The Braying Donkeys

Hantu Laut

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng sees red over NST (New Straits Times) reporting and considering barring NST from covering his press conferences and functions.He accuses NST of slander and false reporting.

This is the man and his whole outfit called Pakatan who accuses the BN of abuses of the fundamental rights of citizens of this country and the lack of press freedom. Champions of freedom of expression! My foot! When are going to stop fooling the people ?

See ! Guan Eng, now that you are in position of power you are behaving exactly like the BN. You are showing your true colour, no different from the BN, your intolerance and ready to abuse your power to show your displeasure. I am sure you should know what to do if the NST publishes slander and false reporting. It's simple, take them to court.

Unfortunately, like the kettle that you accuses of being black, there are also black sheep in your government.Two of your men are allegedly involved in covering illegal activities of some quarry operators and this was reported by a PKR man, Amizudin Ahmat, an executive council member of PKR Youth.The report appeared in the Star here. Maybe, you should also consider banning the Star for false reporting.

I wonder what this braying bunch of Pakatan holier than thou donkeys would do if they get the central government ?

Mahathir Knows Best

Hantu Laut

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad warned Najib not to have corrupt leaders in his cabinet. He said Najib will be signing his own death warrant and will lose the next general elections if corrupt leaders become members of the cabinet. I wonder which UMNO leaders Dr.M consider clean and acceptable to the people ?

Although, I believe Dr M himself is not corrupted, whether he was aware or not, there were many unsavoury characters in his cabinet as well and most of them are still in the present cabinet.

Unless, UMNO cleans up its act the probability of losing power in the next general elections is pretty high. Sabah and Sarawak may not be the safety nets anymore. The three by-elections coming up soon will decide whether Najib has what it takes to be the prime minister.If he wins just two of the three by-elections than his credit rating would move into positive territory.Losing all or winning just one would have disastrous consequence on the tenure of his premiership. This is not just a test for him but a duel between him and Anwar Ibrahim.

To show that he is serious in wanting change the first thing he must to do is to undertake a major overhaul of his cabinet. He should bring in younger, capable and untainted faces. If he bowed to the wishes of the warlords in the party than he would face the same tragic circumstances that Pak Lah faced when he gave in to the growls of the warlords.

Like Obama he comes in as leader of a nation during difficult times.If he can't turn around the economic crisis within the next 12 months than he may cause disquiet within his party and possible revolt and shift of allegiance.

Najib will have a daunting and difficult task whether to clean up corruptions and do away with political patronage and faces uprising from his party royalists or allow the status quo to continue and faces possible extinction at the next polls.He may be placed in a situation of sitting between the devil and the deep blue sea.Without his strong conviction and resolve changes may not come.

Most members of UMNO see the party as a money machine and the higher they go the bigger is the windfall.This concept is deeply entrenched in the minds of the members as can be seen by the use of money in their quest for positions in party elections.They are prepared to spend first and knew they can recoup the amount many times more when they are in position of influence.

For 22 years Mahathir was probably the only brain that was working in UMNO.

Will Najib return to Mahathirism? Dr M knows best.

A Plane Repossessor ?

Hantu Laut

We don't have them in Malaysia yet because we are not affluent enough to afford planes.

In Malaysia we only have the dreaded car repossessor. Losing a plane is probably not as bad as losing a car especially in this country where public transportation is a bloody disgrace. Here, losing your car is like losing your legs. Depending where you live having no car can mean total immobility and great inconvenience. Our capital city Kuala Lumpur has one of the worst public transport system and the worst taxi drivers in the world and drivers of such bad attributes you can't imagine how they were allowed to be in such profession in the first place.

With the downturn and for those that have lost their jobs life will be tough and the car repossessors would be as busy if not busier than the plane repossessor in the following story:

Foreclosing on a Plane, Then Flying It Away

Ken Hill’s last business trip took him through eight states in January and netted him 12 planes. His current one is a 30- to 45-day trip for 27 more planes, his biggest ever.

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Ed Zurga for The New York Times

Ken Hill photographing a Piper Meridian he seized in January in Overland Park, Kan. Mr. Hill, 66, has repossessed hundreds of planes since his first in 1969.

Mr. Hill is an airplane repo man, one of the best and busiest in the business. With the economy sinking and the general aviation industry suffering, Mr. Hill is working flat out as he makes his way from one airport to another, carrying just a few basic tools — a propeller lock, a portable radio, hand-held GPS device and a fanny pack stuffed with hundreds of keys. “I’m busy, always on the move, up early in the morning, late to bed at night,” Mr. Hill said in a telephone interview from his hotel in Knoxville, Tenn., between repossessions in January. “My wife never asks me where I’m going. She just says, ‘Call me when you’re there, and tell me where you are.’ ” Read more...

The PKR Witch Hunters

Hantu Laut

Selangor state government and its Chief Minister Khalid Ibrahim is going all out to dig up the dirt on former Menteri Besar Khir Toyo here and here and here and here.

The witch hunting has been going on since the day Khalid stepped into office as MB of Selangor.One of the highlights of the witch hunt was his overseas travel expenses amounting to RM350,000 over a period of 7 years.I wonder whether it is worth the time and money to waste human resources on such petty matters.The amount doesn't seem a lot.Than there were accusation of his wife being given a Range Rover from a state subsidiary.

As menteri besar I am sure Khir is entitled to certain benefits including the use of his official car by his spouse.As chairman of the company and if he is entitled to the Range Rover than there is no reason his spouse can't use the vehicle.

Maybe, Khalid should engage an independent external auditor to audit all the books of the state government for the past 50 years.

It's about time Khalid gets down to do serious work for the state instead of looking for past mistakes and misdeeds of the former government.He should hand over to the MACC whatever evidence he has to prove wrongdoings of former MB Khir Toyo instead of flippantly making and publicising allegations of wrongdoings that has no rhyme nor reason.

(My internet was down for 2 days.Just got it back today)