Wednesday, October 31, 2012

I Just Met A Very Racist Chinese !



Yesterday, I arrived KLIA from KK and my wife from Phnom Penh, after visiting our daughter and grandchildren there.My wife's plane arrived 20 minutes earlier 
but she said she would wait for me so we can take the same taxi to our hotel.
Read more.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Dont Be The Cow That Plough The Bog

Hantu Laut


This country moving towards becoming a truly Islamic state is looking brighter than ever if Pakatan win the Federal government in the 13th GE (General Elections).

That's why PAS is adamant with their plan to implement hudud, they know it's a matter of time before they get what they want. On the other hand DAP ......was it miscalculation or deception? 

DAP thirst for power have made their leaders hammy actors lying to their community with complete disregard of the community cultural and religious practices.

DAP has assured the non-Muslims, particularly the Chinese, that hudud can never be implemented in this county without their blessing and those of the other non-Muslim MPs. 

This, looking at the probables, is wishful thinking.

Can Muslims garner two-thirds in Parliament?

I believe they can.

They now have, if my guesstimate is not wrong, between 136 - 140 Muslim MPs. The magic number, the DAP perceived elusive target of 148........ the trigger off point needed to amend the Constitution is only short by a hair's breadth.  The number would increase if DAP fields Muslim candidates in the 13th GE, which they have promised to do without realising the repercussions of its deception.

They can get the numbers and hudud can become a reality in Malaysia and it will not be PAS that will call the shot. It will come from UMNO MPs  throwing their supports behind PAS to spite the non-Muslims. They have more to gain by supporting hudud than opposing it. The extra numbers will come from DAP itself, by way of Muslim candidates fielded by them.

There is a Malay saying "alang-alang mandi biar basah" which will make UMNO MPs throw their support for hudud to teach  Pakatan supporters a lesson they will soon learn not appropriate in a pluralistic society.

Buying and selling of politicians in this country is no F-Word, as can be seen by recent events. 

Anwar Ibrahim, the purveyor of good moral values with his constant histrionic outbursts against corruptions, has inducted many ex-UMNO politicians into the "Pariah's Hall of Fame". See who are the people he collects to join him in his crusade against corruptions ? 

As abominating as it can be, there will always be the opportunistic ones who are prepared to sell their souls to the devil.

It will not be too difficult to get a few non-Muslim ass-kissers to join in the fray for hudud.

Do you want to be cowed into believing that hudud is not possible or you want to be the cow that refused to plough the bog?

Friday, October 19, 2012

Mitt Romney:A Looming Spectre Of New World Order

Hantu Laut




At a fund raising organised by his friend Marc Leder, presidential candidate Mitt Romney shared his thought about the 47% Americans likely to vote for Obama. 

This is what he said "All right -- there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that, that they are victims, who believe that government has the responsibility to care for them. Who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing." 


Mitt Romney, as I have said in my tweet earlier is not a truthful person, he is what he is, playing the devil's advocate.


He is cut from the same cloth as George Bush...... rich and not care a hoot about the less fortunate American people. 


Romney said he has written off that group of voters as he would never be able to convince them to take personal responsibility and care of their lives, not depend on the government too much. 


Mitt Romney mindset is no different from that of Bush. He'll take the same hawkish policy and will widen the budget deficit by increasing military spending and bring back a pugnacious foreign policy that could bring the US into possible arm conflicts with Iran, directly or indirectly, North Korea and high diplomatic tension with China.

He has accused Obama of China coddling and failure to take retaliatory action against China, accusing China of unfair trade practices, theft of intellectual properties and currency manipulator.


Romney's tit-for-tat foreign policy will return the US back to the Bush era of global geopolitical instability. 


China's naval expedition in the East and South China Seas and her overlaying claims over islands and waters of the Spratly, which have similar claims by five other nations is cause for concern.


China's PLA Navy, which used to play second fiddle to the PLA Ground Force has undergone rapid modernization and is now the second largest navy in the world after the US and is moving fast towards becoming a blue-water naval force causing rising fear in Washington.


As a non-American citizen my big concern is not the US domestic policy but its foreign policy that can change global peace and effect countries in non-aligned pacifist region, particularly, Southeast Asian countries. 


The dispute between China and Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands was one that came nearest to blow.


