islamic movement / harakah islamiah

Ahhh.. They bite the SB bait. The SB that set up the site on Kumpulan Erdogan must be laughing mad and at the same time languishing in sheer satisfaction. Time and again they prove themselves to be geniuses. In the first place there is no Erdogan Team at all. The SB lot studied the success of Turkish “Islamists” methodology. Not only Malaysian SB, even the CIA and Mossad marvel at Turkish approach to propagating Islamic rule. It was brilliant. Simply outstanding the way the whole Turkish team operates. Not many people are aware that this Turkish group is the product of true Islamic teachings, the way of the Muslim Brotherhood or “Ikhwanul Muslimin” pioneered by Hassan AlBanna in Egypt. In Malaysia, these true Muslim fundamentalists are all in PAS. That is why UMNO and its subversive machineries the SB unit of the police force are afraid of. Their mentor, CIA and Mossad taught them so. They will wage war at PAS at all costs. They truly believe that with PAS gaining a lot of ground politically in Malaysia, it spells trouble for them. In actual fact, PAS success in becoming mainstream party or any Islamic movement whatsoever is a “threat” to the Jewish state, Israel. This so called threat is a fringe of their imagination. True Islamic parties will oppose crazy Jewish propaganda of enlarging their territory at the expense of other people, be it Muslim or Christians. This has nothing to do with religion but rather it is actually a crime against humanity. Turkish “Islamists’” party did so well that their method becomes a blueprint for others to emulate. They truly move according to the law. Turkey is very secular and yet the so called Islamists manage to come to power in a lawful manner and continue to respect the law and abide by the very law that was enacted when they embrace secularism. However, there is a reason that many simply fail to notice. Their success comes after a long period of education. The party follows steps laid down by the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt then as to how to build strong and long lasting Islamic movement. PAS in all its existence tried very hard to do this. Their constitution is an exact copy of the Muslim Brotherhood but their failure to strengthen their movement through this institution of education systematically is causing them to take a tumble time and again. What more with assault from the SB unit through subversive work and immense infiltration deep inside the Islamic party. We will witness time and again these deep agents shoot themselves in the foot. For keen observers, this is too obvious but then the one that cast the first stone normally disappears and situation is quickly seized by spin doctors that ignite it into such a frenzy and euphoria that everybody is lost in the confusion and objective of demonising a particular entity or movement becomes a real success. Fifty years is half a century. It is a very long time for a political party to remain in power. Such a grip onto power give rise to massive resources both manpower, institutions and instruments to not only maintain power base but enlarging it to such an extent that it is virtually unshakeable and what we can only hope is that their success will breed their own downfall as their members engage in excesses and for get the very reason of their existence in the first place. As other empires that perish before, UMNO/BN will follow the same route. We are seeing it happening already. They coined the term money politics as opposed to the right and internationally accepted terminology of an act of bribery as corruption. Let them taste their intoxicating savouries. PAS is still caught in this time capsule. They engage in infighting and this is precisely what the enemy wants. They must quickly wake up and be back on track. It is the quality of its members that will determine their success. Numbers delude you into believing that you are mighty. Early Muslims succeed not because of numbers but because of the level of commitment and quality of its people. So, if you truly believe that there is this Erdogan Team, they will appear in droves. Perception is by the way, a reality.

dimwits at the gates

Listening to or reading statements made by ministers these days just simply spoil my day. I would cringe in anger and if I am alone driving I would be screaming mad. That idiot Hamid Albar’s statement on police practicing no double standard was one such statement. Bloody stupid moron! Whenever there is an opposition leader making some “incriminating” remarks, he is summoned to the police station for the police to record his statement but when an UMNO or BN man make “seditious” statement, the police goes to his house to record a statement. If this is not double standard, it must be psychopathic rule of this ugly home minister. Looking at those in power in UMNO now and will be our “tuan” leading the nation to ruin, you will notice a bunch of idiots. Birds of the same feather flock together. It is understandable that they behave the way they do. They mix among themselves and when a bunch of morons sharing their thought, it was a real stupid mayhem. They are so daft and the only thing that they care is money and women. If you are to do a thesis on this species, you will discover that inbreeding is really creating these unique characteristics of men-beasts. We have come full circle as far as this lot is concerned. With the exception of the late Tunku, other former PMs inbreeding programmes give rise to a number of progeny, and all without exception inherit this dim-witted thick skull moronic features and behaviours. Just look at Najibultantuya, the moment he opens his mouth, you smell foul scandals from a mile away. Even though the softie Lower Education Minister is quiet these days, you have to agree that he is one daft offspring, yet another product of years of inbreeding process. How about the other bald-headed fool, the third son of the longest serving elected dictator? His stereotype remarks that echo his father’s past only goes to prove that this sibling is also a tainted one. He brought disgrace to his Ansara group, except for a few that worship the ground he walks. He distanced himself from “money politics” (read corruption) and spoke of its grave danger but of course this was easy as it was someone else that was doing the bidding for him. He walked tall but Tun “Dime” hurried from behind with planeloads of crispy greenbacks. The Albar’s may not be that famous but the late Jaafar of the Albar’s will turn in his grave if he were to witness his son’s senseless ranting. Pundit says, nepotism is killing the industry. If indeed politics can be considered an industry by virtue of it being process oriented with input and output, it too will be destroyed beyond recognition. Unfortunate it seems that this politics manifests itself as a country and a country is made up of people and its obliteration is an annihilation of Malaysian citizens. Goodnight Malaysia, your days are numbered. troubadour

