Puppet On A String ?

Hantu Laut

It's a shame, a menteri besar without a mind of his own, fickle and manipulated by people around him who have little respect for the constitution and the rule of law.

The craze for power have made him a laughing stock of those who understand the law. The Speaker of the Assembly, with due respect to his position, is a joker in the pack, he is completely out of depth with his statement that PR is considering amending the constitution with retrospective effect to break the impasse.

May I ask this gentleman how is he going to achieve the above when Pakatan Rakyat did not have two-thirds majority in the house. Is he expecting some UMNO assemblymen to join in storming the Bastille or they will just try to bulldoze like what they did in Perak and failed miserably.

One can easily guess the pressure coming from the coalition partners forcing Khalid to take such ludicrous action which placed him in an awkward and embarrassing situation. More like a puppet on a string than coming from a man who is a leader. It is without any doubt who the puppet masters are.

DAP has only one less seat than PKR in the state assembly making them just as powerful if not more. PKR has 14, DAP 13.Obviously, they have their power and influence under wraps to be used as and when necessary.

The right thing that Khalid should have done in the early stage was to negotiate not confront the Federal PSC. He has burn that bridge now and face the reality of either accepting the new state secretary and make the best of it or do the needful.......step down from his MB position.

Not only he is easily swayed, he contradicted himself on many occasions.Here, he says the Sultan told him that the Sultan was powerless to accept or reject any appointment since the day Mahathir amended the constitution.

Here, the palace refuted what he told the public about what the Sultan told him and with a new twist to the tale.Now, the Sultan claimed he has executive power to appoint or reject senior civil servant appointments in the state.In another word, the Sultan can hire and fire.This, is certainly unheard of before.

I am not sure whether I read the Malaysian Insider's report here correctly.It seems everyone in Selangor have gone bonkers or was it another case of poor understanding of the English language?

Remember the Utusan Malaysia reporter who thought 'ultra vires' uttered by Karpal Singh was insulting the Sultan.

Reported in Malaysia Insider:

“As the chief executive of the Selangor state government, the Sultan gave his blessings to one of the candidates. The PSD had after that agreed to the Sultan’s choice of candidate through a letter issued by the Public Services Department following Article 52 (1) and (2)a of the state constitution. This is a convention, a normal practice in Selangor,” Mohamad Munir said in a statement today.“As the chief executive of the Selangor state government, the Sultan gave his blessings to one of the candidates.

The sultans have certain powers but certainly not executive in nature.

Are we not of a constitutional monarchy system where the sultans only have ceremonial powers and remained apolitical.They only give assent to legislative bills and once a bill is tendered, with or without their assent, after a period of time the bill would effectively become law.

Maybe, we need more feedback from the palace spokesman Mohamad Munir on this very confusing issue.

Here, DAP do not feel good in restoring power back to the Sultan, if that is the right choice of word to describe the situation.

The sultans have never had lateral power in the administration of the states, it is always upon the advice of the respective menteri besar.So! who these clowns trying to fool. What? They think the Malay masses are all idiots to believe that they are trying to restore past glory back to the sultan that was robbed by Mahathir and UMNO in the past?

The sultans and the Yang Dipertuan Agong have never lost any of their powers.They are still head of the state and head of Islam.The only things of significant that Mahathir introduced was a new formula that automatically passed any parliamentary or legislative bills in the event the sultans or Agong refused to give assent. The other one was the setting up of a special court to try errant royals.

What wrongs has Mahathir done? Weren't they taken in the interests of the rakyat?

Some of you may remember Sandie Shaw.She won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967 with the song "Puppet On A String"

Khalid Ibrahim:A Fool And His Money Are Soon Parted

Hantu Laut

How can Khalid Ibrahim work with a State Secretary appointed by his enemy?

How pitiful when you think you are the big boss and suddenly you are not.He is in a completely confused heap, an imbroglio, to say.

Do you know the English idiom "A fool and his money are soon parted" ?

Khalid Ibrahim, the Menteri Besar of Selangor have done exactly that through his own cockiness and laziness.

This man live in an "ivory tower" and I deeply sympathise with him. Sadly, he also has blurred vision of his own state constitution.

