Battle of Wits:Chameleon versus Frog

Hantu Laut

Politicians, can you trust them?

Two months ago he was determined to leave the party.Now, he is wavering because he said he is happy as many of his requests were accepted by the party.It seems his political blackmail worked and effective in making Anwar Ibrahim jittery by giving in to his demands.The story here.

Without Jeffery Kitingan PKR may not get the KDM supports, so, thought Anwar Ibrahim. Chameleon always change colour when under threat.

This is the same man who now contradicts himself about the BTN courses where when things were all bright and sunny for him he was once one of their mentors.This is the same Anwar Ibrahim who teaches his compatriots about ketuanan Melayu and why the immigrants (pendatang) should not question those rights.Watch the video here.

So You Want To Be Famous Like Paris Hilton ?

Malaysians who suffered from ASS (Attention Seeking Syndrome) or Munchausen can use some of the tips here.For those who are half-rich or those with stacks of ill-gotten gains give it a try.You never know, miracles may take time but nothing is impossible.

No point carrying those super expensive Berkin, LV or Gucci handbags to get notice on the street, if you don't have a street to your name. It wouldn't make you famous.People might just think you are a moron.

So You Want to Be Famous...
How to become a celebrity without any talent or skills whatsoever.

By Raina Kelley

Once upon a time, it took actual talent to become a celebrity in America. Whether you achieved fame in arts and letters, athletics, or politics, it was necessary to have at least some modicum of skill. But now, thanks to cable television and the Internet, there is an endless appetite for “content.”

Content is a 21st-century invention for programming that too often falls short of the label “art,” but is usually entertaining nonetheless. For instance, Mad Men and The Sopranos are television art; reality TV and game shows are content. Vanity Fair and The Atlantic Monthly are stellar examples of the art of magazine writing, while Us Weekly and OK! are cover-to-cover content.

This need for content has created an opportunity for a young, enterprising person who’s willing to do anything to be famous but has no discernible skills. The tabloids abound with superstars who are “famous for being famous,” to crib the phrase most commonly used for this phenomenon. Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Nicole Richie, and Lauren Conrad are just some of the A-list names who enjoy the power and privilege of worldwide fame even though it is difficult to name a single project in which they showed an inkling of aptitude. They cannot act or sing, nor are they renowned for outrageous acts of charity, political courage, or even intelligence. They’re each adorable; but none is a great beauty on par with Halle Barry or Angelina Jolie. What each has, it seems to me, is the ability to turn their personal lives into viral video. But before you come to the conclusion that keeping the self-perpetuating fire of fame burning is, in itself, a skill, I promise you that it is not. Anybody can do it. You just have to follow the seven tried and true steps to celebrity—no skills required.

1. Come from a wealthy family that spoils you rotten.
One of the tricks to fame is to have something that the viewing public covets—and who doesn’t want to be rich? But not Bill Gates or Warren Buffett rich—they work too hard. I mean born-with-a-silver-spoon-in-your-mouth rich. You want to possess the kind of privilege that convinces you from birth that you are something more special than the average middle-class person. It’s very hard to fake a lifetime of never hearing the word “no”—it requires a lack of self-awareness and self-control that most people are unable to muster up after the age of 3. So if you have any idea what a dollar is really worth, consider becoming a pop star.

2. Conform to society’s standard of beauty.
Being famous for no reason except for the number of Facebook friends you have is a lot easier if you are a majority of the following: skinny (thin or not-fat doesn’t count), blonde, well-endowed in either the breast or butt region, and always dressed in the latest trends. Do not attempt to make fashion. Again, that is limited to those famous people with actual talent. Luckily, the simple addition of a stylist and a plastic surgeon to your entourage will allow you to slavishly follow whatever look society deems hot. For some reason, the 21st century is chock full of people who actually believe that your looks are the most important part of your personality, so if you feel unable to dye your hair or lose too much weight, call yourself a writer.

3. Convince yourself that you are a star.
Your last name could be Kennedy and you could be a blonde-haired, blue-eyed head on a stick, but you won’t get into People magazine without the right attitude. If you don’t believe you’re destined for a famous life, no one will. Work as fast as you can to develop the idea that you are a gift to mankind, and don’t let anyone undermine that. Famous but talentless people behave in ways that are very different from the average person. They never take their sunglasses off—even in nightclubs—and they always wear makeup and form-fitting clothes. Make sure to stifle any urges to behave as if you were not the center of the universe. Do not ever recognize that there is a world outside your desires. If you find yourself unable to do that but still want the perks of power and privilege, consider becoming a politician. Read more..

Source:Newsweek

Designer Crooks

Hantu Laut

The purchase of a single laptop for RM42,300, a nine-inch computer monitor for RM8500 and screwdriver costing over RM200.Malaysia Boleh!

A project budgeted at RM1.1 billion snowballed to RM4.5 cost overrun and projected to snowball to over RM12.5 billion, yet the government approved such horrendous increase without due care.

To add salt to the wound, the government even approved a soft loan of over RM4 billion when logically the project should have been terminated to cut any further losses.

Project given to the same people who sold the land to the government at highly inflated price.Willing seller, willing buyer with bad intentions.

A prime minister supposedly approved project of this magnitude without approval of his cabinet.Land purchased at exorbitantly higher than market price approved by the cabinet.Board members sleeping on the job and failing in their duties to exercise fiduciary control over the PKA management giving them carte blance to do what they like.