will to survive

What does it take for one to depart away from old, obsolete and incorrect practices of yesteryears? The answer is simply humility. Looking at the ills we are facing, it is apparent that we are good at installing an excellent system but fail to equip our people with the right tools and techniques to perform our tasks. What constitute the right tools? Right tools and techniques are those that proven effective and systematic. Why is it so difficult for people to make the change? It is this fear of the unknown that kept people away from change, even it is actually for the better. People always have this tendency to move, as electricity does, along path of least resistance. Understanding this and myriads of other issues will enable us to lead and manage change. How about leadership? What constitute a good leadership? Leadership does play an important role in instituting a change. Generally there must an acceptance as to the leadership in question. If people readily accept the leader, then it is relatively easier to lead and manage change. Acceptance comes with a meeting of perception and expectation with reality. Generally a good leader is perceived to possess many positive attributes, charisma and strong sense of commitment may top the list. Many leadership gurus agree that a good leader always own up a failure and when success comes all the people gladly proclaim that they did it themselves. A true leader will be forgotten in euphoria of success and also when things return to a state of relative calm and harmony. He will only be remembered and missed when turmoil comes in and everything is in a state of disarray. That is looking at a company level. As always, event happening in a company is similar to going-on in our country. CEO of a company is comparable to a CEO or premier of a country. We Malaysians have been sitting (ducks) for many years. We go about doing our chores with little regards to the direction the country is heading to. It is understandable. We are a selfish lot. We pretended not to notice a neighbour coming out his door going to work daily, all in the name of maintaining our privacy. A little nod would suffice but we choose to look elsewhere. This is a shameful practice. It is time we make the change. Be a caring society. For all you know, your neighbour has not had a single meal for the day. He could be facing tons of problems and his world could be tumbling down. Make that first move. A little humility goes a long way. Look for that will to change. Open up your eyes to the sorry little state we are in today. Crimes abundance, chaos everywhere, innocents imprisoned, laws trampled on, kangaroo courts mushrooming, honour disrespected, truth silenced and all of us have been taken as fools. Where is the great leader? Will he come forward and lead. Armed us the tools and the techniques! Let us march together towards greatness. Or have we lost our faith and continue to wallow in our disgrace. This time around it is going to be a merciless wave. Rich or poor, able or disable, young and old, we will face a depression never seen before in the history of mankind. We may as some say approaching doomsday. Whatever the fault is, it does not matter as this depression will get the best of us. We will suffer and this will continue to generation yet to come. When justice means nothing anymore to us and good governance is a mere slogan and economic recession to top it all, we are but at His mercy and compassion. Raving of a troubadour! Pattaya, the sin city: November 25th, 2008

gravy train

I had the (unfortunate) opportunity to meet with a NEW “Razak Baginda” (NRB) recently in Thailand. At that point in time, the OLD Razak Baginda (ORB) (Yes, the one that got the knack to say publicly today that his one time master and his wretched wife never knew his one time lover and that bloggers are making the accusation worse!) was still under prison authority’s custody. NRB was apparently despatched to Thailand by the premier-in-waiting (PIW) to verify certain matters relating to a company that was bidding for a sizeable contract from Malaysian government. He was to ascertain whether the company was worthy of its getting such a lucrative contract. The existence of this NRB is indeed alarming but not a surprise. I was sure someone would assume the role as there is much to do. How else could lucrative contracts be awarded to the right parties that fit these daylight robbers’ profiles of brother-cronies then if not using this shameful approach? NRB is relatively young and a true blue UMNO man. He spoke with much authority and his constant blind admiration for the PIW reflects his overdependence on the PIW for his needs. Like ORB, NRB is deeply involved in “Defence Equipment Supplies”. He carried a consultancy business card, milking government-owned companies under the pretext of helping these companies to break into the world market. These companies provide a fat income base for NRB and the likes of him to live and travel the world comfortable at the expense of other fitting “consultants”. In the first place, these NRG and the likes are the very people that convinced unsuspecting but corroborative partners to aim high, think big and be optimistic in conquering the world. They are still living in a dream world created by the previous premier, the champion of privatisation. Majority of the Malaysians were caught in this euphoria only to wake up and found that their world come tumbling down. They lost everything including their sanity. And when things begin to subside and order is about to return, off they go to start another madness. This NRB is a classic example of how things are done in UMNO. It goes to demonstrate how difficult it is to bring down a long-established institution despite it being corrupted to the core. When will this all end? As long as we have the current government ruling at federal level, we can expect the same things continue to happen and the masses be ignored a taken on a ride. There is however some change happening in the country. With a stronger presence of oppositions in parliament, we are witnessing a number of moves by the government are being questioned and scrutinised by them. This slows down these robbers activity and many are crying. Used to lavish lifestyles, they suddenly finds that their pockets are thinning and their coffers are drying at such a fast rate. A friend put it quite interestingly to me that “the gravy train is simply not moving and when it moves, too few are getting a fat meal of it”. This causes a real panic. Rome is about to fall. Generators of income are not running. The robbers are now running. Helter-skelter it seems. Can this provide an impetus for a revolution? Not quite it seems. As long as people can still scrounge around and still get their three times a day meals, we would see more and more NRB being borne out of this sordid state of affairs and we continue to ride this roller coater heading for nowhere. Goodnight Malaysia, you are but a pain in my one that lives under (read it with a rhyme mate)! Kuala Lumpur, November 20th, 2008 – it’s raining cats and downing dogs!

