Opposing The Opposition

Hantu Laut

He has made some popular decisions, let's see how he handles the Musa Hassan issue.

He is in a dicey position on the extension of Musa Hassan's contract as police chief.The oppositions are clamouring for Musa's departure.The oppositions sure to hit the stentorian pitch if he renews the contract.

Najib may have to use his best judgement whether to extend Musa Hassan's contract taking into consideration adverse public opinion about Musa's past tenure as police chief.Or was it only the oppositions blowing up the issue?

Read this:

(Over the weekend, the DAP’s Lim Kit Siang urged the home minister not to renew Musa’s contract as the crime rate continues to soar.According to statistics provided by the veteran parliamentarian, there were 150,000 cases of crime in 2004. This figure ballooned to over 200,000 in both 2007 and 2008 despite Parliament tripling funds allocated to the police under the Ninth Malaysia Plan to RM8 billion.

Lim said that this shows the failure of the Musa to stem the tide of rising crime cases despite an increase in resources)

Than read this one:

(The Police Force Commission, which is constitutionally responsible for the appointment and emplacement of members of the police force, has backed a second extension of the service of Tan Sri Musa Hassan as the country’s Inspector-General of Police.

The Malaysian Insider understands that the commission, whose members include top current and retired civil servants and the home minister, wants Musa to remain the country’s top cop when his current contract expires in September)

With such unfavourable statistics on the increase in crime rates, it makes one wonder why the Police Force Commission made such recommendation.Is there no one else capable of taking over the job at the moment?

Will his decision be opposing the opposition?

Rocky's Bru has a new discovery here.1 Malaysia billboard without Najib's face on it.An unusual departure from popular practices of having the PM's face plastered on billboards all over the country.

Can save a lot of money if the government have less of this kind of advertisement.

Whale Shark Butchered And Sold At Kota Kinabalu Fish Market

Hantu Laut

Openly displayed on the table at the Central Fish Market at Kota Kinabalu.Killed, either out of ignorance or typical don't care attitude.You have to be a diver to appreciate this gentle giant in the wild.

I was shocked what befalls my eyes when I went to the fish market this morning.There right in front of me were parts of a baby whale shark for sale.The juvenile was probably just a few years old.When I asked the fish monger where she got the fish from she said she bought it from a fisherman.When I told her it is illegal to kill this type of fish she just gave me a blank look and shrugged her shoulder, meaning she doesn't know or doesn't care.Some of the other male fishmongers were already looking at me and my camera suspiciously.I have heard of costumers being whacked by this illegal ingrates if they complain of being short-changed.I quickly moved away and left the market.

Most fishmongers at the market are Filipino migrants and many live across the bay in the biggest eyesore of Kota Kinabalu, the water village of Pulau Gaya called Kampong Pondo, the hive of Filipino illegal activities.Fish bombs,smuggled booze and cigarettes, shabu and stolen goods from the mainland, all can be found here.



It's a terrible sight just to see this gentle giant being slaughtered.It has very little commercial value here.This specie is protected in many countries in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific where they are mainly concentrated.They are also protected in Sabah waters but little have been done to educate the fishing community not to kill the specie.

Whale shark is placed in Appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).It is also on Appendix II of CMS (Convention on Migratory Species also known as the Bonn Convention).Listing on CITES require member nations to monitor the international trade in whale shark product and to ensure it does not threaten survival of the specie.


Our Fisheries Department has done nothing in term of monitoring and enforcement.The whole fishing industry here is topsy-turvy and mired in all kind of illegal activities.

Typical civil servants who sit on their arses and take no pride in their jobs.Fish bombing, using cyanide to catch live fish and preserving fish using formalin are rampant practices here, endangering the people's health and the health of the ocean.The live fish we savour at seafood restaurants around the city may have traces of cyanide, not enough to kill you but has bad long term effect on your health.

The use of sodium cyanide first started in the Philippines in the sixties with the aquarium trade but have somehow made its way into the live fish trade throughout South East Asia.



Unlike in the West, ours is not a compliance society.Malaysians have the tendency to break the law if they think they can get away with it.The most glaring example can be seen on our roads.

What we need is strict enforcement to drive the message home.In this case the Fisheries Department should station permanent enforcement unit in all fish markets in the major towns to nap the culprits who indulge in any illegal activities.

The next time you go to the fish market beware of those fresh looking fish where even the flies don't dare to go near, it could be laced with formalin (formaldehyde).

Najib Not Out Of The Wood Yet.