Diplomatic relations between the two countries has soured to such extent that two top Chinese officials.....Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiochuan and Finance Minister Xie Xuren failed to show up at the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Tokyo last Friday.The crisis has exacerbated to more than the eyes can see....a diplomatic snub and rising tension.


As Republican president, Mitt Romney may  return to the Bush's years of belligerency, and high probability of new hotspots in the Asia Pacific region , particularly, in the East and South China Sea. The Chinese have been adamant to exert its sovereignty over islands and waters of the Spratly.


At Tuesday debate, Romney was asked by a voter, who said she was undecided, because she is disappointed with the lack of progress in the last four years.She said she attributed much of America's economic and international problems to the failings and missteps of the Bush administration.She also said, Romney being a Republican, she fears a return to the policies of the Bush's years, should Romney win the election.


I was not wrong when I first raised the issue in my post "The US Kickass Foreign Policy And China"  before others expressed the same fear of this new kid coming on the block and a looming spectre of a new world order.

Phnom Penh

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Global Wealth: Experts Not Worth Their Salt


Hantu Laut

Credit Suisse Global Wealth.........with such big name, nobody cares or dares to fault their reports. 

Rating agencies or whatever you want to call them are, sometimes,  more an abomination of indulgence rather than giving factual result.

I can understand evaluating the wealth of people who control large public listed companies, but how do you go about evaluating private wealth? 

While I do not doubt the Singapore figure of millionaires, I believe Malaysia has more than the 36,000 quoted by the agency. It is still a mystery to me what formula they used to measure the wealth of the 36,000 individuals in Malaysia. 

Many Malaysians are also tax evaders, cash rich and difficult to evaluate their true wealth. 

How do they do it? 

Do they send them questionnaires, check their tax returns, check their bank accounts, check their properties and so on, to arrive at a valuation? Because of bank Secrecy Act, no bank will divulge their customers particulars to anyone.

The report also say house prices have gone down by 40% in Malaysia. Ask any Malaysian if they agree with this ridiculous finding. 

I can't speak for other parts of Malaysia but Sabah property price has gone through the roof and heading for Cloud 9 for the developers and hell for young people to buy a home. The prices of land have also skyrocketed and profiteering by developers have made matters worse for home purchasers. 

A semi-detached house which used to cost around RM200,000 just ten years ago is now costing between RM800,000 to RM1.0 million. I presumed Peninsular Malaysia is no better than what's happening in Sabah. The prices of property in KL hasn't gone down that much either. So! where the figure came from ?

Comparing Singapore and Hongkong with Malaysia may be fair game but Indonesia is a completely different kettle of fish. Indonesia has a population of over 240 million, the 4th largest in the world, and have only 104,000 millionaires, that is horrendously worse than Malaysia.

The report also says "Malaysia was listed among “frontier” wealth countries along with Egypt, Indonesia, Tunisia and Vietnam."

That's probably the biggest gaffe or, maybe, a political fluff coming out of Credit Suisse. 

If you have visited all these countries and if you had opened your eyes wide enough, you would see, we certainly are not in the same league. Malaysia is way ahead of these countries in standard of living.

Tabled below is GDP per capita and GDP of the countries concerned:

Countries      Per capita GDP (2011)            GDP (2011) Bil
_____________________________________________
Malaysia          $15,800.-                               $453
Tunisia                9,600.-                                 102
Egypt                   6,600.-                                 303         
Indonesia             4,700.-                              1,139
Vietnam               3,400.-                                 304

On a productivity/population ratio,  Malaysia's productivity per unit economic output is still much higher than Indonesia and all the other countries with the exception of Tunisia, which has a smaller population than Malaysia.

Sometimes, the experts are not worth their salt, or is the survey correctly reported.


KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Malaysia is projected to have 76,000 millionaires in five years time, but will still be ranked behind Singapore’s 249,000 and Indonesia’s 207,000 people who are expected to be on the rich list in 2017, according to a new global wealth report released this week.
The Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report forecast total global household wealth would increase by an average of 8 per cent annually over the next five years, driven by emerging markets likeChina, Brazil, Malaysia, Russia or India.
Mean wealth per adult is projected to rise to US$67,000 (RM 203,645) by 2017 from US$48,500 this year.
The report said China is expected to surpass Japan as the second-wealthiest country in the world by 2017 while the United States should maintain its leading position.
Credit Suisse said that Singapore was in the list of top ten countries in the wealth-per adult league table, along with  Switzerland, Norway, Luxembourg, and Sweden – as well as Australia and G7 members, Japan, France, the USA and the UK.
The report added that notable cases of emerging wealth were found in Chile, Columbia, the Czech Republic, Lebanon, Slovenia and Uruguay.
Malaysia was listed among “frontier” wealth countries along with Egypt, Indonesia, Tunisia and Vietnam.
Credit Suisse said that for 2012, Malaysia has 36,000 millionaires, while Singapore has 156,000 and Indonesia 104,000 in the bracket.
Hong Kong, with 92,000 millionaires this year, will see membership in the rich club grow to 180,000 in 2017. Read more.

Phnom Penh

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Waiting For The King

Hantu Laut

Ten of thousands thronged the roads from the airport leading to the palace wearing white shirt and black ribbon waiting for the motorcade that will pass along the highway to take the body of King Norodom Sihanouk to the palace. Some cried, carried flowers, lit candles, burned incense and prayed.




Whatever have been said of this man he is still very popular and highly respected by his people in life and in death.He served as prime minister and twice as king before abdicating the throne in 2004.

He has been known as hero of independence, communist collaborator, eccentric playboy, and a cunning monarch and prime minister. 

Though they killed five of his children he eventually made peace with the Kymer Rouge. Almost 2 million of his countrymen perished in an orgy of genocide by the Kymer Rouge. 



He spent the rest of his life in China.

His son and successor, King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen accompanied the royal casket from Beijing to Phnom Penh.

His body will lay in state for next few months .

Phnom Penh

Dirty Polls: Ambiga's Lost Crusade

Hantu  Laut


Ambiga Sreenevasan  went to Australia to seek help from Australian parliamentarians and politicians to save this country from going to the dogs. My earlier posting on the same subject here.



Her febrile imagination of highly embellished unfair election practices and vote rigging by the government had taken her to Down Under hoping that the miserable snooping and intrusive Anwar's close friend Australian MP Nick Xenophon would help her secure Canberra's agreement to send elections watchdogs to Malaysia's next general elections . 

Your guess as good as mine who sent her ?

What did she gets ?

The Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr has given an answer in the Australian Parliament why Australia should not get involved in matters that are of doubtful nature. He went on on say that the Malaysian government lost its two-thirds majority in parliament in the March 2008 General Elections. However, he probably was not aware or forgot to also mention that the wicked government perceived by Ambiga also lost control of 5 state governments to the opposition and the opposition won 8 subsequent by-elections thereafter.

Anyone, NOT in a state of insanity, which I presumed Ambiga is not, would have asked her if the elections had been so badly rigged how come the long suffering Malaysian oppositions gained so much ground, almost a hair's breadth of toppling the ruling party in the 12th General Elections ?  

Here what she wrote  "Those in the international community may be forgiven for saying, “Is there a problem with the democratic process in Malaysia?” 

Read her growling and grovelling piece here

Obviously, her mission failed.

Let me quote what Lee Kuan Yew said soon after the Singapore 1996 General Elections. He said "Please do not assume that you can change governments.Young people do not understand this" 

Pakatan Rakyat and its agent Ambiga is exploiting the naivety of young voters with their snake-oil concoction to mislead them into voting for Pakatan Rakyat with stories of illegal immigrants  being given citizenship and voting rights to keep the corrupt BN in power.

This scary tale from the quagmire would certainly scare the shit out of young unsuspecting Malaysians.

Maybe, she should try her luck in UK and the US, where Anwar has many sympathetic and dedicated friends and she, a freedom fighter of human rights, decorated by the US government, given "International Women of Courage Award" by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in 2009.

One thing I can say, this lady has one very swollen head. 

Phnom Penh

Monday, October 15, 2012

If You Are Fundamentally Screwed Blame It On Mahathir

Hantu Laut






I am beginning to think Malaysians are not very smart lot, the very reason we are left behind countries like Singapore,Hong Kong,Taiwan and South Korea.

Malaysians are just too smart for their own good.

The government have provided more than basic infrastructures and opportunities for the people to grow with the time. 