malaysia my second home?

It is a vast continent. Population is barely 21 million. Premier Kevin Rudd is the Labour government's head. He is approaching his first full year in office and even though clamouring for continuation of a Howard’s American alliance policy he is actually moving tangentially away from his predecessor’s direction. His policy is more Obama’s than Bush’s and prefers to pull out of Iraq quietly. Australia began to reform even before Rudd’s appearance in her political scenery. The country continues to prosper. Of course the credit crunch is affecting Australia as well but the country’s foundation is solid and it will be able to weather the storm fairly easily. Shortage of manpower to support the nation’s growth is addressed with proactive emigration policy that is fluid and strategically addressed current needs. It started with professionals from strategic discipline and permeates through to blue collar manpower. A caring government is elected and this greatly helps nation building. This is in complete contrast to selfish and self serving governments that are elected in countries where voices of the people are muffled and truth concealed. Australia embraces globalisation. Government steers the economy up the value chain. The country is strategically positioned to enable it to compete globally. The people have been made to go through an education system that sees through colours and creeds. Meritocracy sees to it that equal rights breed citizens that fuel the nation’s growth. Intellectual properties are abundance. Innovations are apparent in all areas of government and economy and this propels progress. The government is managing the economy very well instead of engaging in destructive politics. Relationship between public and private sectors is a hand-in-glove and unassailable. Supports and incentives are poured into the private sector by the government. Niche businesses sprout throughout the nation. Press freedom is evident. This gives birth to a civil society, generally devoid of hatred and discord. Although one may not be fully agree with western democracy practiced here, one has to admit that it is far superior to distorted democracy being promulgated in countries like Malaysia. Environmental protection policies are well in place. Awareness level is very high. Citizens chip-in in making Australia greener and ecologically balanced and safe. How about healthcare then? Well, a friend that migrated recently put up his thumb and proudly boasts his healthcare programme and benefits that is cheap and first class. Social benefits make one cringes as they make Malaysia look like hell on earth. So much for paying taxes regularly without fail only to be short-changed by the morons that rule the country! One wonders also with a twin tax system of conventional system and the Islamic “Shariah” system of zakat (alms) prevalent in Malaysia and yet hardcore poor are increasing in number and majority are still living in poverty. Providing shelter is perhaps another area where Australia scores a high point in our analysis. Housing for the people is given top priority and couple with environment conservation plan people are living in harmony with other God’s creatures in peace and harmony. Given a political turmoil and economic uncertainty in Malaysia, one is tempted to seriously consider Australia as a home and make Malaysia on the other hand a second home. Not a bad proposition indeed considering Malaysia is inept in taking care of her citizens and chooses to lead them astray. The significant other’s suggestion for one to seriously look at possibility of migrating for good does not sound that foreign now. Goodnight Malaysia or maybe it is a goodbye soon, now that you push me to the brink of poverty and I am slowly loosing my sanity. troubadour A chilly summer in Melbourne and tired from combing it in an attempt to “spot the Aussie”! Aussie Spotting, a new favourite past time since train spotting is no longer fashionable! (Bruce Dickinson, eat your heart out!) November 14, 2008.