Hantu Laut

Najib first 100 days in office has brought some positive results.His popularity soars to 65 percent from the low 42 percent when he first took office. His most popular move was the liberalisation and dismantling of some of the NEP requirements in certain sectors of the economy with a view of capturing FDIs that have detoured to other more attractive locations and at the same time boost domestic investments.The move is also good for local non-bumiputra businessmen, majority Chinese who now can have a more relax regime of doing business and broader scope of investment opportunities.

The abolition of the 30 percent equity reserved for bumiputra for IPO (Initial Public Offering) was probably the best of all actions taken so far by Najib. This allocation for bumiputra is one of the ingredients in the recipe of spoiling the bumiputras and the failure of the NEP.Those allotted with such windfall would dispose of the shares rather quickly to cash in on the quick and easy money.Given the opportunity who wouldn't. Malaysian public companies are not famously known for declaring cash or script dividends to its shareholders.Only those in the blue chip category are safe haven for long term investors. Long term investment in many Malaysian listed companies is like putting your money on the roulette table.

Like many other things given to bumiputras to expand their share of the economic cake majority would eventually end up in the China man's hand.The selling of these shares by government agencies and individuals was one of the reasons for the failure of the NEP to achieve its target of 30 percent equity.This is Najib first step telling the bumiputras that there would be no more of this type of largesse.

The next step is to reduce the number of AP for import of cars.A review of all bumiputras given the APs to determine whether they genuinely carry on the business themselves or not should be done.Cancel those who don't.But don't be fooled by what you see.Some have found loophole by selling the company to China man and become nominee and proxy of the China man.They get paid for every AP they get and are given a comfortable office in the company to make it appears that they are running the operation.

Overall his reforms for the economy thus far has been well received by the business community and he must personally see to it that its implementation is true to the word and not make the same mistake that Abdullah made by not having a monitoring system to keep him informed.Likewise, a failed promise would be a political disaster.

The only thing that is cause for concern in his new policy is the Federal government giving guarantee to corporations to raise funds in the bond market.It is not yet clear whether this is for GLCs only or include private and public corporations and whether the issuance is for domestic market only or both domestic and international.The other bad aspect, if there were no transparency, is the use of this facility by those in power to guarantee crony companies.Najib should insist on stringent rules, conditions and monitoring to avoid abuses.

So far so good, he has proved the skeptics wrong, but too early to say things wouldn't change.The situation is still fluid and the journey is still long,winding and dangerous, one wrong step could cause everything to come tumbling down.

The opposition is ever ready to slaughter his reputation, more so now, after his popularity soars that is not good news for the oppositions.

Najib is not out of the wood yet, he has plenty to do to shift the supports back to the BN.

Former heavyweighs like Mahathir and Razaleigh should give him moral support if they want UMNO to regain its former glory. By the same token Mahathir wasn't wrong when he said UMNO needs revamping at the top.It's about time purging of corrupt leaders be carried out to show seriousness of the talk.

Education In Peril:Mahathir's First Salvo

Hantu Laut

Do not ignore him, he can cut you down to pieces before you know it.He is definitely the biggest blogger in the country and probably is the biggest in the region too.Just over a year his blog has received 20,906,770 hits.

Dr Mahathir Mohammad is not run of the mill critic, when he talks people listen and take notice.Cross his path and destroy his ideals and you would be damned. He has great following among the youths of this nation.The hundreds of comments he gets on his blog for every posting shows the kind of following he has. Translate this into votes and the multiplier effect you would be amazed how popular this man still is.

The government recent reversal of the use of English, mooted by him during his tenure, in the teaching of Science and Maths back to Bahasa Melayu, Chinese and Tamil is as misguided as the missile that missed to hit its target.The excuses given have no plausibility.The government should listen to the pulse of the people not the rhetoric of a few misguided nationalists and language extremists.

If the Malays in the rural areas can't cope with English and find it a verbiage it is not the language at fault, it's the fault of the Education Ministry, its implementing apparatus must have been faulty and failed miserably.Solutions should be found to remedy it, not kill it, to take the easy way out.There have been mission schools in the rural areas during colonial days and the native children of this country learn the language from day one.The excuse that rural children have difficulty dealing with the language is unacceptable.

It is also most disheartening and ridiculous for the Ministry of Education to say they can save RM40 million a year by not teaching English in the two subjects.What is RM40 million compared to the future of million of Malaysian children deprived of a critical tool for enhancement of knowledge and a medium for global communications.

It would be in the best interest of the nation that the government at least consider to retain it at secondary level.

As I have predicted earlier Mahathir will not simmer down until he proved himself right, as in the case of Abdullah, his constant attacks finally took its toll on Abdullah.

He has fired his first salvo at Najib here.