftists would ultimately take over the new nation, thus putting a Communist neighbor right on their doorstep. Dusting off an old claim to North Borneo, the Philippines maintained that in 1878 the Sultan of Sulu had only "leased," not sold, the territory to the British. London stiffly rejected the Filipino claim to the region.

Indonesia shouted that the turmoil showed the deep dissatisfaction with Malaysia in the Borneo territories, and that the federation was only a plot to extend Britain's colonial influence in Asia. Rabble-rousing President Sukarno knew that a British-backed, economically viable Malaysia would not only derail his ambition to extend his influence over the Borneo territories, but might also serve as an inducement to rebellion for the people of depressed Indonesian Borneo. Moreover, Abdul Rahman has ignored every "revolutionary principle" for which Sukarno stands, has in the process created a conservative, prosperous nation, while revolutionary, leftist Indonesia, with its 100 million people, has slid to the edge of economic ruin. Says a diplomat: "To have a little country like this extending its influence in Southeast Asia was just too much for Sukarno."

Sound Ground. In a drumfire of propaganda outbursts, Indonesia hailed the "Brunei freedom fighters," lashed out at "British mercenaries and puppets," granted political asylum to Brunei Leader Azahari, raved that Abdul Rahman was "round the bend." (Retorted the Tunku: "What can you expect from a pig but a grunt?") Djakarta mobs hanged the Tun ku in effigy, and Sukarno declared a "policy of confrontation" against Malaya. Indonesian jets buzzed Malayan ships in the South China Sea, and army leaders darkly threatened "incidents of physical conflict" along the border of Brunei and Indonesia.

Sukarno did not dare to invade; he plainly hoped to induce the United Nations to step in and placate him as it did with West New Guinea—thus sparing him the necessity of fighting for what he wants. However, the U.N. seems unwilling to play Sukarno's game; a U.N. observer team told him that Malaysia is "on sound legal ground."

Promise to "Brothers." Last week in Manila, the acrid dispute between Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia added an undertone of tension to the otherwise calm meeting of the Association of Southeast Asia. Not on the official agenda, the Malaysia question came up repeatedly in long private discussions between Abdul Rahman and Philippines President Diosdado Macapagal. The Tunku was anxious for the whole matter to be settled quietly. In an attempt to be reasonable and friendly with his "Malay brothers," he agreed to look into the Filipino claim to North Borneo, lukewarmly endorsed a proposal for an Asian summit meeting between himself, Macapagal, and Indonesia's Sukarno. But the Tunku vetoed the suggestion that he postpone the creation of Malaysia until some settlement could be reached; the federation, he said, would come into being by Aug. 31 as planned.

From the standpoint of language, religion, culture or geography, Malaysia is not a natural nation. But Abdul Rahman has faced problems similar to Malaysia's in his own Malaya—and there a decent society has flourished. He does not promise the moon to his new nation, only a sane, humane, workable government. Under his leadership, Malaysia can be, as John F. Kennedy has said, "the best hope of security in that vital part of the world."

*The Tunku's first wife, who died of malaria in 1935-was the mother of his two children, Daughter Kathijah, 29, wife of a Malayan studying in Britain, and Son Xerang, 27, now a major in the Malayan army. His second wife was a white Englishwoman, Violet Coulson, whom he married over the protests of his family; they were divorced in 1946.

Source:'Times' magazine

Monday, May 25, 2009

Reminiscing The Past: Know Any Communists? Just Write Box 5000

Know Any Communists? Just Write Box 5000
Friday, Jul. 12, 1968

As darkness fell over the abandoned pineapple estate in southern Malaysia, 50 miles from Singapore, police moved in and took up positions among the trees. Thus ensconced, they witnessed a strange rite. On an open-air stage, blue-clad men and women in their 20s sang, recited the sayings of Chairman Mao Tse-tung, and performed acrobatic dance versions of his most intrepid deeds before a rapt audience of other youths. The police waited until the performance had ended, then moved in quickly and arrested 123 performers and members of the audience. The pineapple estate was a clandestine Communist Party school where young students, all of them Singapore or Malaysian Chinese, lived, studied and were taught the arts of subversion. The place was well stocked with propaganda material, including a beribboned Red Guard doll. From captured documents and prisoners' confessions, the authorities pieced together an ominous picture of the growing Communist presence in Malaysia, the conglomerate of former British territories in Southeast Asia