quality of a party worthy of supremacy

A product must be of certain level of quality to be able to command a premium pricing. While quality itself is subjective, benchmarking will enable subjective matters be made objective and considering other competing products’ attributes, one can ascertain quality level of a product to a reasonable level of confidence. Effort can then be directed towards perfecting the product to beat competition. Perceived values are responsible for a product to be sought after. Values generally refer to functional value and aesthetic value. Functional value is the primary function of a product. A policemen’s truncheon or baton must be able to perform its primary or main function of knocking someone head senseless with. If the “copper” cannot use his baton to clobber someone, the weapon is said to be failing to perform its primary function. It then has no value. Having been able to be used to bash someone alone is not good enough. The weapon must have other values such as aesthetically pleasant enough to make a cop wants to own it. To make it more appealing, it has to be shiny yet sufficiently provocative to scare a potential demonstrator from staging a candlelight vigil while singing the national anthem. These secondary values must be able to entice intended user or buyer to wanting to own it and more so as far as a sadistic law enforcer is concerned as he cannot wait to break this Hindraf Makkal Sakhti dissent. A political party is comparable to any product in the market. A good quality political party must perform its primary function of helping the people and for those who are real “user” will look at other “aesthetic” functions such as sound constitution, noble causes and objectives, leaders’ charisma and members’ conduct as secondary values that a progressive party must have. Looking from viewpoint of value, one is able to see the kind of political party that appeal to the masses. Understanding values will enable one to look at a party he belongs to and help in restructuring his party to draw support and increase membership. If a political party is ancient, outdated and antediluvian, it will not be long before it meets its end. A political party must have a political will to depart from the past and move with time. UMNO as a political party is no longer able to perform its primary function of helping the people. It attempts to continue to hoodwink people into believing that it has the peoples’ welfare at the top of its agenda whereas in actual fact it just uses the people to legitimise its hold onto power. How about secondary values? These are virtually non-existent. UMNO constitution puts Malay agenda at the pinnacle of its list of major plans. UMNO is simply a racist party based on this agenda alone. It does not comprehend the fact that racial divides that separate the various races and ethnics in Malaysia has collapse. A new era has emerged where there is a genuine understanding and tolerance between these different groups. In other words, political landscape has changed and UMNO failed to understand let alone react to this transformation. This is what happens to the majority of the lower rank UMNO members. The leaders realise this change but as they themselves are the main problems, solving their problems would be at their expense. Members leave in droves. Exodus began in 1998, trickling in numbers henceforth but gained momentum again as the country moves towards the last (March 08) general election. This trend will continue and we will see a demise of once a formidable political party that has people at its heart. It is sad for those who truly subscribe to its ideology and continue to hang onto it but it is sadder still to those who have been betrayed. Nothing is everlasting and so is UMNO in this new world devoid of racial hatred. troubadour Rainy day Thursday, Melbourne! 141108

doomsday dogma

Ranting of ex-PM Mahathir on income of Zaid Ibrahim is uncalled for. He insinuated that Zaid’s income was a lot higher than that of a minister. He added in jest that the lawyer’s success was a result of government’s positive discrimination policy that favours Malay businessman and the lawyer’s cry for an end to this policy is hypocritical. He accused that the lawyer amassed wealth quietly and had the cheek to demand the lawyer to prove otherwise. An outburst of this nature goes to show the kind person he really is and his tilted sense of justice. The burden of proof is on the accuser. This explains turmoil of his tenure is largely attributable to him and him alone. Being the CEO of the nation, he was responsible for the mess the country and its people are in now. After all this mayhem, he continues to stoop lower and lower in his bid to exert further influence on people who are perceived to be in power now. He simply has to be the man behind this power and all must succumb to his wishes and dance to his tune. Yes his presence and regular statements do colour the Malaysian political scene but his views are as archaic and irrelevant as the man himself. Press’s persistence in seeking his views, observations and scrutiny on a host of subjects is diabolical and uncalled for. This must stop. It may be hilarious to some seeing the old man making fools of himself but it is sending a wrong signal to the public that his views matters and that we look up to him for inspirations. His opinions do not matter anymore. He is the last of the dinosaur. We learnt a great deal from fossils of other Tyrannasauraus rexes and we do not need a live one to shed anymore light as to their yesteryears’ tyranny. History is best left as it is. Abolishing the positive discrimination policy of New/National Economic Policy (NEP) would be in the best interests of the nation and the Malays. Adverse effects of policy far outweigh benefit in the form of a considerable number of Malay intellectuals that the policy generated. Disparity of wealth between ethnics was largely attributable to this policy when cronies accumulate immense wealth at the expense of masses. The rich gets fatter and the poor scrounges for to get decent daily meal. Majority of the Malays were duped into believing that without such a policy they would perish, whereas, it is the policy itself that curtail their enterprising spirit. Malays are sensitive when it comes to religion but they themselves fail to understand let alone practice their religion. This is very true in the case of the Muslim members of UMNO that make up the bulk of the racial-based party. If one cares to observe their leaders conduct, one will glaringly notice that their Islamic practices are purely ceremonial. Leaders pray only when they officiates opening of mosques. Going by teaching of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), a person who fails to uphold pillars of Islam is a “faseeq” which literally means “in a constant state of sin”. A “faseeq” loses a number of rights in Islam, such as becoming a person that gives away a bride in wedding vow. It is also advisable for a believer to avoid taking a “faseeg” as a friend. A person who is in a constant state of sin is close to becoming a “munafeeq” or loosely translated as a hypocrite. A hypocrite can easily be identified by having three dominant hypocritical characters namely a person that tells a lie whenever he speaks, break promises and betray a trust placed upon him. Sounds very familiar indeed if one cares to observe leaders that govern the country now! Leaders that we have up there holding the power are those that tell blatant lies, go against their promises of bringing prosperity to the nation and betray every little trust placed by electorates upon them. Have we not witnessed the same things in Mahathir’s era? Elected (by cheating and coercion means) representatives hurried to enrich themselves the moment they got into position of power, casting aside their (fake) manifestos. NEP was used as a tool to achieve this feat. How can we simply forget this and continue to adore him. At least that is what it looks like when we keep on asking for his opinions on current issues. Badawi and Mahathir are both leaders that forsake people and plundered and looted nation’s wealth to be divided amongst them and their cronies. The worst part of all this fiasco is that they continue to line up crooks to ascend into power to replace them. With the exception of the late Tunku, we will be seeing nepotistic crowning of Najib, Hishamuddin, Mukhris, and possibly also Khairy. If we want to put a stop to this charade we must resist this grand design with all of our might. Nepotism, as wise man used to say “is killing the industry”. A nation is just like an enterprise. Nation will fall and turn to ruin if this is allowed to happen. But then again this is Bolehland and generally most Malays have forsaken their religion. They will continue to demand to continue to hold onto their crutches, move with a limp, heads full of wishes, throw tantrums at others, ransacking the nation’s wealth and put in place a succession plan that will see to it that the cycle will continue. In every civilisation, there is a seed of its own destruction, meticulously nurtured and immaculately programmed to reach for doom. Goodnight Malaysia, the land of doomsday dogma. troubadour In the heat of an early summer night in Melbourne, November 13 2008!

