An Analysis Fits For The Garbage Bin.

Hantu Laut

If they can fight over one miserable pig slaughter house, can you expect them to look at the bigger picture for the greater good of the nation?

Unlike Perak where the PAS Menteri Besar's tenancy depended on DAP patronage, the arm-twisting in Kedah did not bring the desired result.PAS does not need DAP in Kedah.The Perak crisis was a DAP crisis, successfully amplified by them portraying PAS as the victim so as to rile up the Malays in Perak to rally behind Pakatan.In Kedah PAS is the boss.

In Penang DAP is the boss.Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng lamented that some members of PKR were trying to be heroes and trying to sabotage him in the Kampung Buah Pala crisis.Why is Lim dragging his feet on this issue when he has the opportunity and the power to help the villagers by giving them alternative state land to occupy instead of making excuses that the land is too expensive to acquire and he is helpless to do anything because the problem was created by the BN government.

Look like a partnership made in hell.Since day one, DAP and PKR have been at loggerhead with each other.There is no general consensus or comradeship among these amateurish politicians.There are more racists, chauvinists and bigots in this group than in the BN in the past 50 years.Their promises of equality among the races and one identity were just that ..... hot air!

Penang state PKR chairman Datuk Zahrain Mohamed Hashim accused Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng of failing to practise the principles of justice and compassion over the sacking of PKR Seberang Prai municipal councillor Johari Kassim.

Johari was sacked for leading a boycott by eight PKR councillors against the swearing in of ex district officer Mokthar Mohd Jait as new council president.PKR wanted politician not civil servant to head the council.

Lim Guan Eng must have been a closet dictator and is now showing his true colour, absolute power corrupt absolutely.He forgets that he is in a coalition government and that DAP is not the sole ruling party in Penang.There should be consultation and a give and take attitude as the relationship among the three were not built on trust but on matter of convenience.

On another front, PKR's Kulim MP Zulkifli Noordin told DAP to go their own way, in another word, to get lost.

Khairy Jamaluddin may be right about Malaysian Insider.It's seems to be pandering to what readers want to read rather than purveying the truth and legitimate news.Some of its analysis were way down bias and one-sided.It started on the right footing but lately is following the footsteps of Malaysiakini, catering to the anti-establishment crowd.

It so-called analysis under its heading "As Pakatan squabbles, Malaysians left between a rock and a harder place" is left much to be desired. Below are some excerpts from the analysis.

And yes, the two-coalition system which we hoped for may not take off.

But even PAS, PKR and DAP standing on an individual platform appear to still offer more than what Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) can offer.

Umno has not changed much since March 2008.

It remains arrogant and corrupt. Few of its office bearers can pass the living beyond your means test.

In fact several of its MPs will not be able to account for their cars, houses or wealth they have to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is right.

Several of them should not be in Cabinet or hold positions in the party. But they do.

Despite the prime minister’s promise of reforms, most of his party members from his deputy downwards continue to rely on the old race card.

If anything the words coming out from the mouths of some Umno members have made it hard for Malaysians to believe that the party has changed much since last March.

BN’s component parties have also not represented the interests of the non-Malay communities for years now.

How could it be true that as a single entity PAS,PKR and DAP can offer more than UMNO and the BN.All three had over the year been working together and what in term of performance have they shown to Malaysians in the states under their control?All they did was squabbling and bickering at each other and blaming the BN for their ineptitude. They can't even run a small state like Penang properly, can you expect them to take over and take care of the Federal government?

Sure, UMNO might not have changed much since March 2008, so is Pakatan, it has not shown any outstanding performance, in fact I would rate these amateurs poorly and worse. They spent more time going at each other's throat than getting down to doing real work There were also traces of corruption in the states under their administration.This sickness that they talk so much about getting rid of could get bigger if they take over the Federal government where the kitty is much bigger. Their promise of getting rid of corruption would probably end up just like Abdullah's promise.

Sure,Tun Mahathir was right in what he said but corruption is not a newly invented game it has been there since his time.Mahathir himself may not be corrupted but corruption was ripe in UMNO then.

UMNO using the race card, that's nothing new, what about Pakatan , are they not using the race card too.What happened in Penang and Kedah ? If Pakatan is truly colour blind do you think that small issue of the 'kandang putung babi' could turn into a major disaster.

To say the BN has become irrelevant is certainly not true.The result of the 2008 General Elections below shows it was a temporary setback.It was short of only 8 seats to get the two-thirds majority. With the required reforms implemented from now on the BN is likely to show a big surprise in the next general elections.

Elections 2008 Parliament Barisan Nasional 140 Opposition 82 Independent 0 State Barisan Nasional 307 Opposition 196 Independent 2 | full results Elections 2004 Parliament Barisan Nasional 198 Opposition 20 Independent 1 * BN wins with 2/3 majority State Barisan Nasional 453 Opposition 51 Independent 1 | full results

To say Najib has not taken steps to reform government policies is pulling wool over sheep's eyes, the writer is either blind or illiterate.