As former Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said "We have first world infrastructures but third world mentality" We are left behind the real tiger economies because of us, not because of the government.Government can only do so much. 

The greatness of a nation much depend on its citizens, the attitude and aptitude of the people.

Unfortunately, Malaysians are too slow or too lazy to change. 

They want the luxury and comfort of the Western's world standard of living but do not want to put in the effort and hard work, unlike the Taiwanese, South Koreans, Hongkees and Singaporeans, some working as long as 12 hours a day.

Today, these tiger economies of Asia are rewarded with higher wages and better standard of living. 

Malaysians, have become accustomed to the dependent mentality, the "teenage syndrome". Years of government subsidies have spoiled them as they yearn for more and more subsidy. It has the cheapest petrol price in the region yet they still complained to no end. 

Anwar Ibrahim has promised to reduce the price of petrol if Pakatan win the next general elections. Hanging the carrot, stupid Malaysians believe him. 

Pakatan have promised to reduce the prices of almost every conceivable consumables, it makes one wonder from where are they going to get the money. Unless, they increase the debt ceiling there is no way they can finance all that they have promised. Malaysia have set its debt ceiling at 55% of GDP and the present debt to GDP ratio is hovering around 52/53%.

If contradiction is the buzz word, it's surely in Pakatan, they have also promised to reduce the budget deficit. 

Malaysians have the habit of blaming their government for their failures and shortcomings.If they are civil servant stagnated in their positions they will blame the government instead of their own incompetence. 

It has become pivotal point to blame Mahathir for everything that have gone wrong with this country, but this beautiful country is far from being a beggar's state, we have yet to slide into the gutter. 

When it come to investing, the average Malaysians are just as clueless, either of poor judgment or insatiable greed.

Many of you  must have read the recent  debacle of some gold trading houses that have been caught operating without licences by Bank Negara. Some members of the opposition and the inimitibly stupid investors blamed Mahathir  for asking them to invest in gold ... accused Mahathir of saying it is better to invest in gold than keeping your money in the bank.

We all know Mahathir had never been an investment guru and would never be one, if stupid is as stupid can be, these investors should have known better,  politicising the issue will not bring their money back.

Some of the investors have set up Facebook account supporting the companies and demanding Bank Negara to stop its action against the companies.One such company called Genneva  has a Facebook set up by its subscribers and have the bloody cheek to blame Bank Negara for their dilemma out of their own stupidity. The Facebook here.

Every sensible investor should know the first mandatory requirement before you part with your money, if the companies are not accredited banks or investment institutions approved by Bank Negara, is to check on the background of the company.

What brings these people to such investment companies? It is greed,  because such companies offer high return that can tempt even those with a sliver of greed and most Ponzi schemes offer nonsensical guaranteed return that anyone who knows about money matters wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole. Any company that promised to pay monthly or quarterly dividends should be high on the suspect list of Ponzi scheme.

You can buy paper gold through most banks in Malaysia, why don't these people buy from these accredited banks? Simply because such banks don't guarantee return on your investment, be it gold, unit trusts or any other investment. The only guaranted return a bank can give you is time (fixed) deposit,  which currently pays miserable rate, hence, the attraction to Ponzi schemes.

Malaysians never seemed to learn their lessons from the past. There have been many cases of Ponzi schemes in the past that have defrauded investors of million of ringgits yet thousands still flocked to such schemes without second thought. 

The Swisscash Investment programme, an Internet based scam was one such bogus investment house that defrauded Malaysians of millions of ringgit. The investors learned a bitter lesson with this too-good-to-be-true scheme that promised 300 % return in 15 months. With SC and Bank Negara intervention investors managed to get back 20 cents to the ringgit of their money, which, otherwise, would have been naught.

These greedy Malaysians who think they have the midas touch again blamed the government for their bad judgement and rapacious desire to get rich quickly in a get-rich-quick schemes.

Phnom Penh

Saturday, October 13, 2012

A Small Fish With A Big Appetite

Hantu Laut

This small fish with big appetite has nothing nice to say about her country.

