Hantu Laut
Sometimes, you wonder whether some of our Federal ministers know what they are doing and whether they know the boundary of their jurisdiction.Where they should poke their nose and where they shouldn't.
I am surprise that the Federal Minister of Tourism Azalina Othman jumped on the bandwagon without first checking her facts.What makes she think she has jurisdiction over land matters and development in Sabah.These are state matters and she should buzz off.Simply reading something in the newspaper and jumping to conclusion that something was very wrong with the development and making stupid statement in the media just to seek publicity goes to show that she has poor grasp of her functions and responsibilities.
“I am personally unhappy because I believe that the place is best left untouched" she said.How much does she know about Sabah let alone Mabul and Sipadan. Does she know there were at least four resorts built over waters in Mabul and no one made any noise before. As a politician can't she tell between a politically motivated action and those that really concern the environment.
Mabul reef was bombed to smithereens before those resorts came to Mabul.Every bit of coral was blown to pieces and in some area one can only see white patches of broken corals.
Clean your own backyard first before you start poking you nose into something that doesn't concern you.
Only the Prime Minister can talk or instruct the Chief Minister of Sabah by virtue of it being under the BN Government and the PM is the ultimate boss.Other Federal Ministers have no right to tell the CM what to do on state matters.They are below him in protocol when they come to Sabah.It goes without saying Sabahans being more cultured and more civilised in manners (except Bung Mukthar) always give due respect and show of hospitality not only to Federal ministers but to anyone who come to visit the state.Unfortunately, some are just too moronic to understand this simple social etiquette and mistook it as they are superior in rank.
If Sabah is under the opposition like Penang,Kelantan,Perak,Kedah and Selangor even the PM has no power or authority to interfere in state matters.In fact Sabah and Sarawak have bigger autonomy in state matters than other states in Malaysia.Those were conditions set by the two Bornean states when Malaysia was formed.
How bright can one be to have the audacity to propose the building of a sport complex in London at the expense of the Malaysian taxpayers on a mindless reasoning of training our athletes to challenge hypothermia to acclimatise them to polar climatic conditions.
So, Azalina know you stuff first before you start barking up the wrong tree.It is people like you that put Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in a badlight.
Sabah has its own Minister of Tourism.You are complementary.
In Sabah, we call this kind of action 'temberang'.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned
Hantu Laut
The contest for the top post of Wanita UMNO is taking on the shape of a match between David and Goliath.It seems so but might not be so.
The shrewed, aggressive and volatile incumbent Rafidah Aziz got 117 nominations against potential challenger Shahrizat Jalil who got an impressive 73 nominations in spite of the fact that she is supposed to contest the deputy post and not the chief post.There are voices of discontent in Wanita UMNO against Rafidah pushing her luck.
Rafidah didn't expect someone to spring a surprise and challenge the deputy Wanita position putting the whole succession plan in disarry and a threat to Shahrizat's chance of taking the deputy post and successor to the Wanita Chief position when Rafidah step down in June next year. Her refusal to bring forward the succession plan to March as requested by Shahrizat and the new development is likely to cause Shahrizat to challenge her.Do not underestimate her capability to spring a surprise of her own.The demure Shahrizat may not be as aggressive and volatile as Rafidah but she could be a wolf in sheep clothing.
The ground is swelling in opposition to Rafidah's power crazy decision to contest the Wanita Chief post which she had held since 1984 with a short break of three years when she lost to Dr Siti Zaharah Sulaiman.Many in the Wanita wing felt she has been there far too long.
Many leaders in UMNO have surpassed their shelf-life but refused to go, wanting to keep their position for life and Rafidah is one of those that may have reached the end of her shelf-live.How she obtained such high number of nominations is a mystery.
She has also been implicated in the over-indulgence of issuing of Approved Permits (AP) for the benefits of a few people close to her.Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad blamed her for the losses at Proton due to the big invasion of imported cars that compete with the national car.In spite of this allegation the issuance of AP continued unabated during her tenure.
Prime Minister Abdullah has said he would mediate the two to resolve the problem.I think the Prime Minister should leave the two ladies alone, let them fight it out.There is no such thing as the tussle would split the party, it is good for the party, it should teach people how to compete.Such argument is reserved only for those who are coward, unsure of themselves and feared being challenged.
Shahrizat felt she has been played out and I don't blame her for being so.With more than sufficient nominations there is no reason why she shouldn't take on Rafidah.Better to die fighting the champion than die fighting an unknown killer.