This kind of analysis is worth where it should be...in the garbage bin.

Do You Believe In Miracles ?

Hantu Laut

Do you believe in miracles?

Yes, miracle can and do happen and why it happened is very hard to explain from scientific point of view.There have been miraculous stories of people falling from great height and survived, of plane crash with only sole survivor and many other miracles that science could not explain.

The recent crash of Yemenia Flight 626 near the Comoros is one such miracle.A 14-year old girl was the only survivor.She clung to the wreckage of the plane for 13 hours before being rescued.All other 152 passengers including the girl's mother perished.

Last night, while having a drink with a few friends I related a story that I remember long ago of also a young girl who plummeted to the ground when the aircraft she was in broke in mid-air after being hit by lighting over the Amazon.She was the only survivor.Her mother also died in the crash.

This morning I search the Internet hoping to find that story that happened way back in the seventies and to my surprise I found CNN carried the same story yesterday.

Here's the story of a miracle of a girl who fell from a height of 2 miles down to the forest of the Amazon and survived with minor injuries.

Survivor still haunted by 1971 air crash

MUNICH, Germany (CNN) -- Juliane Koepcke is not someone you'd expect to attract attention. Plainly dressed and wearing prescription glasses, Koepcke sits behind her desk at the Zoological Center in Munich, Germany, where she's a librarian.

Juliane Koepcke fell more than 3kms after the plane in which she was traveling broke up in midair.

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Yet this unassuming middle aged woman has one of the most exciting and unbelievable stories of tragedy and survival to tell.

It was Christmas Eve, 1971, when Koepcke, then aged 17, and her mother boarded a Lockheed Electra turboprop for a flight from Lima, Peru, to Pucallpa in the Amazonian rainforest. Her parents, both famous zoologists, ran a research station in the jungle studying wildlife.

The airline, LANSA, had already lost two aircraft in previous crashes. "We knew the airline had a bad reputation," Koepcke told CNN, "but we desperately wanted to be with my father for Christmas, so we figured it would be alright."

The flight was supposed to last for less than an hour and for the first 25 minutes everything was fine, Koepcke recalled.

"Then we flew into heavy clouds and the plane started shaking. My mother was very nervous. Then to the right we saw a bright flash and the plane went into a nose dive. My mother said, 'This is it!'"

An accident investigation later found that one of the fuel tanks of the Lockheed Electra had been hit by a bolt of lightning which had torn the right wing off.

"We were headed straight down. Christmas presents were flying around the cabin and I could hear people screaming." Watch Koepcke tell her dramatic survivor's story »

As the plane broke into pieces in midair, Koepcke was thrust out into the open air:

"Suddenly there was this amazing silence. The plane was gone. I must have been unconscious and then came to in midair. I was flying, spinning through the air and I could see the forest spinning beneath me."

Then Koepcke lost consciousness again. She fell more than three kilometers (two miles) into the jungle canopy but miraculously survived with only minor injuries. Ninety-one other people aboard Flight 508 died.

Koepcke says she is not a spiritual person and has tried to find logical explanations for why she survived.

"Maybe it was the fact that I was still attached to a whole row of seats," she says. "It was rotating much like the helicopter and that might have slowed the fall. Also, the place I landed had very thick foliage and that might have lessened the impact."

In any case she survived with only minor injuries. Her collarbone was broken, her right eye swollen shut, she was suffering concussion and had large gashes on her arms and legs. Read more...

Also read:

Are children more likely to survive plane crashes?

Chinks In Pakatan's Armour

Hantu Laut

Just a week after I wrote:

"Unity Talk, Not Over Yet:Cracks in Malaysia's Opposition Coalition"

....that the unity talk is put on hold temporarily and would come back to haunt Pakatan Rakyat sooner or later. Two days ago, PAS Youth division proposed intellectual discourse with UMNO Youth.This is just the beginning of something bigger to come.

The crack is widening.The coalition may not last until the next election.DAP has pulled out of the PAS Kedah government on disputes over demolition of a pig abattoir, apparently, the only one in the whole of Kedah.

DAP has only one seat in the Kedah Assembly so it's not a great loss to PAS.They still can hold the government comfortably with PKR.

There are also internal strifes and constant squabblings among the partners in Penang and Selangor.The sacking of PKR man from a municipal council,the disagreement between DAP and PKR on the location of the second Penang bridge and of course the unity talk between PAS and UMNO that annoyed the other members of the coalition.Now, a new threat looms on the horizon, PAS Youth flirting with intellectual intercourse with UMNO Youth.

There seems to be little coordination between members of the coalition.The only thing they know to do is to call a crisis meeting everytime there is discord.