It wouldn't be wrong to say when you first become menteri besar of a state it would be in your interest to familiarise yourself with the state constitution.To make matters worse he now have a retinue of legal advisers and listen to some political analysts and professor from certain university who are even more cock-up in their intrepretation of the state constitution and will complicate the issue further.Some of this half-baked legal experts should be thrown to the hyenas. The law does not deal with moral obligation, it deals with the rule of law.

There is no constitutional crisis, the Selangor State Constitution was very clear on the appointment of its top three office-bearers. The Menteri Besar and the Sultan have no role in the appointments other than the "Oath of Secrecy" to be sworn in front of the MB. The relevant article is Article 52.

Khalid should have anticipated the Federal government move but obviously he didn't and failed to get the right advice from his own state legal resources. Selangor government has no PSC giving it no autonomy in the appointment of its top officers.

Pakatan should have called for his resignation for this great blunder which will further weaken the state government, instead of pointing the accusing finger at the Federal government.

Khalid should read Sun Tze's Art of War on how to deal with a problem when one is standing on weaker ground instead of blindly going to war with the Federal government who is sitting comfortably behind a fortified wall.

His refusal to allow the State Secretary to take an "Oath of Secrecy" should be viewed in contempt.

Will going to court resolve the impasse?

Certainly not! he wil only be cutting his nose to spite his face.

The idea of going to court is not to win the case but to fool the people that our judges are corrupted and controlled by the executive.

Not all the people know the law.

The government may win the case but they will win in the court of public opinion.

Or they can call for a street demo......... 'Pakatan's Way'

Wong Choon Mei:Don't Try To Teach Your Grandma How To Suck Eggs

Hantu Laut

Journalism...my foot! More like a frustrated reporter in a drunken stupor and a wannabe "fifth columnist".

It is alright for America to carry out mass murders around the world

Written by Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle.

In his first blog posting for 2011, former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad speaks of the futility of using force, that "overwhelming military power" is nothing in "this modern age". Sadly, he was advising U.S. President Barack Obama on Afghanistan and not himself or his off-on protege, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Are the twisting of the courts to secure advantageous outcomes, the imprisonment of dissidents without fair trial, the arbitrary banning of books and cartoons, the wrongful use of government machinery to coerce electoral victories any less oppressive than guns and bloodshed?

Is a slow death less painful than a quick one?

The phrase Charity begins at home is not without its special wisdom, neither is Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Perhaps Dr Mahathir should help right the wrongs at home before casting his eyes overseas.

The methods and philosophies he promulgates in his home country should echo his stand for the rest of the world.

Can I ask this lady how many people have been murdered by Mahathir or any of the BN leaders after him? Have there been any mass political persecution in this country and how many political prisoners are rotting away in prison?

How come the whole of Pakatan Rakyat leaders were not in prison, they are considered political dissidents?

How come Uncle Lim, the barking dog of Pakatan Rakyat who spewed daily dosage of political excrement on the Malaysian public hoping they get the mange and he gets to be the DPM when Lord Vader took over this kingdom is still shouting at the top of his accented voice insulting the regime in every possible way but is still as free as the bird.

How come the Tiger of Jelutong, the man who think he was godsend to save Malaysia from the evil regime is still wallowing in self abandonment appearing in our court regularly to defend Lord Vader from being branded a sodomite.

Should racist troublemaker like you who goes around writing lies about other people be allowed to roam free and spread your venom among the people and yet swear there is no freedom of expression in this country.

There certainly is much freedom of expression in the U.S. Ask Julian Assange and he will tell you how much he loves America.Ask the boys in Guantanamo, they, the prisoners of war branded as terrorists, how they enjoy and love American torturers tickling their dicks and arses to force information out of them. That seemed to be alright by you.As long as they are not of your kin and creed why care.

Mahathir, has every right to write about Obama, a cheat and a liar, who fooled the American nation and the whole world with his oratory skill and good voice but now turned out to be a phoney!..... and we got exactly one of the same at home.

Wong Choon Mei, since you love America so much and think that the U.S and Obama was right in killing hundred of thousands of innocent Iraqi and Afghan civilians and you don't care because they are not of your kin and creed, maybe, you should apply to join the U.S Military and help them kill more Iraqis and Afghans or make war with Malaysia so you can also kill Malaysians that you hate.