Talks with Thailand. By 1960, after twelve years of bitter guerrilla fighting in Malaya, most of the country's 10,000 Communist terrorists had been subdued by British and Malayan forces. The drive was a notable success, often wistfully compared with the considerably different results in Viet Nam. But the Communists have never completely abandoned the field. Going underground, pro-Mao Communists have infiltrated trade unions and set up cover organizations and political parties. Worried officials report that in Sarawak, bordering Indonesian territory, Communists have successfully penetrated the whole fabric of society, from political parties to schools. In some rural areas, agents are openly training youths in armed guerrilla warfare.

To gain broader support among Malaysia's 3,000,000-plus Chinese minority, the Communists have played on traditional racial antagonism against the Malays. Recent Communist-organized harassments have included bloody race rioting on the offshore island of Penang. The Communists are not strong enough to contemplate open insurrection now, but the Malaysian government fears that they are preparing to make a bid for power when British troops withdraw from Malaysia in 1971 as part of their pull-out east of Suez.

Source: 'Times' magazine

Reminiscing The Past: "Tunku Yes, Sukarno No"

Hantu Laut

For the next few days I will be posting various articles from the archives of Times and Newsweek magazines on Malaysia. 

The first article is from 'Times" archives below.


"Tunku Yes, Sukarno No"
Friday, Sep. 06, 1963
In steamy, palm-shaded Kuching, capital of Sarawak, the day's biggest excitement is the firing of the 8 p.m. cannon on the lawn of government house. "What a dull place," said a United Nations official. "I don't know how we're going to survive three weeks here." At the insistence of Indonesia's President Sukarno, an eight-member U.N. team is present to "ascertain" whether Sarawak and North Borneo really want to join the Federation of Malaysia, which Sukarno bitterly opposes. As the U.N. ascertainers began to sample opinions around Sarawak, they were nearly stoned, not bored, to death.

In the Chinese-dominated town of Sibu, the Red-infiltrated Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) staged a demonstration that turned into a 90-minute, stone-throwing riot. Only after police fired warning shots to disperse the mob could the U.N. team sit down —amidst broken glass in a Methodist schoolhouse—to interview local councilors. In Miri, Sarawak's oil-refining center, 3,000 Chinese-SUPPorted youths, wielding stones and bottles, screamed anti-Malaysia slogans until the police opened fire, wounding two, and tear gas forced them to scatter.

Date Set. Such outbursts will slightly delay but not derail the formation of Malaysia, originally scheduled for Aug. 31. In last summer's general elections, voters in both Sarawak and North Borneo decisively defeated anti-federation parties. Although Indonesia's shadow looms large, the Borneo people know they have nothing to gain from Djakarta but economic chaos and demagoguery. Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and British Colonial Secretary Duncan Sandys, who hastily flew to the scene, last week set Sept. 16 as the new birth date for the federation —two days after the U.N. mission's findings will be made public. Both are sure that the U.N. will find a clear majority in favor of Malaysia, but they insist that the federation will come into being regardless of the report. The British last week also turned over internal self-government to Borneo and Sarawak.

In a wrangle over details with the British, Indonesia failed to send observers to the U.N. mission, thus giving Sukarno an excuse to question the U.N. findings later. But faced with British determination to defend Malaysia by force, if necessary, Sukarno said: "If the Borneo peoples agree to join Malaysia, we will have to bow our heads and obey." But, added Sukarno, in an unbowed postscript: "Indonesia maintains its opposition to Malaysia."