They say 'Hell hath no fury like a women scorned'. Shahrizat can surely rock the boat in a sea of discontent and send Rafidah plunging into the sea.
I place my bet on Shahrizat.
The contest for the top post of Wanita UMNO is taking on the shape of a match between David and Goliath.It seems so but might not be so.
The shrewed, aggressive and volatile incumbent Rafidah Aziz got 117 nominations against potential challenger Shahrizat Jalil who got an impressive 73 nominations in spite of the fact that she is supposed to contest the deputy post and not the chief post.There are voices of discontent in Wanita UMNO against Rafidah pushing her luck.
Rafidah didn't expect someone to spring a surprise and challenge the deputy Wanita position putting the whole succession plan in disarry and a threat to Shahrizat's chance of taking the deputy post and successor to the Wanita Chief position when Rafidah step down in June next year. Her refusal to bring forward the succession plan to March as requested by Shahrizat and the new development is likely to cause Shahrizat to challenge her.Do not underestimate her capability to spring a surprise of her own.The demure Shahrizat may not be as aggressive and volatile as Rafidah but she could be a wolf in sheep clothing.
The ground is swelling in opposition to Rafidah's power crazy decision to contest the Wanita Chief post which she had held since 1984 with a short break of three years when she lost to Dr Siti Zaharah Sulaiman.Many in the Wanita wing felt she has been there far too long.
Many leaders in UMNO have surpassed their shelf-life but refused to go, wanting to keep their position for life and Rafidah is one of those that may have reached the end of her shelf-live.How she obtained such high number of nominations is a mystery.
She has also been implicated in the over-indulgence of issuing of Approved Permits (AP) for the benefits of a few people close to her.Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad blamed her for the losses at Proton due to the big invasion of imported cars that compete with the national car.In spite of this allegation the issuance of AP continued unabated during her tenure.
Prime Minister Abdullah has said he would mediate the two to resolve the problem.I think the Prime Minister should leave the two ladies alone, let them fight it out.There is no such thing as the tussle would split the party, it is good for the party, it should teach people how to compete.Such argument is reserved only for those who are coward, unsure of themselves and feared being challenged.
Shahrizat felt she has been played out and I don't blame her for being so.With more than sufficient nominations there is no reason why she shouldn't take on Rafidah.Better to die fighting the champion than die fighting an unknown killer.
They say 'Hell hath no fury like a women scorned'. Shahrizat can surely rock the boat in a sea of discontent and send Rafidah plunging into the sea.
I place my bet on Shahrizat.
Petrol And Diesel Below MR1.50 A Litre ?
Hantu Laut
In my post 'Where Crude Oil Heading For' I predicted the price of crude would fall below US$50 per barrel.The likelihood of it going below that level look more and more realistic now.The huge stockpile in the US helped to drive price down.OPEC's production cut have not helped to stabilise price.The cut of 2 million barrel a day since September had no effect on keeping price sliding further down. The group are calling for further cuts.
India and China would require less need for energy as their economies begin to slow down in the next few months.Japan, one of the largest economy in the world is in a recession.The US,Europe ( the largest in the world) and most other countries are already in a recession.Only Malaysia and most third world countries are not ?
The current US crude price stand at US$53.90.The London Brent closed nearer the $50 mark at US$51.84 a barrel.Unusually cheaper than WTI ( West Texas Intermediate) which used to get around $1.00 to $2.00 higher than Brent.WTI is sweeter than Brent with lower sulphur content hence the higher price.
In 1998 the average price for crude was about US$12.00 a barrel and 4 years ago the average price was about US$38.00 a barrel.The price peaked at $147 few months back not so much due to supply and demand but more due to speculations by nasty speculators.
Middle East producers which have lower production costs may be able to sustain such low prices but new oilfields and those in deep waters may lose money due to higher production costs.
Those in Petronas may not be the happiest people now if they don't have huge forward contracts. If they didn't have any than production cut should be an option to cut down losses.
Malaysian motorists should be happy soon if the government continued to pass on the cheaper price.If price falls below US$50 a barrel than the price of petrol and diesel can posssibly be adjusted to as low as RM1.50 a litre.
In my post 'Where Crude Oil Heading For' I predicted the price of crude would fall below US$50 per barrel.The likelihood of it going below that level look more and more realistic now.The huge stockpile in the US helped to drive price down.OPEC's production cut have not helped to stabilise price.The cut of 2 million barrel a day since September had no effect on keeping price sliding further down. The group are calling for further cuts.