Wasn't she the one who wrote lies about Najib back in 2008 and has to resign from Malaysiakini?

Read the article below taken from a blog "Dandelions" published in 2008 after the "big lie" she made and this blog owner literally showered her praiseworthy saliva on her.

What are the core values of professional journalism?

Objectivity, Accuracy, Corroboration and Avoiding Conflicts of Interest, Transparency, Editorial Oversite…….being the main few among others……basically code of conduct drawn up to saveguard the integrity of this profession. And if one were to fail to uphold any of these values, it is usually up to the good conscience of the person to own up and take full responsibility, even if it means losing one’s job. (The other way would of course to be “goreng-sotong”ed)

Well today, Malaysiakini and its journalist Wong Choon Mei have proven that there is indeed integrity in them and for that, they’ve earned my respect.

Crap !!!

If she didn't resign Steven Gan would have sacked her or face the ugly choice of Malaysiakini being taken to the cleaners.

Objectivity, Accuracy, Corroboration and Avoiding Conflicts of Interest, Transparency.

Avoid conflicts of interest ?.......that must be a joke!

If you consistently write against the government and never against the oppositions....is that journalism?

The Serpent King

How a notorious Malaysian wildlife smuggler was brought to justice -- and what it tells us about stopping the world's most profitable black market.

BY BRYAN CHRISTY |

It began almost innocently. A broken lock on a suitcase moving through Kuala Lumpur International Airport this summer led to an odd discovery: nearly 100 baby boa constrictors, two vipers, and a South American turtle, all hidden inside. It was a fairly modest cache for a wildlife smuggler, but the man who claimed the suitcase was no ordinary criminal. He was Anson Wong Keng Liang, the world's most notorious wildlife trafficker. And instead of a slap on the wrist, which he might reasonably have expected, Wong was about to receive a surprising punishment.

From the tiny Malaysian island of Penang, in a storefront no larger than your average nail salon, Wong commanded one of the world's largest wildlife trafficking syndicates. Much of the work Wong's company, Sungai Rusa Wildlife, had done since he got into the business three decades ago was above-board: He legally wholesaled tens of thousands of wild reptiles annually, making him the likely source for many of the snakes, lizards, turtles, and frogs on sale in American pet stores. But using a private zoo as a cover, he also offered an astounding array of contraband, including snow leopard pelts, panda bear skins, rhino horns, rare birds, and Komodo dragons. He moved everything from chinchillas to elephants, smuggling critically endangered wildlife from Australia, China, Madagascar, New Zealand, South America, and elsewhere to markets largely in Europe, Japan, and the United States. For a man capable of brokering these kinds of deals, Wong's arrest over a suitcase of boa constrictors was the equivalent of a Mexican narcotraficante getting caught with a few marijuana cigarettes in his pocket.

Wong's long career beyond the reach of the law offers a window on the illegal wildlife trade and our broken system to combat it. Underfunded law enforcement, government corruption, controversy-shy NGOs, and a feeble international legal framework have yielded few inroads against wildlife syndicates or kingpins like Anson Wong. Wong's arrest and his sentencing in November 2010 provide a lesson on how to change that.

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The Things They Carried
Scenes from the illegal
wildlife trade.

The illegal wildlife trade is often described in the press as a $10 or even $20 billion-a-year industry, just behind illegal drugs and weapons trafficking in scale. But in truth, no one really knows how big the illegal wildlife trade is; the few serious efforts to quantify it have failed. Certainly the range of life forms on offer -- timber, fish, exotic pets, coral, ivory, skins, supplies for traditional Asian medicines, and on -- represents billions of dollars a year, legal and illegal. China alone consumes vast amounts of endangered species -- freshwater turtles, spiny anteaters, even tigers -- as delicacies or for medicinal purposes, while other countries in Asia and the rest of the world collect them as pets, or make watchbands, scarves, perfume, furniture, and wall ornaments out of them. What makes the illegal trade so lucrative is its minimal risk: Few traffickers are ever caught, fewer still are prosecuted, and those who are convicted generally end up paying fines the size of parking tickets. Almost no one goes to jail. As a result, the illegal wildlife trade may be the world's most profitable form of transnational crime.Read more.