A baffling preference for higher costs of financing, going against the advice of MOF (Ministry of Finance) to consider government-guaranteed bonds bearing lower interest rate.

Giving project of this magnitude to a single turn-key contractor when a more prudent approach should have been used by slicing the cake into different portions and giving them to different contractors.

The shroud of dishonesty and attempt to cheat the government hung in the air from the day the project was conceived.

In its investigative audit Price Waterhouse reported:

Issue 1: The proposal to purchase the Land was approved by the Cabinet.
However, subsequent development proposals were not tabled to the
Cabinet for approval

Issue 2 : PKA failed to alert the Cabinet in a timely manner of its inability to
finance the Project from its internal funds.

Issue 3: The Board did not exercise oversight and adequate governance over
the implementation of the Project.

Issue 4: Advice of the Attorney General was not sought and certain MOF
regulations were not complied with.

Issue 5 : There could be potential conflicts of interest arising from the
involvement of parties who had prior association with either the Land or
KDSB

Issue 6 : Interest on the MOF soft loan will increase the Project outlay from
RM4.947 billion to RM7.453 billion. Unless the MOF soft loan is
restructured, total outlay for the Project will increase to RM12.453 billion

Issue 7 : PKA could have reduced its funding costs had it complied with MOF’s
recommendation to issue government-guaranteed bonds and
developed the Project in phases

Issue 8 : The Land was acquired at special value which exceeded market value

Issue 9 : KDSB may have overcharged PKA for interest by between RM51
million and RM309 million in connection with the purchase of the Land.

Issue 10: DA3 was not a ‘fixed sum’ contract and did not stipulate a rate for
professional fees claimable by KDSB.

Issue 11 : PKA incurred claims of RM95.256 million for general preliminaries cost
not expressly specified in the DA.

Issue 12 : The final account for DA3 did not include any deduction for value of
work not done on three infrastructure components in the Land purchase
agreement

The whole shipload of them including Pak Lah should be hauled up to answer to the people how their money was lost to a crooked deal chiefly designed by those in power.

Does the AG need more proof to send all these vermin to the slammer.The final figure of the the cost overrun could reach MR12.5 billion, a mind-boggling more than 1100 percent increase.

Prime Minister Najib should make sure no guilty party is given protection from prosecution.All guilty party must face the music according to the severity of their crimes.

While the poor remains poor, the crooked powers that be live in sinful extravagance on money stolen from the people.

Arrests in Malaysian Port Scandal

Written by Our Correspondent

Thursday, 10 December 2009

Three down, more to come, although concerns abound that no big fish will be landed

Malaysian authorities Wednesday arrested Phang Oi Choo, the former general manager of the Port Klang Authority and two other persons in connection with a massive scandal in the construction of the Port Klang Free Zone, which has ballooned to RM4.6 billion from RM1.1 billion and could go as high as RM RM12.45 billion if the port defaults and is forced to pay interest on its debt, according to a report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services.

The arrests had been expected in the wake of a devastating report by the Public Accounts Committee of the parliament that found widespread conflicts of interest, corruption and cost overruns at the port. The three were expected to be charged with criminal breach of trust. More arrests are expected in the coming weeks, possibly including former Transport Minister Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy and Tiong King Sing, an influential Sarawak lawmaker and chairman of the parliament's Backbencher's Club, who holds 70 percent of the shares in Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd, the company hired to build the project.

Chan and Phang were found by the Public Accounts Committee earlier to have issued letters of support and undertaking for the project to cover massive loans without the approval of the finance ministry, in effect creating government guarantees for the loans, which resulted in vast cost overruns. The cabinet later ratified the letters despite their illegality. (see Asia Sentinel, Malaysia's Growing Port Scandal, 27 November 2009 and Malaysia's Port Storm, Aug. 24, 2009)

The 400-hectare Port Klang Free Zone was conceived during the reign of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as a multi-modal project for international cargo distribution and consolidation at Port Klang, 70 km. west of Kuala Lumpur. Unofficially, the development was entrusted to the Malaysian Chinese Association, the ethnic Chinese component of the national ruling coalition, the Barisan Nasional. From the start, with the original purchase of the land, the project was dogged with scandals. Requests to investigate it by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission were turned down and the agency only reluctantly reversed itself as the scandal grew in proportion.

As the scandal has grown, contending factions in the MCA have charged each other with complicity, with the result that the party has been virtually paralyzed, exacerbating strains that grew out of the MCA's debacle in 2008 national polls, in which the opposition Pakatan Rakyat made strong electoral gains.

The question is how far up the government chain the investigation will go, and how seriously it will be investigated. “It is going to be very difficult to prove," said a lawyer with ties to the United Malays National Organization. "They have all covered their tracks, I'm sure."

According to the PriceWaterhouseCoopers report, Kuala Dimensi sold the land to the Port Klang Authority for RM1.09 billion, or RM25 per square foot although by using Malaysia's Land Acquisition Act, it could have been purchased for RM10 per square foot. Kuala Dimensi acquired the land from the Pulau Lumut Development Cooperative for only RM3 per square foot. A flock of UMNO officials were involved in various roles including the party's permanent chairman, Onn Ismail, his son-in-law Faizal Abdullah, the former party treasurer Azim Zabidi and others. Read more.