wicked ways

Will there be new explosions? Explosive de-facto PM seems to be able to consolidate his position now that coward nomadic PM has announced demise date of his short-lived dull career. Will the conceited son-in-law (SIL) gives any challenge at all to the hot-headed former C4 peddler? The smug SIL muffled a statement signalling his subservient future direction. This submissive and compliant behaviour gesticulates that he acknowledges inferior situation he is in. His downfall looms for all to see. He knows that if he so much as croaks a little bit loud, an end may come sooner. He realizes that he has to gain ground to prolong his position at the apex of the idiotic youth movement UMNO. Cold war and counter espionage will continue to be fought between the two. One is close to reaching pinnacle of his career and the other is trying to salvage his dream of leading the nation one tragic day, the day when greater injustice would befall its inhabitants. While these two selfish politicians are waging war at each other and outwitting one another, the nation continues to slip into oblivion. Who is likely to win? Bookies are calculating the odds. The DAP Secretary General predicted that the SIL would not last beyond first quarter of 2009. This sends chills to the big-headed youth and similarly low temperature wind is blowing towards his cronies’ colony. The seemingly meek future PM will go for the kill. He would be overwhelmed with too many problems if this pompous SIL is left standing. This arrogant juvenile politician is like an irritating and itchy wart on his butt. It is and will continue to be a real pain in the arse. Even though the egotistical novice is trying to portray that he is not treacherous, his every move is being scrutinised. His every move is being blocked. He is suffocating and gasping for air. His every move halted by his increasingly powerful enemy. He is a fly waiting to be smacked by a giant palm of a hand. He knows he is a sitting duck and he is aware that he is at the elderly bomber’s mercy. The chief detonator is merciless. However, to swat this irrelevant fly would be strategically incorrect, despite it being politically accurate. He would be allowed to linger a while and only slapped when the itch gets unbearable. Will our life get better now that this grenade of a man gets more and more powerful? Will we be able to see a better Malaysia post baton handover? What is certain is that democratic rights would be further eroded. Given the state of the police, we will continue to be a police state. Enter the village-idiot future PM. The touchy PM-in-waiting proved to be a coward when it comes to eye-to-eye debate. He displayed for all to witness his sheer ignorance of parliamentary procedures. This is a clear sign as to direction this God forsaken country is heading towards. The country is becoming increasingly desolated with this kind of politician openly displaying their utter disregard for rules and regulations. Tourists may ignore this kind of ignorance but those who have much to lose will think twice before making a move to invest in the country. Opposition needs to put in a sound strategy. A person’s strengths are normally his weaknesses. His impatience to wrest control country from the embattled PM will be his major weakness. In his haste to grip onto power he will trip and fall. All we need to do then is to open the gate to an empty city and remove the fire from under the cauldron. Oh how I love these devious and deceitful ways. Goodnight Malaysia, truly (standing at the end of the long line of) Asia. troubadour Melbourne, November 11 2008.

keynesian versus najibian economy - we are doomed

Toxicologist turned economist has spoken. Here is a piece by Dr. Dzulkefli Ahmad, the Director of PAS Research Centre! Truly magnificent! My ranting earlier this morning is exactly this! Being a bloody engineer and a layman economist, I may have put my reading quite differently but along the same line.