Book Learning. An Indonesian guerrilla campaign against Borneo and Sarawak may well continue, since Djakarta always needs a foreign diversion to draw attention from domestic difficulties. In Indonesian Borneo, which adjoins Sarawak, Sukarno has set up guerrilla camps along 200 miles of border, and is training 1,000 Red-lining Chinese from Sarawak, following the guidelines of Indonesian Defense Minister General Abdul Haris Nasution, an expert on guerrilla warfare who has written his own book on the subject. Bands of his guerrillas pushed across the border to raid Dyak villages, clashed with patrols of British-led Gurkhas and Sarawak police. In a fire fight ten miles inside Sarawak, the Indonesians killed a British lieutenant and wounded several Gurkhas before being routed with heavy losses. Meanwhile, British officers are studying Nasution's book for clues to stop further Indonesian incursions.

So far, Indonesian terrorist attacks have only served to create a surge of pro-Malaysia feeling in Borneo and Sarawak. Almost nightly, the Indonesian embassy in North Borneo is plastered with slogans reading "Tunku Yes, Sukarno No." Although his people stopped head-hunting years ago, one Dyak chief told the U.N. fact finders that "if any more Indonesian bandits come into our territory, they may lose their heads."

Source: Times Magazine

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Apathy The Mother Of All Crimes

Hantu Laut

This country is showing a worrying trend of social ills and regressive behaviour of our youths. Rapes, robbery to murder, not a single day without these heinous crimes being reported in the media. Even more alarming the rapists and victims are getting younger. As disgustingly as it can get even babies and toddlers have been raped.

Incestuous rapes, where young girls became victims of their father's lust are becoming the rule rather than the exception.Some have been raped over many years and were not reported due to fear of the father's wrath.Some cases were only reported after the girl had become more matured and understand what the father has been doing to her is wrong. Such men have reduced themselves to living in the animal kingdom where sex is instinctively a cause for propagation of the specie.What was reported could just be the tip of the iceberg.




These days how many young men would give up their seats to a lady, the elderly or the handicap? It is becoming a rare commodity.Go on any public buses or trains and see for yourself the appalling behaviour of the younger generation.Incivility and rudeness take front seat where ever you go, from government offices to schools to the cab drivers, you'll get a fair share of discomfiture. Our capital city has one of the worst taxi drivers in the world, rude,intimidating and dishonest.Some are known to have raped their female passengers.


Take the recent report of a poor lady who apparently was in a hurry and jumped queue at a bus stop, manhandled and punched in the face by a man. Instead of just giving her a telling off he resorted to summary judgement and meted out his own brand of justice.

Much of today's younger generation failed in civility and good manners.Good manners had become the exception rather than the rule.

It is the flaw and flavour at home that should carry bigger share of the blame.Parents apathy were major causes of  juvenile delinquent and bad upbringing. Some of our schools, the second front after parenting, are as broken as the broken homes the wayward child came from.Apathetic teachers who take no pride in their job.There for the money only.When I went to school teachers were highly respected and looked upon as mentors. 

Like many other things in this country the problem starts at the source. Bad drivers come from bad driving schools, bad students come from bad schools and bad teachers come from bad teachers training colleges.



The increase in crime is related to law-enforcement, the lack of which is evident in most areas in this country.Again, apathy contributed to the increase in crime rate.When criminals think they can get away with it they will continue their crime spree.Kuala Lumpur is fast becoming hotbed for criminals and crime capital of the world.

Although, the police can't be omnipresence to combat crime, it is evident they are not giving it their best shot.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

What Are Pakatan Supporters Made Of ?

Hantu Laut

They curse, insult and babble in imprecations. They berate other opinion with string of expletives and language fit for the gutter. They are the highly indoctrinated and intoxicated Pakatan supporters.

Below are some of the comments that are common language among Pakatan supporters who formed major segment of blog readers.

From an article that appeared in Malaysia Today on decision of the Court of Appeal on the Perak MB.

written by Dragon888, May 23, 2009 11:14:25
Those 3 judges are crooked, corrupt and incompetent. They are stooges to BN. I wonder how are they going to sleep at night. The only way is to get rid of BN and then the tainted judges, AG, Police chiefs, etc. We need the French govt and citizens to prove that Najib had dinner, lunch or coffee with the murdered Mongolian lady... This would be the easiest way to get rid if this corrupt PM...

written by raven1958, May 23, 2009 12:38:49
These judges are slimy bastards hiding behind Rosmah's panties.....anyone have their home addresses..please comment.......they are not going to get away with this....I have an Ah Long friend who is good at tracking thugs....maybe will utilise his services.....