India and China would require less need for energy as their economies begin to slow down in the next few months.Japan, one of the largest economy in the world is in a recession.The US,Europe ( the largest in the world) and most other countries are already in a recession.Only Malaysia and most third world countries are not ?
The current US crude price stand at US$53.90.The London Brent closed nearer the $50 mark at US$51.84 a barrel.Unusually cheaper than WTI ( West Texas Intermediate) which used to get around $1.00 to $2.00 higher than Brent.WTI is sweeter than Brent with lower sulphur content hence the higher price.
In 1998 the average price for crude was about US$12.00 a barrel and 4 years ago the average price was about US$38.00 a barrel.The price peaked at $147 few months back not so much due to supply and demand but more due to speculations by nasty speculators.
Middle East producers which have lower production costs may be able to sustain such low prices but new oilfields and those in deep waters may lose money due to higher production costs.
Those in Petronas may not be the happiest people now if they don't have huge forward contracts. If they didn't have any than production cut should be an option to cut down losses.
Malaysian motorists should be happy soon if the government continued to pass on the cheaper price.If price falls below US$50 a barrel than the price of petrol and diesel can posssibly be adjusted to as low as RM1.50 a litre.
Before 1990 the price of petrol was RM0.89 a litre.The drastic increase was this year when crude price shot up to as high as US$ 147 a barrel.At least for the next few months Malaysians should be happy with cheaper fuel and falling prices of other consumer goods.
Farmers must be the dumbest people. At least in Sabah they are.The prices of green had gone up about two weeks ago when most other items are falling.
The price of crude may pick up again during the 1st or 2nd Quarter of next year if the global economy do not slide further down and those greedy hedge funds stopped screwing the world's financial markets again.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
The Malays Need Honest And Sincere Leaders Not NEP
Hantu Laut
My fellow blogger Jed Yoong asked me do I think the Malays still need the NEP.My answer is no. I don't think they need the NEP and I don't think the NEP are meant for the Malays.The NEP are there only to expedite wealth for politicians,their relatives and friends.
If giving huge contracts to relatives and friends to make easy money are part of the NEP than I think the NEP is a disgrace to the Malays and many ordinary Malays are ashamed that their race are being used to benefits a small group of power hungry and greedy politicians.
After more than 50 years of independence and over 30 years of the NEP it would be shameful to admit that we Malays have still not learned to walk properly to better ourselves in business and other endeavours and have to depend on crutches provided by the government.Those crutches are made exclusively for the use of UMNO and its lapdogs, other Malays are just like the non-Malays, with the exception of priority and privileges given on education and the civil service, have no use of the NEP.
There are many capable Malays who were just unfortunate to be born on the wrong side of the track and not been able to prove themselves.These are Malays who are not in UMNO and, therefore, didn't get the chance to prove it to the world that they are just as good if not better than the non-Malays or the Malays in UMNO.
Unless you are politically connected, getting a government contract is next to impossible.Even if you are a good Malay businessman but do not know how to oil the cogwheels you can wait till kingdom come to get any government job.Only the sycophants,cocksuckers and ball carriers will get what they wanted.It is who you know not what you know.The only expertise you need to know in this business is how to sell your contract to a China man to make that quick profit.If you know some politicians and do not know how to ride the gravy train with him than they would call you stupid.That's what some of my friends and relatives told me.You must use your politician friends to make money.
Even more disgusting are those who made money in this most appalling of ways and think of it as being smart.They can't discern between smartness and craftiness.That's how smart they are.You just have to take a look at the huge mansions and expensive cars of this 'cepat di masak sedap dimakan' instant riches.Some were stupid enough to show off their instant wealth and ill gotten gains by building their huge mansions in the petit bourgeois community and bear the resentment of the hoi polloi. Jack and the Beanstalk would be full of envy for these people.At least Jack had to climb the gigantic beanstalk to steal the giant's treasure and risked getting killed.
The biggest recipients of the NEP would be through nepotism and chronic crony culture.Many government linked companies were privatised and given to cronies on the platter.One shining bright example of where the NEP failed miserably was MAS.The company was given to Tajuddin Ramli to own controlling interest and management at over sweetened price.Within few years he successfully screwed up the company and brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.The government had to rescue MAS and paid him above market price for the shares and took back the company and injected fresh capital to save it from crashing to the ground.Than there were people like Amin Shah who screwed up the Lumut Naval Base and naval vessels contract to the tune of a few billion and abandoned the project.No legal or criminal actions were taken against him for this very expensive blunder that cost the government billion of ringgit.