Yes, we are in a real deep shit going by the way the economy is being handled by our economist (my ass!) finance minister!

I refrained from posting other people’s writings thus far but I have to make this an exception. Thank you Kuala Selangor for a brilliant piece here!

Excerpt from Malaysiakini:

Missing numbers in 'stimulus package' puzzling
Dzulkifly Ahmad Nov 5, 08 3:20pm
Analysis
MCPX
In what was Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's maiden speech as a Finance Minister, he has cast more doubts about his alleged or perceived ‘financial prowess' of being better than prime minister when it comes to managing the economy.

Hopes quickly evaporated midway through his delivery of his ‘stimulus package' to bolster the economy. It has nothing to do with his refusal to allow the Opposition Leader and MPs to interject during his delivery - an unprecedented move strangely condoned by the Speaker.

Firstly, quite unsolicited, he decided to take a pot-shot at the Pakatan Rakyat's budget - perhaps more accurately the Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim - by accusing that the Pakatan budget was "contractionary" as opposed to their "expansionary" one.

He cunningly reminded everyone, that the nation will be in greater trouble - like during the 97-98 financial crisis - if we were to pursue Pakatan's budget.

Najib is either clearly ignorant, which of course spells doom for this nation's future or simply misleading the House, which is worse, as his limited credibility will be further dented.

A budget is either ‘expansionary' if there is a deficit or ‘contractionary' if there is a surplus.
While the BN's 2009 budget poses a projected deficit of RM28.45 billions, the Pakatan's budget deficit stands at RM22.10 billions.

Both are deficit budgets, ergo expansionary budgets, period. A lesson in Economics 101 for our new finance minister.

The Pakatan package

On Oct 23 Pakatan presented a budget strategy in response to addressing financial uncertainties and restoring confidence in our economy.

While clearly expansionary and anti-cyclical - in order to weather the ‘slowing down of growth with concurrent inflationary pressure on goods and services with the consequent massive unemployment' (ie stagflation) - our budget addresses where and how the deficit is to be funded and sustained.

Going by the current global prices of crude oil (CO) and crude palm oil (CPO), even a conservative estimate will show the present BN budget's revenue projection having a RM18 billion shortfall.

CIMB's Research House estimated that for every US$10/barrel reduction in price (Tapis crude oil), we'll lose RM4 billion a year. For every RM100/tonne of CPO, we will be robbed of RM1.7 billion.

An estimated loss or reduction of revenue to the tune of RM18-25billions is to be anticipated.
Our approach was not just expansionary, it was prudent so that we maximise the ‘multiplier effects' in critical sectors critical sectors of quality housing, healthcare and education.

A ‘quality deficit' was intended, not speculative endeavours like injecting RM5 billion from Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) to shore up ‘undervalued companies' or delving into mega-projects - like underground cables, double-tracking railways or dubious military helicopter procurement.

Najib was glad to announce the RM7 billion saved from reduced fuel subsidies, yet side-stepping the spending spree with his ‘expansionary stimulus'.

Opposed to our projections or even CIMB's, Najib stated that the revenue drop would be only RM176.22 billion to RM168.73 billion - which is only a RM8 billion revenue loss.

Presumably the revenue reduction takes into account CO and CPO. Which does not add up.

Missing RM7 billion

Even with our conservative RM18 billion deduced by the RM7 billion saved in fuel subsidy reduction, a yawning RM11 billion is the revenue deficit.

He did not admit this out-right, but there was an indirect concession when he stated they were expecting a bigger deficit of 4.8 percent.

But behold, the finance minister foolhardily informs of another RM7 billion, which he claims is from the fuel subsidy. Mind-blowing.

The numbers do not jive, whichever way you look at them. This additional RM7 billion must either be from borrowing, leveraging or gearing - all dirty words from the US financial crisis.
It would have been better for Najib to admit that the money is to be borrowed from a source like EPF or that the government is raising bonds.

Yes, we may have a healthy national reserve of 37 percent of our GDP.
Yes, we may have low non-performing loans for the time being.
Yes, we may have a low foreign debt currently at RM187 billion with RM70 billion private debt. As of April 2008, this maybe 20 percent of the foreign reserve.

Pakatan may have to grudgingly admit that our national fundamentals are strong, even if they are not naturally trickling down to the rakyat - thanks to inflation and poor distributive justice.
But bear in mind that we have had 10 years of deficit budgets.

