Conceited Guan Eng Getting Too Big For His Boots

Hantu Laut

Who is Lim Guan Eng to decide who should be the prime minister of Malaysia should Pakatan wins the 13th GE? 

Here, he beckoned Anwar must be made the PM because he does not trust PAS at the helm.

Does he know who will carry the majority number of seats before he insists that Anwar be made the prime minister. By right and by convention the partner with majority seats should get to keep the premiership.If PAS gets more seats than PKR and DAP, the premiership should go to them.

Guan Eng forgets that to get rid of Anwar other than PAS MPs, arch-rival UMNO MPs can join PAS to pass vote of no confidence against Anwar as prime minister. So, Guan Eng, I suggest you think very carefully before you open your big mouth to embarrass yourself. You have no power to appoint Anwar as prime minister other than cheap attempt to fool DAP voters that your party have a big say in the appointment. You don't, unless you think the BN will be a complete wipeout in the 13th GE (General Elections).

I am sure Guan Eng himself must have dreamt of becoming the prime minister if DAP gets the majority as nothing in the Constitution can stop a non-Malay from becoming prime minister. Of course, the Malays won't take it laying down.

This conceited and arrogant man is getting too big for his boots.

Gordon Brown Shocking Inflight Drama

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sparked a mutiny on a British Airways flight after he was blamed for an attempt to downgrade a heavily pregnant woman and Red Cross doctor into more cramped seats.

The extraordinary scenes - dubbed Mutiny On The Brown-ty - unfolded on a flight from Abu Dhabi to London, when passengers lost their seats before his six-strong entourage got on board.

It prompted an angry war of words with an 'aggressive' Brown aide, and led to a formal complaint to BA and an offer of compensation described as 'derisory' by those involved.

The dispute flared when passengers were told they would have to move to a lower class of seats because of a sudden 'overbooking' problem.

When they checked in at Oman, where the flight originated, some of those in business class were told they would have to switch to premium economy, some in premium economy moved to regular economy - and an unlucky few in economy were kicked off the plane altogether.

The seven-months-pregnant woman, who had bought a £700 (RM3,398) premium ticket to secure extra legroom, refused to budge, but her husband was persuaded to shift to economy.

The doctor reluctantly agreed to be moved from business.

During the first, hour-long leg from Oman to Abu Dhabi, the displaced passengers stared resentfully at the six empty seats in business class, known as Club World by BA.

At Abu Dhabi they were livid to see Mr Brown board the plane with his team and take up the £3,000(RM14,500)-a-head places.

The passengers immediately concluded that they had been 'bumped' to make way for Mr Brown, a suggestion the airline strongly denies.

Infuriated, the pregnant woman approached Brown and his aide, Kirsty McNeill, and took a picture of the pair on her mobile, prompting a furious response.

"McNeill was seriously aggressive," said the woman, a high-­powered City financier who does not want to be identified.

"She came over and said, "Why are you taking a photo of Gordon?''

"I said, "I have no interest in Gordon but I have a problem with BA as I suspect we have all been downgraded and messed around because of his and your arrival on this plane."

We have pretty much put an end to privilege. The good things in life are obtained through hard work and effort, not through rank and status.

If you want a more comfortable seat on a plane, then usually you have to hand over a bigger fare in return.

Most people do not bother to do so. The price is high. No normal, healthy person can come to much harm from sitting in economy class for a few hours.

But those who do decide to spend the extra money would seem to have an indisputable claim on the greater leg room and comfort they have bought with hard-earned cash, or which their employers have decided they deserve.

Why should British Airways override this simple commercial arrangement for an
ex-Prime Minister, returning from a long-planned and well-paid engagement, and provide seats for him and his party at the cost of upset and inconvenience to others?

Why does an ex-Premier need an entourage anyway? He is a private citizen. If he is so keen on occupying seats, why doesn’t he take his place in the Commons rather more often.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1370394/MAIL-ON-SUNDAY-COMMENT-Mr-Brown-cattle-class-manners.html#ixzz1HrGoldN9

The Daily Mail

Najib:He Is No Wimp !

Hantu Laut

He defies expectation of an authoritarian rule predicted by many.Surprises that have thrown the oppositions and skeptics in utter disbelief and one that may influence the outcome of the three by-elections.

Although to early to tell, Najib had started on the right footing, doing what the ethnocentric leaders in UMNO had refused to do for decades.A prime minister who has his ears to the ground will go a long way.

He has on his first day as prime minister did the unthinkable and the unexpected.He released 13 ISA detainees including some Hindraf leaders and lifted the suspension of two opposition publications - Harakah and Suara Keadilan. He has also indicated that his government will comprehensively review the ISA which has been a thorny issue and a rallying point for the oppositions.

Although, I don't expect him to abolish the ISA in totality, I believe he would find ways and means to fine tune it and to bring it in line with the justice system. I am not against the ISA and Seditious Acts as long as they are not abused by those in power and only used in its proper context.

One can now see that Najib is not a wimp or going to be wimpish and intimidated by the warlords in UMNO. His assertiveness to deal with a situation is a good sign.