 '

If you have political ambition, don't try to defraud the Malaysian people with your "for human rights and cleaning up the electoral roll" bullshit, and don't hide behind the curtain of false pretense. Join a political party and fight your cause, if you do actually have a cause...... or, 

.........you are merely an agent provocateur for your good friends in the opposition Pakatan Rakyat to continuously stir shit in this beautiful and peaceful country and keeping the momentum alive as precursor to..............

...........when Pakatan lose the 13th GE there is reason to go on the streets and accused the government of electoral frauds.......and without any doubt the obvious manisfestation of Anwar's Malaysian Spring to bring down a duly elected government.

Phnom Penh

Friday, October 12, 2012

Where The Shoe Pinces

Hantu Laut

It is more a "siok sendiri" poll,  the reliability of the survey remained doubtful.

Is there a reputable agency that audit Merdeka's opinion poll survey? The results of its surveys have never been audited and authenticated for it margin of error, its samples and confidence intervals.

Some poll can be deliberately engineered by unscrupulous  pollsters to generate certain result thus making its questionable.

A recent poll conducted by the agency claimed that Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman popularity had declined to 45 percent and Prime Minister Najib popularity remained high in Sabah at 75 percent.

Any intelligent Sabahan who follow Sabah politics would immediately know the opinion poll is self-serving and one that also serves the opposition as well as some Sabah UMNO warlords who wanted to get rid of Musa by giving Najib the false impression that UMNO can win in Sabah without Musa. Someone in Sabah UMNO wanted Musa's job badly.

In any war the enemy always sought to eliminate the best general in order to demoralise his force. It is the same in politics using character assassinations to demonise leader who is seen likely to lead his party to victory is common place throughout the world.

Barack Obama went through the same hell mudslinging when he ran for the US president in 2008, accused of being a Muslim because of his middle name.


Watch carefully the voice over, the bad editing and cut and paste of the video.

In spite of the many attempts at muddying the waters on Obama the American people stood steadfastly behind him and chose him as the next president of the United States. 

The same dirty campaigning is happening in Malaysia to denigrate Prime Minister Najib, Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman and Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud. The three are seen as the biggest roadblocks hindering the opposition's journey to Putrajaya. 

Suaram, the tool of the opposition and those who wanted Najib out of office has been caught in a web of deceit on the Scorpene submarine investigation.A French government prosecutor Yves Charpernel has denied of any ongoing trial in France as depicted by Suaram to the Malaysian public. Suaram and its two French lawyers, out of shame having been caught lying, still insisted that such court proceeding was ongoing. 

Who would you want to believe, a government prosecutor or two street smart lawyers?

There is concerted effort by the oppositions to eliminate the two East Malaysian leaders, Taib Mahmud and Musa Aman, both most likely to lead the BN to victory in their respective states where the oppositions are still fragmented and have not come to terms with each other to mount a challenge on BN grip on the two states.

Both Musa and Taib are political strategists that have the ability to outmaneuver their opponents and proved their detractors wrong. The Sarawak Report, a blog based in the UK, founded and controlled by one Clare Rewcastle Brown, the sister-in-law of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has both Taib and Musa are constantly on her radar and is on the permanent hit list with gory tales of corruptions, abuses of power and even murder. Sarawak Report estimated Taib to be worth more than  US$15 billion.  

Robert Kuok the richest man in Malaysia amassed his wealth for almost two generations is only worth RM45.7 billion in 2012 and at today's exchange rate that would be about US$15 billion, the same as Taib. 

The Musa and Taib haters are having a field day with their tales from the crypt why these two men should go to the grave. Some even predicted that Anwar's PKR would take a leading role in Sabah politics. That's, maybe, a bridge too far. Taking in a few "orang kecewah" may be good politics few decades ago, it is not now, Sabahans are getting sick of such political misconduct.


Just before the March 2008 General Elections, 5 out 10 people I talked to predicted the political demise of Musa Aman and the end of BN in Sabah. The same are being said now by the same people who had never got their political predictions right. The same people also predicted Yong Teck Lee would win big in the Batu Sapi by-election. Yong, who refused to give way to Pakatan candidate for a one to one fight against the BN was buggered by DAP and lost badly. Pakatan/PKR's candidate Ansari Abdullah fared much better than him because DAP's Chinese supporters voted for Ansari. 