There are many others like them who had become rich at the expense of taxpayer's money.Are these people true entrepreneurs or they are more suitable to run kedai runchit ?True entrepreneur starts from nothing and built his business empire from the ground up.Is this the kind of NEP the government wanted to perpetuate? Manufactured entrepreneurs with no business acumen that destroy more than they can build.
Another even more strange phenomenon and most noticeable are the business successes of almost all of the male offspring of former and current prime ministers of the country, from the late Tun Razak to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.They all seem to have their own businesses listed on the KLSE or in private holdings.It must be a miraculous coincident that most of them are such good entrepreneurs.
When the late Tun Razak mooted the idea of the NEP he had the noble intention of helping the Malays to improve and be at par with the other races in the country, never in his wildest dream he intented it for amassing wealth.
You don't need the NEP to help poor Malays.What you need are honest, sincere and dedicated leaders.
With the new regime soon to take over let's hope things will change.
My fellow blogger Jed Yoong asked me do I think the Malays still need the NEP.My answer is no. I don't think they need the NEP and I don't think the NEP are meant for the Malays.The NEP are there only to expedite wealth for politicians,their relatives and friends.
If giving huge contracts to relatives and friends to make easy money are part of the NEP than I think the NEP is a disgrace to the Malays and many ordinary Malays are ashamed that their race are being used to benefits a small group of power hungry and greedy politicians.
After more than 50 years of independence and over 30 years of the NEP it would be shameful to admit that we Malays have still not learned to walk properly to better ourselves in business and other endeavours and have to depend on crutches provided by the government.Those crutches are made exclusively for the use of UMNO and its lapdogs, other Malays are just like the non-Malays, with the exception of priority and privileges given on education and the civil service, have no use of the NEP.
There are many capable Malays who were just unfortunate to be born on the wrong side of the track and not been able to prove themselves.These are Malays who are not in UMNO and, therefore, didn't get the chance to prove it to the world that they are just as good if not better than the non-Malays or the Malays in UMNO.
Unless you are politically connected, getting a government contract is next to impossible.Even if you are a good Malay businessman but do not know how to oil the cogwheels you can wait till kingdom come to get any government job.Only the sycophants,cocksuckers and ball carriers will get what they wanted.It is who you know not what you know.The only expertise you need to know in this business is how to sell your contract to a China man to make that quick profit.If you know some politicians and do not know how to ride the gravy train with him than they would call you stupid.That's what some of my friends and relatives told me.You must use your politician friends to make money.
Even more disgusting are those who made money in this most appalling of ways and think of it as being smart.They can't discern between smartness and craftiness.That's how smart they are.You just have to take a look at the huge mansions and expensive cars of this 'cepat di masak sedap dimakan' instant riches.Some were stupid enough to show off their instant wealth and ill gotten gains by building their huge mansions in the petit bourgeois community and bear the resentment of the hoi polloi. Jack and the Beanstalk would be full of envy for these people.At least Jack had to climb the gigantic beanstalk to steal the giant's treasure and risked getting killed.
The biggest recipients of the NEP would be through nepotism and chronic crony culture.Many government linked companies were privatised and given to cronies on the platter.One shining bright example of where the NEP failed miserably was MAS.The company was given to Tajuddin Ramli to own controlling interest and management at over sweetened price.Within few years he successfully screwed up the company and brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.The government had to rescue MAS and paid him above market price for the shares and took back the company and injected fresh capital to save it from crashing to the ground.Than there were people like Amin Shah who screwed up the Lumut Naval Base and naval vessels contract to the tune of a few billion and abandoned the project.No legal or criminal actions were taken against him for this very expensive blunder that cost the government billion of ringgit.
There are many others like them who had become rich at the expense of taxpayer's money.Are these people true entrepreneurs or they are more suitable to run kedai runchit ?True entrepreneur starts from nothing and built his business empire from the ground up.Is this the kind of NEP the government wanted to perpetuate? Manufactured entrepreneurs with no business acumen that destroy more than they can build.
Another even more strange phenomenon and most noticeable are the business successes of almost all of the male offspring of former and current prime ministers of the country, from the late Tun Razak to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.They all seem to have their own businesses listed on the KLSE or in private holdings.It must be a miraculous coincident that most of them are such good entrepreneurs.
When the late Tun Razak mooted the idea of the NEP he had the noble intention of helping the Malays to improve and be at par with the other races in the country, never in his wildest dream he intented it for amassing wealth.
You don't need the NEP to help poor Malays.What you need are honest, sincere and dedicated leaders.
With the new regime soon to take over let's hope things will change.
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