DAP may think it's a small loss as Kedah being predominantly Malay and Muslims, why waste time on the minority Chinese in the state.Why bother about Kedah when you have better and more prosperous state like Penang and Perak which they used to control before the BN takeover of Perak.They also have substantial representation in Selangor, the Jewel in the Pakatan's crown.

As I have said many times before this is a grouping of strange bedfellows, a marriage of convenience of people of different ideology brought together by the demagogic Anwar Ibrahim with only one objective, to grab power from BN and make Anwar prime minister.

Surely, there is nothing wrong with Anwar being prime minister but would he be able to deliver a strong leadership and ensure political stability.With so much bickering even in its formative years, can he keep the coalition together?

What has PAS and DAP in common? Absolutely none. They are like two magnetic poles that repel each other.PAS is talking about allowing non-Muslims to join the party when they can't even tolerate the culture of non-Muslims.How many non-Muslims would you think like to join PAS? What that tell you of PAS ? Do you think a leopard can change its spots? In the past, PAS accused UMNO of co-habiting with the kafirs and even called UMNO members kafir.

The DAP has the same image problem, it is viewed by many Malays as a Chinese chauvinist party.With the exception of a few lost in the wilderness Malays the like of Tungku Aziz, there are very few Malays in DAP. So, DAP is not really a true multiracial party, it is controlled by the Lim clan and Karpal as Chairman is merely window dressing.It is a Chinese-controlled party with icing of Indians and Malays.The core is still Chinese.

At least in BN they have no qualms about admitting they are race-based political parties.UMNO sticks to its Malay brand and have never tried to divert from the path with the exception of the natives of Sabah where non-Muslim members were accepted into the party.

UMNO never brands itself as a party for Muslims only, it is for Malays and the natives of Sabah could be said to be of Malay stock.MCA and Gerakan made it clear they are Chinese party and MIC Indian. This race-based politics has weathered well for over 50 years.

Is Malaysia ready for a change from race-based politics to homogeneity, where race and religion are no barriers, all as one.

Can Pakatan bring about these changes that they talked so much about?

Discords and bickerings will continue in the Pakatan camp.

Let's hear from others and from those diehard Pakatan supporters.

Penang Politics Getting Messy, More Troubles On The Horizon

Hantu Laut

If they fail to save the village, Pakatan Rakyat’s objective has failed and we will know what to do in the next general election,” said Penang Island Hindraf Coordinator K. Kalaiselvam, 34.

Lim, who questioned whether the movement had been “infiltrated by Barisan Nasional collaborators”, also called on former Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon to give a full public explanation on why he sold the land at a “cheap price” of only RM10 per square feet and without consulting the residents.

Was Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng right in side stepping the issue and try to drag former Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon into the fracas?

Every succeeding government is responsible to take over and take care of what its predecessor had done, right or wrong. You can't run back to the previous administration, it's you baby now, take care of it.

Needless to say you have to take over both good and bad policies of the previous administration.Unless, there is criminality involved, in which case the law should take care of the problem , Lim Guan Eng calling on Dr Koh Tsu Koon to give full public explanation goes to show his obvious perplexity and inexperience in the running of government.

Government needs not consult residents every time it gives away land for development and for Lim to suggest so again shows his ignorance and inexperience.

Would he constantly consult the people every time he gives away land, projects or any dealings of the state government? You are elected by the people and they have given you the mandate to rule, just do your job and stop harping on past mistakes.It is your job to rectify if you feel mistakes have been made in the past.

Unless, Lim can prove there have been corruptions involved in the giving away of the land, in which case, he should report the matter to the MACC, it was very silly of him to call Koh to give public explanation.He is the Chief Minister now, it's for him to explain and resolve the problem.

Since when squatters have the rights to demand possession of state land they squatted on.The court have issued an order of eviction, therefore, those Hindraf leaders are breaking the law by instigating the villagers to demonstrate.

The right thing for Lim to do is to command the police to arrest the Hindraf leaders for instigating the villagers to cause public disturbance.Their refusal to move out is tantamount to contempt of court.

If many others have accepted exgratia payment from the land owner and moved out, it is obvious those remaining squatters are trying to squeeze more money from the developer, more than what they deserved.

It's typical of Pakatan playing the blame game.Blame the BN for any of their troubles.Now, he says Hindraf is infiltrated by Barisan Nasional troublemakers?

Cancelling the project would incur costs beyond the financial capability of the state government,” Lim said, chiding Hindraf for “not being able to distinguish who its friends and opponents are” and being blinded by rage and anger.

Now you know what these people are capable of doing.When they gave trouble to the BN government you blindly supported them. What do you make of Hindraf now that they are trying to break down your front door.

After the fall-out with Penang PKR and now Hindraf, what next Mr Lim?

Just slightly over a year you were already making unpopular decisions.The BN took almost 50 years before the chickens come home to roost.

Here, like father like son, father singing the same song.Incompetents looking for scapegoat.