Irrespective of whose fiscal stimulus package is put it as a anti-cyclical measure - be it BN or Pakatan's - it has to be prudent and carried out productively.
Our bullishness may now be totally misplaced as party time has long expired for our finance minister.

The Eurocopters deal and a slew of mega-projects should have been voluntarily withdrawn a long time ago.

I doubt if you have any hindsight. Your recurring blindspot is extremely distressing and very worrying to say the least.

DR DZULKIFLY AHMAD is director PAS Research Centre and member of parliament for Kuala Selangor.

deeper shit

Najib (economist my ass!) finance minister asserted that EPF Valuecap loan is guaranteed by government! Yeah, great aint it? What a load of bollocks. He is talking cock again. The government has no moral right to guarantee the loan. The government itself lost it legitimacy to govern when it won the March 08 election via fraudulent means.

When the government lost its credibility, whatever they say is doubtful and always, and I repeat, always have ulterior motives and full of deceptions. The government will definitely guarantee the loan and when the time comes for Valuecap to pay the loan, time extension is given and then a further deliberation and additional roam and finally when all else fail, they will resort again to reaching into the same coffer and then other alternative coffers. This is the issue. Modus operandi is same and very predictable. It is the people again and again been taken for a ride.

The country is broke and these idiots are still running around looting again! What do we do? We are sitting on our butt watching the world go by and wonder why such a misfortune befalls us! What a sorry lot! It was this slightly over 40% of the population that voted these morons to get to rule us that get us into this mess. We must drum this fact into these 40% or so sleepy lot to wake up and see what is happening around them. Their own livelihood is at such a great risk and they are still dreaming of a white Christmas.

We have been saying that the budget needs a review. This “British-trained” economist is saying that it is not necessary to do so. He went to table RM7 Billion stimulus package to boost the economy. A budget will address income and if there is no bloody income, how on earth is he going to pay for all these sweet goodies? If an earlier budget was a deficit, read carefully, expenses is more than income and now almost half of the so called revenue is going to come from “oil revenue” that has dropped from almost USD100 to slightly above USD50 per barrel!

Let us see the goodies promised. Aha… our EPF contribution! He is assuming that he is going to get a boost from a-50% takers for a reduction of EPF contribution, giving him RM2.4 Billion. This additional income from the 3% reduction in EPF contribution will get you and me to spend it and hence we live happily ever after when collective additional RM2.4 Billion is circulating in the economy. This is coming from our pockets, not his bloody bank.

Then there is RM1.2 Billion “allocation” to construct affordable houses. This will definitely get screwed up by the cronies. They will get the projects, houses not completed and the cronies will have overseas vacations or most likely get villas in the South of France or both! We will be back to square one.

Next is the magic RM7 Billion figure coming from savings due to reduction in subsidy of petrol price! This is the mother of all bulls. The UMNO lots are going to have a real feast with this RM7 Billion. Shoddy roads will be built and newly repaired ceiling for schools and public buildings will collapse. Bridges will get washed away and public amenities get screwed up. Hail this greatest economist (my ass!) ever roamed the earth! Problems are opportunities in disguise. They will continue to skin us alive.

Goodnight Malaysia, just go wherever you bloody like to go.

longing to unwrap a special gift this coming boxing day

Ho ho ho ho… lo! here comes Santa Claus on a reindeer-sledge! It is going to be a white Christmas after all. Children singing carols, adults scrounging the cities for presents! Ah what a sight!

It is going to be a very merry Christmas.

RPK has spoken from behind solitary walls. Revolution it will be, evolution it will not be. Bonapartean it has to be, Darwinian it cannot be.

If bloggers community is awake and start to shake, the Police’s Special Branch will start putting a brake because the powers that be has too much at stake.

What is there for you and me to do? A lot! Let me suggest one or two points here.

One very important thing to do is to bombard the cyberspace with enormous information to educate the public at a maximum level as to the misdeeds of the UMNO/BN government. Those silent majority inside and outside the government must join this up-above (cyberspace underground) movement. They possess huge amount of information that exposes current federal government’s misdemeanour. It is time to share this government’s squalid affairs and bring them out into public domain.

Information stuck in cyberspace carries no meaning and serves no purpose. Information must reach target audience. We must collectively forward this information to our acquaintances. It is just at a click of a mouse button, to the entire our e-mailing list.

I remember vividly the 1998 reformation movement. The flame was kept alive, spirit held high through distribution of hard copies of vital information that influences and shapes peoples’ minds. Effort must be heightened towards printing hard copies of documents and distribute them wide and scatter.

Make effort to meet with and know our (PR) elected members of parliament. Knowing and understanding, sharing thoughts and working hand in hand in bringing out this change! The process will be very thought-provoking, challenging and intellectually rewarding.