The only opposition party, as I have always said in this blog, that will make inroads in Sabah is DAP, who would do well in Chinese predominant constituencies, but not enough to pull the rug from under the BN's feet. The rest may have to fight, tooth and nail,  to win 1 or 2 seats.

Najib is smart not to be influenced by such talk and opinion poll to remove Taib and Musa from the equation.

In Sabah politics, money speaks louder than words.

Phnom Penh

Thursday, October 11, 2012

His Highness Lim Guan Eng !

Hantu Laut

Curtsy, is the female equivalent of male bowing in Western culture. It is also "traditional gesture of an inferior to a superior", what a good servant would accord her master or mistress due respect.

The practice has become less common now, only left for the preserve of showing respect to royalty and by people in show business........ musicians, actors, comedians and the ilk, usually at the end of a performance to show gratitude and respect to the audience.

Lim Guan Eng, the Dear Leader of the soon to be Dominion Republic of Penang was given due reverence and respect, usually accorded to kings and emperors, by a lady who bobbed a curtsy when she met him at a function in Penang.



Anyway, curtsy is not an Asian culture. The right thing for the lady to do if she wanted to show reverence to Guan Eng, is for her to emulate the old Chinese culture of "kou tou"or  to bow the head low as to touch the ground.

If you curtsy, you don't shake hands. A very confused lass.

Picture speak a thousand words.

His deputy Mansor Othman wasn't wrong when he called Guan Eng a "tokong". The Penang Chinese as in the case of the young girl revered him with deep respect.  



Is Guan Eng a cult in the making?

Phnom Penh

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

In God We Trust, Politicians Pay Cash

Hantu Laut
  
Even before getting the big guns they already behaved like absolute monarchs, worse than the one they want to get rid off......the abominable UMNO.....looking more and more democratic under Najib.

They have their own lese-majeste law that forbids anyone under their rule to criticise them. 

In Penang you have "Dear Leader" who talked democracy but practised autocracy. Anyone or any media who gets on the wrong side of him will be banned from his press conference. His deputy thinks he is a "tokong" worshipped by the Chinese of Penang. The Malays think he is anti-Malay. He thinks he doesn't need the Malay votes, so be it.

His Majesty Azmin Ali not happy with his subject Faekah.

Poor Faekah, for speaking out loud, they want her head on the chopping board. The PKR's Court of Retribution will hear her case.Read here.

It's "Pakatan's Way", the only way.

Democracy, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble is a lie to fool the fools and there are many out there who wanted to be fooled.

Fools who lives under the coconut shell and opportunists looking for new ride.....plenty are coming to PKR.

Now, you know why so many left this political hell hole.

See for yourself who they have collected recently from the Rogue's Gallery in Sabah......the "orang-orang kechewa" looking for new ride.

They take new shithead at the expense of old unhappy shithead who had to leave as there is not enough room to keep too many shithead who want to be YBs.

Do you believe they really want to wipe out corruptions?

Joseph Astrada said that when he was running for president and Gloria Macapagal said the same thing when she was running for president.

Both were caught for corruptions

In God we trust, politicians pay cash!

Kuala Lumpur

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The US Kick-Ass Foreign Policy And China

Hantu Laut

He was a bright shining star some four years ago, the impeccable oratory, assertiveness, aplomb and brimming with confidence he won a decisive victory over John McCain in both the electoral and popular vote of the 2008 U.S presidential election.

Watching the debate live over TV when I was in Kathmandu it was the obvious that Mitt Romney had sprung the most unexpected surprise that caught President Obama off guard. The Romney's spell have, somehow, rattled his confidence. His facial expression clearly showed how miffed he was with Romney's unanticipated remarkable performance.

Romney is no dunce. On conclusion of the debate he sent his detractors scurrying for explanation. His moment of triumph speech, much to the anguish of Obama's campaign team, and a big shot in the arm for his team,  narrowed the gap between him and Obama. Even the staunchest Obama supporters must have been miffed by Obama muffed performance.

What happened to the man of 2008? The eloquent speeches, the "yes we can"man and the straight talk that caught not only America but the world's attention. The first black man destined to break white monopoly of the presidency.

Has Obama lost his mojo?

As Mitt Romney narrows the margin and move in for the kill can Obama still resuscitates his dwindling popularity and reignite the spark the man that he was at the next presidential debate due 16 October 2012 and give Romney a run for his money or let Romney overtake him?

