Wall Steet Journal, Judge And Jury

Hantu Laut

It looked like the Wall Street Journal has become judge and jury of Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy case.It has, arbitrarily, declared Anwar's innocent.

It has also confirmed the involvement of Najib's in the case.It says "Also troubling is the public involvement of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was deputy leader at the time of Mr. Anwar's 2008 arrest—and the man most politically threatened by Mr. Anwar's popularity".

Najib should consider a libel suit against the newspaper.

Is this a respectable newspaper or a new brand of yellow journalism, published, without batting an eye for the truth, giving credence to what Anwar and his retinue of supporters claimed to be the truth? The full story here.

Tell me how many criminals have admitted to crimes committed by them? Ninety-nine percent of the time they pleaded not guilty.

In his classic work "Inside The Criminal Mind" Stanton Samenow, a research psychologist, after working three decades with criminals reaffirmed that "Criminals know right from wrong. In fact, some know the laws better than their lawyers do. But they believe that whatever they want to do at any given time is right for them. Their crimes require logic and self-control".

Would Anwar get a fair trail? Even if he did, does it matter, the world has been taken in by Anwar's very clever sophistry.

Proof Of The Pudding Is In The Eating

Hantu Laut

Outgoing Permanent Secretary to the Sabah Finance Ministry Haji Yusof Kassim made a stunning revelation at his farewell dinner given in his honour on his retirement.

It's about the man who has been called by all kind of names, from 'Mr Big and Small' to Mr 'Vacuum Cleaner' by his nemeses and enemies, especially from his own party.Sabah UMNO has many aspiring chief ministers that covertly working behind his back.Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman is always ahead of the curve.

Many of Musa's enemies predicted his political demise at the March 2008 General Elections but in a surprising turn, Musa not only won his seat overwhelmingly but also delivered a landslide victory for the BN, without which the BN would have lost the Federal government.

A regular contributor in the name of 'Deep Throat Sabah' supplys regular mud-slinging and contemptuous articles on Musa to Malaysia Today, rumoured to be, financed by the chief minister wannabies in Sabah UMNO.

Yusof lamented how the rotation system almost bankrupted the state.

Prior to March 2003, before Musa took over the chief ministership, the state finance was in dire straits with only RM60 million in state reserves... less than 2 months salaries for the civil servants.Under Musa stewardship the state reserves has gone up to RM2.4 billion in 2008.He expects the figure for 2009 to be higher but would not announce it yet because the figure is not official yet.

The last time the state finance was in good hands was under Berjaya's Harris Salleh.Unlike, other chief ministers, Musa and Harris came from business background which probably gave them the nose for frugality.

The truth is out.You can smear anything but the truth behold and as the English say "The proof of the pudding is in the eating"

In business, we simply called it 'good track record'

Read the story here.

This is Your Brain on Football

Trial Could Reshape Malaysia Politics

By THOMAS FULLER

Published: January 31, 2010

BANGKOK — During more than three decades in politics, Anwar Ibrahim has spent a good share of his time behind bars — from his detention during his days as a rabble-rousing student leader in the 1970s to his imprisonment a decade ago on charges of abuse of power and sodomy.

On Tuesday, a new trial begins for Mr. Anwar, 62, the charismatic but polarizing politician who leads the country’s resurgent opposition.

The accuser is new, but the charge is again sodomy. A conviction this time could end the career of Mr. Anwar and reshape Malaysian politics.

For Malaysia’s 26 million people, the trial is the latest chapter in the bitter struggle for power between the governing coalition, which has ruled since independence from Britain more than five decades ago, and the diverse but ascendant opposition parties.

“This is as much a court case as it is a battle for public opinion,” said Ibrahim Suffian, the director of the Merdeka Center, an independent polling agency in Malaysia.

The accuser, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, is in his early 20s and was a former campaign worker for Mr. Anwar.

The trial is being greeted with wariness by many of those who remember the first one, a decade ago, when a stained mattress was introduced as evidence and newspapers were filled with debates and testimony about the exact details of the sexual relationship. The largest newspapers and television stations are controlled by the governing coalition and were cheerleaders for a guilty verdict.

This time, the trial is likely to divert attention from the country’s communal tensions and economic weakness. Churches and mosques have been attacked in recent weeks over the issue of whether non-Muslims should be allowed to use the word “Allah” for God.

Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, is modern, and the country’s globe-trotting elite is cosmopolitan, but the question of whether the ban on sodomy should be repealed has never gained traction beyond a small circle of activists. In India, which shares many laws from its British colonial heritage, a similar ban was overturned last year by a court on the grounds that it was discriminatory.Read more.