Organising functions that have ample time for intelligent discourses would be another effective strategy. Effort must be enhanced towards projecting right image of people that will take over and govern this beloved country of ours from these ashes of ruin and devastated state.

Last but not least, let us not forget that it is the peoples that will lend their power towards making this initiative a success. With sacrifices, there are expectations on rewards. Peoples are expecting rewards for their efforts. We must be able to convince them that the rewards are worth waiting. These would be in the form of better security for the nation, education that transcends racial barriers, justice that is not blind and myopic, wealth in abundance for those who seek it and equal opportunity for all. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedoms, and that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth”.

a sure thing?

Is there such thing as “a sure thing” I watched a movie way back 1985 titled as such. It was about a college kid who worshipped and longed to bed a girl of his dream. Throughout the movie he went on chasing this dream. At the end of it, he had the girl on the palm of his hand only consciously choosing not to bonk her instead. To digress a little, it had this George Benson’s (who?) song that had a line about the singer doing his best but his best was not good enough. A lovesick friend crooned this song his entire six months abroad idolising a girl he chased, only to lose her to another friend (He will cringe if he reads this piece!).

Back to current topic, Malaysia’s move to prop up the share market with an RM5 Billion “loan” from EPF was a stupid move and a futile effort. Opposition leader’s quip that 90% of that fund would swiftly flow out of the country was a sarcastic remark but nevertheless spot on. The fact that the first (economist my ass!) finance minister came up with this answer to the so called impending economic woes due to credit crunch in itself is beyond comprehension. He must have got his priority upside down and topsy-turvy. Not to mention that the British would curse like hell if he is bent on claiming he is a graduate economist from their prestigious university.

Valuecap Sdn Bhd saw the opportunity in the wake of the credit crunch, to kill two birds with one stone. These daylight robbers are getting out of dilemma of paying old loan by borrowing another almost an equal amount under the pretext of saving the nation from stock market loss as a result of capital flight. The old loan was in the first place obtained via issuance of bonds that are not able to be transacted or traded. EPF and other suckers were duped into buying these valueless bonds and continue to hold onto them and watching in vain as the papers transmogrify into junks quicker than the eyes can see.

Is Valuecap trying to redeem old bonds with this new loan? Or are they are using this loan for another (mis)adventure? Whichever way it goes, you and I are made fools in this game of political satire and comics in this social quagmire. Our hard earned monies are being thrown to the wind while these idiots continue to rule the country as they please.

Where are those champions of transparency and good governance and corruptions’ chief whip? He must have been wallowing in his massive collections both in cash and kind.

So the moral of the story in the opening paragraph above is that there is no such thing as a sure thing. But figuratively speaking, one thing for sure, all the money thrown in would go down the drain. The drain flows downstream to a collection point disguised as thrash-trap that hauls in freshly minted notes. One man’s loss is another man’s gain. The general public continues the rat race. It surely is a dog-eats-dog in this rat race. And as the late Freddy Mercury’s put it so accurately, it leaves you bleeding lying flat on your face.

And once again, goodnight Malaysia, wherever you may be and wherever you may wish to go.

what is this struggle all about?

For those who may wonder as to why we are making so much noise in this cyberspace, here is something that will enlighten you. There are two things that we seek to uphold namely justice and transparency and good governance.

Justice

Justice must be done. Universal concept of justice must be upheld. A person is innocent until proven guilty (in the court of law). The burden of proof is on the accuser. To err is human, to forgive, divine. A society is at fault if a subject is not cared for. Further, there has to be separation of powers between judiciary, legislators and executives. Judges must be selected by a commission and of highest integrity. To be fair and just is to put things in its rightful places.

Transparency and Good Governance

Uppermost in our struggle is to instil a system that is transparent and govern it well, and righteously. These words conjure little meaning if we are ignorant. Ignorant many would say therefore is bliss. Not knowing what to expect leaves us with no imagination at all.

This struggle first and fore most is about instituting a reform. Essentially this is about change, changing from a bad state to a better one. This change requires the right methodology for it to be effective and ends up well. Leading this change must be in a manner that will impact the masses. The general public must “buy” this argument before any change process can begin.

The reform that we are fighting for would begin with the two things above. This will ensure that other damages in our society can be reformed. These are education system, wealth distribution and financial systems, law enforcement, country’s security, foreign affairs, international trades, business system, communication system, housing, agriculture and sports and so on.

In short, the reason for reform is pure and simple. These systems have all been trampled on and raped by the current government, corrupted to the core and destroyed beyond recognition.

It is time for reform and to change the government before the wrath of the Almighty befall us because of our refusal to correct what is not right and install what is right.

The alternative is a painful one as God says that His land is expansive and no one should succumb to and continue to live under tyranny. It is a choice between fighting or get lost. Look like it is between the devil and deep blue sea? It is never a-too-late. Being a reformer meant more than race, meant more than pride. I rest my case.