Can Obama bounce back?

If Obama loses the next debate, as sure as the sunrise, America will have a new president and with it come new political mindset that can change US foreign policy and the course of world peace. 

Mitt Romney, have decided to accuse Obama of "passive leadership" in his foreign policy, particularly, in the Middle East casting aspersion on Obama's capability as president, inferring the killing of US Libyan Ambassador Christopher Stevens by fanatical Muslims as Obama's lack of will to retaliate.

The world is watching on the possible return of  kick-ass foreign policy and Bush like belligerency that could throw the US into another war if Mitt Romney win the presidency.

Under his presidency Obama only carry on his predecessor's unfinished business and has not caused any new conflicts. He restrained from opening new theatre of war. Though, some of his promises fell short he has been more careful than the previous administration in the handling of crisis with Iran, North Korea and China.

Iran and China are growing threats to U.S. foreign policy. Iran covertly seeking nuclear capability and the Chinese naval excursion in the South China Sea had caused uneasiness in Washington. 

The US have deployed its naval ships in and around the area of possible conflicts in the China Sea. The Sino-Japanese dispute over the Diaoyu Islands brought back ghosts of the Sino-Japanese War. The Americans, who usually are quick to side with Japan have taken a non-interference attitude at the moment but is in a state of readiness should the conflict escalates into open warfare between the two nations.

Some weeks ago Chinese naval vessels stopped oil drilling exploration off the coast of Sarawak. The incident went unreported to avoid unnecessary diplomatic fallout between Malaysia and China. 

The Philippines trying to act tough against China was cowed when the Chinese sent a few research vessels to the disputed waters. This poor country ravaged by every succeeding corrupt governments has no military capability and its claims on the Spartly's islands based on res nullius is not going to impress China at all of its finders keepers territorial claim.

Territorial disputes are hard to resolve unless both parties are prepared to avoid arm conflicts and use peaceful method to settle the dispute.

Malaysia's dispute with Indonesia over Sipadan and Ligitan Islands was settled in the World Court. Malaysia won the case based on terra nullius, the long occupation, administration and settlement of its people on the island. Sovereignty over territory which is terra nullius may be acquired through occupation.

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad was smart enough to reclaim Layany-Layang in the Spratlys and stationed the navy there. He later allow a holiday resort to be built on the  island. He did it before other countries could lay claim to the island, which was an atoll, reclaimed to form a small island. It is now one of the top dive sites in the region. 

With its aggressive territorial claims spanning the whole of the China sea, from Japan right down to the Paracels and the Spratlys, China will soon have no friends in Asia. Any flare up with any of the countries would not be in China's favour.

China has territorial disputes over the Spratly Islands with Vietnam, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. In the North China Sea it has disputes with Japan and South Korea.

Uncle Sam will not hesitate to give support to any of those countries in the event China is stupid enough to use military force to settle the dispute.

During her recent visit to Bangladesh, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was rumoured to have discussed with Bangladesh President the possibility of setting up another base for the Seventh Fleet for strategic reason, though, they already have a Naval Support Facility for ships and submarines in the Indian Ocean at Diego Garcia. 

This move, true or not, is probably to checkmate the Chinese growing naval presence in the Indian Ocean and to counter China's ambition to set up base in the region.


USS John C.Stennis

The US Seventh Fleet have increased deployment of its ships in the region and as far south as in the South China Sea sent its naval ships regularly on pretext of friendly visits to friendly countries.


USS Makin Island docked at KK Sepangar Naval base

As component force of the US Pacific Fleet it has 50 to 60 ships including aircraft carriers with 350 aircrafts, with bases in Guam, Japan and to lesser extent, Singapore.

Kota Kinabalu, recently had the rare honour of the visit of USS John C Stennis, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier that formed part of the US Pacific Strike Force. 


Jump jets and gunships on USS Makin Island

A few months back the city also received another US naval ship, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island docked at KK Sepangar Naval port. 


USS Makin Island

"Ships like these are sent all over the world really to do two things; one of them to reassure our friends that we support them and Malaysia is an important friend" said the captain of USS John C.Stennis.


A Sea-Knight helicopter on USS Makin Island

That may be just a small part of the truth, the bigger grand plan is gunboat diplomacy and show of force against China rising naval power in the region.