A word of assurance from an Indian to Raja Petra on his apology to the nation about his son.

written by Remo, May 21, 2009 07:17:13
No worries Pete.
You don't have to feel guilty.
You have to go on.

I am Indian and we Indian believe in fate.
I believe it is fated.

We are with you and you continue your struggle to eradicate the corrupted government.

From an article in Malaysia Today on Hafidz Baharom.

written by nero287, May 22, 2009 21:57:49
Hafidz must had his nuts squeezed real tight in order to write a nut-piece about RPK. In fact he stooped so low down by mentioning RPK's son in his article. Only Saifool would have appreciated his posture!

First the police prostituted themselves to UMNO, then 3 entities from Perak did it. Three more judges whored themselves today and I guess journalists such as Hafidz didn't want to be left out. Very soon we will be known as a Brothel State. Shouldn't these people just Putrajaya when they pray since the person that they worship resides there. BTW Hafidz, after reading your article, I wouldn't trust you to write an essay for my teenage kid. Pathetic attempt at spin doctoring.

From Zorro-Unmasked on the Court of Appeal's decision.

Anonymous said...

To be expected, these judges have said it "Yes, we respect shit!"

In shit we trust, Najis Razak variety.

May 22, 2009 5:32 PM

From Susan Loone's blog.

Never trusted the judiciary from the day Madhatter manipulated those guys to his aDVANTAGE! The Verdict??? Could’nt care a damm as everyone knows it a gone case!
To me the courts can get F$%#@! to hell!
Fern - May 22, 2009 at 8:37 am

From my blog.

Anonymous said...

Definitely BN will win in Kelantan, and that businessman in Penanti will beat the pakatan hands down and then join the UMNO under the able leadership of Najib.

WHY? Bcoz of:

Tun Daim Zainuddin has personally told Dr Mahathir that Singapore possesses all the evidence that Najib, Razak Baginda and Altantuya met at the Oriental Hotel in Marina Square one year before she died.

This means, with the evidence that Singapore possesses, they would be able to blackmail Najib.

Surely Dr Mahathir would not want someone who can be blackmailed into doing Singapore’s bidding become the next prime minister knowing how he feels about Singapore and those perceived as under Singapore’s control?

http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/22273/84/

-kekekeke

May 23, 2009 5:03 AM

This one is from a blogger who once was a radio DJ who used to insult his listeners who called in to his talk show for their bad English.He has no confidence in the judicial system.

So now the Zambry fler is back as Menteri Besar of Perak. The 3 judges of the Appeals Court have decided so. The people of Perak did not have a say in this.

You're not going to sit there and tell me that you're really surprised. Are you? If you are then I must commend you on your optimism and belief in the sanctity of the Law and belief in the purity of our judicial system. Good for you. I am not so gullible la. From the time the circus began there was no other outcome that I would have expected.

Now 'they' will all tell us, "It's the law!" Sure it is. "We won fair and square. It's legal!" Sure.

But it isn't even about the Law and justice really. It is about trust. Maybe legally Zambry is the chief minister. Maybe the other fler has lost the confidence of the majority. Maybe the old Sult was right in his decision ordering the resignation of the other MB. Maybe like the old saying says, pigs will fly.

It is sad isn't it? That after more than 50 years of Independence we have lost trust in our courts and judges.

Of course, it is sad, when people have to resort to such improper and uncouth behaviour.

This is the kind of government Malaysia will get if we don't open our eyes now and realize it is not about corruptions or abuses of power that they want to get rid of BN and restore democracy as they claimed.

It is now clear their greed for power had overwhelmed their senses and they have showed the highest disrespect for the justice system and insulted the judges of the Appeal court.

Is this the kind of government you want, who teaches you to defy the law?

Three days of hunger strike will not kill you.

May I suggest that the whole of Pakatan and its supporters go on a hunger strike.It will help to cleanse their bodies of the bad elements.

For Pakatan supporters it is also a way to prove your indelible support for the party.