As he has said earlier to judge him by his actions.

Autocracy Or Atonement ?

Hantu Laut

So! Najib got his dream team after all, if not all, at least most of it.With the exception of the Youth and Wanita wings nearly all his men are in place at the top echelon of the party.

The casualties among ministers and menteri besar would see some changes in the cabinet line-up.At least there would be a new Home Minister, new Foreign Minister and new Minister of Tourism. Another vacancy that may be in the offing is the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs presently under Shahrir Abdul Samad.He lost his bid for a seat on the Supreme Council.

Najib has plenty of room to make major changes to the cabinet and those ministers who failed to secure victory have made life easier for Najib to overhaul the cabinet and infuse new blood into the lacklustre cabinet.

From the new crop of leaders, many are uninspiring, unimpressive and known quantities. Maybe, Najib should start looking for professional ministers and engage them on contract basis especially for crucial ministries like the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Trade and Industry.These two ministries are the crucial conveyors in spurring economic growth to overcome the economic and financial crisis.

Sabah got a big shot in the arm when Shafie Apdal won one of the vice-presidents and Chief Minister Musa Aman got one of the highest number of votes in the Supreme Council.The head of Puteri was also won by Sabahan Rosnah Abdul Rashid Sharlin. Sabah also secured 2 more seats in the Supreme Council, Lajim Ukin and the controversial bocor MP Bung Moktar Radin.

Well, you can't put a good guy down and Malaysia must have court jesters not only in Parliament but also in every political party supreme councils, otherwise, Malaysian politics would be such a pallid and boring affairs.

It must be the saddest day for Ali Rustam.Looking at the votes obtained by 'Double-Barrelled Muhammad' he could have put up a good fight against Muhyiddin.

It will not be easy ride for Najib with Muhyiddin as No.2 because if he can't perform satisfactorily instability in the party will not leave him in peace and Muhyiddin is not a man who is going to sit around and let the party slide further down into the abyss, likewise, don't expect Mahathir to be sitting quietly in the corner.

All eyes are on Najib now, how he chooses his cabinet, how he tackles the economic crisis and most crucial of all how he deals with the oppositions. Many in UMNO believe a return to autocracy would fortify UMNO. This simplistic and outmoded political philosophy if simply put...... is a political suicide.

A return to Mahathirism is not the answer, atonement would be more likely what Malaysians are looking forward to.

Misquoted ?

Hantu Laut

How can Pak Lah repeatedly make this kind of mistake? The latest one is most embarrassing as it involved a foreign country.Is it because he is such a simple person he always misunderstood others or he is misunderstood ?

He said the Sultan of Brunei has agreed to drop the Limbang claim here.

Brunei refuted his statement here.

Was he misquoted ?

There was no retraction from him instead he said this.

Pride Goes Before A Fall

Hantu Laut

The Hebrew proverb "pride goes before a fall" warn a person that pride will cause one to fall or fail.It can also mean that you have too high opinion of yourself or your abilities and something will happen to make you look stupid.It is now a commonly used English idiom.

History has shown that many world leaders had gone down or lost their lives due to pride.Shah of Iran, Marcos of the Philippines and Suharto of Indonesia are just a few of those that have been booted out for having overstayed their welcome.

If anything can go wrong,it will.Murphy's Law.

For the past five years everything have gone against Pak Lah.Some are beyond his control but more are of his own doing.

Sometimes, fate has a strange way of warning us that we may not be suited in what we are doing and the signals maybe subtle in the earlier stage but would become more audible and visible as we keep ignoring it.

The most crucial moment of his entire life will be decided in the next few weeks whether he should hang on to his pride and sees the end of UMNO political hegemony or make a personal sacrifice to save the party.

The voices of dissent is getting louder not only from the oppositions but also from within his own party.It would be perilous to UMNO to maintain the status quo.

Only Pak Lah can decide which direction he wants to go and time may not be on his side.

Is Pak Lah Overspending Our Money ?

Hantu Laut


The 2009 Budget saw a total allocation of RM207.9 billion. A sum of RM154.2 for operating expenditure and RM53.7 for development expenditure.Although it is normal for budget to increase as the economy grow with higher GDP, excessively high increase in expenditure reflects imprudent fiscal policy.

In 2004, Mahathir's last budget before he stepped down, the operating expenditure was RM80.5 billion and development expenditure of RM31.9 billion.Since handing over to Pak Lah there was a whopping increase of 92% of operating expenditure over period of 5 years, an annualised increase of 18.4%.In comparison the increase in development expenditure was only 68.3% for the same period.

The excessively high increase in the operating expenditure is a worrying sign that there are still high inefficiency,indiscriminate spending, corruption and grossly overstaffed civil service.

In 2006 Malaysia had 1.1 million civil servants, the highest in the region.It would not be wrong to guess that this figure would have increased even more by now.

The total manpower in the civil service shown here doesn't include those employed under government linked companies(GLC) and those employed by states government departments.

We have the highest number of civil servants per population as compared with other countries in the region.