Kuala Lumpur

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Anwar In Desperate Mode.

Hantu Laut

Anwar's unprecedented action to bring in three foreign lawyers to brief parlimentarians on the Scorpene submarine issue shows his total disregard for the inviolability of parliament and insult to the intelligence of our parlimentarians, the people and the nation.

One can only interpret it as an act of desperation. 

The presence of these three lawyers in parliament is no doghouse matter but an insult to the whole nation. The fishing expedition of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat and its lackey Suaram's on the Scorpene submarine deal to try connect Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak with the grisly murder of Altantuya, which they have every now and then failed to provide any substantive evidence that connects Najib with complicity to murder or receiving any money from the Scorpene deal.

Has the matter become ignotum per ignotious that those Pakatan MPs with legal background are too stupid to explain the findings of the investigation in Parliament.

Who pays for the three lawyers? 

As a businessman who had the experience of engaging foreign lawyers before, I can safely say they are not cheap and even more so if they have to go on a fishing expedition and a long and winding investigative journey. Unless, they are half-past-six lawyers, the legal fees would run into million of ringgits.

Where did Suaram, who always claimed poverty, get so much money to pay these lawyers, or is Anwar paying them out of his own pocket, or are these Frogs doing it pro-bono, out of their love for Malaysia?

Someone must have a huge slush fund stacked somewhere to finance the opposition's political campaign against the government that have been going strong since March 2008. 

Going by Anwar's American style political campaigning, travelling in absolute luxury in personal coach and plane, one can imagine the magnitude of the cost of his politicial campaigning. 

The Young Journalists Club had taken upon themselves to denounce this wicked act of Anwar by lodging a police report against him.

Story here.

Posted in Kathmandu, Nepal

Monday, October 1, 2012

Are Pilgrims To Mecca At Risk From A New Virus?

By Aditya Bhattacharji, Daniil Davydoff, and Scott Rosenstein

Attacks on U.S. interests in the Middle East are not the only security threats to have emerged from the region in recent weeks. In epidemiological circles, concern has been mounting over the discovery of a novel coronavirus in Saudi Arabia, just as Muslims from all over the world begin the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca at the end of October.


In the coming weeks, much-needed surveillance and scientific analysis will likely yield important details regarding this virus's threat to human health. But healthcare system shortfalls in some of the countries that dispatch the most pilgrims present obstacles to disease monitoring. And regardless of the microbe's eventual health, economic, and political impact, these deficits are a vivid reminder of institutional challenges to global disease prevention and control.
Little is known about the novel pathogen, but it does belong to the same family as the virus behind the 2003 SARS outbreak, a previously unknown microbe that killed nearly 800 people and sickened more than 8,000. SARS revealed the political and economic  risks attendant to emerging infectious diseases. But attention to these dangers has increased considerably since SARS, and this novel virus has thus far been confirmed in only two patients, one of whom is under intensive care at a hospital in London.
Whether it's a heretofore unknown virus, polio, or a host of other pathogens, the upcoming Hajj presents significant public health risks. The annual event attracts millions of pilgrims every year and is therefore an "ideal environment for spreading infectious diseases," according to the U.S. CDC. Although the Saudi government has mandated several vaccinations and dedicated considerable resources to lower infectious disease risks, its personnel cannot track pilgrims once they have left the country. And while the WHO has already issued basic case definitions for identifying infected patients, healthcare system deficiencies abroad could allow potential cases to slip through the cracks and go underreported.
Home to roughly 200 million Muslims, Indonesia is sending the world's largest contingent of hajj pilgrims (approximately 200,000). At home, the vast majority relies upon a decentralized healthcare system that suffers from poor information sharing and one of the most inadequately staffed healthcare workforces of any ASEAN nation. Those with means increasingly seek medical treatment abroad. The trend has become pronounced enough for Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to implore the public, in August 2012, to utilize domestic medical facilities, despite having availed of foreign medical care himself. Indonesia is ill-equipped to track diseases over a territory that spans 17,500 islands even under normal circumstances. There's been speculation that an individual returning home from the Hajj was responsible for thereintroduction of polio into Indonesia in 2004 (via a strain of the disease traceable back to northern Nigeria).Read more.