The government have not made any effort to cut down on unnecessary employment and expenditure.All talks but nothing concrete had been done on the ground to bring about the desired reforms.Efficiency and financial probity is still lacking in this homogeneous and overstocked civil service.

Go to any government department and see for yourself how busy our civil servants are and if you need to see any senior officers or chief of department, more often than not, you are told they are either very busy or have gone out for meetings.Ironically, some of those meetings are held on golf courses.

It is also appalling to note the lack of officious determination to correct the ignominious act of cronyism and nepotism in awarding contracts.Many projects had fallen by the waysides or rooted in problems due to this method of giving out contracts.

A perfect example of Murphy's law,where "if anything can go wrong,it will" and not only once but repetitively, is the sad state of affair of the Parliament house, where the roof which has a perpetual leaky bladder has the habit of pissing down on the 'yang berhormats' every now and then.

The total lack of accountability is appalling.There is no semblance of shame from those that have benefited from this most shameful fiasco and no one have been hauled up to take full responsibility.

The cost of refurbishment have been astronomical with initial allocation of RM41.8 million in 2001.Three years later, after completion, the costs had double.In April 2005 parliamentary proceedings were brought to a halt when leak in the roof disrupted power and communications system in the august House.A month later the PWD informed the House Standing Committee the total cost had ballooned to RM99 million.To add salt to the wound and a disgrace to the government another round of leaks occurred in May 2007. Then in May this year water dripped from the air-conditioning vent after a downpour.

Whether we should be amused or angry with what follows after the last episode is food for thought.

Works Minister Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed said he would present a Cabinet paper to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz for a total rehabilitation of Parliament’s mechanical and electrical systems.

He said it was not a leak but water seepage caused by back flow from the rainwater down-pipe. “As far as the roof slab is concerned, there is no leakage,” he said.

Even more laughable is Public Works Department deputy director-general N. Selvanayagam who said the 45-year-old rainwater down-pipe could not cope with the downpour as its bore was smaller than its original size due to sedimentation.

You mean they didn't change the 45-year old rainwater down pipe and renew the mechanical and electrical systems.Where have the RM99 million gone to? Would a brand new Parliament house cost more than that ?It seems the RM99 million was not spent to refurbish the building but to buy a host of problems and send someone laughing all the way to the bank.

The Parliament house is just one of the many financial blunders that have made mockery of the government.

In Sabah,a couple of years ago a federal project for RM200 million to build the GOF(General Operation Forces) headquarters was abandoned before it even got started.It was given to an UMNO man rumoured to be a legalised illegal immigrant from the southern Philippines.The project collapsed but the man have collected enough money to buy 2 new Ferrari and a few more wives.One of the Ferrari was rumoured to be given to Siti Nurhaliza for her hand in marriage but the pretty lass was smart enough to reject the offer.

There are many other equally distasteful stories that would take too many pages to bring out of the twilight zones.

I think I'll save it for another day.

The Devil Incarnate

Hantu Laut

Lies,half-truths and deception are the sauces of his existence.There is a devil in every men, some God forfend not to manifest, some do and some are:

the incarnation of evil, a betrayer has been born
the king of all deceivers, upon the throne of scorn
an enviable position of power, wealth and glory
to keep the key to the ignition of the purgatory
follow me and you'll succeed
my disciples, you're now a part of me

you reap what you sow, then you roll the dice
how could we ever know that it was the devil in disguise?

the pawns that made the way through this narrow path
for how long will they obey once they taste the grapes of wrath?
now, this wheel of fortune - it spins too fast for you
once it gets in motion there is nothing you can do

follow me and you'll succeed
my disciples, you're now a part of me

you reap what you sow, then you roll the dice
how could we ever know that it was the devil in disguise?

such blindness never seen in the history of man
dictators, rulers of their holy lands
scapegoat sacrified, gently led to slaughter
successor to the throne - the devil's own daughter?
Song Lyrics:Nonexist

A tribute to Anwar Ibrahim, the man who wanted to be the next Prime Minister of Malaysia and Condoleeza Rice who poked her proboscis where it shouldn't be.

YES PRIME MINISTER ! I AM RIGHT.

Hantu Laut

You don't have to be an economist to get correct economic figures that have been published in economic journals.

Our PM had three attempts and came out with completely different and outrageously wrong figures. In my post 'Of Chillipadi And Buah Keras' I highlighted the mistakes. His latest figure is nearer the truth but is still wrong.

The following are excrepts from his speeches:

1.PUTRAJAYA 28 Jan. – Kecekapan kerajaan Malaysia semakin meningkat dan kini diletakkan sebagai yang keenam terbaik di dunia, kata Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.(Utusan Online)

2.“We are a population of over 20 million and we rank eighth in the world in terms of our competitiveness.(The Star)

3. He said recognition of Malaysia in the global competitiveness index also improved from 25th position to 21st place.(Bernama)

The last one is an improvement but is still wrong. The true figure is 23rd down from 22nd in 2006.

I believe he was misquoted. Otherwise, what explanation can he gives for the inconsistency.